coyote
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Don’t Drive into the Shannon!
This is my sixth summer teaching in Mesa Community College’s Study Abroad Ireland Program. We normally leave on a Friday, arrive on a Saturday, and take a walking tour of Athlone, where we are based, on Sunday. This year we left on Saturday, arrived on Sunday, and then still went on the walking…
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A Gilbert Connection
I met the mother of one of our participants at Sky Harbor the morning that we left for Ireland. Ashley McCleve is our student, and her mother is Julia McCleve. When Julia introduced herself, I said that her name was familiar. That’s when I learned that she had been on the Gilbert School Board…
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Taking Stories
The Ireland Journal usually begins as soon as I arrive in Ireland. That didn’t happen this year. My blog fell victim to jetlag and exhaustion. I’m happy to report that I’m full recovered and in possession of my motivation. Let the blogging begin! The back of this bus was the sight that greeted me when…
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From Anecdote to Personal Story by Kelly Davis
This past fall I was blessed with the opportunity to take a personal storytelling class at South Mountain Community College. I was amazed at the number of times I felt some sort of connection to someone else’s personal story. I am certain you have felt it at one time or another, that “me too” or…
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THE BALLAD by Sulé Greg Wilson
When I look back on the days I was addicted to commercial radio, I realize the tunes that really sank in were the ones that told me a story. Songs such as “Have You Seen Her?”; “It’s a Thin Line Between Love and Hate”; “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”; “Poke Salad Annie”; “A Boy Named…
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A Master Writer and Storyteller by Mark Compton
My substitute teaching assignment landed me in a 7th grade literature class where they were studying Edgar Allan Poe. I hadn’t read anything by him for many years and it was interesting to revisit his dark genius. Asking the class what they could tell me about Poe I wasn’t surprised to discover they knew all…
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“Just Right” by Annie Gustafson
The way my dad tells it, the story goes like this: Mr. Brewer worked as a lawyer in Kansas City, and he was good at his job. From one especially grateful client, Mr. Brewer received a bottle of moonshine. Able to identify trouble when he saw it, perhaps because of his profession, he…
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Bringing Forth Broader Truths by Maya Jones
Historical storytelling is an important way to bring forth broader “truths.” Only a few years ago did I begin to learn a different U.S. history than I had been taught as a child. I started hearing horrendous stories about black life after the abolition of slavery, the genocide of Native Americans, and the cruel…
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Don’t Call Me Amadeus! by LynnAnn Wojciechowicz
In researching Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for a biographical story, I learned much about his relationship with his father, his struggle to marry the woman he loved, and his experiences in the music world, but what I decided to base my story on was his name. I learned that he was christened “Johannus Chrisostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus…
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Shooting the Bull with Grover Leon Smith by Sharon Gilbert
I was fortunate to have one parent who loved to tell a good family story. My father, Grover Leon Smith, would take any opportunity to “shoot the bull” with anyone willing to listen. My brother and I never tired of hearing tales where he used his “common sense,” that thing that a person must have…
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The Legend of La Llorona by Joe Ray
Legends, myths, and fairy tales define who we are; they're culturally based. We define ourselves by our legends, or someone else will define us in their manner. Our legends have various meanings and intentions, much like George Washington and his cherry tree or Davy and the bear slaying at the age of three (good one!).…
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What is a Legend? by Paulette Friday
Is a legend really a biographical story embroidered with exaggeration? Or, is it a tall tale fertilized with regional braggadocious embellishment? Perhaps it is a myth in legend’s clothing? In my humble opinion, the lines between these genres is not cut with a straight edge razor. It’s rather more like an artistic tear. …