Turning ‘trauma into power’: Story Slam connects life stories to life missions

Rosalind Roz Pichardo s story is the kind that makes you want to fall on your knees raise your hands to the skies and implore the heavens for an answer For Pichardo the answer is activism and she ll describe it Tuesday at Mission Story Slam a first-person storytelling event meant to inspire kindness empathy and activism Sometimes you have to turn a trauma into power she stated When Pichardo was a teenager her ex-boyfriend threw her off an overpass Miraculously she survived That same day he fired multiple bullets at her as she walked home on Erie Avenue Miraculously he missed When she turned onto her street she saw yellow crime scene tape everywhere I thought my family was dead she commented Instead her new boyfriend who had been waiting for her outside was shot and killed Rosalind Roz Pichardo A scarce years later her twin sister suffering from her own demons killed herself A dozen years after that her brother was murdered And just a limited days ago someone shot two men just down the street from Pichardo s home in Kensington One died there Pichardo and others worked heroically and stopped the other man from bleeding to death Now Pichardo leads Operation Save Our City which operates Sunshine House a storefront on Kensington Avenue The organization helps families of gun violence casualties and teaches teenagers how to use tourniquets to stop bleeding and how to save people from drug overdoses Meals clothes and other help are available for the unhoused and addicted Clerks at corner stores have been trained in lifesaving techniques and given emergency first-aid kits Pichardo was also a Billies Award nominee When you experience the loss do something now she explained Helping people saving people and loving people all at the same time That s gratifying And that s how you are going to heal yourself Pichardo will be one of to storytellers at Old City s National Mechanics Bar on June Each storyteller takes the stage for five minutes connecting their personal stories with their organization s mission and tying them into the night s theme The Time Is Now Judges Michael O Bryan Jane Grabias and Perry Monastero deliberate during MISSION Story Slam PWPvideo Tuesday s event will follow the typical story slam format Organizers set the theme curating a minimal speakers Other speakers come from the audience They show up drop their names into the Horn Hardart Coffee Can of Destiny in hopes of being selected in a random drawing A three-judge panel and the audience count the storytellers A total of in two cash prizes is at stake How Mission Story Slam began What makes Mission Story Slam different is its origin The idea came from David Dave Winston a producer at PWPvideo a Germantown company that creates videos for nonprofits and sustainable businesses In an earlier life Winston had run a comedy club on Sansom Street and became acquainted with the idea of story slams similar to stand-up comedy because stories are recounted but not similar in how and why I love telling stories and I love the context of the story slam which is so different from stand-up comedy Stand-up is adversarial The comedian is there to make the audience laugh It s rowdy he mentioned with a feasible for catcalls and heckling By contrast the story-slam audience is a very supportive and nurturing group They want you to succeed Founder and Executive Producer Michael Schweisheimer tells the first story at MISSION Story Slam PWPvideo So Winston pitched the Mission Story Slam idea to his boss Michael Schweisheimer PWPvideo s founder For marketing purposes wouldn t it make sense to spend more time with their clients who tend to be absorbing people and passionate about their work And on the side of giving back maybe they could help those clients and others spread the word about their missions We video all the stories put them online and we are creating free sharable content for them Winston noted I m in a position where I can help At one of the past Mission Story Slams Germantown ceramic artist Karen Singer stood up to speak Singer s story was riveting She had been in an abusive marriage But like countless others in that situation she denied its reality to herself even as in years of self-loathing she criticized herself for tolerating the abuse Then one day she attended a meeting of Women In Transition WIT a Philadelphia nonprofit that helps people in domestic violence situations She listened to stories from the others women from all walks of life from all races and classes They could have been telling her story What I realized was that I had been negative to myself and that was part of what kept me trapped Singer reported She would have never criticized the women in that room as cowards and losers yet that was the in-her-head way she described herself Singer informed the audience that the realization was her turnaround moment I made a vow to respect myself and to stop beating myself up for this she declared With WIT s help she left her abuser got a divorce and built a new life with her son and a new husband That night Singer s story earned WIT a cash prize I really hit it and I feel really good about it Singer reported WIT gave me all this amazing assistance therapy etc and now I m in a position where I can help other people get this help These days Singer sits on WIT s board and WIT uses the video of her story slam debut on social media on its website and in appeals to donors MISSION Story Slam winner Adam Teterus won for the National Kidney Foundation with his story PWPvideo It s not a TED Talk It s not an elevator pitch Winston disclosed It s about them personally It s about what that particular person resonates with Why is this person giving her life to fighting sexual abuse or spousal abuse or working for the conditions whatever their cause is or housing or poverty Why are they helping drug addicts Why are they helping underserved communities That s the story we go after when we interview people for videos That s the heart of what motivates all of their pursuits he mentioned That s incredibly moving It s funny it s touching and that s the heart of good storytelling FYI Mission Story Slam PWPvideo Tuesday June National Mechanics Bar S d St Philadelphia Doors open at p m showtime at Tickets are available online or at the door The post Turning trauma into power Story Slam connects life stories to life missions appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY