Category Archives: storyteller

3 Reasons to Attend Connecticut Storytelling Festival

Only three reasons? It is hard for me to choose three reasons to attend the Connecticut Storytelling Festival, but here I go.

fest2016Header

http://www.connstorycenter.org/festival.htm

1.) 2016 Festival Headliner Tim Lowry; is funny, interesting, educational, and a general character, a historical speaker bringing history to life! http://www.storytellertimlowry.com/

Well that is a mouthful, but you will see Tim is hard to explain in a couple words. He will offer performances and a workshop. I plan to be front and center for both! I’ve seen Tim here at Connecticut Storytelling Festival, quite a few years ago. Then I saw him perform at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, all I can say is WOW! http://www.storytellingcenter.net/festival/

2.) Workshops, did I mention workshops? There will be many to choose from, choosing is the hard part! I learn something at every one I take. I meet the most interesting people in the workshops. Often I am stretched to think in new ways, to look at age old topics in a new light, to further develop a skill. Workshops, something for everyone!

3.) Community, It is hard to describe but there is a community feeling as the sea of people follow the tides out of one performance and into the next workshop. The buzz in the air of excited conversations is electric. One table will hold a cluster of educators there to learn how storytelling impacts literacy. Another table a couple of storytellers sit close catching up on performance and family news between events. In the hall old and new friends slowly meander the tables of vendors wares offered. Music seeps from one room and draws late comers to the door and into the seats at the back of the room. People sway and sing along, or are swept away in the mood of the music and story, they look to one another, those they shared the magical journey with.

I have to stop now, I said three reasons, but there are so many more! Check out the website, but really, you just have to come to understand. Registration is open on the website. http://connstorycenter.org/festivalRegistration.htm

Would you like to be my guest? Do you want to come to the festival and enjoy performances, workshops,  socialize, visit the vendors and silent auction? Would a weekend to learn more skills to use as a museum docent help you? Are you a classroom teacher wanting to use story in education? If you have never been to the Connecticut Storytelling Festival held at Conn College in New London, CT.  this is your chance. In the comments area tell me why you want to go. I will be choosing one person to visit the Connecticut Storytelling Festival as my guest. It might be you! You might become a part of the community, take a workshop, enjoy the performances and soak up all that Storytelling has to offer. I will make my decision on March 1, 2016, register today I can always refund your fee.

Power In the Classroom – Storytelling Ellis Island

The room hushed, eyes all looked expectantly toward the guest. She stood at the front of the classroom, took a deep breath and held the trance a few extra seconds. Her words spilled out. At first the words came in a soft trickle then stronger as the story grew. The story character climbed the gang plank… Continue Reading

Ancestors at Sea

Did your ancestors work  the sea? What immigrant ship did your ancestors arrive on?  Tell family stories with accuracy to detail, with a visit to a nautical museum or website. Here are some places to begin your voyage of discovery, the family stories from the sea. The whale boat above, is an image from Mystic Seaport,… Continue Reading

5 Ways to Preserve Family Stories

The teen sat on the park bench, hungry, tired, jobless, a boy of New Haven, Connecticut. He wondered what the world would hold for him. He sat staring into space, after awhile his focus landed on a beautiful girl across the street, near the corner of Church and Chapel Streets. She was made of wood! It was… Continue Reading

Family Recipes, 5 Questions for Family Stories

  Food and Family, the two can hardly be separated.  Family events and every day suppers hold lots of food memories and they are a good place to start collecting family stories too. Everyone has a food story to share! Are you ready to collect a family story? You can ask your kids your elders… Continue Reading

What Does Your Family Sound Like?

Every family has a certain playlist. That constant background music or noise that is seldom acknowledged. When I was a teen I babysat for a family, it was a no TV house, the constant background there was classical music piped softly to every room. It was a serene household, but I always had to fight… Continue Reading

Chalk Up Student Fairy Tales

Chalk Up Student Fairy Tales

         What do kids know and understand of fairy tales? How do they interpret them? I, as a storyteller, was wondering and used sidewalk chalk as a way to begin exploration of the questions.      I work in an after school program and thought the kids would enjoy a spring afternoon with sidewalk chalk. I began… Continue Reading

Weather Vanes  Fox Story Resource

Weather Vanes Fox Story Resource

Weather vanes story resources is an occasionally recurring series in my blog. Each weather vane highlights particular subjects with links and anecdotal information to help create a living story from material on the web. Elusive and wily the fox in story and in the wild represents a character of resource and cunning. Brer Fox is… Continue Reading

Never the Twain Shall Meet

Never the Twain Shall Meet

We will never meet Mark Twain ( the pen name of Samuel Clemens), but standing in his home, surrounded by possessions that were his, a glimpse. Reading his works penned in the third story “man cave”, I know more. Reading what a few of our American Presidents had to say about Mark Twain, yet another… Continue Reading

5 Unusual Gifts

5 Unusual Gifts

I don’t want to give what everyone else is giving, but where do we find the unusual gift?In our imaginations!5th place in my list of unusual gifts to give:  A tire and a rope for hours of fun! ( rocker not included; some assembly required!) 4th Place The Wheelbarrow Fill this gift with fertilizer, trowel,… Continue Reading

Mike Lockett :Tales and Fables East Meets West

Mike Lockett :Tales and Fables East Meets West

  Another incredible collection of stories from Mike Lockett. Plenty  of time to down load this from CD Baby ( www.cdbaby.com ) for a gift for the holidays or for the long car ride over the river and through the woods. Dr. Mike Lockett of Normal, Illinois is the Normal Storyteller Find info on where to see him… Continue Reading

Keith Munslow NO Token NO Milk

Keith Munslow NO Token NO Milk

It was a perfect summer day,sunshine, blue sky, breeze and  a Library Summer Reading Program  sponsored by Richmond Library and held in Marlborough Senior Center, Marlborough Connecticut.Just down the road a little way is the turn we have taken so many times for the 4-H Horse camp at Marlborough, I know the way like I was… Continue Reading

Hearing Voices? Maybe Jay O’Callahan’s

Hearing Voices? Maybe Jay O’Callahan’s

Baby it’s cold outside, the weather just isn’t delightful, so as long as it’s gonna snow, tune in tonight ( 12/14/10) to 95.9 in Mass. or http://www.959watd.com/ This is a much better way to pass a wintry night. Just before 8 p.m. make a cup of your favorite hot beverage. Pull on warm socks and… Continue Reading

A Gem – Michael Parent cassette

A Gem – Michael Parent cassette

This spring when the trees were fully blooming and the wind came warm off the sea for the first time in months, I was in New London Ct. My annual trek to the Ct. Storytelling Festival http://www.connstorycenter.org/festival.htm I was there to gather in the warmth of story, the exuberance of new and renewed friendship ,… Continue Reading