This episode features Lizzie Warner, a student in Campfire’s Advanced Storytelling class. You can learn more about Lizzie Warner on the Campfire website, https://cmpfr.com/events/fall-2018-advanced-storytelling/.
These episodes of The Campfire Storytelling Podcast showcase students who went through our Advanced Storytelling class. These students take a six-week class to prepare to tell a story about life and how they live it. Season 32 students told stories about false narratives.
This episode was originally performed in August 2020, produced by Jeff Allen, and recorded live via Zoom.
This episode features Lizzie Warner, a student in Campfire’s Advanced Storytelling class. You can learn more about Lizzie Warner on the Campfire website, https://cmpfr.com/events/fall-2018-advanced-storytelling/.
These episodes of The Campfire Storytelling Podcast showcase students who went through our Advanced Storytelling class. These students take a six-week class to prepare to tell a story about life and how they live it. Season 32 students told stories about false narratives.
This episode was originally performed in August 2020, produced by Jeff Allen, and recorded live via Zoom.
Hello, Internet I'm Steven Harowitz. And I'll be your host for this episode of Campfire at Home recorded here in St. Louis, Missouri. Almost every month, we gather at the Campfire to hear stories about life and how we live it from the everyday voices that live around us. Campfire at Home is how we bring that live storytelling experience to you wherever you are. In this episode, I have something special for you, as I always try to, because we have stories to share from the capstone event of our recent Advanced Storytelling class, featuring Grace, Katie, Lizzie, and Nokie. These students signed up for the class way back at the beginning of 2020, and we held one class in April in person. And then the pandemic settled into our bones as a reality. We postponed the rest of the classes to the summer. We were thinking hopefully we could return to in person classes by then. And when it became inevitable that the pandemic would continue to wreak havoc on our daily lives, we went ahead with holding the class online. All this to say, this has been a long time coming. Over six class sessions, after a brief refresher on what we'd learned in Intro to Storytelling, this class took a deep dive into ensuring that, as public speakers, our intentions align with our impact. We also practiced learning to really listen and love our own voices. Students also practiced giving and receiving constructive peer feedback throughout the course. This process required deep reflection centered on the season theme, false narratives. The story you'll hear in this episode represents the storyteller's interpretation of the false narratives theme and how false narratives have impacted their life. This brings us to the Campfire at Home episode you are listening to right now. This episode will highlight one of our four student storytellers. You can catch the other storytellers by subscribing to Campfire at Home, wherever you get your podcasts. And now let's head to the Campfire to listen to Lizzie's story on false narratives.
Lizzie Warner:In Uruguay they have this tradition called Candombe and Candombe, like a lot of current cultural events, has kind of a sordid origin, but nowadays it's like a street performance and parade wrapped into one. They have big events during Carnival every year. And to practice for those groups gather in different neighborhoods on Sunday evenings. And Candombe looks like a big group of people, half dancing, half walking down the street to a band of drums in the front and these flags the size of cars waving on the edges of the crowds. I got to experience one about five years ago, and it's an incredibly vibrant scene. You follow behind the music and can't help but feel this sense of community, although that sense of community could also have been from the edibles we'd eaten before we went. Um, so I was on this trip to South America with my friend Celine, and she really wanted to stop in Uruguay. And I didn't mind. An old classmate of mine Miguel was studying there, so we included it in our plans. It wasn't until we arrived that I learned part of the reason she wanted to go was because weed was legal there. So we did like any good American tourists would do. We bought some marijuana-infused cookies, ate them on a rooftop with Miguel and his roommate, and went to Candombe. A few months before this Celine and I met at Urban Chestnut in The Grove, and she told me that, uh, she had a few months before starting her second year of grad school and was thinking about planning a trip to South America. She asked if I wanted to join her. And it's good to note that, uh, Celine is she's one of my most adventurous friends. She is always in search of a new experience. And I envy that in her. I really do. Um, but overall I would say I am a bit more calculated. I am just not a person who thrives in a lot of uncertainty. And when she asked if I wanted to go, I got this gut feeling in my stomach. You know, those feelings when your body's trying to give you a hint, but it keeps it subtle. So you can listen or you can not listen. I was 25 at the time, and, uh, living in St. Louis working in community education. I had never really envisioned living here as an adult. I grew up here and, after being away for a few years, came back and kind of got a job and got settled and things were good. I liked my life, but I was feeling directionless. So when she asked if I wanted to take this trip, I noticed that gut feeling. But I said, yes, anyways. I said yes to this trip. And I said yes to opening myself up to change. And I thought I would use it as this start to a new chapter. So I uprooted all these big things in my life. I didn't renew my lease and moved back to my parents' house. I took a leave from my job, not sure if I would go back or not. And I left things ambiguous with the person I was dating. I had three weeks to explore and figure it out. The problem is that figuring it or life out doesn't really happen on timelines we make for ourselves. So I had suspended these big parts of my life, got on an international flight, and thought I would come back with some clarity. Celine had left a few days before me, so I flew alone. And when I walked off the plane in Buenos Aires. I had the knot in my stomach, and it reminded me of when I would get homesick when I was little, which admittedly happened a lot. I would agree to go to sleepovers and have to call my parents before bed to pick me up. Uh, I even got teary-eyed when Mrs. Hunt picked us up for carpool some mornings. So like all of a sudden I'm in this airport in Argentina feeling like I'm eight years old again. I took a deep breath and I had the address to the hostel and Celine was there waiting for me. So I got a taxi and I went there. When I opened the door to the lobby, Celine was sitting there, just as she should be. And this wave of relief came over me, the knot went away. And I thought,"This is going to be fine." So I took a shower to kind of get settled, took my travel size Dr. Bronner's and, uh, watched the water washing over my flip flops, just hoping I'd made a good choice. We had a lot of fun over those next few weeks. We got to explore new cities and, uh, just try different things and met people from all over the world. But every morning I would sit down to journal and I kept writing down the same things. I was happy to be there, but I was nervous about how I left things so open back home. I didn't know what change I was looking for, and I certainly didn't know how to find it. And so instead of taking in the sights and sounds of where I was, I had my head in my journal, just worried about my return home. In one of the cities we stayed in, Salta, we rented an Airbnb, which was a little treat to ourselves after all the hostels. And after the first night there, Celine woke up sick to her stomach. I helped her get settled, and I went out to take a walk so she could rest. And I went to this art gallery we'd passed the afternoon before. And I'm looking through sort of absentmindedly, looking at these pieces. And I turned this corner and I see this print calle,"Sensible Chaos." And I stop. And I look, and honestly the image doesn't even really resonate with me. It's those words that stick out,"sensible chaos." That not sort of comes back to my stomach as the phrase sinks in. Chaos, as a concept to me, feels like something you can't create if you're being intentional. And I had been intentional. Had I been intentional? I had heard my gut tell me this wasn't the time or the way. And I ignored it. I knew I didn't do well with a lot of uncertainty. And yet I left with all these big parts of my life unresolved. I had tried to make sensible choices, but really I had just made a big mess. It's funny. When I was little, I used to wonder why my parents kept letting me go to sleep overs. Like why not avoid the inevitable? But I know now that if they had said to me,"No, you can't go to Katie's cause we don't want to pick you up later," I never would have tried again, but I could go and I could try because I knew they were there if I needed them and home was there if I needed it. And I realized standing in that gallery with that knot in my stomach and those words in my head that I needed at home. I walked back to the Airbnb and I sit outside with a cup of coffee to think. And, but halfway through that cup, my own stomach starts to turn, and I run inside to the bathroom, get just in time and then collapse next to Celine in this big bed we were sharing. We had some food poisoning that laid us out for like 30 hours, just taking trips to the bathroom and watching Modern Family episodes on our phones for comfort. When the worst of it had passed, Celine and I talked about our plans and I told her I was going to change my flight and leave a week early. In some ways it felt like I was letting myself down by going, but really it was the most sincere decision I'd made about that whole trip. I was finally listening to myself and to what I needed, and that felt really good. It sounds kind of simple to say, but it's brave to listen to that inner voice. It's brave to say no to something that sounds fun, like a big trip, if it's just not right. And it's brave to get on a 13-hour flight, if you're still recovering from food poisoning. And that's exactly what I did. As I, as I settled into that seat, I sent a word up to whatever higher power was listening to make it back without any incident. And I went home.
Steven Harowitz:And that's a wrap. You can make sure to hear the other episodes from our Advanced Storytelling graduates by subscribing to Campfire at Home, wherever you get your podcasts. And if you liked what you heard and you're able, please leave a review. It helps others find our podcast and it supports our students. If you were listening to tonight's episode and thought that's pretty cool, well, we'd love to have you come out to an event or take a class. You can visit cmpfr.com. That's C M P F R.com for all the details. And whether you live in St. Louis or nowhere nearby, there are ways to take classes and attend our event virtually. You can find out more at cmpfr.com. That's C M P F R.com. As always a big thank you to the Campfire team, our podcast producer Jeff Allen, and everyone who attends these live events. Tonight's stories were recorded. Live on zoom from across the country. Thanks for listening to campfire at home. And thanks for letting me be your host. I'm Steven heroines until next time.