en
espaņol
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Reading Stories, Transforming
Lives /
Compartir cuentos y enriquecer la vida
Description of Project
OVERVIEW
People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, a nonprofit organization that provides literature programs in English and in Spanish, is collaborating with REFORMA, a national library association designed to increase services for Latinos and the Spanish-speaking, to implement the People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos reading and discussion program in public library systems nationally.
The People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos method for conducting literature-focused dialogues fosters a back-and-forth flow between examining the lived life and the literary text. The text becomes the spark that ignites the imagination and intellect of the participant, who begins to vocalize pressing life questions, issues, and themes with more clarity. As members of the group share and re-examine their positions, perspectives expand and horizons widen. The overarching theme of the project is the power of literature to transform life by creating new perspectives, growth, and change.
People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos will:
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conduct 48, 8-week programs in 24 libraries in 12 states over a two-year period;
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replicate our sequenced story selections in English, in Spanish, and in both English and Spanish;
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replicate and provide materials for use in the library programs, including discussion guides for the coordinators/facilitators and copies of the sequenced story selections for the program participants;
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train librarians and scholars in the P&S/GyC method for conducting the discussion;
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support librarian and scholars in the implementation of the programs through site visits, conference calls, and email.
DISCUSSION
In order to engage new audiences in the rigorous, critical interpretation of literature, People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos has developed a method for presenting, sequencing, and discussing stories. First the story is read aloud in English or in Spanish, so that all members of the audience are able to experience the text regardless of reading ability. When presented orally, a realm in which new or basic readers are already skillful and comfortable, literature crosses the boundaries of social class, educational level, or personal circumstances.
The P&S/GyC method builds upon participants' experience and knowledge as the strongest points of entry into the text. The discussion often begins with questions about participants' life experiences, tapping into a fertile ground where the text resonates. Then, once entry into the story is established, the texts' poetic rhythms, images, metaphors, contrasts, shadows, and rhythms, are explored. Steered by a coordinator's carefully prepared questions, a "generative" dialogue develops. The story itself generates questions and the coordinator focuses them as private comments develop into a more public exchange.
The structured dialogues also encourage participants to move beyond stereotypes, communicate better across racial and cultural differences, refine critical and analytical thinking skills, and lead to a sense of mastery and accomplishment as challenging issues and texts are examined in rigorous ways. Because the chosen stories are complex in the way life is complex, coming to know and appreciate these texts can lead to the perception of wider and, therefore, more liberating choices.
In addition, new readers are often surprised at their ability to discuss and analyze works that previously seemed intimidating. In the process of reading, discussing, and critically interpreting literature, people develop new thinking skills, discover what their lives have enabled them to see, and move toward enriched ways of being the world. The P&S/GyC approach to introducing new, underserved, and/or bilingual audiences to the reading and discussion of literature reflects current scholarship on the benefits of the study of the humanities for public audiences.
The poet Stanley Kuntz observes that the stories we find in literature "recount the soul's passage through the valley of this life -- that is to say, its adventure in time, in history." He laments that these stories are largely "relegated to the classroom," and suggests "it would be healthier if we (writers) could locate ourselves in the thick of life, at every intersection where values and meanings cross, caught in the dangerous traffic between self and universe." This is precisely where People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos locates itself -- in the "thick of life." Through the new national library project, Reading Stories, Transforming lives / Compartir historias transforman la vida, the study of literature will expand beyond the academy and into the community.
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