Soaring Stories

I have returned from the Sharing the Fire storytelling conference in Nashua, New Hampshire where I reconnected with many wonderful storytellers and teachers from this area of the country.  I found myself particularly moved by a workshop by Fran Yardley and Lani Peterson on storytelling and healing.  This workshop exemplified the power of stories to connect and heal us, and to identify and speak the woundings that can prevent us from moving forward in community and strength.  I was struck by the absolute tenderness of the stories that were being told.

I also had an opportunity to present my new piece “Love is War” in my hotel room on Saturday night  to about 15 other storytellers and one of my coaches and mentors, Loren Niemi. It was a really special night as I got to tell the story of my parents meeting in WWII.  It was rather bittersweet as it was the first public telling of this piece after my father’s death in January.  As I was telling it I could see and hear him as he told me these stories.  My father was a great and complicated man.  Telling this archetypal and deeply personal tale is a way to pay tribute to my father and the soldiers of his generation and speak of the affects of war on a whole generation of people. “Love is War” is the piece I will be performing in August at the National Storytelling Conference in Gatlinsburg, Tn.

I was also privileged to work with Susan Klein again as a coach. Susan has been a lighthouse in a sea of messy story!  Her clarity and frankness have helped me immeasurably.

Aside from the things that I did what struck me the most is the patience one needs to become excellent at one’s craft.  It takes time to hear your own voice, and to master the multitude of skills and facets of one’s work.  The old Supreme’s song “You can’t hurry love, you just have to wait”  keeps looping in my head.