Ireland
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Where Were We Going? by Sally Borg
I have a photo of my two older sisters and two younger brothers and I, sitting on a bench seat in the back of a big boat, as we headed out from our little fishing resort on the Rainy River , in northern Minnesota , to the lake. Several years ago, I made 8×10…
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Rear View Mirror Stories by Sandi Howlett
When does a personal story begin? A story may ‘appear’ to begin in present time but more often is ‘realized’ in the rear view mirror of life. This happens when we share an experience with another person, get a response and are encouraged to continue to share it with others, usually adding details. It is often in the…
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Music Hath Charms by Mark Goldman
Music hath charms to sooth the savage breast…and it has the ability to trigger very sharp memories, the places where stories can be born. Sometimes, there is more than just one memory. When I hear “Georgy Girl", it triggers two very distinct recollections of different times in my life. My best friend and I were walking our dates home…
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Not Quite Apocalypse Now by Clem Condon
“Smell that? You smell that? Nothing in the world smells like that.” I love the smell of diesel fuel in the morning. In 1958 my dad bought two 560 International Diesel tractors. Neighbors and farmers from the surrounding areas came over to see them. They were the new things to farming. Nobody at that time had diesel engines in…
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Loafing by Amy Bird
I just tried “loafing,” as recommended by Jack Maguire at the end of Chapter 4 in The Power of Personal Storytelling. I think I’m a natural. One thing I discovered right away is how I access memories. A prompt like “I am nine years old” brings up nothing…
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The Official Story Count for the Summer of 2011 is 113!
Wednesday and Thursday, June 23rd and 24th, the Study Abroad Ireland tellers told their third stories in class. With these last 20 stories, plus one more from me, our official count for the summer is 113. I promised them at least 100 stories and we surpassed that nicely. It’s been a tremendously rich and satisfying…
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The Launch of the Athlone Yarnspinners
On Tuesday, June 21st, the Athlone Yarnspinners was officially launched. It’s been a dream of Danielle Allison’s for several years to get the Athlone group going. The Yarnspinners in Ireland was started in Belfast by Liz Weir and there are currently groups active in Dublin, Foyle (Derry), Cork, and the Tullycarnet Yarnspinners (Dundonald, Belfast) who…
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Rock On! A Sweet Summer Solstice Treat
Four years ago I had the opportunity to attend a fire ceremony on the summer solstice at Rathcroghan near Tulsk in Co. Roscommon. Every summer since I’ve made it a point to go to Rathcroghan, traditionally held to be the palace of Queen Medb, on June 21st. The mound is part of a very large complex,…
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The School of the Four Masters
Monday afternoon, June 20, Laura Rutherford and I told stories at Scoil na gCeithre Máistrí, the School of the Four Masters. This is the Gaelic language school in Athlone where Danielle’s daughter Katie attends. We spent a couple of hours there telling to Katie’s 1st class, and then to a 5th class. We were very…
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Awash in a Sea of Story
I tried something new in the Irish Storytelling Tradition this summer. Since I had, 2/3s of the whole group in my class, I decided to teach them the basics of putting together a short personal story using Donald Davis’ “ Five Ps” – People, Place, Problem, Progress, Point. Twice in the semester, I asked them…
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Second Stories, Continued
Tuesday, June 21, we heard the last five of our second set of stories. Faye Daniel got us started with the 80th story we've heard this month. 16. (80) Faye told the eerie story of The Black Dog from Eddie Lenihan's Meeting the Other Crowd. 17. (81) Andrea Robinson told a very well crafted version…
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The Architecture of the Anecdote
My original plan for the weekend of June 18-19 had been to drive to Dublin to do my workshop for the Storytellers of Ireland and then drive up to Liz Weir’s in Cushendall. Liz took Laura Rutherford and Andrea Robinson with her on Friday the 17th, and I thought I’d drive up for the Saturday…