I don’t consider myself a good storyteller. My best writing is expository—it lays out an argument or a thesis and then tries to explain it in terms that are convincing to the reader. Yet I recognize that what is really compelling is a good story—it grabs the attention and makes its point, if it has any, through the course of the narrative.
This is so powerful that Joe Brewer, for example, has laid out a “narrative strategy” for building the Earth Regeneration Fund. (Video) Essentially, if enough of us begin to tell similar stories about how the funds are being used, this will generate more interest and more funding than just asking for money to restore the planet.
One such story might be that of our trip to Barichara in February of this year (2025) for a weeklong immersion in the work of regenerating that landscape. It was indeed a memorable and impactful trip, but so far, my attempts to tell the story have left me cold. My impressions and photos were mostly superficial, partly perhaps as a result of my health issues, which had me mainly focused on just withstanding the ordeal. I remember many of the events, especially when viewing the images, but I failed to register in any depth the characters and the events that might have made for a captivating story. Read More “Telling Stories”