Find out about identity through Six Word Stories

Can you sum up who you are in six words?

A workshop, art installation and reception will help participants and observers consider their personal experiences and observations related to identity.

Six Word Stories Part One is a 90-minute workshop, starting at 2 p.m. Nov. 4 at Hillman Library, Amy Knapp Room (G-74), led by anu jain, lead consultant at Inclusant, an organization that specializes in diversity and inclusion consulting, and a part-time instructor in Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences. No reservations are needed.

Participants will be asked to consider their personal experiences and observations related to identity, with jain providing an overview of the various aspects of human identity that may factor into these observations and leading conversation about how the individual components of our identities impact us and others.

Each person will then craft a six-word statement about identity and post those statements around the room, and jain will lead the group in a discussion about their observations of the statements.

After the workshop, all of the individual stories will be collected and displayed near the first-floor entrance of Hillman Library for two weeks. Notecards and pens will allow passersby to add their own statements to the installation.

From 3 to 5 p.m. Nov. 14, the six-word stories will re-displayed in the Thornburgh Room of the library for a gathering open to all members of the University community. Anu jain and a team of facilitators from Inclusant will return to campus to lead participants in a broader conversation, helping to identify the issues and themes that emerged and prompt attendees to consider ways that the overall campus community could be effectively responding to any actionable ideas.

The suggestions that are shared during this event will be captured by event organizers and revisited as possible next steps.

At the end of the reception, all of the six-word stories will be archived by the University Library System.

This event is a joint presentation of the Dietrich School’s Open Door Project and the University Library System. It is support by a grant from the University's Year of Creativity.

— Susan Jones