Let our voices ring out to create a movement to repair the cracks in the Liberty Bell! It is that time in late October when activists and storytellers from all over Long Island spend a day reading and listening to stories with the goal of creating living literature powerful enough to help fight against the violation of our most basic human rights.
A year ago, 65 teachers, Dreamers, academics, organizational leaders, social service providers and human rights activists came together in an island-wide daylong convening that gave birth to the Stories for Liberation series on Long Island Wins and the anthology book Brave Journeys (Herstory’s collection of 15 stories by high school students who crossed the border by themselves which are also published on this site).
The book is now being used by 11 school districts during the school day and in afterschool programs, creating an environment for more young people to share their experiences.
We invite you to take part in a day of storytelling and action-planning presented by Herstory Writers Workshop, the Humanities Institute of Stony Brook University, People Power Patchogue, and Building Bridges in Brookhaven.
Date: Saturday, October 27th, 2018
Time: 9:30am – 4pm
Location: Stony Brook University – Charles B. Wang Center
100 Nicolls Rd. #302, Stony Brook, NY 11794
A morning of readings by poet and activist Kathy Engel and current Herstory writers will be followed by a communal story-shaping experience, engaging the whole audience in finding a personal “Page One Moment” opening into a story needing to be told. After a writing lunch break, story beginnings will be read aloud. The day will conclude with a call to action focusing on how the stories can be used as testimony, including as “sermons” in churches, mosques and synagogues, in online publications, or as part of Herstory’s developing digital archive.
Freedom Forums are a multi-regional, multi-disciplinary series of events in New York City, the Adirondacks, and Long Island that use literature as a prompt to explore the ideas, ideals, flaws, and contradictions of democracy. Anchored at Federal Hall National Memorial in Manhattan, Freedom Forums rekindle a role that the site served historically by providing a safe and open forum for public debate.
For more information or to register for the convening, click here.
