Here’s a digital story I created at a workshop with the Center for Digital Storytelling in Washington D.C. last April.
The Fleeting Thought vs. The Thoroughly Plotted Idea
As I continue to add to this blog I sense two ideas developing of what an appropriate post should be.. and they seem to contradict each other.
The Fleeting Thought vs. The Thoroughly Plotted Idea.
I love simple posts. A photograph taken from a cell phone. A music video. A short poem. A link to something silly or fascinating or pretty.
But is that type of media worthy of an audience when the blogosphere is also home to extensive editorials, well-researched articles, pulitzer-prize contending photographs and videos that people have poured years into creating?
I must say that as the internet continues to take its shape, I do less focused reading, studying, watching.. and a lot more glancing, scrolling and skimming.
Is it because of this that my attention span suffers? Do little blog blips makes us dumber?
Sasha Frere-Jones recently shared his blog, Songs You Taught Me, with the New York Times, narrating a slideshow with his thoughts on where all the new media fits in.
“I think some people get really angry at the web for not acting like a library. Where every book is intentional and carefully put together and trying to add to some base of knowledge. The web does do some of that but it also does something that’s much more like a telephone conversation..”
”..There are people who spend a day putting together a thoughtful 5-paragraph post and they are doing great work. There are also people posting photographs of onions and sodas that they can’t understand the name of and that’s more of a conversation with friends and people who might like them and that’s okay too. These things are not going to destroy each other.”
Like so many things, it seems that by changing our expectations we can accept things for what they are. Unless there is truly good reason to fight it, we can make a home for both the fleeting thought and the thoroughly-plotted idea.
I suppose I can forgive myself for burning 30-minutes watching clips of sneezing zoo animals on YouTube as long as I follow-up by actually reading a moderate portion of the Huffington Post.
And I can embed a pretty music video on my tumblr as long as I balance it out with a more thoughtful post.. like this one.
— Abed Z. Bhuyan, Read the article here.
Miss Wendy sent me this lovely video the other day - it made me so happy I thought I would share it with all of you.. by ‘all of you’ I mean the 2-3 people who look at my tumblr :)
Laughter Yoga
I recently fell in love with this multimedia piece about Laughter Yoga from the New York Times. Laughter Yoga is a growing phenomenon. In fact a friend of mine from Bethel, Alaska is beginning her Laughter Yoga Instructor’s training this Fall. Self-induced laughter might be just the trick for those cold and dark winter days! To learn more about Laughter Yoga from a fabulous instructor in Bend, Oregon go here!
Great Elk played at Rockwood Stage 2 on Thursday night.. that room is beautiful but a big, black hole when it comes to taking photos. A few turned out and here they are!
Wonderous things happened back in the Fall of 2008. Wonderous things like Barack Obama getting elected into office and Erica Rudy moving to the big city! Back in the Fall of 2008 Miss Rudy and I would spend our funemployment on photo shoots like these. Since she is the only person looking at my tumblr on a regular basis I thought I would honor her with this post!
I had a blast photographing Anna and Cris’ gorgeous wedding in Vermont on August 7th - the couple was surrounded by fabulous people, great food, beautiful flowers and lots of dancing and music - and I got to be a part of it all! Congratulations Anna and Cris! Enjoy the shots and then go here to watch the slideshow!
