Who Is in That Story?

I was introduced to storytelling more than 20 years ago. I don’t mean the storytellers that stand on stage and tell those wonderful, entertaining stories. I mean storytelling in ordinary lives, what we do every day from the time we can talk. Stories are a way of telling others what has happened – sometimes in a time sequence, but not always. Stories offer information in context which allows us to learn the new information and quickly turn it into useful knowledge because we can see the context where it happened. Stories are a way to speak a truth without ever mentioning the truth itself – just as fairy tales have done for centuries to teach lessons to our children. Stories that describe a vision that hasn’t happened yet, but is hoped for. Stories that capture our own history, acting like a mirror for us to see ourselves in years past or days past, or even minutes past. Just like a mirror.

So, when someone asks you who you are, the best way to respond is with a story from your life. They won’t see all of you, but they’ll see that sliver clearly.

Using stories to discover who is in the mirror is the topic of this week’s show of Unlocked. Joining me will be Loren Niemi, master storyteller and an innovative storyteller, poet, and author who has been creating, coaching, directing, performing, teaching, and writing about stories that matter for over four decades. “What Haunts Us”, his book of collected and original ghost stories won the 2020 Midwest Book Award for “Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Horror / Paranormal” fiction. In 2016 he received the National Storytelling Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Loren is one of the true leaders in the use of story. Join us!

Who is in that Story? • October 14 at noon Eastern