Just want to poke my head up to applaud Rhodey for sharing a story that makes me smile and prompts some thoughts. And also to generally commend the practice of telling stories! I appreciate the spirit in which this one was offered: with an effort by the storyteller (perhaps not perfect, but so what?) to avoid generalizing or drawing conclusions.
Last night I had what I now realize was the incredible honor to see the premiere of "Beauty in Truth," a film about Alice Walker's life. Ms. Walker, the filmmaker, and Geena Davis (with her philanthropy hat on) were among those who spoke and took questions.
One recurring theme in the film was the way various groups (ranging from her family members to white America to the Black Power movement etc) responded to Ms. Walker's various efforts to tell her stories. At one point in the movie, following the explosive and vitriolic response to the movie version of The Color Purple, Oprah Winfrey made a brief appearance saying essentially, "This is *one woman* telling *her story*. Why is everybody acting as though it has to be *the one, true, correct* story? Everybody just chill out." (Yes, this is my paraphrase and not accurate!)
I had a similar reaction when I read some of the critical response to the film Fruitvale Station.
So..I would just like to echo Oprah here, and encourage anybody with a story to they see value in sharing to do so, and the rest of us to keep in mind that telling a story is NOT necessarily the same thing as making a generalization! Story does not equal data (or at least, not statistically reliable data). But it would be silly to conclude that story is not useful! It doesn't have to be data to be useful.
I appreciate reading all the thoughts in this thread -- even though it's gotten heated, every one of you has had something thought-provoking to contribute.
Pete