Michigan State University (MSU) is channeling its collective grief and anguish into a unique form of storytelling and documentation, through a project rightly called MI Diaries, after a mass shooting jolted the Spartan community last year. Spearheaded by MSU linguistics professors Betsy Sneller and Suzanne Evans Wagner, this initiative has morphed beyond its academic origins into a vessel for healing and sharing in the wake of the pandemic and the February 13th tragedy, as reported by MSU's College of Arts and Letters.
The diaries' collection swiftly took on a new significance as students actively chose to immerse themselves in the aftermath of violence, with some even submitting entries the night of the shooting. "We actually started getting responses from people before we even asked anyone about it," Betsy Sneller said, according to CBS Detroit. The project leverages audio recordings from volunteers, creating a therapeutic platform for those desiring to express and to process their emotions. Sneller sees the project’s longevity intertwined with its ability to secure funds, saying, "it would be amazing for this to last for 50 years."
With more than 6,000 individual records from over a thousand participants, MI Diaries encapsulates a rich tapestry of personal narratives. Suzanne Evans Wagner articulated the heart of the project, "We want people to be able to authentically talk about their experiences," as per MSU's College of Arts and Letters.
As MSU grapples with reverberations of violence, its host city East Lansing faces demographic shifts and possible funding repercussions due to a declining and morphing population, according to a recent census highlighted by East Lansing Info. The 2020 census reported a decrease of 838 residents despite a swell in housing units, an outcome that perplexed local experts. "We would’ve expected the city to grow because of the number of housing units growing and it didn’t," demographer Larry Rosen told East Lansing Info.
