How can people use storytelling technologies (from interviews with elders to new artificial intelligence apps) to build a healthier life during the digital age? 

I'm Laken Brooks, and I was raised by my grandparents in rural Appalachia. My grandfather was a dowser or water-witcher: a person who finds sources of water to dig wells. He didn't graduate from the third grade, but he could read the rolling hills like a book to find streams flowing underground. 

Stories refresh me like a glass of fresh spring water. I'm a dowser of words. 

I study folklore, disability, and digital technologies. My journalistic swim lanes include rural life, healthcare accessibility issues, wellness technologies, and gender/sexuality.

Read my writing in national outlets like CNN, Forbes, BuzzFeed, Good Housekeeping, The Washington Post, Refinery29, Salon, and more.