On March 15, the iCreate Writing Session group reconvened at the McConnell Library with high hopes for the second session. Despite the March Break, we were happy to welcome two new participants to our meeting! The now three Cape Breton youth taking part in the sessions were all friends outside of the writing sessions, so were open to talking freely amongst one another and with us, the RAs.
While the group seemed more incline to talking than writing, we did manage to focus the topic of the conversation into story telling and what makes a story interesting. Two key points came out of that conversation. First of all, stories come from many different sources. We have one participant who is a bit of a movie buff. He was telling us about numerous movies, ranging from masterpieces to trash. For him, the beauty of the stories lied in their manner of delivery. So a movie could have a horrible plot but if its delivery was funny or ridiculous it could still be enjoyable. We also discussed how stories can be told outside of conventional writing. For instance, we discussed how instrumental music can convey a story. Despite the story being less clear, we noted how this can make it more accessible and personal for a wider audience because it gives them the liberty to interpret the meaning.
The second point noted during this week’s writing session was everyone’s interest in local stories. I think people have an inclination to believe our own stories/lives could never be exciting enough to write a story about but, on the contrary, the participants who attended the second writing session were very interested in each other’s stories and histories. One of the participants was very interested in the life of her grandfather. Another told us about the life of her mother when she lived near the steel plant. I believe this will open up some conversations in the future in regards to slow violence.
March 22 will be our next session. Our hope is to funnel the good conversations we had this week into some extensive writing next week.