There is a story that a human life is like a man riding a donkey with a tiger walking behind him. The man lives in fear of the tiger. Sometimes he goes faster, sometimes he goes slower. Sometimes he looks and feels more. Sometimes he goes to sleep on the donkey. The man is always afraid that if he turns and looks at the tiger too closely the tiger will eat him. But the truth is the tiger does not care whether the man looks or not. Death waits for us all – while walking right behind our shoulders.

This denial of death, allowing us to find joy and satisfaction in our lives, is the same denial that troubles environmental storytellers. Human beings need that denial; we need not to look too closely at the facts of life as they are stated so often. But we also need to recognize that denial of the environmental disaster we have been living out for the past five hundred years is not really useful, as demonstrated by precedent.

The advantage that storytellers bring to this dilemma of how to talk about environmental problems is that we have a whole set of tools to get around the denial built into the human experience. We are able to build worlds and bring our audience to them. We are able both to educate and create awareness in a single action. We can use fairytales and myths to talk about hard things.

Using storytelling it is possible to get Americans to see that environmental policies are above politics. Storytelling can allow us to move past knee jerk responses of tired political campaigns to understanding that the environ- ment belongs to us all. In storytelling you can only take an audience to where you have been. Oral narrative is dependent on the story- teller’s development. You have to educate yourself about the actual environment to be an environmental storyteller – not just the theoretical, but what really is there. There is no replacement for time spent outdoors in the real world. To be an ecological storyteller, to be an environmental storyteller ultimately is to be someone who knows the ecology, the environment and storytelling.

So for those of you who may consider yourself storytellers but not eco-tellers, here is my invitation: spend half an hour a day sitting quietly in the woods, in a park or on the lawn near your home. Within a year you will see how quickly this experience builds you into a qualified environmental storyteller. We have no shortage of need for more eco-tellers.

Eric Wolf, a.k.a. Brother Wolf, has an M.S. in Environmental Education from Lesley University. He lives and gardens in the Vale, the oldest (1940s) residential nonreligious land trusted community in the United States. He also produces “The Art of Storytelling”at http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/category/environmental-storytelling/

This Article was previously published in the Late Spring Issue of Story Times, Florida’s Storytelling Organizations Ezine.

Press Play to hear Brother Wolf speak with Tejumola Ologboni on Walking the Talk with Street Storytelling.

A little more on the Artist…

Teju of Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a master storyteller and folklorist of international renown. He draws listeners into stories with gestures and movements, and sometimes with music made on traditional Africa instruments. Some of his stories are filled with magic and mystical characters, like “the Possum and the Hare;” others are fact like the story of Joshua, a runaway captive who escaped to Wisconsin, and whose case went all the way to the Supreme Court, when a bounty hunter tried to capture and return him to being enslaved. Serious or humorous, political or festive, Teju’s stories reflect on longstanding and contemporary cultural perspectives to capture and return him to being enslaved. Serious or humorous, political of festive, Teju’s stories reflect on longstanding and contemporary cultural perspectives to give listeners greater understanding of the profound influence of African heritage on our traditions and identities. Come listen to this culture keeper and be enlightened and inspired.

He is also an author, teacher, consultant, poet, writer, actor, dancer, percussionist, and “verbal illusionist.”

“Storytelling is the most ancient of ancient arts.” -Tejumola Ologboni

Whether in your schools, concerts, festivals, libraries or community centers, bring Teju the Storyteller to your stage for a memorial cultural experience.

Tejumola F. Ologboni
P.O. Box 16706
Milwaukee, WI 53216
(414) 344-6656

You can learn more about Teju at http://www.yourfavoritestorytellers.org/teju.html

SB: And you’ve done over a hundred, haven’t you?

BW: There are 103 online, with 17 more waiting to be uploaded.

SB: And is it mostly an American audience?

BW: I view the podcast as an International project. 44% of my audience is overseas. I’ve been working really hard to connect with international potential audience when they’re in the United States.

SB: So, the podcast is a big part of what you do?

BW: Yes, definitely. One of the things that’s started happening recently is that people are starting to come and say “interview me,” but it really doesn’t work that way. I’ve only ever done that twice, and both times I regretted doing it….
One of the things I struggle with is that a lot of podcasts that are very successful aim at an audience that is very tech savvy, but my target audience (storytellers) is almost the opposite. What that means is that the build is much slower than with other projects of these type. It’s one of the great frustrations of the project for me. And recently I rebranded it, which makes that process even slower. That’s why I’m always quick to say to anyone “if you like listening to it, let other people know, or people at your institutions know,” That’s the biggest way my audience grows…

SB: And I actually brought that up when speaking with Dale Jarvis as well. He’s quite successful at using social media, he does a lot of traditional storyteller-type reaching out to people as well, so he’s getting a kind of synergy going there, but he often has to think about bridging the gap between people who are traditional storytellers and are often over 40, and potential storyteller audiences who might not even be aware of the storytelling world unless he reaches out to them using social media.

BW: You use the term “traditional storytelling” a lot. I wouldn’t describe most of the storytellers I know as traditional storytellers. I would say “performance storytellers I know” or “community storytellers,” but I wouldn’t say “traditional tellers” unless I was talking about Native Americans, people from Africa, like the Griots from Africa, places where they still have a living tradition. Though it’s true that most of them are over 40 because it takes many years to master the tradition… Community storytellers doesn’t get as much respect in the U.S. and you can see this in their promotional materials, which often don’t even use the word “storyteller.” The storytelling brand is badly damaged; it’s associated with children and librarians reading books to children. That’s why I recently re-branded my podcast. (From “The Art of Storytelling with Children” to “The Art of Storytelling.” —SB)

SB: What do you think listening to stories does for people?

BW: I think that human beings are community animals. Not in the sense of lower, but in the sense of us being biological. Storytelling arises out of that need to build and structure community. When we know the people in the room, we’re really creating opportunities for connecting with them. In diplomatic relations, there’s a technique for using storytelling to prevent the hotheads from getting out of hand. Tellers are used to using metaphor and simile to speak to each other.

SB: What has being a storyteller done for you?

BW: The creator of the world makes us storytellers – it’s part of why I’m on earth.

SB: Would you say that storytelling is your calling?

BW: I would go beyond a calling; it’s part of the very fiber of who I am.

SB: How did you get started as a storyteller?

BW: When I was 8 and my sister was 4 I told her class the story I made up of how the old man’s shoes flew off and the class was all terrified, they loved it and wanted me to come back. This is what I always return to. But that’s not really important – what I think you want to hear is… Let me tell you three pieces of advice for a storyteller; the three things that made me a lot better as a storyteller.

SB: Okay, what are they?

BW: 1) When you tell your first story to a new audience, it’s always a story you’ve done many times before. Never start with new material. Always show them who you are in your best setting. That was the biggest step for me. Your second best story is your last one in a performance.
2) I stopped explaining everything. Bad tellers, they leave no stone unturned, no thing unexplained.
3) To be good you have to be practiced. I have a local/closed group, we’ve been practicing for five years. Sometimes it’s just a matter of doing it a lot. You need to focus on one genre and really do it.

SB: How does technology and storytelling interact?

BW: I feel like there’s been a real revolution in terms of technology in the 21st century but I think lots of people are having trouble wrapping their heads around it. Hardly any storytellers are aware that you can use Tunecore, CDBaby or CafePress and you can sell your storytelling CDs one at a time. If you have an amazing story… if you have a following of 300… then chances are half of those have iPhones or iPods. We’re leaving money on the table. We are missing opportunities to build relationships with audiences. We could do what Disney does. There’s so much crap out that… but it’s so loud and so viral… Susan Boyle, for example. We think we can’t compete, but because of Google we can compete. We’re better… we’re SO much better.

SB: I will interview Margaret Read MacDonald next week.

BW: Oh, she’s great. She was one of the very earliest supporters of this show, one of the first people I interviewed. So in a sense she’s been a real early adopter of this technology.

SB: Thanks for talking with me.

BW: My pleasure.

Writer’s Bio: Stephanie first learned the art of storytelling in 2005 and has been telling at schools, libraries, cafes and festivals ever since. She specializes in Alberta history, tall tales, and biographies, but her repertoire also includes silly, salty and spooky stories from many parts of the world. Stephanie is a member of T.A.L.E.S., The Alberta League Encouraging Storytelling, and can be contacted through them. This interview was conducted as part of her graduate course work in 2009.

Have something worth sharing on the Art of Storytelling Blog?
Consider contributing an article 500 to 800 words long and et a link from one of the top storytelling websites in the world to your site.

Press Play to hear Brother Wolf speak with David Ambrose on the foundation and running of the International Storytelling Festival of Wales.

Picture a fairytale castle perched on a cliff-top on the romantic Welsh coast; at the foot of the castle, a medieval jousting field, fringed by woodland, the tower of an ancient Saxon church rising above the trees. Terraced gardens slope gently down from the castle to the sea. In every garden, there is a tent. And in every tent, a storyteller….

This is St Donats Castle, the setting for Beyond The Border Wales International Storytelling Festival, which I set up with the help and encouragement of leading UK storyteller Ben Haggarty in 1993. Ever since then, BTB has been dedicated to exploring and celebrating the world’s rich heritage of oral tradition, bringing to Wales an unparalleled selection of storytellers, epic singers and musicians from the four corners of the earth, and creating for itself a worldwide reputation as a unique haven for traditional story. The result has been the growth of a remarkable quality of listening. Where else could you find several hundred people sitting in a Mongolian–style yurt, listening in rapt attention to the mesmerizing recital of a 1,000 year-old Kyrgyz epic, while acrobats and fire jugglers entertain hundreds more on the castle Lawns, a European Wonder Tale unfolds to cello accompaniment in the Rose Garden, and in the magnificent Great Hall of the Castle, an audience is spellbound by a tale from the Arabian Nights? Unfortunately for that loyal audience of listeners, the changes of funding that often upset arts events like this forced the festival to take time off over the last couple of years.

But the good news is that Beyond the Border is back! In July this year, Britain’s leading international festival of storytelling returns to its spiritual home of St Donats Castle, on the beautiful S Wales coast, for another spectacular weekend of stories by the sea!

For three glorious and magic-filled days, the grounds of our fairytale castle will echo with the sound of stories from Wales and the World…Silk Road stories….travellers’ tales….stories and songs from Celtic Britain…1001 Nights….stories & music from West Africa & The Caribbean…..Tales To Sustain….
A stellar line-up includes storytellers and musicians from Italy, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Armenia, Georgia, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Nigeria and from right across the British Isles.
Together they will entertain and illuminate, amaze and amuse an audience drawn to St Donats Castle from across the UK and from around the globe, an international audience attracted not only by the breadth and quality of the programme, but also by the magnificent, other worldly atmosphere of the location. To visit Beyond The Border really is to be in a fairy tale come true. We hope you can join us. To learn more about Beyond The Border 2010 and find out how to get tickets and join the BTB email list, visit http://www.beyondtheborder.com

DAVID AMBROSE
Storyteller, Festival Director

“Kept children and adults spellbound. People cheered and cried for more.”
The Guardian

David Ambrose has been at the forefront of the storytelling revival in Wales for the past 20 years, as a promoter, a performer, and as Artistic Director of Beyond The Border Wales International Storytelling Festival .

Born in England in 1950, David Ambrose first worked as a promoter and performer as part of the Guildford Arts Laboratory in the late 60’s, before studying Drama at University of Hull and touring Britain for several years with Hull Truck Theatre Co.

He also worked as a farmhand, milkman, music journalist, reggae promoter and community theatre director, before moving to Wales in the 1980’s to be Director of St Donats Arts Centre for nearly twenty years.

For much of that time he has been involved in encouraging the revival of performance storytelling in Wales, presenting storytelling events in and around St Donats Castle on the South Wales coast, and in 1993 co-founding the Beyond The Border Wales International Storytelling Festival with storyteller Ben Haggarty.

As a performance storyteller, he tells for both adult and children’s audiences, performing regularly in theatres, community centres and schools across Wales, and appearing at international festivals around the world. He is also a founder member of the Tales From Beyond The Border Storytelling Company, with Megan Lloyd, Francis Maxey and composer Peter Stacey.

Festival appearances include Festival interculturel du contes du Quebec, Chepstow Festival, Toronto Festival of Storytelling, Vale of Glamorgan Festival, Fabula Storytelling Festival in Stockholm, Alden Biesen Festival in Belgium, and Healing Words Festival, Israel.

David has recently worked with The National Museum of Wales on a programme of Storytelling and Music Events as part of the UK Festival of Muslim Cultures, and has also been responsible for a series of innovative intergenerational storytelling projects taking place in communities across S Wales. He is currently working with 180 schoolchildren in a project for Young Storytellers in the S Wales town of Barry.

BEYOND THE BORDER
Wales International Storytelling Festival

Founded in 1993 and dedicated to celebrating the world’s oral traditions, Beyond The Border grew out of the activities of St Donats Arts Centre, which began to pioneer performance storytelling events in Wales in the late 1980’s.

Beyond The Border is now regarded as the leading festival of its kind in the UK, bringing together some of the finest storytellers and tradition bearers from around the globe to perform in the grounds of St Donats Castle on the S Wales Heritage Coast.

In addition to the bi-annual Festival weekend at St Donats, which attracts several thousand visitors from across the UK and overseas, Beyond The Border has also worked closely with other venues to create a wide-ranging programme of storytelling events taking place in Wales and England, including London’s Cric Crac Club, The Barbican Centre, The Centre For Ancient Technology, Coed Hills Rural Arts Space, Theatr Mwldan, Wales Millennium Centre, and numerous schools, colleges, hospitals and residential homes in South Wales.

www.beyondtheborder.com

The best part of this report is half way in… but worth watching…

Here is quote from the man in 1993…
Do you feel you’re carrying a message from Africa?
Let’s be modest. Africa is vast, and it would be pretentious to speak in its name. I’m fighting the battle with words because I’m a storyteller, a griot. Rightly or wrongly, they call us masters of the spoken word. Our duty is to encourage the West to appreciate Africa more. It’s also true that many Africans don’t really know their own continent. And if you forget your culture, you lose sight of yourself. It is said that “the day you no longer know where you’re going, just remember where you came from.” Our strength lies in our culture. Everything I do as a storyteller, a griot, stems from this rooting and openness.

From Sotigui Kouyaté : The wise man of the stage Interview by Cynthia Guttman, UNESCO Courier journalist

Press Play to hear Brother Wolf takes questions from his audience on the Art of Storytelling Show on how to work with Audiences This is 2 of 3 shows commemorating the 100th Anniversary episode of the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show. This Episode is podcast in 128 bit rate – this higher bit rate costs more to cast online – if you enjoyed listening to the higher quality show – perhaps you would consider purchasing your next download through the website….

This picture is called a Wordie – it is picture of what words people are using when making comment on the blog.

What People are saying about the Art of Storytelling Show…

I would like to thank the following people for contributing there time and energy to the 101st Anniversary Episode….

Tim Ereneta Story Lab X – http://storylabx.tumblr.com/

Kevin Cordi The Story Box Ning – http://thestoryboxproject.ning.com/

Jonatha and Harold Wright Telling in Tandem – http://www.jonathaandharold.com/pubs.html

Fran Stallings NSN Oracle Award Check out the NSN website at http://www.storynet.org

Baba the Storyteller – http:// www.babathestoryteller.com What do you see for the future of the art of storytelling?

Trish Cane Suggestion of Books for storytelling to children and Adults

Dianne de Las Casus – Congradulations! She has a wonderful blog at http://storyconnection.net/blog/

Elisa Pearmain Stories to teach Peace – tell us a story example. http://www.wisdomtales.com

Resources Suggested:
Alternative to Violence Project
Children of the Morning Light.

Harvey Heilbrun How do you deal with an audience that is out of Control? http://hdhstory.net/

Sarah Hauser How do you involve kids in stories with out losing control? Portland, Oregon Storytellers http://www.portlandstorytellers.org/tellers/pages/sarahhauser.html

Jeanette W. Vaughn What is the responsibility to the audience as a Storyteller?
http://kuumbastorytellers.org

Thank-you to everyone who asked a question or added there two cents to this show….

Eric Wolf

I will not share or give away your email address.

And don’t forget to subscribe by iTunes or your browser to The Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf so you can get bi-weekly inspirations from Bother Wolf direct to your desktop. Read the info on the right to find out how. It’s free and it’s super simple.

Press Play to hear Baba Jamal Koram speak the responsibility of being a storytelling on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.

Tired of the tin sound? Purchase a HQ Mp3 File of Interview #085 Baba Jamal Koram for $2.23 Storytelling as Responsibility.

Baba Jamal Koram is a storyteller in the African American Griotic Traditions, he is a dedicated practitioner and teacher of the spoken word traditions and is a respected leader in the world of storytelling. Baba Jamal is a groundbreaking storyteller, educator, folk drummer and organizer. He is a past president of the National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc. and is a 2001 recipient of its prestigious Zora Neale Hurston award. Called a storyteller's storyteller, and a Griot's Griot he continues to travel across the nation sharing his stories and his presence with thousands of school children and their families. Baba Jamal holds the B.A., M.S. and Ed.S. degrees, and is married and the proud father of children, grand children, and godchildren.

This master storyteller uses his stories to inspire, encourage, and to uplift the positive growth of our children and in our communities.

He has said:

"My South Carolina great grandmother Mary would say to her grandchildren, - Bring me a cool glass of water, and I'll tell you a story. Then she would proceed to tell them one of those traditional African American Gullah stories, about Bruh Rabbit or one of the many folkloric characters... I follow in her storytelling footsteps. . .Call me if you have a cool glass of spring water."

For More information on Baba Jamal Koram check out his website: http://www.babajamalkoram.com/

Press Play to hear Ed Stivender speak on the 5 Fool proof Rules for Successful Storytelling on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.

In reviews of his performances, Ed Stivender has been called "the Robin Williams of storytelling" and "a Catholic Garrison Keillor". Now, Ed -- Philadelphia native, Shakespearean actor, banjo player, teacher, theologian, Mummer, dreamer, juggler, and raconteur -- has put together a program in which he shares the techniques that have made him one of the most honored and sought-after storytellers of our day.

Since 1977, when he left his day job as a high school teacher in Connecticut and turned to storytelling full-time, Ed has fabulated his way around the globe --appearing in schools, churches, coffeehouses and theaters, as well as at major storytelling festivals. He has been a featured performer at the National Storytelling Festival, the Cape Clear Island International Storytelling Festival in Ireland, Graz Festival, Austria and our own Philadelphia Folk Festival. Ed enjoyed narrating: "Paddington Bears Special Day" with the Harrisburg Symphony, "Ferdinan the Bull" with a violinist for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and "Peter and the Wolf" with the LaGrange Symphony.

In the Spring of 2005 Ed worked with a group called Historic Philadelphia Inc., which has had colonial re-enactors in the historic district, that expanded to include a project called "Once Upon A Nation".
Ed worked with them as a consultant/writer/trainer, helping them develop short historical stories to be presented throughout Independence National Historic Park on thirteen storytelling benches. He trained the tellers during their three week training, "Benstitute", and did some paperwork summarizing and suggesting. Ed also wrote a theme song for them.

The National Storytelling Association inducted Ed into its Circle of Excellence in 1996.

Ed has strutted in the Comic division of the annual Philadelphia Mummers Parade since 1982. In 1994, he received the Mummer's Most Original Character Award for his one-man Vatican-American String Band, and in 1996, he was Captain of the first-prize-winning Kingsessing Morris Men and in 2006 he won first prize for Most Original Character.

Ed is the subject of a chapter in the book Storytellers by Corki Miller and Mary Ellen. Snodgrass, a story in Chicken Soup for the Romantic Heart and is the author or two books of tales: Raised Catholic, Can You Tell? and Still Catholic After All These Fears. He has also released a video and several recordings of his performances.

To Book Ed Contact:
NANCY CLANCY
26616 Willowmere Drive E-35
Millsboro, DE 19966
STORYCLAN@aol.com
302.947.9515

For More information on Ed Stivender
Business Cards

Ed Stivender at August House

Amazon Raised Catholic

Press Play to hear Janice M. Del Negro who was interviewed by Eric Wolf on revising feminist folk-tales: naming the women. on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.

Dr. Janice M. Del Negro writes
When Eric and I talked about a topic for this interview, he asked me what was I passionate about? I am passionate about naming the women.

That being said, I was reluctant to use the word “feminist” in the title of this podcast. The word “feminist” is a trigger word that elicits, in many people, a strong emotional response. Since I agree with Mark Twain – “the difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between the lightning and the lightning-bug”- the choice of the word “feminist” was problematic, because nearly everyone has a distinct personal definition of that particular word. Eric bypassed that concern, however: “people will search ‘feminist’ online,” he said to the library school professor. So here we are, “Revisioning the Feminist Folktale,” and I am not sure that two people on the planet have the same definition of what “feminist” means, never mind folktale, or oral tradition. So I’ll stick to passion.

I am passionate about retelling folktales. I am passionate about excavating old tales, tales that have already survived for centuries, for emotional truths that resonate with contemporary listeners. There is no definitive version of a folktale, no “original”; we can point to the earliest remembered, written, or preserved version, but not to an “original.” Folktales change over time in order to survive, and re-telling folktales for present-day listeners is a contemporary offshoot of what is popularly understood as the oral tradition.

Tales come to us differently today than in the past. A handful of contemporary American storytellers can say they heard folktales from family or friends, tales that were handed down orally, from mouth to ear, but many of us who retell folktales first meet the tales on the page. Sometimes the tales work just as we find them; sometimes they resonate oddly, indicating currents beneath the surface. Those currents offer an opportunity to retell from where the teller stands now, instead of from where the story stood then.

My stand includes my gender. I am a woman. I am fascinated by the women in folktales, not just the women characters, but the women storytellers. Many of the tales we have were collected by men operating within the social mores of their times. The stories these good men chose to collect and the manner in which they collected them were filters through which the stories travelled, affecting the tale’s content and presentation. I look at a folktale so collected and I want to know: what isn’t there? What would the stories be like if the women were telling them to each other in the kitchen, while the collector was making notes on the polite version in the parlor? Those are the stories I want to tell, and since no one collected them in quite that way, I make my own. Filtered through my own experiences, I try and make an old tale new.

Stories may be static on the physical or virtual page, but for as long as the storyteller is telling, the story has blood and breath. Every retelling of a folktale, imbued with the individual blood and breath of the storyteller, is unique. The storytelling community recognizes this in a practical and concrete way: there are many popular conference and festival programs in which several tellers elect to retell the same folktale, just to show what is possible.

I am enormously interested in the fact that many female storytellers choose to retell traditional tales from points of view not always represented in collected or anthologized versions of folktales. Milbre Burch, Elizabeth Ellis, Susan Klein, Barbara Schutz-Gruber, Megan Wells, my own students (and too many others to name even with unlimited bandwidth) approach folktales through their own artistic processes. I cannot speak to the specifics of anyone’s process but my own, and even my process is malleable; the process changes with every story, because every story speaks differently to every teller.

JMD

Janice M. Del Negro, PhD.
Author, Educator, Storyteller

Janice M. Del Negro is an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois, where she teaches Storytelling, Children’s and Young Adult Literature, and Foundations in Library and Information Science. Professor Del Negro did her doctoral work at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Del Negro has been a featured speaker, storyteller, and workshop leader at the National Storytelling Festival, the Allerton Conference (”Stories: From Fireplace to Cyberspace”), the Illinois Library Association, the Bay Area Storytelling Festival, the Illinois Storytelling Festival, the Fox Valley Music and Storytelling Festival, the Champaign Public Library Children’s Literature Festival, and many other celebratory events. She has spoken and conducted workshops on various aspects of children’s literature and publishing, storytelling, and reading motivation for teachers, librarians, parents, and other educators in a variety of settings, including the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois, the State Library of Illinois, the North Carolina State Library, and the University of San Diego.
Del Negro’s first picture book, Lucy Dove (1998) won the Anne Izard Storytelling Award; her second picture book, Willa and the Wind (2005) was an ALA Notable Book, and an Honor Book for the Irma Simonton Black and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature from the Bank Street College of Education in New York City. Her recent collection of supernatural tales for young adults, Passion and Poison, published by Marshall Cavendish in 2007, received starred reviews in both Horn Book and School Library Journal.
Del Negro has performed and lectured extensively in libraries, schools, and community centers throughout the United States. Her specialties include retelling traditional folktales, reading motivation through literature and storytelling, and transformation stories, with a gentle emphasis on women and ghosts. Her first recording, Journeywomen and Ghostly Passages, was released in July, 1991; her most recent recordings, Romantic Wonder: Tales of Love and Magic, and Shadow’s Sisters: Shapeshifters, Wraiths, and Spirited Women, were released in April, 1999. She is currently working on a new recording entitled Fortune’s Daughters: Folktales and Ghost Tales, to be released in 2008. Del Negro has reviewed for Booklist Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, and School Library Journal, and is currently reviewing for Booklist.
She has served on both the Newbery, Caldecott, and Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award committees. In 2004-2005 Del Negro served as chair of the 2005 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award committee. and subsequently served as chair of the 2007 Caldecott Award Committee.
Del Negro was formerly the director of the Center for Children’s Books, a special collection of children’s books located at the University of Illinois. Before taking her position as Center director, she was the editor of the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, a monthly review journal of books for youth. Del Negro went to the University of Illinois from the State Library of North Carolina, where she was a consultant for children’s services and public libraries throughout the state. Prior to this she worked for fourteen years as a children’s librarian for the Chicago Public Library, including five years as Assistant Director of Children’s Services.

Tired of the tin sound? Purchase a HQ Mp3 File of Interview #056 Karen Chace
	for $2.23 Story by story, building a school storytelling club.

Karen has a great resource of storytelling links and other storytelling goodies that are worth your time at http://www.storybug.net

On a warm, spring night in June of 2003 nineteen third and fourth grade elementary storytelling students took center stage in the school auditorium. The event was the first Student Storytelling Festival where their dedication and talent came together for a glorious evening of folktales, fables, myths and legends from around the world. Each child had personally selected their tale and their work quickly became a labor of love. Without hesitation each storyteller stepped to the microphone and whisked us away on the wings of story to England, Africa, Serbia, Russia, Canada, Tibet and beyond. It was an evening filled with individual and family pride, one which showcased not only the personality and skills of each student, but illustrated the virtues of camaraderie and team spirit. They gave it their all and succeeded beyond their wildest imaginations.

Why was this remarkable? According to scientific research, one of our greatest fears is public speaking, yet these young children took the stage with confidence and poise. Facing an audience of family, teachers, administrators, friends and peers, the young tellers held them in thepalms of their hands for an hour.

How did it all begin? With one sentence. In 2002 I had been storytelling for only a few years when I approached one of the teachers and boldly stated, “I would love to start a student storytelling club.” With her support we bravely approached our principal with a proposal and the rest as they say is history!

I am now in my sixth year guiding the Story Explorer’s Troupe. Since its inception I have been privileged to work with over 140 children. I am continually amazed at the innovative, fun and creative work they offer their audiences but more importantly, the changes their teachers and parents observe in their classroom performance, personal confidence and positive peer interaction.Throughout the school year we work on basic storytelling skills, including voice intonation, body language, gestures, improvisation, and stage presence. Our goal is to take the show “on the road.” When the storytellers are ready I organize small group presentations for the teachers and students. The number of audience members increases with each performance; the storytellers continue to gain confidence and we end the school year with a storytelling festival for family, friends and community members. To read an article about last year’s event go to: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070621/NEWS/706210378

Storytelling is a fun and exciting activity but it also aligns with many benchmarks of the educational curriculum across the country. Oral storytelling is rooted in tradition and myths, legends and folktales. It is the conduit that passes on the customs and values of other cultures, while enhancing a student’s view of the global community. The National Council of Teachers of English has published their Position Statement on the value of using storytelling in the classroom and Howard Gardner’s original Seven Styles of Learning (an eighth has now been added to the list: Naturalist Intelligence) offers guidelines on how storytellers and teachers can use the power of story to tap into each child’s specific learning style. In addition, storyteller Kendall Haven has compiled definitive research on how we are innately “hardwired for story.” He has generously given me permission to list some of his work on my website at http://www.storybug.net/teachers.htm. Kendall has recently published Story Proof, which offers a multitude of additional research on the wide-ranging, positive impact storytelling has in the classroom and beyond.

Since our first tentative steps the Story Explorers troupe has continued to grow, partnerships have been forged and I have witnessed many astonishing and unexpected success stories. This June, on two separate evenings, 30 students will use the stage as their canvas and words as their paintbrush to craft a world colored by the magic of their imaginations. In 2002 a group of eager students took a chance with me and with themselves. Their first, tentative steps led them to explore the magic of storytelling and they in turn paved the way for others to discover that they too have stories to share.

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and their Applications to Storytelling

Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence
• Enjoy listening and talking to people.
• Enjoy listening and telling stories.
• Always successful learners by listening and hearing.
• Enjoys word games, puns, rhymes, tongue-twisters, and poetry.

Logical and mathematical Intelligence
• Like to ask questions and investigate.
• Enjoy strategy games, logical puzzles and experiments. (Riddle stories)
• Like to use computers. (Use Clip Art to storyboard)
• Looks for logical sequences and patterns. (Tangrams)

Visual/Spatial Intelligence
• Take information and translate it into images and pictures in their mind.
• Have the ability to retrieve the information through the images and pictures.
• Good in visual arts, sculpture, architecture and photography. (Storyboarding)
• Have the ability to reproduce clear images in their mind. (Visualization)

Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence
• They are good with objects and activities involving their body, hands and fingers.
• More successful in learning if they can touch, manipulate and move or feel whatever they are learning. (Props)
• Children with high Kinesthetic Intelligence learn best with activities: games, acting, hands-on tasks, building.
• Uses their body well to express themselves. (Mime, origami, cut and tell)

Musical Intelligence
• Have the ability to here and recognize tones, rhythms and musical patterns.
• These people enjoy listening to music and singing to themselves.
• Musical children usually play a musical instrument.
• They learn through rhythm and melody. (Incorporate songs, chants or use an instrument in their storytelling)

Interpersonal Intelligence
• Sensitive to facial expressions, gestures and voice.
• Gets along with others and they are able to maintain good relationships

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• Like to teach other kids, take part in school organizations and clubs. (Peer Coaching)
• Have the ability to influence people and are natural leaders.
• Feels comfortable in a crowd. (Storytelling Performance)

Intrapersonal Intelligence
• They have the ability for self discipline to achieve personal goals.
• These children are self-motivated. (practice stories on their own)
• Prefer to study individually and learn best through observing and listening. (Self Critiques)

Naturalist Intelligence
• Nature smart (Pourquoi stories)
• Likes to spend time in nature; recognizes subtle meanings and patterns in nature.
• Likes to speak out about animal right and earth preservation. (Environmental stories)
• They would enjoy using audio/visual equipment to record nature. (Digital Storytelling)

WEB SITES OF INTEREST

Enoch Pratt Libraries

Listen to some of our most beloved storytellers share their tales in streaming video; a delight for children and adults alike. http://www.prattlibrary.org/home/storyIndex.aspx

Storybug.net

Karen Chace offers a global feast of folktale websites, each with a short synopsis. In addition, there is a smorgasbord of sites focusing on Oral History, Crafts, Arts Education, Puppetry, Grants, Teaching Tools and more! http://www.storybug.net

Story-Lovers.com

With the help of Storytell listserv members, storyteller Jackie Baldwin has compiled an extensive array of stories and books. Click on “SOS” and you will discover your own private folklore library right at your fingertips. Jackie even offers a google search tool so story exploring is a breeze! http://www.story-lovers.com/

Storytelling Arts of Indiana

Teaching Guides, games, activities and resources from such quality tellers as Heather Forest, Doug Lipman, Rex Ellis, Doug Elliott, Janice Harrington and Ed Stivender. You can’t go wrong taking advice from this group! http://www.geocities.com/storiesinc/TeachersGuide.html#Games

Storytelling In Schools

After months of detailed research Jackie Baldwin and Kate Dudding have organized an amazing, downloadable booklet and brochure that will help you meet that question head on. Quantitative studies, innovative projects books, journals, articles and web sites are all at your fingertips, but the best part is that the project is not complete; it is an ongoing process that will be continually updated as new studies surface.http://www.storynet-advocacy.org/edu/how-to/index.shtml

Turner Learning Network

An Educator’s Guide to Storytelling; tips on teaching storytelling, National Standards, Assessments and Cross Curricular Approaches. If you want to implement storytelling into your curriculum, this is a good place to start.http://www.turnerlearning.com/turnersouth/storytelling/index.html

BIBLIOGRAPHY

These books contain stories that are perfect for beginning student storytellers.

DeSpain, Pleasant Eleven Nature Tales: A Multicultural Journey Little Rock, Ark.: August House 1996

DeSpain, Pleasant. Thirty-Three Multicultural Tales to Tell. August House, 1997.DeSpain, Pleasant Twenty: Two Splendid Tales To Tell From Around the World Volume One August House 1994

DeSpain, Pleasant Twenty-Two Splendid Tales to Tell From Around the World Volume Two August House 1994

Hamilton, Martha and Mitch Weiss, Children Tell Stories, Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc., 1990.

Hamilton, Martha & Mitch Weiss. How & Why Stories: World Tales Kids Can Read and Tell. August House, 1999.

Hamilton, Martha & Mitch Weiss: Noodlehead Stories: World Tales Kids Can Read & Tell: Little Rock, AR: August House, 2000.

Hamilton, Martha & Mitch Weiss (1996) Stories in My Pocket; Tales Kids Can Tell Golden, CO: Fulcrum Pub.

Hamilton, Martha & Mitch Weiss Through the Grapevine: World Tales Kids Can Read & Tell Little Rock: August House Publishers, 2001.

Raines, Shirley C. & Rebecca Isbell Tell It Again!: Easy-To Tell Stories With Activities For Young Children Beltsville, Md. : Gryphon House, c1999.

Raines, Shirley C. & Rebecca Isbell Tell It Again! 2: Easy-To-Tell Stories With Activities for Young Children Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House, 2000

Karen’s website is at http://www.storybug.net

Tired of the tin sound? Purchase a HQ Mp3 File of Interview #045 Syd Lieberman
	for $2.23 Telling your Family’s Stories.

Bio From Syd’s Website
Syd Lieberman is an internationally acclaimed storyteller, an award-winning teacher, and an author. He has appeared at major storytelling festivals across the country, including seven featured appearances at the National Festival in Jonesborough, TN; at the Glistening Waters Festival in New Zealand; and on American Public Radio’s Good Evening as a guest storyteller and host. Syd Lieberman was featured in The Call of Story, a television special, and has received commissions to write and perform stories across the country

Syd Lieberman has been telling as a professional storyteller for 25 years
For more info goto…
http://www.sydlieberman.com/

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Tired of the tin sound? Purchase a HQ Mp3 File of Interview #036 Margaret Read Macdonald for $2.23 Telling across language barriers.
Purchase a CD of this Telephone Interview
	CD Telephone Quality Audio Interview #036 Margaret Read Macdonald – Telling across language barriers for $9.95.

Margaret Read MacDonald writes…
In 1994 one day the phone on my desk at the Bothell Library rang. A professor from Drew University was on the line. “Dr. Wajuppa Tossa would like you to call her in Thailand right away,” he said. “She wants you to come over there as a Fulbright Scholar.” I hung up and sat stunned. A Fulbright Scholar. To Thailand? Could I do that? I had a fulltime job as a children’s librarian. But maybe; I dialed the Thailand number right away to find out more. A very drowsy Dr. Wajuppa roused herself from her 3 am sleep to answer. First problem with communicating across language barriers? Get your time zones right!

It was in fact possible for me to go off to Thailand. The Fulbright program did accept me and the King County Library System gave me a sabbatical. So I arrived at the University of Mahasarakham ready to teach storytelling. I entered my first class eagerly. First shock;I had to leave me little high heels at the door;no shoes allowed in the classroom. Second shock;no one understood much of my English. Dr. Wajuppa and I soon developed a telling technique however. I learned to pause after each phrase and let her supply the phrase in Lao. We moved smoothly through each story and the students got both my inflections and tone while the meanings seamlessly flowed right behind.

Since then I have used the techniques which Wajuppa and I developed while telling in Brazil with Livia de Almeida, in Japan with Masako Sueyoshi, in México with Victor Arjona, in Cuba with Elvía Pérez, in Argentina with Paula Martín, and through translators in Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Taiwan, China, and The Republic of Georgia. The most tricky telling was one in Kota Kinabalu (on Borneo) in which I was translated into THREE languages. Tellers surrounded me;the first repeated my phrase in Bahasa Melayu, the second in Mandarin, and the third in Kadazandusun! Now THAT was a bit too much. I don’t recommend more than one translator at a time.

For several years I was able to help plan the King County Library System International Storytelling Festival. We were able to bring two tellers from abroad each year, in addition to US tellers, and I was so pleased to be able to present tellers performing in French, Portuguese, Thai, Japanese, Spanish, and Arabic.

In our podcast we can talked about ways to make translation work and discuss various techniques for telling stories via translation. I also want to stress the importance of exposing your own festival audiences to tellers who are telling in other languages. Just today I opened a package with my latest book in it: Tell the World: Storytelling Across Language Barriers (Libraries Unlimited, 2007). 39 tellers contributed articles about their own experiences in telling across the language barrier. So I may be sharing some of their stories too.

Bibliography for the MRM podcast. These tales, books, websites were mentioned.

“Strength” A Limba folktale. From Peace Tales: World Folktales to Talk About by Margaret Read MacDonald, August House Publishers, 2005.

“Lifting the Sky” An Upper Skagit folktale. From Peace Tales: World Folktales to Talk About by Margaret Read MacDonald, August House Publishers, 2005.

“Not Our Problem” A Burmese/Thai folktale. From Peace Tales: World Folktales to Talk About by Margaret Read MacDonald, August House Publishers, 2005.

Tell the World: Storytelling Across Language Barriers by Margaret Read MacDonald.
Libraries Unlimited, 2007. Techniques for storytelling through translation. Articles by tellers who have told in other languages or through translation.

From the Winds of Manguito: Desde los vientos de Manguito. Cuban Folktales in English and Spanish by Elívia Pérez. Trans. by Paula Martín. Ed. by Margaret Read MacDonald. Libraries Unlimited, 2004.

Speak Bird, Speak Again by Sharif Kanaana and Ibrahim Muhawi. University of California Press, 1989. Palestinian Arab folktales.

Tunjur! Tunjur! Tunjur! A Palestinian Folktale by Margaret Read MacDonald. Illus. by Alik Azoumanian. Marshall Cavendish, 2006.

Three Minute Tales by Margaret Read MacDonald. August House, 2004.

Five Minute Tales by Margaret Read MacDonald. August House, 2007.

The Storyteller’s Start-up Book by Margaret Read MacDonald. August House, 1993.

Website for Israeli storytelling mentioned by Eric:
Limor’s Storytelling Agora – http://lisb.wordpress.com/

For August House website see: http:// www.augusthouse.com

Special offer books for podcast audience: Send check to Margaret Read MacDonald, 11507 NE 104th St., Kirkland, WA 98033.

Booksharing: 101 Programs to Use with Preschoolers by Margaret Read MacDonald. Library Professional Publications, 1988. paperback $20 op OFFER PRICE $5.

Bookplay: 101 Creative Themes to Share with Young Children by Margaret Read MacDonald. Library Professional Publications, 1994. Hardback $32. op. OFFER PRICE $5.

Both are collections of pre-school storytime ideas, include simple craft ideas, songs, games, suggested picture books to form thematic programs for pre-school/primary.

Cuentos que van y vienen by Margaret Read MacDonald. Trans. Paula Martín. Buenos Aires: Aique, 2001. paperback. OFFER PRICE $15.
This is a Spanish translation of A Parent’s Guide to Storytelling (August House, 2001).

Biography of Margaret Read MacDonald

Margaret began telling stories as a children’s librarian in 1965. She retired from the King County Library System in 2002 and has been traveling incessantly ever since. Her daughter and son-in-law, Jen and Nat Whitman (The Whitman Story Sampler), taught in Hong Kong for the past six years, so many trips were based out of Hong Kong. Now they are in Bonn, Germany, so Margaret’s near future travels may lean more in that direction.

Margaret received her Ph.D. in Folklore from Indiana University in 1979 and published her dissertation as The Storyteller’s Sourcebook: A Title, Subject, and Motif-Index to Folktale Collections for Children (Gale Research, 1982). While teaching a course in storytelling for the University of Washington, she realized she needed a collection of sure-fire tales for her students to cut their teeth on. So she wrote Twenty Tellable Tales.

Many more tale collections followed and now she delights in discovering tales most tellers have not heard yet and putting those into books for others to share. Her stories are all written with the next teller in mind. They are shaped for ease of telling. And she hopes that they will be taken up and passed on.

In the last few years Margaret has been delighted to see several of her books translated. Into Spanish, Mandarin, Bahasa Indonesia, Korean, French, and Japanese. She was especially pleased at the chance to work directly with Paula Martín (Argentina), Jocelyn Chuang (Taiwan), and Masako Sueyoshi (Japan) in order to get translations which were ‘tellable’;not just literal translations. We worked with the texts until they sounded perfect in the translated language.

You can read much more about Margaret, see photos, and find a list of the 50 plus books she has written at: http://www.margaretreadmacdonald.com

Tired of the tin sound? Purchase a HQ Mp3 File of Interview #023 Mary Margaret O’Connor Owner of Itales.com
	for $2.23 Digital Storytelling using emerging technologies with your storytelling.

Mary Margaret O’Connor, has an amazing concept hear that is on the cutting edge of digital storytelling. Are conversation on how to use the online and digital experience to support storytelling is eye opening for any storyteller to see the potential for the storytelling art form in the 21st centaury.

——–Mary writes…
iTales.com started as a simple enough idea; create a website to house bedtime stories I tell to my children. But what started as a simple project based on a love of storytelling, evolved into a much better and more complex idea, still based on a love of storytelling! That idea became iTales, a website that allows storytellers to upload and sell individual stories. Over time, iTales will be home to thousands of fantastic mp3 audio stories from around the world and will be a method of preserving the traditions and messages of stories that have been passed down, and sometime lost forever, through the generations.

I guess I did not come upon the world of storytelling purposefully, but the world of storytelling came to me. Plodding along in my role as a pharmaceutical marketing consultant, after years working in pharmaceutical companies, my colleagues often are bewildered by this “other side of me!” But as a person new to the world of storytelling, and just touching the tip of what is available, I have to say that professional storytellers are some of the most fascinating, intelligent and fun-loving people I’ve come across. (That is not to say, of course, that pharmaceutical marketers are not!) Through iTales, my hope is that many, who like me had not previously been exposed to many of the professional storytelling audience, will explore and embrace what historically has been one of the most constant and meaningful and important experiences of human nature – listening to stories.

iTales offers the power of the internet to reach millions of people around the world. Without the limitations of traditional storytelling venues, including how far one can drive for a show to sell their CD’s, iTales provides storytellers with another option for distributing their material to a targeted audience interested in audio stories.

And, just who is this audience? People of all ages and interests are potential story seekers. For children, listening to stories is fun, it increases their vocabulary and it allows them to actually connect with another human being. For young and older adults, iTales short stories offer an alternative to music or audiobooks for mp3 players and iPods. And, importantly, iTales offers entertainment that many will not have previously experienced.

To get great content for our site – high caliber stories – we are currently focusing marketing efforts on the professional storytelling community. Our hope is that you will join this podcast to learn more about how iTales works, our plans for the future and how the storytelling community can work together to help build something that is truly unique.

Post written by Mary Margaret O’Connor more info at www.itales.com

Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf as a conference call on August 21th, 2007, Steve Otto talks about bringing Storytelling to New Communities with the Chicken Storytelling Festival.

Steve is one of those storytellers who has been around the block. Mastering his skill in storytelling over many years of dedicated work and effort as a storyteller. I found this interview about Steve’s work to bring Storytelling to new communities to be truly inspirational stuff. Storytelling can be for everyone.

Eric Wolf

Steve Otto has a degree in Speech and Dramatics, from the University of Missouri, with a specialty of Television Production. You have to realize that I got my degree when TV was in it’s infancy, and all production was done live (No video tape) and everything was done in Black and White. I worked at KOMU-TV Channel 8, in Columbia, Missouri, WPTA-TV, Channel 21, in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and KETC-TV, Channel 9, in St. Louis, Missouri. I started out as a cameraman, and worked into production as a producer-director. I loved television and really enjoyed the opportunity offered to a right brain person to see images and create pictures before the camera collected them. KETC-TV was the local PBS station and things went well until they lost some contracts to produce proragams for PBS and the station “went to Black” (off the air) for the summer, and they handed each producer a check for one week salary and said “We’ll see you in the fall . . .” I began to think someone was trying to tell me something . . .

I went to work with Blue Shield, to set up a new public relations department for the organization. About 4 months into my training period, they told me that the board of directors had decided they really didn’t need a public relations department, but I could continue in the claims operations if I wanted. Having become accustomed to eating, I said yes . . . I worked for Blue Shield for eight years and worked up to Claims Manager of the operation.

In 1968, the Medicaid Program became operational in the State of Missouri and they needed someone with claims experience to run their program. I took over a brand new program and was able to make it one of the most efficient , cost effective claims operations in the country. We could process over a million claims a month with a turn around time that averaged 4 days, at an administrative cost of about 3 percent.

After 5 years with the State, I received a call from the Federal Government, (who has over site over all the medicaid programs) to come to work for them in Kansas City. I spent the next 23 years as a senior level federal employee with Health and Human Services. I loved the early years of the program because I really felt that I was doing things to really help people . . . Very rapidly, however, the program became a money pit for the providers instead of a program to help people get the necessary medical care that they need.

While working with the “Feds” I started back to Theatre, doing over 30 roles in community theatre as actor and director. I had a blast . . . I was finally doing something that was really creative . . . Advances in my job duties, however put me on the road more and more and I was unable to do theatre because I couldn’t do all the six weeks of rehearsal.

My first grade teacher wife, Virginia, came home one day with a brochure from Universtity of Missouri, Kansas City . . . I said “Storytelling for teachers”! She said she was going to take the class and thought I should take it with her. . . I reminded her that I WAS AN ACTOR!
I didn’t do things like go to a library and READ to children . . . She quickly convinced me that I should take the session and I did.

The first session opened like many other seminars with welcomes etc. And then they introduced the first speaker, they call her the “Feature”, and a short, rather heavy set black woman walked out on stage . . . I could not believe what I was seeing . . . I had paid for THIS? And then she opened her mouth, and began to tell a story . . . Her eyes reached out to every person in the auditorium, her hands beckoned us all into the story and her voice had my completely mesmerized. I looked more carefully at my program and there was her name . . . It was a lady from the Carolina’s named Jackie Torrance! I honestly could not believe what I was seeing! My theatre background said you NEVER react to your audience! The fourth wall prohibits you from looking right at your audience! . . . And yet there she was with the audience completely under her control and bringing every member of the audience into “Her Place . . .”

I thought “This is what I want to do . . .” and I began to take every storytelling class I could. I read books for content and beginning, storyline, ending instead of just enjoying them . . . And I began to tell stories . . .

I told for three years totally enjoying the opportunity to learn everything I could about the Art. Then one day a lady called from a local Town Festival asking me if I could tell stories at their festival. I checked my calendar and told her I could. We got all the details down and just before she hung up she asked “Oh by the way, how much do you charge?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing . . Charge? for doing something fun like telling stories? I quickly realized that she must be mistaken and I said “Well my USUAL fee is twenty five dollars” I waited for the rejection when she said “Oh, that is FINE!” I should have asked for fifty . . .That was the start of my professional career. I got to the place when I had more jobs than time, I would just raise may rates. I has worked well.

In 1994, there were budget crises in the Federal Bureaucracies. I went to a senior staff meeting and we were told that we had to cut staff and did anyone want to take an “Early Out” or early retirement. At that time I was responsible for Nine Billion dollars a year in federal dollars, which Lent itself to “Just a bit of Stress . . .” I had been doing planning for retirement for some time and I began to figure that if I could do about $400 a month in storytelling, I could make up the difference in what I would get from the Feds for staying another 5 years till I could formally retire . . . And the next thing I knew, my had was in the air and I was saying “Take Me!” I have been telling stories full time since that time and have loved the opportunities it has given me to interact with others from Nursery School to Nursing Homes, and SHARE not TELL stories to wonderful people. I have averaged around 250 shows a year all over the country, and yes, I have been able to make over $400 a month to supplement my early retirement.

The Big thing I have gotten more that any monetary benefit, (although I must admit that it nice) is the true JOY of being with my audience. This is where the “Giving Back” and community involvement comes in. I have personally known the feeling of having someone come up to me and say “I way there in your story, I wish I could tell my stories . . .” I have been there when I have taught teacher how to use storytelling in their classrooms and seen the “Light Bulbs” go off when they think “that is exactly how Billy learns”. That is more powerful than any check can ever be.

About 15 years ago, River and Prairie Storyweavers (RAPS), the Kansas City area Storytelling Guild, decided we would have a winter retreat. We decided that we would go out of town for the retreat since everyone would stay and be with each other for an entire weekend. We went to Topeka, KS, about 60 miles from KC, stayed in a hotel, ate together, told stories together and brought everyone to a closeness that only storytellers can achieve. We went back the next year and when telling stories on Saturday afternoon, one teller said “I’ve got to tell this CHICKEN STORY.” When he was through, almost everyone came up with a CHICKEN STORY! In the wrap up of the weekend, we began to realize that the “RAPS Retreat” didn’t have the most “PZAZZ” and marketing capability . . . So we decided to make the annual January event the “CHICKEN FESTIVAL” We decided that this would be a festival with NO featured tellers, and everyone who attended would be the FEATURE! We also decide to make this an event which would travel to areas which had NO storytelling presence. We would invite the community to participate and listen to stories and even tell if they so pleased. So far we have started four new storytelling groups in western Missouri and eastern Kansas. We give new group the opportunity to become a sub group of RAPS and make use of our 501(C)(3) Non profit status, until they can become independent on their own. About eight years ago we added music to the program and we now have tow or three session of time where anyone can bring their musical instruments and “Jam” for the group. We have had as many as twenty people up playing together who have never played together before. We have also had locals from the community enter into this activity.