Kyle Dandrea, Co-Editor in Chief
One organization in one room, one person with one partner, and a thousand different stories. Narrative 4, an organization founded by author Colum McCann, is about getting young people together from different facets of life; Kids from different cities, villages, schools, and even different countries are coming together to tell one-another their stories.
Newtown High School teachers and students participated in Narrative Four on September 23 in the NHS Lecture Hall organized by NHS English teachers Joanna Diaz and Michelle Toby.
Narrative 4 differs from the usual “story exchange” because someone listens to another tell their story then tell it to the audience as if it were their own. The two-year-old program, brought to Newtown by former NHS English teacher Lee Keylock, helps students and teachers open their eyes and see beyond themselves.
The relaying of someone else’s story offers empathy to what is going on in other people’s lives and enables the teller to extract the most important information from the other person's story.
“It helps us see that the world is a very big place. I always say that stories are a great democracy. Everybody has a story to tell. Everybody has a need to tell a story, and everyone has a desire to be able to communicate,” McCann said.
The organization may have started as just an idea, however ten states in America are now involved as well as several countries all over the world. However, the event held at NHS was limited to students and teachers from all over Connecticut. In total, 34 Connecticut teachers participated in the N4 CT Professional Development day at Newtown.
Keylock expects the Connecticut teachers to bring their experience to their schools to have even more people involved in the program.
“It’s going to be a domino effect, hopefully of empathy. We’re spearheading it. It’s a risk, it’s a chance, but I feel like we have to try something,” Keylock said.
Keylock was turned onto the organization after he wrote a letter to Colum McCann after the Sandy Hook tragedy. He was unsure of what books would be acceptable to read during such a hard time, so he reached out to McCann asking for books. Their relationship started there, and when McCann visited NHS as an author, he introduced Narrative 4 to Keylock.
“The reason I love what we do is simple. We all have stereotypes and biases towards people, but what we found is that the more exchanges we did, the more similarities were found between people,” Keylock said. “It didn’t matter if it was a kid who lived in the ghetto of south side Chicago and a kid from Newtown who was raised in this small, white, rural town. They had the same fears, same hopes, and embarrassing stories.”
The students involved in Narrative 4 at Newtown High School are Sophia Devivo, Anna Baxter, Alondra Marmolejos, Gentian Limani, Bethany Dubois (2014 graduate) and Sarah Clements (2014 graduate).
“[Narrative 4] gives you a new perspective on other people’s lives rather than just your own. We are all always worrying about our tests and our relationships. But this is like a really big pause from all of that, it’s taking a deep breath and considering other peoples lives and other peoples stories,” Devivo said.
McCann also started the program because, in his own words, stories are one of the only things that are truly, truly infinite.
“There are more stories in the world than grains of sand. There are more stories than the grains of sand multiplied by each other. Stories are endless,” he said.
Diaz says that students have reflected on Narrative 4 as “one of the best experiences they had while at NHS” because it allowed them to open up and share something about themselves that they would not have had the opportunity to share otherwise.
“The story exchange process reminds students of some of the aspects of life that are most important: trust, respect, and empathy,” Diaz said.
Although this process benefits the students and teachers who participate, it may be used to help the world at large.
“I think we can't really change the world unless we really begin listening to each other and empathizing with what others are going through,” Toby said.
Diaz and Keylock both agree that there is not enough empathy in the world, which is one of the reasons they have become so involved in Narrative 4.
“To me, a lot of the problems in the world are because there is a lack of empathy. We don’t care enough. We don’t know enough about people, we put these walls up. Doing the story exchange with my kids in Newtown was really eye opening to me, and them of course,” Keylock said.
The N4 CT Professional Development day held at NHS will hopefully attract even more students and teachers to the program. Narrative 4 is becoming not only nationwide but a worldwide organization, and will only continue to grow. Everyone should have a chance to tell their story, and the innovative process of the program helps students share their own and open their eyes to other’s.
“Stories are the DNA to how we live,” McCann said.
Photo Credit;www.crowdrise.com
