Challenging Assumptions

Stories shared at Carapace often involve change and the change may be a change of perspective. They think about things differently now. Amanda described what happens to audience members during personal storytelling as a change of perspective as well:

And whether we like it or not,

and I tell my students this too in theater,

that when I walk onstage,

whether I like it or not,

I am

being judged and

labeled

and categorized

and totally

I’m having assumptions made about me

right the moment I get onstage.

‘Cause I am this blonde lady,

this blonde White lady

who’s like middle-aged,

so they’re going to have all these

ideas about who I am. Right?

Not middle-aged,

maybe they think I’m in my thirties,

that’s great!

Let’s say that they think I’m a thirty-something lady.

Anyway,

but then I tell a story,

and then they have different things, right?

And whether it’s like,

oh see this gay guy walk onstage,

or they see this Black woman walk onstage,

or they see this lady in a wheelchair roll onstage, right,

they’re going to have all these assumptions,

and we’re just going to,

pardon my French,

we’re going to educate the fuck out of them. Right?

And then maybe,

after they hear the stories,

there’s a part of them that feels

just a little bit bad for having those assumptions. Right?

But that’s totally an inside

lesson that they learned.

Nobody,

it was,

nobody had to be embarrassed

or called out that like

“you thought this about me,

but you were wrong!” Right?

They were just educated

whether they knew it or not.

I like that people can live a “I changed my  perspective” story while listening to stories.