Our Stories are Not Yet Complete

Dr. Karen Ivy, Associate Dean and Program Chair of BA in Business Information Systems, was the keynote speaker for the second day of the 2018 TLC conference. Dr. Ivy’s presentation was, “The Danger of a Single Story: Storytelling in Education.” Dr. Ivy showed a TalkTed video from novelist, Chimamanda Adichie, who described some of her experiences that shaped her as a writer.

“Story” is the metaphor for “perception.” If we know the background of a person, that is only one story. There are many, many stories for each person. I was enchanted by the idea of our life’s experiences being described as our stories. It made me begin to reflect on my own stories.

The underlying theme was to listen to more than one “story” before we form our perception of a person. If we do not, we will have a skewed perception of that person. Their past is only one story that has not yet been completed.

The hope I took away from this wonderful presentation by Dr. Ivy and Chimamanda stayed with me the rest of the day. It made me wonder how many times I formed an opinion of someone from only knowing one story, and it motivated me to become more aware.

Paula Zobisch, Ph.D.

Associate Professor & Program Chair, Forbes School of Business & Technology

Ashford University