An Invitation for You to Speak and Remember
Soon after COVID-19 arrived on the scene, I felt an urgent need to gather pandemic stories from children and teens. That prompted me to launch the Voices Beyond the Virus project. The goal is to preserve pandemic stories from young people and pass them on to people of the future. If you want to skip other background information about the project and see stories that already have emerged, follow this link to a dedicated Facebook page.
See how other people have participated in the Voices project.
If you want to know more about the Voices project, here’s the inside scoop. In late March of 2020, I was revising a nonfiction book about a boy of the 1800s who gathered history by talking to ordinary people. His amazing work helped preserve the voices of slaves, illiterate hunters, and Native American chiefs. Yet there was one form of history he never gathered: eyewitness accounts from children and teens. I loved the idea of emulating his work and taking it a step further. The idea became the “Voices Beyond the Virus” project.
What is It? An invitation to everyone – but especially people who are 25 or younger – to tell their pandemic stories for people of the future.
How does it work? Children, teens, and young adults are invited to write, speak, or draw about their pandemic experience. Persons older than 18 can submit their creative work directly to me (send to: pbtrollinger {at} gmail [dot] com). Younger persons should get permission and help from a parent, teacher, or other mentor. The permission should indicate if it is okay to share your work online and in print. When the project concludes, I will ask a library or archive to preserve paper copies of these stories for the future.
What should my pandemic story include? You can write, speak, or draw about anything related to your pandemic experience. Your story can be happy or sad. It can be composed as a narrative or a poem. Some young people have created art to tell a pandemic story. If you have trouble getting started, here are three basic questions: What has been your worst (or best) pandemic experience? What will you remember for a very long time? Twenty years from now, if a child asks what it was like to live through this, what will you say? (To find other questions and writing prompts, use the PDFs provided at the bottom of this page.)
Is it okay to gather pandemic stories from other people? Yes! You are welcome to interview friends and family members - or challenge them to interview you!
This is an invitation. Lift your voice to speak in a way that will live into the future!
Patsi B. Trollinger - April 15, 2020
To reach me, use the contact page on this website or email: pbtrollinger {at} gmail [dot] com
Use the links below to download PDFs that offer questions and writing prompts. Twelve sets of questions are grouped into three documents.
See how other people have participated in the Voices project.