Using Story to Stitch One’s Self into the Mystic

The experience of living in residential or “institutional” care settings commonly offers older adults and people with disabilities little control of time. This personal, creative essay shares examples from several large-scale projects that aimed to create opportunities for elders, staff, artists, and volunteers to play together with mythic time through stories whose lives span centuries. Inviting people with cognitive challenges to play with archetypal stories, from the Odyssey to Peter Pan, and remake them anew deemphasizes what can feel like an oppressive chronology of daily life in favor of the expansive awe of mythic time.