What Stories Will you Tell?
Someday you’ll be sitting around with friends, family, and maybe even semi-strangers and “pandemic stories” will start to emerge. What color was your mask? How many times were you tested? How long did you have the. COVID? Who were you quarantined with and who would you have wanted to be quarantined with if you could have chosen?
However, it’s not the future...oh and it never is...it’s always today.... so I let my thoughts drift to storytelling right now. Does social distancing and mask wearing keep us from telling our stories as often as we used to? If so how many times a day, week, month, are we unable to help other people understand our meaning and purposes? How many times are we getting a less than full picture of someone else’s experiences? Are we getting used to nbot getting. The chance to. Tell stories and are we taking. The opportunities to use social media or. Phone calls to make sure stories are being shared? Are there folks that tell stories in person who are now isolated because their story outlets are too far away and. The chances to tell stories have been severely restricted? I don’t. Know.....I’m just wondering.
well, I for one am always up for hearing a good story and telling one when the moment strikes. So earlier in the week when I heard. It was the anniversary of the day Billy the Kid was gunned down by the sheriff Pat Garrett, and that it was the birthdate of Woody Guthrie I had to dedicate thank you Thursday. To storytellers and the great stories.
Thank you Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid (you can look all this up) did have some adventures and some of them were legendary by. Most standards. On the other hands. No gunslinger could ever live up to the number of stories and emotions this individual seems to have prompted. He’s the ultimate lovable. Outlaw, the humorous troublemaker who may have had some penchant for social justice, and in being these things he provided a whole culture a chance to create Wild West characters enough to fill thousands of pages in thousands of books, millions for frames in hundreds of movies, and simply brought Robin Hood to them there spaces West of the Mississippi.... which was the Wild West as recent as 1850 when the railroad ended in Iowa City Iowa for 5 years.... The first great train robbery. Took place in Western Iowa near Adair Iowa the home of the smiley yellow water tower.
Anyway Billy launched a whole lot of stories so thanks.
Salute to Woody Guthrie
If there were a Mount Rushmore of Folk Singers...firsat of all that’s a ridiculous idea because the people on the rock-face would have organized the biggest protest concert against such a defacing of nature. That the world has ever seen. Anyway when it comes to folk music or social commentary music Woody was a master. His 1,000 or so songs told stories of Americans from from California to the Gulf Stream Islands... You can draw a direct line to others. He was a great partner with Pete Seeger another classic songwriting storyteller...oh and perhaps you’ve heard of his son Arlo? If you haven’t try Googling Alice’s Restaurant—remember Alice? Oh and there’s this guy Bob Dylan who can’t sing but has a lot to say with his songs. There is so much. Storytelling fruit from that tree I could go on for volumes and the first woman. Chapter might be dedicated to Joan Baez. In short, Woody and his tree along with Robert Johnson and others probably—no definitely created the story songs and the other music. That make up the. Soundtrack for my stories . (There are some other songs on the soundtrack by other artists such as the Beatles, Queen, and Jackson Browne—-and maybe blog post in the future will talk about building a peace and joy soundtrack for your life?)
Okay Back to the Gratitude
Oh the Places this Blog could go...Just to wrap this up I wanted to say I didn’t forget. Teddy Geisel...you may have heard oof the guy since he wrote stories using another name—DR. SEUESS .
In short thanks to everyone who has helped me understand life. And myself by sharing their stories or listening to mine. Seeking peace and joy during these. Strange times makes it important to keep story hour open and to. Think about what stories we will tell to convey the lessons we are learning through this time...
For now....thanks to each of you for sharing yourself with others, playing a part in the stories we. Make and the stories we tell. Who knows if we work hard at it then maybe Once upon a time we’ll be seeing the yellow brick road to living with peace and joy or in other words happily every after?
P.s. Joy week starts tomorrow but if you want to do something joyful today to right ahead.
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