A Story vs. A Song
I found Robyn’s story most intriguing. Not only because I also used to be an amateur “inventor” myself, but because the way her dad told the story reminded me of how my grandfather used to tell me stories over and over again like the never-ending chant of “row row row the boat”. My grandpa’s stories were mostly about history and archeology though. He would talk about his “great” discovery of a prehistoric site when he was young, how he should donate stuff he had found and kept for all these years. Listening to his stories made me wonder “Will I too have something to look back on and keep telling my children and grandchildren over and over again when I get to that age?” What morals would I be able to drive from it? How will my stories change as I grow old? I noticed Robyn’s dad’s reasons for telling the story grew frank as his daughters grew older. In the end I hoped that I may be able to have a great story to pitch my children purely out of proudness sakes.
When I was writing this down, I thought the reason behind what makes a story fascinating was because of its familiarity. How the story could trigger your own similar experience and thoughts. However, I noticed that being familiar is not the sole reason why a story becomes fascinating. Yes. Definitely Robyn’s story instantly gave me something to write about but after few hours later I realised what really remains in my mind is the song Nancy Updike sang with Dave Hill about the Erie Canal. Save the randomness and educational benefits, the song although it wasn’t necessarily the best performance nor did it have great lyrics, it is extremely catchy. Even now, the song stays in my head and I just can’t seem to erase it off my mind. At first I thought putting a song within one’s story would just be a daring attempt which people would give superficial claps and compliments, but now that I think of it, I have to agree with Lisa Pollak.
“That was kickass! She wrote a song! And performed it!”
One response so far
I am glad that among all the producers, at least one person chose to do what was expected. When they opened with the topic of pitching stories by their parents, I was hoping for a good homey story that Robyn delivered. Though on occasion, those stories can be dull, the fact that Robyn’s focus was on how people received her father’s story rather than on the story itself, I found it to be enjoyable.