Tiny Stories

For this ‘Tiny Stories” assignment I was really inspired by traditions. Traditions are a big part of my family. We have little traditions for almost every holiday and even certain days of the week. In class when we were asked to think about where our stories come from I automatically thought of traditions. In a way storytelling is a kind of tradition. As a child, it was tradition to ask our parents for a story before we fell asleep.

I decided to tell tiny stories about little traditions that my family keeps for different holidays. A lot of our traditions are rather silly, but I think that is what makes them unique and it tells a lot about my family. One of my favorite traditions is giving out toothbrushes on Halloween night to the trick-or-treaters. This tradition started because my father is a dentist and always has an endless supply to toothbrushes. This tradition started before I can even remember, and in our neighborhood we are known as the family who gives our toothbrushes on Halloween.

I have been thinking a lot about traditions lately. At the end of last year my little sister’s high school put on a production of “Fiddler on the Roof”. The entire story of “Fiddler” revolves around the idea of tradition. The musical focuses more on religious traditions, but I feel that it still teaches the same idea that traditions are very important to raising a family. When our family traditions are broken, I feel that I have almost betrayed my family and myself.

The parts of the reading that I was inspired by were the photographs that were accompanied with short descriptions. When I looked at the photo, I liked how I wasn’t entirely sure what the picture was about or what the picture was meaning to show until I read the description. For example, with the picture of the bus stop in front of the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, I thought it was just kind of a cool picture until I read the description. After reading the description I realized what the photograph was showing. I tried to incorporate this sort of thing in my tiny stories. I wanted the read to have to read the story before they could fully understand the illustration.