Tiffany McGinnis

Years ago, I met Tiffany McGinnis. She was still in high school and was involved in the scene downtown at the old Human Experience Theatre. These kids would hang out after shows at T.H.E. Theatre's rave parties. She was an interesting young woman.

It turned out that I'd known her mother, Callie McGinnis a long time. Callie is the librarian of the Schwob Memorial Library on the Columbus State University campus.

Tiff grew up and moved to London.

I got this e-mail from Callie this morning that I wanted you to see.

"I want to share Tiffy's latest masterpiece with you — an animated video that tells a tale that I discovered years ago while tracing family roots in Scotland. It just goes to show you that young people do sometimes pay attention to the family stories that you tell them! The video is entertainment and history combined.

"It's a folk tale about a legendary character who has the same name as one of my North Carolina Scots ancestors — Dushee Shaw. The folk tale tells of a dwarf named Dushee Shaw who lived on the Isle of Jura, in the Southern Hebrides, in the late 16th century. The tale has been passed down for many generations.

"To view the 8-minute video, go to http://www.drawpictures.co.uk/ (this is the agency that's representing Tiff). Click on Young Guns — then on Tiff's icon. You'll see the clickable icon for "Black Fairy" (top left corner).

"In London Tiffy's still doing her music — under her stage name Crazy Girl. However, she's evolved into a multi-media artist. For this video she did the script, plus all the drawings and the animation; she composed the music and she's the narrator! She got a real piper to play the background bagpipes!"

I hope you go to the Web site and check out "The Black Fairy." It's a really innovative video. Very entertaining and lots of fun.

This girl's gonna go places.

I won't be surprised if she's nominated for an Oscar one day for one of these.