S1 EP1: We Belong Here Podcast Introduction – Stone Soup

Frank Nam introduces the We Belong Here podcast series, and tells the classic Stone Soup story.

Transcript

(Introduction music fades out)

Welcome to the first episode of the We Belong Here podcast, powered by Civic Commons.

I'm your host, Frank Nam and I am the Project Director for We Belong Here. I want to give a brief introduction to what this podcast is about, and more importantly, why we decided to launch it now in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We've been researching and discussing and experimenting with Belonging for the last two years and one of the main vehicles that helps drive Belonging is narratives, or storytelling. To help explain what belonging is, I want to share a story that many of you are probably familiar with. And it's the story of Stone Soup.

Ages ago, there was a traveler walking through the country stopping by different small towns and villages. As was custom back then, they would find hospitality and shelter wherever they went. However, the traveler came to a village that was hit by hard times.

When they knocked on the first door hoping for food or shelter or both, they were surprised to be turned away.

"Sorry, we can't help you. We barely have enough for ourselves."

The door closes.

Surprised, but undeterred, they tried another house and received a similar response.

"Look, we don't invite strangers into our home. No, you can't sleep in the barn either."

This happened again and again, and when the traveler started to lose hope, they came up with a plan. They quickly sought out the village square and gathered wood for a large fire. This caught a few glances.

Then they fetched a large cauldron and filled it with water and now more folks started watching; wondering if this stranger would make food.

The as the water started boiling, the traveler gently pulled out a velvet bag, opened it up, and pulled out a smooth large stone. They then dropped the stone into the boiling water and at this point people have to know what was going on.

"Excuse me, excuse me, what are you making?"

The traveler smiled and said in a manner-of-fact way, "Stone Soup of course!"

"Stone Soup? What are you talking about? All you did was throw a rock in there."

Others agreed and laughed.

The traveler quickly and confidently declared that the stone was magical, and it imbued the boiling water with the flavors of the most delicious broths of the world.

Then one person sniffed the air and declared that they can smell it and it smelled wonderful. Others started to join the chorus fed by hunger and hope that they too can smell it. And when the collective mouths of folks gathered started to water, the traveler chuckled to themself and said out loud,

"Gosh. Only if we had some carrots, this soup would be even better."

Someone quickly raised their hand and said that they had carrots at home, and they were saving them or hoarding them, but they would bring them right away to share"

Then the traveler sighed and loudly wished for some onions because that would really make the soup really sing.

Someone said that they had onions and quickly fetched them.

This continued on as the traveler wished for salt and potatoes and even some meat. They all magically appeared, and the traveler was able to make a delicious soup for all.

In our research, we found that one of the enemies of belonging is the concept of scarcity. The village that the traveler comes upon is steeped in this ideology and that's why you see such an unwelcoming and hoarding type of response. What the traveler doesn't do is obviously (not) magic. What the traveler does is change the narrative. The stone transformed the narrative of scarcity to a narrative of belonging. There were able to show that the village had enough resources to take care of each other and they were better together, than apart.

Some may say that one kettle of soup may stave off hunger for now, but what about the long run? Belonging's a field that changes the narrative and that helps us break out of our silos and create more lasting solutions that stitch our network together so we can feed everyone and sustain everyone.

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So, without further ado, here we go.