Today I was writing curriculum for my sophomore class discussing the listening and telling of stories. From the painting on the walls of caves to the dining room of our home, storytelling says something about who we are, where we come from, what we value, and how we view the world. In a certain sense, maybe it says something about what holds us together. It made me reminisce, with a sense of nostalgia, the community I was blessed to have in college. Everyday before going to the Caf, we rounded up as many people as we could and brought together a couple big round tables and began to eat, laugh and tell stories until one by one we peeled off to go to class or work. Sometimes these meals would last well over an hour until the poor staff would start vacuuming the ground around us. Without knowing it, those guys (and ladies) profoundly impacted my value for community and storytelling. To this day, the principles learned in our Caf commune shape the meals around our dinner table with friends or students. The memories of conversations at the Caf say something about who I am, what I value, where I come from, and how I view the world. What do we talk about? It doesn’t really matter, it’s the practice of listening, responding, telling, laughing at stories that forged our community.
It leaves me with one question: what stories around your dinner table say about you and your community?
Steve Dang 