A few months ago, I was approached by an artist and producer named Jamie Courville to see if I might contribute to a project called Squirrels Stories. Jamie says, “A linguist told me “squirrels” is the hardest word to say in the English language. Squirrels Stories is the place for the things that are difficult to talk about.” With an intro like that, how could I say no?
What follows is a cut and paste from Jamie’s web site:
Squirrels Stories has a new audio portrait to warm your ears 
Hello. How are you? I started this project to give a voice to people living in difficult circumstances, and to let their friends and family members better understand what they were going through. Many of us are dealing with cancer in one way or another, but we are bad at talking about it. Squirrels Stories is an attempt to narrow that gap. Melanie is an incredibly talented textile artist and craftbook designer living in Brooklyn. After her breast cancer diagnosis, she chose not to reconstruct her body. 
Please listen to Melanie’s story here.
You can read more about Melanie and her work on her website. She also participated in the Grace Project. For more information on living a FLAT & Fabulous life, click here.
Of course, there are many other Squirrels Stories to listen to. Please share these so they can reach as many ears as possible. I want to thank everyone who has participated in this project. There are a lot more stories of everyday people facing difficult situations. There is a lot of work to do. Looking forward, Jamie Courville I am always looking to produce portraits for individuals and organizations to help them tell their story. Please contact Jamie to talk about it.
Melanie Testa 