THE CRONICLES

THIS EPISODE is about storytelling INTERVIEW with QUINN SWIFT Storytelling is the art of crafting a set of life experiences around a particular focus, intention, and desired outcome. It doesn’t happen overnight. If you’re impatient, you’re going to struggle with this. Just like entrepreneurship, learning how to craft your story takes time, research, testing, and failing. THE IMPORTANCE OF STORYTELLING The young boy went to his grandfather and said, "Grandfather, is it true that the lion is the king of the jungle?" "Yes," said the old man, "but why do you ask?" "Well," said the boy, "in all the stories that I read and even in the ones I hear, man will always defeat the lion. So, how can this be true?" The old man looked his grandson in the eyes and said, "It will always be that way, my son, until the lion tells the story." Since the beginning of time, storytelling has been an important event in the African and African American communities. Through storytelling, questions were answered, history was conveyed, and lifelong lessons were taught and learned. Africa is the second-largest continent, with more than eight hundred different languages spoken among the various ethnic groups. Each group has its own term to describe the storyteller. In the West, the most common is griot, a French word denoting an expert in oral performance. However, among the Yoruba, the storyteller is called Akewi; called Maroka among the Hausa; and Imbongi among the Xhosa people.