‘To be brave’: Students share personal narratives at Common Voices

The floor of the Procrastinator Theater was covered in rugs last Friday as stuffed animals, pillows and blankets lay in the seats. The light was low with candles surrounding a platformed stage at the front of the room, where storytellers spoke into a mic draped with a rainbow shawl.

Here, viewers gathered to hear the culmination of a semester's worth of work by four MSU students. The speakers were part of a program called Common Voices, created in partnership between the Student Commons and the Writing Center.

“[Common Voices is] a sustained community where we meet regularly and learn about the arc of storytelling,” said Lindsey Appell, the assistant director of the Writing Center and one of the program's creators. This semester was the first session of Common Voices, hosted by Appell and Sophia Bielsky, the director for the Student Commons.

One of the speakers was junior business and psychology student Emma Baldwin, who said she learned about the program through an info booth at the library.

“There's not a single force on this Earth that could keep me from an info booth,” she said. “There were stickers and flyers and people willing to have a conversation. I signed up within five minutes of walking up to the table. I’m very glad I did.”

The program’s participants met for two hours each Tuesday of the semester to prepare for the performance.

According to Appell, the first class was intended to help students become comfortable sharing stories about themselves and also provide some writing and speaking prompts. The group also watched different clips of famous monologues to start brainstorming for their own.

“I never had practiced a monologue before,” said senior sociology student Tyler Cook. “When I came into this thing, I came thinking that it was poetry and I kind of annoyed our hosts because I came in with my first draft and it was completely like Dr. Seuss.”

In the end, Cook’s monologue did have a poetic element. He shared a mix of abstract thoughts exploring what constitutes a community, interspersing his anecdotes with sections of the alphabet he had recited in full at the beginning of the performance.

“He definitely approached it more from a poet perspective, but as somebody who teaches poetry, I appreciated that,” Appell said.

Further into the program, group members met one-on-one with Appell and Bielsky, workshopped their drafts together and rehearsed in the theater.

“We did practice our public speaking, which was really helpful,” Baldwin said. “I’ve never done anything like this before. It did not make me as nervous as I thought it would.”

In her monologue, Baldwin shared her story of coming to MSU. She talked about growing up homeschooled in the suburbs of Bozeman and how she never set foot in an actual classroom until she was 18. Her monologue focused on how this affected her college experience.

Common Voices is classified as a “Speak Out Event.” According to MSU’s Mandatory Reporting Tools website, this means that Campus Civil Rights will not require mandatory reporting for any sensitive topics.

“We made it clear that this was not a processing opportunity, because we are not counselors. We encouraged students to share stories that they were ready to share,” Bielsky said.

“My story [that was monologued] felt a lot like the story I had to tell before I could tell any other stories,” said senior sociology student Grace Epperson.

Epperson shared a story about metaphorical dragons from her past. Through the metaphor, she highlighted how connection empowers people to endure hard times.

“I think [the metaphor] made it so powerful,” Appell said. “It situated the listener in a child-like way; you're seeing [the story] through the eyes of a child.”

According to Appell, the group's production contained an overarching theme of community.

Saransh Bharat is an international Ph.D student from Delhi who shared stories about his childhood growing up in India, his journey to the U.S. and his experiences after arriving.

Afterward, he spoke about the intersection of some of his identities: being an international student in the U.S., not speaking English as a first language and doing experimental physics for a living.

“Storytelling isn't very common in either of these intersections, so this was really uncomfortable and really hard for me,” he said.

Both Bielsky and Appell said the students inspired them. “We saw huge growth and development in these students,” Bielsky said. “It was so incredible.”

“It's a really beautiful opportunity to be brave in a space that supports your bravery. And these folks want you to succeed,” Epperson said.

“This was a really meaningful experience,” Appell said.

Common Voices will run again next spring. For more information, visit https://linktr.ee/StudentCommonsMSU.