Safe Space

Lance said that his experience as a professional trainer helped prepare him for hosting Carapace. He described training:

My job involves

standing in front of adults

for eight hours a day,

usually in a hostile environment,

because they've been told by Human Resources or their boss or somebody else

that they had to be in that class

or they had to attend this particular training

that we would do.

This contrasts with the portrayal of Carapace as a safe space. The people Lance was training did not feel safe (at least at first) because they were forced into it. And it wasn’t a safe space for Lance either. He describes it as hostile. They crowd was prepared to dislike whatever he had to say.

Lance said that not having competition, not making the event a story slam, was a conscious decision to make Carapace a “safe space.”

From the very beginning,

one of the things that we agreed on was

the lack any real competition.

If you look at The Moth,

some of their stuff,

they have their story slam and

everything like that,

and that's fine for that, but

Joyce, and then, Randy when

he came aboard, both of them were adamant,

and I agreed 100% with them,

that we didn't want any real competitive aspect of it.

Public speaking

is the biggest fear of most adults in America.

You look at this and

you're asking people to stand up in front of other people

voluntarily and speak.

The idea that was

would be terrifying to a lot of people.

From the beginning, we

did not want any competitive aspect to it.

We wanted it to be

a very safe environment,

a very nurturing environment that people actually did feel comfortable enough

to stand up and start volunteering their stories.

Speaking in front of people is inherently frightening. They wanted to work to make speaking in front of people seem easier and less scary. Adding a competitive element makes people feel judged (they are judged) and can make sharing stories more intimidating. I find the use of the word “nurturing” here very interesting. Taking care of people. Feeding them. And people need to feel comfortable. They are volunteering. They are giving something away for free.

Lance brought up the safe space again in talking about the room they first used in Manuel’s.

And it gives this vibe

to it that it's

back to being in that safe place again

you would look at some of the pictures on the wall

or some of the little things that they had scrawled on the wall

and they didn't take themselves too overly serious.

The room simply felt safe. Part of this was due to the decorations. Lance felt that the reason the decorations gave the room this feel was because they kept the place from seeming too serious.

One thing that makes me question the universal safe space-ness of Manuel’s is the political connection.

And of course,

if you know Manuel’s

they do have a strong political base.

They do have a lot of leanings to where

it's almost like the building itself is

used for discussion.

Lance was describing why Manuel’s lends itself to public speaking. However, the political base has a strong leaning and I can’t help but think that those who lean the other way might not feel as “safe” there.

Lance confirmed that Manuel’s is

very hard core

democratic,

very hard core progressive,

and

we see it with some of the artwork

some of the things they got splashed on the walls.

This fact is known by the community and also conveyed through their decor. Nevertheless, he and the other creators were “not really” concerned that this might turn some people off. He said:

But, as far as, being

aggressive or very

militant about it,

not at all.

People would not be bothered by Manuel’s’ politics because they weren’t aggressive about it. He acknowledged there might be times (outside of Carapace) when people did get upset in that space:

Now they do shut down for presidential debates and all that,

I'm sure tempers flare

just a little bit when that happens.

As evidence that people were not stopped by politics, Lance said:

we had people

politically that were all over the spectrum

that would still come to Manuel’s.

Lance specifically remembered one regular who disagreed with the political leanings of Manuel’s but came to Carapace anyway:

he flat out would joke

that the whole building was filled with bleeding heart hippies

and blah blah blah

but that was the only way he--

this is the only time I'll ever set foot in Manuel’s

was to do Carapace.

I mean it was half joking

and he was being playful about it

but

at the same time

it was actually honest.

He was like,

normally wouldn't set foot in this place

because of their political leanings.

This is meant as evidence that the politics don’t keep people away, but I’m still a little dubious. The political nature of Manuel’s does have an effect on this person. That is why he talks about it. And it is possible that others react by not coming into the space. It is not feasible for me to talk to people who have never come to Carapace because they dislike Manuel’s, but talking to a person or two who comes in spite of Manuel’s might help me better understand this issue (or even prove that it truly isn’t an issue).

One of the questions I have about reality events like Carapace as “safe spaces” is: safe for whom? Lance’s reaction to a heckler really juxtaposes the rights and responsibilities of storytellers and audience members, and which members are most “safe.” After the heckling incident, Lance, as MC, took the mic and said: “I just want to remind everybody, we want this to be a welcoming environment.” This must mean welcoming for the storytellers. He continued:

Some of these stories are difficult

to tell.

We ask that

you be patient with everybody.

The storytellers must be made to feel safe so that they will be able to tell their stories. He then addressed the heckler directly: "We certainly ask you to keep things to yourself." He has worked to create a space where storytellers can speak, but asked the audience member not to. Finally, he reminded the heckler of the time limit:

if that story was too uncomfortable for you

just wait a couple of minutes

they'll be somebody else.

Making the storyteller feel uncomfortable is not permitted, but if audience members are uncomfortable, they should just wait it out.

Understanding who is safe is incredibly important. There are events where the performers are expected to keep the audience safe (festival style storytelling). These are both valid decisions and create spaces for different types of storytelling. But it could be disastrous for someone to wander into one type of event thinking it is the other.

When Lance went on to talk about how he preempted heckling in his opening speech from then on he further complicated the issue of safety. He would tell people at the beginning of the show:

You know, and if you don't enjoy someone's story,

that's fine

we just ask you to remain respectful

because the person next to may be enjoying that story

and ultimately

it's only 5 minutes.

You can last 5 minutes in a story that you don’t like.

Again here is the idea that the audience should just put up with a story they don’t like, but Lance introduces the idea that this is not just for the sake of the storyteller. It is also for the other audience members. A heckler can ruin the experience for others in the audience.