Finding Alice

The Yellow Notepad

This is the first digital essay I made. I'm quite fond of it even in its rough state as it is what inspired me to move further into exploration of traditional essay with new media.  Once I saw how images, voice, and sound performed in different ways to bring out the subtext of story, I was hooked.

The idea for Yellow Notepad came to me in an epiphanic moment. I had looked at this notepad dozens of times and had never seen much value in it. Then, after rummaging around in a dusty drawer one day, I found it again. This time something stood on the page and in that moment of discovery, I realized the complexity of the story I was trying to tell.

A Life in Letters - Part One

Since these were all linked as one 35 minutes digital show, I had to cut them into segments. Sometimes, it was easier than other times. A Life in Letters - Part One had been one of the problem cuts. At the end of the segment, a sentence is cut off. It should say, "He is an artist."

A Life in Letters - Part Two

I Wore a Spring Dress

Humming

As with much of this blog/vlog, the following digital essay explores the intergenerational effects of my grandmother Alice's relationship with her first husband, Jennings. 

During my search for Alice, it became obvious that movement (in various forms: physical, emotional, geographical...) has played a significant role in the lives of the women in our family.

 

Itchy Feet - 1st part

Because I had created a series of digital essays for my undergrad project many of these clips will have opening credits or movie-like closing credits. They will also be listed as Part One, Two, Three, etc. onscreen.  I am reworking them all for my graduate thesis and many of those will be removed.

This clip is part of a segment called "Itchy Feet," (which was the last digital essay in the series), so it ends abruptly. The second half (to be posted later) has a clear ending to it, an ending I still think is relevant to the entire story, so I hesitate to conclude my ideas so early on the vlog.

Looking back on this piece I notice many quirks and rough pacing/transitions. I'm looking forward to reworking it.

Itchy Feet - 2nd part

                                    

This is the original ending to Finding Alice. The quest to find out who my grandmother was in her early adulthood led to many surprises.