NEWS

Storytelling event builds empathy and community

Truly Fehrle (left), a communications major, sat at the table where Beth Marshall, a WCC professor of early childhood education, told her story about starting a teacher training program in South African villages. Fehrle said that she liked how Marshall made everyone seen and heard during the time creating the program. Courtney Prielipp | The Washtenaw Voice

Jenna Jabbar | Contributor

The Bailey Library hosted Living Stories on March 19. This annual event brings people together to share their lived experiences. Members of the WCC community have the opportunity to “check out” someone and hear a bit about their life. At this year’s event, speakers discussed a variety of topics, including their struggles with the law, education and acceptance of one’s identity.

One of the stories that was shared was that of a mother whose daughter is incarcerated. Kijuana Butler explained her struggles and disappointment at the law as well as how it can be unfair at times, especially for women of color.

“Girls are in prisons for small or minor offenses,” said Butler. “Misogyny is real, (it) is happening now still.”

Butler hopes that women will speak their minds and never stay silent when a wrong is happening. Moreover, she continues to talk about the issue through her Facebook page, “Diary Of An Inmate’s Mother.”

Beth Marshall, a faculty member at WCC, shared a story about her journey in South Africa, where she hoped to help establish a thriving school. She elaborated on the matter by explaining her contributions. Her plan was to create an effective education system for South Africans. Slowly, the business took off. Marshall said that they were thrilled that teachers were doing something with students, something which had rarely happened before.

Since the project started in 2003, schools have expanded and more people in South Africa are getting a good education.

Molly Ledermann, the organizer of the event and WCC librarian, said she believes that “it’s also just important, in any format, to listen to people’s real stories and listen to their experiences as humans, find ways to connect and build empathy and just kind of realize the biases and the prejudices that we often don’t even realize we have against different stories or types of people.”

Quinn Lowen, a global studies major and attendee, said, “It’s just such a wonderful community, all these different cultures and different experiences. But it is certainly celebrated and all these different kinds of events, and it all comes together.”

If you are interested in sharing your story, you will have a chance next year. The application process starts in January. If you have questions, contact Ledermann at mledermann@wccnet.edu.

Living Stories was hosted at the Bailey Library on March 19. Students walk up to the board to see what stories are available and what types of stories are there. Living Stories event happens every year where students, faculty, staff, and community members share stories of different experiences throughout their lives. Courtney Prielipp | The Washtenaw Voice

Kijuana Butler (left), a WCC journalism student, shares her story to Marecel Casher, an AA business ad student and Jack Wolfe, a criminal justice and political science major. Butler tells her story as a mother of an incarcerated daughter and how the abuse to prison pipeline is real, and how it impacts many young girls that are in Vera Institute. Courtney Prielipp | The Washtenaw Voice

Scott Vannispen (left), a welding tech major, tells Hoam-Lam Joseph and Maya King, a human social work major, about the longest five seconds of his life in the military. He tells Joseph and King that while in Germany as a paratrooper, during a normal practice, he and another paratrooper collided in the air. Vannispen’s main parachute didn’t open, but fortunately, his emergency parachute did. Courtney Prielipp | The Washtenaw Voice