Liz Warren
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Finding a Home by Eva Valdez
On Saturday September 20th I participated in the Sedona Celtic Harvest Festival and it was a turning point in my life. I have been blessed and challenged throughout my life, however the opportunities have outweighed any struggle. Sedona was my Cinderella day. I performed for the first time in public…
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The Frog, or the Princess, or the King, or poor Iron Henry? by James Ashcroft
The readings we have been assigned combined with multiple readings of versions of the Frog King, have worked together to set my sometimes wandering mind, well, wandering. Ever wonder why the words 'wandering and wondering are the same except for the 'o'? I used to. Now I'm definitely…
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Stories in Clay by Kathy Eastman
One day I was doing a program on the prehistoric Pueblo Cultures to a group of fourth graders. The term Pueblo Cultures is used to describe groups of people you might know as the prehistoric Hopi, Zuni and Anasazi. I explained the people did not have a written language. A young Hopi boy raised his…
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The Timeless Need for Personal Stories by Jim Dennis
On the last day in the life of the Jewish mystic, the Baal Shem Tov, he gathered his disciples beside him. On his deathbed, he bequeathed to them his worldly possessions. When he came to the last disciple, there was nothing left. However, the gift he was given…
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The Timeless Need for Personal Stories by Jim Dennis
On the last day in the life of the Jewish mystic, the Baal Shem Tov, he gathered his disciples beside him. On his deathbed, he bequeathed to them his worldly possessions. When he came to the last disciple, there was nothing left. However, the gift he was given was to go out and retell the…
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All for the Dead Man’s Penny
Later this week Liz Weir and Ciaran Mullholland will debut their new piece, “All for the Dead Man’s Penny,” at the Festival at the Edge in Shropshire, England. They were commissioned by FatE to create an hour-long performance on the theme “Forever Young.” I visited Liz in Cushendall in June and had the opportunity to hear…
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The Randy Mares of Fancy
In Ireland, which is between the 52nd and 55th parallel north, they do midsummer right. It never really gets completely dark on June 21st and as the sun moves slowly toward and then below the horizon it veers further and further north. Last Saturday night, the summer solstice, I was watching the sun makes this…
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First Stories of 2014
I have an excellent group of students this summer in Study Abroad Ireland. I was very pleased with the quality of their telling as well as the variety and richness of the stories they chose to tell. This was the first time for most of them to tell a story in front of others, so…
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Cliffs of Nowhere – I mean Moher!
We had our annual weekend in Galway June 12-15. On Friday the 13th things got a little spooky. It was a grey, off-and-on rainy day, but not too cold. We drove south-east from Galway to Ballyvaughan (Barry’s town), and then up into the Burren on the R480 to visit Poulnabrone Dolmen – a beautiful drive…
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Shannon Storytellers at Flannery’s
Several of my students and I went to the monthly meeting of the Shannon Storytellers Thursday night at Flannery’s on Sean Costello Street in Athlone. I’d heard about the group from Jackie Gorman before we left Arizona and was able to join on Facebook. The organizer is local author Karen Goode, and people come to…
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Story Advice from Pixar by Kathy Eastman
Pixar Animation Studios has produced 14 very successful feature length films; among them is the Toy Story series and Finding Nemo. Pixar has movies reaching into the top 50 highest grossing films ever produced. Using computer animation graphics and great storytelling they have achieved wonders. We know many famous scholars, such as Joseph Campbell and…
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Heart Gold by Kathy Eastman
Last week I was researching the Peralta Stones for a storytelling program on the search for gold in Arizona. Popular sources tout these stones as a treasure map to the Superstition Mountains. However scholars question their authenticity for a wide range of reasons. Some geologists say the idea of gold ore in the area is…