Since I was a little girl, I have always loved to tell a story. Sometimes it was more along the lines of a white lie, only so I could spend the night at my best friend’s house. Other days it was the grand conquer of a new land in my neighborhood woods. At night I would sit silently, soaking in every word of a story my dad told at dinner. He talked of long nights driving back roads during campaigns, even longer flights to the far East and bullet trains through snow-capped mountains. I like to think that he taught me how to talk like that, too.
Twenty years later, I am still telling stories. Some are about me, of course, but my favorites are of those that surround me, capture me, teach me something new. I believe that telling a story is the most compelling (and effective) way to convey a message. Through this writing, I seek to tell the stories of those that are working to change the world. Addressing social activism will be difficult; so many gray areas leave room for interpretation, or, in some cases, misinterpretation. My writing will be based in story-telling, in giving life to movements that have built themselves through their activity in the media, specifically in the digital realm.
In his New Yorker article “Small Change,” Malcolm Gladwell insists as where activists were once defined by their causes, they are now defined by their tools. Is revolution possible in the digital age? Can their be lasting change when gratification is instant and what’s trending seems to flash by even more quickly than the day before? I’m not sure, but there are sure a whole lot of people trying.
Furthermore, what is a revolution without music? To address this (the answer, I’m pretty sure, is no), I will include a playlist to accompany my weekly post. This week’s includes a few of my favorites and others I have had on repeat as of late.
Written almost a decade ago, “Small Change” brings up many issues I have thought to myself when seeing hopeful activists take the digital world by storm. Gladwell’s main argument seems to be whether or not today’s brand of digital activism can conjure the same “fever” of involvement that was seen in the Civil Rights Movement and in more modern religious movements. I certainly agree that I don’t (or haven’t) seen the long-standing change that came with say, the CRM, or the consistent relevancy of a modern movement for more than a few months. My hope is to more deeply explore the social movements of late and compare their progress and extended relevancy versus the cases Gladwell discusses in his piece.
I love this post. The playlist adds a whole different dimension of multimodality. The Gladwell piece is an excellent choice to start with. You hear a lot about arm-chair activism or “slacktivism” these days, but on the other hand, digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter have facilitated actual social movements, from the Arab Spring to BLM. I’ll be interested to see how this blog develops!
You have really gone all out for your post. I am excited to see what else you will do. You have picked a very interesting topic. Being an activist in today’s modern world is certainly different from how it was back in the day. You certainly seem passionate about the topic and that helps to show me you will be delving very deep into it. Good luck and I hope you keep the enthusiasm.