Digital Story Brainstorming

Three Generations On the Road

Without “spilling the beans” on my upcoming digital story, I can tell you that I was inspired by prompt number one “Describe a positive childhood experience…”  At some point in my childhood, I don’t remember when (fourth grade perhaps), I traveled with my father and my grandfather from West Virginia to Arkansas to attend the funeral of my great-grandmother Alice Brown.  I couldn’t have imagined it then, but this trip was so important in two ways.  First, it gave me my first tangible connection to an older generation… one that was born in the 19^th Century, had children in the 1920s, raised them through the Great Depression and sent them to WWII.  I got to see their land, and feel their values.  Secondly, it began a Kerouacian fascination with driving across the United States (and other places in North America).  The hotels, the diners, the waitresses, the alligator farms, the lakes, the trains, towns, the roads, and the people became a part of my life.  Without a doubt this left in me the taste of American-style wandering, and an interest in the associated literature.  I can say without exaggeration that this spiraled into a deep connection to the Beat Generation, which ultimately inspired me to become and English teacher.

This digital story will not be as easy as it sounds.  Already, I am researching our road trip route, and I need to do some interviews with family members to see how old I was, what car we drove, and a few other details I can’t quite remember.  Also, I need to get into my mother’s photo album collection and scan a multitude of images.  It should be a nice drive down formative memory lane.