While our storytellers rehearse their BRAND NEW stories, in preparation for Black Stories Matter: Truth to Power, taking place on June 21st at 7:30pm, we’re diving into TMI Project’s archive. This story by Odell Winfield was presented as part of TMI Project’s first-ever intergenerational Black Stories Matter performance, as part of Black History Month Kingston at Pointe of Praise on February 16, 2019.

In 1954, Odell (he/him) told his third-grade teacher that he wanted to be the President of the United States; she told him it would be at least 150 years until a Negro is elected president. Today, Odell is the Executive Director of the Library at the A.J. Williams-Myers African Roots Center in Kingston, NY. In his story, he reflects on his life and finds himself standing strong, feeling like the leader he always dreamed of being.

On Friday, June 21st, join TMI Project at Pointe of Praise Family Life Center in Kingston for Black Stories Matter: Truth to Power a live storytelling performance featuring a cast of new storytellers who participated in a recent Black Stories Matter weekend intensive writing workshop. Black Stories Matter: Truth to Power will feature brand new stories that attest to the startling varieties and travails of the Black experience in America, and the shared threads of love, loss, fear, and kindness that connect us all. The free performance will be live streamed on Facebook, and will be followed by a facilitated community discussion about race, identity, and inclusion.