THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY AND CELEBRATION
It was 2020, and a homeless man and I were all alone. He looked at me with suspicion. Then he slowly moved into the belly of the subway car. I took out my portal tape recorder from my purse and spoke into its mic. To this day, I can still feel the relief flooding into my body as I told my story into it. I experienced relief from what my eyes were seeing. Relief from my body’s heightened sensory overload of danger. A healing relief obtained from entering into a story of my choosing.
In another time, in another world, the subway would have been humming with activity and chatter. But now, only a few of us were permitted out. The government was clear; only the chosen ones were allowed out. The others, with some exceptions, were confined in their homes. And the ones who did not have a home surfaced in the subway. I needed the subway to get to work.
While riding the subway, I looked forward to the weekly ‘1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling’ event. It had gone from an in-person event to an online event. It was there that my storytelling community existed. As I listened and told at the event, I again felt relief flood into my body. But it was not enough. There were too many stories - not of my choosing - occurring in my non storytelling life.
By the time I entered the world of retirement (April 2021), the storytellers at the online ‘1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling’ were welcoming storytellers from all over the world. During the announcement section of the event, the tellers from outside of Toronto informed us of their events. In one of those events, I heard a story told by Christine Greenough, and she informed me of the Australian Storytellers.
I no longer had to wake up at a set time. I started Zooming to storytelling events in Britain, India, Scotland and the United States. What immediately (and this continues today) struck me when I attended the Australian ‘Six-Minute Stories’ story swap, the Blue Mountains Storytelling Circle, and Inner West Story Circle was their generosity. Generosity regarding stories, generosity regarding feedback to stories, generosity regarding the various styles of stories and generosity regarding the inclusiveness of various cultures.
Will I remain with the Australian Storytellers when conditions in Canada return to something within a norm? Will I stay with them when 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling returns to an in-person venue? The answer - as long as their online events occur - is yes. Why? Because though I am now saturated with stories of my choosing, I still want to hear ‘the many voices of story’ celebrated at the Australian Storytellers events. Generosity and celebration are a part of what sustains me, and so I say thank you.
Susan Ida Boucaud - Canada
