LitNet Storytelling Event/Evento de Narración de Cuentos de LitNet!
Join the Literacy Network for an evening of
TRUE STORIES LIVE ONSTAGE
What?
LitNet learners will take the stage to tell a personal story
on the theme of CHALLENGE.
Free and open to the public.
Light refreshments, including homemade Colombian desserts made by LitNet learner, Sandra Zarate of Obleas Bendito Capricho.
Hosted by the Literacy Network
In partnership with Storytelling Coach Sheela Clary.
Sheela Clary, story coach for this project, is a writer and freelance Italian and storytelling teacher, born and raised in South Berkshire County. She’s a Moth Story Slam winner and Grand Slam participant and has organized storytelling events locally for many years. Her essays and journalism can be found in the Berkshire Edge and on her newsletter, Clarity, at sheela.substack.com.
The Storytellers
Born in Puerto Rico, Maria Cotto moved to Massachusetts when she was nine. She has also lived in Texas and Florida and has been in the Berkshires for the past five years. Maria is a working mom with an adult son, two teenage daughters, and a well-loved dog. As you will hear, Maria did not receive a diploma when she finished high school. She has been engaged in one-on-one tutoring with LitNet math and English tutors and is working towards her high school equivalency.
Leesly Diaz was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She has been learning English with LitNet for almost two years. She loves learning new languages and she loves to dance. She lives in the Berkshires and enjoys her new life here because it is a nice place. Her favorite season is autumn. She likes the temperature in fall and the beautiful and amazing view when the leaves change colors and the trees look awesome.
Leesly's Story Photos:
Leesly's mom's dogs, Thor (French Bulldog) and Thanos (Samoyed).
Milagro Díaz was born in El Salvador. She moved to Long Island, New York in 1994 and to the Berkshires in 2010. She works as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at Integritus Healthcare. She is proud of her two daughters. Milagro enjoys singing in her church choir and baking cakes for weddings and other special occasions.
Aline Libassi was born in New York and studied romance languages at Queens College and the University of Bologna. She taught Italian, French, and Spanish in Waterbury, Torrington, and Litchfield and English at the Scuola d’Italia in New York City. Aline is an avid cook and baker and spends a part of each year at her home in Tulum, Mexico.
Aline's Story Photos:
Aline in Florence at age 8 and then again at age 55.
Bernardo Martínez is 38 years old and was born in an indigenous community in the state of Oaxaca called Totontepec Villa de Morelos. He speaks an indigenous language and has a son, César Miguel, who is ten years old. Bernardo came to the Berkshires in 2021 and works in construction. He loves music and plays the saxophone in a Latin band.
Bernando's Story Photos:
Views of Bernardo's village, Totontepec Villa de Morelos, in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Phan Soy was born and raised on a farm in Cambodia. She now lives in Lenox with her husband, an American journalist, and her eight-year-old son. Cooking brings her joy.
Phan's Story Photos:
Phan and her family in Ukraine.
Supported by the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation’s Arts Build Community fund and the New Marlboro Meeting House.
