DB: 请问是什么激励您去创作深圳故事？What inspired you to create Shenzhen Stories?
确实有那么几件事 。我是从美国一个十分封闭的社区来到了这里，现在真的很想念它。 老实说，我不认为自己能在任何其他地方找那时的感觉，尤其是远离家乡。 然后，在这里我开始认识新的朋友，他们为人都非常好。我们都在同一种处境下，都离开了家到一个陌生的地方，我们彼此都体会到这种感受。深圳故事就是一种传达。我只是想做些什么来提醒人们，不管你在世界上的什么地方，你至少可以在故事中寻找到与自己有相似经历的人，独处十分钟，发现我们彼此间都有比我们想象中还要多的共同点。 深圳是如此的国际化和广阔，那里一定有很多精彩的故事。当人们没有其他方式的时候，我希望能创造一个能引起人们相互共鸣的地方。
It was a few things culminating really. I had come here from a very close-knit community in the States and really missed it. If I’m honest, I didn’t really think I would be able to connect like that anywhere else, especially so far from home. Then I started meeting people. I met some very good people and they were all in the same boat. They had all left home and they all knew absolutely no one here and we really connected over that. Shenzhen Stories was the response. I just wanted to make something to remind people that no matter where you are in the world, you can relate to someone for at least ten minutes over a story and that we all have a little more in common than we think. I think Shenzhen is so international and vast that there must be so many cool stories out there. My hope is to create a place where people can connect when they might not have otherwise.
DB: 请问您能描述一下活动的主要内容有什么吗？Can you describe what a typical event consists of?
我们每一个月举办一次，我会选择一个主题，并将尽力寻找周围的人，尽管现在越来越多的人来找我。 在活动的当晚，我们会在深圳一个咖啡馆或酒吧见面，我会负责主持。接着，我们将聆听五到六个真实的故事。 形式非常随意自由。听到各行各业人士的工作经历是很有趣，和来自世界各地的人一起聆听和分享相处的一段时间也同样有趣。
Once a month, I will select a theme and will go around trying to find people, although more and more are coming to find me. On the night of the event, we meet in a cafe or bar somewhere in Shenzhen and I will host, then we will hear five or six true stories that somehow fit into that theme. It’s really casual. It’s fun to hear people from all walks of life and it’s equally fun to be in a room with people from all over the world listening and just sharing space for a while.
DB: 请问深圳故事的经历，让您对人有什么了解？What has your experience running Shenzhen Stories taught you about people?
哇，实在是太多了。我认为大家都想呆在一个群体里。我们花了太多的时间在手机上、工作上或是你的坏习惯上，甚至连在公交车上向邻居说“嗨”也变成了禁忌。人们担心他们会被拒绝或被拒绝 – 至少我知道我做了。但我认为只要人们彼此聆听得越多，分享得越多，就越成长和变得支持，越是能看到他们的胆怯消失了。你开始意识到公共汽车上的陌生人真的也只是想让你说声“嘿”，如果你们继续谈论，那么这将是两个人分享彼此生活的令人诧异的几分钟。 我猜这教给我深刻的是，在我们内心深处，都有着一个希望被认识渴望，有着一种真正了解他人的能力。
Wow, so much. I think mostly that we all want to be in a community. We spend so much time on our phones and in our jobs or whatever your vice may be and it is becoming taboo to say “hey” to your neighbour on the bus. People fear that they will get shunned or rejected – I know I do at least. But I think the more I hear people talk and share and the more I see our audience grow and be supportive, the more I see that fear go away. You start to realise the stranger on the bus really just wants you to say hey too and if you just talked there would be the amazing thing of two humans sharing life for a few minutes. I guess it teaches me that deep down we have a real desire to be known and a real deep capacity to know others.
DB: 这样看待他人方式很令人欣赏。请问您你能告诉我们关于你的一个活动的亮点吗？That’s a beautiful way to see people. Can you tell us a highlight of one of your events?
好，我需要思考一会!
I will have to think for a moment!
DB: 请问您可以了吗？You want to come back to it?
Maybe, there are lots of things… Actually, I have a funny story. We had a guy who was a comic-book artist/writer and he wrote this very minimalist serial comic strip about all the tiny little things that would go wrong in his life and just became the bane of his existence e.g. things like dropping just one chopstick on the floor. They were tiny things but they were really funny. He was a little nervous about speaking and had slides of his comics that we had tested and double tested with the projector but when he went up to talk the projector would not work. As he stood there and talked about his comics on how things never go right for him, things proceeded not to work. The whole room was in hysterics. It was a very funny one.
可能吧，确实有很多件很有意义的事件……其实我有一个有趣的故事。 我们有一个伙伴是一个漫画书的艺术家/作家，他写了本非常简约的连环漫画，关于他生命中会出错的所有细微的事情，或者是他生活中的麻烦事等等，例如丢了一根筷子在地板上。这些都是很微小的事情，但真的很有趣。他对演讲有点紧张，我们已经测试过他的漫画幻灯片，用投影仪进行了双重测试，但当他上去讲话时，放映机就不能工作了。 当他站在那里，谈论着他漫画里那些生活中永远不会顺利的事。 整个房间都是歇斯底里的。 这就是一件非常有趣的活动。
DB: 请问这些故事总是会很受欢迎吗？Are the stories always this well received?
我认为那些为这些故事而来的人是十分支持的！
I think the people who come out to these things are just so supportive!
DB: 我最后的问题是：请问您曾经给过的最好的建议是什么？My final question for you: What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
我有一个老师，曾经说你不能帮助别人做什么，你只能让你周围环境变好，那么就这样做！ 此外，有人告诉我每天吃一次洋葱，我也觉得很有趣！
I had a teacher that said you can’t help what anyone else is doing, you can only make the space around you good, so do that. But, someone else told me to eat an onion once a day to live long which I also think is fairly interesting!
DB: 这听起来真是一个很棒的地方。请问我们的读者怎样才能参与进来呢？This really sounds like a great space. How can our readers get involved?
有很多方法。我们有 Facebook、Instagram和推特–那都是关于深圳的故事。最好的办法是来见见我们。我们无时无刻都很欢迎大家的到来。此外，还可以通过邮件shenzhenstories@gmail.com来联系我们。
There are lots of ways. We have Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – that’s all just Shenzhen Stories. The best way is to come and meet us though. Anyone is welcome and it will always be free. People can also email: shenzhenstories@gmail.com
