In watching Jacqueline Woodson’s lyrical talk, it highlights a change in the way that our stories are not only told but consumed. The fast paced energy and consumerism of ideas and stories in today’s society is unprecedented. We often consume stories or concepts without ever having to fully grasp  or understand the full magnitude of what we are listening to and watching. At some point in time, we have decided that we no longer will savor and run our fingers beneath the words but we will swipe across our screens and listen absentmindedly as it plays in the background. It’s the fact that we consume it all the time, we are always being exposed to stories and ideas to the point where we are desensitized and stuck ironically in this fast paced society. In her lyrical talk, Woodson reminisces on days where she would have to read up in her family‘s apartment and instead of rushing through it like her siblings she used her fingers to pace herself and made sure that she read every single word. That action propelled her and ignited a love for reading and stories that not many of us have. Furthermore, she points that although we don’t all have that same passion that she does for writing and storytelling, the stories that are being told are personal, precious and creates a dimension  that transports its readers and that not regarding it as such is a disservice. That we should not only share and tell our stories but that we should take our time and embrace the stories because they are someone’s vulnerability.Social media and technology has made us and our stories at times so lonely and impersonal.

    In the beginning, Woodson talks about the story of the selfish giant and his garden. How the kids would often come in his garden and then in his eyes ruin it. He builds a wall but that wall leaves everything gray.In my eyes, I think what Woodson was saying that his garden is like his stories and experiences and upon sharing them, we allow the sun in.We create a circle that can’t be broken.So ultimately when you want to shut everyone out and keep to yourself , you block out the sun and when you block out the sun, you miss out on the joy of the children feeling the bliss of your garden much like the speaker and very much like the selfish giant. That story serves a lesson that we should not only never withhold our stories and our experiences but that we should never rush through them as well.  It can be the spark or the thing that inspires and brings joy to the next Jacqueline Woodson. Our garden is never just for us.