"We need stories now more than we ever did"

Sometimes in this civilized world, symptoms and situations demand that one crosses the borders for remedies and solutions. A massage, a prescription they can be helpful. But, maybe the symptoms and situations are really craving the medicine magic, of stories. 

It's a Sunday in the woods, a summer late morning on a Salish Sea island of the Pacific Northwest American continent. Known mostly by it's Whidbey Island name, it has a more ancient name, and in fact every specific place on the island has an ancient name. Most who live here don't know those names and cross borders without knowing there are thresholds and gates or gatekeepers. Too busy with their real lives, so many of us keep dodging the potholes and when a neighbor, "Just the renter" is out filling in the hole? They ignore him, too. "Oh well, he, it, is of no real consequence."

From the pillows under my okole I reach for the keys to tease the magic through my finger tips. 1 The reach of my arms, the touch of my fingertips on the broad keyboard they know the border crossings. They have the passwords and the passport stamped STORYTELLER. Here at the keyboard with access to the tools I cross from the civilized world for remedy. Remembering to have a dose of community, other tellers, and then lose my symptoms in the remedy of knowing "We need stories now more than we ever did." 

The images of book covers Blackberry Wine and Chocolat are those of two Joanne Harris novels. At key cross roads in my life, and then over and over again I have plumped my imagination in the company of Harris's characters and their stories, and for a while my symptoms of illness are eased or a window of hope pulls me through. There's that spaciousness. The YouTube TEDTalk with Joanne Harris is a twenty-minute story for those needing to cross the borders for remedy. Hope you enjoy it.

And the woman said, "We are all made of stories, and they are all magic."

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1 okole. buttocks.