How do you prefer to consume stories? I have been thinking about that quite a bit as the year turned from last year to this year, and I looked at all our streaming services. And blanched.

I have too many streaming services.

This is particularly true when I realized I am not that fond of consuming stories via movies or TV shows. I mean, it’s ok. There have been several TV shows that I have enjoyed a lot over the years. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Gilmore Girls. Parks and Recreation. But, if I have my choice, I prefer to consume stories via reading or music. Or both.

I started to break that down… because I read very specific types of books and like to listen to very specific types of music. Opera isn’t my thing. Neither are cold thrillers where everyone could be the villain. There are certain types of songs that speak to me¹For example, like 70% of Taylor Swift’s songs. I do need to Calm Down.. There are certain types of books I want to read²For example, a really good regency romance.. But, if I start a story and find I don’t like it, I have no problem turning a song off or putting a book down and never coming back to it. I engage in reading and listening to music because it fills an internal desire, and if that desire is not being fulfilled, I walk away.

When I stopped to think about it, it is a little amusing to me that I don’t subscribe to the equivalent of “streaming services” for books. I mean, I use Libby at my local library³And it is amazing! I love digital books. As long as I have my phone, I always have a book in my hand.. But, something like KindleUnlimited doesn’t really appeal to me. I checked it out, and often it is just the first book in the series that is on the Unlimited plan. Then you have to buy the next one. Bait and switch? I mean, maybe not. But it isn’t attractive. To me.

Last night, we added another streaming service so BigOne and Husband could continue watching episodes of the original Star Trek⁴I admit an awesome show.. It took me back to the days when you had to WAIT to see an episode on TV and then HOPE it was also part of the reruns before next season. Remember when we just had to hope our favorite shows were picked up for syndication? It was one of the shows we were allowed to watch with my father. We couldn’t interrupt and we couldn’t comment, but we could be in the room to find out what happened to the Enterprise this time.

It isn’t that I don’t like images. I enjoy watching videos on YouTube as much as I enjoy my two music streaming services – Spotify and SiriusXM. I also like the podcasts and the news shows on both platforms.

When I think of songs, I think of singer/songwriters⁵Yes, I count Ms. Swift in this group.. I like a song best when it tells a story, but my mind doesn’t have to be limited by the story as envisioned but the songwriter. One of my favorites, “History of Us,” by the Indigo Girls. I mean, I am sure Amy and Emily had a personal story they are telling, but the song is about MY story. The face that sent ME to Paris⁶Or perhaps it was South Bend, Indiana, and the face I  found when I came home.

“Bejeweled,”? That, I believe is really about Nancy Pelosi last week⁷I thought she looked classy vote after vote. You don’t have to agree. And I know that wasn’t what Taylor was writing about. The turn of phrase, “Best believe I’m still bejeweled…” I love the structure of the thought and the power of not losing your power.

The ability to use my imagination, and shape the book, the story, or the song to my life — this gives me joy. And comfort. I think, perhaps, too many images make it so I can’t make the story about my things.

I think it goes back to – how do you like to get your stories? And that relates to – how do you like to learn things?

As my job goes back to the office, I return to the purpose of our organization. The one thing that isn’t part of the streaming services or the library loans on Libby – human interaction. My job is a lot about hosting, facilitating, and executing meetings among diverse individuals. So, while we did fine when we were all virtual for the 1,000 years between Mid March 2020 and sometime in 2022, the hybrid and the in-person are back. How do we tell each other our stories? There are new challenges now to not only listen, but to also hear what the other person is saying.

I hate to talk in universals here, but I do think we all like stories. Some people⁸I am not one of them like reality TV shows. Or documentaries. Or non-fiction. I am a bit set in my ways that I like to read happy endings and listen to songs. And, that is OK. It isn’t cancel culture to not want to watch the images move and the director tell me how I should engage with the story. It’s just a choice. 

I look forward to the stories I encounter in my favorite media, and the others types of content distribution. However I engage with it, it is the story I experience that matters — not how I receive it.