ARTISTIC EXPRESSIONS: Shellie Jacobson’s drawing inspired by the short story “The Night of the FEMA Trailers” by Vivian Demuth is part of an original book she created at the conclusion of the recent Evergreen Forum/People & Stories series sponsored by Princeton Senior Resource Center. Each drawing included a quote from one of the stories read and discussed during the series.

By Anne Levin

At the eighth and final online session of Princeton Senior Resource Center’s (PSRC) recent Evergreen Forum series inspired by the People & Stories/Gente y Cuentos program, facilitator Ellen Gilbert asked the participants if they wanted to summarize the stories that had been read and discussed throughout the course.

Gilbert knew there were some visual artists taking part in the online class, and was curious to see what they might create. “I said to people, if there is anything you want to share that might summarize, and maybe speculate about the characters meeting each other, then go ahead,” Gilbert said.

One who accepted the challenge was Skillman artist Shellie Jacobson, whose work in ceramics, book arts, and printmaking has earned her a following. Jacobson, who has taught extensively, created an original book using images and quotes from the stories that had been read, including “The Man Who Found You in the Woods” by Catherine Ryan Hyde, “The Night of the FEMA Trailers” by Vivian Demuth, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway, and “Did My Mama Like to Dance?” by Shay Youngblood.”

“The book Shellie did really resonated with all of us,” Gilbert said. “I think it was very moving. She really captured the essence of the stories. It was a wonderful review of the season and we got to remember each story.”

During the series, Gilbert would read each story aloud before opening it up for discussion. For Jacobson, this was especially meaningful. “As a kid, I loved being read to,” she said. “The class was so much fun. Everybody was talking about the short stories we read, and how they affected them personally.”

Founded in 1972 by Princeton resident Sarah Hirschman, People & Stories/Gente y Cuentos is a reading and discussion program based on the philosophy of Paulo Freire, who wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Offered frequently to groups of underserved adults and adolescents, the program operates in the United States, Latin America, and France.

“He really believed people learn from each other,” Gilbert said of Freire. “During COVID, that has been so intensified. The act of listening to each other, hearing each other, and being willing to change our minds, worked beautifully in this context.”

Different stories were read each week during the Evergreen Forum series. “The discussions that followed the stories were amazing,” said Gilbert, who had 18 people in the class.

When Jacobson began thinking of a way to express her feelings about the class artistically, it was challenging at first. “These were not easy stories,” she said. “I used colored pencil to make them colorful, despite the fact that some of them were not uplifting. The drawings I ended up doing emerged from pivotal points for me, in the stories.”

Gilbert had led People & Stories series previously at PSRC, before the pandemic. “They were live. But of course with COVID, we had to shift gears,” she said. “The Zoom forum actually dovetailed beautifully with the People & Stories method. It was every week, and people really looked forward to it, especially in the depths of the quarantine. Everybody was so bright and so different, and they spoke up. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”