Storytelling Project Invites You to Share Stories
Want to learn about the Ozarks from a different point of view? A storytelling project called Stry.us has moved into Springfield for the summer, and Ozarks citizens are invited to join in by reading the stories and adding to the discussion.
Stry.us (pronounced STOHR-ee), is a self-described "band of reporters in pursuit of really great storytelling."
The project began in July 2010 with one reporter, Dan Oshinsky, in Biloxi, Miss. His mission was to tell the story online and in print of how the Gulf Coast and its people were still trying to rebuild after Hurricanes Camille and Katrina.
This summer a team of six reporters and photographers including Oshinsky have moved to Springfield to look at what's happening in the Ozarks, "where the South and Midwest meet," and the issues that are keeping locals from living the lives they want to live.
Learn more about the Springfield project at http://www.stry.us/the-springfield-project/.
Read the first installment of the Springfield Story at http://www.stry.us/category/springfield/.
Currently, Stry.us is inviting Ozarks residents to write a letter to Springfield about what's on their minds -- hopes and dreams, roses and brickbats. What do you want your city to know?
Stry.us staff plans to use the letters for a series of live events at the Library this summer. The events will be based around the stories in citizens' letters. Stry.us may even ask residents to read their letters aloud at a Library event later this summer.
Submit an online letter to http://www.stry.us/letters/ or drop your letter in the Stry.us collection box placed in each branch and Mobile Library of the Springfield-Greene County Library District.
Stry.us is getting research assistance, syndication and other kinds of help from several partners including the Springfield-Greene County Library District, Community Publishers and Missouri News Horizon.
Stry.us says it stands for these core issues:
- stories power our world;
- great stories should be presented beautifully;
- we can build a community around our stories;
- great reporting starts with time -- and great listening;
- you don't need a newsroom to tell the news;
- we should talk less and build more;
- there is an awesome future for journalism.
Learn more about the project and the reporters at http://www.stry.us/about-stry/.
Find this article at http://thelibrary.org/blogs/article.cfm?aid=1921&lid=57