catapult magazine

vol. 6, num. 16 :: 2007.09.07 — 2007.09.21

There are stories that you’ve heard a dozen times or more and even though you may roll your eyes when you hear the opening line yet again, let’s face it: it’s a good story. Furthermore, you have your own stories that you tell over and over again. “Each man has his own batch of poems” (Herzog, Saul Bellow). On the good stories that we’ve read, heard, lived and told.

Feature

Storytelling

by Jeremy Huggins

Thoughts from a writing teacher and father-to-be.

Editorial

When I was born

by Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

On listening to both the factual and fictional stories that surround us.

Articles

Danyale’s wedding

by Jeff Barker

A story about a man, a woman, a ceremony and more.

None so deaf

by Raymond Blanton

The clandestine motivations of storytelling can find us either apathetic or engaged.

A story before bed

by Amy Boerman-Cornell

Reflection on a nighttime ritual that fills various kinds of needs.

The sacrificial rat

by Grant Elgersma

On the paradoxes and perils of rodent home invasion.

Remember that time...

by Morgan Tucker

A grandfather’s death brings an opportunity to reflect on family stories.

The Story

by Emily Ulmer

An interview with Dawn Ulmer about her annual story.

Death in the family

by Kimberly Webster

A grandmother’s stories about death and destruction warrant both laughter and love.

Reviews

Studying a storyteller to share the Good News

by Benjamin Squires

A review of the work of storyteller Michael Perry.

Story [is] telling

by Raymond Blanton

On the cinematic audacity of Todd Solondz in Storytelling.

Gallery

In case you missed it the first time

Far-fetched truth

by Denis Haack

A review of Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Faith pilgrimage

by Keith Graber Miller

A college professor shares a story of living in relationship with God.

Merlino's cider

by Denise Frame Harlan

On the unseen variables and pleasant surprises of life's road trips.

Weaving the web

Accidental Documentaries

This American Life

What unites these stories on the surface is that they're all made from old tapes, recordings found in attics and thrift stores. What unites them under that surface is that they all end up being stories about the legacies that fathers leave their children.

Biblical storytelling: Learning scripture by heart

Calvin Institute of Christian Worship

Telling stories from Scripture changes the people who learn them well enough to tell them—and changes worshipers who hear the old, old story anew.

daily asterisk

Even in a country you know by heart
its hard to go the same way twice
the life of the going changes.
The chances change and make a new way.
Any tree or stone or bird
can be the bud of a new direction. The
natural correction is to make intent
of accident. To get back before dark
is the art of going.

Wendell Berry
“Traveling at Home” from Traveling at Home

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