Pride volunteers offer themselves as open books for human library
Stories are coming to life — literally — at Saturday’s Edmonton Pride festival, where a human library will be open to the public at Strathcona Park.
A human library gives Edmonton Pride attendees the chance to have a 20-minute conversation with one of an assortment of LGBTQ volunteers who are acting as a human book. So-called readers get a chance to ask questions, listen to stories and learn from the life experiences of the human books.
Stephanie Dickie, Edmonton Pride’s communications officer, said the human library represents an opportunity for people to have a new kind of experience at Pride.
“One of the pieces of feedback we get a lot is that it’s just a big party,” she said.
Dickie sees the human library as a way to help foster acceptance and to educate the community about LGBTQ issues.
One of the human-book volunteers, Pocky Rodgers, hopes that she can help people make good decisions by sharing her life experiences. Living with PTSD and mental-health issues are two of the topics she’ll be talking about.
“Other people are going through these things and when you’re going through them, you feel very alone,” she said.
Boyd Whiskyjack learned about the opportunity through Facebook and said the human library came at a good time.
“I feel like I’m at a point in my life where I’m comfortable enough with sharing (my story).”
Whiskyjack, who identifies as two-spirited, hopes readers will gain an understanding of twospirited individuals and the place they held in indigenous society.
Another human-library book, Scott Bryen, said he’s been active in the queer community for almost 40 years and brings a perspective that isn’t always heard when discussing LGBTQ issues.
“I’ve always been a fairly big proponent of knowing your own history,” he said. “I think it’s incumbent on those of us who have actually experienced the history to tell our stories so that they don’t get lost.”