Steel City Stories Unravel Hamiltonians’ Personal Histories

The First Unitarian Church on Dundurn Street South in Hamilton was a packed house on Friday, July 5^th when Steel City Stories filled the building with an evening of sharing, laughter, and good spirits.

Much like New York’s The Moth, Steel City Stories celebrates the city dweller’s life experiences by offering a stage for them to share their personal stories with their neighbours and peers.

“We wanted to do an event that was community building and also involved storytelling,” said Scott Dobbin, a member of the SCS planning committee.

The first SCS event was held back in November 2011.

“We didn’t publicize it in any other way other than putting up posters. So we were like I hope at least five or ten people come, and we had about a hundred people there,” said Grace Evans, one of the originators of the event.

Steel City Stories events happen every couple of months, with different Hamilton-based speakers sharing their personal stories under a theme that’s been previously selected.

Host, Renee Wetselaar

“Usually there’s a committee […] and people give their input and come up with these fabulous ideas,” said Renee Wetselaar, the host of last week’s event.

The July 5^th event featured stories under a “Turning Point” theme. The stories are shared simplistically, just a speaker with a microphone and no notes.

“The one rule of storytelling, globally, is you cannot read. […] Because it’s an oral tradition,” said Jean Ryan, one of the night’s speakers. Ryan is a professional storyteller from Brooklyn, NY who’s currently living in Hamilton. She shared an uproariously candid story about her experience going through the Catholic school system.

Grace Evans, along with her mother Shirley Molinaro, formed the idea for the events while she was interning in New York.

“There’s tons of different storytelling events and that kind of thing going on in New York. At the time, there wasn’t any equivalent to where we live,” said Evans.

The beauty of the event is that, as the notorious saying goes, “you never know what you’re gonna get.” The broad theme, along with the vastly different backgrounds of the six speakers offers nearly unlimited potential for what might be shared at the event.

Kevin Makins

The final story of the night was a perfect send-off told emphatically by Kevin Makins, a pastor who lives in downtown Hamilton. Makins shared his story about realizing you only have so much control, learning to let go and have trust.

“All it takes is one bad driver; all it takes is some part of your body falling out of sync; all it takes is one shower rod, to utterly destroy everything you thought you had control over. And when it happens, when the chaos hits, I think you’ve got one of two options. You desperately continue to cling to the idea that you have some sense of control over things, or you learn to let go, and trust. To trust family, to trust friends, to trust the universe, to trust God, to trust the things beyond yourself and believe that sometimes, even in the midst of chaos, order can emerge,” said Makins.

Upcoming Steel City Story events:

Steel City Stories presents: Into the Wild- September 

Steel City Stories presents: Moonlighting – November 1, 2014

Steel City Stories presents: Faking it – March 7, 2015

Steel City Stories presents: Theme TBA – June 6, 2015