Columcille
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Saturday Morning – Blog by Diana Dinshaw
Have you ever had a morning where your mind is fully awake and your body is saying, “I am not ready to get up”? Well that is the kind of morning I had this past Saturday and after I had made all kinds of lists in my mind while I lay in bed very still,…
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From Storytelling to Healing by Roxanne de la Rosa
I still have so much to learn about myself as a storyteller but through the experiences I’ve had, storytelling has felt very freeing for me. It has become an outlet for me to express myself and who I am as a person in a way that I never could before. Telling stories onstage is a…
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Cootie Catcher: Sparking stories and breaking ice by Bryce Barraza
A ‘cootie catcher,’ a story prompt, and a group of strangers walk into a room… No, this is not the start of an ill-attempted joke. This actually happened… and it was fun! In February of 2022, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop titled, “Playing for Keeps,” facilitated through the South Mountain Community College…
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Elements of Good Storytelling for Affirmative Feedback by Liz Warren
Affirmations are the foundation of the coaching model we use at the SMCC Storytelling Institute. After someone tells a story, we tell them what we liked about the story and what we noticed they did well. The more precise we can be in telling someone what they did well, the more useful the feedback is…
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The Affirmative Model for Coaching Storytellers by Liz Warren
We have used an affirmative coaching model in our classes since the beginning of the South Mountain Community College Storytelling Institute. We learned the model from the work of Doug Lipman at National Storytelling Network conferences in the late 1990s. It is similar to the well-known Critical Response Theory developed by McArthur Awardee Liz Lerman.…
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Collecting and Recording Traditional Folktales: A Guide for Students by Kathy Shimpock
Traditional folktales were shared orally for many, many, years. Over time, however, when the oral tradition, became less prominent, these stories were saved by folklorists who thought they were important enough to write down. Perhaps none are as famous as the Brothers Grimm who traveled throughout Germany recording stories in the 1800’s. Jack Zipes writes,…
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Mothers, Daughters, Sisters by Janet Fraser Means
I learned today that Janet Fraser Means passed away earlier this month. She was so important to the development of the here to see a post I wrote about her in 2009.–Liz Mothers, Daughters, Sisters by Janet Fraser Means: Every family has its myths and legends, those stories that are passed down from generation to…
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I Lost a Lake by Rebecca Love
So….I lost a lake. It could happen to anyone. I’m taking a Personal Storytelling class, and I want to tell a story to my son about the lake house my paternal grandmother had in Connecticut when I was growing up. We would spend weeks and weeks there every summer. Uncles, aunts, and cousins would all…
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Maybe So, Maybe Not by Marilee Lasch
There is a Chinese folktale with a refrain that goes, “maybe so, maybe not.” Here is a summary: A farmer and his son had a work horse, but one day the horse ran away causing the neighbors to exclaim, “What terrible luck!” To which the farmer replies, "Maybe so, maybe not.” The next day the…
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Stories of Hope by Sally Jo Bannow
There are a multitude of spiritual and religious celebrations and observances, including Christmas, at this time and all through the year. Many of them are steeped in rich and meaningful story. This blog entry is about Christmas, which I observe. It is a time of year that I love. There are many traditions of the…
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Tell Someone I’m Here By Mindy Tarquini
In the early pages of Arthur W. Frank’s Letting Stories Breathe: A socio-narratology, (© 2010 by The University of Chicago Press), Frank recounts a very short story by South American writer Eduardo Galeano titled “Christmas Eve” in which the protagonist, a young doctor, already very late for celebrations at his family’s Christmas Eve, takes a…