I love a good story. I have since childhood when I spent a great deal of time around much older adults who would tell us stories about their lives growing up. Stories are great medicine. I think of them as medicine for the soul. Remember the Chicken Soup for the Soul books? What about the Reader’s Digest stories? Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story was “must listen” radio.
Today we have a tremendous number of options to hear stories that appeal and resonate with us. In my opinion, this is a case when the past was not better. The present is definitely better. All the choices and voices you can hear today are so diverse and come from so many perspectives, that if you look for and try enough of them, you can’t help but find something that fits the bill for you.
I had the good fortune to attend a live recording session of the Story Collider in Atlanta, Georgia last year at the Highland Inn. It was an amazing experience to once again sit and listen to someone tell a story live and in person. https://www.storycollider.org/ The Story Collider is a nonprofit organization dedicated to true, personal stories about science. I’ve been able to pass this love of storytelling on to my children. They are captivated when The Moth Radio Hour airs. The Moth Radio Hour features beloved tales and the stories behind the stories. The series debuted in 2009 and is now airing on more than 500 stations nationwide.
The art and craft of storytelling is alive and doing very well. Technology has not killed the human pursuit of sharing and connecting. Even in a time of pandemic, we are seeking connection and story. (Add in the details of the LPCPL pandemic story project here.) Here at LPCPL we are seeking your story about the pandemic, we are collecting Veteran’s stories to add to our local history collection, and we have a podcast.
Storytelling is a celebration of humanity and our shared common experiences. It is balm for the soul and heals the mind. To find some great stories, you can use Listen Notes which is a podcast search engine. Yep, there a search engine for podcasts. https://www.listennotes.com/ There are apps like Podbean, Spotify, RadioPublic, and many others. Go ahead, binge listen, you’ll feel better.
