October 24th: Oracles, riddles, abandoned babies, &c.

"We tell our stories to save our lives."

FRONT MATTER:

- Over the weekend, startle Mr. Sexson. Begin your blog post on 'The Storyteller' with "I was startled to read..."
For good measure, throw in some of Mascarita's refrains (Perhaps, I believe, maybe, it seems...).


IMPORTANT TERMS/INTERESTING TIDBITS:

"There are people who know you better than you know yourself."

'Oedipus and Sphinx', by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1808.

- "Somewhere between the priest and the shaman lies the storyteller."

(Priest = 'The one who tells you how to live and what to do'. Shaman = 'The one who has been there, and come back to tell about it.')

The Story of Oedipus, with its oracles, sphinxes, incest, and more!

Morpheus = Sleep, dreams, and morphine.

Empathy = The heart of imagination.

'Memory is a snare, pure and simple; it alters, it subtly rearranges the past to fit the present.'
— Mario Vargas Llosa


ET CETERA:

"We all live pretty much boring lives. ... Yet if we tried to tell the complete story of a single day we'd never be done with it."

"Our days are made up of obstacles, and we are heroes, too. We drag ourselves into bed at the end of the day and think, 'Whoa. I don't know if I can do that again.'"

"Why? The oracle speaks in riddles so we have to think deeply about what she is saying."

"We wouldn't have fairy tales and romances if we didn't have babies left out in the hills and forests."

"The human intelligence is very large, and it knows the answer to every question, except... 'Who are you?'"

"As long as you can keep your story going, you can keep the executioner's blade at bay."