The Digital Short Story ’22 exhibit includes 9 entertaining stories by the Class of ’23. Next up in our spotlight is Erin McNichol’s ‘Primal Parent’.

THE STORY: My daughter is a self-described “open book”- a trait that is both charming and alarming. As a teenager, her trusting nature brought out my maternal, primal side. The summer of her freshman year we were enemies. She was carefree and careless and I was on duty- watching her every move. This classic battle of wills gives you an intimate look at raising a daughter who tested me at every turn and who was dangerously consumed by her social life. Thirteen years after that summer, this story became our cathartic way to reflect on who we were then and who we are today.

THE STORYTELLER: Erin McNichol is a mixed media artist and educator with a background in corporate advertising and public relations. She sells her art by commission and her work has appeared on the cover and pages of the travel book Living In Luxembourg (14th edition) as well as at the Chamber of Commerce in Luxembourg’s traveling embassy exhibit “Business Abstract”(2002) A frequent juried artist at Chester County and Brandywine Festival of the Arts, Erin spent three years as a studio artist at the Delaware Contemporary just before entering into the education sector.

Erin is a graduate of Penn State’s School of Communications (Advertising) and teaches art and innovation to grades K-12 as well as a college-level Entrepreneurism elective (University of DE) at Ursuline Academy in Delaware. Erin grew up in Doylestown, Pennsylvania and has lived for six years in Luxembourg, Europe. Her TedX talk “Animal Sounds and Other Tales that Teach”  shares many expat adventures. She is currently completing her fifteenth year teaching kids that it is OK to make mistakes if you learn from them. She aspires to create visual language that inspires young minds.

Go to https://vimeo.com/711327331 for the full story.

Instagram: @mixedmediaerin
Website: erinpcaseymcnichol.com