In this episode, The Daily reports on the Evanston Scream Club. The organization, which began in June of last year, started in Chicago and spread across the country in the following months. Its members discuss the community-building and stress release benefits of joining the club, and its founders explain how it began.
[screaming]
JACK BAKER: That was the Evanston Scream Club, a group that gathers every Sunday evening in Dawes Park to set intentions, share a collective scream, converse with neighbors and go their separate ways, according to the club’s Instagram page.
From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Jack Baker. This is Everything Evanston, a podcast covering all things Evanston.
[music]
JACK BAKER: While the idea of gathering with a group of strangers to scream into the open air might sound unusual, Ursula Arsenault, the club’s founder, said it’s part of a growing movement that began in Chicago — and has now spread to chapters in the suburbs and around the world. After seeing the success of those downtown meet-ups, she realized there was an appetite for something similar closer to home.
For Arsenault, it wasn’t just about the scream itself, but about creating space for connection in a moment when many people feel isolated.
URSULA ARSENAULT: I think a lot of people are feeling a lot of things right now for political reasons, personal reasons. It’s just a hard time for everyone, and that’s the unifying factor.
JACK BAKER: Evanston resident Tamra Wysocki has become a regular at the club’s weekly screams. She found the club through Facebook after hearing about Scream Club Chicago. Wysocki said her favorite part of the club is the chance to get to know other people in the community.
She said she frequently recruits new participants on her way to the pier, increasing attendance at each meeting.
TAMRA WYSOCKI: I can go scream in my car by myself — okay, sometimes I do do that — but it feels more powerful to come to the lake and be with other people, and yeah, it’s the community.
JACK BAKER: For Wysocki, this week’s scream also symbolized a unique opportunity for a fresh start.
TAMRA WYSOCKI: Well, for today in particular, it’s my birthday, and so I was screaming out the previous year to clear the way for another year of life.
JACK BAKER: The very first Scream Club started just a couple miles further south while Manny Hernandez, a breath work coach, walked along North Avenue Beach Pier with Elena Soboleva.
MANNY HERNANDEZ: And you know, we were just kind of having a bad week, and we were walking down by the lake, and I just turned to her and I said, “Do you wanna just go and scream into the lake?” And she said, “Yeah, I’m a little bit worried about what other people might think,” and I said, “Don’t worry, I’ll just ask them if they wanna join in.” And that’s exactly what we did. We just asked, “Hey, we’re about to scream into the lake, so sorry to bother you, but would you wanna join us?” And they said, “Yeah.” So we collectively screamed into the lake. Some people cried, and that’s when Elena and I looked at each other, and we were like, “Yeah, it’s probably something that we should start.”
JACK BAKER: Soon, word about Manny and Elena’s Scream Club spread across the country, and the two became inundated with requests to bring the organization to their home cities.
MANNY HERNANDEZ: A bunch of people started reaching out, saying, “Hey, we need this in our city, come to our city.” So the first thing we did was trademark the name to make sure that Scream Clubs could pop up all over the place, but also to make sure that if it’s under what we started originally, it would stay consistent.
JACK BAKER: Ultimately, as Arsenault explained, screaming represents a great way to relieve stress in a world that rarely slows down.
Standing by the lake, voices rising against the wind, the Evanston Scream Club finds a sense of freedom in letting go together.
URSULA ARSENAULT: It’s a primal thing. Everybody has the urge when they’re frustrated, whether it’s screaming in a pillow or throwing a tantrum when you’re a kid. I think it’s just a very natural release, and it can unlock a lot of stuff that you’re holding onto.
[music]
JACK BAKER: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Jack Baker. Thanks for listening to another episode of Everything Evanston. This episode was reported by Jack Baker and produced by Finn Hazen.
The Audio Editor is Finn Hazen. The Multimedia Managing Editors are Sydney Gaw, Christina Lin and Sarah Serota. The Editor in Chief is Emily Lichty.
Our theme music is “Revolution” by Xennial, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and provided by the Free Music Archive.
