GenNext a chance to look at stories

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This article was published 16/10/2017 (2989 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the second year in a row, United Way is bringing the GenNext Summit to Winnipeg.

The daylong conference, taking place Oct. 18, will bring together over 300 youth to learn how to “shape a personal identity, story and brand that will support their vision for a better Winnipeg,” a release says.

Wolseley resident Bradley Tyler West has spent the past 25 years looking at storytelling, and he hopes to highlight how important our stories are to the way we see the world.

“Regardless of whether our cultures are collective or individualistic, regardless of personalities, the stories we tell ourselves frame what we know to be true,” West said. “What I’ll be doing is talking about the BS that we have, and that is our blind spots.”

West said that the more diverse the people around us, the more likely we’ll have our various blind spots pointed out to us. What he’s learned is that diversity within communities makes them stronger.

“Nature shows us that ecosystems that are the most diverse are the healthiest, most resilient, most adaptable, they thrive the most. Ecosystems that are homogenous, that are very similar, are least likely to adapt,” he said.

West said his own journey began in his 20s, when he started to realize that he was racist.

“If you had asked me when I was 18 and living in Australia, am I racist, I would say absolutely not. I was involved with the ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ movement, I actually said, well I have friends who are brown, I can’t be racist. I had said I don’t see colour I just see people. It wasn’t until I lived and worked in other countries and cultures where being Caucasian wasn’t dominant that I saw my unconscious bias.

“I had to ask myself, how did this happen? Once I started to ask those questions I started to see clearly — of course I am — I was raised in a system that is predicated on racism. Of valuing one story above another, one experience over another and we are trained not to see certain stories, we are trained not to give equal credence to certain experiences.”

West said it had to begin with him. Now, he tries to share what he’s learned with as many people as he can. He’s currently writing a book on the topic.

In terms of Winnipeg’s identity, West will also be talking about how we can embrace our home as a winter city, and not just endure it, but capitalize on it.

“I feel like we’re underselling ourselves and the one thing we haven’t done a good job of yet is working with the fact that we are a winter city,” he said. “What have we done to acknowledge the fact that we spend six months in a dark, freezing hell hole? We ought not just survive through it… we should own that.”

Visit gennextsummit.ca for more.