Soaring Stories

I am so lucky to work with Mary Stewart, a storyteller originally from Florida and now living in Vermont.  Mary is a tall and strong woman, with chapped hands and red cheeks. She lives a simple life in a cabin in a small Vermont town.  She cooks, grinds corn, grows her own food and plants seeds, both literally and figuratively.  Mary has taught me alot about stories and its precious place in our society and my own psyche.  I am not a woman who knows or pretends to even like doing publicity.  I know though, if I don’t do publicity, I won’t have an audience.  Without an audience, being a storyteller is a ridiculous idea.  The only story that matters is the one you hear.  

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.