The audience at the "What Could Go Wrong" Slam. All photos by Art Montes.
"What Could Go Wrong" storytellers reviewing their stories
Kery's husband Russ, Kery, and their daughter Meghan take the stage to share a story together.
a guest blog, written by Kery Kafka, Ex Fabula Board member
Hi Everyone.
I am a new Ex Fabula Board Member and have been thinking about what events/activities/experiences are allowing me to thrive, not just survive in these continuing chaotic times.
It has been survival for the last year and a half. I deeply admire those who have had to work from home, structure distance learning for their children, and figure out how to navigate and make decisions about so many things that we all took for granted. I continue to see anger, frustration, and exhaustion on so many faces. We are surviving and it seems like we can identify the things that have allowed us to survive.
I kept wondering what people would identify in their lives as things that allowed them to thrive.
Storytelling is on my thrive list. Both telling stories and listening to others’ stories. Consequently, Ex Fabula is on my thrive list. Young voices, old voices, voices of diverse backgrounds are all available to listen to and to be heard. Listening results in laughter, tears, sighs, just plain identification with others who have had experiences similar to ours, or dissimilar so that you can briefly step out of your life. I especially remember the “What Could Go Wrong” StorySlam. Every audience member could identify events in their lives where they thought they had all the variables accounted for, only in hindsight found out that there were many things they had not thought of ahead of time. Lots went wrong! The stories helped us all remember that this has happened to all of us.
Adding to that opportunity to listen is the opportunity to tell stories. Over the existence of Ex Fabula, I have had the courage to tell a few stories and know that positive acceptance that is consistently there. At the “Change of Heart” Slam in 2017, My husband, daughter and I told a three-part story about a shared trip we took, rafting down the Colorado in the Grand Canyon. We were all on the same trip, exposed to the same activities, but our three stories were totally different. What we experienced was unique for each of us. We all got feedback from different audience members about how they could identify with each of us.
Thrive with Ex Fabula!
Someone who read this blog sent me an excellent mental health chart which you can see here: https://uca.edu/bewell/files/2020/11/The-Stress-Continuum-Thriving-Surviving-Struggling-In-Crisis.pdf. I was impressed by their work, but embarrassed by my focus on the categories of ‘surviving’ and ‘thriving’ when I thought about the world of people who are in the ‘in crisis’ and ‘struggling’ categories. My arrogance and ‘white privilege’ in my being able to function in the ‘surviving’ and ‘thriving’ categories stopped me cold.
Then I watched the movie “News of the World”, and rerealized the importance of stories. It’s not what happens to you, but the stories you tell, and the stories that others tell about what happened that make the difference. I now think that whatever category you find yourself in, the stories are what matter to help you move from one category to another. Ex Fabula provides that space and acceptance to tell those stories and listen to others’ stories.