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A Project
Across Municipal Boundaries
SPONSORED
BY
The Princeton Area Community Foundation
“CROSSING
BORDERS WITH LITERATURE – A Project Across Municipal Boundaries,” offered
by People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos. The project’s purpose is to promote deeper understanding
across communities, using literature, specifically the short story, as an
opportunity to stimulate dialogue in groups that cross urban/suburban
boundaries within Mercer County.
Sponsored
by the Princeton Area Community Foundation, programs in which Trenton
residents join residents from the surrounding suburbs are offered in
a variety of Trenton locations. Each program
consists of a series of eight-week, 90-minute, seminar-style
discussions, meeting once a week.
People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos' unique approach to literature is particularly well suited to connecting people across differences. The storyline quality of both life and literature creates immediate opportunities to use literature discussion as an effective venue for creating social and educational networks across separated communities.
Participants
work in small groups led by a trained coordinator, drawing upon their own
experiences to discuss complex short stories.
The structured, seminar-style discussion method, typical of a
college classroom, enables readers to experience the satisfaction that
comes from a rigorous, non-didactic exploration of the text. The discussion often begins with questions about participants' life
experiences, tapping into a fertile ground where the text resonates.
Once entry into the story is established, the texts' poetics, images,
metaphors, contrasts, shadows, and rhythms are explored.
Natural
and mutual benefits flow across communities when networks of connection
are created. New
relationships are built that can help bring about positive change.
Multiple perspectives are included, enriching
dialogue
and helping to create broadened viewpoints.
Discovering
common threads has the power to link people
across the physical and socioeconomic boundaries that divide communities.
The narrative dimension of human experience is one of the most
basic connections we all share. Through the exploration and discussion of short stories,
program participants become aware of their connection to the literary
narratives and to the lived narratives of one another.
Anyone
interested in participating in a group or in exploring the opportunity
further should contact People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos at
609-393-3230 or email peoplepa@starlinx.com.
Joan
Hollendonner, Vice President, Programs (left) and
Nancy Kieling, President and Executive Director (2nd from right)
of the Princeton Area Community Foundation
and Michael Ann Walstad, Project Manager (2nd from left),
Patricia Andres, Executive Director (3rd from left),
and Aline Haynes, Participant Coordinator (right)
of People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos
met at Emily's Cafe in Pennington to discuss
"Crossing Borders with Literature,"
the new P&S / GyC project sponsored under a PACF grant.
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