An Experiment with Visual Storytelling from Every Zip Code — Helping us find #HOPE in the face of #TRAUMA during the time of #COVID19
By Marc Smolowitz, Director / Producer of THE G WORD
Back in January, I had the wonderful honor of being the main presenter at the Mid-Winter Conference of Minnesota Educators of the Gifted and Talented (MEGT). As part of my visit to the great State of Minnesota, I was asked to prepare two keynotes and a breakout session, which in many ways was an unexpected gift to me. For my part, I was able to spend significant time with my own ideas around the “state-of-the-state” of gifted and talented education, especially in states like Minnesota and others that are largely suburban and rural and increasingly becoming some of the most diverse zip codes in the nation. As I contemplated the stories we’ve been capturing for this film in many of those places, I kept coming back to a few key things that are at the heart of THE G WORD documentary -- gifted and talented education is peppered by what I broadly refer to as TRAUMATIC NARRATIVES and as such, it is vitally important that our approach to training teachers and empowering families be what trauma psychology experts call TRAUMA-INFORMED.
As I spent time developing these ideas for the Conference, I realized that while I am by no means a trauma expert, surviving trauma has been a major throughline in my life and work for the past thirty years. Without getting too into the weeds of my own personal biography (a few keywords include: HIV+, gay/queer, Jewish child/grandchild of Holocaust Survivors), I explained to this audience of thoughtful educators how there are a number of key aspects of my lived experience and intersectional identities that have helped me develop the necessary skills and resilience to navigate the treacherous waters of trauma. So much so, my personal and professional trajectory as a storyteller has naturally pushed me in the direction of making activist-driven films on topics that require me to think, in part, like a trauma-informed therapist, including -- HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ+ civil rights, racism, poverty, sexual abuse, and PTSD from military combat, natural disasters, and addiction. As I asked for a show of hands from the audience as to who had experienced trauma either personally or through a family member among the powerful categories that are listed below, literally hundreds of hands went up. This affirmed for me once again that the vast majority of Americans in the 21st century have a deep nuanced relationship to traumatic narratives and that trauma is a commonly shared experience. I pointed out that, for me, gifted and talented education is actually no different than these other very challenging topics. In fact, education can be a fulcrum for trauma. And, with our film’s intense focus on equity, we’re unearthing lesser-known traumas across every kind of zip code across our great nation. But, perhaps, more importantly, we are also unearthing hope, resilience, strength, and leadership in response to this very real and troubling fact.
From there, I emphasized how important it can be to find your own voice through unfettered yet deliberate experiments with first-person storytelling, highlighting that collective forms of empowerment are often my major focus when it comes to this sort of deep and difficult story work involving trauma. So, in the spirit of experimentation and trust, I invited folks to join my breakout session the next day where I would be sharing tools that can help educators bring storytelling and empowerment into their gifted, talented and neurodiverse classrooms. It was in that session with some 30+ brave and inspiring teachers that I piloted for the very first time THE G WORD’s new #MyGiftedStory program, which we are officially launching today, using the following very simple, yet empowering instructions:
Take a white piece of paper and create a sign by writing the following information on it in magic marker:
the zip code where you live and/or work;
the hashtag, #MyGiftedStory;
and, five unique words / terms/ phrases that honestly describe the challenges and opportunities that define the situation for you as it relates to gifted, talented and neurodiverse education in your zip code.
Take a series of vertical and horizontal smartphone photos of yourself holding up your sign to share it with the world. Stand in that photo with a sense of pride and power knowing full well that your image, likeness, and zip code story are interconnected with thousands upon thousands of others who reside in similar and different zip codes around the country, all people who care deeply about this all-important question -- In the 21st century, who gets to be “gifted” in America and why?
Go to https://thegwordfilm.com/my-gifted-story to upload your submission.
As you can see in the examples below, the photo results were amazing that day in Northern Minnesota, and this is just a small sampling. As the one who was witness to what unfolded in that room, this exercise was hands-down fun and empowering, and I left that day with two important take-aways: What a treat to use this exercise focused on zip codes and smartphone photography to help us get a meaningful snapshot of what’s on the minds of gifted and talented educators across the “Land of 10,000 Lakes;” and, what if we could scale this sort of photo challenge to zip codes everywhere?!
Imagine the diversity. Imagine the depth and range of humanity and emotion we could capture. Imagine the joy and hope we’d uncover in the face of great trauma.
Flash-forward to now, and here we are in April 2020. Everyone in the world is experiencing a shared form of planetary trauma with the #COVID19 public health pandemic that none of us could have ever predicted or imagined just 8 weeks ago. My humble view: the trauma of this pandemic is going to define this century, and within that powerful framing, educators, advocates, and storytellers have an important role to play in helping people of every generation find ways to heal and find hope for the future. And, we’ve got the perfect large-scale communal activity and experiment on hand to help foster that spirit!
Warmly,
Marc Smolowitz, Director / Producer of THE G WORD
#MyGiftedStory
THE G WORD is delighted to be launching our newest social media initiative, #MyGiftedStory.
Our entire team warmly invites you and yours in the larger gifted, talented and neurodiverse communities to contribute to what we hope will become an unprecedented visual tapestry -- one that serves to put a memorable and diverse face to #gifted, #talented, and #neurodiverse America and beyond!
THE G WORD
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