Essay and Credits

When deciding the topic of my digital story, I was first thinking of doing the story on the history of Macedonia and their fight to get into the European Union. However, as time went on during the semester and as I read and saw the multiple digital stories, I was able to find how my first experience with digital storytelling should be. Instead, I saw this as an opportunity to have my first digital story to be a more personal experience. “The element of point of view also anchors digital storytelling makes it a suitable genre for therapeutic life narrative.”(Poletti) When reading Poletti’s journal, I saw this reading as a sense of a manual for the overall process. But one part of the reading that really struck me was when Poletti mentions family discussions during family gatherings. (Poletti) After reading this I would describe the idea as a snowball effect, bringing me to the story of my mom and her story of migration. Another inspiration behind documenting my mom’s experience was when I had completed the mapping project. Especially after viewing the images of old newspapers on Alvarez and Fernandez Borderlands website. I felt that digital stories are the new modern form of archiving the past. Just as described in the article, “Deported Childhood Arrivals “From the Famous Estados Unidos” Dreaming in Tijuana” by Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana, “Our project’s approach of listening closely to migrants aligns with the ethical practice of not viewing community narrators as research subjects but instead of recognizing them as knowledge producers” (De La Cruz Santana), would describe the reasoning behind my idea of interviewing my mom. However I wanted to go further in depth and find a more personal reason for the interview. It was finally, when I read Alan Peleaz’s poetry that I read the relationship between him and his mom that made me want to know more on the effects of distance that migration has on family. Although his mom was with him the overall migration process was described as an act that could overall effect the mindset of a parent on their child represented by the quote, “she encouraged my poetry, I believe that the poem offered my mother parental relief: despite crossing a border, my mind was still able to imagine a future outside of our material reality.” (Peleaz). Which is what finally led me to ask the main questions I wanted to know more about and that was how distance affects the relationship between my mom and grandmother. To maintain that authenticity I wanted my digital story to have images but mainly to focus on the words of my mom. Mainly because knowing her, I knew the emotion would shine through if it was unrehearsed and spontaneous. Seeing how being bilingual has the unique ability to reach a larger audience, such as Ana Patricia Rodruguez”s “Entre Mundos/Between Worlds:” Digital Stories of Salvadoran Transnational Migration”. (Chávez) Overall the material provided to me this semester allowed me to have a deeper understanding not only in the innovative form of archiving but also allowed me to have the opportunity to, in a sense, get to know my mom and my grandmother better. 

Work Cited

“Borderlands Archives Cartography: BAC.” Bacartography, www.bacartography.org/. Accessed 12 May 2023. 

Chávez, Denise. “Entre Mundos/between Worlds.” West of 98, 2011, pp. 217–222, https://doi.org/10.7560/723436-041. 

De La Cruz Santana, Lizbeth. “Chapter 4. Deported Childhood Arrivals ‘from the Famous Estados Unidos’ Dreaming in Tijuana.” Migrant Feelings, Migrant Knowledge, 2022, pp. 87–106, https://doi.org/10.7560/326220-006. 

Peleazs, Alan. “Intergalactic Travels: Poems from a Fugitive Alien.” Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/50701388-intergalactic-travels. Accessed 4 May 2023. 

Poletti, Anna. “Coaxing an Intimate Public: Life Narrative in Digital Storytelling.” Continuum, vol. 25, no. 1, 2011, pp. 73–83, https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2010.506672. 

Credits: 

“Colombia Country Profile.” BBC News, 14 Feb. 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19390026. 

“20 Cumbias ’pa Bailar de Coleccion.” Mock & Roll., Los Caminos de la Vida, Los Diablitos

“How Do I Tour the U.S. Capitol and See Congress in Session?: Washington DC.” How to Tour the U.S. Capitol & See Congress in Session, washington.org/DC-faqs-for-visitors/how-can-i-tour-capitol-how-can-i-see-congress-session. Accessed 12 May 2023.