Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The Center for Digital Storytelling... they are awesome!

A few weeks into the CHL Fellows program, I'm feeling grateful for all the new experiences we are already having, in addition to those yet to come.

Last week we had a workshop with the Center for Digital Storytelling, and it was a surprising and powerful experience, Their devoted and charismatic staff compressed what could have taken days into a 10-hour, intensive primer on the process of video storytelling. Our task was to create a video using no more than 250 words and 15 images, which explained why we want to be leaders in the field of public health. We spent a few hours writing and honing our narratives, and then got a fast lesson in video and sound editing to polish it all off. The day just flew by, and when we finally had our debut party at 5 pm it was really amazing to see all the stories come together!

It definitely felt empowering to learn how to craft a message using media I wasn't familiar with. Although I gained a lot from the process of trying to distill my goals in this compelling format, my favorite part of the workshop was learning about the breadth of life experiences amongst our cohort of 12. The stories ran the gamut, and made me appreciate how diverse our goals, talents, and perspectives are. (Well, maybe as diverse as perspectives can be within the liberal bubble of Berkeley.)

I know I definitely struggled to say something meaningful within the 250 word limit, and though I think I could have gone a number of directions with my narrative, I ultimately decided to pay tribute people and places that have inspired me in the last few years. Without much further ado, here it is!

3 comments:

Lauren Baehner said...

Lisa, I agree that the most meaningful part of the experience was hearing everyone's stories and voices. And from your video, I really like your thoughts of how important it is to give community the strength to find their own power to heal and grow.

emariner said...

Lisa, your story was great and I agree learning to use a different media format was a struggle but interesting.

Sarah-py...therapy through Sarah said...

Hi Lisa, I agree! It was interesting to me how some people chose family stories and some people chose work- or community-related stories to best describe themselves and their passion for health leadership. I think it really helped me see a different side of everyone!