SPEAKER 1: Welcome to the Towson University College of Fine Arts and Communications what's your story podcast. In today's story, we hear from Desiree Rowe, professor of communication studies and the Department of Mass Communications. She tells us about the importance of using stories to understand each other and our communities. 

DESIREE ROWE: One of the most important cultural touchstones for me was the 1986 hit by Bon Jovi, Living On A Prayer. Now, Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer for most New Jerseyites is sort of like a cultural tradition. We were born knowing Bon Jovi. It's really something that we love to hate and hate to love. Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer, for me, symbolizes a lot about New Jersey and a lot about who I am. I'm a first generation college student who grew up in a working class family in central New Jersey, and for me, that song brings to mind dancing in bars, dancing at weddings, and really just having fun, yelling at each other, and yelling at the song. 

Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer, though is more than just a song. It's a part of a larger cultural narrative that frames our stories and identities and lived experiences. It's a part of who we are as people in relationship to each other, and it impacts both the political imaginations of us and the communities that we are a part of and the communities that we look to build. This cultural narrative is sort of at the heart of what is important to me as a teacher. 

It might be just a song. It might be just living on a prayer, but for me, it's a part of this cultural story that I like to talk to students about and it's one of the thing that's most important for me in the classroom. For me, communication and communication studies as a discipline works to maintain, repair, and transform culture. Identity isn't just markers. Identity is encoded into action. It's who we are and how we move through the world. 

Bon Jovi and that sort of working class Jersey vibe is part of who I am. It's a part of the public memory. It's a part of my everyday lived experience, and in the classroom, I like to have students talk through these narratives, talk through these stories at the intersection of identity and lived experience to get to a clearer understanding of public memory and our ability for social change. 

How do we use stories? How do we use personal narrative to get a stronger understanding of each other and the communities that we build with each other? It's more than just a diversity of ideological perspectives. It's about who we are as people and what we're looking to bring to the world, and this is sort of at the heart of everything that I do, understanding our narratives, understanding how they build, and what we can do to transform culture. 

So in the story that Bon Jovi tells us in Living On A Prayer, it's really all centered around Tommy and Gina, and the final thing that I like to impart to my students is the lesson that Bon Jovi tells us about Tommy and Gina. Well, Tommy and Gina they never back down, and I like to tell my students the same thing. Never back down. When it comes to telling your story, being who you are, and moving in the world, those things are important and those things deserve to be told. 

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