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If you don't know the kind of person I am
and I don't know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world,
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.
William Stafford, from his poem "Ritual to be Read to Each Other"
Story is how we let each other know the kind of people we are so that the patterns we value may prevail in the world.
A woman says, "I was contemplating divorce and thinking, I’ll leave this man and never have known him. Then his father died and he fell apart for weeks... When I asked, 'What was so unfinished between you and your dad?' he answered, 'I never knew his story.' 'Well, I don't know your story either,' I whispered. He turned to me stunned 'You don't?!...' We sat still for a long time. Finally he asked, 'Where do you want me to start?' I just blurted any question that came to mind: 'When you were a little boy, what did you want to be when you grew up? ... What were your first impressions when we met? ... What were you going through the first year of our marriage? What do you want our children to remember about you?' The floodgates opened. We talked all night."
A man says, "I remember waking up on September 11, 2001, mesmerized by the images coming out of New York. As the scope of the disaster unfolded, the first thoughts that crystallized in my mind after the shock were questions: Who are these people? Why are they so ruthless? How did we get so separated from recognizing each other's humanity that they can blow up planeloads of people just like themselves? Where did that connection break down? And then I realized my own sense of connection had also broken down, and I resolved to get curious about my fellow man as I never had before."
A young traveler says, "Last summer, I went hitch-hiking in Latin America. I had a Spanish dictionary and trinkets to share with local kids and seemed to be doing okay until I got picked up by a carload of young men. Squished in the backseat I realized they were all armed, and angry, and the word CIA was going by really fast. Whoa, I thought—how do I tell them I'm just a college kid, not a secret agent? We must be about the same age, what's the connector? Music? Brand-name jeans? How do we share some stories because my life may depend on what I say next in hacked up, ungrammatical Spanish!"
What happened to you? Where were you and what were you thinking in the moment you realized—perhaps more urgently than ever before—we need to talk! Such wake-up moments foster a movement built around Storycatching. Story builds bridges where opinion builds walls. Story creates community and communities always create story. Whether your wake-up to the imperative for catching stories was personal or global, you are now part of an informal and self-organizing movement among people who are interested in the story of their own lives, the life stories of folks around them, and the story of our times. This is the Storycatcher's Network.
There are many things on this website we hope will support your interests and expand your awareness of the power and practice of story. You will find guidelines for hosting story gatherings and writing groups based on the book; information about other story-based initiatives, resources and links, and a dialogue section at the end of each chapter excerpt through which you are invited to join the story. The "Meet a Storycatcher" page changes monthly, Christina's journal changes quarterly.
If you sign up for our Storycatcher's Network mailing list, we will also send out periodic greetings that share news about Storycatching as a movement, announce special events or occurrences based on the book, Christina's journey as author, or other resources we think will be of interest. We promise not to bother you too much, and will never, ever, share your email address with anyone else.
As Christina says at the end of chapter one of Storycatcher... "(Let us) make our own story in the world. (May) our grandchildren say about us that there was a time when many things looked dark, when people felt separated from each other ... and people were distracted and busy, driven along in the deterioration of many things they held dearly. But then, in the nick of time, something that no one could see, and no one could stop began to restore hope and instill them with wisdom and action: people began to remember the sweetness of story."
At home, at work, and out in your community, may you find moments for the everyday sweetness of story.
Let's start there.
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