See a photo of Penelope, her bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Q&A with Penelope Starr, Question 6:

Q: You blog for TucsonCitizen.com, where the tagline of your blog is “Creating Community One Story at a Time.” In your experience, what are some of the ways stories help to create community?

A: People come to Odyssey Storytelling because they want to hear stories from their friends and neighbors and because they want to hear from someone they might not meet in their everyday life. We are sensitive to being inclusive of people from different ethnicities, races, religions, social and economic groups, ages, gender expressions and sexual orientations. In this way we celebrate the diversity that Tucson has to offer.

When Michael, a robust, bearded man told a story about when he was a little girl, many in the audience were very surprised. When Keon told a story about his father emigrating from a small town in a Middle Eastern country, an audience member (and stranger) was stunned because his father was from the same town. Doug would repeat the stories he heard at Odyssey to his elderly parents who where unable to leave their home.

An important part of every evening at Odyssey is the community announcements where we invite the audience to promote activities that they are involved in. These can range from Greyhound Rescue to political rallies, whatever our listeners what to share with each other.

These connections and many more are part of the magic of community storytelling. You’ll find this quote on the bottom of the program: “Because these stories are from our lives they may be amazing, messy, enlightening, disturbing, and entertaining … and more.”