The Columbus Dispatch: Death Perceptions

Out of all the topics I brainstormed for multimedia pieces in the past, death was never one that had crossed my mind much. However, death found its way into multiple projects I produced last semester. My Boone Life transformed from being about a hairstylist living in Ashland, Mo. to being about a hairstylist in Ashland, Mo. who fixes deceased clients' hair for their funerals. Another long term story that I worked on dealt with the process of what happens to blood after it is donated led me to meet a cancer patient named Bekki. I ended up conducting a video interview with her for another project and she was so inspiring. Receiving the news from her sister that Bekki was going on hospice care was really hard to deal with. It was even harder when she passed away the day before I had planned to visit her for the last time.

Although the stories were challenging emotionally, I was really happy that I was able to tell both of the stories.

When I came across this piece in the Columbus Dispatch, I immediately became interested in how the photos and multimedia aspect would go about telling the story. The team consisted of six different people, Doral Chenoweth III being the photographer for the piece and Randy Walk as the video producer. The team took on many different jobs that deal with death and I liked how there were so many different stories to step into. The amount of access they was able to get with each subject also interested me.

With something as emotionally wearing as death, it also becomes something a lot more intimate. To have experienced death with two different projects in the same semester, I was also able to invest my whole self into them. I look back on both experiences and although they were hard, they also taught me a lot about myself and the stories that I can take on.

I don't know how much I will work on stories dealing with death in the future, however I was able relate to this piece and appreciate it for the story it told.