This story centers around the life of young kid who volunteers as a literacy teacher for their baranggay.

Synopsis: Having grown up in Saudi Arabia, Sittie found it really hard to adjust to the lifestyle and culture of Davao City. Later on, she realized that identities are fluid and that borders are crossed in order to survive and be able to share friendships with other people her age.

Synopsis: Honey tells a story about the first time she bathed in a public bath in Japan.

Synopsis:

Tap dance is a difficult dance form to master. One has to start at a very young age to be able to make fluid rhythm on stage. Clyd Rubas, UP Mindanao Dance Ensemble’s sole major hoofer, shares his experience of starting out late in dancing, and then acquiring the passion for it. He also shares his experiences as a male dancer in an otherwise female-dominated troupe.

The script I recall was written by Doyle Abrio during a scripting exercise we did in class. I found it very earnest yet insightful.

Storytellers: Gian Alexis Abian, Doyle Felix Abrio, Lucky Ebrole,Vincent Gasmin, Datu Nasser Pendatun Jr.

I envision this blog to contain not just my students’ pieces but other pieces from the various Digital Storytelling workshops that my sister Pearl and I are planning to share in communities all over Mindanao. Right now, some of the pieces in the site are outputs of Pearl’s students in the Digital Storytelling workshop she recently conducted in the summer under the MindaNews and GSIS Summer Youth Program.

I started with this crazy idea of coming up with a “Center for Digital Storytelling” in Mindanao right after I stumbled upon this very inspiring sites www.storycenter.org and www.storiesforchange.net.

There I learned just by reading and viewing the samples that digital storytelling offers many uses aside from entertainment. I come from the belief that all stories inform, instruct and entertain. In other words, stories in whatever form have and must stir the mind, and push the envelope of what is considered normalized.

I learned that digital storytelling could be a tool for change (socially, behaviorally, etc.); perhaps not in a gargantuan global way, but change nonetheless perhaps in terms of paradigms and outlooks. Digital storytelling is basically, a communicative practice thereby making it one of the most effective ways of bringing forth information to an audience or individual. Because it operates on the merging of different media—text, images, and sound—it can be effective as an information tool.

Every personal story, no matter how trivial for some, holds a kernel of wisdom. Hence, I believe that it is important that an individual’s and not just a collective’s personal narratives be heard. My dream then is to widen this scope of digital storytelling around Mindanao; to really gather more stories from people in various communities. Teach them how to create digital stories on their own so that they can share these stories. After all, these are their narratives.

This blog then contains some digital stories I gathered from my students, friends, and some created personally by me. The common denominator I think is that they are made/created by people from Mindanao. Otherwise, you will not find grand narratives here about Mindanao. You will find personal narratives though, short and stirring enough to make you think.