For my term project, I plan to digitize stories of love at Colby- including familial, romantic, and platonic -and demonstrate the ways in which the expression of love has evolved on campus over the past couple of decades. Additionally, I will document this experience via the production of a documentary style short-film that would conclude with an interview with the student who wrote/received the letters. By better understanding the different ways that love, and more broadly emotions in general, have allowed students to emotionally survive on campus, we can see how the struggles of students have remained static. Furthermore, by moving the letters onto a new platform I can ensure that all members of the Colby community, including staff, faculty, and students, can enjoy these artifacts which may otherwise be forgotten.

Thus far, I have identified a treasure trove of letters sent to and from a former Colby student to their family back home. In these letters are the stories of a person of color braving the new frontier, faced with challenges they couldn’t have expected. These letters allow us to empathize and understand the experiences of this student. By documenting the narratives that this individual shares with his mother, we are left with an immortalized online exhibit that demonstrates the inheritance of struggles from one generation to another. This work would also provide a lens that illuminates the lack of institutional memory at Colby. More specifically, if the struggles of Colby students today are the same struggles that students of the past faced, then there is a larger problem that the Colby community must address.

Furthermore, through the production of the short film, I hope to encapsulate my own experiences as a student of color on this campus and compare it to the sentiments shared in the letters. A majority of this work would require a video camera, internet access, and a basic understanding of website development. I will also need to have access to the letters themselves. Throughout this entire process, I will be working closely with Special Collections in order to protect the integrity of the artifacts. Additionally, I will be needing their expertise to transfer the pieces into the online realm. The letters shift the impact of paternal bonds to center-stage.

Over the course of this semester, we have identified and interacted with online databases, user-generated models, and creators who share the stories of their creations. Through all of these discussions, I found that what we really lack on this campus is a history; one that includes both joy and love along with the trials and tribulations that college throws at students. Although the aforementioned letters share struggles that a student of color may face, they also show the blossoming of love. During this time in Colby’s history, where tensions are high between students and the administration, I think that it is integral to share the stories of hope.