Bruce Miller
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Evolution by Mindy Tarquini
In his fantastical work, The Island of the Day Before, the notable Italian writer, Umberto Eco, said “To survive, we must tell stories.” We must. We must share them, repeat them, adapt them to a new generation, a changing world. We must keep them authentic, yet malleable. Simple, yet layered. We must imbue…
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Life is What Happens by Marilee Lasch
In the lyrics of Beautiful Boy there is a line sung by John Lennon, “Life is what happens when you are busy making plans.” I would attribute that saying as the cornerstone of my life and the basis of my storytelling. Growing up in a large family and being almost the last (lost) child I…
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Making Progress by Marian Nance
Hello novice and expert storytellers! Welcome to my progress blog in the Art of Storytelling II at the South Mountain Storytelling Institute taught by Liz Warren. There are ten of us, all eager to perfect our story telling techniques, to increase our storytelling confidence and to develop a personal statement about the type of storyteller…
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What kind of Storyteller Do You Want to Be? by Liz Warren
"How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else." R. Buckminster Fuller When I first became caught up by storytelling, I was deeply inspired and molded by brilliant professional storytellers like Donald Davis, Jackie Torrance, Elizabeth Ellis, Olga Loya, and many others who were working in the late…
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Friend Zone or Life Partner? by Vanessa Thomas-Wilson
My story telling began with personal stories. I’d been unknowingly around storytellers all my life. I was officially introduced to South Mountain Community College’s Storytelling Institute several years before I joined in. Liz Warren’s Personal Storytelling class came into my life during a very stressful period and was instrumental…
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Time and Story by Kaden Sheffield
I have almost completed the Storytelling certificate program here at SMCC. I came to it indirectly, through a dear friend, never intending to stay and become a storyteller. But here I am, two years later—a storyteller. It has been a journey far deeper and richer than merely learning the skills necessary to craft a…
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Africa Hunters’ Tales, Social Ecology, and Post-African U.S. Archetypes by Súle Greg Wilson
We’ve all been brainwashed to accept that efficient agriculture allowed social specialization and hierarchy to occur, which led to “civilization;” the best there is. “Civilization” has also led to overpopulation, a horribly MAN-ipulated ecosystem, and a hurting Mother Earth. Maybe we should have stayed hunter/gatherers, small groups of co-responsible, eco-sustainable folks, where everybody knew your…
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What Is Old Is Made New Again by Marilee Lasch
Today I was making a fairy garden on my beloved grapefruit tree that has died. I had gathered bits and pieces of glass, rocks, tile, and little statues of fairies I had collected over the years. My kids call me a "pack rat,” but I learned early that when something has fulfilled its purpose and…
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Folktales for Today by Nancy Wolter
Folktales are described as “…stories about peoples' lives and imaginations as they struggled with their fears and anxieties by telling tales.” It’s 2019, two years into the election of an American president that rocked everything that I believed in, shook what I had taken for granted and everything I thought were our common beliefs and…
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Excitement Rather Than Fear by Sarahfina Fore
Well, what a wonderful journey this has been. I had such strong reservations coming to a class where the goal is to share my personal stories. While I thrive with traditional stories, as they have been my guiding elders, the concept of telling stories about myself made me tight in the chest. What? Me? Tell…
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Family Gossip or Traditional Storytelling? by Kathy Eastman
I remember as a girl my mother and grandmother huddled together gossiping about a cousin “who had to get married and she was 32 years old!”. When I first heard this talk, I was too young to understand the implied scandal. Fortunately for me, this cousin continued her salacious lifestyle until I grew old enough…
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Storytelling: The Full Experience by Ken Shaw
I have told many stories throughout my life through preaching, teaching, and my Santa business. Before taking the storytelling classes at South Mountain Community College’s Storytelling Institute, I was just winging it, doing the best that I could. Now that I have had these classes, I…