When we arrived at the hospital we went to the cancer wing.  It’s hard to tell stories in a hospital for a number of reasons.  Emotionally it’s overwhelming to see children in pain.  The treatments are also difficult to watch because the children are hooked up to tubes, missing their hair, with visible large scars.  They are accompanied by parents, grandparents and hospital support people showering them with attention and care.

The first child I told to was bedridden and a teenager with developmental delays. She wasn’t able to speak but was very communicative facially and physically.  She was on a feeding tube.  As I stood trying to call up a story or song that was just right, not too long, and easy to follow I sang the song Happy Birthday I learned off a Bill Harley album.  This isn’t the dirge we usually sing but a sweet waltz.  I sang that to her and she smiled.  Then I told the story “The Big Wide Mouth Toad Frog” with sign language and some simple repetitive movements.  She laughed each time the frog said “Who are you and what do you eat?”  This room was the room that Mira had stayed in during her treatment there.

Then I went to the play room where I met a beautiful girl and two young children with their mother’s.  I told stories with puppets and songs to them for about 40 minutes.  During that time different hospital staff and doctor’s would stop in for a listen or to check on the children.  This is guerrilla storytelling folks! It’s noisy, lots of distractions but oh, the payoff.  Life is good.

Finally, we went to the outpatient treatment center and met four children with their grandma’s . This was the first time I saw a child under two receiving treatments for cancer.  I left feeling pretty drained but satisfied that through a small action the world was made a little brighter.  I say that like a PollyAnna- it was really difficult and felt like moving a mountain one grain of sand at a time.  Life is good.

Ann Penfound, Joel ben Izzy and Regina Carpenter at Tcha Tee Man Wi Festival, Corvallis Oregon

“I had a great weekend at the Tcha Tee Man Wi Festival in Corvallis, OR.  Regi Carpenter, Joel ben Izzy, and Oregon teller Anne Penfound were featured.

I’d never heard Regi before…what a delight!  And the work she is doing with sick children is amazing.  Her workshop on creating personal tales really got my creative juices flowing. ” Yvonne Young, storyteller

I went to St. Jude’s on Monday and performed for a small group of children of a variety of ages.  The first thing I noticed was the quality of care these children are receiving .  The dedication of the staff to their desires and needs was really touching.  My firend and sponsor, Dixie Brown, accompanied me to the hospital and we were both inspired by Danny Thomas.  Danny Thomas promised God he would create a childrens’  hospital .  Next tot he hospital is a building that chronicles the development of the hospital as well as artifacts about Danny Thomas, his career and family.

The next day I went to the other children’s hospital, Le Bonheur.  While St. Jude’s was quiet and beautifully decorated Le Bonheur was bustling, loud and busy.  The children there were sick but radiant, accompanied by families and caregivers.  I am trying to include some photos from my visit.

While there I also performed for a general population at Dixie Brown’s church.  I did my father’s World War II story “Love is War.”  There was a crowd of about 100 people and their generosity was humbling.

Please join me and my colleague, poet and friend Katharyn Machan Howd, on March 21, 2009 from 1-4 p.m. at the Community School of Music and Arts, 330 E. State St., next to Mayer’s Bookstore for a wonderful workshop that focuses on turning memories, moments, and dreams into stories and poems.  The fee is only $15.00.  If interested, please let me know through my email, soaringstories@gmail.com

Mary is a woman who keeps a story as a sacred reminder of our responsibility to the world.  Mary tells stories to service the story- she understands we are contained in it, not it in us.  This is a hard place to stand, especially in a culture that commodifies all of life from first baby’s breath to people’s death.  Mary stands aside from that and reminds me that the story is the guide.

I watched two of the third year students extend their hands to one another in understanding and the effects of it were astounding.  Like Inanna descending into the underworld to meet her completeness in Ereskigal, I witnessed a magnificent descent and ascent into the underworld and back again.  I hardly have words to express this experience.  To see the heart open, to witness the bravery of someone who is willing to bring love back into the room, is a warrior, a Christlike being, carrying light back to the world.

It is the story…that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars into the spikes of the cactus fence. The story is our escort; without it, we are blind.
Does the blind man own his escort? No, neither do we the story;
rather it is the story that owns us and directs us.”
–Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah (1987)

“Baby, baby, baby!”  Big Boy bellowed, blowing big blue bubbles below Bobby’s bedroom.