Storytelling

-->

Listening to the radio due that the audio/digital converter for the television died, I become fascinated by the stories.

Let me clarify. I listen to National Public Radio exclusively. The music is varied and the news is concise and balanced and the programming brings some great storytellers.

Radio presents the conversation of a speaking voice without any flash and graphics to distract from the message. It is like having a conversation with a person one-on-one without being interrupted by the glance at a cell phone.

Books and movies and songs and some television shows are like this too. They are relating a story in their own media. Some are deeply descriptive while others keep your attention with sudden surprises, but in the end they are all trying to tell a story.

As much as the research about a new washing machine or automobile or travel alternatives, do we study the information that is provided for us?

Book and movie reviews can give a certain point-of-view from a professional journalist or just the guy down the street opinion. The cover or trailer may appear attractive like the girl in the clinging red dress but we all know what happens next.

Drama, adventure, emotion, fear, inspiration… the list goes on and on for what we devour in our effort to be entertained and perhaps informed.

My family was not one to relate its history. Both grandparents on one side were gone by the time I would have understood and only my grandmother on the other side talked of times but they were when we were surrounded by dozens of cousins, aunts, brothers and sisters and the confusion clouded the conversation.

Sitting among friends today, the most interesting conversation is the storytelling. It is what we do. We replay the son’s baseball game or the daughter’s ballet or even that time long ago in college when we made some bad decisions but survived.

So I present this: She stands barefoot by the waters edge. The sun is rising breaking the silence of the pines and awakening their inhabitants. The water is dark but ripples as she tosses rose petals. A slinky black cat rubs up against her long velvet dress then darts into the darkness. The moon lights her eyes as she turns to the sound.

Tell me the story?