Here are notes from our conversation about planning a storytelling project for Envision Victor:

*Storytelling Exercise

Although we did not get a chance to do this exercise this time, we will try it out when I retun in a month.

The full instructions:

1. List  5 ways you feel connected to Victor

            5 places in Victor that mean a lot to you

            5 adjectives that you would need to use to describe your relationship to this place and its people

            5 5 verbs that help you to describe how you interact with this community

2.  You have five minutes to write a personal story about your relationship to Victor, using at least one iten from each of the categories above.

1/3 of the group will situate their story in the past

1/3 in the present

1/3 in the future

3.  Starting with the past stories, we will read them aloud one by one without comment, from past to rpesent to future.

4.  Discussion:  What did you notice?  How did you feel listening?  Sharing?  What surprised you?  What did you learn?  What questions do you now have about storytelling?

* Overview of Storytelling and How it Can Help Victor to Meet its Envision Victor Goals and Objectives

--History of Community Storytelling

Few examples exist of rural land-use planning incorporating storytelling within their eforts to increase community participation and to  identify and analyze the values of the community.   I have started a  list of research projects and examples that might be useful--most of these have to do with place and community.  We will continue to build this list.

--Storytelling as Honoring the Past, Understanding the Present, and Planning for the Future

We discussed the need to celebrate the Victor of before through gathering stories that exist through previous efforts and inviting people with connections to Victor's rich past to add their stories.  We also emphasized the need not to get caught in the past, however--to see it as the foundation of the now, but to focus efforts on what is to come and how the entire community has a responsibilty for its future.

--Storytelling to enhance bonds and bridges, a sense of belonging to the community ( see Peter Block's excellent book, Community: The Structure of Belonging,  for a more in depth discussion of the implications of belonging.

We discussed the impact of

--Individuals telling their stories as they wish, without a direct audience, how this choice is effective for people who do not wish to enagge in other, more social storytelling activities, but who have stories to share about why they live in Victor and how they wish