Rabbit Box took up arms in June with “Guns: A True Story from My Life” as a chance to explore a theme both eminently relevant and abashedly in need of exploration. The story, as a unit of life-keeping so to speak, offered the opportunity to hear how guns have affected the life of the community and thereby through the telling affect the lives of our audience. And, boy, did the evening deliver. The Rabbit Box opened, and stories rang out.
We heard stories of the shoplifting-turned-suicide attempt and the “guns” developed to protect a sister and Mary Oliver’s invitation to love the mortal but to also let it go; the obscene phone calls that led to the lesson “If you’re going to take the gun out, you’d better be ready to use it”; the closet classicist enlisted by duty to protect the lives and liberties he holds most dear; the courthouse shooting bristling with guns without a happy ending but a revelation that love would always triumph over guns; the Dr. Seuss-like old gun and blue gun, short gun and new gun and the decision never to play with them again; the compulsion to succeed and the life-after-near-death of a business owner who asserted that he will no longer be judged by one crazy act; the refusal to have guns on hand so that taking one’s life isn’t easy during the slow, torturous sunsets and the ashen summer “snow” in Colorado; Nietzsche’s consoling thought of suicide no longer consoling, unloading a firearm by selling it, and a day job that allows a man to breathe in others’ pain and breathe out light and healing.
Our crackerjack surprise(s) this month braved the stage as a pair to tell of a narrowing of life’s possibilities, but their true aim was making the best of caring for 20 unexpected cats.
Rabbit Box had four returning storytellers this month, with Ivan Sumner taking the record with three stories and this time concluding with our first standing ovation. It was a remarkable evening by all accounts, and one we the Rabbit Box Engineers could not put on without so many helping hands and minds including our warm audience, deft storytellers, poster design, Green Room preparations, the always-helpful Melting Point staff, and this time the crowd-sourcing of photography. (Please make sure to share those photos to the Rabbit Box wall!) We invite you to join us on July 10th as we go Down the Rabbit Hole to see what we find there. Until then!
Rabbit Box 