Common Read and The Strangers Project Bring Stories of Connection to Curry College

Curry College is proud to partner with The Strangers Project, a New York City-based initiative that invites participants to share their honest stories anonymously.

Founded by Brandon Doman in 2009, The Strangers Project has grown to a collection of more than 100,000 stories, with a flagship space in New York City’s World Trade Center Oculus. A selection of stories from the collection is now on display along the Gray Meeting Room windows on the second floor of Curry’s Student Center.

Curry is the first college on the East Coast to establish a long-term partnership with The Strangers Project, extending the experience beyond a one-time event and giving the campus community opportunities to engage with and contribute to the project.

The installation launched as part of Welcome Weekend activities surrounding Curry’s 2026 Common Read, Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, which features 17 first-person stories from people with disabilities representing a range of backgrounds and lived experiences.

“The Strangers Project and Disability Visibility both highlight the power of the human experience and sharing our stories,” said Dr. Lauren Baczewski, Director of Research and Education in the Neurodiversity Center for Excellence. “I can think of no better way to kick off the 2026 Curry Common Read experience than to invite our staff, faculty, and students to spend some time with the anonymous stories written by people from all over the world, brought to us by the Stranger’s Project.”

The text will also be woven into classroom discussions and co-curricular events throughout the fall semester, in addition to a campus-wide event connected to the book’s theme of bringing the community together for conversation and reflection. “The exhibit and the book highlight our shared humanity as a campus community and invite us to limit assumptions, ask questions about other people’s experiences, and understand each other on a deeper level across all aspects of our identities,” said Baczewski.

Students, faculty, and staff are also invited to contribute their own anonymous stories throughout the semester using writing supplies and a drop box at the Student Center information desk. Later this semester, Doman will visit Curry to add stories from the Curry community to the installation and speak about the project.