During the second week of BCL, we explore vulnerability as we build our class community by telling someone else’s story. Students bring in three objects that represent different parts of their life. These objects say something about who they are, where they are from, or what they care about. Working with a partner in class, they interview each other about their objects and the stories behind them. Then they officially “trade” stories, which they tell on behalf of the other person. In essence, they need to learn someone else’s story well enough so that they can tell it. Their story should be well-written and thoughtful, and they should try to capture the emotions it holds for the owner. The stories should move beyond a basic summary. Telling someone else’s story is an honor that requires care and empathy—and vulnerability.
Once students decide, in pairs, on the one object they’re going to talk about, they take turns telling their stories. When they listen, they listen VERY carefully. They take rigorous notes in their journals as they learn as much as they can about their partner’s story and think about how to bring it to life.
Together, we explore:
How is telling someone else’s story different from telling your own?
What responsibility do we take on when telling someone else’s story?
One pair’s stories
In this semester, BCL11, Isaac and Sabrina paired up to share each other’s stories, and the results were powerful.
One of Sabrina’s objects was a letter written to her by her mom, and Isaac brought in a wooden spoon he’d made. From this experience, the following stories emerged and were shared with the class.
Sabrina’s story, told by Isaac
I know that I may not have always done the right thing. I know I haven’t always been there for her. All I want now, all I have ever wanted, is the best for her. I want her to be happy. All I have ever felt towards my daughter is unconditional love, and it makes me sad to think that I haven’t always made that clear to her. I need her to understand how I feel, I need her to know how much I care. She is almost fifteen and I know that this is my perfect opportunity. I know that she is old enough now to understand what I need to tell her. It is such an important time for her and I need to give her something special, something she won’t forget. And so I decide to write. I keep writing. Making sure to relay every single detail about how much she means to me. I pour my whole heart out onto the page, expressing myself in a way I have never done before. And it feels good. It feels good to let it all out, not hold anything back. I know that if I want this letter to really mean something I can’t leave anything out. Finally, it’s done, almost two full pages. All of the feelings that I have felt about my daughter but never had the strength to say, laid out on the page, bare, exposed, waiting to be seen. I felt vulnerable in that moment, all the things I had never dared speak out loud, now out in the world. But I knew it was what I had to do, I couldn’t back out. When her birthday finally came I was nervous. Eventually, I worked up the courage to give her the letter. She smiled and thanked me, seemingly not thinking much of it at the time. Once the letter left my hand and entered hers I felt relieved. I felt a sort of weight lifting off of me, something I had never felt before. As she took the letter away I thought one last time about all that I had put onto that paper. I never heard much about that letter after that, and I don’t think I will ever understand how much it actually meant to her.
Isaac’s story, told by Sabrina
Since the first moment that I was made I felt like I was a special object. My owner, Isaac, has been working on me since the beginning of summer, and I can’t believe how quickly time passes and how much time Isaac spent with me. I watched him working on me every day of the week, an hour each day. I can tell he really feels proud of himself for making me, he can see how much he progressed. Before I became a spoon, I was just wood, wood that Isaac’s mentor gave to him. I could tell that he really admired his mentor and had a great connection with him. Isaac got help from his friends and coworkers to create me. I would enjoy those times because I could witness how spending time with them would make Isaac happy and he would have a lot of fun. Sometimes I would also watch Isaac with a brunette, blue-eyed girl. At first I thought she was just his close friend, but then after seeing them for a while I figured out that she was his girlfriend. Those would also be one of my favorite moments to witness, because I could watch Isaac be completely himself and smile all the time.
One day I remembered being in a completely dark space, I could only hear what people were saying, Isaac’s voice being one of them. I could hear him talking to somebody about me, about how much I meant to him and how much he wanted to give me to this person. When everything was more clear, I saw that he was talking to his girlfriend. For him, giving me to her and her family was really important, because that was his way for him to say thank you to them for always being so nice to him, and in that way they could remember him.
I felt really sad about leaving Isaac and so nervous about being around these new people, but I realized they didn’t seem like they were bad people, Isaac wouldn’t give me to them if they were, so I knew that I was going to be fine. I’m sure it won’t be the last time I will see Isaac, and I know that I was just the beginning of something big in his life, and that someday he would make something more than a spoon. But I’m happy for being the thing that made Isaac realize how good he was at doing this.
Burlington City & Lake Semester 