Eagle

Hello Eagle, and Hello World. I doubt there are many eyes on this, but that’s not going to stop me today. Words for thousands or words for one still have meaning.

We’ve got four days left and I’ve been slow to keep you in the loop. We’re supposed to be reporting on what makes you “Eagle the boom town,” and yet we’ve shared so little along the way. You’ve kept us busy chasing local legends: people committed to causes, teenagers testing their limits, young people telling their life stories unabashedly.

Every day I ask myself where I fit in here, as a storyteller.

I wish I could give you more, report on everything worth reporting on. Tell what needs to be told. Trumpet your successes and raise your best folks up for the world to see. But the truth is, I’m not doing a very good job, and I’m still trying to figure out why.

I could explain it by complaining. The goals of our project are lofty, and its parameters narrow: How do you stitch together youth, technology and boom-town dynamics in a 3 minute compelling, visual, and emotional package? I could talk about feeling unprepared. But all these are empty excuses. I’m here, I’m alive, and I need to respect the task at hand.

I read this quote the other day from Donna Tartt, and I’m still letting its wisdom feed me: Storytelling and elegant style don’t always go hand in hand.

Elegance. Honesty. Being myself. Letting my boots get dusty. These are today’s gifts, wrapped up in crinkly brown paper and without a pretty bow. Today tumbles out at our feet: maybe with something worth telling, but then again, maybe not.