Symbols & Storytelling
Right now my students are working on a project inspired by Dave Isay’s TED Talk “Everyone Around You Has A Story the World Needs to Hear” (check out the link to the talk below….it’s worth the watch I promise)
Dave began photographing and interviewing men who lived in flophouses in New York City. These were guys on the fringe socially and economically. He recalls what it was like to bring his published piece to the guys to show them that their words and faces were forever in print. Dave recalled one man grabbing the book from his hands and running down the hall with it shouting “I exist!”
Damn. Isn’t that how we feel like we exist; when we are seen by another person? When we have a chance to tell our own story and be heard?
Inspired by these events Dave started Story Corp which brings people face to face to have intimate conversations that are recorded and preserved forever. It just so happens that I was checking this talk about at the same time as I was prepping my Symbols and Ethics class and I knew I had to do something with it.
What if instead of lecturing about rituals, traditions, and symbols we had our students take their iPads out of the classroom and interview their friends, and parents, and grandparents about their own lives;
I wanted to give my students the opportunity to learn about what their grandparents did for the holidays growing up and what their parents taught them about God, the food that came from the family’s country of origin, the family heirlooms that are in their home that maybe they have never ask about, the trips their parents took as kids every year, the memories and traditions of their friends. But it was a 2 for one deal really, because while they are learning about the power of symbol and ritual they also are giving someone else a cool gift; they are creating a space for someone else to tell their story. One on one, face to face.
So we watched the TED Talk together and this weekend they are taking their ipads out into their worlds to record the stories of the people that they love. They have to interview at least 3 people; one has to be 15 years older than them, one 25 years older, and one 35 years older.
Im guessing for some this project will be awkward (face to face conversation with an adult can be sometimes), for some funny, for some moving, and for some a grab bag a different things.
I am looking forward to hearing their thoughts and what they learned. If they thought that the project was valuable and whether or not they will keep these recordings; especially of their older relatives whose voices won’t be around forever.
https://storycorps.org