Are stories viruses?

This week I got sick, the whether was good, then bad then good, it's the perfect combination for me to get my usual, because I have one, it's a little routine, and it's all mine.
It goes like this: sinus infection for 2 days, then sore throat for two days again , then down to my lungs and I walk around Istanbul wheezing and coughing like a old engine.

And all around me I notice people who are getting the virus (not necessarily from me) but everyone has their own version, some people have to stay in bed, others get an upset stomach...it's the same virus, but it touches us in different ways.

And it makes me think about tales (yes, again!).  Jack Zipes a specialist of tales has a theory that tales spread like viruses.  One person at a time, they conquer, adapt and then spread to another person. The moment you take the tale and carry it in your heart and mind, you are affected.  Then if you tell the story, you spread it.

Now some people think that it is very important to stick to the original version of a tale, not to change a thing, to be faithful carriers of the original text.  Which is also a valid goal...
But what Zipes argues is that every time you take a story, and change it according to your tastes and sensibilities, you help the tale stay alive for another generation.

For example:

• you change the part of a story where the husband hits his wife to teach her a lesson because you find it would be wrong to transmit this message;  
• or, you decide to give some wit to little Red because you just don't feel like carrying the message of the little girl passively waiting in the wolf's stomach for the big man to come rescue her.  

Just like the viruses need to adapt to conquer more and stay alive, so the tales, transformed by active storytellers turn into new brews that will mesmerize new generations.

I'm not saying that everything needs to go, a storyteller carries the essence of an old magic, for example  the oldest written tale, written on a papyrus 8th century B.C., "the tale of two brothers", is still being told today, and that's an important part of telling stories:  carrying the torch. 

But a storyteller's job is also to keep tales alive and relevant, to twist and turn the stories, to jazz it up, to mix in some politics, anecdotes of the day, details and images that will touch the listeners of today, so that with each telling the tales get the adaptation they need to be around for another two thousand years.

What is a tale that touched you? Tell it today, you don't need to remember it perfectly, you just need to let it out and contaminate others.  

Tales are a magical viruses, they strengthen our immune system to fight against today's most deadly virus: meaninglessness. 

So help it spread!

5 reasons why parents should drop the book and just get wild! (you knowyou want to...)

Nope, it's just not the same thing, in my (rarely) humble opinion, there's a huge difference between telling a story, and playing the CD of someone telling a story, or plunking our child in front of a DVD, even if that CD is from a super creative parents' choice award winning storyteller, even if that DVD is an artistic Iranian cartoon of a wonderfully multicultural tale.  Now, I'm not saying these activities are worthless, but even though we'd love to think that they are just as good as a parent closing the book and creatively telling a story...it's NOT.

Here are a few reasons why parents should tell stories to their children themselves:

1. To be a creative role model

Telling a story is different from reading one.

The storyteller is free to use:

• body language
• voices
• facial expressions.  
• objects from the room

In short the storyteller plays with the story.
What a creative act!
And what better present can a parent possibly give to his/her children than to display his/her creativity?

We often complain that school kills creativity.  In fact there are even tests that show it does.  A study has shown that elementary school students perform much higher on standardized creativity tests than high school students, and when faced with such results we are quick to point our finger to the classroom and say:

 "YOU YOU did this to MY child!"  

And I'll have to agree that schools with their standardized tests may have something to do with it....

But another factor may be that many children when they look around have a hard time finding adult role models who are creative and playful.  This, in turn, gives them the message that creative playfulness is the stuff of childhood, a fuzzy warm layer they are supposed to shed if they ever want to be taken seriously.

So? If we want our children to believe that adults can, need to and are creative, let's tell them stories, and let's go wild with our evening storytelling sessions, because then our children will know that creativity is a real world value.
And it is!  More than ever creativity is a quality which is required of adults in every aspects our their lives, and it will be even more the case for our children.

2. To fill the story with teaching metaphors and healing images

Storytelling language is not the same as written language.  

When we drop the book and start telling from our heart, there are many transformations that happen in the language we use.
The words:

"The young princess had blond hair that came down to her waist"

become:
"Do you see the gold on the lamp there?  That's the exact color of the princess' hair, just like gold, and guess how long her hair was?  Down to there?  Oh no! Much longer than that! Look it went down to...there"

Now I know this "oral" version doesn't really translate well on this written blog, but what I mean to say is that it involves lots of pointing on the body, and looking at our environment to create comparisons with visual objects.  Which means that the story is not just told on the conceptual level, it includes a lot more kinesthetic and visual references.

Why is this important?  New studies about language show that when you create metaphors and comparaisons language affects you on a deeper level because it involves different areas of your brain.  The more senses you include in the game, the deeper the effect of the story.  Therefore children will remember and learn more from the story.

3. To turn our children into heroes

Custom made is always better, so let's get personal!

In the story we tell, we can change the name of the characters, the wise old guide is no longer named Olaf but Mr. Benson, yes that teacher he loves so much.  And what the second daughter asks for may not be a golden necklace anymore, maybe it becomes the bike that your child has been asking for.

Then the bridge between the magical symbolic world of stories and your child's life is easier to climb.

The stories give new meaning to his or her life.  It also allows the child to replace his or her life's experience within a different context, to see that his teacher is not unlike the wise old bearded magician.  Through this metaphor you invite your child to look at his own world through different glasses.

  Every story is designed for the listener to put himself in the hero's shoes, and children love being the heroes of the stories they listen to. 
But it is something special to have one's parent actually rename the hero for us, thus actually acknowledging that we are the hero of this, and our own stories.

4. Stop the visual imprisonment, free their minds.

In today's world children's eyes are full.  

It's as if the world was trying to get to their brains through their eyes (OK, I know it's a little disgusting as far as metaphors go, but I'll stand by it, yes I will!) our culture is overly visual, it takes our children's imagination and keeps them hostage.

Stories are a wonderful occasion to tip the balance the other way.
When we tell stories, we offer sounds and words, then, in exchange, we ask them to create all the visuals in their heads.

Storytelling is an interactive act of group creation.

 

Listeners are the directors in this film, in their heads they cast the princess and shoot the scenes.  It's so important for children to be given spaces without imposed visual cues.

 

So let's free their imagination.

5. Have a family ritual.

Thank you daddy!

The other day I found this old volume, tattered pages... 
Reading the stories sent me with a flash on an amazing time travel!
These were the stories that my dad used to tell us.
I have no idea where he found this book, nor why he chose them, the stories were pretty religious, each of them start and end with a religious precept like:

"thus one should never forget, as it is written, that all believers should give to the poor at least a quarter of their earnings, and woe to the characters of this story who had to learn it the hard way"
(it's not a literal translation, but I swear it's not far...)

I remembered each and everyone of the stories so well.  But I had never heard them with the sanctimonious tone that the written version had....
And that's because it's not who my dad is, and that's not how he told them.
He told them his way, with his heart, and that's how I remember them.  The evenings we spent with my sisters listening to storie are more precious to me than anything else, and today we still tell each other stories as a family, stories of life, things we read or hear, and tales, many tales. 

We are connected in this practice of active imagination called storytelling. 

 

Something that could never have been created with an evening spent in front of the TV.