On Storytelling"Storytelling, you know, has a
real function. The process of the storytelling is itself a healing process, partly because
you have someone there who is taking the time to tell you
a story that has great meaning to them. They're taking the
time to do this because
your life could use some help, but they don't want to come over and just give advice. They
want to give it to you in a form that becomes inseparable
from your whole self. That's what stories do. Stories
differ from advice in that, once you get them, they become a fabric of your whole soul. That is why they heal you."
Alice Walker,
in a 1990
Common Boundary interview about her work.
