Alabama Life

How good is this? Storycorps AND storyteller Kathryn Windham on the same radio show, available as an mp3 file.

Thanks, Alabama Public Radio!

Songs, Stories, Memories

It's rare that we ever see blog entries about watching a storytelling performance. A good storyteller will inspire you to share your own stories.

Here's an entry from Susan A. Kitchen's 2020 Hindsight blog, that comes close... as she recounts her experience seeing Arlo Guthrie in performance, and this calls up memories and stories of her own.

http://www.2020hindsight.org/2005/11/15/this-land-is-your-land/

Musings on Story and Life

Where are my manners? The other day I showed a photo of Jonesborough, Tennessee here and I forgot to credit its owner, Gwyn Calvetti.

Gwyn is not only a professional storyteller, she's one of the few that is a blogger too.

You can read Gwyn's perspective on a life of stories at her blog, Musings on Story and Life.

Check out her October 31 real life ghost story!

Call for Performers: NSN Conference 2006 Fringe

Forwarded from the National Storytelling Network:

Performance Opportunity
National Storytelling Network Conference
July 20 - 23, 2006 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Want to present 55 minutes of your riskiest, experimental or most compelling storytelling at the National Storytelling Conference? Enter the lottery for the 2006 Fringe in Pittsburgh performances.

Yes, last year's exciting addition to the National Storytelling Conference will be back! And just like last year, anything goes -- you can present 55 minutes of folktales; 55 minutes of autobiography; 55 minutes of work in progress, performance art, stand-up comedy, puppetry, dance or your favorite long form story! Here's your chance to explore the limits of storytelling at the Pittsburgh Conference with all Fringe performers selected by lottery.

What is the Fringe? It is a growing network of performance venues with no restrictions on style or content. Fringe Festivals take place all over the world. Many storytellers are taking advantage of this venue to reach new audiences. By providing this opportunity for you to experience a typical Fringe performance selection process and format at the NSN Conference, we hope to encourage more storytellers to participate in American and Canadian Fringe Festival performances.

Lottery

To enter the lottery, please, submit:

1. Your name, address, phone, email info
2. Title of your 55 minute program
3. Maximum 30 word description of the program
4. Fringe Standard Category Identification(s): (select all that apply)
adult, family, solo, improvisational, ensemble, dance, etc. [Example: a single storyteller presenting a family program selects both "family" and "solo." Use "family" to identify a program for children.]
5. If appropriate, Fringe Standard Content Warning(s): (select all that apply) language, adult subject matter, violence, nudity

Email submissions to: Niemistory@aol.com
Mail submissions to: Fringe Lottery c/o Loren Niemi 8105 Jamaca N.
Stillwater, MN 55082

Submission Deadline

Mail submissions - November 30, 2005 (postmarked)
Electronic submissions - no later than 11:00 pm EST - Nov 30, 2005.

Notification of Selection

Performers drawn by lottery will be notified of their selection by Dec 15th and, if possible, of the day and time of their performance slot. Slots will be assigned based on order of performer selection and content with family material earlier in the day and adult material later.

Deadline for Acceptance
You must confirm your participation by January 15, 2006!!
More names than slots will be drawn for a waiting list and will be moved from the waiting list to performance slots as slots become available. Last year four of the eight people on the waiting list performed in Oklahoma City.

Click on the link to read the fine print. Link.

You don't have to be a member of the National Storytelling Network to apply!

Storytelling as an Effective Tool for Safety Training

The National Institute for Occupational and Safety and Health (NIOSH) has released a report on a sever-year research project entitled "Tell Me a Story: Why Stories are Essential to Effective Safety Training." NIOSH needed new training materials for miners, in a manner that was culturally appropriate.

Miners are storytellers. One need only spend time with them to observe that they interact with each other through the telling of stories. Such stories may be about close calls they have had, about other master miners they have known and worked with (and in many cases, learned from), about someone they knew who made an error in judgment and paid dearly for it, or about things they have seen and experienced as they have gone through their careers. The role of miners’ stories is complex and includes the sharing and strengthening of their occupational culture as well as the bonding that must exist to survive in a dangerous environment.

Of course, they didn't hire storytellers to come in and share folk tales. They brought in camera crews and had the miners tell their stories. Full evaluation report from Elaine T. Cullen, Ph.D., and Albert H. Fein, Ph.D available as PDF file (and it's in the public domain!).