Maggie's Farm

What a nice description, Terry. I agree with what you say and will add that the necessary component of creativity in storytelling is an imperative. The writing is a skill, but the ability to see common events of life and to let your mind make associations so that in telling/creating the story, you can embellish and enhance it with details some people simply don't notice. There is an art to telling stories, and you can tell who has it and who doesn't by listening to people. The funniest stories are those that encompass the extraneous observations that make almost anything funny. I don't mean to suggest for a minute that someone who cannot tell a story is lacking: They just have a more linear mind and don't see the world in metaphor. There is some biology to it as our minds tend to function so differently. Math eludes me, but I taught English for twenty years and not once had to make plans or write down what I wanted to say. It just came out of me, and I don't recall once ever pausing to wonder what to do next. For four years, I tucked my son into bed and sat in a rocking chair and told stories about a group of forest animals. Sometimes I would talk for an hour as my son listened enraptured by the escapades of the 'gang', and it never occurred to me that what I did was anything special. I just told stories, and needed no muse to inspire me. The words just came from life and my mind's cinematic vision of it.

I envy you writing a humor column. I've been told many times I should do that or write a book, but I can't. I can to a single audience, but freeze up thinking of writing to an unknown audience. What a waste because I have stories to last a lifetime. Hats off to you!
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ha. ha. BD! It's Mexicans.
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