Brown, Brené. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead. Avery, 2015.

Brené Brown’s book had an enormous impact on the way I considered gratitude an essential part of my life, and something to share with others. Her extensive research on shame, vulnerability, and overall mental wellness can also be extended to the work of activists like those at BUILD; through their work that often demands intense vulnerability, activists engage with the practice of gratitude in the face of extreme struggle. Because of Brown’s work, I have integrated a gratitude practice into my daily life, writing down three things I am grateful for every night. In my interviews, I asked each subject to consider and share (if comfortable) three things they were grateful for in that moment, as a space for reflection and openness. My goal was to facilitate an opportunity for gratitude directly before I took the subject’s photo, demonstrating the most open and beautiful part of them. I credit Brené Brown for putting research and language to the incredible phenomenon of vulnerability and guiding my personal journey towards living a more fulfilled life. 

Cox, John W. “Shot at 15, He Now Had One Goal amid Chicago’s Relentless Gunfire: Stay Alive.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 11 Aug. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/sf/local/2017/08/11/shot-at-15-he-now-had-one-goal-amid-chicagos-relentless-gunfire-stay-alive/?utm_term=.c260594a84a4.

This Washington Post article was referenced during my interview with Martin Anguiano in response to a question about an impactful success story that gave him a particularly strong sense of fulfillment. Besides this being a beautiful look into the life of Latee Smith, it illustrates the impact that an organization like BUILD can have on urban youth. It was inspirational to see a major publication highlight the hard work and dedication that Latee made for himself, as well as the support of all of his mentors. 

Mager, Barbara J. R., and Lou Ann M. Stevens. “Storytelling Contributes to Resilience in Older Adults.” Activities, Adaptation & Aging, vol. 43, no. 1, May 2015, pp. 23–36., doi:10.1080/01924788.2018.1448669.

This article was the first scholarly source that I came across in my preliminary research for my capstone project, and it confirmed my theory that storytelling can have therapeutic effects. The study on older adults sharing their stories through a series of questions posed by listeners asserts that the simple act of retelling one’s story increases one’s happiness, resilience, and sense of agency over their own lives. Not only does the telling and listening of people’s stories increase trust, relationships, and happiness, it can also highlight and control what is most meaningful in someone’s life. The series of questions asked to these older adults in this study inspired the questions I asked all of my subjects.

“Memory.” The Mind Explained, season 1, episode 1, Netflix, 2019.

This short documentary-style episode about the functions of memory and how the brain is wired to remember details further strengthened my capstone theories. The episode explains that the most effective way the brain stores information is through stories. They focus on a woman who wins memory contests for remembering massively long series of numbers or phrases, and she explains her process of inputting the information in her mind: she makes up a story for each element of the list. Without the story she creates, the list of numbers would be almost impossible to recall. However, with a narrative in mind she can more easily access the seemingly-arbitrary list of figures, giving each number or letter a meaning. I apply this information on memory to the conjecture that activism is the most effective and wide-reaching when it includes a story. 

Russo-Netzer, Pninit, and Tal Ben-Shahar. “‘Learning from Success’: A Close Look at a Popular Positive Psychology Course.” The Journal of Positive Psychology, vol. 6, no. 6, 7 Oct. 2011, pp. 468–476., doi:10.1080/17439760.2011.634823.

Tal Ben-Shahar is a huge influence on my interest in positive psychology, and he created and taught a course at Harvard University focused on cultivating happiness. Similar to The Happiness Lab, Ben-Shahar emphasizes the importance of human connections, vulnerability, and gratitude. He highlights the necessary practice of reflection for maintaining retention. This retention then further allows for increased agency, and the ability for people to take responsibility for their lives. He specifically talks about the positive role that stories play in humans’ lives: stories allow us to grasp the world and make sense of ourselves, they are more convincing than statistics, and they engage in emotions which can further encourage action. This testament about stories directly influenced my overall goal with my capstone project: to share the stories that influenced all these activists to move to action.

Santos, Laurie. “The Happiness Lab.” The Happiness Lab, Pushkin Industries, 7 Oct. 2019, https://www.happinesslab.fm/season-1-episodes/mistakenly-seeking-solitude.

As mentioned in my Artist Statement, this Happiness Lab episode felt like the missing piece to my project idea. This was the first piece of media that I consumed that explained the psychological positive impact of human connections, human interactions, and storytelling. The host, Laurie Santos, interviews the inventor of the ATM as well as his wife. To her surprise, the wife of the inventor had never once used an ATM, for the reason that she preferred standing in the bank teller lines and conversing with strangers. Although many efforts today are made to increase convenience and save time, some of these swaps may be sacrificing our chances for face-to-face human connection that is essential to our well-being. Because of this episode, I was further motivated to create meaningful connections with strangers at BUILD and see where the power of storytelling could take those relationships.

Sutherland, Judy, et al. “Art Therapy Connection: Encouraging Troubled Youth to Stay in School and Succeed.” Art Therapy, vol. 27, no. 2, 2010, pp. 69–74., doi:10.1080/07421656.2010.10129720.

I engaged with this article during my time at BUILD during my preparation for some interviews with art therapists at the organization. I learned many more details about art therapy as a professional field, and its broad impact on retaining students in Chicago Public Schools. The authors explain that programs like art therapy increase a students’ sense of belonging and self-esteem, and thereby reduce fear and allow for more learning. Goals for art therapy are largely geared towards meaning-making and collaboration with peers. The simple act of imagining a change for one’s life can motivate them to enact that change. This article was great context for my conversations with the incredible art therapists at BUILD, and caused me to more seriously consider art therapy as a possible future career.

“Uses of Story.” Working Narratives, Working Narratives, 3 Dec. 2015, workingnarratives.org/article/uses-of-story/.

This is an example of an organization that implements the concept of storytelling within the context of activism and social change. They have articles relating to ways in which storytelling can be most effectively utilized to reach certain audiences, change certain narratives, and deliver certain messages. They explain that storytelling happens at every level of engagement, and can be an essential tool to enact social change. Although I have no experience with an organization like this one, it gives me an idea of where I could take my study and knowledge of activism and storytelling into my future professional life.