The landing page of the new Relay of Voices website features a flyover view of the Mississippi River, inviting you into the watery landscape where a wealth of stories will unfold. “Start the journey” and you will fly to the beginning of the journey at the Headwaters in northern Minnesota.The journey begins on the “Path View” at the Headwaters, a chapter containing the stories of 16 days of journeying through Minnesota, each day full of a multitude of voices and unique experiences that begin to reveal the nature of the River and its people. Day 1, Storytellers is where we begin.Before diving into each day, a click on the title reveals a legend rife with data about the stories to come. How far was the journey? How hot did it get? What was the destination? Who did they find there? What kind of stories did they hear?The story begins, turn the page, scroll on, get immersed….A horizontal scroll has images bleeding into descriptive text, followed by narration…Moment by moment plays out at your own pace as you move from image to text to video. An alternate way to view the stories is through the “Theme View”‚—an image-based immersion in the concepts and ideas that emerged from each of the stories gathered across the River. As you sift through the current of images flowing toward you, themes emerge that you can land upon and enter into…Once inside a theme, you’ll find all the stories that connect to that idea. Day by day, moment by moment, the voices emerge from the depths to be part of a new dialogue that carries the River forward.
On day 5: “Solo,” the journey lands in Bena, Minnesota spending the day with Ojibwe bead and quillwork artist Mel Losh. His home and studio are littered with the artifacts of his trade, and the stories shared reveal much about the indigenous community in these lands.
On Day 13: “The Most Beautiful Place,” the journey lands in Crosby, Minnesota or the land of Cuyuna Lakes, just off the path of the Mississippi. Here Liz Burns takes us to her beautiful place, the site of the Milford Mine Disaster, which has now been turned into a memorial park.
