We tell stories to share what matters, to try to make sense of what doesn’t, and to connect to others.   Here’s the problem: stories have the power to shape the way we see the world. So unless we pause, once in awhile, and ask “why that story” or “why that story told that way,” we may find ourselves living someone else’s version of who we are. Because stories look different from different angles, we...

My great grandmother, Sophia Nielsen, is the undisputed matriarch of our family. She started in a log cabin and ended owning a 40,000 acre ranch. She worked hard and fought harder. Our favorite story is about how she brought a railroad to a stop–not just one train, a whole railroad because they owed her money. That makes her sound hard, but, in fact, she lived long and became greatly beloved, called “grandma” by everyone. It is...

Story Corp is an National Public Radio feature that captures the audio of people telling the kind of story also featured here. This is one you don’t want to miss. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103418413 Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share on Posterous share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post Print for later...

Kit Carson met his own myth. It’s a strange but true story. In 1849 Kit Carson, the famous army scout, was chasing a group of renegade Apaches. When he finally caught up with them, he discovered that one of the Apaches had a book—a dime novel featuring Kit Carson as the main character. Carson was not familiar with the book, so, on the way back to the fort, he had the Apache, now his prisoner, read it to him. (Carson never learned to read)...

Love of  a good story isn’t new but it has become au courant. Check out The Moth http://www.themoth.org Novelist George Dawes Green wanted to recreate, on a NYC stage, the feeling of stories told on his friend’s porch on St Simon’s Island Georgia. He started in 1997, now eleven years later, his idea has expanded to LA and includes Story Slams. Better yet, the winners can be downloaded as podcasts....