Download the full color edition of the 2011 Bravura below.

For thousands of years, we have wondered, “What is the meaning of life?” As noted in universal etymology dictionaries, the word “life” is rooted in the Proto-Indo-European word “*lip” meaning, “to remain, persevere, continue, live.” Although there is truth to its origin, we must recognize life as a multi-faceted concept.

Over the course of the past four months, 16 Winona State University Mass Communication journalism practicum students have compiled multimedia stories for Winona360 (winona360.org) that reflect the area’s character and inhabitants, offering readers a small slice of life in and around Winona. And still the question arises: What is life, and is there a definite, all-encompassing definition for it?

These student writers have crafted this 2011 issue of Bravura to prove that the answer to that question is no; life is unique to the individual, animal or inanimate object. Life is shaped by experience, struggle, triumph, endurance, pain, observation and activity. So in order to reflect on life, the students started by asking a different question: What if we had to shrink the meaning of life down to just one day?

On March 25, 2011, the students spread themselves out in the community for all or part of 24 hours, capturing the meaning of life from a variety of perspectives, ranging from a newborn calf and a downtown street corner to a laundry machine and an elderly woman. They each dedicated the day to highlighting parts of life in Winona and surrounding areas and then pieced their stories together for this issue, ultimately stringing together “Life in a Day.” Upon reading further, one will view the meaning of life on one page as vastly different from the meaning of life on the next. Upon reaching the end, one will come to discover that the meaning of life depends on one thing—perspective.

Check back to the Bravura 2011 Page for additional multimedia pieces, photos and extended content from "Life in a Day."