Using Story to Shape Community- February Food for Thought

One adage holds that "the shortest distance between two people is a story." A community is but a multiplicity of stories, each a thread in a tapestry. Hannah Hasan and Greg Jarrell have been working, together and apart, on building community through stories, and in the process learning to narrate the future of the city in a way distinct from the past. Food for Thought in February will feature them in dialogue together, plus the opportunity to practice and to interact with one another.

About Greg Jarrell

Greg Jarrell is a co-founder QC Family Tree, a community of rooted discipleship in the west Charlotte neighborhood of Enderly Park. Greg shares life there with a host of neighbors who have become family, as well as his wife Helms and their two sons.

Greg's work with neighbors in Enderly Park focuses on building from their gifts, creating economic opportunity, and combating serial displacement and land loss in a rapidly changing neighborhood. Greg can also be found around Charlotte playing his saxophone. He regularly performs in concert and club venues across North and South Carolina in jazz, classical, and commercial settings. His first book A Riff of Love: Notes on Community and Belonging was published in 2018. He and colleague Dawn Anthony, along with their band mates, have created a successful series of live story-telling and music events based on the book.  

About Hannah Hasan

Hannah Hasan was gifted with a love for words and the power to express those words with heart and soul so that she can inspire, motivate, and change the world around her. She is a spoken-word storyteller. She uses the art of the spoken word through poetry and traditional storytelling to create change, build bridges of connection, and shed light on some of the most pressing social issues of our time. Hannah writes and performs commissioned poetry, leads story sharing master classes, and is a highly sought after public speaker. For five years, Hannah was a host and co-creator of The Artist’s Den: Charlotte’s most diverse, engaging open mic night. She is also the creator-writer and director of a live, story sharing stage show that highlights the stories of Muslims in America-- Shahadah Stories. Hannah obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from North Carolina A&T State University in 2006 and her Master of Fine Arts degree from Full Sail University in 2012. She has done extensive further training including the program of Mobilize.org and the Artists as Change Agents program through EMC Arts. She has extensive professional experience working in programming for nonprofit organizations, social ventures, and arts-based programming. 

Hannah and her sister Shardae Hasan have worked together for over ten years, planning and executing events and classes that center the arts and social and cultural consciousness in a project called Epoch Tribe. Their work is known for building community through creating spaces that are inclusive, educational, and entertaining. Under the Epoch Tribe umbrella, they create and facilitate storytelling master classes and create and produce full-scale live storytelling events that use the arts of the written and spoken story to highlight some of the most pressing social issues of our time.

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About Food For Thought: 

Food for Thought is a way to gather persons from different faith groups and ethnicities, to break bread together, and to share in relevant issues of common concern. Join us for lunch, a presentation and discussion about a wide range of issues that affect our community. 3rd Thursday of every month |12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. |  Zoom Presentations

CLICK HERE to find valuable resources featured in previous Food for Thought presentations.