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     Monday - November 20, 2017
Issue # 289

Got some news or information you would like to get out to the storytelling community?
Contact Mark Goldman -x602-390-3858x - Mark@Storytellermark.com

                   Happy Thanksgiving!


Thankful for all the stories!

What's in YOUR Cornucopia of Stories?

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This Week

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Storyline Slam - Holidaze

The Storyline Slam - Holidaze
Friday - November 24th - 7:00 pm

Storytellers share six minute true stories based on a common theme. They are judged by the audience and the story with the most points at the end of the show receives a cash prize.
 
EVENT DETAILS
TICKET (admits one) is $6 in advance, $8 at the door from Changing Hands Phoenix.
Order at 602.274.0067 

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Coming Up

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AZ Storytellers Project - New Veterans' Narratives
Monday - 11/27/17 - 7:00 pm
Crescent Ballroom

Join The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com for a very special night of young veterans telling stories about their lives before, during and after their service.
 
Emcees: Megan Finnerty, founder of the Storytellers Project, and Kyle Mitchell, U.S. Army veteran from the Navajo Nation.
 
Featured tellers:
Corey Harris 
Dennis Wagner
More TBA
 
Accessibility Note: If you require ASL Interpretation Services for this event or a future Storytellers event, or if you require accommodations related to mobility or seating, contact Megan Finnerty at megan.finnerty@arizonarepublic.com.

 
Info & Tickets


Historias del taller escritura creativa en español PARTE 2
Friday - December 1st - 7 pm - 9 Pm
Palabras Bilingual Bookstore
1738 E McDowell Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85006

First Friday, December 1, the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Palabras Bilingual Bookstore will host a public reception with the participants of a Spanish-language creative writing workshop series led by local writer Ofelia Montelongo and sponsored by the Arts Commission's AZ ArtWorker initiative, which is funded by a grant from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.

Montelongo and her students will read works developed during their eight weeks learning together.

Readings will be mostly in Spanish.


Tucson Tellers of Tales - NO Guild Meeting in December

There will NOT be a regular meeting in December!

For more information about the TOT December gathering, contact
Glenda Bonin, TOT Secretary, (520) 235-4171

 
Visit Their Facebook Page


West Side Story Tellers Guild Meeting
Saturday, December 2nd ~ 10am - Noon

The West Side Story Tellers monthly guild meeting will be from 10 am to Noon - at St. John's Lutheran Church, at 7205 N. 51st Ave. in Glendale.

For more information, contact their president, Mark Compton at: WestSideStoryTellers@Yahoo.com.
 
Check out their website!


Tales of Fire and Ice: Myths, Legends, and Epics of Iceland
Saturday - December 2nd - 11:00 AM & Sunday @ 11:00AM
Musical Instrument Museum

Join teller Harriet Cole as she tells stories from the Icelandic tradition during "Experience Scandinavia" at the MIM.

NOTE! Harriet will be telling both Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 am

The $20 cost of admission includes the storytelling, as well as the wonders of the MIM there will be Folk Dancing, Folk Music, Nordic Jazz and more.


Storyfind at SMCC - The Christmas Story – A Time, A Place Long, Long Ago
Saturday - December 2nd, 2017 ~ 1PM - 3PM
SMCC Pac 739
with Sylvia Torrey

Storyfind is a free monthly storytelling workshop series presented by the faculty of the SMCC Storytelling Institute. The workshops are on Saturday afternoons from 1:00 – 3:00 in PAC-739 at South Mountain Community College. 
How did this happen? How could it be? The teenager had no idea. She only knew what she had been told. Yet deep down in her heart she composed and she sang the Magnificat.
Join Sylvia in a workshop dedicated to exploring and understanding the ultimate Bible story.
 
Sylvia Torrey is a Wisdom-Biblical Storyteller. She began telling biblical stories to the youth groups who were under her tutelage, and from there to the adults. Having heard stories routinely from her father, she was no stranger to the art or storytelling. After an undergraduate education in nursing, and a graduate degree in divinity, Sylvia was introduced to the Storytelling Institute of South Mountain Community College. Her cumulative talents, forged through experience as a registered nurse and as an ordained minister, have found expression here. Sylvia has performed at various venues in Arizona and Ohio. She has also taught Storytelling courses at the Institute and other MCCCD locations. Not neglecting the family tradition of storytelling, she frequently tells to her two daughters, and three granddaughters.
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Measuring Success

Recently, a colleague who is an incredible storyteller, composer, singer became fearful when she compared herself to her musical idol; wondering if she would ever be "that" good. So...I offer this important tip (from four years ago) for all storytellers at any level, who may compare themselves to others.

How do you measure success? Part of the answer lies in a secondary question: "What's your measuring stick?

In life, it’s natural to measure ourselves against the accomplishments of others. It’s a competitive world out there, and winning, being first or the best is what we are taught to strive for. As a young child in school, I could never measure up to my older sister who got straight “A”s, but the teachers expected me to “be the same” as her. Just as I could never be my sister, I can never be any of the great tellers I have experienced.
 
In storytelling, it’s difficult to not compare ourselves to other tellers. It’s important for us to know, hear and observe other tellers, especially the professionals who have come before us (Learn from The Masters). But judging ourselves based on other tellers’ abilities is a dangerous and slippery slope.
A couple of years ago, I made some contacts and was able to get booked for a day of telling at an elementary school in Nashville, just a few days before the Jonesborough Festival. I was excited! I arrived a day early and took a tour of the school with their librarian, who had hired me. At the right, is what I saw as I walked into the building.
 
While talking with many of the teachers, I learned that in the previous year, Connie Regan-Blake had visited, and two years earlier, Donald Davis had performed. My heart almost stopped beating. How could I measure up to those two giants of storytelling? 
 
As I left the building that afternoon, a thousand questions and doubts went through my mind. What was I to do? I could NEVER measure up to what they had heard in the past two years. I could see the faces of Donald and Connie, looming in the clouds above, like Titans peering down on a mere mortal, the size of an ant. Then somehow (thankfully), I realized that the librarian, who had hired both Connie and Donald, had also hired ME. She had been to my website, seen my videos, and decided I would be a good fit. I didn’t have to be like the tellers who came before me. I just had to be like me.
Here’s another example. I am a cyclist, and my friend and storyteller Layne Gneiting is a cyclist. Last summer, success for him was riding 2000 miles of steep altitude climbs and rough terrain through four European countries in two months. This would not be success for me, this would be death! Success for me, on a bicycle tour, is riding fifteen miles to the next town without falling off the bike, and finding a cheap campsite near a bakery that has great croissants!
 
Success is different for each person, and different for each situation they are in. Success for a beginning teller might be just getting through the whole story from beginning to end. For the intermediate teller, it might be finding and using appropriate gestures and body movements to apply to the story. Success might be performing at a retirement home and having residents share their own stories with you. Success might be getting a standing ovation at a performance, or merely seeing the smiles and wide eyes of young listeners at an elementary school or a bookstore storytelling session.
 
After a year of being quiet, staying in the back and avoiding eye contact, one of my 6th graders came to the front of the class and nervously “read” her story. THAT was a success!
 
When I was younger, and much more agile, I taught dance. Each class began with a series of stretches. Bending and twisting to limber up the body. Some students could bend over and put the palms of their hands on the floor. Some could only touch their toes with the tips of their fingers. Some could barely touch their ankles. Students would often say, “I can’t stretch as far as you can.” My response would be, “You don’t have to. Just stretch as far as you can go. . .then go just a little bit more.”
 
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Bouncing Back with Younn Borgeois
Many folks said they loved the video last week from Yoann Borgeois called, "Celui qui tombe" He who falls.

Here's another one from this incredible acrobat/dancer! Wait for the wonderful sequence that starts about 5:00.

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Ongoing
Events

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------------------------------------THERE'S A LOT GOING ON EACH MONTH
-------------------CHECK EACH WEBSITE OR CALENDAR TO CONFIRM DATES AND TIMES
---------------------------------CALL TO MAKE SURE THE EVENT IS STILL ON


Infuse Open Mic
Second Sunday of each month - Phoenix
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Infuse-Open-Mic/137811162925031


Pink Slip Open Mic
Every Monday at  8 pm - PHOENIX
https://www.facebook.com/events/488551851312946/


Chatterbox Open Mic
Every Wednesday at  8 pm - PHOENIX
https://chatterboxazstorytelling.com/


FStorytellers - Female Story Tellers - Tucson
Usually sometime during the first week of the month - but check their website) at  7 pm - TUCSON
http://www.fstorytellers.com/index.html


Odyssey Storytelling
First Thursday of each month (usually but check calendar) - TUCSON
http://odysseystorytelling.com/


Tucson Tellers of Tales - Storytellers Guild
First Saturday of each month (except July and August) - Tucson
https://www.facebook.com/TucsonTellersofTales


West Side Story Tellers - Storytellers Guild
First Saturday of each month - GLENDALE *NO meetings in July & August
http://westsidestorytellers.weebly.com

East Valley Tellers of Tales -Storytellers Guild
Second Saturday of each month - SCOTTSDALE - *NO meetings in July & August
http://www.evtot.com


Storyfind
Fourth Saturday of each month (usually - check calendar) - *NO meetings in June & July
SMCC Storytelling Institute
A monthly workshop designed to help storytellers build community and deepen repertoire.
See the Calendar


 
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All Newsletter content ©Mark Goldman
Got some news or information you would like to get out to the storytelling community?

Contact Mark Goldman -x602-390-3858x - Mark@Storytellermark.com

 
     

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