EXSM 3989 - Digital Storytelling Class Blog

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I was raised in Port Llast, literally one of the most boring places in the whole world. Nothing ever happens there. You get up at the crack of dawn to try and make it out on the water before every other fisherman, come back to the docks to sell the stinky fish, go to the pub and then pass out early so you can wake up the next morning and do it all again. 

My dad said I was the last unusual thing to happen to the town. He found me as a baby in his fishing boat one morning, and apparently I was so quiet he wouldn’t’ve even noticed it except that he almost sat on me. Everyone I grew up with was human. I… am clearly not. Although I can pass if I pull my hood up high and cover my pointed ears with my hair. 

No one let me forget that I was weird, so I didn’t have that many friends as a kid. I mostly hung out with my dad, which was great, don’t get me wrong. But like I said: fish – docks – pub – sleep – repeat. 

When I was old enough I headed out for Waterdeep. I knew my way around the docks, was a decent sailor, and getting pretty good at navigating, so I figured I’d be able to find a job that could at least give me a little more excitement. 

That has definitely been true. 

On my last job, we were on our way to Daggerford, across the Sea of Swords. I was standing on the crow’s nest keeping an eye out, when this massive raven landed in front of me with a letter and this big old ruby attached to it’s leg. Finally, I was getting some sort of adventure. 

It’s kind of a long story from there, but after a dinner party with this old baron dude and a bunch of random strangers, he died mysteriously and we all ended up here in Barovia. “The Plane of Dread,” or whatever. It hasn’t been too bad – there’s lots of nice animals and so far I’ve adopted one stray dog, a crate of frogs, and a horse named Cinnamon. On the down side, everyone seems to be trying to kill us. 

Good news though – I’ve finally made some friends! These guys are the best, even though they’re a little quirky. We’re on our way to a winery right now, so it’s almost like we’re on a cool road trip together. 

I’ll post again when we get there with a brunch review. 

XOXO, 

Aerah. 

This is a story about my daughter and I, and Mindy Kaling’s series, Never Have I Ever.

If you haven’t watched this awesome series on Netflix already (WTH are you doing, go watch!), it is about an Indian-American teenager and her relationships with the world around her.

I am of East Indian origin. My daughter is mixed race, white and East Indian. When I was naming my newborn daughter, I gave her an East Indian name, as I knew that, living in England, then Canada, we wouldn’t really have much to do with East Indian culture – I wanted her to have a piece of her heritage in her name.

As she is growing up, however, we have struggled to bond. The ‘East-Indian Mother’ stereotype is strong in me (even if I am trying hard to not be that mom), and she does not respond well. So we’ve been at odds for a while, despite our deep love for each other.

Then came Never Have I ever and Devi Vishwakumar and her mother Nalini, and we fell in love.

That’s Nalini, up there, and she is me. I identify so strongly with her, in so many ways. The constant desire to be better, to be cool, to bond with my daughter – but not knowing how, the sarcastic Indian mom one-liners… seriously, Nalini is me.

My daughter, we’ll call her Miss Adz, laughed so hard at the one-liners, nudging me every time we watched the show, “Mom, she’s you!”. Also, the TikTok video below… Adz was in hoots of laughter… “You’d so make me do that, mom”

@netflix

full never have i ever dance 💃 #neverfitin #neverhaveiever #nhie #netflix

♬ original sound – Netflix

Miss Adz also identified a lot with Devi. The slightly nerdy, super smart Indian kid who struggles socially and emotionally, but is sure of herself, and her place in the world. Now if only the world would see it her way. Despite her age, she considers herself really mature.

What Devi and her mom really did though, was bring Miss Adz and I closer in real life. As she grows up, I’ve felt her independence, and it’s hard for me to let go. But as Devi and Nalini teach me, I have to let go to let her grow into the amazing person I know she is going to be.

As Devi’s therapist tells her:

“You’re not crazy. You just feel a lot. And that’s why sometimes, you hurt a lot. But that’s also why you’ll lead an emotionally rich life.”

Words to live by.

If Forrest Gump can teach us that “life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get”; then I suppose the same can also be said for using mistinted paint for a DIY transformation in your home. Until you open that can and start painting, you really don’t know what you’re going to get!

I recently received the news that I was now going to be permanently working from home. Suddenly, the temporary work space that I had hastily set up for myself last fall served as a stark reminder that I would need to spruce up my surroundings or find myself feeling a little on the sad side. I was also sick of having my background blurred in virtual meetings in an attempt to hide the growing pile of junk in my basement office.

I wanted a fun and vibrant space, but I also didn’t want to spend any money on this project.

While we’re told working from home is permanent, it’s hard to imagine that as a 5- or 10- year plan. So I knew that whatever I did might just be temporary – plus my approach to paint has always been to try it; you can always change it later!

To keep costs down, I decided to take a chance and purchase some mistinted paint from Lowes and Canadian Tire. What are mistints you ask? When a customer isn’t happy with how a paint color mixes up, stores will sell these “oops” paints at a deep discount.

Using mistints is also a great way to keep the project environmentally sustainable as these paints avoid getting sent directly to the eco stations.

But, it can be a bit risky, as you have to wonder how you will make a paint that someone hated enough to return to the store look decent.

Also, I had decided I was going to use several different colours in a geometric pattern. So not only did I need colours that complemented each other, but they also generally needed to be the same kind of paint finish.

If you plan to mix colours in a pattern, consult a colour theory wheel to give you an idea of colours will go together. And if you plan to use mistints, be patient. I think it took me a couple weeks and multiple store checks to find some colours that I thought might go together.

I also made sure to use leftover paint from previous house projects as I already knew and approved of the colour, and it’s a great way to reduce paint you need to get rid of in the future.

For your next DIY paint transformation, consider using leftover paint or mistinted paint to keep your project costs down and reduce your environmental footprint.

During my Digital Storytelling course (and honestly, the entirety of my Social Media Marketing Certificate), I have learned so much about how to optimize my storytelling for social media, captivate my audiences, and drive engagements.

I’ve identified four tips that I believe are essential to know when creating digital content and telling stories as a brand. They are tips that I have gathered over the course of this program that I find to be the most helpful, especially for a beginner whos just getting into digital storytelling and doesn’t quite know where to begin.

Check out this video for a brief overview of all four tips:

Here are the tips in more detail:

1. Use video.

To put it simply, people are more likely to watch an entire video than sit through reading an entire article from beginning to end. In the age of social media, people will scroll away from a post with barely any hesitation if it takes too long to read, or doesn’t captivate them immediately within the first few moments. Video allows the author to tell a story in a shorter period of time, while also using immersive imagery and trigger genuine human emotions in a shorter amount of time. Using video also drives up engagements!

2. Master transmedia storytelling.

Using multiple social media platforms amplifies your voice and presence. It allows more people to view your content, no matter which platform you are using. Whether you’re using Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn, or any other platform, each one has unique features to leverage, and varying audiences which exposes your stories to new groups.

3. Pay attention to story structure.

This diagram speaks for itself! Back to basics— a good story has a clear beginning, middle, and end, and uses this chart as a guideline.

4. Align your story with audience values.

In order to do this, you need to identify your target demographic and curate content that resonates with them. Before you begin your digital storytelling journey, understand that the first step to captivating your audience is to determine the following: What does your target audience love? Hate? What makes them sad? What inspires empathy in them? What do they do/buy/want/feel?

You’re ready to start storytelling!

There is nothing like a well earned cocktail at the end of the day. This drink was inspired out of necessity and the common good...well at least that's what I'll keep telling myself!

It’s summertime, which means adventures, delicious fresh food and time spent out in the sunshine!

But, on a morning walk I was reminded that I am not the only one enjoying everything the season has to offer- the bears are too! The evidence of both bear’s presence and their love for berries is dotted along the trails by the river, in town and of course, around my house!

Take a peek at this helpful guide to see if your house is too welcoming to these giant furry friends…

Around this time last year, it resulted in multiple encounters with Boo; yes, the town gave him a cute name.  One evening, Boo was even relaxing under our pergola until my dog snuck around us at the door and chased him down the street. 

It’s a cute story now, but wasn’t at the time, especially for poor Boo! He was just looking for a treat.

Now, for the delicious part… If you have never had saskatoon berries, they are a treat!  After a good year with some watering, and plenty of sunshine they grow to the size of a blueberry, are sweet, and leave a surprising almond-y after taste in your mouth.  mmMMmmm. 

Now, all that’s left is to pop these into everything I eat this week! They make a delicious addition to salads, baked goods, a fantastic pan sauce on seafood, chicken and beef or simply topped on ice cream. 

I decided that the best way to cap off the day was with a drink. With a bounty of berries and a ridiculous amount of basil, I whipped up this summer cocktail. Oh boy, does it taste like summer!

Ahhh, hard work never tasted so good. Well, it wasn’t really hard work, but this refreshing drink feels well deserved.

Give it a try yourself, and let me know what you think!

Cheers!

I was only 11 when I found the spot for my dream home. I was out checking cows and/or crops with my dad when I spotted this perfect spot for a house on one of our quarters of land.

I had that thought, and then did nothing about it for more than 20 years. Eventually a good friend gave me a kick in the butt – by gifting me a giant binder with a shrinky dink tag that said ‘Brenda’s House Thoughts.’

It was unbelievably the kick I needed. I had a binder. NOW I COULD DO THIS.

It’s been nearly 12 years since I started planning, and nearly 11 years since I moved into the house. The work didn’t end then. Developing an acreage from scratch is not for the faint of heart. Ideally one has money, time, tools, large equipment, and willing helpers.

Thankfully I had most of those things. If I didn’t have them, eventually I found a way to get them.

As I went through the building process I made sure to take photos and video to document the process. So this is just step one of a multi-part story that I plan to work on in my spare time over the next several weeks and months.

I made a video to talk about how I found the house of my dreams. This is only Part 1 of what will likely be a very long drawn out story. *I tend to be a little wordy, bless my heart*

Azalea floats. She has flowed, she is flowing, she will flow. Forever. She has been drifting on the currents for so long. Her fins whisper, her tail sighs. She floats.

The current intersects her with a cloud, glowing, and she brushes against the gases, taking a drink. It is nice to feel something different on her skin once in a while. She glimpses her reflection on the way by, pale, quiet, her tree the usual brown. What is she doing here?

The glow fades to twilight as she drifts on before completely disappearing. For as long as she can remember, Azalea has slipped through the cosmos.

The current brings her by a pebble, drifting along with her. As they cross paths, Azalea feels her leaves murmur. A feeling? For the first time, she slows down so she can inspect the pebble. It is tiny, maybe the size of her eye. Staring at the rock, Azalea swims against the current, waiting to understand what is happening. The rock is oblong, reddish gray, pock-marked in her glow. It is a fascinating shape, imperfect, ugly, dull and Azalea believes she could hang there forever, inspecting it. Her attention drifts. She is patient. She has time. She has all the time.

She sees another tree. Huge, beautiful. Swimming alongside, laughter flowing. They are dancing. They are joy. Effervescent. Who is that? She doesn’t know.

She looks back at the pebble: it is the same. Grey, lumpy. It is magical. She feels her leaves rustle again. Intrigue. She lets the current float her onward, away from the magical rock. She passes a nebula and studies her reflection, slowing down for a second time. Is she brighter than usual? Maybe it’s her imagination. Her glow seems to pulse faintly, her leaves are still rustling in excitement. She does a double take. What is that colour? Does she have a green leaf?

She tries to laugh, like in her vision. But it sounds all wrong. She stops. Instead, she tries out a move, pushing fast through the cloud, and slowing down abruptly with a twirl. It feels nice. She floats on. Maybe she’ll find another rock.

She sails on in the sea of nothing, carried by the tides. But she feels… a buzz… Excitement. That’s the feeling. She drifts by a nebula not unlike those she used to drift by before, but this time she decides to investigate. More rocks could be hidden beyond.

As she enters the nebula, she is surrounded by colour, light, and she is suddenly elsewhen. The other tree is back beside her, magnificent. Bright, green, brilliant, glowing. They swim gracefully, weaving through the rocks. The rocks are huge, nothing like her small pebble, but also very similar. Snapped out of the vision by a thought.

“That was me,” she says, in wonder.

When did she ever have a companion? Where did they go? She remembers being alone. But also not being alone. She swims on, purposefully. Curious. Searching for something. Another rock? Another memory?

She dives onward, practicing her dancing, and almost runs into a ball of light. Larger than her rock, maybe the size of her fin. Smooth and round, it glows so brightly it almost hurts to look at. So Azalea closes her eyes and remembers. She remembers the first star she saw, the other tree drawing her close. It was warm, so big, but not next to her mother. Her mother was enormous. She remembers.

The stellar wind buffets her fins and she snaps out of the dream. Her mother. She is surprised she remembers, surprised she forgot. Her leaves shiver, and she feels, as she dances around the star, frolicking in its light, its heat, its waves. She feels the love of her mother, the joy of song, the rapture of her first taste of stardust, the excitement of venturing into a nebula alone, and the relief when her mother found her. Dancing to the sound of the nebula, so much more lively than the sober tune outside. Maybe she’ll never leave. But maybe there are other memories out there, other feelings. What else can she feel?

Still dancing, she says goodbye to the star — her magical awakening — and swims out into open space. Chasing purpose. How could she have forgotten? Where did time go?

A bright sound reaches her and she follows it back to its source, the rumble piercing through her shell, opening another memory, and she sees her mother, smaller. Or was she bigger?

Corralling the asteroids, guiding them, trailing them like an extension of her tail. “Once these were stars”, she said. “Soon they will be dust, memories. But they are always beautiful.”

Her mother, only a little larger than Azalea, less bright, still beautiful. Her song is mellow, quiet, proud, as she tells Azalea about her own mother, her own travels, her own memories. “When I was little, smaller than you, my dearest, my mother sang to me of her grandmother, the brightest tree in the universe. My mother told me of her grandmother’s grandmothers, the myriad trees living together, the stars, the life she felt, the life she lived. She told me of clouds that sozzle and dust that dazzles. Even just the two of us can live alive.”

Her mother, smaller, fading. Sadness pouring off Azalea as she knows her mother isn’t forever. As they swim toward the endless horizon, freeing a planet here, sending a star there, Azalea feels lost even before she has lost. Afraid. Her mother comforts, singing the song of the universe, her favourite lullaby. Azalea calms, feeling peace, remembering contentment.

Her mother tiny, dead. Drifting on the waves, no longer in control, no longer leading, showing, teaching. Death. Azalea remembers death. The blazing pain, the booming panic, the horrified loneliness, the loss of colour, the dimming of the stars, withdrawing into the darkness, and finally the vengeful silence.

Azalea reaches the origin of the bright rumble. The dark song beckons, and Azalea is drawn to the emptiness and the song quiets. She feels at home. Azalea drifts into the darkness, comforted by the stillness, the slowing. Numbing. Forgetting.

How long does she float, unmoving, uncaring? As she lets her memories slip by, she catches one. Her mother, massive, as big as a galaxy, looking right at her, smiling. “One day, my love, you will look around at the sky and know you are home, even when it hurts.”

Azalea holds on to that thread of her mother, remembering her solace in the moment. Thinking of the star she found, hidden away inside a nebula. That warmth, that joy. Even fleeting, it’s worth feeling again. Considering the space around her, drifting timelessly, even here in the quiet, there is sound if she listens hard enough, a thin, scintillating melody, filtering in through the edges of the deep, stretched by time. Even here in the emptiness, there is matter if she is still enough hard enough, the particles bumping into her, sustaining her tree. Even here in the darkness, there is light, the faint glow reflecting off the dust, reflecting from her own body, but also sneaking in from outside. Like her memories. Sneaking back in. Rushing in, breaking her.

Feeling. She bursts backwards out of the black hole, and explodes back into time and space, blasting past galaxies as her feelings erupt. It is too much! Her tree is convulsing, her skin vibrating, her fins unable to stop her. She opens her mouth, her eyes, and releases a dazzling scream. Feeling relieved, she watches in fascination as her scream pierces through a nearby cloud, scattering it, and in dread as it does not dissipate as her song usually does. The scream is trumpeting towards a galaxy. Horrified, Azalea swims, faster than she has ever swum, and dives ahead of her scream before it gets too big, even for her. As it breaks onto her skin, she feels the feelings all over again, the fear ripping into the trunk, the anger shearing off branches, the grief crushing the detritus, and the joy making it all worth it.

The galaxy behind her shudders in the aftershocks and Azalea breathes out, heavily, quietly, grateful that she arrived in time. With her feelings diffused, she treads space for a while, thinking, calming her tree. She slowly swims away again, slipping between the stars. She remembers her mother and unbinds a song of outrage, fuelling a nearby star. She remembers her youth and releases a song of exultation, nourishing a cluster of asteroids as she passes. She remembers her loneliness and whispers a song of mourning, bolstering a cloud in the distance.

As she swims around the galaxies, among the stars, between the planets, and through the clouds, she encounters newness, laughing, crying, yelling as she goes. For too long, her song had been quiet, singing it only to herself. She may be the last tree in the universe, but her song affects the dust and the stars, the clouds, the streams. Maybe there are other trees out there, spread out further than before. For the first time in a long time, Azalea feels hope.

Be well, my love.

---

Author’s note

If you’ve ever struggled with emotional numbness, not feeling anything, or caring about anything, please talk to someone about it. You can read about my own experience with numbness as a teenager here.

Oxford dictionary defines mindfulness as “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique”.

Everyone’s journey will be different, and that’s okay.

But everyone has the ability to be mindful.

I encourage you to strengthen this ability. Grounding yourself in the present moment, feeling gratitude for your mind and body, will help build the resilience needed for the many challenges and distractions in life.

Using Instagram @raehodgson I shared what mindfulness means to me.

Take a look!

It is important for me to be in nature. I go for walks, watch the birds, feel the breeze on my skin – all of these help ground me in the present moment.

Another key moment in my mindfulness journey was learning to focus on my breathing. I make sure to find a comfortable, quiet place. I breathe in for four seconds and out for four seconds…

So simple, yet effective to calm my racing thoughts.

I stay active, keeping my body in motion for at least an hour each day. This builds gratitude for my body and all the amazing things it is able to do. This exercise is highly effective to build appreciation in all aspects of life.

Lastly, I ask for you to share what mindfulness means to you. Please do not hesitate to participate in this conversation as we have a lot to learn from one another.

Always remember, we are in this together.

Take care of yourself.