SOLD OUT! It was standing room only last week at Garfield’s 502 as we listened to the community "Come Clean"for the first ExFabulaStorySlam of Season 7. We’d like to give special thanks to Season 7 sponsor, Transfer Pizzeria and Cafe and to this month’s StorySlam sponsor, Milwaukee Film Festival.
Have a story to share but still unsure of how to tell it? Join us this Saturday, September 26 for our first public storytelling workshop of the season. We’ll help you identify, shape and deliver the story that could make you the next audience favorite.
This season, Ex Fabula is exited to offer our first Ex Fabula Fellowship program focusing on the topics “privilege and oppression.” White privilege has been front and center in mainstream media over the past year. While so many of us acknowledge the danger of oppression and there is still a large percentage of the community that refuses to acknowledge the existence of privilege in any form—racial, gender, sexuality, class and ability. According to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of privilege is:
- a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others
- a special opportunity to do something that makes you proud
- the advantage that wealthy and powerful people have over other people in a society, a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.
The goal of the Ex Fabula fellowship program is to leverage personal stories to inspire community-led dialogue around some of the most pressing issues in the Greater Milwaukee area–segregation and economic and racial inequality. We’re accepting applications now through September 23, 2015 from adults 18+ who live in the Greater Milwaukee area. We’ll select a diverse group of 25 Fellows that demonstrate enthusiasm for personal storytelling and the project mission.
This week, we have two brief stories from Mario Willis and India Robinson. Both of these community members of color share their experiences of prejudice and privilege. While demeaning and frustrating, these situations are not uncommon. It’s our hope that the Ex Fabula Fellowship will create a greater conversation and lead to a change in how our community addresses these issues.
