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The Digital Alchemist

Open Participants 2017, The Network

A talented cook bakes a cake made of stars. A professor of…

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A talented cook bakes a cake made of stars. A professor of English literature is looking for an enormous turtle in a Sicilian garden. A party of bears are on a secret mission. Their aim is to find the lost king of Sri Lanka. An astronomer finds a golden angel in Miami. A lily causes anyone who smells it to believe they are a firefly. A software developer possesses a unique skill: She can sense the presence of mermaids. A […]

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Open Participants 2017, The Network

Where Warriors Fall Out of the Sky

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NOTE: This story is based on a Five Card Flickr draw of five random images. The challenge is to combine all five images into one story. Where Warriors Fall Out of the SkyOnce upon a time I lived alone in the midst of unpeopled landscape and that was my fault. I hadn’t been able to save them. Every day I went in search of those who had passed this way before me and those I had loved. My parents and husband, […]

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Digital Alchemy Gold, Open Participants 2017, The Network

Dr. Flores! My Head is Exploding!

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What the heck just hit me?I got a nice nag from Alan Levine like maybe I could show up for the first ever Studio Tour (whazzat?) for the Network Narratives class out of Kean University I’m taking as an Open Participant. Gotta grade, so yeah, anything is better than that.Wander to computer. Turn on, jack in, fall out of chair an hour later with flowers exploding out the top of my curly brown head.This was a Google hangout with students […]

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Open Participants 2017, The Network

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous: Two Weeks of #netnarr

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So they all set sail in the Good Ship Arganee.World for their voyage into the great unknown web of Networked Narratives. The crew members were all given their tasks and told to hop to! And now we report back in with the evidence of our journey to date.Photo: 2017 started cold and snowy in Eugene, Oregon. I climb the local buttes every week just to keep an eye on the unfolding seasons.I boarded the Good Ship Arganee.World when an open […]

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Open Participants 2017, The Network

Water, Air, Earth, Fire: How I Learned About the Creative…

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Water, Air, Earth, Fire: How I Learned About the Creative Cycles During session six of our Seven Stages Storywork webinare, Joe Lambert of The Storycenter in Berkeley, CA (a class I took as part of my Graduate Certificate in Digital Storytelling from UC Denver) put forward several theories or metaphorical ways of thinking about the Creative Cycle. His writing prompt was:“Tell a story about a time when you were given permission to express yourself through your creativity. Bring us to the […]

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Open Participants 2017, The Network

Water, Air, Earth FireFour elements to rule us all…This…

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Water: Storm Surge on the Oregon Coast Water: A Sand Dollar's pattern repeats the patterns water takes everywhere Air: Eerie lighting effects at Spencer's Butte indicates ice in the atmosphere Air: The eagles catch the draft as they look for their eyrie destroyed by the winter snow and ice storms Earth: A gull skull discovered in a Oregon Coast sand dune Earth: A shark vertebrae is part of a display at the Hatfield Marine Science Center Fire: A vermillion sunset […]

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Open Participants 2017, The Network

The Greenhouse: An Alchemical Fable

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When Marta, our new neighbor, came over to visit my gGrandma Sophia, she caught sight of Grandpa down in the orchard. “So young and handsome,” she said slyly to Sophia, “my dear, you must tell me your secret!” “No secret there,” Sophia replied, “You must know he is my second husband?”Sis and I looked at each other and waggled our eyebrows in a silent communication. Sophia looked at us sternly. “You girls run along now.”We made like smoke and slid […]

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Open Participants 2017, The Network

Kyrie Eleison Hello Eagle mom and Eagle child, home from your…

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Kyrie Eleison Hello Eagle mom and Eagle child, home from your winter vacation, welcome to your ruined eyrie; we had an ice storm while you were away. Hello and good morning my Minky cat, slowly dying there on the couch, eating and drinking only from my hand, your unflagging, affectionate purr… Hello to the dawn and a sunny day, and Oregon rain and the midwinter cool, and all the bad news roiling like clouds along the horizon both distant and […]

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Open Participants 2017, The Network

Is a Gif a Story?

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In a post yesterday called What Is(n’t) a Story? , I mounted an argument by definition on what is and isn’t a story. Even though my friend Alan Levine is leery of such arguments; to wit: @twoodwar @sandramardene This is why I usually avoid definition discussions ;-)— Alan Levine (@cogdog) January 19, 2017 …in my world of teaching community college argumentation, the definition is a valuable opening move. It helps clarify thinking. It gives members of a discourse community like Networked Narratives […]

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Open Participants 2017, The Network

What Is(n’t) a Story?  At the heart of anything called a…

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Goya, "The Third of May 1808," (1814. Oil on canvas, 266 х 345 cm. Museo del Prado, Madrid) "Still Life with Golden Bream," (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. 1808-1812) What Is(n’t) a Story?  At the heart of anything called a story is a shattered world. The moment destabilizes, and after that, nothing is ever the same. A story is a dynamic structure in which something happens and is always happening.  An animated gif is not a story. It mindlessly and maddeningly repeats itself.  A […]

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Open Participants 2017, The Network

What’s on my keychain? (Click for video)

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What's on my keychain? (Click for video): I made this video Jan. 25, 2012, four years ago. It was fun and startling to look back on it and to reflect on how much has changed. I am four years older, and the visual difference between 61 and 66 turns out to be quite a bit. “I grow old, I grow old. I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled,” says J. Alfred Prufrock, and I’m starting to get the […]

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