Double Take: Arlington Stories that Make You Think Twice

ARLINGTON, MA — Stories. Everyone has one. They can be long and winding, short and to the point. They can shed light on what makes us different and uncover what where we are the same. Personal stories can be powerful. That's why the act of taking the time to hear another person's story has often been used to build communities and start longer conversations.

Enter the Arlington Human Rights Commission: The town committee is hosting “Double Take,” a storytelling event at Arlington Town Hall Saturday night. It's the culmination of a few months' worth of story telling workshops and tip sessions. The Commission recently chose nine individuals from Arlington's community to share their own diverse personal stories.

"Come hear stories that will make you think twice from members of the Arlington community. Learn about people in ways that you only can from listening to and experiencing their personal stories and experiences," reads the invitation.

ACMi is cosponsoring the event and has donated recording space and equipment to the group of storytellers.

"As the media group, we're glad to help and utilize space, we love the whole idea of the project and it really fits into our mission to serve the community and help them tell their stories," said Operations Manager Jeff Munro.

There was another thing about the project that the folks at ACMi were interested in, said Munro.

"We like the idea of thinking proactively: What can we do in our current environment that's proactive? Instead of doing something in response to an action," he said.

This is a conversation starter.

The three part program was developed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education as a way to help educators develop and use their story telling skills.

On Sept. 27, the commission hosted a storytelling workshop at Ready, Set Kids in Arlington Center to learn tips and tricks for public storytelling. Then in October the commission hosted recording sessions at co-sponsor ACMi’s studio.

“Double Take” storytelling event on Nov. 18 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Town Hall Auditorium. Stories will run about 5 minutes each and there will be a reception following the program.

Storytellers:

• Arlington Selectman Joseph Curro
• Yawa Degboe of the Diversity Task Group
• Town poet laureate Cathie Desjardins
• Alan Kaufman, creator of the ACMi show “In the Tradition”
• Sara McCabe, frequent participant in the Fugitive Storytelling program that is hosted at Kickstand Cafe
• Farjam Mohtadi, immigrant from Iran who has lived in Arlington for 21 years and member of the Baha’i community
• Scott Lozier, creator of Arlington's The Colab, which offers STEAM-based programs
• Robin Schoenthaler, essayist and cancer doctor at Emerson and Massachusetts General Hospitals
• Deb Pollak, Girl Scout leader and elementary-school literary magazine coordinator

Check out more about the event here.

Photos by Jenna Fisher/ Patch

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