the power of story

Wow.  I knew it had been a while since I posted anything on here, but I didn't realize that this would actually be my first post in 2012!

A friend told me about an article last night that I wanted to add here: "Your Brain on Fiction."  It's a brief read and discusses the neuroscience of reading fiction - basically the physiological impact of entering into a storyline.  Lots of connections can be drawn from this: ways to teach, market, etc. It also made me think about what impact fiction & story have had on me, considering I've always been a nerdy reader!

I was reminded (for the second post in a row!) of You've Got Mail (was the release date for that really 1998?!).  At one point Kathleen Kelly types this reflection:

"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Well, not small, but valuable. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void."

It's interesting to think about how story - and fiction in particular - allows us entry into a world that's not our own and often one that never could be.  Sometimes I read as an alternative or escape or break from my own reality - but I also see how fiction impacts my own real-life story at times . . . teaching me things, exposing me to subjects or places or circumstances that I wouldn't otherwise encounter, prompting me to think more deeply, etc.

Anyway, no profound point to this post!  Just thinking out loud . . .