Com 440: An Experience in Storytelling
At the beginning of Comm 440 or what I had come to know as digital storytelling. There was no snow on the ground and fall was my GPA after spending the previous semester in a class with a professor who saw it fit to never give me an “A” for my hard work.
Enter, Mr. Sheridan: communication studies department head, journalist and jazz connosieur extrodanaire.
“Good afternoon class”, Mr. Sheridan said as he walked in on the first day. A class that seems like a distant memory now, as I recall moments from the beginning of the semester.
I expected the course to be an analysis of literary works of genius that had come in the form of stories, but I was in for no such luck.
On the first day we were told that the semester would be spent divulging bits of our lives. Moments that I had oh so carefully taken the time to bury so far in the back of my mind that I hoped they would never rise again.
Like a zombie out of the walking dead, I was required to dig into my subconscious and locate the demons that had come to haunt my life for so many years as a young child.
Or so I thought.
This class took me through a journey of questions and self-reflection that brought the sweet taste of nostalgia and the bitter memories of hardships gone by back into my life.
We were, encouraged and critiqued; in tears and in fits of uncontrollable laughter on a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon every week.
Now that I reflect upon it, this class was one of the best that I could have ever hoped for in my almost 4 years in a catholic liberal arts institution.
It taught me how to accept failure and look down from a height that I had never even realized I could have reached. Down to a place that was the be all and end all of my existence only a few years ago.
How fast my life is going by and in the blink of an eye it could be all over at any moment. Mr. Sheridan and my peers helped resurrect insecurities and provide an experience that will live on in my memories forever.
Digital storytelling was more than just work, more than just a university class, and more than I could have ever hoped for. I enjoyed being a source for a change and facing the fear of judgement by my peers. It only served to make me a better person and I would recommend this class, taught by Brian Sheridan to any comm major.
In all, I would like to say thank you for the memories and an unforgettable journey. To the students and faculty in Comm 440 of Fall 2017, it was a pleasure. Good luck on your future endevours.
