Good Monday Morning 372;

This week I will be enjoying my read through all your blogs, I can’t wait! I will send out comment sheets as I move along through-out the week, this may take longer then a week depending on how caught-up I get in your web of stories. As I read, I cut and paste some of my favorite passages here for everyone to enjoy. So, please expect a comment sheet in the next week, and when I have finished my first read through, I will send out a blanket email to let you all know.  Enjoy.

The following is an excerpt from Magdalena’s telling the story about how evil came into the world. Magdalena included a video of her telling the story, which is highly recommended, just follow the link:)

In fact, including Aesop’s fables as a method of relating this story to others I knew my family would be familiar with made me consider the ways in which stories rely on other stories. When I chat with my brother, our conversations are filled with references to stories we both love; quotes from Corner Gas, references to fantasy and sci-fi novels, or reminders of obscure family anecdotes. While this is delightful for us, it does have the effect of alienating anyone else listening to our conversations; my boyfriend was quite lost when he first met my brother and heard us talking together! The same principle applies to stories: if a story references another, or uses a metaphor regarded as so common in a society it does not need explanation, the reader may feel alienated or lost. This in turn reminded me of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode from Season 5 entitled “Darmok”. In this episode, Captain Picard must learn to communicate with a species that speaks entirely in metaphor: quite the challenge when you don’t know the history behind the metaphor!

And, Magdalena’s reflections on telling the story, are insightful, and important:

 … there was a noticeable shift in energy, for lack of a better word, when I told the story to different people. In other words, the identity of the listener affected me as the storyteller in some intangible way.

The following is from Zac’s blog and are reflections on the experience of telling the story.  I am particularly intrigued by Zac’s thoughts and feelings about telling the story over Zoom – these made me reflect on Laura’s Blog, and questions about the ‘pedagogy of place’ and the ecology of the spaces in which we teach/learn together. And, Zac  writes –“… how all these dimensions intertwine with our roles as educators — being accountable not just for what we are teaching, but how we are teaching it.” Here is the excerpt:

But the also story felt final and centred in the moment in a way that written word does not: there was no going back, and no editing. As I presented my story to family over Zoom, it created an artificial separation between the storyteller and the audience. Zoom has the feeling of speaking through a tunnel, and it made it a little bit difficult to gauge peoples’ reactions to what I was saying. But even with this barrier, telling the story felt like a form of meditation.

Here is a link to a great dialogue on Cayla’s Blog

That’s all for today.

Note: it is helpful if you indicate the question you are answering on the blog – posting the question at the top works well for me.

Note: It is helpful if you provide a sentence to introduce your source. For example, who is  Stuart Rudner? A scholar/ author/ professor? A journalist? A blogger?  A lawyer? Is there a reason your reader should pay attention to what he has to say?