Matt likes to write long scholarly blogs, and I prefer to write more random, short...let's say spunky blogs.
Mostly because my computer time is when I'm half asleep typing, forming words in my head and only hoping that I hit the right keys. Through half-slit eyes I try to spell check, but here's for hoping.
We made it to New Orleans in a fantastic feat of 15 1/2 driving hours. It shouldn't have taken that long, but we stopped to eat twice this time and we got stuck in Houston traffic. That was a nightmare, getting stuck about 10 miles outside the city in traffic that wasn't even city traffic, then getting into the city and coming to yet another standstill.
New Orleans is a city I've never been to before, like most of the places Matt and I have traveled so far. I'm stuck by the sense of community every where we turn. And we're face to face with fascinating history. Architecture. Culture. People. Lauren and Alan (sorry, Alan, if you spell your name someway different than this, but I'm too embarrassed to poke my head in the other room and ask you how you spell your name) are great hosts and it's been neat for me to get to meet people Matt mentions so frequently.
We're setting up our interviews, which has proved more challenging than we expected. Although we were in contact with people from Tulane before we got here, we had no replies and were not able to set anything up then. I'm a little frustrated, but I think it is because I'm still tired and trying to catch up on sleep from having driven and sat in the car for so long.
Alan took us around town today while Lauren was at work, and we got to see a house fire. Two hosues over 100 years old went up in smoke. We saw the smoke plumes and took our nosy selves to discover the cause. I felt insensitive as I stood watching the flames literally eat the houses, as ash poured down all around us, as we felt the water misting from the hoses. It was nerve-wracking for me to watch. I wondered about the families who belonged inside those walls. I wondered how much of their life was inside. How they would go on...would they want to? After all they had been through with Katrina...and now a fire. Once, as has happened many times on this trip, I felt an immense appreciation for the life that I have...and fear to realize how fragile it really is. We build an illusion of safety and control. It's a defense mechanism, an instinct for survival.
But it can all be taken away.
I hadn't meant to end on a sour note or a sad note, but I am.
I do like New Orleans though.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Road Fever
So here's some things I've learned today:
1). Most of Texas is actually in the central time zone.
2). When sitting in a car for long periods of time, you can acquire something I like to call "car fever."
And, perhaps most importantly,
3). Everyone on the interstate tailgates. Everyone.
Today we attempted the longest stretch of driving in one day for us so far: from Show Low, Arizona to Austin, Texas. Despite leaving at 7:30am and not even stopping to eat (I ate in the car while Katelyn drove, then she ate while I did), the two-hour time change is finally what did us in. We realized that we wouldn't make it to Austin until 11:30pm our time, which would really be 1:30am for our gracious host, the sister of a good friend of ours from Webster. Needless to say, we didn't feel comfortable arriving that late at anyone's home, even if we did think we could manage to drive that far without sleeping, which we didn't.
Which is why I'm sitting in the laundry room of a KOA campground (or kampground, as they infuriatingly choose to spell it - I guess because it's "cute") which just happens to have free wireless internet in Fort Stockton, Texas. I wish we could stay and see some of the Lone Star State, but we have to get on to New Orleans, where a good friend of mine from high school is waiting for us, and where we'll hopefully have about a week to interview some of Tulane University's faculty in the anthropology, history and psychology departments about their take on the importance of stories, myths, and folktales.
This next phase of our research and filming I'm getting more and more excited about, because we'll be exploring a more "scholarly" approach to the uses of story. The storytellers we talked to were wonderful about clueing us in to the idea that stories can entrance and transport their listeners; now I hope to really tackle the question of why the human mind is made that way.
A few books have been helping us out in this search so far: "The Power of Myth," by Bill Moyers and renowned myth scholar Joseph Campbell, "The Uses of Enchantment" by Bruno Bettelheim, and of course, the book that started it all (for us anyway) "The Seven Basic Plots" by Christopher Booker.
"Plots" is a nearly 800-page tome that apparently took Booker more than 30 years of his adult life to put together. In it, he makes the case that there are only seven basic stories that keep getting re-told in some fashion or another, in every story ever told, in any medium, in any culture, throughout all of time. They are: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy and Rebirth.
Many of the storytellers we have talked to have already had many interesting opinions on this idea (although only one has actually heard of and began to read this particular book). The motif that they all seem to come back to is that of Cinderella; how there are literally thousands of versions of the Cinderella rags-to-riches story in every culture in the world. This obviously begs the question: what is it that we see in the Cinderella story that makes us re-tell it over and over, in all sorts of different forms and mediums throughout history? There is something very elementally human in that story, of the underdog finally coming out on top, that makes us root for these poor characters time and time again. Interesting concept, but we'll have to see how well Booker's theory holds up all the way to the end.
"The Power of Myth" is a fascinating read. It's a television interview between Moyers and Campbell transcribed into book form, and I'm constantly highlighting things on every page that Campbell has to say. He is the man who pretty much "wrote the book" on the idea that certain stories are re-told in different forms across many cultures in his "Hero of a Thousand Faces" which I unfortunately have not been able to track down. Campbell was apparently cited as a major inspiration for the character of Luke Skywalker. No wonder Star Wars works so well: it's a myth many of us have already heard, just told in a highly original, exciting new way.
Since it's getting late and we have to be up early to finish our jaunt into NOLA tomorrow, I'll have to leave it there for now. But don't worry, there'll be more of my excited ramblings on what I'm learning as we go along...after all, when it consumes pretty much 75% of your life, what else is there to write about?
Good night!
1). Most of Texas is actually in the central time zone.
2). When sitting in a car for long periods of time, you can acquire something I like to call "car fever."
And, perhaps most importantly,
3). Everyone on the interstate tailgates. Everyone.
Today we attempted the longest stretch of driving in one day for us so far: from Show Low, Arizona to Austin, Texas. Despite leaving at 7:30am and not even stopping to eat (I ate in the car while Katelyn drove, then she ate while I did), the two-hour time change is finally what did us in. We realized that we wouldn't make it to Austin until 11:30pm our time, which would really be 1:30am for our gracious host, the sister of a good friend of ours from Webster. Needless to say, we didn't feel comfortable arriving that late at anyone's home, even if we did think we could manage to drive that far without sleeping, which we didn't.
Which is why I'm sitting in the laundry room of a KOA campground (or kampground, as they infuriatingly choose to spell it - I guess because it's "cute") which just happens to have free wireless internet in Fort Stockton, Texas. I wish we could stay and see some of the Lone Star State, but we have to get on to New Orleans, where a good friend of mine from high school is waiting for us, and where we'll hopefully have about a week to interview some of Tulane University's faculty in the anthropology, history and psychology departments about their take on the importance of stories, myths, and folktales.
This next phase of our research and filming I'm getting more and more excited about, because we'll be exploring a more "scholarly" approach to the uses of story. The storytellers we talked to were wonderful about clueing us in to the idea that stories can entrance and transport their listeners; now I hope to really tackle the question of why the human mind is made that way.
A few books have been helping us out in this search so far: "The Power of Myth," by Bill Moyers and renowned myth scholar Joseph Campbell, "The Uses of Enchantment" by Bruno Bettelheim, and of course, the book that started it all (for us anyway) "The Seven Basic Plots" by Christopher Booker.
"Plots" is a nearly 800-page tome that apparently took Booker more than 30 years of his adult life to put together. In it, he makes the case that there are only seven basic stories that keep getting re-told in some fashion or another, in every story ever told, in any medium, in any culture, throughout all of time. They are: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy and Rebirth.
Many of the storytellers we have talked to have already had many interesting opinions on this idea (although only one has actually heard of and began to read this particular book). The motif that they all seem to come back to is that of Cinderella; how there are literally thousands of versions of the Cinderella rags-to-riches story in every culture in the world. This obviously begs the question: what is it that we see in the Cinderella story that makes us re-tell it over and over, in all sorts of different forms and mediums throughout history? There is something very elementally human in that story, of the underdog finally coming out on top, that makes us root for these poor characters time and time again. Interesting concept, but we'll have to see how well Booker's theory holds up all the way to the end.
"The Power of Myth" is a fascinating read. It's a television interview between Moyers and Campbell transcribed into book form, and I'm constantly highlighting things on every page that Campbell has to say. He is the man who pretty much "wrote the book" on the idea that certain stories are re-told in different forms across many cultures in his "Hero of a Thousand Faces" which I unfortunately have not been able to track down. Campbell was apparently cited as a major inspiration for the character of Luke Skywalker. No wonder Star Wars works so well: it's a myth many of us have already heard, just told in a highly original, exciting new way.
Since it's getting late and we have to be up early to finish our jaunt into NOLA tomorrow, I'll have to leave it there for now. But don't worry, there'll be more of my excited ramblings on what I'm learning as we go along...after all, when it consumes pretty much 75% of your life, what else is there to write about?
Good night!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Actual Factual
Fact: We are in Show Low, AZ
Fact: We've been slightly lazy...BUT getting things straightened out for the last half of our trip
Fact: We're running out of money
Fact: We wouldn't be where we are now if our extended family and friends hadn't been supporting us
Fact: Thank you
Fact: We are going to the festival in Jonesbourough, TN
Fact: Then we are going to the Southern Festival of books in Nashville, TN
Fact: My older sister and her husband still live in Nashville
Fact: Fall is upon us and I can't wait for brown, red and orange leaves
Fact: Driving to New Orleans will take us over 20 hours
Fact: We are staying with Matt's friend Lauren in New Orleans and she's cool
Fact: I'm going to go eat M&Ms and dream about how much weight I need to lose before returning to school
Fact: We've been slightly lazy...BUT getting things straightened out for the last half of our trip
Fact: We're running out of money
Fact: We wouldn't be where we are now if our extended family and friends hadn't been supporting us
Fact: Thank you
Fact: We are going to the festival in Jonesbourough, TN
Fact: Then we are going to the Southern Festival of books in Nashville, TN
Fact: My older sister and her husband still live in Nashville
Fact: Fall is upon us and I can't wait for brown, red and orange leaves
Fact: Driving to New Orleans will take us over 20 hours
Fact: We are staying with Matt's friend Lauren in New Orleans and she's cool
Fact: I'm going to go eat M&Ms and dream about how much weight I need to lose before returning to school
Thursday, September 20, 2007
This new journey
So it's kind of ridiculous, isn't it, that nearly halfway into a new semester, with our project half-finished, we finally get around to putting up a new blog and such to keep you all updated on what we're doing. Ah well, such is life. At least I can say our excuse is that we've actually been so busy working on our project that marketing ourselves has become less important, a fact which I can say I'm actually pretty proud of. But we're just now coming to that place, I guess, in which we actually know what we're doing and where we're going and we have enough to share that it might make for some interesting reading, so those of you who aren't our parents can know where we are a bit more often than once in a blue moon, as the saying goes.
Anyway. It's true that our new film is still a documentary, and that it is a documentary about story. Although whenever we try to explain it quickly to people it still feels a bit awkward rolling off of our tongues. Hopefully what follows will put it in a more coherent context for you all.
I don't know if you've happened to notice, but story is everywhere. Every time we pick up a book, turn on the T.V., go to a movie or a play or a dance recital, some kind of story of one sort of another is being told. It may be a true story, or a made-up story; a story about good vs. evil, or a story about what happened to the man whose car was stolen last week. Whenever we tell someone how our day went or what happened to us over lunch, we are telling a story. Whether we are consciously aware of it or not, stories are the fundamental unit of cognitive experience that shape all of human existence, everywhere. Something in us just gets stories, recognizes them and relates to them as easy as our lungs take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide.
So, okay, we like to tell stories. We entertain and communicate with each other. Most people tend to get that far into story and leave it at that. But I still believe that there is something so fascinating in the why we choose to tell stories - why we need to tell them and hear them - and that question is the basic force that drives this documentary. Why are we wired that way? Why do we find stories so compelling? What is it in our stories that tell us who we are? There are deep, universal answers in the stories we tell, and the more Katelyn and I look into this idea the more convinced of that I become.
Much more than just a "storytelling documentary," (which, granted, would be a fascinating piece of work in and of itself) we hope to go beyond storytelling and talk to people who work with all facets of story: historians, anthropologists, psychologists, religious leaders, artists, actors, filmmakers, and whoever else we can get a hold of before our time (and our money, but that's a different issue) run out. So far we have talked to a wide variety of storytellers in four West Coast states about their passion and profession and gotten some great interviews and footage. After September our journey takes us Eastward and we'll try to find more people who don't necessarily work in storytelling to talk to.
As Katelyn said, this blog is for us to tell our story, and we hope that you'll have as much fun reading about it as we have making it.
Anyway. It's true that our new film is still a documentary, and that it is a documentary about story. Although whenever we try to explain it quickly to people it still feels a bit awkward rolling off of our tongues. Hopefully what follows will put it in a more coherent context for you all.
I don't know if you've happened to notice, but story is everywhere. Every time we pick up a book, turn on the T.V., go to a movie or a play or a dance recital, some kind of story of one sort of another is being told. It may be a true story, or a made-up story; a story about good vs. evil, or a story about what happened to the man whose car was stolen last week. Whenever we tell someone how our day went or what happened to us over lunch, we are telling a story. Whether we are consciously aware of it or not, stories are the fundamental unit of cognitive experience that shape all of human existence, everywhere. Something in us just gets stories, recognizes them and relates to them as easy as our lungs take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide.
So, okay, we like to tell stories. We entertain and communicate with each other. Most people tend to get that far into story and leave it at that. But I still believe that there is something so fascinating in the why we choose to tell stories - why we need to tell them and hear them - and that question is the basic force that drives this documentary. Why are we wired that way? Why do we find stories so compelling? What is it in our stories that tell us who we are? There are deep, universal answers in the stories we tell, and the more Katelyn and I look into this idea the more convinced of that I become.
Much more than just a "storytelling documentary," (which, granted, would be a fascinating piece of work in and of itself) we hope to go beyond storytelling and talk to people who work with all facets of story: historians, anthropologists, psychologists, religious leaders, artists, actors, filmmakers, and whoever else we can get a hold of before our time (and our money, but that's a different issue) run out. So far we have talked to a wide variety of storytellers in four West Coast states about their passion and profession and gotten some great interviews and footage. After September our journey takes us Eastward and we'll try to find more people who don't necessarily work in storytelling to talk to.
As Katelyn said, this blog is for us to tell our story, and we hope that you'll have as much fun reading about it as we have making it.
Friday, September 14, 2007
I woke up this morning
Woke up this morning
With this feeling inside me that I can't explain
Like a weight that I've carried
Has been carried away, away
But I know something is coming
I don't know what it is
But I know it's amazing, you save me
My time is coming
And I'll find my way out of this longest drought
It feels like today I know it feels like today I'm sure
Its the one thing that's missin'
The one thing I'm wishin'
Life's sacred blessin'
It feels like today
Feels like today
-Rascal Flatts
---------------------------------------
We're in Phoenix, AZ. By way of LA, San Francisco, Eugene, Seattle, Boise....by way of Oregon and St. Louis. By way of Tennesse and Illinois.
By way of Rosie, our red KIA Spectra. Faithful, lovable companion that troops along as we push her to travel across the country.
Oh the sights she's seen. Oh the things she has carries us to.
This blog is a place that we can dump our memories. To order our thoughts and organize them into readable and tellable stories. That's what we're searching for, stories, so why not share ours at the same time? Not to mention all the adventures we have. The awkward moments we create. The tears as we say goodbye to people we meet and come to love as our own.
Check in on us and Rosie. Read our stories. Write your own.
It feels like today, I'm sure. It feels like today, I know. The one thing we're missing, the one thing we're wishing....
It feels like today.
With this feeling inside me that I can't explain
Like a weight that I've carried
Has been carried away, away
But I know something is coming
I don't know what it is
But I know it's amazing, you save me
My time is coming
And I'll find my way out of this longest drought
It feels like today I know it feels like today I'm sure
Its the one thing that's missin'
The one thing I'm wishin'
Life's sacred blessin'
It feels like today
Feels like today
-Rascal Flatts
---------------------------------------
We're in Phoenix, AZ. By way of LA, San Francisco, Eugene, Seattle, Boise....by way of Oregon and St. Louis. By way of Tennesse and Illinois.
By way of Rosie, our red KIA Spectra. Faithful, lovable companion that troops along as we push her to travel across the country.
Oh the sights she's seen. Oh the things she has carries us to.
This blog is a place that we can dump our memories. To order our thoughts and organize them into readable and tellable stories. That's what we're searching for, stories, so why not share ours at the same time? Not to mention all the adventures we have. The awkward moments we create. The tears as we say goodbye to people we meet and come to love as our own.
Check in on us and Rosie. Read our stories. Write your own.
It feels like today, I'm sure. It feels like today, I know. The one thing we're missing, the one thing we're wishing....
It feels like today.
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