January 23, 2004

Hyphen-Americans: Where We’ve
Come From and
What We’ve Lost and Gained

The third JustStories Festival of the school year was held at Maria High School in Chicago, IL. The morning began at 9:30 with a prayer. Three storytellers took turns sharing a series of stories focusing on the immigrant experience.

Arif Choudhury’s story explored the assumption that people make of him because of the color of his skin. His story revealed, however, that he was born and raised in a suburb of Chicago.

Sue O’Halloran’s main story focused on the experience of her beloved grandmother as she emigrated from Ireland at the age of thirteen. The story touched on issues of survival in a new country, loss of culture, courage and sacrifice.

Antonio Sacre began his story with a brief history of Cuba and how the communist government “forced” people to emigrate and continued with a reflection on the impact this history has had on his immediate family as his father was one who left Cuba.

The storytellers took time toward the end of the performance to answer questions from the audience. The event ended with Tom and Kris Kastle leading the audience in song.

350 people attended the event, including representatives from 10 archdiocesan high schools. Adult participants included storytellers, Directors of Religious Education and Media personnel.

Participants were given classroom discussion guides to unpack the stories upon returning to their schools.