For more than twenty years, StoryCenter has been helping individual storytellers tell their own personal stories. Thousands of people. They have hundreds of these stories posted on their YouTube channel, but that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the thousands of stories populating their archives. I love SO MANY of the stories on their channel, but I’m only including five here. And no, it’s not a top-five list in any way. I’m sure I’ll post another five later this year. And then another five. But for now, you get these five.
There is so much you can learn by giving these stories a close watch. However, I want to encourage you to just sit back and and listen—to be open and to hear them—as deeply told personal offerings.
Cotton – by anonymous
The narrator offers some powerful parallels between the hard work of her grandmother and a misguided classroom activity from her own childhood.
What You Wanted – by Genevieve Critel
Genevieve Critel tells a story about an unfinished conversation with her father.
Josef – by Brad Johnson
Brad Johnson remembers stories of his grandfather’s obsessive musings on food.
Built to Scale – by Daniel Weinshenker
Daniel Weinshenker tells a story about model trains and trying to place himself in the world he’s built around them.
Ghost Dance – by Tommy Orange
Tommy Orange (yeah, that Tommy Orange) offers a story about representation, history, and what we decide to keep.