On Sunday, June 7, parishioners gathered for a virtual coffee shop and storytelling workshop to help bring their Holy Infant stories to life for a special book commemorating our parish's 50th anniversary.
Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, parishioner and professor of English/Creative Writing, guided all present through understanding the elements that create a good story, as well as exercises that sparked idea generation. Jennifer said that "we are all walking stories."
“Stories are how we understand ourselves, how we understand each other, the world, our parish. And one of the things I’ve come to understand about this collective book is this is a way for us to have our individual, personal stories help us tell the story of our parish.”
In addition to providing the essential elements of a good story, Jennifer offered five questions to ponder in creating a framework of a story.
Who are the main characters?
What is the setting?
What happens at the most important part of this potential story?
How does this story change the way you view yourself, the parish or the world?
Why would you want to tell this particular story?
Parishioners used this framework to guide the discussion of personal stories they wish to capture in this book.
Our coffee break featured Dave, co-owner of Bean Traders, giving basic instructions on a café ole French press coffee beverage and telling a story of the relationship between Bean Traders and Holy Infant.
Dave recalled that “countless meetings and groups and people have come to the shop to hang out […] it’s been really fun to be in partnership with ya’ll and your garden, we donate all of our leftover coffee grounds from the shop to go into the compost […] to grow fruits and vegetables for your community action group.”
Several parishioners walked away from the workshop with gift cards to Bean Traders.
Are you ready to share your story for the book celebrating Holy Infant’s 50
th Anniversary? The deadline has been extended to July 15. Email it directly to Leanne Woodward,
leannew@holyinfantchurch.org.