Stories from Previous Human Library Events:

Black Girl Long Hair

Some Saturday morning in September in the little town of Milledgeville, Georgia, Monica Prince woke up with her 4b curls tangled and knotted. One month into her graduate program, she knew something needed to change. So, she went on a journey to shave off all her hair, for the third time in her adult life. - Monica Prince

The ADHD Effect

ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder We’re just two friends taking a look into ourselves to discuss the trials and tribulations caused by having ADHD that effects our everyday lives. It so much more than just an inability to focus, going so deep as to impact how our relationships with others function. As being two different people, we both have different experiences and symptoms and together we hope to talk about them and more. - Hannah Aud and Kelly Krotzer

Life As A Young Widow

I became a widow and solo mom at the age of 43. I learned how to grieve while learning how to live my new life and take care of my grieving 11-year-old. The first year is a blur. I’m about to enter my sixth year and life isn’t perfect, but we are surviving and thriving. - Tracy Powell

Sometimes You Eat The Bear —- Sometimes He Eats You

On the outside, things looked fine. The family was good, the job was going well, and the degrees had been earned. One the inside however, for some reason it just wasn’t working. What should have been some of the best times felt like the worst or even worse, felt like nothing at all. That’s when the diagnosis came in and things had to change. - Craig Stark

Why She Stayed: My Journey From Dating Violence To Preventionist

Diploma in hand she marched fearlessly to college ready to embrace people who didn’t know the nerdy, introverted, small town, high school version of herself. So, when she met an attractive guy in the caf. during the first week of classes, she jumped at the opportunity to break out of her old shell and make a new friend. What she didn’t know was that in doing so, she was joining the company of thousands of college students every year, who become entangled in tumultuous relationships that are nearly impossible to get out of. Find out why she stayed, when she left, and how this experience led to her present-day work as a preventionist and advocate. - Christiana Paradis

470 Days Sober… And Counting

What happens when drinking goes from a fun way to socialize to a self-medicating addiction? And what happens when you quit? Learn more about the ups-and-downs of my decades-long relationship to alcohol, and how going sober has been one of the best decisions of my life… even in the midst of a pandemic! - Karla Bohmbach

Child Abuse Survivor With PTSD

While most individuals will experience some type of trauma in their lives, Erin Rhinehart experienced sustained, dramatic childhood trauma resulting in severe depression and PTSD. Because of her history, she has often felt anxious, worthless and like an impostor, especially in professional academic settings. While she still has daily struggles with depression and PTSD, she has developed coping strategies that have allowed her to become a successful Neuroscientist and mother of 4. Her story is one of perseverance, determination and achievement. - Erin Rhinehart

Politics And Queerness: Growing Up Gay In A Historically Red Community

Identifying in the LGBTQ+ community in an area that is historically extremely conservative shaped how I viewed myself and others for years. Even though I was far more liberal than most of the people around me, I would have been at best considered a moderate in the rest of the US. I argued against multiple parts of the LGBTQ+ community, argued against gender identities, against any labels other than the original LGBT. Yet, in becoming more and more involved in politics and gathering a greater understanding of the world around me, I came to realize that these actions hurt people and its not my place to say someone is not valid in their identities. I grew out of being someone who was hateful and judgmental, and if I can over the course of just a few years, others can as well. - Carrigan Honeyfield

Depression And Disability: You’re Not Alone

Alex Morgan is a person on the spectrum who has gone through plenty of depression and trauma: but has grown comfortable talking about it. He wants to use this opportunity to be a voice for this often not heard group and speak to people who might need to hear about how progress is possible even in usual places. If this is a book that intrigues you, check it out. He would love to talk more about it. - Alex Morgan

Queers, Gears, And A Pair Of Shears: An Aspie Who’s Still Finding Herself

Though I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome in elementary school, I didn’t really accept that fact until a few years ago. Around the same time, I went through a whirlwind of realizations and transformations: I came out as bisexual, then lesbian, then bisexual again, began to realize that I was a lot more autistic than I’d once thought, cut my hair, dyed it, started stretching my ears, got a nose piercing, realized I never wanted to have kids, and, for the first time, started loving my body the way it is. Every day, I’m learning more about the inner machinery of my mind and about who I am. - Cassidy Ayers

Born From The Great Migration

Both of my parents grew up in the Jim Crow South in Georgia and North Carolina. They never finished grade school but moved, met in Washington D.C., married and made their way to New York. I was born of that union in Brooklyn, New York. In hind sight there participation in the Great Migration has made all the difference in my life. - Harvey Edwards

Hiding Under A Mask

I only live an hour away from campus, and coming to Susquehanna made me feel as though I was at my home away from home. I met some of my best friends freshman year and really settled into college life. I was the funny, outgoing, compassionate friend everyone came to when they need to brighten up their day. When I couldn’t do that for them any more though, that was when I hid and became no more than a shell of my true self. Now what was I to do, leave my home or fight? - Madeline Lanning

Unplanned: A Baby Story

When I found myself experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, my life turned upside down. I moved out of my beloved apartment and into a home with a partner I was still getting to know. I backburned my graduate course and career goals. I became increasingly isolated and afraid. I struggled with extreme antenatal depression and anxiety while navigating rapid changes in my physical, social, and emotional lives. Through this distress, I navigated government assistance programs, doctors appointments, graduate course work, and a new family. - Heather Lang

Dad Of A Transgender Son

A few years ago our daughter, Kate came out as transgender. As a family we have been through many unusual experiences. I will share what it is like for a parent and for our now son, Felix to work through many of these transitions. - Dietmar Plajer