Hank L., a great friend to many and patriarch of a long-standing Belmont Shore
family, passed away a couple of weeks ago at 86. Hank’s life was rich with stories, and his memorial service was a storytelling session of the most sublime kind. Friends and family took turns at the mic and told impromptu stories of their experiences with Hank. That was it! No liturgy beyond the recitation of Kaddish at the end. Most of it was inaudible to me, as my hearing was 75% impaired at the time — fluid in the ears. So it wasn’t so much the stories themselves that got to me, but the storytelling. That Hank’s greatest work of art was his life itself. The measure of this life well-lived were the stories it wrote, rich with Hank’s humanity and spirit.

I teach English composition classes at the local community college. First day of the new semester, I ask students to get up in front of the class and introduce themselves by name and tell a little one minute true story. The audience makes brief notes on every story. At the end of the session, I ask students to select one story and storyteller and simply respond to the experience in writing. I use these responses to diagnose writing skills. But more importantly, the storytelling bonds the class person to person and turns the classroom into a learning community from the outset.

flirtysomething is the first dating site I’ve run across to feature storytelling so prominently in the mix. And this is by design, for good reason, and hopefully going to enrich the online dating experience for flirtysomething members…both as storytellers and audience.

So please dear readers, sign in or sign up to flirtysomething and post some of your favorite dating/romance/relationship-related stories!

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