“Loosely” in that it presents group rather than individual experience .
A (loosely) Storycenter-style digital story written and recorded by Team Z (Zoe, Ellie, Liz, Victoria) and facilitated by Kyle over the course of eight Zoom sessions during the Covid-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020 (June 6, 14, 21; August 1, 8, 15, 29; September 12). We elected not to try to do the editing as a team; rather, Kyle produced rough cuts from the team’s instructions during work sessions and submitted them for producer’s notes in between sessions via Instagram group chat.
Three “final” cuts of this video exist (cf the challenges of sharing The Summer Camp and the relative simplicity of sharing Yesenia’s Story, which is audio only):
- The version here is the Researcher Mix for use in publications and presentations. It complies both with Tapestry’s policies for protecting the identity of youth participants and the terms of this project’s IRB protocol. In cases where Tapestry is explicitly named in the voiceover, we recorded pseudonymous and non-pseudonymous versions of the speaker’s line. The need for this action was a useful prompt for revisiting the research framing of the project.
- The [Tapestry] Mix was produced for Tapestry’s use, at their own discretion, in trainings, recruiting, and online. It conforms to Tapestry’s youth-protection practices but not those of the research protocol and will not appear in research publications or presentations.
- The Team [Z] Mix was produced for the team itself for members’ personal use only. The major difference between it and the [Tapestry] Mix is that it includes some alternate versions and alternate crops of photos that do not conform to Tapestry’s youth-protection practices. Primarily, these choices reintroduce images of Zoe’s face.
Annotated Script
We elected to organically “reenact” rather than script this opening scene, so these first ten lines represent a transcript of the recorded interactions rather than the composed script we otherwise worked from.
Opening scene (in the middle of the action)
Zoe: So first off, what season?
Fade in “Good as Hell” by Lizzo
Victoria: Summer
Zoe: What’s your favorite era?
Victoria: Mmmm, ‘20s.
Zoe: 1920s? OK. Choose a color.
Victoria: Blue
Zoe: OK, and now I’m done with the outfit and you get some good lighting.
Liz: Ooooooooh.
Victoria: Nice. So this is a blue long dress with flowy ruffles.
Liz: Very cool.
Prerecorded part ends here.
Zoe: I guess you’re wondering what we’re doing and how we got here.
Comment from Kyle in Google Doc, discussed during pre-recording review: “I changed the order and wording of this part slightly. I think it flows a tiny bit better. This OK?”
Ellie: We used to do fashion shows in person.
Victoria: During Covid, we’re doing them online.
Liz: And we’re thinking back on all the stuff we’ve done together over the years.
Begin section about the early days.
Zoe: When I joined [Tapestry] I thought it was going to be like therapy.
For the research version
Zoe: When I joined Tapestry I thought it was going to be like therapy.
Zoe: ‘Mentor’ sounded like another word for therapist. But they were normal people, it wasn’t uptight. We just hang out.
Comment in Google Doc: “I added this for some extra ‘back and forth’ vibe like [Ellie] was suggesting. Cool?”
Victoria: Every week.
Liz: When we started, the Rec Center was our home base. We would meet there, and there was always something to do. When we wanted some time to ourselves, we’d go up to the rooftop garden.
Begin section about hard days.
Ellie: We have been through a lot together, and some of it has been hard.
Zoe: What we try isn’t always fun. I don’t like hiking!
Victoria: But you tried at least. We will try anything.
Liz: We’ve experienced a lot of change together. One of the biggest changes was losing Peg.
Zoe: There was never a dull moment with Peg, she always had the best stories and so much wisdom to share.
Liz: We were at her funeral and at the reception we were looking at books that Peg had written and illustrated.
Zoe: Her husband Bill came and told us how much she talked about us, how much we meant to her. It made me feel important.
Liz: The night of the funeral we all met up and wrote letters to Peg. We read them to each other and celebrated all the things we wanted to remember about her.
Ellie: It was good that we could grieve together. We still write to Bill a couple times a year, and it helps us keep her memory alive.
Victoria: He always says how vividly he remembers her excitement about going to our meetings.
Ellie: Our mentor team has evolved, but that means the circle of support just keeps growing.
Begin the section on fun days.
Liz: But still, the main theme of our team is fun.
Comment in Google Doc: “I changed this in case people don’t know what ‘All [Tapestry]’ means.
Sometimes we go to events with the other [Tapestry] teams.
For the research version
Victoria: Sometimes we go to events with the other Tapestry teams.
See Tracings link in second pizza reference below.
Zoe: My pizza was really good because I put a lot of olive oil, mozzarella, and pepperoni. The dough was round and perfect.
Comment in Google Doc: Some more extra back and forth.
Ellie: I can still taste it.
Liz: And like we said, there were fashion shows.
Zoe: We went to Macy’s and picked different categories: skater boy, goth girl, princess. We voted on each other’s looks.
Victoria: For birthdays, we usually keep it small.
Zoe: But for my fourteenth, we went to a fancy Italian place.
Notice that she delivered this line slightly differently.
Liz: We couldn’t decide what to order, so we got all the desserts.
Begin section about the future
Victoria: Going forward, we want to be able to return to some of our favorite activities.
Zoe: Cooking
Ellie: Swimming
Again, delivered slightly differently. Also, it turns out the pizza lines contain multitudes [link].
Liz: And always the best pizza.
Victoria: We hope to branch out for new adventures.
Zoe: Like a trip to Great America.
Ellie: Who knows, maybe even a past mentor meet-up on the East Coast?
But really most of all, we’re most excited to hug again.
This was a placeholder in the script. What follows is a transcription of the editing choices that followed.
Lizzo? Bloopers fade out?
Fade in “Good as Hell” by Lizzo. Roll credits.
Ellie: I’m just curious if you have any plans for bloopers.
I did produce a cut of the introduction using Taylor Swift’s “Style.” Unsurprisingly, the team opted for Lizzo instead.
Liz: Oooooh, you know another song that could be good, but I don’t know if you guys like it, is “Style.”
Zoe: Oh my God.
Liz: Is that a “no”?
Zoe: No, it’s just that you love Taylor Swift.
Liz: I don’t love Taylor Swift. I like Taylor Swift.
Zoe: I breathe Taylor Swift.
Ellie: Aluminum linoleum.
Liz, Ellie, Victoria, Kyle repeating: Aluminum linoleum.
Zoe: What am I supposed to say?!
References