Story Guidelines

Be a Bridge Builder! Send in a short reflection on a saying, quote, song, or poem that is meaningful to you. Each story is part of the bridge we are building across our divides. Come share your story!

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Building Bridges Word by Word provides a safe space where we can share our stories, discover what we have in common or what we can learn from those who have different perspectives, and with that understanding begin to build bridges across our divides.

The project is based on the premise that writing a reflection on something that is meaningful to us yields insights into what is significant and enduring in our lives. Readers often find that these reflections resonate with their own life stories, sometimes in surprising ways.

We invite you to submit a short reflection on a saying, quote, song, or poem that is meaningful to you. By posting your stories, the project reflects the rich diversity of our country and our common humanity. By doing so, it provides something we desperately need – a safe space where we can begin to see ourselves in others.

To get started, check out the guidelines and prompts below. We also encourage you to read the stories displayed on our Substack or wander through the entire collection on the Building Bridges Word by Word website and get to know all sorts of interesting people. You may even find that their story is an inspiration for your own reflection. Or that the text they chose to write about is the one that you were considering for your reflection. That’s okay. There’s no limit to the number of stories that can be written about the same text.

In fact, it can be enlightening to read another person’s perspective of the same text. For instance, you may read a reflection written by someone who seems to be different from you in almost every way. He writes about a saying his mom told him over and over again when he was growing up. You realize that your mom did the same thing! Maybe you still don’t have a lot in common but reading about his mom and the saying may enable you to see him a new light, one that illuminates a connection that the two of you would never have guessed was there. In this way, each story can add to our understanding of another person and enable us to begin to build bridges across our divides.

We look forward to working with you on your story, lightly editing it as needed, with your approval before posting. To ensure that this is a safe space, please refrain from commentaries on others. We will not accept malicious content, hostile language, or anonymous reflections. If you have questions about the process or the project, please contact us at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com

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Guidelines for Your Submission

1.     SELECT A SAYING, QUOTE, SONG, OR POEM that is meaningful to you. Wondering what you might write about? Think about a line or two that speaks to who you are or what you believe, such as:

• A saying you’ve heard many times but seems particularly significant these days or a new one that seems to say it all.

• A quote that you’ve taped to your refrigerator or tacked on to your emails because it captures how you feel about the world.

• A song that helps you get through tough times, or makes you want to dance with joy.

• A poem that gives you peace or challenges you to think or act differently.

If you choose to write about a song or poem, please identify a few lines that are the most meaningful to you and relevant to your reflection. For copyright reasons, we cannot post an entire song or poem without permission. But standard practice allows us to post a few lines with a link to the song or poem.

We also appreciate that you may have written meaningful sayings, quotes, songs, or poems, but this project asks you to reflect on a text written by someone else, not your own text.

2.     WRITE A SHORT REFLECTION (up to 250 words) that describes your connection to the text. You may find it helpful to consider one or more of the following prompts.

• Building bridges can be hard, even scary. There’s a lot of misunderstanding in the world. If you knew people would listen with an open mind, what would you want to tell them about you, your life experience, and your beliefs in reference to this text?

• Many have lost something over the past few years. It may be a job, a loved one, a relationship, a way of seeing our country, or a sense of what the future holds. What text gives voice to that loss?

• How does the text help you celebrate special moments or honor people who are important to you? How does the text reveal something about them or yourself?

• How have these words helped you see things in a different way? How have they helped you to better understand someone and their situation or reach out across the divides?

By way of illustration, here are a few stories that evoke the spirit of this effort:

• A woman writes that she often thinks of the saying, “Not my circus, not my monkeys,” to remind herself to not get involved in things that are not hers to solve.

• A farmer uses a quote by Will Rogers, “A farmer has to be an optimist, or he wouldn’t still be a farmer,” as a way to explain to himself and others why he’s still at it.

• A mayor reflects on the hostility in her town and calls out for her fellow residents to take care of each other as the father takes care of his son in Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem, “Shoulders.”

• A man tells of listening to Alan Jackson’s song, “Hard Hat and Hammer,” each day on the way to work, describing how it gives him the boost he needs to start his day.

Please also include

3.     THE SOURCE OF THE TEXT, such as the author of the text and the name of the book, song, poem, or website where you found it. If you don’t know the source, just write N/A.

4.     YOUR NAME AND A BRIEF BIO (up to 75 words) to accompany your story and introduce yourself. Here is an example: “I retired in 2001, after teaching thirty-four years of high school English. I’ve written many books for young adults and others who are not so young, including Brooklyn Diner and Other Places. I could not have been a writer if I were not a teacher. When not writing, I am obsessed with "Jeopardy" and am the biggest Mets fan in Brooklyn!”

5.     YOUR PHOTO, please upload a photo to represent your story. If you like, you may supply two pictures, one to accompany the story and one for your bio. Please make sure to only send photos that you have the right to use and share the source of the photo. High-res photos work the best. A cell phone picture saved as “actual size” will work. If no photo is uploaded, we will select a photo on your behalf and share it with you before posting.

6.     YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION, including your email, address, and phone number, so that we can verify your identity. Your contact information will be kept confidential. We will only post your name, bio, and photo with your story.

7.     LINKS TO YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA. We will use social media to share the stories posted on our Substack and website. Please let us know if we have your permission to share your picture, story, and bio. And, if so, please include your social media account names for Substack, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram so we can tag you in our posting. Please separate each account with a comma.

Consider sending in the following

8.     COMMENTS: We’d appreciate learning how you heard about the project, your thoughts about it, what it was like to write your reflection, and/or suggestions of other people, organizations, or networks to contact to share the project more broadly. Please include your comments through the submission form or in your email or letter. We will not share your comments unless you give us permission to do so.

9.     RESOURCES: Building Bridges Word by Word is part of a growing movement that seeks to build bridges across our divides. Given the depth of our divisions, there is the need for many such efforts - no one can do it all! With this in mind, we created a Dive Deeper webpage to highlight individuals and organizations engaged in building bridges, creating community, and fostering discussions. We have another webpage where we feature thoughtful writings (from Substack publications, blog posts, articles, books etc.) on the challenges and rewards of building bridges. Periodically, we will feature these individuals, organizations and writings in Substack and blog posts.

If you have recommendations of people, organizations, or readings, please let us know via this suggestion form.

10.     OUTREACH: The success of this effort depends on engaging people with a wide range of perspectives and life experiences, especially anyone who may feel, for whatever reason, that their stories are seldom heard or valued. Our goal is to include stories shared by people who are different from one another, whether in age, race, ethnicity, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, or other political, cultural, social, or economic backgrounds.

We invite people from across the country and all walks of life to send in their stories. We would greatly appreciate your help expanding our outreach efforts. If you have recommendations of people or organizations we might contact or other ideas to share our project, please contact us at mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com

Please also help us broaden our outreach by sharing Building Bridges Word by Word with your family, friends, colleagues, community, and networks. You can share this post by clicking on the button below or use this link for a PDF of the guidelines that you can email or print out and share with others.

11.     SUBSCRIBE AND SUPPORT: All subscribers will receive 2-3 reflections each week. Paid subscribers and those whose reflections are selected for posting on our Substack will be entered into our monthly Book Giveaway drawings for autographed books by outstanding authors and poets.

Please follow, share and like the Building Bridges Word by Word Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn pages and consider signing up to be a free or paid subscriber of this Substack.

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Submit Your Story!

When you’re ready, fill out the submission form to send in your story. Or, if you prefer, email your story to mscribner.buildingbridgeswbw@gmail.com or mail it to Building Bridges Word by Word, Box #162, 7304 Carroll Avenue, Takoma Park, MD 20912. Please be sure to include your answers to #1-7 listed above in your email or letter.

Thank you for the good work you do in the world. We hope you’ll join us in this bridge building effort. We look forward to working with you to share your story!