Transcript Street Level Stories: How libraries can enable creativity

Street Level Stories:
Using Special Collections to Re-Imagine
Community Narratives
Nicole Dixon
[email protected]
nicoledixon.ca
writer + librarian
The Bras d’Or Collection
Thousands of reports, studies, and documents on various aspects of the Cape
Breton economy and living conditions on Cape Breton Island.
The Bras d’Or Collection
Realizations/Connections
• BDC = story ideas/material
• creating a database is a lot like telling a story
(e.g., relationships; collections)
• research and creative writing ask the same
questions (esp., “why” and “how”)
• BDC = Cape Breton revitalization aid
Special collections, databases, and short
stories are all tools we can use to re-imagine
our collective narratives.
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Why Reimagine Our Narratives?
• A Tale of Two Reports:
• O’Neill Report (2010)
• Ivany Report (2014)
• “…the commission is calling for an attitudinal change,
one where the population collectively comes together to
focus on an overarching goal, with each person and
sector looking at what they can do to contribute to the
province as a whole rather than any one particular area.”
• “… [is] the province…destined for a long-term
downward-sloping line or the creation of an alternative
reality [?] The commission’s hope is the report will serve
as a living document that people can build on and use as
a guide for future work…”
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Changing Our “Narrative of Decline”
• STU gerontology professor, William Randall:
• “...there is this over-arching master narrative which ...
sees aging Cape Breton as a downhill slide, as a
decline ... We need counter-stories. Rich, more positive
counter-stories of what aging Cape Breton is all
about…”
• “What if we all cultivated our own good, strong stories
and acknowledged our mutual responsibility to
strengthen each other’s stories?”
Cape Breton’s story = “narrative of decline”
We need a new story. A narrative of
resilience/positivity/action, etc.
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Two Prevalent Negative Attitudes in Cape Breton
“There are two main problematic cornerstones of this Cape Breton
attitude ... the first is that we really do seem to have a poor self image.
As a whole, we can be quite self-deprecating … Cape Breton is a
beautiful place with so many great and unique characteristics and so
much potential for progress. Many ... from away see this but we ignore
it. In our young people it breeds a desire to escape and not return.”
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“How Cape Breton Attitudes Shape the Decisions of Our Youth”
Two Prevalent Negative Attitudes in Cape Breton
“…we have an us vs them attitude more so than anywhere I have ever been. We talk
about our problems and we talk about the mainland and/or out west like they’re some
demon that we’re fighting. Really, we should be trying to cooperate with these places
... This attitude... provides very easy scapegoats … It’s always someone else―it’s
never us ... There’s no solutions that can be reached with this attitude. If we believe
that our problems are caused by everyone else, we don’t need to address those
problems―cause it’s their fault ... even if it is someone else’s fault, it’s our
responsibility to fix them ... this combative nature ... negates the desire to take risks ...
Risk is essential to the development of any community ... And if you don’t take risks
we’re going to be stuck in the same time for the rest of eternity.
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“How Cape Breton Attitudes Shape the Decisions of Our Youth”
Using the BDC to Counter Negative Attitudes:
Research/Outreach
• history of community economic development
– what have we tried? lessons learned? what ideas can
we build upon and/or never try again? what have we
yet to try?
• record of experiences
• example of all facets of a
community working together
Using the BDC to Counter Negative Attitudes:
Modeling
• database: Open Mine  open access
• Open Mine built with Drupal
– community-based, social
• Drupal allows for (social) tagging; folksonomy
• databases are a community = a collection of
items with relationships (Internet Collection of
Things)
image: Wilgengebroed on Flickr
Using the BDC to Counter Negative Attitudes:
Creativity
• stories = literal rewriting of our narrative
(imagination/reimaging); ways of seeing
• another way to disseminate information
• art = empathy
– “Imaging what it is like to be someone other than yourself is at the
core of our humanity. It is the essence of compassion, and it is the
beginning of morality.” – Ian McEwan
• art = revitalization
– Detroit’s Heidelberg Project attracts tourists
– Chicago’s Dorchester Project
• creative projects based on a community-based
special collection come with a built-in audience
– asset-based community development…
Examples of Community-Based Creativity
http://stagingvoicesforchange.wordpress.com/
Kate Beaton: “We had to go, but we want to come back. Leaving is something we
learned to do, but I think now and then on what it would be if we were taught to stay
instead, and shown we could. If we invited others to join us. I mean, there's a pretty nice
view. And like I said, the tea is on.”
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from “Ducks”, Kate Beaton
Write What You Don’t Know
“I always say, Forget about ‘write about what you know.’
Write about what you don’t know. The point is that the
self is limiting. The self—subjectivity—is narrow and
bound to be repetitive. We are, after all, a species. When
you write about what you don’t know, this means you
begin to think about the world at large. You begin to think
beyond the home-thoughts. You enter dream and
imagination” – Cynthia Ozick, The Paris Review
Street Level Stories
“The Culture of Community”
“Every community creates its own culture –the way the
community members learn, through time, how to survive
and prosper in a particular place … Our Way is the
culture of community, and something you cannot buy.
Nor can it be createdby programs. A culture is the
creation of people who are seriously related to each
other. It takes time because serious relationships are
based upon trust, and trust grows from the experience of
being together in ways that make a difference in our
lives.” – The Asset-Based Community Development
Institute
Conclusion
“…local assets [are] the primary building blocks of sustainable
community development.”
“The basic tool for community building with the gifts of
individuals and of the power of associations is making
connections.”
Asset-Based Community Development Institute
The Bras d’Or Collection isn’t just a special collection of Cape
Breton’s history, but, by demonstrating our successes and
failures and highlighting our local assets, is also the root of
and blueprint for an integrated, prosperous, more empathetic,
culturally-rich community. It is a collection of our individual yet
connected stories.
References