a good storyteller will always put what is best in his heart, which is his own story mixed to tell something that communicates deeply
and the gossiper himself needs to be imbued with a great lack of empathy, in most cases, completely distorting what he received in order to gossip well without "heaviness in his heart"
I stayed here reflecting on this
I have a pleasure to have as friends a few good story tellers my country. I love they work
I think gossip CAN be mean-spirited but doesn't HAVE to be. Intention is key. In the communities I belong to, I frequently share (and receive) fairly intimate information about mutual loved ones -- with the intention of "What in the world is going on with X?" leading to "Is there something we can do to help?" I mean, it IS gossip, and I'm careful who I share talk like that with, but it's not mean-spirited. (Usually. Often. Most times, anyway.)
I'm not quite sure how to articulate the difference either. It seems all gossip is a story, but perhaps more personal. I don't think I believe all gossip is cruel or harmful.
It's so interesting. I really do try to keep WAIT (Why Am I Talking?) in mind, but sometimes you still say things that are a little gossipy. I always feel regret later. So maybe it's more conditioning? Fascinating stuff here.
Thanks! Reading everyone's replies, I think I might be an outlier in what I think gossip means. I know it can be harmful, but I think it can also be helpful and not mean-spirited. Perhaps I'm conflating two different things as gossip, and out culture places all mean, harmful tales about those in our networks as gossip. I'm going to cogitate on that for a bit.
P.S. Substack says I'm blocked from liking your comment. But I do like it. ❤️
Sep 14, 2023·edited Sep 14, 2023Liked by Jason McBride
do you do it for money or for weapons, as in game theory? yuh. John Nash, he has some great quotes about edges of mudness. my weapons are filled with pissant squirt, just so everybody knows, I mean it but -- ? its shakes spears I am after, not squeezing every dime out of the poor etc precisely because they are needy etc
Isn't gossip the reason why junior high school exists?
Great thoughts here. I think gossip and storytelling are intertwined at a basic level. Maybe authors are just people who gossip about fictional characters rather than their neighbors.
I agree that gossip and storytelling are intertwined. Gossip is really just news about a shared network. It's the slant we give the news as gossipers that does all the harm.
Sep 13, 2023·edited Sep 13, 2023Liked by Jason McBride
Storytelling has been the huminoid go-to to pass history, genealogy, and mythology/religion down through the generations for eons. I doubt very much if non-homo sapiens lacked the art of story. If they used language at all, they were telling stories. And Neaderthals were more advanced than given credit for. They interacted and interbred with homo sapiens for thousands of years before a massive volcano eruption smothered their population, reducing them to unsurvivable levels
. But their genes and information in still within our own species.
It honestly is amazing how quickly and effectively gossip travels around – just think about how quickly people learned who was dating whom in high school, even if you weren't the gossipy type. It's like electricity in saltwater. I love Yuval Noah Harari's idea that we're the "Storytelling Species" rather than the wise species or the tool-building species. Gossip seems to be a critical part of filling in our collective story
Yuval Noah Harari's "Storyteller Specieis" is so fascinating! I have the first two volumes of the graphic novel adaptation of Sapiens. The comics add a lot more story elements than are found in the regular prose book.
Two references come to mind. 1. Kathleen Norris’s book, Dakota, where she explores small town life and Benedictine monasticism, and riffs on the etymological connection between “gossip” and “gospel.” 2. Marshall McLuhan’s concept of the global village.
Thank you! I love watching the robins congregate on our lawn in the spring and fall. That was the inspiration for this art.
I always associate gossip with birds for some reason. Looking through my poems I have them about owls, turkeys, songbirds, and generic birds gossiping. Maybe I'm just a bird brain.
I think your instincts are spot on. Ducks, for example -- I've seen them with their beaks together and their eyes bright, muttering. Definitely gossips.
yeah do it. wtf. we are a mosh pitt. nowdays. share here dont think of as gossip. not really. maybe what hi does on insta is but I also play hide and seek there and push the sill ables to even more obnoxious concoction of go sip at fountain (as a conundrum of love). tinkling with the inklings with others who bear same burden of owing to the wordness. I see as open to seeing it as a factory? tick tock too is a kind of factory for mischief. there is mischief at roots in poetry, just ask bukowski! gossip is a mischief until it gets so dire its cruel... then tongue of snake with actuary of the evil ? nice to share who what where am working with on a lit level as pur dur store and stir here with yall, for sure
"Now, I’m working to tell stories in my art as though they were bits of gossip with greater intentionality."
I've tucked this little gem into my pocket.
Thanks Jason!
Thanks for reading!
a good storyteller will always put what is best in his heart, which is his own story mixed to tell something that communicates deeply
and the gossiper himself needs to be imbued with a great lack of empathy, in most cases, completely distorting what he received in order to gossip well without "heaviness in his heart"
I stayed here reflecting on this
I have a pleasure to have as friends a few good story tellers my country. I love they work
That's an interesting way to delineate between story and gossip. I wonder if gossip always has to be mean-spirited?
I think gossip CAN be mean-spirited but doesn't HAVE to be. Intention is key. In the communities I belong to, I frequently share (and receive) fairly intimate information about mutual loved ones -- with the intention of "What in the world is going on with X?" leading to "Is there something we can do to help?" I mean, it IS gossip, and I'm careful who I share talk like that with, but it's not mean-spirited. (Usually. Often. Most times, anyway.)
Gossip re-imagined! I’m digging it! 😁
Or are gossipers just frustrated storytellers? Beats me where the line between story and gossip lives.
I haven't met a frustrated storyteller yet 😊
It seems like they were born to tell stories and as time passes they get better and better, like a good wine and not the other way around.
My daughter, who is a great reader and storyteller, today at 13 can keep adults immersed in her stories at a table for a long time without blinking
and she herself can say: Mom, like Aunt Manoela, is a gossip, right?
I have a storyteller and a gossip right by my side
I think I'll go deeper into the subject with my teenager to understand
I'm not quite sure how to articulate the difference either. It seems all gossip is a story, but perhaps more personal. I don't think I believe all gossip is cruel or harmful.
It's so interesting. I really do try to keep WAIT (Why Am I Talking?) in mind, but sometimes you still say things that are a little gossipy. I always feel regret later. So maybe it's more conditioning? Fascinating stuff here.
Thanks! Reading everyone's replies, I think I might be an outlier in what I think gossip means. I know it can be harmful, but I think it can also be helpful and not mean-spirited. Perhaps I'm conflating two different things as gossip, and out culture places all mean, harmful tales about those in our networks as gossip. I'm going to cogitate on that for a bit.
P.S. Substack says I'm blocked from liking your comment. But I do like it. ❤️
“Weaponized gossip,” might as well, as everything has been “weaponized.” Doff!
Weaponized and monetized--that's the late stage capitalist way.
do you do it for money or for weapons, as in game theory? yuh. John Nash, he has some great quotes about edges of mudness. my weapons are filled with pissant squirt, just so everybody knows, I mean it but -- ? its shakes spears I am after, not squeezing every dime out of the poor etc precisely because they are needy etc
Isn't gossip the reason why junior high school exists?
Great thoughts here. I think gossip and storytelling are intertwined at a basic level. Maybe authors are just people who gossip about fictional characters rather than their neighbors.
I agree that gossip and storytelling are intertwined. Gossip is really just news about a shared network. It's the slant we give the news as gossipers that does all the harm.
Storytelling has been the huminoid go-to to pass history, genealogy, and mythology/religion down through the generations for eons. I doubt very much if non-homo sapiens lacked the art of story. If they used language at all, they were telling stories. And Neaderthals were more advanced than given credit for. They interacted and interbred with homo sapiens for thousands of years before a massive volcano eruption smothered their population, reducing them to unsurvivable levels
. But their genes and information in still within our own species.
It honestly is amazing how quickly and effectively gossip travels around – just think about how quickly people learned who was dating whom in high school, even if you weren't the gossipy type. It's like electricity in saltwater. I love Yuval Noah Harari's idea that we're the "Storytelling Species" rather than the wise species or the tool-building species. Gossip seems to be a critical part of filling in our collective story
Yuval Noah Harari's "Storyteller Specieis" is so fascinating! I have the first two volumes of the graphic novel adaptation of Sapiens. The comics add a lot more story elements than are found in the regular prose book.
Gossip sure does travel fast.
Oh no way, I heard whisperings about that but never pulled the trigger. Probably should
They are so good! The plan was for four volumes, but I can't find any info on when volumes 3 and 4 will be out.
Jason, that is so not true. . . wait, someone's at the water cooler. 😅🚰
🤣 I don't know how people resist gossip. It's beyond my powers.
Two references come to mind. 1. Kathleen Norris’s book, Dakota, where she explores small town life and Benedictine monasticism, and riffs on the etymological connection between “gossip” and “gospel.” 2. Marshall McLuhan’s concept of the global village.
Ontological definitions of gossip and storytelling are fine and all, but are we talking enough about these adorable birds in Jason's panels?
Thank you! I love watching the robins congregate on our lawn in the spring and fall. That was the inspiration for this art.
I always associate gossip with birds for some reason. Looking through my poems I have them about owls, turkeys, songbirds, and generic birds gossiping. Maybe I'm just a bird brain.
I think your instincts are spot on. Ducks, for example -- I've seen them with their beaks together and their eyes bright, muttering. Definitely gossips.
yeah do it. wtf. we are a mosh pitt. nowdays. share here dont think of as gossip. not really. maybe what hi does on insta is but I also play hide and seek there and push the sill ables to even more obnoxious concoction of go sip at fountain (as a conundrum of love). tinkling with the inklings with others who bear same burden of owing to the wordness. I see as open to seeing it as a factory? tick tock too is a kind of factory for mischief. there is mischief at roots in poetry, just ask bukowski! gossip is a mischief until it gets so dire its cruel... then tongue of snake with actuary of the evil ? nice to share who what where am working with on a lit level as pur dur store and stir here with yall, for sure