A long time ago I taught storytelling at a college. I used Joseph Campbells storytelling structure to demonstrate that every human story has common themes. This is true with books and film and all stories, actually, including the stories of our lives if we know the themes worth paying attention to. This part of the journey in Africa was at the beginning of the trip on our first day out of Malawis capital city headed towards Tukombo Village. We stopped after several hours of driving and stepped out of the bus and into this world, known in storytelling structure as the New World, where the hero - or in this case, the heroines (and Joseph Campbell didnt talk about heroines when he wrote that book) discover that they dont know much about this world at all. Because at the beginning of any good story the hero -- or heroines -- rapidly discover that they dont know anything -- and for the sake of adventure and learning and even more importantly, truth, its supposed to be that way. While some of our group used a soccer ball as a fast means of forming alliances, Ive become fascinated with the dead goats hanging in this stall and the goats head that is just sitting there on the table. Across the street comes out of what seems like nowhere two jester-like characters pictured here, stuffed with straw and elaborately painted. I immediately go to work photographing because moments like that one come only once. As I finish, a van drives up and surprisingly, a guy dressed in a suit steps out. He negotiates with the guys who have the goats, opens up the back of this van which is stuffed with his things, moves them out of the way, stuffs the carcass directly into the back of the van and drives off. This was a special day. Not that I didnt know it before, but it was that day that I could see that the road ahead was paved with not knowing. It was beginners mind all over again and the vulnerability that comes with finding the trust that this world would take care of us, which in the end, after it had its way with us, very much did. But those chapters come later....
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 02:37:22 +0000
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