![Picture of Laken smiling. She has a blue jacket and a blue necklace.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/c4ceb4_0bba499af5424494a934928de8e2e35f~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_105,y_0,w_1295,h_1295/fill/w_480,h_480,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/IMG_1930_edited.jpg)
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.