Storytellers plunged into the deep end during The Sloth’s first event of the year last Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Westco Cafe. The theme of the night, “In the Deep End,” prompted a wide range of anecdotes from the people who came up to the microphone.
The Sloth, a group that organizes storytelling events, is led by Gabe Gordon ’15, Lizzie Shackney ’17, and Rachel Day ’16. The Sloth is loosely based on the famous storytelling organization The Moth, which hosts live storytelling events all over the country in addition to airing a radio show and podcast featuring standout stories. Unlike The Moth, though, The Sloth has chosen for none of its events to be competitive.
“It’s scary no matter what to tell a story,” Day said on the group’s decision to have The Sloth be noncompetitive. “If it’s a personal story, you are going to be a little vulnerable. When you get into the deeper stuff, it’s even more vulnerable, and we didn’t want people to feel judged. It’s pretty cathartic to tell your story in front of a big group of people, and we wanted to make sure that people could feel as comfortable as possible while doing that.”
Maybe it was due to the non-competitive nature of the event, or maybe it was the ambiance provided by the electric candles at the foot of the stage, but many of the stories told at The Sloth were extremely personal and emotionally charged. Upon arriving at The Sloth, I was a bit cynical about the event; I think that I was underestimating the ability of my peers to tell stories about being “in the deep end” without resorting to clichés. However, I was impressed and moved by almost all of the stories I heard that night.
The storytellers were Ian Teixeira ’17, Elijah Stevens ’15, Katherine Lu ’15, Bryan Schiavone (VSCH), Eriq Robinson ’15, Emilie Pass ’15, Margaret Curtis ’16, and Max Friedlich ’17. Their stories varied in seriousness, but almost all of them mixed funny moments with the overarching themes of shame, loneliness, or having their expectations shattered.
Half of the stories focused on experiences the storytellers had in other countries. For a few of the storytellers, being “in the deep end” involved loneliness or having their romanticized predictions for a trip dashed. Robinson told a story about how depressed and alienated he felt in China. Some of the things he experienced, like strangers pulling his hair on public transportation and then running away, elicited laughs from the audience. Some of his other experiences, like getting drunk and crying only to have a bicycle taxi driver try to hustle him and then being rescued by a large group of Nigerian men, were as touching as they were entertaining.
Lu, who spoke about the time she spent in Brazil, shared a much different perspective on the discomforts of traveling, although she did also express her own memories of feeling overwhelmed by culture shock. From recalling the mishaps of a night on the town to relating the horrors of seeing a huge bug on the wall, Lu was open about her recollections of feeling lost abroad.
Other storytellers spoke about feeling lost right at home. Curtis told the audience about a recent experience she had revisiting a childhood residence and, in the process, figuring out how to come to terms with pieces of the past.
I thought it was interesting that almost everyone’s interpretation of “the deep end” revolved around human interaction. Shame, loneliness, grief, and confusion were themes throughout the stories. Though for the inexperienced it may be difficult to address these emotions without resorting to clichés or an overly self-pitying tone. The Sloth’s participants deftly avoided these pitfalls. I appreciated that most stories expertly combined humor and sadness.
When The Sloth holds its next event, which the organizers hope will be later in the semester, I recommend that anyone looking for a personal and moving experience attends.
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