The Danger of a Single Story
“When we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.” –Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
There is power in the stories we hear and tell. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie touches upon this idea in her TED Talk: “Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize.” I appreciated her message and this particular reminder that as a storyteller, there’s an importance in recognizing that stories can be dangerously definitive when there’s no singular perspective or narrative about people and places. There might be voices or narratives unheard and untold. We might be buying into the single stories we have consumed, and already have our own assumptions and biases. In my personal life and in my creative and professional work, my takeaway is that I hope to maintain this kind of consciousness about storytelling, especially in the stories I choose to tell.
Sound Collage
This past Sunday afternoon, I took my folding bike out for a ride from Brooklyn, onto a ferry, and around Governors Island, and recorded some sounds along the way. This is a sound collage of my afternoon adventure outside.