NJSN member, Denise McCormack was highlighted on CommunityNews.com recently. Below is an excerpt from the feature:
I’ll tell you a story.
So goes the beginning of the answer to “What is the meaning of life?” The story behind that actually stems from artificial intelligence research a few decades ago. It’s what a computer capable of relating stories said when asked that question.
Or so the story goes. Whether it’s true is not the point. The point is the power of the statement. And the story itself is one Denise McCormack likes to tell. The answer is just so … perfect for how she sees humanity: We are stories. Our personalities, our memories, dare one say our very souls; all about story.
It’s impossible, in fact, to separate McCormack from stories. That’s not just because she tells them for a living, it’s because talking to her for more than a few minutes means hearing one story after another, after another.
It’s almost tempting to think she’s not even aware of how many stories she has in her mental library; like a comedian peeling off one-liners in a nightclub. It’s easy to start wondering if she’ll ever run out; easy to try to remember them all for later; easy to start telling your own in return.
But then, that’s largely what McCormack wants—stories, from everywhere and everyone. Because part of telling stories, she says, is hearing them back.
Continue reading the full feature here.