Experiencing Talkstory as a Storyteller

Maike Boeff, University of Manitoba

Talkstory, or the ability to get up in front of people and tell a story, is very liberating.

Any story can be told, the closer and more important to us it is, the better a story it is. I believe the talkstory process is one that forms a bond between the people who take part in it. It is a very powerful thing and my impression was that telling a talkstory strikes something very different within people than books do. Just reading a book usually does not get people as emotionally involved as when they hear a talkstory. It is a way for people to express themselves very personally.

To me, it is such a powerful and emotional “thing” that it is hard to describe. I feel it is empowering to tell a very personal story, to grow beyond whatever it was the talkstory deals with. In a way, I would almost describe it as part of a healing process. Coming out of doing one left me feeling stronger.

The group taking part in the talkstory seemed to create this sort of energy that was palpable in the room, an energy of being able to share experiences, emotions and thoughts without being judged. I believe doing this in front of a larger audience, one that is unfamiliar, will bring this group closer together as well. By doing this, boundaries can be broken; people can learn to understand each other better. By simply reading a book, that feeling of having a new community does not come across. Speaking and telling a talkstory is so much more powerful, spoken words make much more of a difference than written words. Books can be ignored or thrown out but when someone gets up and talks about important issues, people will be more inclined to listen.

Getting up in front of people and telling them about something very important and personal, empowers both the speaker and the listener. I realized yesterday that even though all the talkstories were different, there was common ground. Everybody could relate to what was told in one way or the other. It did create a community; a very strong community.

Concluding, I have to say that talkstory is one of the most powerful concepts I have ever experienced. It’s like a silent revolution, a peaceful war that teaches people to listen before they build boundaries, to listen to others before they speak against them. Because if people really listen, they will find common ground, they will understand each other. Talkstory, for me, is one of the best and strongest things I have ever experienced. I have never felt this empowered before.

Valerie Bermudez, University of Manitoba

Before The Journey Home I had never heard of “Talkstory.” I knew that it was a storytelling session about culture, and that was basically it. Come the time that I had the opportunity to participate, I got extremely insecure about what I was to contribute, because, well, I don’t really share my private thoughts with anyone, let alone any thoughts.  From what I also understood, it was a sharing of culture, of which I felt much was obscured in my life.

And so I did a google search.

Sure enough, “Talkstory” came up. I was looking for examples of other people’s talkstories, to get an idea of what sorts of stories were shared. What I found instead, were numerous other sites simply mentioning “Talkstory” as a part of the Hawaiian and South Pacific culture. It was not just about culture, it was culture. I was intrigued.

I found no examples of others’ talkstories, but I did find accounts of groups of people having a “talkstory at the beach on Friday,” and friends “sharing talkstories by the fire.” I thought to myself: “How wonderful it was that the simple act of sharing thoughts and stories could be organized into a formal (yet informal) occasion – celebrated and welcomed.”

My confidence grew in myself to open up a little bit. I felt I had nothing to lose by sharing some feelings with other females who, as I came to find out, were feeling some of the same insecurities as I was. It was through my “Talkstory” thought process that I realized that my culture is what it is – diverse, and abstract.

The actual Talkstory we had left me trembling. I had just had a surge of adrenaline as I was reading my piece. Once I got through sharing what I had thought would be much more difficult to do, I was humbled by a wave of empathy and compassion for each of the women who so bravely shared a piece of their private lives that they had kept from breaching the walls of their inhibitions
I was thoroughly moved.

It was really quite remarkable; cathartic, if you will. We all came from clearly different backgrounds, and yet, after sharing our stories with one another, we achieved a bond on a level of understanding as women, and as humans.

I feel truly blessed to have participated in something as delicate as the expression of deep emotion and thought of such complex lives that one would otherwise not have known. What makes the experience all the more special for me is that we were all strangers at first, awkward with one another, and with our own untold tales. Afterwards, however, it was like we all knew each other very well, just like we were all familiar with a time in our own lives that we had similarly experienced each other’s stories, and each other’s emotions.

Talkstory was an absolutely positive experience, one that I eagerly look forward to partaking in once again. The love that carried through the care of each story teller’s voice, and the love that received each story through the ears of each listener is something that I will carry with me through my life. I have grown an even greater confidence in myself because I know that I have shared myself with others and have not been judged for it – it is liberating, and I’m sure that the other women in the group feel the same way.

Tara Lambert, University of Manitoba

Talkstory is a way of passing on knowledge. It joins severed lines of communication through spoken words rather than written ones. It is an event where personal experiences are shared and passed on to others. Many folklore tales and urban myths are passed along to future generations this way, through word of mouth rather than in books. Talkstory allows passion and emotion to be passed on, elements which are often lost when they are put into writing. It enables knowledge and important life tales to reach a vast amount of people. Communities who do not read or write are included, and can be kept within this circle of stories. It is also an extremely effective tool as it costs nothing; no monetary value can be directly placed on floating words of others.

Many generations of people get knowledge and information passed down to them through talkstory. The roots of a family’s culture can be shared, and historical experiences can be told in this way. Many people know ‘who they are and where they come from’ because of spoken words, rather than reading about it. Children can also take part in this distribution of stories as they are able to understand spoken words far earlier than written ones. Talkstory can be everlasting; physical forces cannot destroy a spoken story. Spoken stories cannot succumb to a house fire, or be lost in a messy room.
An excellent example of talkstory took place at the University of Manitoba, in the Womyn’s Centre on Wednesday, April 04, 2007. Seven students and a professor from a “Race, Class, and Sexuality” class, as well as an author and her translator, sat in an intimate circle. Each took a few minutes to share a personal event through spoken words to the others. These women entered this space not really knowing each other, and had no personal connection between them other than the desire to tell their stories. They all left this space an hour and a half later with an emotional connection intertwined amongst them. This group of women, through their talkstories, became a sort of extended family; they now have a bond that will forever remain between them. In this room sat women of at least two different sexualities, completely different cultural backgrounds, varying social classes, and many different races. And yet, through all these differences, similarities were revealed amongst them. The women discovered that they shared personal feelings despite having different backgrounds. The power in the room was shared, with no one woman having more or less than the others. A sense of community was built between them, even if only for a brief time.

Talkstory is an extremely powerful tool. It is an effective way to pass on knowledge from generation to generation. It attaches emotions and passion to the stories, giving them stronger meaning. It can connect people of totally different backgrounds, regardless of race, class, sexuality, religion, gender, or any other social barriers, as it did in the Womyn’s Centre. Talkstory provides a bond between the people who share their words, giving it the strength to cross the boundaries that may have once separated them.

Melissa Santos, University of Manitoba

My experience of talkstory with Cathie Dunsford and my classmates was amazing! The morning of the presentation we all sat down in the room, each of us were slightly nervous because we did not know what to expect. As soon as Cathie started talking, I felt at ease, she had an incredible energy about her, she was warm and inviting, and the strength in her voice commanded attention; her translator, Karin Meissenburg, also an author, was equally as inviting.

When it was my turn to present I was excited, and yet I was nervous about how Cathie, as well as my classmates, would react. The presentation went great; it was sort of a relief to share something that you would not necessarily share with someone. As I was physically telling my story, I watched people’s faces for reactions to what I was saying; everyone made me feel completely comfortable as if they could relate to my story in some way. After my presentation, Cathie had nothing but good things to say to me, her comments really made me think about using performance as a tool to communicate with people. Each presentation was so amazing, I really felt like we all connected through our emotions and the energy that seemed to fill the room. During Tara’s story, I could not help but feel connected to her, even though our stories were different, our words, and how we felt were the same. I truly felt a connection with everybody! Its incredible how all of our stories brought us together and allowed us to see the similarities of our experiences, despite differing cultural backgrounds.

After thinking about my experience throughout this whole process, I felt completely privileged, I think I learnt more out of this experience then I have ever learnt from one single event in my life. Actually meeting Cathie Dunsford was an honour and a pleasure and hopefully our paths will cross again in the future. For now, I feel as though I am walking away from this experience as a better person, one who crossed some bridges and as a result connected with a truly talented group of women. Talkstory enabled us to form a bond that I am sure will continue to develop in the future, as well as providing a tool of communication that has the potential to create significant social change.