Black and Brown Girls Storytelling Fellowship TUN's 2024 Storytelling Fellowship provided a platform for Black and brown girls to tell their stories. Each fellow received storytelling training, support and coaching toward the development of a narrative project of their choosing. Our fellowship culminated in a showcase in December where fellows read their work and discussed their process. Get to know our fellows below and experience their work! Jordan Richo Jordan's collection of short and flash fiction focuses on black identity, with an exploration of monstrosity that manifests both internally and externally, in an attempt to place marginalized bodies into dreamy gothic narratives that contend with double consciousness and generational trauma that exists in familiar spaces. Experience Jordan's work here! Cristina A. Perez Cristina's poetry collection is about a week she spent in Puerto Rico in 2023. It was the first time she had been back there since her grandfather passed away 5 years prior. It was also the first time she went to Puerto Rico knowing some of its history. In this collection, she includes photos to go with some of the poems to make it feel like a scrapbook. Experience Cristina's work here! Zoe Umeh Zoe's story follows a character who can transfer their consciousness into different physical entities — from humans to bugs to computers. The idea she is exploring is that we are operating physical vessels and our souls reverberate the lost parts of our genuine identities that we forget upon our birth. Experience Zoe's work here! Kameryn Thigpen Kameryn's work consists of 4 essays that speak to different experiences in her activism and liberation journey. These essays include both personal chapters and academic references. Experience Kameryn's work here! Andreanela Ordoñez-Carbajal My work builds upon my personal and creative goals as I am pursuing pathways that centers community work, advocacy, and the arts. I interweave my own experiences, my social justice work, and storytelling to bring on change within my communities. Andreanela's work will be uploaded soon! Maya Adenihun My narrative project is a retelling of my journal entries from my first year of college in a digital, interactive archive. The format and story told demonstrates how a writer in the early 21st century is influenced and how their work is a part of a collective narrative. Experience Maya's work here!

Tags: Boricua, Puerto Rico, Colonialism, elders, Indigenous

Meet Shyienah Jiménez-Rivera Shyienah Jiménez-Rivera attends high school at the Boston Arts Academy majoring in music. Coming from a Latino background, Shyienah is very proud of her culture. Shyienah loves to meet new people and is very family oriented. Shyienah works very hard at what she does and wants to pursue storytelling so teens can relate. Experience Shyienah Jiménez-Rivera's work My project is about how your mind is your biggest fear. It's a conscious that makes you feel negative and disgusted about yourself. The reason I chose this type of topic because we as humans have negative thoughts about our appearance, and I feel as though teenagers, more so young girls, go through that mindset more because we as women try to look and feel a certain way so we can be accepted, by men, by ourselves or anyone for that matter. This projects means a lot to me because when I was little I would always get body shamed because I was too big and I always had bad thoughts about myself and I know other people can relate. What came easy doing this project was me expressing how I actually feel without sugarcoating anything. I love poetry and I love how you can express yourself any shape or form while doing so. My biggest highlight out of this whole poem is how your mindset can change soo much and take control in a positive and negative way only if you let it. Click Me

Partners The Untold Narratives is fortunate and honored to have amazing partners and collaborators. The logos below represent our partners in storytelling, learning design, teaching and narrative change projects. Reach out to us to learn more about our work and partnerships by contacting info@theuntoldnarratives.com Ask us about the GOC Collective! Learn More!

Marsha P. Johnson, a black transgender woman, was a central figure in the gay liberation movement By Christina Maxouris, CNN Updated 9:54 PM EDT, Wed June 26, 2019 Click on picture to read the article

The Strange Lamp by Jordan Richo This collection is called “The Strange Lamp”. The title is in reference to the phenomenon in which people are snapped out of their perceptions of reality by a single, out of place object, thus revealing the horrific dreamlike state they had previously been living happily within. To exist in this world as a person of color is to be both subconsciously aware and willfully unaware of both a real and imagined identity. The black body has often been a stand-in for inherent monstrosity. And when you are contending with a violent history, while consuming media and language that seeks to dehumanize you until you believe that your own nature is comparatively disturbed, there is a third point of view that manifests as dreams or fantasy. The out of body experience that Dubois coined as- double consciousness. I wanted to explore these out of body experiences with identity. I wanted to explore how fear and violence manifest in third spaces of reality. How histories of violence and hatred can burrow deep into even our most comfortable spaces and in turn infect our perceptions of our relationships and ourselves. I think it’s interesting to think about hate as the overarching terror in a horror story. It’s so easy to say that hate is the root of all evil despite it being as easy and innate as love. It’s especially interesting when dissecting what can lead one to hatred and violence. The Black and brown experience is the constant poking and goading of an intolerance that is idolized, and when it goes too far, or when someone retaliates, we are told we’ve become the monsters they’ve always imagined us being. Throughout this collection, I wanted to stretch the boundaries of the horror genre, and overlay gothic elements into dreamy narratives that warp the reader’s perception of reality and speak directly to the inner shadow- the thoughts and feelings that make us feel guilt or shame. Overall, I wanted to blend Black storytelling, history, and spaces with the darkness and, yet, warmth of those very same places in hopes of finding a pocket where our shadows can meet and start to understand themselves better. Read The Strange Lamp now

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Meet Mia Prince Mia Prince is a student at the University of Kentucky majoring in Sports Communications with a double minor in Journalism and Fashion Merchandising, Mia hopes to aid in the diversification of male dominated fields through her efforts in becoming the representation for young Afro-Latina women. Mia hopes to one day launch a nonprofit to support and mentor those within her own community who are hoping to enter fields lacking Black and Hispanic role models. Experience Mia Prince's work My purpose and motivation in completing this project was to bring myself to my most vulnerable and uncomfortable and pinpoint the message I would like to convey to the world in having the opportunity to do so. Through doing this, I uncovered a story I didn't even realize I remembered and feelings and emotions I did not even realize I held onto so strongly. I believe the hardest part of this project was determining the exact memory I wanted to focus on. As I started to brainstorm, I began to have an overwhelming amount of ideas and struggled to determine which I would like to be the focal point of my project. I believe the easiest part of this project was, once I got in the rhythm of what I wanted to focus on the words, thoughts and feelings came easily!

An Ode to the Quiet by Anonymous I have no mouth No vocal chords with which to speak My eyes dart back and forth hoping to find my chance It never comes I struggle with the silence It’s all I can hear And I feel weak Yet I continue teeth to teeth Lip to lip Waiting for the sound That never comes

Il Gelato by Joann Garrido There was one moment when it all sank in. The buildup to my first trip to Italy was more than a bit consuming. Booked with my sister’s frequent flyer miles about a month before, it had the feel of something done on a whim. The best kind of plan. At the tender age of 57 I’d done my fair share of travel yet never managed to get to Italy, the land of our grandfather, and let’s face it, a dream destination. The weeks leading up to it were filled with shopping excursions to find, among other things, the right shoes. You know, ones that would support my often-achy feet, yet wouldn’t scream out “Look out! Unfashionable American headed your way!” I also needed to find a jacket that would not only keep me warm but would protect me in the event of rain. For me carrying an umbrella is basically an admission that I will, at some point, just lose it and get wet anyway. I don’t bother. And, of course, it had to look nice. I never have understood why so many of my people (Americans) choose to dress like they’re about to scale the Grand Canyon in their hiking gear, while visiting the grandiose cities of Europe. Let’s give these places some respect, can we? We can, at least, try to look almost as good as the place and its natives do. We will probably never achieve this, but a little effort won’t kill us. Having finally gotten my wardrobe settled and my packing completed, I was prepared to declare “smooth sailing ahead.” But the universe had other plans and decided to test my patience by sending snow filled Noreasters to the Boston area, on a weekly basis, as my departure date approached. For those of you who don’t know what a Noreaster is, just think about a wind-filled chaotic storm that will wreak havoc and include snow during cold months. March and April in New England are merely suggestive of Spring. Snow covered crocuses and pasty complexions are run of the mill sites during these months to those of us lucky enough to live here. Of course, one was scheduled for the week, specifically the DAY I was due to leave. My time that week became filled with calling Delta customer service reps, maniacally checking weather apps, and having to accept that as a non-religious person I was going to have to succumb to some form of prayer… or maybe a bribe to the universe. Hell, I’m glad there aren’t any goats in my neighborhood, or I might have been arrested trying to sacrifice one. I just could not accept that I might have to suffer through rescheduling flights and missing a day of my trip whose daily excursions were already booked and paid for. With less than 24 hours to go and on a steady diet of Tums, my manager subtly suggested I go home early and get my jittery vibes away from her. I do recall the word “Xanax” being mentioned at some point. So, imagine my relief when I arose, on the day in question, to pretty and windless flurries. All was good. It was happening. Really happening. And it did. Okay the flight to JFK got caught in some kind of wind we weren’t experiencing in Boston and took such a drastic pitch to one side for a moment that… I digress. I made it to Rome. My sister was at the hotel and my friends, who live in the Netherlands, joined us later to spend a couple of days with us. The sight-seeing. The pasta eating. The vino. All so good. But it wasn’t until day three, as we were walking through The Trastevere, having enjoyed a long, wine-filled lunch in the sun that we stopped to get gelato. Then, time slowed down. I looked around and saw that I was walking down a beautiful street in one of Rome’s oldest neighborhoods, with family and friends. The weather was perfect, the wine buzz was good, and the pistachio gelato was the sweet ending I hadn’t realized I needed. I was transported to that scene in “Eat, Pray, Love” where Julia Roberts is sitting on a bench, enjoying her gelato, next to a couple of nuns, and drinking in her Italian experience. I felt what her character must have, the joy of leaving one’s daily routine behind and being in such a beautiful setting. I let that moment, that great moment, just sink in. I was really there. I was really in Rome. And it was really good.

Leem's Project Go Back to Inspired By ... 2024 Project List