Lexington Spellbinders Storytelling Chapter

2011 Spellbinder Training Outcomes, summary of evaluations.

2011-08-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

Spellbinder Training, 2011
Jessamine County Public Library, Nicholasville, Ky.
Led by Charlie Eyer, Margo Radcliffe, Madge Lynn and Paschal Baute
Report by Paschal

Outcomes
Sixteen of the 18 who completing the training, 15 women and one man, signed Commitment Agreement, to join Spellbinders. I am delighted with that number. Which is 91%.

This was the first time I had responsibility for the entire three days of training. I set out to create a warm, welcoming, sharing, friendly, learning community by using interactive exercises as often as possible. I believe we created that environment as evidenced by the ending attitudes of the participants. I was pleased and delighted with the presentations of the other trainers, each of whom did, INO, a great job.

Although I used small group process often, from the Thursday morning break on, we still did not get enough practice time foe some. I think I know why and will share at the debriefing where we can have time to talk. I can use another process model, if we do it agin, to get more speaking time for everyone.

Greg and I decided volunteers will receive Spellbinder badges at their first Spellbinder meeting, and their Certificate of Completion of Training after they complete at least two shadowing experiences. I look forward to other feedback.

I have participated in four training sessions, missing only the one last year. I believe this was the more thorough, demonstrating more variety of stories and performance styles, , the most user-friendly, and the most instructive and effective one we have done, due mainly to the team approach we used. I love the fact that these learners were exposed to a variety of storytelling styles, with many tips and hints, from four of us. I hope Lexington can continue and build upon this collegial experience. Thank you, Charlie, Margo, and Madge. Art Herman gave us one afternoon for coaching and a story. Charles Hardy, Margaret X and Gloria X (the two self-styled “virgin” storytellers who tell together) came the first morning to give us testimonials. I shall post the invited remarks of the three other presenters separately after they are received. Compliments about the food and the facilities were abundant and generous. For more feedback, see videotape.
Paschal.

WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS’ FEEDBACK SUMMARY
Rate these on a 1-5 scale, 5 being highest.
AVERAGES for the first five statements:
There was sufficient balance among stories, ideas, and exercises. 4.94
The handouts and study notes were clear and helpful. 4.5
I had sufficient opportunity to participate and practice. 4.8
The trainers were empowering. 5.0, with one adding many +’s
I feel prepared to begin a storytelling apprenticeship. 4.56
(If not, please find a time you are comfortable sharing this with one of the Workshop Leaders.)

NOTE: If all 18 participants had turned in Evaluations, the figures above would most likely be lower, because two did noit sigh up, so their experience wcould be less positive than the 16 who did commit.

Kindly print your answers to the rest:
This is the first time we have attempted this collaborative model of team training. Please tell us how you liked it and whether it worked for you. Were the differing presenting styles beneficial for you to learn better, feel encouraged and more confident to become an apprentice
Slowed the energy and dynamic of the story; safe and kind community for haring; joy of needing service and encouragement; sharing expertise; practicing, practicing, practicing; great job; great group of pro’s presentations,; stories and suggestions from all; wonderful excellent training; practice most fun thing I have done; encouragement that I can be a spellbinder could not be better; successful; spellbinder storyteller; Energy and dynamics, wish it had lasted four days; great teachers, most fun thing I have done; appreciate variety of different inputs; loved the team approach; More confident Very much so; having opportunity to see different styles of delivery; individual storytellers inspiring and encouraging; Yes, Yes;
The most valuable”take-away” for me was:
That I can do this activity as long as I like
Lots of support of folks with information and encouragement
Wish I had taken more notes
Being aware of the development stage of the audience, will learn more in monthly meetings,
Gaiming the confidence to be able to do storytelling
Stories and suggestions form each leader
Encouragement and many story options
Encouragement that I can be a spellbinder
Interaction and experience with others, how far reaching spellbinder
To hear storytelling from veterans
New friends
how wonderful storytelling isl
the value of sharing stories and new friends
Practice and know your story,
Relax and enjoy
How to use your voice, and facial expressions.
Learning the words to paint the picture. Just go with it and have fun.,
Exposure to storytelling and having fun

Please give at least one suggestion for improvement of the training.
Did not like reabind out loud from notes
The presentation, facilities and food were so good, I cannot complain
Everything was wonderful, excellent training session
I would have liked more practice time,
Need to exercise our storytelling in front of seasoned pros
Could not get any better
Keep it up and expand
More time to practice storytelling
Don’t run out of coffee
Thank you. Workshop was wonderful. Loved the resources. Might have the librarian to bring in books to use.
More practice but don’t know how we could do it.
Maybe story choices could be fewer.
Separate rooms for larger break out groups. Too much noise in one large room.
Keep it as it is. Difficult to suggest any improvement.

A Brief History of Spellbinders

2011-06-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

A Brief History of Spellbinders

The Spellbinders program grew out of an oral history project in a Denver middle school in 1989. While leading that project Germaine Dietsch noted how eagerly and intently children listened to the stories told by their elders. Germaine realized that it was not only the stories, but also the sense of connection and intimacy produced by the person-to-person storytelling that created the magic. This led her to seek sponsorship from Denver Public Schools to recruit a group of senior citizen volunteers to tell stories in the schools' classrooms. The schools volunteer specialist, Christine Smith, enthusiastically supported sponsorship. Her administrative office underwrote several sessions in the art of storytelling given by professional storytellers to the first group of six volunteers. Before long the six grew to twenty. Later, the informal storytelling sessions were developed into a three-day workshop by Cherie Karo Schwartz, a professional storyteller, and Germaine. The workshop, which became a requirement, enabled volunteers to become classroom storytellers Spellbinders!

More information contact Greg Davis, Lexington Public Library 231-5554,
or contact Paschal at
Next training is last week of July, 2011, Lexington.

Thanks to Beth Kirchner and the Woodford Theater ensemble, 1776

2011-05-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

Ms. Beth Kirchner
1776 ensemble
Theater front office and all volunteers

Wow! Simply Awesome!

Last fall, when I saw 1776 listed on the season program,
I said to myself.
Whose crazy, over ambitious idea?
No way.
I saw the movie.
1776 is too ambitious for an amateur theater.
Too many singing parts,
Too many critical acting roles.
Too much male bawdy humor to bring off well.
It is unlikely any amateur production could handle.

Was I ever wrong. Delightfully wrong.

Now I am a disable Veteran, my latest classification from the VA is “catastrophically disabled” Believe it or not, I have served with every branch of the U. S. Military, Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines (in that order), both enlisted and commissioned, active and reserve, over some 22 years.

That last scene, the signing one by one, was holy, sacred, deeply moving moment fo me, with enormous spiritual significance, not only to my life, but I believe also in the vast history of the cosmos.

Those words and ideals, as so well expressed, are still changing the world, now in the Middle
East. All over the Middle East, so much that the uprising are being called “an
Arab Spring.”

My wife and I are season ticket holders of four tickets, and bring different friends each time to introduce them to your theater. The couple we brought yesterday were enormously impressed, already being history buffs.

Another compliment. What a difference between the full dress rehearsal and this performance. May 12 was well recessed and delivered, moire more as a kind of warm up practice. Between May 12 and May 29, the whole cast really caught fire with the passion of the historian moment.
Great difference.

Yesterday, your cast knew, really knew they were creating, no, recreating one great moment of awesome spiritual experience. You all deserve no end of Kudos. They created, for me at least (and also for our guests), a powerful experience, a “church-moment of deep gratitude” (and I am a former Benedictine monk and Catholic priest). You could and should perform this all over the world.

I am simply delighted with what all of you are doing there. It is quite incredible that you have found so many volunteers with such talent and generosity.

Thank you also for your generosity in allowing me, a Spellbinder storyteller to invited other area storytellers to the full dress rehearsal night. We have three days of training , sponsored by eh Lexington Library (I am one of the trainers), but there is only a good introduction. As Ruth Sawyer said, it takes a while to become a fine storyteller. This opportunity provides not only an introduction to what you are doing here, but also Continuing Education in he art and Craft of storytelling for our Spellbinder group. May I hope this hospitality might be continued with your c successor?

This is only my third season, but yesterday, wife and I agreed , was clearly the best ever.

Best wishes for yourself
and for your staff, all the performers,
and all the volunteers who contribute so
generously to make this happen.

Paschal Baute
Spellbinder storyteller and psychologist
www.paschalbaute.com
May 20, 2011.

My newest book now being completed,
Storytelling: Mystery Power and Genius
catches this 1776 moment as
a powerful example of how
story nurtures the human spirit

Storytellng activities. local and regional.

2011-03-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES IN CENTRAL KENTUCKY]
and elsewhere. Internet sources included.
More than you wanted to know. Paschal Baute. 3/3/2011

A. Internet sources

1. Kentucky Storytelling Assn Events Calendar: . Link
Link /http://www.kystory.org/events/calendar.shtml

2. Spellbinder and other storytelling in central Ky link
Link
http://www.paschalbaute.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.storytelling
See links at the bottom of this page.

B. Regular local activities.

1. Wandering storytellers, Natasha’s Bistro. Downtown Lex, opposite Chase parking, middle of block.
Last Monday of each month, 8-10 two KSA members telling and open mike
March 28 will be Charlie Eyer and Paschal the Rascal.

2. Lexington Toastmasters open practice at Common Ground Coffee Café, on High near Rose, right hand with parking behind. Second Thursdays 7-9 p.m with Open Mike.

3. Spellbinders monthly meeting, Beaumont Public Library, Second Wednesday of Moth 10-111:30. Business meeting with some storytelling, Guests welcome.

4. OLLI Power of Story SIG If interest is sufficient, Paschal and Charlies will continue this OLLI Special Interest Group during the summer, probably once monthly.

C. State-wide and regional meetings. Annual Conferences

1. KSA conference, this year at Dale Hollow Park, No ember 4-5
link http://www.kystory.org/conference/intro.shtml

2. Cave Run Stloryteling Festival, Morehead, Ky September 23-24
Link
http://www.caverunstoryfest.org

3. Jonesboro TN Storytelling Conference, October 3-5, 2011
Link:
http://www.storytellingcenter.net/festival/

D. National groups.

1. Spellbinders. Link http://www.spellbinders.org/

2. National Storytelling Network. Events calendar has regional meetings
Link http://www.storynet.org/events/calendar.php

Chapter One. Ny Life and the Power of Story: an interactive journey,

2011-01-02T05:47:00.000-08:00

Context for the book
follows Intrroductionv. 10.0

Chapter One.
My Life and the Power of story:
An Interactive Journey

In this chapter, I explain how my life journey and life decisions
have been shaped by story and storytelling.

Those who are signed up for my OLLI
SIG should email me to receive this file.
It is no longer posted publicly.

Paschal
paschal.baute@insightbb.com

Grow Your Skills as a Storyteller...

2010-11-18T05:27:00.000-08:00

Grow your skills in the art and craft of storytelling
Upcoming Opportunities for Storytellers
in Central Kentucky. Courtesy of Paschal Baute

As a storyteller (or apprentice storyteller) in Central Kentucky, you are invited to accept free admission to the next production of the Woodford Theater, on Thursday eve, December 2, at 8 p.m. The production is “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Come and study the five language of storytelling: words, sound, gesture, attitude and interaction. You may bring a significant other. Simply call l Paschal (293-5302) before Dec. 1st, so we can have a number count. Woodford theater is in the new community center across from the Railroad museum, about 10 miles pas the airport..
More info including directions and map
http://www.woodfordcountytheater.com/home/

Those who are fifty years young are eligible for the University of Kentucky Osher Lifelong Learning programs, a variety of courses for ten dollars. Paschal and Charlie Eyer, another Spellbinder storyteller will lead a Special Interest Group (SIG) roup that you may sign up for. “Understand and Use the Power of Story and Storytelling.” starts in February. Get on the OLLI mailing list now.
More info http://www.mc.uky.edu/aging/olli.html, or Diana Director Lockridge, 257-2658.

Those who may have some interest in telling stories to our public school children, folk fairy tales, may want to google Spellbinders and consider the three day training for the Lexington chapter uncoiling this summer. DTBA. Lexington now has the second largest chapter of Spellbinder storytellers in the country, with Berea, Richmond and Jessamine County just adding local chapters. Call Greg David, Lex Pub Lib, 231-5554, to be put on mailing list for future dates. The training is free. In the meantime if you want to just tag along and observe a storytelling session in Lexington, call Paschal’s cell. I am telling at Cassidy and Liberty monthly. 293-5302

Upon invitation, starting in January, weather permitting, Paschal will accept an invitation to come to your adult Sunday School to speak to parents in the power and value of storytelling in nurturing the spirituality of children. I will use several handouts developed in other teaching. This is offered as an opportunity for your church to promote your Godly Play program and recruit volunteers. 293-5302. You can expect me to support the Godly Play program.

For those who want just to listen or observe storytelling, do not overlook Public radio 88.9 every Friday eve, 7-9 and Sat at non. Also Kentucky Stloryteling Association has a program at Natasha’s downtown on the last Monday of each Month at 8 p.m.
Common Ground Coffee Café has Open Mike Storytelling every second Thursday 7:30 to 9, location on High near Rose. If you want to be put on a list to remind you of these events, let me know. Paschal.baute@insightbb.com.

BTW, we are fortunate to have an extraordinary teacher and scholar of the bible here in Lexington, Dr. Margaret Ralph. She is now completing book #15. My brother, a retired Shell engineer has read all 14, after I introduced him to her first book some ten years ago, “And God Said What?” I would regard that book as essential reading for anyone who wants to teach bible stories.

If you ever have a chance to hear her, do not miss it, she is one of the best teachers and workshop presenters I have ever observed. She just completed a workshop for my brother’s Catholic parish in Covington, LA, and he agreed with me. If you are looking for a really meaningful gift for someone or yourself this Christmas, consider this book: And God Said What?

I will soon be making a number of suggestions to improve Godly Play both lessons and training. As far as I can tell, it has never been subjected to a serious critical review, and has a number of flaws, some I consider serious, both educationally and scripturally. I will offer this review so that your Godly Play program may have more effectiveness and accuracy to the inspired Word of God. This will be available after Christmas by visiting one of my blogs at
http://biblestorieschildren.blogspot.com/

I will not post these suggestions here. You may find them only at the web address above.

Hope some part of this spurs your interest in storytelling, which will also spur your motivation and skill for the Godly Play program.

Hope to see some of you Dec. 2. I usually sit on the front room, middle. Come, observe and enjoy the five languages of storytelling: words, sound, gesture, attitude and interaction.

Paschal Baute
Lexington Spellbinder

Fall 2010 Storytelling Possibilities

2010-09-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

Storytelling opportunist
Lexington areas this fall.
Both listening , telling and sponsoring

Code: CG = Common Ground Coffee Café on High near Rose
N = Natashas Bistro, opposite Chase parking.

Sept. 9 - CG Open Mic - Theme: "Joke Night"7-9

Sept. 15. Monthly meeting of Lexington Spellbinders. Guests welcome. Beaumont Library, 9:3- - 11 a.m.

Sept. 16. Woodford Theater. “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” Dress rehearsal. Central Ky storytellers have a free admission to dress rehearsal, Confirm reservation w. Paschal (cell 203-5302 by 9/14. Link http://www.woodfordcountytheater.com/home/

Sept. 23 - CG Storytelling Club Meeting - Workshop: "Telling Personal Stories about our Significant (or ex-significant) Other" conducted by Paschal Baute, 7-9

Sept 24-25 Cave Run Storytelling Festival. See website

Sept 28 0r 29 KSA Wandering Storyteller, place TBA.

Sept 29. First OLLI Donovan class in “Whoever Tells the Best Story wins.” by Paschal Baute and Charlie Eyer, at Temple Adath Israel, Ashland Avenue, 10-12. Further info:
(859) 257-2658 toll free (866) 602-5862 DianaL@uky.edu
UK website http://www.mc.uky.edu/aging/olli.html

Oct. 5 Opera House. Alltech Fortnight Festival and Variety Live present John Lithgow's "Stories by Heart"Tuesday, 7:30 pm. Link: http://www.lexingtonoperahouse.com/events/2010/20101005_johnLithgow.php

Oct 13. Monrhy meetung if Lexington Spellbinders. Guests welcome. Beaumant Library 9:30-11 am.

Oct 14. CG Open Mike “Can’t Live with them and can’t live without them.”

Oct 25. N Wandering Storyteller and Open Mike program, 8-10

Oct. 28th -CG Club Meting - Workshop: TBA

PLEASE NOTE Invitations for our Dream Catchers spellbinder storytelling group are being accepted for this fall. We perform for any grou0p to raise awareness of unsafe Kids in KY.(Our state has the worst record in the nation) Contact Pascal the Rascal, Lexington Spellbinder. 293-5302, Email: paschal.baute@insightbb.com. Web www.paschalbaute.com

Paschal's storyteling last year...

2010-08-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

Last school year, (2009-2010) now a sort of "swan song" year, I told stories at Deep Springs, Dixie, Bryan Sta Middle, Tates Creek, Yates, and regularly at Cassidy, Liberty, Providence Montessori, Active Day Adult, Richmond Place seniors, and the Fayette Co Detention Center. That was Just Fayette Co. Told also, entire school assembly, at Southern Elementary in Scott County and several times in Jessamine and also in Madison county in Richmond and Berea. A total of about 3400 children and adults.

Venues also included Camp Shalom, day camp at Emmanuel Episcopal in Winchester and the program at Castlewood Park, Natashas Cafe and Common Ground Coffee Cafe.

I developed and tauught a course on the Power of Story through the university of Kentucky OLLI (Donovan) program which I will repeat this fall, starting Sept 29, at Temple Adath Israel on Ashland Ave.

This year I need to cut back. I shall have, with the help of my wife and friends like Charlie Eyer, one more "Easter" year, planning to tell only at some of the above. esp Cassidy where my grandkids are and Liberty which is the closest and one of my favorites and the closest to my home, the other four being more optional.

I plan also to continue to work with our Dream Catchers Spellbinders group to perform for community groups am also recently working on catching and creative new stories that combine the great stories of Evolution and Genesis to tell Who We Are and How We Got Here and What this mystery of Existence is.

Paschal the Rascal
Lexington Spellbinder
tel 859-293-5302

STORU COURSE COMPLETED

2010-05-07T04:32:00.000-07:00

Story course Completed

Charlie Eyer and Paschal Baute, Lexington Spellbinders, have completed the first run of our new course on the Power of Story.

The course was sponsored by the OLLI Osher Life Long Learning Institute at the University of Kentucky/ "The Origin and Role of Story in History, Culture and Transformation" was the title.

This was our first effort to teach in a retirement village, and we are pleased with the results. Participants were involved, delightful, sharing, intelligent and progressive in outlook. We reached a new demographic group with the power of storytelling and news about Spellbnders.

Evaluations included these remaks:

Learned I was a storyt4eller.

Enjoyed the statement Everyone ha a story.

Appreciated background that led up the story.

Hearing stories, warm cordial presentations, location of class site and ease of parking.

Interesting people who attended.

Suggestions: AdvertiSe better for greater participation.

Better Marketing? Participants reported they signed up for the course because the title was curious. Ms. Lockridge and Paschal have already decided to make the title more alluring by changing it to "whoever Tells the Best Story Wins" rather than the previous more academic one. This latter title expresses more the theme of the course.

This course will be taught this summer, Saturdays, June 12 to July 17, 9:30 - 11:30 A.M. Registration required, 231-5549.

Different title, same curriculum, ?Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins.

Some course is planned to be taught beginning last Wednesday in September, six sessions at Temple Adath Israel on Ashland Avenue in Lexington, as part of the OLLI program. Register at 257-2656.

You Have Already Won the Lottery

2010-04-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

You have already won the lottery
Human Origin, Story and Happiness.
By Paschal Baute, Lexington Spellbinder storyteller.

A new remarkable book by Robert Emmons, Thanks, describes how the old adage, "Count your blessings" is the key to health, happiness and longevity. An attitude of human gratitude is found in repeated research to be the key to coping with the setback of life and living happily.

Among the numerous blessings in life are some we have no control over. We did nothing to insure our parents met and decided to love one another. One night, in a loving embrace a tiny seed was planted, an egg met a sperm, and our tiny life began. We are an "accident of love."

As that tiny thing began growing, the cells had to multiple a billion times correctly for us to be born healthily. About five out of a hundred children are born with some defect, hidden or obvious. We did nothing to earn that singular gift of life.

And that was only the beginning. All we did for several years, is eat, sleep and poop. Depending on how poopy we were and how neat our mothers were, our diapers were changed 3-5,000 times. It took about 6,000 meals to get us to age 18. We are alive today and prosper because of much loving. No parents are perfect and some children, due to illness, accident or disease do not survive.

When I was born in 1929, the average age span was 58. Now I am a survivor of metastasized cancer at age 80, and statistical tables give me another 6 or 7 years. My wife wears a pacemaker and still skies and manages our beautiful outdoor wedding garden where we live. Could we not each be surrounded by blessings we seldom appreciate?

We are the reason our parents and ancestors lived. We are the reason they cross oceans, prairies, mountains, often with great struggles to have a better life for their children. Born in the U.S.A., we enjoy blessings that are the envy of most of the rest of the world, but won at the terrible cost of about one million lives, In the Civil War alone, 600,000. Despite the flaws and corruption of our government, few of us would move elsewhere. we live in a country built on a view of human rights utterly inconceivable even in the Bible.

Further , the fascinating story of human origins is not usually told and seldom celebrated. We had a hundred grandmothers back to the time of Jesus, but 350 generations back to the time of the first written stories. When we go back to the beginning of storytelling and mythmaking, that journey took about 5,000 grandmothers.

The human race has been on earth about two million years. We know now by archeological evident that all four limbed critters come from a strange looking fish that crawled out of the sea to escape ferocious predators, about 375 million years ago. Scientists today are amazed at how many things Darwin got right, yet the accidental and serendipitous nature of his discovers are not well taught and seldom celebrated. (See Nova program, What Darwin Didn’t Know and the PBS website on evolution)

Why should any of us be here today, to have been born in an age when we can begin to recognize the great and incredible story of our origins, the human journey, and the blessings of this technology age?

Long ago, n the long, long nights when there were only storytelling, it is no wonder that themes were Overcoming the Monster and Rages to Riches, the Quest, Voyage and Return and Rebirth Themes (Crhistoper Booke, The Seven Basic Plots: Why We tell Stories). These stories helped us survive.

No wonder children love these stories. Their DNA craves them. They are hardwired to adapt and survive, and they love the wonder of the adventures awaiting.

We ourselves, alive today, are the ultimate rages to riches story.
Even more fascinating, it was the storytellers that helped create and shape the culture and beliefs that enabled us to survive, prosper and become the people we are today.

Just as we never dreamed of computers, the internet, microwave ovens, cell phones and Facebook, our children love these stories because they are preparing for worlds we never dreamed of.

Ahh. The mystery and wonder of evolution when story and belief gave us humans a “leg-up” in coping and survival.

Are we blessed? Are you blessed. You answer!

This is not ever to speak of the power of belief and amazing grace.

End.

Comments invited.
____
BREAKING NEWS
FREE COURSE ON STORY
LEXINGTON PpUBLIC LIBRARY
CENTRAL , THIS SUMMER

Paschal and Charlie Eyer , Lexington Spellbinders, will be teaching a short course on the Power of Story this summer, Saturday mornings, 9:30-11:30,
June 12-July 17.

WHOEVER TELLS THE BEST STORY WINS.

Join us in understanding the power of story to inspire, lead, change and transform human endeavor from the beginning of time. Learn about the fascinating role of storytelling in culture throughout history. Learn and Play with stories. For any adult who has or wishes to develop a love of storytelling.

Reservations required. 231-5549.

KENTUCKY STORYTELLERS TALK: Cynthia Changaris Interviewed

2010-01-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

Storytellers Talk. About Their Art
Cynthia Changaris interviewed.

Cynthia Changaris is one of two founding members, with Mary Hamilton, of the Kentucky Storytelling Association. At; the 2009 annual conference, Cynthia was the featured storyteller, as well as leadng two workshops on . She also leads W.O.W. workshops in storytelling and leads workshop including the Spellbinder training in 2007. Cynthia was interviewed in December of 2009 after the conference in Richmond by Paschal Baute. Lexington Spellbinder.

Paschal: “Why are we so ready to be captured by story?”

Cynthia: “ I do not believe people are ready to be captured by story. I believe they need to be lured into story listening, and once there, discover the delight, the fun, the humanity, the truth and often the light of listening. I believe the rhythm, vibration, action, emotions, and the narrative form, all are genetically encoded in us humans so we can be a people of community and be with each other. I believe story is like a deeply dug well and we know how to return to story to drink and refresh ourselves.”

Paschal: “What makes a story a well told tale"?

Cynthia: “The storyteller makes a point to be present with the audience at hand, fully present, authentic, and knows the story so well, image by image so that the storyteller creates worlds and the listeners can co-create their own worlds as they listen.”

Paschal: “What, in your opinion, are ‘tricks of the trade’ ways to ‘prime the pump,’ to get your audience attentive and engaged?”

Cynthia: “I speak to people, talk about what have they have been reading, what brought them there, what is going on in their community, What are their expectations, have they ever been to a story telling program before? What is going on in the space.”

Cynthia continues: “I ask myself: What are potential space/listening/observing problems for the audience, can I fix any of them or must I just go with the flow. I make myself as much at ease as possible, by meeting all the needs I have as best I can. I breathe. I often start with a song, because that eases me. I start with a funny or human interest story that is light but touches most of the audience because that lets the audience know they will be on a good and fun ride. I tell them a little bit about myself. I be the best me I can be.”

Paschal: “ When you have your audience ‘caught,’ spellbound or entranced, what is happening? Both to them and to you and between you and them?”

Cynthia: “They are listening raptly, eyes softened, mouths sometimes slack jawed, and they often breath with one breath. All of them are listening. The room has a stillness, a quietness, a holiness to it. Silence descends like sunshine. Community seems to be formed in front of me. I feel open, in the flow, neither too observant of my work or too unobservant. I am simply letting the story flow through me. I am breathing easily. Not tense. I am open hearted.”

Paschal: “. More than entertaining, what are the outcomes, in your opinion, that you are aiming for when you are really "in sync" with your audience. In other words what do you want them to leave with?”

Cynthia: “I want them to have had the experience, the opportunity to create the story with me, to experience the feelings, the sights, sounds, the actions, much like one would in being at a movie, but by making the pictures in their own head. I want them to have had a touch of humanity, of common ground, of insight, or ah ha. I want them to have laughed, and exercised their laughter muscles and released endorphins. I want them to be refreshed, rejuvenated, re-spirited. I want them to know we humans are an interesting, sometimes sorry, sometimes wonder filled lot, ain’t we just grand?”

Paschal: “ Is there, in your opinion, a spiritual dimensions to a story well told. If yes, please Explain...Define spiritual in your own way.”

Cynthia: “Yes. I always pray that I will be an instrument of the story and of the spirit, so that I can be open to telling the story, to choosing the things to say that help me connect and I hope the spirit guides me in this way. Stories themselves feed the spirit, feed the intellect, the decision making parts of us. I believe spirit is a large part of this. I wish ultimately to make people feel at home, feel they can come home, and be there.”

Paschal: “ What is it that is happening in a story well told between the teller and the engaged listener?”

Cynthia: “Communion. Simply, communion. The sharing of the bread and the wine and the spirit of all that it means to be human.”

Paschal: “ Where do you find your inspiration?”

Cynthia: “ I listen to storytellers, comedians, preachers, speakers every chance I get and get my inspiration from all sorts of places and all sorts of people, as I observe and listen to them through a storytellers eye/ear. I get my inspirations from reading, singing, playing, driving, quiet time, walking, touching. From church and from the profane. I keep my mind open and my thoughts active, as I drive, so stories often come to me then. I get my inspiration from listening, really listening to people. “

Cynthia continues: “I get my inspirations from the hard places I have been in my life, and from the things I have learned and noted. I get inspirations from my friends and from those who curiously make me uncomfortable.”

Paschal: How have you come by your love of story, storytelling and the teaching of storytelling?

Cynthia: I had three sons, two of who were dyslexic. This caused me to think a lot about how to help them learn better, and to read a lot about learning techniques. I read, took workshops, watched, listened and grew from the experience.

I have a life long and innate learning bias, since I was little. I have enjoyed and remembered best the things I have learned by encountering materiel and discovering things. I want to create "ah ha experiences" for people whom I am teaching. I want them to encounter work and materiel and have a chance to discover on their own what works, and what theories are applicable. This is the type of learning situation I am very interested in.

My mother was an extraordinary teacher. I watched and learned from her. I taught for 4 years at the College of Nursing at Medical University of SC, in community health. I learned a lot from doing this work, and from developing alternative learning techniques for older students, who were community and nursing leaders who came back for a baccalaureate.

I have an innate desire to create community, and do so when I am teaching. I believe community, dialog, conversation, sharing observations is a strong learning aide, and makes life more interesting and sparkly.

Thank you, Cynthia Changaris for sharing these thought and feelings about your art. Hopefully you have both spurred and encouraged our understanding of the art of storytelling. We may look forward to hearing from other Kentucky storytellers. You can find out more about Cynthia by visiting her website at http://www.storytellersriverhouse.com/

I

Drama this week for Kentucky storytellers

2009-11-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

A Private Free invitation to
Kentucky Storytellers
Drama “The Christmas Presence” at beautiful Woodford Theater
Final Dress Rehearsal night, Dec. 3, Thursday, 8:00 P

Fun evening of drama and laughter plus Study use of voice, projection, pacing, use of humor in the dramatic performance arts of acting.

Private guest invitation to the new Woodford Theater for Storytellers. The stunningly beautiful new woodford Theater, just a few miles from Lexington, off exit 33, first exit off Bluegrass Parkway. Beth Kirchner, Director, is inviting Lexington Spellbinders to the final dress rehearsal December 3, Thursday, 8:00 pm. Plan to arrive at 7:45 P

The Christmas presence is an original world premier production by the Woodford Theater’s artistic Director combines multiple holiday themes and elements into a sometimes comical, sometimes poignant story of community collaboration and Christmas spirit. Chock full of traditional holiday carols performed by a variety of quirk and compelling characters, the play joyfully explores the true nature of giving.

Performance dates for this second OF the season’s offerings are December 4-6, 13-16, and 18-20. Further information is obtained by calling the box office 873-0648, GPS 275 Beasley Drive, or online www.woodfordtheater.com.

Simply mention that you are a Lexington Spellbinders storyteller,. You may bring a significant other, but be sure to email Paschal as we need to know the number expected. Go to his web site Paschalbaute.com or email paschal.baute@insightbb.com Please let Paschal know by 12/1.

If you have not yet been to a final dress rehearsal, it is very interesting. If there is anything the director wants improved, it is done then and there. So lots of fun, good spirits and laughter.

Directions: Turn right at first exit 33, on Bluegrass Parkway, to first traffic light and turn left. At second light around a long curve, to through the intersection, up slight hill, then across railroad tracks turn first left, and theater is across from the Railroad Museum, in the large building to your right. About 3 to 4 miles from exit 33.
Remember I need a head count
by December 1, Tues. EMAIL PLEASE

Hot News for Later October. Deadline Octo 25

2009-10-20T06:15:00.000-07:00

Hot News for Late October
Lexington Spellbinders

Lexington Spellbinders are now members of the Kentucky Storytelling associate and thereby entitled to discounts in KSA actitivities.

For the first time ever we will have the KSA annual conference in Central Kentucky, and only 26 miles away in Richmond. Many activities, November 6 and 7, Friday non to Saturday 10 p.m.

Ten fabulous workshops, including “nuts and Bolts or storytelling,”“Audience Participation,” “Story Deliver,” telling to Pre-Schoolers,” Youth tellers,” Owning the Power of your own story,” and four others equally as exciting in possibilities for enhancing your skill, art and understanding. Go to KSA site for full program namely
http://www.kystory.org/conference/intro.shtml

Early registration fee (until October 25, so you have 5 days) for you is only $15.00. Please go to the KSA home page link to register now for this conference.. http://www.kystory.org/conference/2009-conf-registration-form.shtml

Please note: After October 25, conference fee is $35.00

Cynthia Changaris, one of my favorite storytellers is leading several workshops. She did the Lexmgton Spellbinder training in 2007. Mary Hamiltoni who trained us twice is now a national award wining storyteller and will be there. With many others.

You will not find this kind of gathering, excitement, talent, experience and love of story and storytelling in Central Kentucky for at least another five years.

Do not miss this. Register Now. You will love this gathering and the fun people you will meet.

Paschal the Rascal

Spellbinder Hot News for September

2009-09-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

SPELLBINDER HOT NEWS FOR SEPTEMBER

Some announcementS --Lots of Breaking news
Opportunities for skill development this month

See Note 3 at the end, for reminder of our own Lexington Spellbinder online Newspaper, and add this link to your desktop.

1. Cave Run Festival. Please let Greg know if you intend to go on Friday or Saturday, so he can reserve tickers at the gate for you.
Remember also Annual National storytelling Festival in Jonesboro,TN, Oct 2-4. I first started going 25 years ago. If you can go, you will be hooked. Also in Richmond, Ky Nov 7-8, at EKU, annual conference of the Kentucky Storytelling Association, with some 15 workshops offered. Not expensive, and only 26 miles. See either website for more info. This conference is usually held around the state and this is first time in 5 years it is near Lex. Grab a friend and go!

2. Local community storytelling events:

A. Paschal’s on this Satrata. We will share in small groups, and have Charlies fish fry at noon. 10-1. Directions Last subdivision before Clark county, Winchester Road, five miles from Man of War. Lofgren Court turn right then left. Follow signs.

B. Natasha’s Bistro. September 28, Monday eve, starting at 8. Our Charlie Hardy is one of the tellers. Other Thomas Freese, Kentuckl7 Storytelling Associate, See his website. $5 cover charge donation to KSA.

C. Same night. Thomas Freese, noted storyteller and author of five books on ghost stories will also be in Lexington at Natashas’ Café the same night with Charlie Hardy. To have someone in town like him is not to be missed. Thomas brings musical talent to his stories with guitar and harmonica. See note 2 below for more information about Thomas.

3. Shadow Opportunities, for New Spellbinders

See note 1 below on recommended check ins at schools.

9/18 Fri Charlie Hardy, at Stonewall, Home phone 2242352

I am telling to 4 groups of K, starting at 10. I will be telling the same stories, so anyone can come at any time. I hope they know the drill: Check in at the office, tell them they are here to see me tell stories in the K classes and they will direct them down there. Stonewall is where we had our recent training.

9/18 Fri Paschal Baute at Yates, cell 293-5302

Telling a combined group of 4th graders, at 1:00 p.m. Native stories. Yates is just off New Circle Road, outside, up from Old Continental Inn site, just past wendys, from the south.

9/22 Tu Margo Radcliff, at Julius Marks. Phone 224-9387

Grades k-1, at 11:15

9/23 We Margo Radcliff at Veterans Park elem phone 224-9387

Grades K-1, at 12:30

9/24 Barbara Barr, at Stonewall elem, Phone 278-7078

Grades 2 and 3, 10:30

10.6 Paschal at Cassidy, phone 293-5302

4th grade, 8:15. This time could change. I expect to be telling also at Liberty by this date, so give me a call if interested.

Note 1. Shadowing, please arrive at the school at least 15 minutes early, check in at the School Office, introduce yourself as a Spellbinder, get a school badge and locate the library, and introduce yourself to the school librarian, and ask her about a seat to observe. If you do not know where the school is located, use the internet or call the storyteller. When you are a guest, please do not arrive late.

Note 2. Thomas Freese, storyteller, author, artist, art therapist.

Storyteller

Thomas Freese is a storyteller and author who performs over a dozen entertaining and educational programs for both children and adults. He tells stories in schools, after school programs, libraries, community centers, private and company parties, church and other groups. His storytelling programs
include Origami Tales, World Folk Stories, Fairy Tales, Ghost Stories, Pioneer Tales, Silly Stories and Songs, Tales of the Desert Southwest, Hispanic Stories, Jack Tales, Star Stories, and Native American Tales. Thomas Freese brings musical talents to his story telling performances. He plays guitar, harmonica, and other instruments.

Author

Thomas has published five amazing books of ghost stories. He writes both nonfiction and fiction books. In addition he has written for over ten years for Lexington’s Chevy Chaser and Southsider Magazines with over 120 articles. His published works include: Shaker Ghost Stories from Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, Fog Swirler and 11 Other Ghost Stories, Strange and Wonderful Things: A Collection of Ghost Stories with Special Appearances by Witches and Other Bizarre Creatures, Haunted Battlefields of the South, Ghosts, Spirits and Angels: True Tales from Kentucky and Beyond.

Artist

Thomas Freese also is a visual artist in multiple media. He studied art at McNay Art Institute, The Southwest Craft Center, The University of New Mexico and The University of Louisville. Thomas created a line of wooden, folk art jewelry which includes Southwest and Celtic designs in pins and earrings. He taught as an Artist-in-Residence for many years through the Kentucky Art’s Council’s Arts Education program. Thomas is available to work with school and other groups, any age

Art Therapist

Thomas Freese has Master’s Degree in Expressive Therapies. His professional licensing and credentials include Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) and Registered Art Therapist, Board Certified (ATR-BC). His Bachelors Degree was in Psychology and he worked as a counselor in both clinical and school settings.

Let us welcome Thomas Freese to Lexington. For more information about Thomas visit his web site at
http://www.thomaslfreese.com/

Note 3. This update of Storytelling news will also be posted at our Lexington Spellbinder online newsletter site for further reference. Please bookmark this if you have not yet done so, as it will provide a ready reference of recent information of use to your volunteer storytelling.

http://lexingtonspellbinders.blogspot.com/

Let’s help each other get off to a great start this fall.

Looks as if we might have about ten this Saturday, so we will have some fun swapping stories and stretching wings. Call me if you find you can make it. Hate to run short of Charlie’s fish and baked green tomatoes. 293-5302, Paschal the Rascal.

Letter from Germaine, re religious concepts in stories, etc.

2009-09-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

LETTER from GERMAINE
Attn Lexington Spellbinders

June 30, 2009

Dear Greg,

I enjoyed immensely having the opportunity to lead the first day of your current Spellbinders workshop that included the new volunteers for Jessamine. I’m glad the next two days went well and hope both chapters will benefit from enthusiastic new Spellbinders!

As a result of an email from Paschal, and a conversation with Margo Ratcliffe, it seems there are some things that the Lexington chapter needs to have clarified. I mentioned to you that Margo had asked me about national Spellinders’ position on two items: whether it is okay for Spellbinders to tell stories about Christmas at Christmas-time and also whether a Spellbinder can tell stories at a church or at a venue other than their assigned school classrooms. In Paschal’s email he said there was some controversy in the chapter over some of the points in the Spellbinders Study Notes such as the use of props while storytelling and appropriate places for Spellbinders to tell stories.

Let me address each of these questions. The Study Notes are meant to be suggestions and background information, not to be rigid rules. The only “rules” are in the Standards and Guidelines which must be signed by all Spellbinders. The only item that may need clarification is Study Note #10 where it states “Spellbinders must not discuss religious, political or sexual matters with their listeners.” This shouldn’t be interpreted to mean that a story that touches on a celebration, such as Christmas or Hanukah or Kwanza, should not be told. It only means that the religion behind the story is not to be discussed. Individual chapters can make rules or suggestions beyond that guideline if it is deemed necessary.

In Study Note #9, under the Language and Cultural Considerations topic, it states that the storyteller and the chapter need to be aware of the racial and religious sensitivities of their community and be guided accordingly. In Study Note #11, it is suggested that Spellbinders prepare their audiences to hear their story by telling something at the start of the program about the story such as the culture it comes from or its relationship to the season. In the case of a Christmas story, the storyteller might say something like, “there are many stories that are connected to religious traditions at this time of year, like Christmas and Hanukah and Kwanza. The story I’m going to tell today is a Christmas story.”

Concerning locations where Spellbinders tell stories, public school classrooms and other facilities serving children are the main places that Spellbinders’ mission of nurturing literacy, character and intergenerational community can be fulfilled. This should not preclude individual Spellbinders from storytelling in other community locations where stories are welcomed and can provide a community service. They may do so as volunteers from their chapter or as independent volunteer storytellers. If a Spellbinder wishes to move on from being a volunteer to paid, professional status, that situation is addressed in #11 of the Standards and Guidelines. As to the use of props, have chapter members reread Study Note #10, Setting a Storytelling Mood, which give suggestions about use of props.

The Jeffco Chapter in Colorado, one of our largest and oldest chapters, did a Study Notes Review last year, using one Study Note per monthly meeting as the topic/theme of the meeting. They said it was very helpful to be reminded of things they may have forgotten or not fully understood at the beginning of their storytelling careers.

Lexington Spellbinders is a wonderful chapter and you are poised, with all your new Spellbinders, to make an even greater impact on your community with stories that build literacy, character and the spirit of humanity. I felt privileged to give the first workshop for your new volunteers.

Have a happy summer and a wonderful fall with your chapter.

Sincerely,

Germaine Dietsch
Spellbinders
Founder, Program Director
970-544-2389
www.spellbinders.org

Spellbinders mission is to nurture literacy, character
and the spirit of humanity
through the art of oral storytelling

New Spellbinders, suggestions.

2009-08-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

Spellbinders:
veteran and new
some Suggestions
from Paschal

After our shortened meeting last week, several new Spellbinders came up and expressed a concern about wanting more shadowing and more practice. I remember how unsure I was in the fall of 2006 as I began telling io children, even after much experience telling storeys to adults. It is the task of us veterans to help our new members make their transition. I have been thinking about this challenge ever since we met.

I remember and still know that I need several tellings of a ne story before I find my comfort level in doing it and then am more abler to improvise. I remember seeking different classes at Cassidy Elementary in 2006 so I could practice the same story.

Please allow me to make two suggestions to help with this process. .

As we get our first assignments, dates and places in September and later , let us use this email or the blog I have created as a Lexington Spellbinder newsletter to post places where we can be shadowe3d. This would cut down on the busy work in our meetings. I will post the blog address and if you bookmark it as a favorite place, you can have it handy for updates.

Secondly, it is useful for us to try our newly found stores that we want to experiment with, to have small group practice, say with 3 or 4, as w e did in the Spellbinder training. I have talked with Charlie Eyer and we want to host a Story Swap session the second Saturday in September just for this. We can start at 10 and end up with a fish fry at noon, as we did before. My place on Winchester Road. will give us plenty of room insider and outside for this as we have lots of shade trees here. Earlier a few Spellbinders wanted us to meet outside. I believe the outdoor setting adds something to this great campfire tradition. Maybe we could have an evening marshmallow roast with ghost stories here just for fun. Store displays are reminding us October is just around the corner.

I suspect Greg Davis still on a very deserved vacating will approve. Spouses and significant others would be welcome. So, tentatively, let us plan n September 12, following our next meting on September 9, when we can confirm attendance. 80 doers not come often, and Charlie Eyer is about to join me in reaching that wondrous mark.

Since I am soon leaving to spend a couple of weeks with a friend in Canada, I want to get this on the table for out planning. I plan not to be back in Kentucky until about September 8, just before out next meeting.

Sincerely,
Paschal and Charlie Eyer
August 19, Wednesday.

P.S. As I am accepting the challenge to introduce Spellbinders to one of our high schools this fall, I need some practice myself with several new teach-in tales I have ‘caught” and plan to use. My jailbirds, “Paschal’s rascals” liked one this past week, but I am not sure of high school students. You can help me with this. I still need my tun at practice. One new one is Michael the Mouse Motivator and his seven different brothers and sisters and what happened to them when they were chased by the dairy barn cat and all feel into a bucket of cream. A story of leadership, no guts, no glory.

Spellbinder Paschal Baute

2009-08-13T04:29:00.000-07:00

Posted on Wed, Aug. 12, 2009
He'll get you under his spell
By Mary Meehan
mmeehan1@herald-leader.com

Note from Paschal: I agreed to do this upon the condition there would be another article on our Spellbinders group, which is planned.

Paschal Baute is not afraid to wear a pointy wizard hat, growl like a menacing wolf or prance like an agitated chicken.

When telling a story, he both fills the room and makes a listener feel as if Baute is talking just to her.

He uses a BIG VOICE, then a small one, then a whisper. He stares and points and waves his hands. He might pull out a harmonica or the bongos.

Baute, also known as "Paschal the Rascal," is a teller of tales, and not just the Jay Leno monologue variety that might make you smile.

No, Baute and all of the rest of the storytellers who make up a group called Spellbinders think the well-chosen word can be insightful, transformative, even healing.

"Stories are about attitude. Stories are about life," says Baute, 80. "When you find the right story that you want to tell, then the story tells itself."

That was the theme of an intensive three-day training session this summer where 30 new Spellbinders honed their craft. The tips that Baute and other official Spellbinders trainers passed along were practical — speak with authority, use a big voice — and inspirational — "storytellers are dream catchers."

Lexington Spellbinders, the only Kentucky chapter of a national non-profit group, brings stories to expected places like libraries but also to some unexpected ones, like retirement homes and hospitals.

The group has long been part of the Lexington Public Library, which offers several training sessions a year. The new Spellbinders go on to work at libraries and in Fayette County schools. The Jessamine County Public Library also recently started a program with the help of the Lexington chapter. Baute, who helps maintain the group's blog, would like to see every school in the area have a storytelling program. Or, he said, as he warmed up to the idea, maybe a mentoring program in which middle school tellers teach elementary school kids.

"Paschal is such an excited person. He loves telling stories; he gets a huge charge out of it," said Greg Davis, marketing manager for the Lexington Public Library. When Baute is telling a story, Davis said, "there is such a connection."

"It can make the hair on the back of your neck stand up," he said. "He just creates a magnetism."

Davis said a lot of the local Spellbinders are older folks with a passion for being part of the community.

Germaine Dietsch, the national Spellbinder founder who spoke at the recent training session, said storytelling groups are spreading across the country.

In a world where you have to work to be disconnected, there is something soothingly primal about the oral tradition, she said. It speaks to something familiar deep inside us.

"Our lives are filled with stories from our families from generation to generation," Davis said. And, he said, there is a real benefit beyond wonder and fun. "For the children it increases their vocabulary, it enhances their listening skills and their attention spans."

Baute didn't come to Spellbinders until 2006, but he has been spinning yarns with a purpose for years.

Baute begins the explanation of the place that stories hold in his life this way:

"It's fascinating actually. ... I found myself on the island of Guam ...."

(One thing to know about talking with a storyteller: If you ask a question, be prepared to settle in.)

While on Guam, where the Army stationed him, he continued, he was a recruit who couldn't do anything right. His commanding officers told him that on a regular basis. His desire to tell stories sprung from looking for something to do other than stack and knock over beer cans in the makeshift lounge.

One of the first stories Baute remembered was told to him in his youth by a nun who always kept an eye on him because he always seemed to be on the verge of trouble.

The upshot of the story was that it's what you do next that matters, not what you've done or what's been done to you.

"You've got to forget where you came from" was the moral there. And the more he thought, the more he decided that "God had to be part of the equation" in whatever he did next, he said.

And so when Baute left the service, he joined a monastery and spent 16 years there. Studying the Scriptures, he said, showed him even more the power of story. The Bible is filled with great ones, he said.

After leaving the monastery, he worked full-time as a psychologist. And for some 30 years in the field, stories were key. People can change only what they understand, he said. Too often, he said, even if the story is clear, people "don't want to let go of the drama," he said.

Letting go of that drama and managing your life is part of the focus of a prison ministry in which Baute helps inmates at the Fayette County Detention Center use tell their own stories as part of a program to reduce the number of prisoners who end up back in jail.

Chaplain Gerard Howell said the stories are part of a larger program, designed in part by Baute. But the passion Baute brings to the exercise helps inmates open up in unexpected ways.

And, Howell said, it seems to be working. More inmates who successfully complete the program don't return to jail than do those who never tell a Baute tale.

Baute's individual story, even late in life, is still unfolding. More than 18 years ago, he helped found the Spiritual Growth Network, an ecumenical interfaith group, and he and his wife, Jannette, host regular meetings at their home off Winchester Road. They have created a meditative labyrinth and wedding chapel in their yard.

People don't realize the power of a story well told, Baute said.

"There is just a human connection," he said. "I don't know if I can actually put it into words ... but there is something between the storyteller and the person listening. It's a heart-to-heart connection."

Even when it's told by a guy in a pointy wizard hat.
Reach Mary Meehan at (859) 231-3261 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3261.
© 2009 Kentucky.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.kentucky.com

Welcomne to new Spellbinders, June 27, Saturday.

2009-06-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

Dear new Spellbinders

Allow me, before we read any feedback from you to say what I appreciate about what we did in the last three days this week.

The first thing I did yesterday was to email Charlie Hardy, Charlie Eyer.. Barbara Barr and Evelyn to say how grateful we are for their generous participation and help yesterday. .

Here are the outcomes I value. We managed to create a safe place where all present, if they so chose, could risk telling before our entire group-, a story. This came from 1) modeling, 2) generous encouragement, 3) practice first in groups of three, then in groups of six, and then with my challenge to risk it before the most encouraging group they would ever stand in front of, and, incidentally to earn the right to take home my WWF book.

I am very pleased that both Charlies, Barbara Barr and Evelyn Geller were able to contribute freely and generously, and that they felt comfortable doing so. They added a great talent and diversity of modeling to our process. We were able to have a diversity of LIVE modeling without the potential intimidation of watching a video of a professional storyteller.

I am also pleased that I was not so intimidated by Germaine that I did not risk throwing myself FULLY into the task and having great fun doing it. Enthusiasm can be caught not taught, and that is what they needed and really wanted, even if no one said so.

I am also pleased that we were able to include the importance of Voice training and practice, with 2 handouts I prepared just for that skill, which we have not respected sufficiently, but Germaine herself set the stage for seeing storytelling as a Performing Art.

Finally I am pleased that so many of this group volunteered to tell before ALL OF US on the last day, and often with such talent and group appreciating. I feel that was a WOW experience for many of our group. IN 4 years of training we have not had such at the end, (but this is likely as much due to those participants we had this time, and offering promise for our continued healthy growth.)

I am incredibly grateful for all Greg and Kelly of the LPL do for our group. I will be “on a high” for what we all together did for the advancement of this mission in Fayette county for days to come. And Jessamine county to boot!

I went Friday evening to a surprise birthday dinner with all my children and grandchildren, with three coming from Virginia Beach for the weekend. What a day yesterday turned out to be! My talkative family was able to keep it a secret. Wonders!

Charlie and I will both celebrate our 80th together on July 12 here and invite both veteran and new Spellbinders to share a love of stroryteling. We were both born in 1929 and our birthdays are just a few months apart.

Thank you for risking yourselves with us this week. Welcome to this exciting work of love in which we share our hearts with the young via the art of storytelling.

Sincerely,

Paschal the Rascal.

when children tell stories

2009-04-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

When Children Learn to Tell Stories, the Experience
Provides: A Rationale by Dr. Paschal Baute.

Recently, as a Spellbinder storyteller in four Lexington schools, Cassidy, Deep Springs, Liberty, and Squires, I have been experimenting with inviting children to learn to tell a story and coaching them to do so. They are eager to do so, and want to compete for the privilege of standing in front of their class to demonstrate what they have just learned. The experience for them is exciting and noteworthy. I want to suggest this opportunity well worth developing for its many benefits. One librarian where I have told for three years, said my last storytelling session there, doing this, was my best session ever.

If we are touching something dealing with language skills, speaking and listening and self-presentation in front of a group, with children excited and eager to do so, I suggest we have tapped a valuable resource for literacy development, even social and emotional development, possibily even leadership skills.

Could this possibly be an overlooked and hidden treasure in the educational challenges of today? George Lakoff, Berkeley Professor of Cognitive Science states that metaphor and story are the natural way children learn, that the human mind is hardwired for story and metaphor.

Others are presenting similar views and experience. Business leaders are promoting storytelling as “the secret language of leadership.” (Steve Denning, Annette Simmons and others)
Youth Storytelling festivals are developing,

Here is a brief summary of the benefits to children of learning to tell stories. They:

1) Increases their communicating skills; 2) Exercises their imagination; 3) have actual experience in making “”ad hoc” decisions while on their feet; 4) have vicarious experience in coping skills, 5) practice attaching meaning to sound; 6) learn the elements of drama which are the elements of life; 7 ) learn narrative form and convention; 8) develop poise in pubic speaking; 9) have an increased sense of community; 10) learn a leadership skill as storytelling has been employed for many millennia to inspire and motivate and transmit cultural values.

It is noted here that seven of the above are taken fr0om an article by the aware wining Kentucky storyteller, Mary Hamilton, in “When Children Tell Stories, Storytelling provides.” Quoted with permission, www.maryhamilton.info. Ms. Hamilton expands on the seven skills and qualities she lists. ”

WHEN CHILDREN TELL STORIES, by Mary Hamilton

2009-04-16T17:37:00.000-07:00

When children tell stories, storytelling provides

practice attaching meaning to sound. The tellers receive practice in communicating through how they say words, not just through what words they choose to say.

experience with narrative form and conventions. Children gain practice with the interaction of characters, setting, conflict, and plot. They also gain practice in using chronological phrases -- ex. then, that night, one day, after that, meanwhile, the next day.

vicarious experience making decisions and living with the consequences. Story characters make decisions – some wise, some foolish, some in-between – then must live with the consequences however painful or unexpected they may be. As the aspiring teller works to learn the story, the teller imagines the decisions and consequences within the safe realm of the story, and then returns to our real world with insight into decisions and consequences.

actual experience with making decisions. The art of preparing a story for telling requires multiple decisions – Which story shall I tell? How do I believe this character talks, stands, walks, etc? What will my audience need to know to understand what happens in this story? How can I adapt this story for different ages of listeners? What can I do to help myself remember the events of the story?

increased sense of community. When the students tell stories, not only will student tellers sharing a program feel an increased sense of community, but also the tellers will be creating a community experience shared by all the listeners. Everyone listening will be able to refer to the story again and again.

increased communication skills. Yes, tellers gain experience talking in front of groups, but they also develop the skill of attending to listeners for nonverbal feedback to guide the teller in how to present the story. Using nonverbal feedback is an important skill for successful conversations and other everyday interactions as well as for successful public speaking.

exercise for the imagination. The tellers and their listeners will 1) create internal pictures of the places and people, and 2) experience emotions and empathize as they imagine story events through the eyes of various characters. The ability to imagine forms the foundation of all human planning, hoping, dreaming, and inventing.

Handout created by Mary Hamilton, www.maryhamilton.info
For permission to reuse, please contact Mary at 502-223-4523,
mary@maryhamilton.info or 65 Springhill Road, Frankfort, KY 40601-9211.

Bibliography
Here are resources you will find helpful as you engage your students in the art of storytelling.

Barton, Bob. Telling Stories Your Way: Storytelling and Reading Aloud in the Classroom. Markham, Ontario, Canada: Pembroke Publishers, 2000. Distributed in the US by Stenhouse Publishers. ISBN 1-55138-119-2

Collins, Rives and Pamela J. Cooper. The Power of Story: Teaching and Learning through Storytelling, 2nd edition. Scottsdale, Arizona: Gorsuch Scarisbrick, Publishers, 1997. ISBN 0-89787-362-9

Cooper, Patsy, When Stories Come to School: Telling, Writing & Performing Stories in the Early Childhood Classroom. New York: Teachers and Writers Collaborative, 1993. ISBN 0-915924-77-3

Gillard, Marni. Storyteller, Story Teacher: Discovering the Power of Storytelling for Teaching and Learning. York, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers, 1996. ISBN 1-57110-014-8

Hamilton, Martha and Mitch Weiss. Children Tell Stories: Teaching and Using Storytelling in the Classroom, 2nd edition. Katonoh, New York: Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc. 2005. ISBN 1-57274-663-7 A DVD of children telling stories comes with this book.

Hamilton, Martha and Mitch Weiss. Stories in My Pocket: Tales Kids can Tell. Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing, 1996. ISBN 1-55591-957-X (pbk)

Norfolk, Sherry, Jane Stenson, and Diane Williams. The Storytelling Classroom: Applications Across the Curriculum. Westport,CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006. ISBN 1-59158-305-5

Sima, Judy, and Kevin Cordi. Raising Voices: Creating Youth Storytelling Groups and Troupes. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2003. ISBN 1-56308-919-X

WEBSITES
http://www.kystory.org Home of the Kentucky Storytelling Association. Learn about the Kentucky Youth Storytelling Competition, the Kentucky Storytelling Conference, and much, much more. On the Youth Storytelling opening page, you’ll find a link to participants telling at the National Youth Storytelling Showcase.

www.storyarts.org You’ll find lesson plans and other activities for engaging children with storytelling here, as well as lots of information for your own storytelling. Site by Heather Forest, a New York-based storyteller.

http://www.storybug.net You’ll find sections for teachers (including an overview of research on storytelling and learning and lots of curriculum tie-ins) and sections for kids. You’ll also find the absolute best set of links and pdf documents related to storytelling. Site by Karen Chace, Massachusetts-based storyteller and web researcher.

http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/curr/107637.htm This link will take you to the National Council of Teachers of English Position Statement on Storytelling.

Handout created by Mary Hamilton, www.maryhamilton.info
For permission to reuse, please contact Mary at 502-223-4523,
mary@maryhamilton.info or 65 Springhill Road, Frankfort, KY 40601-9211.

Recent References in Healing Stories., List for Ohio Psychologists, 2009

2009-03-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

IN an invited workshop on the Healing Power of Stories in February for Ohio Psychologists, I listed these references.

101 Healing Stories for kids and Teens.(Using Metaphors in Therapy) George W. Burns, Wiley, 2005
Healing With Stories. (Your Casebook Collection for Using Therapeutic Metaphors) George W. Burns. 2007
I Never Met a Metaphor I Didn’t Like. Dr. Marty Grothe, Collins, 2008
Metaphors We Live By, third Edition, George Lakoff, and Mark Johnson, , U. Lf Chicago, 2005.
Once Upon a Time, Storytelling to Teach Character and Prevent Bullying. Lessons from 99 Mult9i-cultural folk Tales for Grade k-8. Elisa Davy Pearmain, Character Development Group, Inc. NC
The Secret Language of Leadership, Steven Denning,
The Seven Basic Plots. Christopher Booke, Continuum, 2007
Therapeutic Metaphors. David Gordon, Meta Publications, 1976.
The Story Factor. Annette Simmons.
Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins. Annette

WHY WE TELL STORIES, BY Lisel Mueller

2009-03-10T05:24:00.000-07:00

Why We Tell Stories

For Linda Foster

I
Because we used to have leaves
and on damp days
our muscles feel a tug,
painful now, from when roots
pulled us into the ground

and because our children believe
they can fly, an instinct retained
from when the bones in our arms
were shaped like zithers and broke
neatly under their feathers

and because before we had lungs
we knew how far it was to the bottom
as we floated open-eyed
like painted scarves through the scenery
of dreams, and because we awakened

and learned to speak

2
We sat by the fire in our caves,
and because we were poor, we made up a tale
about a treasure mountain
that would open only for us

and because we were always defeated,
we invented impossible riddles
only we could solve,
monsters only we could kill,
women who could love no one else
and because we had survived
sisters and brothers, daughters and sons,
we discovered bones that rose
from the dark earth and sang
as white birds in the trees

3
Because the story of our life
becomes our life

Because each of us tells
the same story
but tells it differently

and none of us tells it
the same way twice

Because grandmothers looking like spiders
want to enchant the children
and grandfathers need to convince us
what happened happened because of them

and though we listen only
haphazardly, with one ear,
we will begin our story
with the word and

Lisel Mueller

Secrets of Storytelling, NSN article

2008-12-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

The Secrets of Storytelling
Jeremy Hsu

Our love for telling tales reveals the workings of the mind

* Storytelling is a human universal, and common themes appear in tales throughout history and all over the the world.
* These characteristics of stories, and our natural affinity toward them, reveal clues about our evolutionary history and the roots of emotion and empathy in the mind.
* By studying narrative’s power to influence beliefs, researchers are discovering how we analyze information and accept new ideas.

When Brad Pitt tells Eric Bana in the 2004 film Troy that “there are no pacts between lions and men,” he is not reciting a clever line from the pen of a Hollywood screenwriter. He is speaking Achilles’ words in English as Homer wrote them in Greek more than 2,000 years ago in the Iliad. The tale of the Trojan War has captivated generations of audiences while evolving from its origins as an oral epic to written versions and, finally, to several film adaptations. The power of this story to transcend time, language and culture is clear even today, evidenced by Troy’s robust success around the world.

Popular tales do far more than entertain, however. Psychologists and neuroscientists have recently become fascinated by the human predilection for storytelling. Why does our brain seem to be wired to enjoy stories? And how do the emotional and cognitive effects of a narrative influence our beliefs and real-world decisions?

The answers to these questions seem to be rooted in our history as a social animal. We tell stories about other people and for other people. Stories help us to keep tabs on what is happening in our communities. The safe, imaginary world of a story may be a kind of training ground, where we can practice interacting with others and learn the customs and rules of society. And stories have a unique power to persuade and motivate, because they appeal to our emotions and capacity for empathy.

A Good Yarn
Storytelling is one of the few human traits that are truly universal across culture and through all of known history. Anthropologists find evidence of folktales everywhere in ancient cultures, written in Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Egyptian and Sumerian. People in societies of all types weave narratives, from oral storytellers in hunter-gatherer tribes to the millions of writers churning out books, television shows and movies. And when a characteristic behavior shows up in so many different societies, researchers pay attention: its roots may tell us something about our evolutionary past.

To study storytelling, scientists must first define what constitutes a story, and that can prove tricky. Because there are so many diverse forms, scholars often define story structure, known as narrative, by explaining what it is not. Exposition contrasts with narrative by being a simple, straightforward explanation, such as a list of facts or an encyclopedia entry. Another standard approach defines narrative as a series of causally linked events that unfold over time. A third definition hinges on the typical narrative’s subject matter: the interactions of intentional agents—characters with minds—who possess various motivations.

However narrative is defined, people know it when they feel it. Whether fiction or nonfiction, a narrative engages its audience through psychological realism—recognizable emotions and believable interactions among characters.

“Everyone has a natural detector for psychological realism,” says Raymond A. Mar, assistant professor of psychology at York University in Toronto. “We can tell when something rings false.”

But the best stories—those retold through generations and translated into other languages—do more than simply present a believable picture. These tales captivate their audience, whose emotions can be inextricably tied to those of the story’s characters. Such immersion is a state psychologists call “narrative transport.”

Researchers have only begun teasing out the relations among the variables that can initiate narrative transport. A 2004 study by psychologist Melanie C. Green, now at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, showed that prior knowledge and life experience affected the immersive experience. Volunteers read a short story about a gay man attending his college fraternity’s reunion. Those who had friends or family members who were homosexual reported higher transportation, and they also perceived the story events, settings and characters to be more realistic. Transportation was also deeper for participants with past experiences in fraternities or sororities. “Familiarity helps, and a character to identify with helps,” Green explains.

Other research by Green has found that people who perform better on tests of empathy, or the capacity to perceive another person’s emotions, become more easily transported regardless of the story. “There seems to be a reasonable amount of variation, all the way up to people who can get swept away by a Hallmark commercial,” Green says.

In Another’s Shoes
Empathy is part of the larger ability humans have to put themselves in another person’s shoes: we can attribute mental states—awareness, intent—to another entity. Theory of mind, as this trait is known, is crucial to social interaction and communal living—and to understanding stories.

Children develop theory of mind around age four or five. A 2007 study by psychologists Daniela O’Neill and Rebecca Shultis, both at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, found that five-year-olds could follow the thoughts of an imaginary character but that three-year-olds could not. The children saw model cows in both a barn and a field, and the researchers told them that a farmer sitting in the barn was thinking of milking the cow in the field. When then asked to point to the cow the farmer wanted to milk, three-year-olds pointed to the cow in the barn—they had a hard time following the character’s thoughts to the cow in the field. Five-year-olds, however, pointed to the cow in the field, demonstrating theory of mind.

Perhaps because theory of mind is so vital to social living, once we possess it we tend to imagine minds everywhere, making stories out of everything. A classic 1944 study by Fritz Heider and Mary-Ann Simmel, then at Smith College, elegantly demonstrated this tendency. The psychologists showed people an animation of a pair of triangles and a circle moving around a square and asked the participants what was happening. The subjects described the scene as if the shapes had intentions and motivations—for example, “The circle is chasing the triangles.” Many studies since then have confirmed the human predilection to make characters and narratives out of whatever we see in the world around us.

But what could be the evolutionary advantage of being so prone to fantasy? “One might have expected natural selection to have weeded out any inclination to engage in imaginary worlds rather than the real one,” writes Steven Pinker, a Harvard University evolutionary psychologist, in the April 2007 issue of Philosophy and Literature. Pinker goes on to argue against this claim, positing that stories are an important tool for learning and for developing relationships with others in one’s social group. And most scientists are starting to agree: stories have such a powerful and universal appeal that the neurological roots of both telling tales and enjoying them are probably tied to crucial parts of our social cognition.

As our ancestors evolved to live in groups, the hypothesis goes, they had to make sense of increasingly complex social relationships. Living in a community requires keeping tabs on who the group members are and what they are doing. What better way to spread such information than through storytelling?

Indeed, to this day people spend most of their conversations telling personal stories and gossiping. A 1997 study by anthropologist and evolutionary biologist Robin Dunbar, then at the University of Liverpool in England, found that social topics accounted for 65 percent of speaking time among people in public places, regardless of age or gender.
Anthropologists note that storytelling could have also persisted in human culture because it promotes social cohesion among groups and serves as a valuable method to pass on knowledge to future generations. But some psychologists are starting to believe that stories have an important effect on individuals as well—the imaginary world may serve as a proving ground for vital social skills.

“If you’re training to be a pilot, you spend time in a flight simulator,” says Keith Oatley, a professor of applied cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto. Preliminary research by Oatley and Mar suggests that stories may act as “flight simulators” for social life. A 2006 study hinted at a connection between the enjoyment of stories and better social abilities. The researchers used both self-report and assessment tests to determine social ability and empathy among 94 students, whom they also surveyed for name recognition of authors who wrote narrative fiction and nonnarrative nonfiction. They found that students who had had more exposure to fiction tended to perform better on social ability and empathy tests. Although the results are provocative, the authors caution that the study did not probe cause and effect—exposure to stories may hone social skills as the researchers suspect, but perhaps socially inclined individuals simply seek out more narrative fiction.

In support for the idea that stories act as practice for real life are imaging studies that reveal similar brain ac-tivity during viewings of real people and animated cha-racters. In 2007 Mar conducted a study using Waking Life, a 2001 film in which live footage of actors was traced so that the characters appear to be animated drawings. Mar used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan volunteers’ brains as they watched matching footage of the real actors and the corresponding animated characters. During the real footage, brain activity spiked strongly in the superior temporal sulcus and the temporoparietal junction, areas associated with processing biological motion. The same areas lit up to a lesser extent for the animated footage. “This difference in brain activation could be how we distinguish between fantasy and reality,” Mar says.

As psychologists probe our love of stories for clues about our evolutionary history, other researchers have begun examining the themes and character types that appear consistently in narratives from all cultures. Their work is revealing universal similarities that may reflect a shared, evolved human psyche.

Boy Meets Girl …
A 2006 study by Jonathan Gottschall, an English professor at Washington & Jefferson College, found relevant depictions of romantic love in folktales scattered across space and time. The idea of romantic love has not been traditionally considered to be a cultural universal because of the many societies in which marriage is mainly an economic or utilitarian consideration. But Gottschall’s study suggests that rather than being a construct of certain societies, romantic love must have roots in our common ancestry. In other words, romance—not just sex—has a biological basis in the brain.

“You do find these commonalities,” Gottschall says. He is one of several scholars, known informally as literary Darwinists, who assert that story themes do not simply spring from each specific culture. Instead the literary Darwinists propose that stories from around the world have universal themes reflecting our common underlying biology.

Another of Gottschall’s studies published earlier this year reveals a persistent mind-set regarding gender roles. His team did a content analysis of 90 folktale collections, each consisting of 50 to 100 stories, from societies running the gamut from industrial nations to hunter-gatherer tribes. They found overwhelmingly similar gender depictions emphasizing strong male protagonists and female beauty. To counterbalance the possibility that male storytellers were biasing gender idealizations, the team also sampled cultures that were more egalitarian and less patriarchal.

“We couldn’t even find one culture that had more emphasis on male beauty,” Gottschall notes, explaining that the study sample had three times as many male as compared with female main characters and six times as many references to female beauty as to male beauty. That difference in gender stereotypes, he suggests, may reflect the classic Darwinian emphasis on reproductive health in women, signified by youth and beauty, and on the desirable male ability to provide for a family, signaled by physical power and success.

Other common narrative themes reveal our basic wants and needs. “Narrative involves agents pursuing some goal,” says Patrick Colm Hogan, professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Connecticut. “The standard goals are partially a result of how our emotion systems are set up.”

Hogan does not consider himself a literary Darwinist, but his research on everything from Hindu epic poems such as the Ramayana to modern film adaptations of Shakespeare supports the idea that stories reveal something about human emotions seated in the mind. As many as two thirds of the most respected stories in narrative traditions seem to be variations on three narrative patterns, or prototypes, according to Hogan. The two more common prototypes are romantic and heroic scenarios—the former focuses on the trials and travails of love, whereas the latter deals with power struggles. The third prototype, dubbed “sacrificial” by Hogan, focuses on agrarian plenty versus famine as well as on societal redemption. These themes appear over and over again as humans create narrative records of their most basic needs: food, reproduction and social status.

Happily Ever After
The power of stories does not stop with their ability to reveal the workings of our minds. Narrative is also a potent persuasive tool, according to Hogan and other researchers, and it has the ability to shape beliefs and change minds.

Advertisers have long taken advantage of narrative persuasiveness by sprinkling likable characters or funny stories into their commercials. A 2007 study by marketing researcher Jennifer Edson Escalas of Vanderbilt University found that a test audience responded more positively to advertisements in narrative form as compared with straightforward ads that encouraged viewers to think about the arguments for a product. Similarly, Green co-authored a 2006 study that showed that labeling information as “fact” increased critical analysis, whereas labeling information as “fiction” had the opposite effect. Studies such as these suggest people accept ideas more readily when their minds are in story mode as opposed to when they are in an analytical mind-set.

Works of fiction may even have unexpected real-world effects on people’s choices. Merlot was one of the most popular red wines among Americans until the 2005 film Sideways depicted actor Paul Giamatti as an ornery wine lover who snubbed it as a common, inferior wine. Winemakers saw a noticeable drop in sales of the red wine that year, particularly after Sideways garnered national attention through several Oscar nominations.

As researchers continue to investigate storytelling’s power and pervasiveness, they are also looking for ways to harness that power. Some such as Green are studying how stories can have applications in promoting positive health messages. “A lot of problems are behaviorally based,” Green says, pointing to research documenting the influence of Hollywood films on smoking habits among teens. And Mar and Oatley want to further examine how stories can enhance social skills by acting as simulators for the brain, which may turn the idea of the socially crippled bookworm on its head.

One thing is clear—although research on stories has only just begun, it has already turned up a wealth of information about the social roots of the human mind—and, in science, that’s a happy ending.

Note: This story was originally printed with the title, "The Secrets of Storytelling".

Special Thankks to Spellbinders

2008-11-28T07:36:00.001-08:00

"We are fully alive to the extent that the heart is aware of its treasures."–Thornton Wilder

Spellbinder Friends:

I can’t believe I am having this much fun in my life as I am soon approaching my 80th birthday.
A large part is my association with all of you in Spellbinders. So allow me to express my deep appreciate to our pioneer founding “mothers” this weekend, and to all who are responsible for keeping this wonder-filled activity alive and going well.

When I started this a few years ago, I did it out of sense of obligation, sharing and adventure. I had no idea as the activity grew on me and I grew into it that it would produce such joy-filled reward. I look forward to continuing this as long as I am able.

Couple of points. I am giving up telling at Deep Springs Elementary simply because I am over-stretched after taking on Shriners Hospital with Liberty, Squires and Cassidy. The librarian there is welcoming so if one of you would like to take this on, please call me for name and tel. Number. I can be reached at 293-5300 or (cell) 576-6512

Last year we established a Lexington Spellbinders web blog, an online newspaper, for resources, news, and between meeting updates. The blog has posted many storytelling references with the help of Arthur Abshire. If you want to participate there are two ways. You can join the blog to post items of interest yourself, or just be reminded that there is a new news item posted there. Since we are too easily overwhelmed by spam and unwanted messages today, I will need to hear from you whether you wish to be part of either, nor not.

I have just posted there a marvelous History of Storytelling, which has just begun to fascinate me. We storytellers and myth-makers were the agents who created human culture starting about 100,000 years ago. It was oral storytelling alone that created and nourished the meanings of life for another 90,000 years until the advent of writing about 5,000 years ago. We come from and inherit a long rich welcoming tradition that has nourished the power of imagination and the human spirit since the very beginning. Another excellent introduction is Karen Armstrong. A Brief History of Mythmaking.

Thank you all. I am enormously indebted to this group for much joy.

Paschal Baute
Thanksgiving Day, 2008

If you simply want to visit this Lexington Spellbinder resource occasionally or whenever, make a bookmark my home website, click on blogs (Left panel) and scan down to almost the bottom of the blogs for Lexington Spellbinders Storytelling blog, and click there on the title, which will bring up the latest post. Website: www.paschalbaute.com

The Histtory of Storytelling, by Donald Hamilton

2008-11-26T05:31:00.000-08:00

THE HISTORY OF STORYTELLING!

Ever since mankind became imaginative, storytellers have been
explaining everything people encountered, whether or not it was true.
These storytellers are modern humans most influential people.

© 1999 - 2002 Donald L. Hamilton

Human Imagination has given mankind the unique ability to communicate abstract concepts and ideas among its people. It has given its storytellers the power to emotionally enter people's minds. These storyteller's have the ability to create happiness or hatred or any other emotion humans may possess. Their ability to persuade make tham one of the most powerful groups among the "Homo Imaginative Sapiens" species.

Ever since mankind had evolved a brain capable comprehending abstract ideas, along with an extremely powerful creative imagination, people have from generation to generation gradually created more complex cultures as they progressed. Their highly sophisticated talking apparatus in their throats plus this powerful new imagination enabled them to create many complex vocal sounds that they could associate with everything they encountered in everyday life, even the mysterious things they encountered but did not understand.

They connected these vocal sounds into a series of sounds that became crude sentences. Languages were created. This allowed them to convey more complex and sophisticated ideas to one another. Eventually, the sentences became a language, the language of a particular family or tribe. There are thousands of different languages and dialects in the world today.

People used this crude language to convey everyday deeds and ideas to one another. Some imaginative people in the tribe began using the words to tell stories of events that happened to them, perhaps on a hunt or some other incident. They discovered that if they used their imagination they could embellish their stories with fanciful fabrications. This gave them a sense of power. By telling stories they soon realized that they could influence the other people to do their bidding, either good or bad. They could dominate other people just by their storytelling. They could frighten them with their stories. These people have evolved into our storytellers, mankind's most influential and powerful people.

As languages became more sophisticated and complex, people's imagination began to aggrandize. Its hard to imagine imagining without having a language to use. Our imagination works best when it is stimulated by challenges - adversity, exigencies, beauty, new ideas, etc. Its power multiplies when it interacts with other “imaginative minds”. The power of our imagination depends upon the sophistication of the society we live in. The more words we have at our disposal the better our imagination will work.

Words are mental pictures we have learned to associate in our imagination with specific things and ideas, either by vocal sounds, writing, or signs (hand). They are one of mankind’s most vital tools.

Early storytellers told of great encounters they had with animals and other tribes whether it was true or imaginary. The early artists tried to tell their stories by painting pictures on the cave walls or rocks. They told of encounters with their ancestors, of imaginary adventures. Anything they did not understand they rationalized with a fabricated story.

Eventually some imaginative storytellers invented Gods, a ‘supernatural beings’ that had special powers to control certain phenomena, to explain various things such as thunder and lightning, etc. that they did not understand or was difficult to explain. (Man always has that feeling of a mysterious unknown in the back of his mind.) These stories were passed on from generation to generation, embellished and changed somewhat. They became the great myths of the tribes. The storytellers created myths, superstitions, rituals, morals, traditions, rules, codes, laws, religions, from things that they experienced or imagined in their mind.

Some storytellers, in order to make a greater impression on their audience, even claimed to have talked with their ‘Gods’. This made the storytellers very special people themselves. It gave them a special power, to be able to talk to their ‘Gods’. They became the priests of the tribe. They claimed they received special powers from their ‘Gods’. It elevated them above the other members of the tribe. They now enjoyed a very special standing within the tribe and were able to exert much greater influence on their fellow tribesmen, even to the point of demanding animal and human sacrifices.

For thousands of years these storyteller priests, all over the world, were able to convince their believers that these sacrifices were necessary to satisfy their ‘Gods’. Hundreds of thousands of people died because of these stories. It was a form of domination and mind control on their part, a method of influencing and controlling their subjects. Their myths and stories were mainly used to set a moral codes for the tribe to follow, with their ‘Gods’ looking over their shoulder to make sure they followed the codes. Moses went up the mountain and came back down with the Ten Commandments his ‘God’ had given him. These commandments became the dominant moral code for western civilization.

For hundreds of years the Hebrew tribe’s storytellers spun their tales, created traditions, etc. They were passed down verbally from generation to generation and finally collected and written down in the Bible as the word of ‘God’. Later the followers of Jesus Christ added their own stories to the Bible as the New Testament. These were also accepted as the word of 'God' by the Christians but not by the Jews.

Homer's great epics are another example of the tenacity of storytelling and the power of the human memory. Homer created his stories around 1200 BC, long before the Greeks developed a credible, lasting, alphabet. His works were then passed vocally from generation to generation for hundreds of chaotic years by a sect of priests called the Homer ides of Chios. They were devoted to preserving, purifying and reciting these stories. They had to completely rely on their memory to accurately convey these great works through the ages. The stories were finally written down around 700 BC. They became the textbooks in the schools of Greece and the cornerstone of western literature.

Great storytellers such as Jesus Christ, Confucius, Moses, Mohammed, Gautama Buddha and the Hindus' of ancient times created the world's great religious myths and moral codes that are followed by billions of people today. Moses and Mohammed claimed to get their stories directly from God. Jesus said he was the son of God. Confusius was more interested in explaining everyday life rather then spiritual life and the mystery of creation. These philosophies have a powerful positive influence on humanity.

In contrast to this positive influence, at the extreme other end of the spectrum, was Germany's famous storyteller, Adolph Hitler. Hitler is a good example of a creative imagination doing its worst for mankind. (The human imagination can create stories that promote tremendous evil just as well as it can create stories that promote tremendous good.) By writing his book, giving hundreds of stirring speeches, staging tremendous awe inspiring rallies, and telling many stories he convinced the German people to follow him. All of these things put together were Hitler's “story”. His stories provoked deep human emotions that created tremendous hate and anger against his potential victims.

Hitler was well aware of the power of storytelling, since the very first thing he did when he came to power was burn the books of the other storytellers. He made sure his was the only story being told in Germany. It is ironic that some of the greatest storytellers of all time (the Jews) were prime victims of this evil storyteller.

Democracy and freedom were held in very low esteem in Hitler’s Germany. At about the same time that Hegal was creating his philosophy (that contributed to the rise of Hitler), our country’s storytellers; Jefferson, Paine, Henry, Adams and their contemporaries, were creating our country's democratic philosophy. Later, Karl Marx another powerful storyteller created the communist philosophy. Which stories would become dominant was determined in the battles of World War Two and with the communist philosophy, in the “cold war”.

President Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and General Charles DeGaulle were the storytellers who prevailed in this era. The stories of each of these leaders offered mainly hope to their people and led the way to our post war prosperity. I think Stalin was more of a ruthless power grabber, rather then a storyteller. Lenin and Marx were the storytellers who influenced the people in Russia. Benito Mussolini and Mao Tse-tung were other storytellers whose stories led to tremendous grief for the people of their respective countries and other countries.

In the New World, thousands of years ago, an ancient storyteller priest somewhere in central or South America told the story to the effect, that in order to appease their gods and keep them happy they would have to sacrifice people by cutting their hearts out and spilling their blood. This grim story unfortunately was accepted and spread throughout the area. As a result of this story, millions of innocent people were murdered in these regions by the Aztecs, Incas, Mayas, etc. for hundreds of years. There are countless other examples of storytelling that have had a profound effect on mankind throughout its history. It seems as though people will believe any story they hear. Storytellers are extremely powerful people.

All families, tribes and societies need resolute storytellers to constantly encourage, inspire and guide their people in a positive moral manner!

Storytelling, both positive and negative, is one of the most powerful of all human capabilities. It is surely one of the devil's most valuable tools. (Yes, there really is a devil, but it exists only in the 'Mind' of mankind. It is simply the dark side of Human Imagination.) Storytelling is used in every conceivable way to influence motivate and dominate people. It is easy to spot the evil storytellers on television and in the other media today spinning (or singing) their tales of hate. People who agitate hatred and anger against other people, who falsely accuse their neighbors of wrong doing, or start false rumors are examples of evil storytellers.

The young girls who instigated the infamous witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts a couple of hundred years ago by accusing their neighbors of witchcraft are good examples of the harm this type of storytelling can cause, especially when some foolish people take the accusers seriously. It still goes on today, falsely accusing people, wrecking their lives.

The Homo Sapiens before they received their powerful imagination (before the "transformation" to imaginative beings) were not capable of this power. They were extremely intelligent beings but lacked the Human Imagination. They did not have the mental power to invent words, languages, stories, etc. According to recent findings they lacked the "language gene" necessary to begin the storytelling traditions.
Language gene

For thousands of years following mankind's transformation people had only the spoken word to rely on for their communication. Ancient prehistoric drawings and paintings of animals, people and symbols were also early forms of communicating. This type of communicating evolved into pictographs and later ideographs such as the Egyptian hieroglyphics. Finally around five thousand years ago the Sumerian tribes in southern Mesopotamia developed the first primitive phonetic writing called cuneiform. It marked the end of prehistory and the beginning of recorded history. The idea of placing marks on a clay tablet that could be associated with specific ideas was a giant imaginative step in mankind's intellectual progress.

Words, whether they are vocal sounds or marks on a paper convey ideas (mental pictures) to our mind. They are made possible by our ability to imagine. If we hear words or see them written in a foreign language that we have not learned to associate with things or ideas, they mean nothing to us. They simply do not generate any mental images for us. Some of the more intelligent animals have a limited ability to “learn” vocal sounds but not writing. Writing has given mankind a much greater ability to communicate more accurately and preserve the stories and ideas of the previous generations.

The joy of creating stories, or poems, singing ballads, reading, or listening to these stories is also one of the great pleasures of being human. When we read or listen to a story we instantly form mental images of the characters and actions in our mind. We can “visualize” with our mind. We can learn the intimate thoughts of the great minds of the past by reading their stories. We can travel in our imagination anywhere the story takes us no matter where or when. We can go back in time and travel down the Mississippi river with Huck Finn or go into the future, travel out into space to another galaxy. It makes no difference, as long as we have an imagination we can go to these places.

When listening to stories on the radio, before television became popular, each listener had to visualize their own private mental pictures of the characters and locale. We were usually very surprised when we did finally see a picture of the real person who portrayed the character in the story and it did not match our mental picture at all. Such was the magic of radio.

The playwright and movie maker go a step further in their storytelling. They physically set up the scenes, props and assign actors to play the part of the characters. Presenting drama plays is an ancient form of storytelling that the Greeks and Chinese developed long ago. It is a natural outgrowth of storytelling. Although with the play, the audience could actually see the characters and actions of the story, much was left to the imagination as far as the scenery was concerned.

Now a days there is much more elaborate movable scenery to support the story and less imagination is needed to enjoy the play. With the advent of the motion pictures everything is becoming more and more realistic. The present state-of-art technology of computer generated special effects used in motion pictures are so realistic that no matter what situation is portrayed little imagination is needed. With the development of “Virtual Reality” the audience will be going right “into” the scenes in the near future. Someday we may be able to “enter” a Jurassic type park and walk among the dinosaurs in a virtual reality world.

Storytelling has grown immensely in its scope and power from its simple beginning of telling stories over the camp fire. It now encompasses every facet of human endeavor. Nearly everyone has a story to tell. We are constantly being bombarded by stories both good and bad, by our family, friends and the media. Companies spend billions of dollars every year on advertising, trying to get their stories across to us, trying to influence us to purchase their products.

Beer advertisements, for example, have equated partying and having a good time with drinking beer for so long that it now just seems the normal thing to do. Political leaders try to influence us with their stories. On television, religious leaders are constantly telling their stories. In large areas of the world today religious leaders completely dominate the lives of whole populations through their mythical stories. Holding the threat of eternal damnation over their heads if they disobey their "word of god". (Very powerful people!)

Satellite broadcasting of radio and television, newspapers, magazines, and now the computer’s Internet are immensely powerful storytelling mediums that spread both positive and negative stories into every household across the world for better or for worse. The editors have tremendous power to disseminate the stories they want made known and to ignore the ones they don’t (not so much power over the Internet, yet). Violence is especially acceptable in the movies, viewers are constantly being exposed to people being killed and battered as realistically as possible.

This scenario may be OK for movies, depending upon who the storyteller makes as the bad guys. When the movies or stories start making various groups of people the bad guys, we are getting into a dangerous area. The hate and anger emotions produced by the storytellers may be more dangerous then the actual violence of the stories. Some “rappers” are continually expounding their hate and anger stories to our young people. The influence of these stories is beginning to be felt around the country.

In real life, the government's storytellers tell stories (propaganda) to arouse the anger in their citizens when they are preparing to go to war against other countries. I witnessed this in our country during World War Two when the Germans and Japanese were the bad guys (they really were). After the war the stories changed from these countries to making the communists out to be the bad guys. At the present time we are sort of floundering looking for some new potential bad guys.

(Note) Since I wrote this article we have indeed found some new really bad guys with the militant Muslims. ((Mullahs whose hatred stories of America and the other western democracies have influenced powerful dupes such as bin Laden and his followers to want to kill as many Americans as they can.))

The news media has been a powerful storytelling influence on people since the invention of the printing press. With the invention of radio, television and the video camera its power has increased immensely by graphically reporting their stories on television over and over and getting everybody all upset.

In addition to violence, the movie and television storytellers relate their stories over and over to the effect, that the “normal” thing to do, if people of the opposite sex are attracted to each other (are in “love”), is to have sex as soon as possible. This has helped change the morals of our young ladies in a couple of generations so much that they now think they are abnormal if they resist having sex until they are married. Hollywood, a city whose primary business is storytelling, has made having sex the socially acceptable thing to do. Adultery is now more or less accepted as normal (depending upon who is doing it).

As the moral ethics code of the motion picture storytellers has deteriorated in the last thirty years, the birthrate of single mothers has risen in direct proportion. Whether we realize it or not, all these stories are exerting a powerful influence on our young people. It is leading to a gradual moral decay in our country. We may not have a Hitler ranting and raving but our ubiquitous storytellers are just as effectively spreading their powerful influence into every nook and cranny across the country (and alot of it is not good).

A large percentage of our young people are able to accept or reject these messages on their merit but many are not and if the stories are repeated enough (and are not opposed by positive storytellers) they are eventually excepted as normal behavior. Our storytellers; family, peers, friends, church leaders, teachers, movie producers, authors, politicians, philosophers, historians, comedians, civic leaders, etc., need to accentuate the positive. They have the power to guide, motivate, inspire and influence our present and future citizens.

Storytellers, through their stories, can enter into our imagination
and interact with our deepest human emotions.

They can inspire us to strive for greatness or motivate us to do senseless evil. They can make us happy, angry or sad. They can make us laugh or cry. Storytelling and human emotion are closely linked, together, from the time of infancy, they strongly influence every aspect of our life. Very little happens in the human drama without a storyteller at its source.

http://novan.com/storytel.htm

Workshop Oct 18, at Paschal's with Charlie Eyer and others.

2008-10-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

THE POWER OF STORY

Call Paschal at 293-5302 for information.
Workshop is potluck 10-1 at his conference room
on Winchester Road. Oct 18, Saturday morn.

This is the same workshop on the "Power of Story"
that Charlie Eyer and I will present Nov 8 next month
at the annual KSA conference.

June meeting of Lexington Spellbinders,

2008-06-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

Breaking news
The June meeting of the Lexington Spellbinders will be held on the second or third Tuesday at about 10 a.m. This story is a story-swap, and friends are invited. Stay tuned here for correct time or call Paschal at (859) 293 - 5302 or Greg Davis at the Lexington Public Library.

Storytelling opportunities: Natasha's monthly, 2008

2008-03-11T05:22:00.000-07:00

ANNOUNCEMENT
Storytelling Events in Lexington.

The 2008 Wandering Storytellers Night continues at Natasha’s café (opposite Chase) downtown Lexington each last Monday of the month, this year with open mike invitations to the audience to come share a story. The program, sponsored by Kentucky Storytelling Association, starts at 8:00 p m. this year. Themes announced

March's theme is "Liar, liar! Pants on Fire!" complete with a "blarney
o'meter" to be used.

April's theme is "Gotta! Gotta! Stories of compulsions."

May's theme is "Mother May I?" It's all about you and your mom, or your
friend's mom, or...

June's theme is "Barefootin'" It's time for summer stories, growing up,
vacations, finally out of the office and on the beach, mountain, lake, etc.

July's theme is "Heroes - heroic tales of past, present, future."

August's theme is "Alma Mater Days including the school of hard knocks"

September's theme is "Should Have Seen It Coming," oh my.

October's theme is "Ghosts and Monsters Inside and All Around." (Some of the
scariest monsters live inside your head.)

November's theme is "Attitude of Gratitude."

December's theme is "Compassion" stories of heart and the human condition,
etc.

Sometime during the year (to be announced later) we will be holding a "story
Slam" complete with judging.

Storytellers are still being recruited for this kind of program:
8:00 -- 8:30 first teller
8:30 - 8:45 first 3 open mike tellers
8:45 - 9:15 second teller
9:15 - 9:30 next 3 open mike tellers
9:30 - 9:40 first teller again
9:40 - 9:50, next 2 open mike tellers
9:50 - 10:00, second teller and then door prize to be given away

WE INVITE tellers to sign up for a Wandering Storytellers' Night in 2008. Do
it now, why wait? Call Betsy Fleischer at 859-734-3194 or email at
betsycat2@yahoo.com.

pOWER OF THE IMAGINATION, KEATS SECRET, by Lundbert, Nov 26

2007-11-25T11:21:00.001-08:00

John Lundberg
Keats Secret: the Power of the Imagination.

If you live under a rock like I do, you may have missed out on the phenomenon that is The Secret, an uber-popular film (turned book) by Australian writer and producer Rhonda Byrne. I know, I know. How could I resist opening one of those faux-parchment paperbacks with the "secret" emanating toward me in glossy beams of light? Well, curiosity finally got the better of me this week. If you don't know already, The Secret claims that "people's feelings and thoughts attract real events in the world into their lives; from the workings of the cosmos to interactions among individuals in their physical, emotional, and professional affairs." More simply: if you imagine something you want hard enough, it happens.

In a materialistic twist, the film actually encourages people to use this imaginative power to get rich and collect stuff they want. As Reason's Greg Beato put it, for Secret believers, "The universe is a giant vibrating ATM, ready to shower you with new cars, fine jewelry, unexpected checks in the mail, and magical sunsets." Byrne herself admitted that her inspiration for the film came from a book called The Science of Getting Rich Quick.

No, this is not your daddy's New Age philosophy. I miss those days. When I was in college, a girl approached me at a coffee shop convinced that I had something to tell her. I tried to laugh it off, but she insisted that I was supposed to be some sort of guide. You see, she'd been reading The Celestine Prophecy. I could have given her a dead-serious look and told her to go to Machu Picchu and wait for Miguel, but I ended up offering advice so banal I can't even remember what it was.

Some guru I would be.

Anyway, according to Byrne, the Secret isn't something she invented. It has been known to certain highly successful people throughout history. Her list of "keepers" includes Plato, Einstein and Alexander Graham Bell(!) but is surprisingly bereft of great writers. Honestly, if the guy who may have invented the telephone made the list, how about a poet or two?

In fact, long before Byrne had ever been thought up, the English poet John Keats was exploring the power of the imagination. In a letter to a friend, Keats famously wrote: "I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affection and the truth of Imagination--what the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth--whether it existed before or not..." Keats didn't think that the imagination could create, say, money or a woman, but it could create beauty--and he was certain that beauty, even when imagined, is real.

Whether you agree or not, the beauty you imagine can certainly spill into and impact your reality. I experienced this idea firsthand a few years back when I had a dream about a friend of mine. I'd never been attracted to her before, but in the dream I was, and when I woke up I was still attracted. The beauty I'd imagined had changed the way I really felt. We even ended up dating. How'd it go? Let's just say that was the last time I let my imagination set me up.

Keats explores this phenomenon in some of his poems. In "The Eve of St. Agnes," Madeline, a young heroine, is dreaming of her lover Porphyro when the real Porphyro wakes her up. Madeline finds that her imagination has changed the way she feels about the real Porphyro, who's now a little disappointing:

"Ah Porphyro! said she, "but even now

Thy voice was at sweet tremble in mine ear...

How changed thou art! how pallid, chill, and drear!"

She implores him to act more like the man she'd been dreaming of:

"Give me that voice again, my Porphyro,

Those looks immortal, those complainings dear!"

In Keats's ballad "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," a traveler comes across a "haggard" and "woe begone" knight, whose reality has been shattered by a beautiful woman who lures men in and traps them. She seems to exist somewhere between reality and a dream:

"I saw pale kings, and princes too,

Pale warriors, death pale were they all;

they cried--La belle dame sans merci

Hath thee in thrall.

I saw their starved lips in the gloam,

With horrid warning gaped wide,

And I awoke and found me here,

On the cold hill's side."

Why is this important? When we explore how the imagination impacts real life, we explore the potential power of art. Because instead of coming from a dream, couldn't the imaginative spark come from a novel, a poem, or even a movie? It's something to think about. That is, when you're not thinking really hard about the promotion and the Jaguar you want.

For more on Keats, take a look at John Lundberg's Poem of the Week blog

National Story Conference, STORYCON 2007.

2007-11-16T16:59:00.000-08:00

STORYCON 2007
A national conference held in California, not just of storytellers, but everyone in the large interdisciplinary field of writers, screen people, etc., experts on Story Creation Techniques, Models, Strategies, Concepts, Application, Philosophy. Discover the power of story-- and how to maximize it in your work. Sponsored by
Rob Kall, StoryCon c/o Futurehealth Inc.
211 N. Sycamore St. Newtown, PA 18940
215-504-1700 EST fax 215-860-5374
rob@storycon.org\

NOTES FROM THE 2007 CONFERENCE AND WEBSITE

STORY existed as an "art" for over 200,000 years, and the Story business may be the world's largest business, far exceeding $250 billion dollars a year, with over 30 million in the USA alone working in the story business. Just the top ten media companies generate $140 billion+ a year). Besides the worlds of entertainment and publishing, story plays a powerful, often central role in psychology, healing, diplomacy, marketing, product development, corporate and organizational leadership, culture and management. Even lawyers use stories to persuade juries.

"Such a powerful economic and cultural force deserves to be treated with as much respect as other fields with equal or lesser influence and power to change the world and people’s lives. . The potential to further tap the power of story (and through it, the power of the human subconscious and all its creativity and passion) is enormous.

"Somewhere in the early 20th century, scientists like Neils Bohr, Max Planck and Albert Einstein started thinking about physics in new ways that created a scientific revolution affecting the furthest ranging corners of most of this planet. A similar evolutionary leap is taking place at the other end of the reality spectrum, in the world of story.

"The art, science and application of story is going through an enormous explosion of model building, exploration, explanation and explication. Writers, particularly screen writers, are taking a varied range of approaches to identifying the elements, dynamics, dimensions, patterns and even formulae which form stories and myths-- what makes them great, what makes them work."

Taken from www.storycon.org, copyright, Ron Kall.

Bluegrass Guild for Healing Stories.

2007-03-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

Next meeting

Sunday, March 11, Eagle Creek Library, 2-4 p.m.

Story swap, and Paschal will share experiences of leading a 6 hour workshop for psychologist on the "Use of Story to heal and Change," in Ohio last week at their annual Union of Spirituality and Psychology retreat.

Next meeting June 13, same place and time, to be confirmed.

"Only storytelling can change the world." See this link, about 22 minutes.

2007-02-14T15:50:00.000-08:00

Please take the time to follow this link to TED Talks. Wade Davis, National Geographic Explorer in Residence, gives an amazing talk regarding the need for Cultural Diversity on a Global Scale and the power of Storytelling. The pictures alone are worth the time and his story is moving. Total time to see the entire talk is 22 min 14 seconds. This is not television, it is much better and if you don't think it was worth the look... I will give you your money back.

Nick Morgan once said, "The only reason to give a talk, is to try to change the world." This video will run fluidly on almost every computer by itself, no special software needed. Please watch it. Perhaps you will be inspired to make your mark on the earth, as well.

http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=w_davis

"We believe that politicians will never accomplish anything. We think that polemics are not persuasive. We believe that Storytelling will change the world." Wade Davis, National Geographic Explorer in Residence

Thank You

Spellbinders Meetings Schedule, 2007

2006-10-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

We meet from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00, usually the third Tuesday of the month.
November 16 at Tates Creek library Special agenda: election of new officers. Nominated as Chairperson is Margo Ratcliffe.
No meeting in December
All meetings in 2007 through August at Beamont Library, same times
Jan. 16
Feb. 20
Mar. 20
Apr. 17
May 15
Jun. 19
Jul. 17
Aug. 14