Foster Dickson: "Patchwork: A Chronicle of Alabama in the New South"
Foster Dickson is a writer, editor and teacher in Montgomery, Alabama. He is the author of three books: Kindling Not Yet Split (Court Street Press, 2002), I Just Make People Up: Ramblings with Clark Walker (NewSouth Books, 2009), and The Life and Poetry of John Beecher (Edwin Mellen Press, 2009), and the general editor of Treasuring Alabama's Black Belt (AUM/AHF, 2009).
Foster Dickson was awarded an Arts Teacher Fellowship from the Surdna Foundation for the 2009-2010 school year to conduct the project, "Patchwork: A Chronicle of Alabama in the New South."
In addition to containing traditional research like reading books, studying statistics, and engaging news reports,the "Patchwork" project consisted of Foster Dickson making sporadic jaunts around Alabama to witness and delve into 21st century life in his home state. Foster's goal was to inundate himself with the culture of Alabama for an entire year. The project consisted of an interview series distributed as podcasts on iTunes , a video series on YouTube, and a blog titled Alabama Patchwork. From June 2009 to May 2010, Foster made more than a dozen trips out in the state to visit, meet, and talk with a variety of Alabamians about life in the state now. He worked with Mark Coleman (aka podcaster Spartacus Roosevelt) to produce the podcasts. Though the interview started out being based around a series of "50 Questions," the process later changed to a more conversational format. The end results of this year-long effort to get to know Alabama better as a "place" were 13 podcasts, 23 videos, and a blog with 200 entries, which only showcase a portion of what was seen, heard and experienced. Now that the "research" is complete, Foster is in the process of writing a work of long-form creative nonfiction -- probably a book -- about his experiences.
To go to the project website, click the picture below:
Foster Dickson is a writer, editor and teacher in Montgomery, Alabama. He is the author of three books: Kindling Not Yet Split (Court Street Press, 2002), I Just Make People Up: Ramblings with Clark Walker (NewSouth Books, 2009), and The Life and Poetry of John Beecher (Edwin Mellen Press, 2009), and the general editor of Treasuring Alabama's Black Belt (AUM/AHF, 2009).
Foster Dickson was awarded an Arts Teacher Fellowship from the Surdna Foundation for the 2009-2010 school year to conduct the project, "Patchwork: A Chronicle of Alabama in the New South."
In addition to containing traditional research like reading books, studying statistics, and engaging news reports,the "Patchwork" project consisted of Foster Dickson making sporadic jaunts around Alabama to witness and delve into 21st century life in his home state. Foster's goal was to inundate himself with the culture of Alabama for an entire year. The project consisted of an interview series distributed as podcasts on iTunes , a video series on YouTube, and a blog titled Alabama Patchwork. From June 2009 to May 2010, Foster made more than a dozen trips out in the state to visit, meet, and talk with a variety of Alabamians about life in the state now. He worked with Mark Coleman (aka podcaster Spartacus Roosevelt) to produce the podcasts. Though the interview started out being based around a series of "50 Questions," the process later changed to a more conversational format. The end results of this year-long effort to get to know Alabama better as a "place" were 13 podcasts, 23 videos, and a blog with 200 entries, which only showcase a portion of what was seen, heard and experienced. Now that the "research" is complete, Foster is in the process of writing a work of long-form creative nonfiction -- probably a book -- about his experiences.
To go to the project website, click the picture below: