Day 19

Absent: Alina (ex), Lindsey (ex), Ash, Alex

pop quiz to blank stares:

What is Kamishibai?

Who was Milman Parry and what did he discover?

What does Bånklesånger mean and what does it refer to?

Okay, I'm a softy. I let you have until Monday to tell me. But look out. Not next time.

Cowboy poetry. An abridged recitation of Robert Service's "Blasphemous Bill." A viewing of Waddie Mitchell telling "Belle of the Ball." An exercise in rendering our personal stores in rhyme.

Day 18

Absent: Alina (ex), Lindsey (ex), Kaitlin

Discussion of the aversion to storytelling in religions "of the book."
Forms of picture/object storytelling:
Especially significant this weekend are Stations of the Cross
Other forms still present today:
Felt/Flannel Board Storytelling: here's a link to a flannel board treatment of the folktale "Cap O' Rushes" (a source story for King Lear)
Power Point, Film Strip, Overhead Projectors.
Here is a link to an early form of animation that may have a storytelling function.
"Oldest Animation In The World Found In Burnt City"

Story told: Sky Woman's Basket.
Activity: game of "what is it?" applied to 3 little Pigs. the object can tell the story and the story can tell the object. The story itself can be considered an object that is modified to tell the story the teller wants to get across.

Assignments: Read "2.5 minute Ride" by Lisa Kron in Talk To Me.

Day 17

Absent: Caitlyn, Kaitlin, Cassie

Topic; storytelling with objects. Referencing World of Storytelling chapters 3, 4, 12.

Opening game with walking stick ("rhabdos") involving prop transformation a.k.a 'What is It?'

Marble Story: "Jason's Pearl"
String Story: "Cat's Cradle" "Jack & The Beanstalk"
Shoestring Story: "Rabbit"

Day 16

absent: Alina, Lindsey, Chip, Alex

Brief discussion of story mosaics- mostly working from Carly's example.

We watched and discussed "The Call of Story" dvd with storytellers Donald Davis and Carmen Deedy.

Story structuring formulae:
Donald Davis: Places, People, Problems, Progress.
Elizabeth Ellis: Ha Ha, Aha, Aah, Amen.
David Novak: To Place, To Reveal, To Relate.

Day 15

Continued conversation groups, creating story mosaics. We added "collective stories" with the personal stories. Examples: King Midas, Sleeping Beauty. The challenge was to fit the collective in among the personal stories. Notice the way stories can be used to understand stories. By putting different stories in relationship certain qualities are emphasized or accented.

Assignment: create story mosaics on your own, matching personal and collective stories. Diagram the mosaic and come to class ready to discuss.

Day 14

Absent: Kenny

We began a conversational activity to discover some of our latent "body of text."
I told the story of watching a lizard in my backyard when I was a boy. We reflected on that story and found other memories triggered by the tale. Chip took us on a virtual tour of the duck pond in back of his childhood home. From there we split into teams of 2 or 3 and did walk-thoughs of our places of memory. In the process, memories were recovered and stories were found. We then sat in conversation groups of 3 and 4 and began a mosaic-making activity in which each shared story is put onto a card and set in relation to previous stories.

Assignment: bring at least 3 new cards for stories to class on Wednesday.

Day 13

Absent: Alex, Kenny, Cassie

We watched Robin Williamson tell the tale of Tristan & Isolde. He shows one way in which a traditional bard may have mixed satire and local humor with the poetic and sublime material of the romance. Williamson's opening takes us from the present day into the story by way of the bus line to "Chapel Isolde." He makes jokes about America (California wine such as "My Wild Irish Rosé") even as he entrances us with the love magic that overwhelms the two heroes. He played the harp very effectively but when the story called for Tristan to play, he used comic pantomime. In these ways, the storyteller keeps the listener engaged with surprises and broken expectations and reinforces a sense of tribe with locally based humor and "in" jokes all the while creating a romantic tale that enchants our sense of place: Ireland's Chapel Isolde.