OK, I put this up a bit ago on the SoryPeople blog. It's when I first started blogging, when I had this idea to take things directly out of my journals & show them to you all right away. Pretty quickly, I discovered that some of my favorite fun stuff I couldn't put up on StoryPeople. (Why? you may ask. Well, it's basically for the same reason Ellen has always (gently) suggested that I keep some of the stories quietly to myself. At least for a little while. Like maybe until after I was dead. Child of America as I am, with a personal practice rooted deeply in instant gratification, I couldn't wait that long. So, I jumped merrily into Zen Bandit & it's been a long, downhill slide ever since... :-))

Anyway, here's one of the few stories that has made the crossing from StoryPeople to Zen Bandit, very little the worse for wear...

Bouncing around the world as much as I do, I run into this question pretty often: Out of all of your stories, which is your favorite? When I get this question, usually they are referring to the short, short stories I do for StoryPeople. Not a lot of people know that I used to do performance stories & monologues & plays (actually, used to isn't quite right. I still do. I just have to fire up for it more than before, now that I twitter. Lately, I'm in the habit of getting in & out of a story in fifteen seconds, or less :-))

Anyway, THIS is my all-time favorite story. (It actually reminds me of my (much) shorter story, Cultural Fable. They're both about Art & being courageous, even in the face of the scariest of things. About Death & how that's our best excuse to really live. Ultimately, about Being Yourself. Which is the whole point anyhow (if you ask me).

For those of you who’ve never heard of them, songlines are a bit difficult to describe. They come from the Aborigines of Australia, They have been called rituals & maps & creation myths, among other things. Quite simply, they are an ancient way to make this world a home.

This is a story that works best when it's told (You'll see why. It has a lot to do with the songs. :-) But it still works OK when it's read.). It's about growing up in Chicago, & learning to find my place in a world that no longer has the old maps...

Like I've said earlier, there are only a few things you need to know to tell good stories. What's more, each of the things you need to know doesn't require a whole lot of explanation. That's why each part is really short. When they're all done & I mash them up together into a single book with tidy chapters & all, it's still going to be a really short.

This brings us to Rule #5...