Monica Tsai, a reclusive computer science college student, is torn between the project her professor has her working on and the need to help her recently Alzheimer’s diagnosed grandmother. Through her work on the project EMRG, an application that is to connect people, she finds a connection to her grandmother’s cousin. As she works to untangle the past, she learns of the magic that existed in the family to reforge or recreate the words written with handmade pencils from the family company. A family saga follows them through wars and distance, always returning to the heart – of the pencil or of the family. What happens to the stories written in pencil appears to be going the same way for the digital content. As her grandmother faced the question of is it right to share other’s words without their knowledge, so does Monica.
The work for her professor is about journalling to leave a digital record of who you are and what your life was. The work for her grandmother was the same, but through the process of reforging from a pencil. Either way, the importance of leaving your story for others to share is the focus.
