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Volume 5, Number 2 - Spring 2007
An Invitation to Tell Our Own
Stories
by Scott Feifer
I began the NEA pilot program with a bit of apprehension. I feared the suggested writing prompts might feel too much like the assigned English-class essay. I worried that it might change the “everyone’s welcome to the table” nature of People & Stories. What I found, however, was that the writing experience both challenged and surprised me and the participants in many satisfying and rewarding ways.
The core of our group, which met at the Lancaster County public library, was young men mandated to a residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. Other participants were parents in Project Forward Leap; women from Milagro House, a transitional housing site; women from the domestic violence shelter; and occasional friends from the community.
I offered participants several prompts inspired by the evening’s story; then we wrote for ten or fifteen minutes. The majority were moved to write and then to read their spontaneous and stunning pieces aloud. Their offerings were generous, brave, poetic and powerful. The writing time offered a space for reflection—a time to collect thoughts and to explore certain dimensions in the stories. For some, the writing became a structured foundation that gave them courage to speak aloud; for others, it was a scaffolding to climb to greater heights of self-revelation.
Rather than an imposition, the prompts became an invitation to tell our own stories in our own words.
After reading “The Oasis” by Alice Adams
I felt trapped in my life for a long time. The first time I felt trapped was when I was seven being taken from my mother. I felt trapped because I wasn’t where I wanted to be, I was stuck in a home with people I didn’t want to be with or live with. I was angry at everyone who felt they could take the place of my mother. And no one was ever even close to that. I also felt trapped when I would go visit my mother in prison and we had to be crowded in that little room looking at my mother through the glass and talking to her on the phone… Luis
After reading “Chef’s House” by Raymond Carver
I remember when my mom got out of jail. She was promising me and my brother she was going to stay clean, but the worst part was me and my brother believed her. My mom came up for Thanksgiving of 2005. It seemed as if she really changed and wanted to have a good life…but then she messed up and was back to her old self again. Alex
After reading “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien
I carry my secrets. I carry my past. I carry life and the moment now. I carry love for my family. I carry my ego. I carry what people think about me. I carry stuff I pushed away. I carry my actions. Most of all I carry me. I carry my fears. I carry my hate for me not forgiving myself. I carry lessons I learned from myself and other people. I carry my family missing me. Thomas
After reading “Hunger” by Anne Lamott
When I first got locked up I really didn’t feel different until I heard those doors lock behind me when I went in at nighttime. I was used to locking my door at home, so no one could get in, and not someone locking the door where I can’t get out…When you only get toilet paper on a certain day or you have to ask for it, I think that’s when you really realize you must make a change for yourself and how you live. Darius