Liz Warren | Storyteller

    I have an excellent group of storytellers this summer in The Irish Storytelling Tradition.  That's all of them with Liz Weir last Thursday. After each story that they tell, they submit a reflection paper in which they tell me why they chose the story, how they prepared to tell it, and how they thought the telling went.  Below are some of their reflections on their storytelling, as well some of their thoughts on what they have been reading.

Aspen Ott (left): I chose this particular story (How Finn Learned to Run) because it shows the love and sacrifice that a grandmother is willing to make for her grandson. Finn’s Granny gave up her life to save Finn’s. Because she saved Finn she was forced to live in a cramped hollowed out oak tree. She didn’t mind though, because it was for Finn. She taught Finn everything she could, and when she realized that he didn’t know how to walk, she devised a plan to teach him.

Tracee Neely (right): For my second story I told "The Well at World's End." I found it in Best Loved Celtic Fairytales, retold by Neil Philip.  I basically read the story once and retold it to a few groups before I had to present.  As I told, I found things that could be added like dialog and description.  The story was important to me because it showed the value of being a truly good person.

Becki Coleman: I chose this story because it carefully blended tragedy and sadness with happiness and love. It displayed a full breadth of emotions, yet at the same time, it had a very important moral to teach and therefore was full of both pathos and logos. The story itself really struck a chord in me because it reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which two lovers end up erasing their memories of one another to be able to go on with their life. A quote by Nietzsche from the movie sums up the basic premise of both my story and the movie: “Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders”.

Erica Schmitt (right): How can you go wrong with a story titled “The Hags of the Long Teeth?” The plot was scandalous in some parts and there was the mystical mixed with religious aspects that I look for in stories now just because it happens more often than I anticipated. Essentially, I really liked the story and knew that I wanted to tell it because it appealed to me and would be fun to add actions and allow myself the opportunity to play more with characters and voice inflections that I didn’t in the previous story that I told. (Erica plans to become a librarian.)

Sara Kirby (left) is a second grade teacher. It's been gratifying to read her responses to the readings and the storytelling because she makes connections between what we are doing and what she does with her students.  Here is a portion of her response to an article by Liz Weir about storytelling in schools: I thought Liz Weir’s article, "Listen Up," was quite interesting in particular. As a teacher of young children, this was definitely pertinent to me. I realized that the art of storytelling is so powerful for children. It strengthens their literacy abilities in listening, speaking, reading, and even writing. In addition, their confidence improves and it builds a sense of community in the classroom.

Jennifer Martinez: It still is amazing to me how much the storyteller has to know. To be the local historian, genealogist, "walking library", etc. has to be such a prestigious and demanding job. (in response to an article about Eamon Kelly.)