STORIES IN LIVING COLOR

Storytellers...
working together...
learning about race, unlearning racism and discrimination

                                                          ABOUT
 
Stories in Living Color is an ongoing project of the Storytelling Association of California (SAC), teaming up storytellers of different races, or communities that face discrimination, to work on paired stories that illustrate issues regarding race, racism, or discrimination.

PAIRED STORIES                                                              
What are paired stories?  Stories from two tellers’ lives and experiences that intersect or are of a similar theme. They may be personal stories or traditional tales.

WORKING TOGETHER
Paired tellers will spend time getting to know one another through discussions of their lived experiences concerning race, racism, or discrimination.  Through this process the two tellers will identify and develop storylines that intersect in some way.  Tellers will decide the length of their individual stories as long as they keep to a total 20 minute maximum for both.

LEARNING
Tellers will learn about challenges faced by their partner providing an opportunity to learn about how race, racism and discrimination have impacted their lives.  White tellers must be open to this process, as people of color have experiences of racism and discrimination that white people have never experienced, and will never experience, due to institutionalized white privilege. 

FURTHER LEARNING, FOR A WIDER AUDIENCE
SAC will endeavor to find online storytelling venues around the country and will arrange for paired storytellers to appear on these “shows.”  Prior to the show an emcee will discuss the tellers’ stories with them and head up a discussion after their performance.  This will enrich the learning process for both tellers and audience alike.

                                       UPCOMING ONLINE SHOWS

The inaugural Stories in Living Color online event will be held on Thursday September 24th beginning at 6pm Pacific Time; 7pm Mountain Time; 8 pm Central Time; and 9 pm Eastern Time.  The show duration will be 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Ticketing is at storiesinlivingcolor.eventcombo.com


     HOW TO TAKE PART IN STORIES IN LIVING COLOR

• CLICK HERE for the Teller Information Form, which is a fill-in Word document.  Please download the file, add your information, save it, then email it back to Rick Roberts.  NOTE: For some browsers, you may need to right-click on the above link and open or save the file (or "Save Link As") to your computer rather than just left-click.
• The information that you and other tellers have submitted will be summarized on the section below titled “List of Tellers.”
• If you see an idea or theme that intersects with yours, contact the teller and begin a conversation.  Click on the Short Description link (in blue type) to see the full information on that teller.  Click on their name to see their email address.
• If the two of you decide to work together, contact Rick Roberts and he will “hide” your information on the website.
• If you subsequently decide not to work together, contact Rick and he will “unhide” your information.
• After completion of work on your paired stories, contact Rick and he will discuss upcoming online telling opportunities with you.
• We cannot guarantee that all Storytellers will get the opportunity to tell online, but we will do our best. All tellers who appear on shows will be compensated.

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LIST OF TELLERS
Click on the name to send an email.
Click on the Keywords for more details.  A PDF will load.

NAME	AGE	LOCATION	ETHNICITY/ COMMUNITY	SHORT DESCRIPTION
Bonnie Gardner	57	Vienna, Virginia	White	Has an adopted Vietnamese child, has experienced recent racism
Laura Packer	57	Orono, MN	White, Jewish, LGBTQIA	Previous mixed race marriage, bi-racial step children; bias experienced on racial/religious/ sex preferences
Jackie Jonas ​	62	Philadelphia, PA	Black/Jewish	Paired and working with Harlynne Geisler
Roopa Mohan	59	Walnut Creek, CA	South Asian/Indian/Hindu	Paired and working with Karin Amato
Dana Sherry	49	Orinda, CA	​White	Folktales (Central Asia/Caucasus) possibly paired w/U.S. History or personal.
Elizabeth Vander Kamp	56	Homewood, AL	White	Paired and working with Ruby Simpkins
Carol Moore	34	Herndon, VA	Black	Experienced unconscious bias and systemic racism in the midst of acts of kindness /Microaggressions in the workplace due to hair
Andrew Laufer	65	Wilton, CA	White	Black History (or lack of) and White privilege in education from an educator's perspective
Michael Katz	59	Santa Barbara, CA	White/Jewish/Buddhist	Evolving views of race, racism from child to present; esp. via involvement with incarcerated
Kira Larkin	43	Utah	White/Blind	Experiences assumptions of inabilities due to blindness and negative effects from such assumptions
Karin Amano	53	Georgia	Japanese	Paired and working with Roopa Mohan
Kanute Rarey	73	Haysville, NC	White	Grew up, lived in mostly white communities; interacted with people of color professionally; pairing with a person of color who grew up in mostly white community an idea for pairing
Wynn Montgomery	79	Erie, CO	White	Grew up in mostly white South, worked in Atlanta under Black mayors on programs training economically disadvantaged; has bi-racial grandchildren
Howard Lieberman	71	Stillwater, MN	Ashkanazi Jew/Non binary LGBTQA	Progressive Ashkanzi Jew, would like to pair with Palestinian and explore common ancestry
Ollis (O.J.) Mozon Jr.	67	Oceanside, CA	Black	Experiences in both predominately Black, and White communities including childhood (Black) and college (White); a Navy Chaplain; wants to explore these similarities and differences.
Ed Lewis	73	Davis, CA	White	Paired and working with Angela James
Angela James	35	Sacramento, CA	Other/Immigrant	Paired and working with Ed Lewis
Harlynne Geisler	70	San Diego, CA	White/Jewish	Paired and working with Jackie Jonas
Ruby Simpkins	70	Camarillo, CA	African American​	Paired and working with Elizabeth Vander Kamp