Coming to America: What Democracy Means to Us
Talk Story is funded by the California Council for the Humanities. Performances at both The Grove and Burbank Senior Artists Colony were recorded for future Experience Talks radio shows.From EngAGE RPD Nancy Goodhart: February concluded with a live event featuring Alicia Sedwick’s students reading their personal stories in front of an audience of family, friends and fellow residents. Each student shared an account of their journey to the United States. The participants were proud and articulate. They had worked for several months to develop a written story for this occasion. They had explored their lives, the triumphs and the tragedies and, through this program, they gained a tremendous respect for themselves and their neighbors.
From EngAGE COO Maureen Kellen-Taylor: Project Director Alicia Sedwick and Humanist Dr Katie Mills introduced the Talk Story project to residents at several sites last year. Since then Alicia has been teaching residents how to write their stories and express themselves in English. The stories of immigrating to the US are often harrowing and provide an education in appreciation for residents from other countries and the US. Alicia is skilled at helping writers refine their work for performance, resulting in some extraordinary narratives.
One participant commented that she had no idea that she would become friends with all her Vietnamese neighbors, whom she did not previously know or talk with. She said she was moved and inspired by their Vietnamese boat stories (she is from Korea) which she admitted she really didn’t know about before this class, especially hearing the stories of two students who are still happily married but were separated for eight years and each have their own perspective of the time apart and struggle. She choked up (as did a few of the other students) during several parts of the story and said she is so grateful for EngAGE and being given a chance to create this community of friends. Now, when she meets a new Vietnamese neighbor or friend, she asks, “Tell me your story about coming to America.”
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Contributed by Nancy Goodhart and Maureen Kellen-Taylor
Go, Alicia. Happy to see this come to fruition 🙂
Judy (Dorado)