When stars align magic happens, and we like magic. Not necessarily the fire throwing, dragon-laden, golden sword type of magic (okay, that’s cool too), but the type of magic that brings people together around a common cause. Last Friday, stars aligned and magic happened.
I received a message at 10:50 a.m. from WISH-TV Channel 8 reporter Chris Bavender that read, “I pitched The Facing Project as my story today for WISH-TV. Adam, I know your class meets at Noon. J.R., are you in Indy or Muncie today? Kiah would you be willing to talk on camera about why you wanted to participate?”
Aside from being a reporter for WISH, Chris has been a big part of The Facing Project family the past couple of years as a writer on Facing Autism in Muncie, Facing Disabilities in East Central Indiana, and Facing Depression in East Central Indiana.
In her message Chris was referring to Dr. Adam Kuban whose class of Ingelhart Scholars at Ball State University is organizing Facing Depression, and Kiah was Chris’s storyteller.
Within an hour, all of us came together. Sara: Adam’s graduate assistant, Me: one of the founders of Facing, Kiah: a storyteller from Facing Depression, all of the Ingelhart Scholars, and Chris. I was wearing a shirt that has a pirate riding a unicorn with the caption, “Believe,” on it, so I decided to throw on a hoodie and zip it up before we went on camera.
And then we did what we all do best: told our story.
In the end, I walked away completely amazed at how fast we were able to come together, and equally impressed that Chris and her team edited down over an hour’s worth of footage to one minute and 30 seconds that not only showcased the work happening around Facing Depression but also the story of The Facing Project becoming an international movement.
Chris worked her magic, the stars aligned, and you can check out the piece below. If you happen to be near East Central Indiana next week, the LIVE event for Facing Depression in East Central Indiana will debut Thursday, April 23rd, at 7:00 p.m. at the Muncie Civic Theatre. Admission is FREE.