Tales From The Other Side - Alternative Culture to enlighten a mediocre mood

Alternative Culture and ideas, ready to be injected into your Reality.

[ Previous ] [ Next ]

Being a Writer

November 13th 2006 01:30

Stories Inform, they captivate, they warn. They are our way of learning, without needing experience.

For a while I was all; why the hell am I doing this? Why am I spending, like, hours a day, churning out oodles of words on my computer? Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club once said his greatest fear was to grow old and die behind a computer screen, recording existence rather than engaging with it.

I have to say, I was getting pretty serious about analysing writing as a major life element, and what I was generally seeing, I was not generally liking.
This was until I read a book for my Indigenous Studies class, called Maybe Tomorrow, by Boori Pryor. The story touches on many elements of Indigenous culture, but the one that struck a real chord with me, was the value of storytelling within Indigenous communities. In these communities, stories are lessons, they are history, they are culture, they are warnings, they are entertainment. They are the messages around which we understand our very existence. Free Willy, as a story, expressed the importance of nature. Star Wars is a moral tale of the power of good over evil. And if George Orwell’s 1984 wasn’t a warning, I don’t know what it was.
We are the ones who give ideas form, and form ideas. We view this world, and change how it’s viewed. Or, as Willie Wonka once said;

WE are the music makers, and WE are the dreamers of dreams.

Picture Credits:

Millais, The Boyhood of Raligh; Oil on canvas, 1870, now in the Tate Britain museum.

Sir John Everett Millais painted his rendition of a scene in the boyhood of Sir Walter Raleigh. Young Raleigh in the green suit and his brother are listening to a sailor tell the story of what is out there at sea. In the lower left of the picture is a toy boat, an allusion to the future career of the young Raleigh.

Bold text from Wikipedia.

104

Vote

Add To:

subscribe to this blog

follow this blog on Orble

start your own blog

KEEP UPDATED ON TALES

Activist Links: (Request one)
Vitamins are criminal?
Just say Know
Could Corporate Interests Destroy The Internet as we Know it?

[ Link ]

Posted By: Brenton - Category: Pop Culture

Related Posts:

Relate This Post

Recent Posts:
      Otherkin
      Left Wing Values
      Global Warming Quotes
      Michael Leunig
      Marijuana and the International Law

[ Previous - Life is Beautiful ]

[ Next - Black Armband History ]

Comments

4 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by katyzzz

November 13th 2006 01:48

Photography Tips
MS Paint Art

Brenton,

I just Love the picture.

Look forward to seeing you at my place soon.

katyzzz

Comment by K.L. Almeroth

November 13th 2006 03:30

Motherhood

Hi Brenton,

Yes, I think storytelling is ingrained in humans, from day one...

It's so interesting how we tell stories. Studying archaeology and anthropology, you go into this. It's all fascinating.

Great post.

K.L.

Comment by Wendi

November 21st 2006 05:55

Nicely said. Stories can be life changing - for the writers and readers alike. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn is one story that was life changing for me - probably the first book I'd read that actually made a difference in how I viewed the world.