Stories have three basic parts. A beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning of a story sets up a character. This story’s character is Jessi Ricker, an education student at the University.

Ricker has a love for communicating belief through storytelling, and her medium of choice is stand-up comedy.

Grumpy Dave’s open mic night frequenters might recognize her bit – a small segment of a comedy performance about how hard it is to be an average sized girl.

“Nowadays it’s hard to be an average sized girl,” the bit starts. “You’re not skinny enough for free drinks, but you’re not fat enough to be inspirational.”

Reading does not do the bit justice. Listening is what Ricker hopes will happen during her storyteller event tonight from 8 to 10:30 p.m. at Grounds For Thought. Ricker will emcee as people go on stage and tell a story.

“It is a starting ground for anybody that wants to perform, but doesn’t have any poetry or songs or things like that,” Ricker said.

Throughout the night the list of people who have signed up to speak will come to the stage and tell their stories. Those without a chance to sign up can do so at the event.

What started out as an observation – there are people out there that are not being listened to – became an event dedicated to the idea that people have something to say, but they have no place to say it. Ricker had the same problem growing up in a small town with no real outlet for storytelling.

“I wanted to create that space with this event,” Ricker said.

The space she created is the event entitled: “Thank you for listening,” an open mic style event designed, not for comedy, but for storytelling.

“Lots of people have things to say, but not all of them have bits attached to them,” Ricker said.

“Thank you for listening” is a broad event. Ricker said to think of it as a localized version of “This American Life”, a popular radio show dedicated to revealing and documenting interesting things around America.

The event has only one hard rule: Your story must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Beyond that, the event is open form for people to express their ideas and beliefs.

“This kind of extreme, with emotional connection between an audience and a speaker, can only happen in a setting like this,” Ricker said. “Because when you are hearing stories from family and friends, you are not really listening to them.”

Emotional connection is something that resonates with Ricker.

She looks at storytelling as a function of survival. It is, at its base, a means of trying to get another person to believe events that have happened to you.

“If you can’t get people to believe you, then survival becomes harder,” she said.

There is something else in the mix though. Something Ricker hopes the audience finds through the event: learning.

“I hope [the audience] learns something, and that they can leave thinking differently about someone else or gain a little empathy for someone else’s experiences,” she said.

Ricker also has hopes for the storytellers that take to the stage.

“I hope they gain confidence in solidifying their beliefs and ideas,” she said.

Ricker said the idea of solidifying beliefs and ideas is what makes storytelling so “cool.” When something happens to you, the only way to see if your feelings and reactions are valid is to tell the story to someone. When you get a response from your audience, that becomes the gauge you use to validate the experience, she said.

“It’s a room full of people approving or disapproving of you,” she said. “But generally people will agree with you, because [people] generally have something relatable to say.”

The end of a story is just as hard as the beginning. It has to take threads created in the beginning and middle, and make sure they resolve before the final words. For this story about Ricker, however, the ending is simple. Everything she believes about storytelling, and everything she wants people to get from the event can be summed up in a single sentence.

“Thank you for listening.”