family stories
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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire by Joan Misek
A couple of months ago I received my copy of the AARP magazine. Inside I found an article entitled "The Education of Frances Perkins.” The article stated that Frances Perkins became an activist because of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on March 25, 1911. When I was seventeen my parents moved to upstate New York…
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One “No” Can Work Wonders by Susan Malmo
Sometimes life picks weird ways to teach you lessons. When I took on a stressful job a few years ago, I decided I needed to find a way to let some steam off, so I started walking in the mornings on a treadmill. Everything was fine until my fit friends (well-meaning, but a little too…
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Processing Grief with Story by Sally Borg
The power and value of personal storytelling was brought to front and center last winter when my mom passed away. I suspect this sort of thing happens in many families as a loved one is lost, services are planned, and boxes of pictures and "stuff" are gone through. The healing power of telling stories, laughing and crying and…
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My Biggest Irish Storytelling Tradition Class Ever!
“Storytelling is a thorny business.” (Saint Patrick, upon encountering the complexity of Irish stories.) I have 28 students in my Irish Storytelling Tradition Class this summer. That is my biggest class ever. In fact, that’s the most people I’ve ever had in any college storytelling class. Previous summers I’ve had anywhere from nine to seventeen…
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A Spirit Washed Clean
May the blessing of the rain be on you— the soft sweet rain. May it fall upon your spirit so that all the little flowers may spring up, and shed their sweetness on the air. May the blessing of the great rains be on you, may they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair…
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Growing With Stories by Tricia Phillips
I began my storytelling journey just over a year ago. I have grown tremendously in my telling and understanding of stories. I came into Mythology thinking I was going to learn about Greek and Roman Gods. I did, but that was only a small fraction of what I took away from that class. It's like…
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Food for Thought by Tricia Phillips
Butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, blended oatmeal, salt, baking soda, chocolate chips, and chopped nuts: these are the ingredients in the famous Neimen Marcus cookie recipe. I'm sure at some point you have heard the story of the $250 cookie recipe. Yes, there is an Urban Legend about this famous cookie recipe, which…
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Thinking about Story with Stories by Dixie Walljasper
In Letting Stories Breathe, Arthur Frank states that companionship with stories begins by thinking with stories. As we have learned throughout this semester we have our internal library of stories about who we are and shared stories with the groups to which we belong. The stories we share in…
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The Ghost at Milecastle 42 by Marian Giannatti
From dusk ‘til dawn, young Lucius patrolled the wall. It was a lonely undertaking, fraught with cold and mists, and too much time to think thoughts that didn’t improve the circumstances, but made them worse. “Five more years,” he often said to himself. Lucius had been a boy of 12 when he was conscripted by…
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The Joy of Tall Tales by Joan Misek
I chose to research American Tall Tales for my culture area presentation in Multicultural Folktales II at SMCC. For the first two weeks of study, I spent every spare hour reading every tall tale I could find. I chose six books of tall tales…
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What is Hadrian’s Wall? by Marian Giannatti
I’m sure everyone knows about the Great Wall of China – but did you know a wall was built by the Roman Empire, in the time of Emperor Hadrian? The wall, known as Hadrian’s Wall was built in AD 122. It took three legions (roughly 15, 000 men)…
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When is a good story not a “good” story? by Dixie Walljasper
In Letting Stories Breathe, socio-narratologist Arthur Frank states that, “a good story – a story that people become caught up in because it holds them in suspense, engages their imagination, and calls for interpretation – is not necessarily a good story, in the sense of encouraging goodness among those who tell and retell it. Stories…