Issue 2, August 2008
the storyscapists (contributors) |
A story is a story is a
Editor's Note
In our quest to explore what makes a story a “story,” we collected quite an assortment in issue two. Amber Boardman made a work of art out of her answering machine messages. Shelley Jackson’s self-interview turns the simple and self-conscious act of talking to one’s self into a meditation on identity, art, and expression. James Iredell’s mini-stories give the impression of a wide-angle lens snapping shots of the outdoors while human activity crowds the edges of the frame. We found things, too: Storyscape’s illustrator Kevin Hays sent in a page from an English/Mandarin lesson book instructing kids on how to translate a smattering of surprising phrases. And Ryan Scammell’s audio piece explains Why, When Visiting Sacred Sites, It’s Important to Remember You Are not an Aboriginal, but Grew up in the Suburbs—a piece with useful travel reflections on many levels.
After making our final selections, we tried to find patterns in our choices. We noticed that a number of these stories discussed disjointed families, names, modes of communication, and fumbled attempts at connecting with others. Then we thought about what stories are, and mused that a collection of stories forms a disjointed conversation of sorts. The best stories don’t sit there on the page, they talk to you, tell you something urgent about a life outside your own peripheral vision. And then the next story you tell is influenced by those you’ve been told; the conversation continues. Chris Haske’s Dream Project collects the stories of the high school students he interviewed about their dreams—his interactive audio galaxy allows his audience to recreate his story-gathering process. Kimiko Hahn contributed two pieces about the creative process, which she will later incorporate into her students’ curriculum next fall. We’re excited by the notion that these stories provide a playful and useful structure for future dialogue: stories that happened in the past directly impact those we’ll tell in the future. A story tells a story who tells a story.
Editor's Note
In our quest to explore what makes a story a “story,” we collected quite an assortment in issue two. Amber Boardman made a work of art out of her answering machine messages. Shelley Jackson’s self-interview turns the simple and self-conscious act of talking to one’s self into a meditation on identity, art, and expression. James Iredell’s mini-stories give the impression of a wide-angle lens snapping shots of the outdoors while human activity crowds the edges of the frame. We found things, too: Storyscape’s illustrator Kevin Hays sent in a page from an English/Mandarin lesson book instructing kids on how to translate a smattering of surprising phrases. And Ryan Scammell’s audio piece explains Why, When Visiting Sacred Sites, It’s Important to Remember You Are not an Aboriginal, but Grew up in the Suburbs—a piece with useful travel reflections on many levels.
After making our final selections, we tried to find patterns in our choices. We noticed that a number of these stories discussed disjointed families, names, modes of communication, and fumbled attempts at connecting with others. Then we thought about what stories are, and mused that a collection of stories forms a disjointed conversation of sorts. The best stories don’t sit there on the page, they talk to you, tell you something urgent about a life outside your own peripheral vision. And then the next story you tell is influenced by those you’ve been told; the conversation continues. Chris Haske’s Dream Project collects the stories of the high school students he interviewed about their dreams—his interactive audio galaxy allows his audience to recreate his story-gathering process. Kimiko Hahn contributed two pieces about the creative process, which she will later incorporate into her students’ curriculum next fall. We’re excited by the notion that these stories provide a playful and useful structure for future dialogue: stories that happened in the past directly impact those we’ll tell in the future. A story tells a story who tells a story.
Copyright © 2007-2009 Storyscape Journal ISSN 1941-3157