A Note from Cece Suazo, creator of Black Trans Stories Matter

Before I was introduced to TMI Project I was torn, broken, and felt like damaged goods. To be completely honest, I just wanted to end it all. Today, I live with a greater sense of freedom because I learned how to tell my narrative and live in my truth. I was accepted and gained a new family through TMI Project. I feel whole again, stronger, and more confident in my ability to continue life’s journey. I also felt inspired to reach out to others in the TGNC community to let them know there’s so much out there for us.

I am thrilled to partner with TMI Project to help launch Black Trans Stories Matter, a true storytelling workshop that will culminate in a live virtual performance. In the workshop, the TGNC community will have the support they need to pick up the pieces, dust themselves off, and learn to tap into their power and share their truth. In the performance, we will educate the public about what Black trans people go through. 

We will let the world know that BLACK TRANS LIVES MATTER! We are human and deserve equality, yet we’re murdered at alarming rates daily. I know that, like me, many people in my community are afraid to go outside for fear of becoming a target of ignorant violence. But, we are warriors and will continue to fight for change, not only for ourselves but for all those who come after us in future generations. 

It is my sincere hope that Black Trans Stories Matter can help us pave the path for our survival; that by the end of the performance, people will have a different outlook on my community and will work with us to create a world in which we can live our truth with freedom and safety.

– Cece Suazo (She/Her)

Learn More About Black Stories Matter

TMI Project stands with Black Lives Matter Now and Always.

2020 is turning out to be the year of 20/20 vision. The global pandemic is revealing the inequality in the healthcare system as we are losing black and brown Americans at a disproportionate rate. The murder of George Floyd, added to a list, far too long, of other black and brown men and woman murdered at the hands of law enforcement, has made it crystal clear that there is no justice in the justice system. A revolution has been ignited calling for a systemic change, a dismantling of structures and institutions that are not in fact broken, but working exactly as they were designed. 

All of us at TMI Project are dedicated to using the power of true storytelling to dismantle the racist systems that are destroying and ending the lives of black and brown people in our local community and nationwide. We will continue to use our programming to provide support, connection, relief, and transformation and use our platform to raise awareness, amplify voices, share resources, and inspire action. 

In this charged and pivotal moment in history, we acknowledge our need to deepen our commitment and expand our approach. We want to share some of our plans and the resources we’re finding helpful. We also welcome your suggestions.

1. Internal training

We must start by looking at ourselves. We’re committed to doing the work as individuals and as an organization. I recommend the article How to Manage Your Team in Times of Political Trauma by Micahell Kim, which clearly features some suggestions TMI Project regularly puts into practice, like encouraging staff to bring their whole selves to work; acknowledging what is happening in the world; taking time at the beginning of meetings to check-in on a human level; giving people ample time for self-care; and reducing or redistributing labor and/or emotional burden. I also highly recommend  So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo which we read last year as a staff. At our retreat, after reading the book, we went through an exercise to explore intersectionality and privilege. TMI Project will plan and share further internal activities for 2020.

2. Expanding Black Stories Matter Black Stories Matter Virtual Drop-in Storytelling Workshop Join TMI Project for a Black Stories Matter virtual drop-in workshop led by Workshop Leaders Dara Lurie and Micah. These free workshops are offered as a safe space for Black people to gather, write, share stories, and receive support.

Accessible Black Stories Matter Content Stories have the power to increase visibility, raise awareness, change people’s hearts and minds, and inspire people to take meaningful action. We are making every effort to ensure all of our Black Stories Matter content is easily accessible, widely consumed, and is accompanied by tools to deepen the impact.

Watch: We will share a story from our Black Stories Matter archives every weekday in June. Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to easily access this content.

Listen: The TMI Project Story Hour, Season Two: Black Stories Matter, launches this fall. Learn more and subscribe to our podcast HERE

Host: a Black Stories Matter viewing party and discussion from anywhere in the world. Click HERE to learn more and sign up.

Share: TMI Project’s mission with Black Stories Matter is to elevate the underrepresented stories of the Black experience in America – the full spectrum – the triumphs, humor, beauty, and resilience. Click HERE to submit your story to be featured on the TMI Project blog.

3. Shared resources and suggested action items

4. Diversity and Inclusion Training
We’re in the beginning stages of developing diversity and inclusion training through a storytelling lens. It will include ways to build trust; skills to improve communication; exercises to deepen understanding about the concepts of identity, intersectionality, and privilege; skills to identify and differentiate stories — stock/concealed/resistance/counterstories — and their individual purposes. We will provide additional resources and follow-up action items. If you’re interested in learning more, please email Eva at eva@tmiproject.org

 

(Photo from our staff retreat, 2019)

If you want to be a part of the solution by supporting our Black Stories Matter programming, please make a donation today!

We continue to believe that together we can change the world, one story at a time. If there’s anything else we can do or if you have any questions about how you can be more involved please feel free to reach out. We are open to your suggestions and are happy to supply you with additional resources.

In peace and solidarity,
Eva Tenuto and the TMI Project team

My Covid-19 Message in a Bottle

Dear Friends,

Like everyone, all of us at TMI Project are doing our best to stay calm and make the best-informed decisions possible as the COVID-19 landscape changes daily. We are committed to the well-being of our local community and have decided to postpone our April 1st Podcast Launch Party and all other in-person programs until we are confident it is safe for all to attend. 

So this is my message in a bottle. During this time, TMI Project will remain dedicated to helping you tell your stories and stay connected even if we can’t be in the same room with each other. To that end, I’m excited to announce that we are hosting our first-ever digital mini TMI Project Storytelling workshop in lieu of the podcast launch party at 7pm on April 1st!  

We’re going to do what we do best – offer a mini TMI Project workshop with spontaneous writing and then daring ourselves to read it in community. Warts and all. It’s scary, it’s exhilarating, it’s cathartic. And for the first time, we’re going to do it virtually. 

So if you’re sick, a caretaker, or just bored from the drudgery of social distancing, join us! Space is limited. 


Listen to a special message I recorded for our TMI Project family.

If you haven’t yet, subscribe to The TMI Project Podcast wherever you get your podcasts to receive a notification on April 1st when our first series, Tragedy + Time = Comedy launches with eight binge-worthy episodes! If you can, listen to the premiere episode about the amazing Verna Gillis prior to the workshop. We promise it will provide much-needed laughter and inspiration. 

In the meantime, stay safe, wash your hands, try not to panic and leave some toilet paper on the shelves for your neighbors. And, if you’ve got something on your mind, something that’s weighing you down, join us for the online workshop and write about it! You won’t regret it. 

Stay safe and well. Sending much love to you all.


Eva Tenuto (she/her)
Co-Founder/Executive Director
TMI Project

P.S. If there’s an online offering you would like, let us know. We’d love to hear your ideas. Email info@tmiproject.org with the subject line “Virtual Programming Ideas.”

Mental illness does not discriminate: My TMI Project transformation

by Allie Quinn (she/her)

In the Fall of 2015, one of my therapists at the Mental Health Association in Ulster County (MHA) suggested I sign up for a TMI Project true storytelling workshop. Even though my interest was piqued, I couldn’t fathom telling my story to strangers. Some of my family and friends didn’t even know the extent of what I had gone through.

Mental illness does not discriminate.

I had vaguely learned about mental illness in psychology classes, but I never imagined that at age 21, days after my junior year of college ended, I would develop a sudden and severe mental illness. In a matter of days, I went from writing 20-page papers to feeling too overwhelmed to read or write; from working 3 part-time jobs to being too paranoid to leave the house without my parents. Within a few weeks, my extreme fight-or-flight responses made driving too dangerous. Over the next several months, I was hospitalized five times, in three different facilities, spending nearly three months total in the hospital. By December, I had gained 30 pounds, withdrew from college, and had accumulated more misdiagnoses and medication changes than I could count. Most of all, I had lost a sense of who I was. I knew I needed to re-evaluate my goals, but I couldn’t find the motivation or hope.

Over the next year and a half, I attended all of my appointments, practiced coping skills, and found stability on the correct combination of medications. I even got my psychiatric service dog, Joey, who helped me gain back my independence. Still, with all of the tools I had gained and the progress I had made, I still felt that a piece of myself was missing. I signed up for a TMI Project true storytelling workshop not knowing if I would have the courage to show up on the first day.

I walked into the MHA conference room and sat toward the end of the table, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that I was terrified. As people began introducing themselves and reading their writing, my anxiety and self-consciousness worsened. I couldn’t help but ask myself what happened to the outgoing, stage-stealing, referee-challenging young woman I used to be. I completed my first session, and even though I didn’t make any groundbreaking revelations, it felt satisfying to hold a pen and feel my words flow onto the page.

As the weeks went on, I arrived feeling excited and increasingly more comfortable telling the “TMI” parts of my story. Each time I wrote, I felt a familiar fire inside that I so desperately wanted to return. On week 8, each group member received their finalized monologues from the TMI Project facilitators. When I first read the monologue out loud I experienced an overwhelming feeling of relief and self-empowerment. I stopped and said, “This is how I’ve always wanted to tell my story.” Taking ownership of my struggles and strength was exhilarating. When it came time to read my monologue in front of family, friends, my therapy team, and strangers, I felt strong and confident. I realized that sharing my story and my experience with mental illness could help others who are dealing with mental health issues.

In January of 2016, I started my own blog, and the TMI Project facilitators asked if I’d share my story at other venues. I wrote pieces about mental health and my own illness for The Mighty, MTV, and as a contributor in the book Project Semicolon: Your Story Isn’t Over. That October, I received the Next Generation Award from the YWCA Ulster County for writing and speaking about mental illness. The next month, I applied to SUNY Empire State College to study Community and Human Services. Returning to college had been a goal of mine, but I didn’t know if I would ever be ready. My participation in the TMI Project true storytelling workshop and the culminating live storytelling performance gave me the confidence I needed to reach my goals.

In December 2018, I earned my Bachelors degree and was prepared to use both my education and personal experiences to help my community. I applied to MHA, remembering their deep commitment to me and others battling mental illness. I was hired in February as a Wellness Resource Coordinator, a dream job for me.

The next TMI Project storytelling workshop session at MHA  was drawing near.

As the next TMI Project storytelling workshop at MHA session was drawing near, I asked to be the MHA staff member to sit with the new participants as they wrote their stories and found their strength. Walking into the room on the first day of the session induced a flood of emotions. I was excited for the new writers, nostalgic as I thought about the people who had been in my group, and so grateful for the personal and emotional growth that had occurred for me in that same room. Before participating in my TMI Project workshop, I resented my illness and mourned the young woman I “used to be.” After TMI Project, I embraced my struggles and took pride in my story. I realized I’m never going to be the person I was before mental illness and that’s for the better. I’m so much stronger now.

Working Together to Shape Boys into Great Young Men

The Story of TMI Project’s Partnership with Coach Jeramie Collins

After Tony Porter of A Call to Men and I decided we wanted to work with high school football players and document the process, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Jeramie Collins coach of the Kingston High School football team was the man to turn to.

TMI Project storytellers had shared the stage with Coach Collins’ football players at a One Billion Rising event in Kingston two years earlier where TMI Project storytellers relayed personal stories about surviving domestic violence and Coach Collins’ players were recognized for their commitment to standing up against violence against women. This was the first time I had heard of a football coach getting his team involved in social justice and activism.

The following year, Tony presented at Ulster County Community College for Domestic Violence Awareness Day where I sat in the front row. I looked across the aisle and, there he was again. Coach Collins with a few of his football players were listening to Tony talk about the cultural expectations of masculinity. I was impressed. Not only did the coach get his players to attend, he also encouraged them to participate. He was clearly dedicated to shaping these boys into great young men.

I asked Coach Collins to partner with TMI Project and A Call to Men. He was on board without hesitation from the moment I posed the idea. Within 24 hours he had approval from the school’s principal and buy-in from the other coaches.

As you can imagine, getting a bunch of teen boys to share their emotional “TMI” stories has some inherent challenges. But Coach Collins doesn’t give up. He keeps encouraging his students to show up and he always models emotional courage. He’s shared his own stories in every workshop, performed alongside his students, and he let all 60 players know that he tends to cry easily and there’s nothing wrong with that. TMI Project is honored to recognize Coach Jeramie Collins for being a powerful example, and for always encouraging young men to bravely share their stories and have the courage to speak up in the face of violence against girls and women.

TMI Project is honoring Coach Collins, along with activist Tony Porter and three other Hudson Valley leaders and change-makers, on September 28th, 2017 at Voices in Action: Community Outreach Showcase & Fundraiser. We hope you will join us!

With gratitude,

Eva Tenuto

Working Together to Tell Black Stories & Inspire Social Action

The Story of Callie Jayne’s Partnership with TMI Project

When TMI Project started working on Black Stories Matter, our project that seeks to raise awareness around issues of anti-Black racism, inequality and injustice through true storytelling, we knew that it was critical that we create a program that not only impacted people while they were sitting in their seats in the theater but also spurred them to action after the show was over. We knew we could create the stories but we needed the right partner for the follow-through. We approached Callie Jayne from Citizen Action about a partnership and she was eager to jump on board and incite a true culture-shift in our Hudson Valley community.

I remember going to her off​​​​ice one day for an initial meeting. She was juggling a million things but she graciously took the time to watch the short video we had created with my iPhone during a recent rehearsal. When she’d finished watching, with tears in her eyes she said, “Okay, we can pass out flyers when we go door-knocking. Do you have anyone phone banking for you? How can we make sure the neighborhoods that are often forgotten about find out about this and have access to this show?” She was all action.

Callie helped us navigate all the logistics leading up to our first Black Stories Matter show, dissecting the complexities of decision-making around an event about race in Kingston’s mostly segregated community. She helped us spread the world and included outreach in her local activism. And she was there the night of the show with a table in the lobby where people could register to vote and sign up to take action in our community.

TMI Project’s work with Callie has just begun. We know we have social justice movement building in our shared future and look forward to collaborating again and again. The Hudson Valley is blessed to have a force like Callie Jayne, fighting for our rights every day. She’s relentless and passionate, and we are honored to recognize her as a Voices in Action Agent of Change.

TMI Project is honoring Callie, along with activist Tony Porter and three other Hudson Valley leaders and activists, on September 28th, 2017 at Voices in Action: Community Outreach Showcase & Fundraiser. We hope you will join us!

With gratitude,

Eva Tenuto

Working Together to Save Lives

The Story of TMI Project’s Partnership with Elise Gold and The Maya Gold Foundation

The story of how TMI Project came to work with Elise Gold was hard for me to write. Elise and I shared the dance floor in a local African dance class a few times and had some friends in common, but we didn’t get to know each other until she co-founded The Maya Gold Foundation after tragically losing her 15-year-old daughter Maya to suicide on October 2nd, 2015. I was deeply touched when I read about the foundation after it launched. I learned about her and her husband Mathew’s deep commitment to speaking about their experience, regardless of how painful, in hopes that in sharing their story they would raise awareness about teen suicide prevention and potentially save others from their daughter’s fate.

In 2016, The Maya Gold Foundation offered TMI Project a grant for a new program called, Our Bodies Talk Back. Through this program, we work with high school and college students to help them tell the stories of their experiences with sexual abuse, harassment, and objectification, some of which Maya had been facing prior to her suicide. TMI Project and The Maya Gold Foundation aim to help young adults and teens who’ve dealt with such issues to move out of isolation. We help them process their trauma among others who can identify, and then share their stories with a peer group who can also benefit from knowing they’re not alone.

When I asked Elise if she would accept this award she humbly said, “But I’m not the only one doing this work, it’s everyone at The Maya Gold Foundation.” This sentiment perfectly represents Elise’s collaborative spirit and her thoughtfulness. TMI Project is honored to recognize Elise Gold as a Voices in Action Agent of Change. We offer her this award as a symbol of her courage to share what no one should have to and her unwavering dedication to all teens facing struggle today. As we honor Elise, we also honor Maya’s father Mathew, her brother Adin, everyone at The Maya Gold Foundation and, of course, Maya herself.  

TMI Project is honoring Elise, along with activist Tony Porter and three other Hudson Valley leaders and activists, on September 28th, 2017 at Voices in Action: Community Outreach Showcase & Fundraiser. We hope you will join us!

With gratitude,

Eva Tenuto

Working Together to Destigmatize Mental Illness

The Story of TMI Project & Denise Ranaghan of the Mental Health Association of Ulster County’s 5-Year Partnership

TMI Project’s work is all about getting people to divulge their deepest secrets. So it should be no surprise that neither Sari Botton, TMI Project’s editorial director, or I have a propensity for small talk. In fact, we both find networking torturous. Yet, at one particular women’s schmooze-fest in the early days of TMI Project we went around the room introducing ourselves and discovered that we were sitting across from Denise Ranaghan, Director of Wellness Services at the Mental Health Association of Ulster County (MHA). We hit it off immediately. When she heard about what we do–we use memoir writing and true storytelling to raise awareness about and amplify the voices of populations who often go unheard– and we heard about her passion for destigmatizing mental illness, we knew that we were destined to partner.

Flash forward 5 years later. Since 2012, with Denise’s support and partnership, twice a year TMI Project has offered 10-week memoir writing and true storytelling workshops specially tailored to meet the needs of MHA’s population of adults with mental illness. Our partnership with this peer-based organization, where a portion of the staff are people who have recovered from or accommodated for mental illness, is designed to destigmatize mental illness while empowering participants to work toward their recovery. In 2016, a documentary about this partnership entitled Vicarious Resilience was shot by North Guild Films and will be released later this year. The documentary follows eight participants as they went through our workshop, from the first session, where many expressed doubts and trepidation, to the final storytelling performance before an audience of over 100, and a final follow-up session where participants voiced the ways in which they experienced positive transformation.

Denise has been with TMI Project every step of the way. Not only has she been our liaison to MHA, she’s sat in on nearly every workshop we’ve taught there and joined us in outside workshops to offer therapeutic support.

Ellen Pendagar, CEO of MHA, has said repeatedly that the partnership with TMI Project has been the organization’s best stigma-busting program to date, an accomplishment we would not have been able to achieve without Denise’s passion and dedication. She empowers her clients by giving them a platform to tell their own stories. She is wholeheartedly committed to ensuring that those who live with mental illness are able to do so with pride and dignity. And for that, we are honored to recognize Denise Ranaghan with a Voices in Action Agent of Change Award.

TMI Project is honoring Denise, along with activist Tony Porter and three other Hudson Valley leaders and change-makers, on September 28th, 2017 at Voices in Action: Community Outreach Showcase & Fundraiser. We hope you will join us!

With gratitude,

Eva Tenuto