Dear readers,
“We’re all storytellers,” says “Storyman Dan” Lynch, who has been telling stories for decades. He’s the leader of the Springfield Storytellers group, one of a handful of story swaps that happen regularly in the Valley. “Those who label ourselves as such are just open about it.” How right he is. There are few things that seem more human than the act of telling a story. As someone involved with words for a living, the idea of oral tradition is an appealing one, and I often like to imagine what the world was like in those long ago days before written language.
As a parent of a young child, I’ve also been fascinated to learn about the power of storytelling. A recent segment on NPR told about anger management techniques employed by Inuit people, who use scary stories rather than angry voices to discipline their children. Our brains, even when we are very young, are wired to take in stories and learn from them. As we’ve become more linked to each other through technology, it can feel like we’ve outsourced a wellspring of connection. Our stories are told to us on our screens.
That’s exactly what Storyman Dan and other local storytellers are fighting against. “I hate all the digital nonsense that we live in today and this is an escape from it. It really is. You sit with each other and you look each other in the eye and you talk. I like that a lot,” he says.
While reading reporter Chris Goudreau’s account of listening to the live-told stories this week — one about canned foods that go into a bomb shelter, another about a former life of being a Ringling Brothers clown, a third about making grilled cheese — I imagined what it must have been like to be among the people talking, what their voices must have sounded like, and what the audience reactions may have been. It’s tough to beat live experiences, and that’s why it is such a treasure to have these groups in existence here in the Valley.
— Dave Eisenstadter