Weekend Reading

When I went to Mighty Summit and made my life list, No. 100 on that list was this: Become a better storyteller.

This week, as I work on my "& Kathleen" rebrand, I've been thinking lots about blogging and ideas of how we share the stories of our lives. I've been thinking about the stories we tell ourselves and how that shapes who we are. Then I started thinking about the stories we consume, from movies to books to other people's blogs, and how that impacts and challenges our reality of what really is. All of this sent me down a spiral freak-out of "It's all just an illusion!" – but at the same time... how rad is it that our ability to tell stories can make or break the perception of the life we're living. I started thinking about how my past memories and future aspirations can completely alter the story of how we're living in the here-and-now.

Isn't it funny how other people seem to write exactly what you need to hear when you begin to open yourself up to explore a topic?

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Tavi Givenson of The Style Rookie wrote about the different kinds of memories she has – from imagined to dreams to second-hand to nostalgia and even embarrassment. I love how much recounting she does through the lens of pop culture. She helps make sense of the story of her life with the stories of The Virgin Suicides and Twin Peaks. I think that's a pretty magical and creative way to live.

When I remember eighth grade, I recall scenes my mind illustrated while reading Norwegian Wood, just as well as, and in some cases more vividly than, classmate interactions and walks to school. I spent a lot of freshman year analyzing my close, personal relationships with Rayanne Graff and Laura Palmer. I cried when I had watched The Virgin Suicides so many times that I could no longer remember how I'd first visualized the book. I still miss the characters I'd pictured before, and the school, too.

Seriously, you could spend all day in this post and fall down a rabbit hole following all the links Tavi shares to further elaborate on her points. And I encourage you to do so. Tavi inspires me to do some old fashioned pen and paper journaling. I especially love the idea of capturing what she calls "Moments of Strange Magic".

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Then! Just last night Jeremy and I were watching an older episode of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show on our DVR. The featured guest was director Danny Boyle (of Slumdog Millionaire and the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony). Jon Stewart asks Boyle about toying with the idea of reality and Boyle responds with this: 

I think something wonderful about cinema is it automatically blurs that boundary we imagine exists between reality and illusion. Because it's all an illusion but you believe it. 

Boyle goes on to talk about the creative process and it was just a very enjoyable interview to watch. Check it out here.

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I was sad to hear about the passing of Roger Ebert yesterday. To be honest, during the height of Siskel & Ebert, I was a little too young to understand their eloquent critiques of movies I was too young to watch. But yesterday, as I listened to old interviews of Ebert on NPR I understood how special these guys were – I admired how brave they were to critique a movie before it was a common thing for everyone to over-share their opinions on everything everywhere. 

Anyway, this morning I came across this article on Roger Ebert on Brain Pickings that includes snippets of his memoir in which he talks about writing from memory, the importance of blogging to him and his creative process. 

My blog became my voice, my outlet, my ‘social media’ in a way I couldn’t have dreamed of. Into it I poured my regrets, desires, and memories. Some days I became possessed. The comments were a form of feedback I’d never had before, and I gained a better and deeper understanding of my readers. I made ‘online friends,’ a concept I’d scoffed at. Most people choose to write a blog. I needed to. 

I feel the same way, Ebert! I'll definitely be downloading his memoir to my Kindle just as soon as I get through the stack of books piled up on my nightstand. 

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Happy weekend, y'all. Let me know what you think about storytelling, memories, blogging and the nature of reality in the comments. Or let me know what you've been reading this week.