Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A Community Story Slam is set tonight in downtown Brighton.

The Brighton Church Collaborative is hosting the event in the upper level of Brewery Becker at 500 West Main Street.

It’s open to the public and described as “an evening of honest storytelling from storytellers in our community —neighbors, friends, leaders, and anyone with a tale to tell!”.

The Story Slam theme will be “Family: Tell us about a time when you found an unexpected family, the reunion wasn’t so sweet, or the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”

Amir Baghdadchi from the Moth Radio Hour will be the host. Beverages will be available for purchase while local churches will provide free snacks.

The collaborating Brighton area congregations are: Chilson Hills Church of Howell (American Baptist), Community Unitarian Universalists in Brighton, First Presbyterian, First United Methodist of Brighton and Whitmore Lake, St. George Lutheran (ELCA), St. Paul’s Episcopal, and Lord of Life Lutheran.

Doors open at 5:30pm, with the event kicking off at 6:30pm.

No registration is required but it’s advised people come early to get good seating.
This marks the fourth Community Story Slam.

Chaplain DJ Reed at Abigail Hospice says it’s a fun way to spend a Monday night in a great venue with a laid-back atmosphere. He told WHMI the events were actually born out of COIVD to bring people together and reignite friendships but the later vision was before the 2024 election. Reed said everyone wanted to do something to help ease the tension and rhetoric around the community and present an alternative or something to almost counteract what was happening.

Reed said when you get people together to tell stories it makes people laugh, and helps to humanize people and bring them closer together but it also builds empathy and caring when you relate to one another. He said there’s not only value in telling stories but also having people listen.

The only criteria - stories have to be 5-minutes with no notes or props and they have to be auto-biographical stories that really happened.

Reed noted there are some people coming who have never told a story publicly and then there are old veterans who have been telling stories for a long time. He said it’s just a fun way to come together and connect in a supportive environment – stressing it’s not boring and there’s a lot of heart and soul. More importantly, Reed said there are “no agendas – just people telling stories – and there’s something pure and redemptive about that”.

Anyone interested in telling a story can reach out to Reed at djayreed@gmail.com.

For those who can’t make it out or might want to plan for the future, the next Community Story Slam is set for August 31st.