Sunnyside Screamers at the inaugural scream event under the 7 line. Photo: Jeff Fuller
Nov. 22, 2024 By Shane O’Brien
Members of the Sunnyside community are encouraged to scream at the top of their lungs underneath the 7 line on Saturday morning as part of a new initiative to release built-up emotions and forge a sense of community.
“Sunnyside Screamers: The Second Scream” is scheduled to take place underneath the 7 line at 38th Street at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23.
The event is organized by Sunnyside resident Lydia Driscoll and Progressive Sunnyside, a group founded in response to the first Trump administration’s stance on issues such as healthcare and migrant rights, and celebrated its “first scream” under the 7 line last Saturday, Nov. 16.
Driscoll said nine people attended the inaugural event and screamed for several minutes under a particularly echoey section of the elevated tracks.
She said the new initiative is not branded as a response to Donald Trump’s recent election victory but added that many participants wanted to express their emotions following a “big countrywide event.”
“The idea just came from being really frustrated with the results of the election and a lot of people feeling like they don’t know what they can do,” Driscoll said. “It’s not branded as a ‘scream your frustrations at Trump’ (event). That’s not what it’s about. I think it’s just kind of a community thing in response to a countrywide thing that’s happened.”
Driscoll said it would be “fun” to make the scream a regular event, stating that the scream is also a community-building event, allowing Sunnyside residents to connect with people they have never met before.
“The goal is really to just bring people together,” Driscoll said. “I had never met anyone who came last week, and I don’t think anyone else knew each other. So that was really cool.”
Driscoll cited a BBC article championing the benefits of screaming as a way to release built-up emotions. The article features a conversation with behavior and data scientist Professor Pragya Agarwal and Dr. Rebecca Semmens-Wheeler, a professor at Birmingham City University’s psychology department, about a group of mothers who started screaming as a way to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two academics stated that screaming as part of a group can help release difficult emotions and build a sense of community among the screamers, among other benefits.
Semmens-Wheeler told the BBC that screaming can have a cathartic effect but warned that it must be done with caution. She told the BBC that screaming as a form of emotional release can be likened to using dynamite to blow something open, stating that it is broadly effective but lacks the “subtlety and awareness” to thoroughly process emotions.
Driscoll, meanwhile, encouraged anyone living in Sunnyside to join Progressive Sunnyside, describing the Facebook group as a “great” local resource.
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