So What is Audio Storytelling?

Great Question. One I hope to explore and expand, turn over and refresh during the course of my year. In the meantime - here's an introduction: to audio storytelling and my experiences thus far.

"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each person's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility."
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Every community has a memory of itself.
Neither an archive nor an authoritative record ...
but a living history, an awareness of a
c o l l e c t i v e identity
woven of a thousand stories."
(Center for Digital Storytelling)

Here are a few projects I've worked on:
Most recently, "How did you get here?" a project supported by the Narrative Journalism Fellowship through Middlebury College, scholar in residence, Sue Halpern, and Matt Jennings of Middlebury Magazine. Alongside fellow students Mallory Falk '09 and Sarah Harris '11, we asked our peers about their journeys - literal and figurative - to Vermont. The final product was an audio-visual exhibition featuring the stories of 15 remarkable students.
Click on one of the three photos below to listen to a story.

Brandon Hawkins '11
New York, New York
audio by Sarah Harris

Alhaji Jalloh '11
Freetown, Sierra Leone
audio by Mallory Falk



Jeanine Buzali '09
Mexico, Israel, Spain
audio by Aylie Baker


Storytelling in Uganda
The first audio pieces I ever produced. In the summer of 2007 I received a Kathryn Wasserman Davis Project for Peace grant along with Leah Bevis '09 and Vijay Chowdhari '09. Inspired by NPR's Story Corps, together we traveled to different regions of Uganda to hold storytelling workshops and gather youth radio stories.

In this piece, Ugandan youth from Mukono, Gulu, and Lyantonde asked each other one question: "If you had one wish, what would it be?" Their answers span languages and ethnic and family backgrounds. Some of the audio is poorly captured, but I think you will find their answers inspiring. To read more about our experience, read an article I wrote for Middlebury Magazine, "Uganda's Children."

Portrait of a Vermont Town:
The Heart and Soul Project in Starksboro, Vermont
In a course taught by Middlebury Professors John Elder and Diane Munroe, "students turned three months of community interviews and exploration with Starksboro locals into a collection of digital stories reflecting the town’s unique character and its hopes for the future."

Larry and Sue Shepard

Starksboro is a small town of 1,800 residents - with a strong tie to its agricultural and forestry past. However, like many Vermont towns, Starksboro is also in a state of considerable economic and demographic change. I worked with Robert McKay '09 and Deb Evans '11 to produce a compilation of stories in a publication and with Max Kanter '10.5, Lindsay Patterson '08.5 and Hillary Gerardi '09 on a series of digital stories exploring Starksboro's farming past and future. The Shepard family was one of several farming families we became close with over the course of the semester. Larry Shepard's family has worked the land of Mountain View Farm for five generations. To listen to their story, click on the photo above.

To view our final presentation to the town of Starksboro, click here. For more information, check out the New York Times article, "Vermont Town turns to College in a Bid to Guide Change" and the incredible organization behind the project - currently executing similar projects in Maine, The Orton Family Foundation.

Food Stories
Working with close friends Catherine McCarthy '09 and Mallory Falk '09, mentored by scholar in residence, Sue Halpern, and Gregory Sharrow of the Vermont Folklife Center, we interviewed members of Middlebury's Dining Staff - exploring food as a common ground for stories and expression. The project fell at a particularly pertinent time as many dining staff faced decisions regarding early retirement and impending layoffs. We were lucky to meet and get to know a wonderful group of people, some, but not all, highlighted here, in one of a series of projects we will pursue.

Thanks to Pete Sutherland for music and Angela Evancie '09 for black and white photography.

Y acá me voy a quedar: And here I will stay
This is an audio-visual documentary that I co-produced with my good friend Rachel Asher, a recent graduate from Williams College, while studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This piece takes place in rural Cafayate, in the mountains of northwestern Argentina - a setting drastically different from the hustle and bustle - the beloved "quilombo" some might say - that is Buenos Aires. The Red de Turismo is a fledgling eco-tourism operation designed specifically to incorporate maintaining local traditions and practices while accommodating a growing tourist industry in a sustainable manner. We stayed with and worked closely with two families (The Terraza family pictured here). Click the photo to listen/view their stories (note: all in Spanish):

Community Photography Project: Los Marranitos, Dominican Republic

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
In this project, 7 students from Middlebury College led a photography / visual expression workshop with 20 children from the small mountain town of Los Marranitos in the Dominican Republic. Armed with 7 digital cameras, the children took hundreds of photos of the members of their community. These photos were taken entirely by children. See the photographers and the photos in the above slideshow. Thanks to Peggy Burns, ACE Office, Naomi and Dylan, and Julia Alvarez and Bill Eichner. Student leaders: Megan Mishler '11, Donna Stevens '12, Sean Dennison '11, Ioana Literat '09, Sam Tormey '09, Nick Spengler '09, Aylie Baker '09.

On Storytelling:
Here's a presentation I gave in Princeton this May for the Princeton in Asia Orientation. It's missing some links, but the idea is to utilize digital storytelling in teaching, NGO/policy work, and community service. It's also about representing a place and a people beyond merely photographs.

Learning to Listen

View more OpenOffice presentations from ayliembaker.