I felt as if something woke up inside of me.
That first time that I heard someone tell a story, one person in front of an audience, holding our complete attention, I was so fully captivated that I thought to myself, “I want to be able to do that.”
For a moment, my mind took a break and was fully immersed in the story. The words seemed to magically flow out of her head and turn into images and emotions that flowed across my imagination. For a moment, the audience was one organism laughing, crying, and breathing in unison. We were a community connected by understanding and empathy. For a moment, we were not alone and life had meaning. For that healing moment, we shared a common story.
Today, I have a passion for oral storytelling as a performance art and a healing art.
“Spoken Stories, Creating Community”
“Spoken Stories, Creating Community”
I felt the need to bring this experience to young people. I wondered what my life would have been like if I had found the gift of story earlier? I met with a friend that teaches at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). She supported the idea of open-mic and story-slam events. A few months later, she said, “Why don’t you teach?” With her encouragement, I started four years ago with one class for undergraduates. This semester, I teach three classes: Storytelling as Healing, Storytelling in Medicine, and Intro to the Humanities: Tell Your Story.
I am grateful to my friend, mentor, and FGCU Storytelling co-producer, Prof. Lori Cornelius. She has allowed me to grow these events into a full series, open to the public, with visiting professional storytellers. Supported by a generous grant from the Seidler Foundation, we have more than 20 events planned this 2022 – 2023 academic year. Kuniko Yamamoto brings us Japanese origami stories, Josh Goforth brings us the music and stories of Appalachia, Regi Carpenter brings us stories of healing from teenage mental illness, Alton Chung brings us WWII history in the first person, Sheila Arnold returns with stories of the Underground Railroad…. and the open mic community of students, faculty, staff, and the visiting public bring us even more stories. Join the community at FGCU Storytelling.
Find the schedule online at fgcustorytelling.com…. the first event is September 13th… Get tickets today!
