Find your time manager and circle in the date May 16th 2008. Why, you might ask. Because it’s time to value your friends, family and neighbors by listening to their stories.
“We want this day to be especially dedicated to celebrating and promoting life story projects that have made a difference within neighborhoods, communities, and societies as a whole” – say Karen Worcman, one of the principal organizer of the annual Sharing Life Stories day.
It’s the first year with an International Day for Sharing Life Stories and the goal of the campaign is to gain broad recognition of May 16 as an annual day for sharing, listening to, and gathering the stories of people’s lives.
CDS and the Museum of the Person are calling on people to gather in community halls, classrooms, public parks, theaters, auditoriums on May 16 to share their stories. They are also calling on organizations to mark the day on their websites and host virtual story circles via
online chats and
exchanges, and publication of new stories.
What can you do?
Some of the other activities they are proposing include
- Story Circles in people’s homes
- Public open-microphone performances of stories
- Exhibitions of stories in public venues as image, text, and audio-visual materials
- Celebratory events to honor local storytellers, practitioners and organizations
- Open houses for organizations with a life-story sharing component
- Online simultaneous gatherings, postings, and story exchanges
- Print, Radio and Television broadcast programming on life stories, and documentaries that feature oral histories and story exchanges
More information
Go to the website for International Day for Sharing Life Stories
Text from: CDS and the Museum of the Person website and International Day for Sharing Life Stories – Campaign Material.