Folktale
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The Storied Lives of the Allens by Nancy Wolter
For my mother, there was a story for every pain, every joy, every predicament, every sorrow. These stories were buried in the thousands of books that spilled from the bookcases that lined our living room, from the bookcases hiding behind closet doors, that were piled beside her bed, that lived in every bookcase in every…
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Balancing the “truth” with the “Truth” by Kaden Sheffield
I’m writing this just as we’re entering the astrological sign of Libra, symbolized by a set of scales. This is fitting, since I’ve been crafting personal stories lately, which raises the notion of how to balance the facts I remember with the need to craft a compelling story. Until last…
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A Leap of Faith by Dixie Walljasper
I’ve decided to take a leap of faith this semester and not write stories out but rather to compose only orally. For me that was a scary transition because I can’t be sure that the story flows, or I might forget a really good line. This hasn’t been a sudden transition. It’s evolved over the…
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One in Story by Elizabeth Wunsch
I spit in the little tube and sent it off to Ancestry.com DNA. I decided to thoroughly explore my ancestors to satisfy my curiosity and also to enrich my understanding of my heritage and the stories I felt compelled to tell. Well, it came back with an unexpected percentage of OTHER. Other? What the heck…
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The Blackthorn Shillelagh by Jared Lambert
The blackthorn walking stick also referred to as a Shillelagh or a “bata” in Irish simply meaning stick is an identifiably Irish symbol. The blackthorn stick pops up occasionally in different Irish folktales such as “The Blood Drawing Ghost” aka “Mary Culhane and the Dead Man” as being a prized possession. However, besides being a…
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Storytelling as Mindfulness by Nancy Wolter
Do you have a list of “used to do” things? Like, “I used to run, but then my knees…,” “I used to smoke, but yuck…,” “I used to do, like, want…but now….” You get the idea. Of the many things I “used to do” but haven’t for a long time, is meditate. I’d even spend…
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Using the Oral Storytelling Tradition to Teach English In Indonesia by Myranette Robinson
If you google “oral storytelling tradition in Indonesia” you will not get much of anything. We know it existed through books of Indonesian folktales. One young 2016 PhD candidate is using that tradition to teach youngsters English in Indonesia. Ika Lestari Damayanti, a PhD candidate at the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) School of Education. Ms.…
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Horned Women – A Story of Transformation by Kathy Eastman
In the Irish story of the Horned Women, a woman alone at night is spinning while her family sleeps. There is a knock at the door and a witch with one horn enters and begins to spin. As the night wears on, there are eventually 12 witches. They make demands of the woman and the…
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Never Say “No” in China by Sharon Winters
Simply put, in the Chinese culture, it’s okay to say, “I’m sorry,” but it is never okay to say, “No.” If you say “No,” either in English or a Chinese dialect, you will be perceived as a brute. The Chinese say “No” in many other ways. This is a culture that does not want to…
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Immersing Myself in Story with Dungeons and Dragons by Chantel Freed
I really never saw myself as a person that would play Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), but when my husband and I returned from living in Germany we began to play. We love it because it reminds us of Germany. First, D&D is a fantasy realm table top role-playing game. This is where a person can…
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Knowledge, Wisdom, and a Real Education by Kaden Sheffield
As children, we are all full of curiosity. We hunger to know what the world is about, and what we are about. I was no different. Growing up as an only child in the 1960’s, I aimed my share of incessant “Why’s” at my parents to learn about the world. They were very patient too,…
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I Know Why by Elizabeth Wunsch
I remember my Grandmother, Nora Fogarty Wunsch, sitting me in the rocking chair next to hers on the front porch of the lumbering house my ancestors built in New Jersey. She would tell me stories about how the Irish side of the family came across the Big Ocean in the 1800’s. They settled in New…