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Ingrid Bohn will tell stories at Godfrey Daniels on March 2nd at 2 pm.  Prepare to be amused! Amazed! and Awed!

Here's snippet of Ingrid's storytelling from StoryFUSION 2013.

See you there.

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On Saturday, (Dec. 16th, 2013), John Lithgow will present his one man show, Stories by Heart, at Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University.  I will be in that audience because stories are dear to my heart.

Members of the Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild will tell their own stories from 7 to 7:30 pm.  (Not me.  I just want to listen this month.) 

It will be a wonderful event.  Meet me in the lobby!

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Summer is a great time for stories.  All us sleep-away camp veterans remember the campfires and our counselors warning us of the Witch Lady or the Evil Bear.   Ooohhhhhh! Scary.

But stories do more than just titillate and keep the timid awake at night.  Stories solidify our memories.  They create a family legend that helps us with our self-identity.  Stories teach.  Stories inspire.  And they are just plain fun.

When I was just learning to talk, I developed a great fear of chickens.  This was a problem since my grandfather owned a farm.  Those chickens freaked me out.  And if I got a scrape or a bruise or stubbed my toe, I pronounced, "The shicken did it."

Pretty close to the original scary chicken.

Someone gave me an inflatable chicken but my parents had to put it on top of the corner cupboard, it scared me that much.

My mother told us all stories about when we were "little".  She told me about my stint of blaming everything on "shickens".  "The shicken did it", was a phrase we shared. And when I was old enough to explain things, I remembered a dream I had had.  "Oh", I said.  "When I was little, I dreamed that that rubber chicken was chasing me and pecking me."

This is a tiny memory.  If my mother had NOT told me stories of when I was "little", I would have forgotten the chicken dream and the brightly colored toy that haunted my early childhood.  And a little part of who I am would remain a mystery.  I am still not terribly fond of chickens, unless they are fried or served with dumplings.

Yesterday, my mom and my youngest sister and I visited Illick's Mill which has been turned into an Environmental Center.  The Center is working on the public side of the "pond" that edges my parents' property.  Illick's Mill and I have a history and the building has changed from my teen days.  We got the grand tour and the summer intern walked back to the pond with us and explained what they were doing. My sister and mother and I shared stories of how things were when we were young. 

To remember your stories, you must tell them.  Repetition makes then stick in your brain.  Find a willing listener and tell them a story about who you were, who you are, where you went and where you are going.  Then help them tell a story to you.

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I just finished The Violinist's Thumb by Sam Kean.  Not a story book at all.  HOWEVER, Kean tells the stories of how dozens of scientists, explorers, and other learned folks - to say nothing of isolated Scandinavian villagers and good old Neanderthal - contributed to what we know about DNA, the building block of our very selves.

If Kean had given his readers, "Just the facts, Ma'am," as Joe Friday was wont to say, I would never have finished the book.  The science is daunting - all those A's and C's and G's and T's and mitochondria and mtDNA and messenger RNA and, please, please DON'T ask me what these things are (I sort of know but I will bungle it, I'm sure).  But the stories, the life histories, the theories, the mangled logic, the loves, the victories and failures...the embarrassments and personalities - even the insane experiments - add them all together and you have a page turner.  Man, that Sam Kean can sure tell a good story.

And after we find out everything that is now known about DNA, Kean tells us stories of how scientists hope to use what they have learned.  DNA is awesome.  We, this world, all living things - totally awesome and scary and thrilling and wow....  Read the book.

Storytelling is a most effective way to get humans to swallow facts and remember them.  There is an organization dedicated to helping educators teach through storytelling.  Good Stories for Good Learning is made up of storytellers and educators who have seen how their personal stories have made the subjects they were teaching become real to their students.  Adding stories, your own or folktales or riddle tales or other people's stories, brings life to learning.  Try it.

There are studies that have shown how the brain reacts to stories differently than to lectures, and there are studies that have proven that students remember the stories they hear - and the facts attached to the stories - longer than those facts without stories.  (And, yes, I promise to share links to some of those studies soon but I am already a DAY LATE with this post, OK?  You can trust me.  Honest.)

So the next time you want to make a point, or help someone remember a fact, or teach something to someone, do what Sam Kean did in his book and what effective teachers are doing in classrooms all over the place - AND what humans have been doing since language began.  Tell a story.

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There are a lot of very cute posts out there about very young children telling stories.  The link  directly below this paragraph will take you to "The Worst Haircut EVER", recorded by an NPR journalist after one of his pre-school daughters cut the other pre-school daughter's hair.  These kids are so cute.

The Worst Haircut!  "Everybody does that kind of stuff sometimes!"

Here is another clip which gives advice on helping children tell their own stories.  Thanks go to Detroit Public Television.

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Today, I am sharing books about fireflies with the children at the Allentown Public Library.  And we will be making this Karen Maurer original craft:  Bugs in a "Jar".  (I decided to do away with the crumpled paper at the bottom of the cup. It's distracting.)

I got my inspiration for this craft from an article I read, suggesting that children could use clear plastic take-out cups and the lids as bug collecting "jars".  That's a lot safer than the canning jars I used as a kid.  One trip on the pavement and there would be shards of glass everywhere.  And take-out lids already have holes punched in them for the straw.

To make my "bugs" glow, I used glow in the dark pony beads, available online at Oriental Trading.   Any pony bead will make a bug and you can get a bag of 100 hundred beads for $1 at Dollar Tree.  The glow-in-the-dark beads go with my firefly theme.

The wings are scraps of tulle.  I bought mine at Dollar Tree but any craft store has rolls of the stuff for cheap.  Other possible materials for wings include tissue paper, which is a little delicate, and scraps of thin fabric.

My take-out lids were given to me by the good people at Panera on Cedar Crest in Allentown.  If you are doing this with just your family, save your take out cups and lids and the craft is truly cheap.

It's Thursday and that means I should talk about Storytelling.  One of the best types of storytelling is when people share stories of "when I was little".  So instead of featuring a storyteller or a book, I challenge my readers to tell stories of summer nights "when I was little." 

When I was little, we chased fireflies, counting them up and trying to outdo each other.  The smaller kids would swing their hands through the air and shout out numbers, whether they caught a bug or not.  There is nothing worse to a little kid than not being able to keep up with the older kids. 

How do I know my little brothers and sisters counted pretend fireflies?  Well, when they finally caught a lightning bug - that's what we called them - they got so excited, they gave themselves away. 

We lived near a park - the picnic kind of park - and there were perhaps six lone streetlamps casting our shadows long and dark on the grass.  The street lamps didn't put out enough light to discourage the lightning bugs.

We ran outside in our pajamas and in our bare feet and we sang snatches of songs.  My sister and I liked to pretend we could speak other languages by singing "O Sole Mio" as loud as we could and then gibberish to the rest of the tune.  We only did this at night.  Night makes anything seem possible.

Those memories are not really a "story" but they were fun to share with you.  Catch some real lightning bugs tonight.  Check out Firefly.org for information about these amazing little lightbulbs.

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The weeds have overtaken my garden.  The rabbits are eating my peas.  Daily, I fight creeping clutter and still, while I sleep, chaos slinks ever nearer.  AAAAAAHHHH!!!!

Gene and Bill - over at Unshelved - have a GREAT contest for libraries.  Check it out.  Send your funny or amazing or creepy library stories to the publisher and your library could win 4 iPads for circulation.  (Among the staff is what I'm thinking but....)

Storytelling Thursday:
The Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild rocked the tent on Monday at Mayfair.  Totally.  From Larry Sceurman with his diddley-bow, through Mary Wright, Chaz Kiernan, Tina Fowler, Robin Reichert and moi-meme, we were awesome - if I do say so myself.  Several of us also graced the Kids Stage.  Many thanks to the awesome sound people and stage managers at the Kids Stage and the Esplanade Stage.


Check the Storytelling Page for What's Up Next!

Storytelling Website:
Dianne de Las Casas has a delightfully appealing website with games, advice, books and fun!  Dianna tells in the Louisiana area and writes colorful picture books as well.  Check out her blog to find out what she is up to now.

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Jay O'Callahan!  Jay O'Callahan?  JAY O'CALLAHAN!  The name rolls off the tongue.  It's that "O" that sets the name apart.  But Jay O'Callahan is one of America's Premier Storytellers.

Jay tells all original stories;  children's stories that bounce with life and whimsy, personal stories that capture a neighborhood in a bygone era, historical stories that immortalize journeys, adventures, struggles.

Watch Jay as he tells his tribute to space explorers in "Forged in the Stars".

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I'd like to propose that we declare a War on War!  I propose that this is really the only War anyone needs to declare.  Once we stop Warring, we can move on to promoting Peace!  Peace for EVERYONE on the entire planet.  So join me in my War on War - of every kind.  End  Wars on Christmas, Women, Marriage, I Haz Cheezburgers, Texting, Small Children Who Pick Their Noses, Immigration, Proper Grammar, Afghanistan, The West Bank, Wall Street, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hindus, Hawaiian Shirts.  Stop it, NOW!!  Stop with all the unnecessary carnage and verbiage - ESPECIALLY the verbiage - although actually carnage is worse so I am being a tad tongue-in-cheek here. 

I declare a War on all Wars.  Peace is the only way.

This book is a great story about ending war.

This is Storytelling Thursday.  A lot of storytellers share stories that promote understanding and peace.  And a lot of organizations document true stories of people helping one another.  Here are some of those tellers and organizations:

Peace Tales - with Sarah Malone.  Sarah shares stories that encourage peaceful solutions and she works with organizations that promote independence for all.  Check out her links and stories.

Stories of Peace and Justice - from the peace and Justice Support Network of the Mennonite Church USA - lets people tell their own stories of non-violent interaction and neighborliness.  Very cool.

Peacekids.net is a colorful site offering stories and resources for promoting peaceful thinking among children. 

I have to include the American Friends Service Committee site, even though it is an organization site and not a place to find "stories" packaged as such.  But Friends promote peace everyday, across the globe, across every human barrier.  Go Friends!

Local tellers whose work promotes peace and understanding include Mary Wright, Larry Sceurman, Eva Grayzel and Robin Reichert.  We all do, really.  Check out the Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild's site to find out who we are.

Robin, in particular, has started on a journey of spiritual awakening.  Her website doesn't do her justice. 

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When I was new to storytelling on the web - back when storytelling meant actually telling stories and not script writing, or movie making, or songwriting or... - Elder Barry was there.  His website had stories I could learn, and tips for telling, and jokes, and workshop ideas.

Now, Elder Barry is actually an elder in his church so his site does lead you to church-y, Christian-y places.  If that is not your thing, just enjoy Barry's stories, storytelling games and advice on getting started.

Have you gotten into Pinterest yet?  I haven't really BUT I found this fantastic board on storytelling props.  The board belongs to Amy Anderson and I just want to say thanks, Amy!  Storytelling props are fun when you are working with a classroom or after school program.  Props are sort of like training wheels for starting storytellers.  Some props add a whole other dimension to storytelling.

My favorite storytelling prop is my accordion.  Can you blame me?

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For Storytelling Thursday, I'm sharing a post from Huffington Post's Anya Strzemien.  Anya is tired of hearing her friends - her women friends - talk badly about their looks.  In her article, she talks specifically about looks but we women also talk badly about our cooking, "I can never make this casserole taste as good as my sister can", our talents, "I can't draw - or sew - or write - or sing as well as (insert name here)." our housework - you name it.  It gets wearing to have to reassure us.  It really does.

Maybe we do it to be complimentary to the other person.  And, maybe, we're all lying and we actually believe that we're awesome.  Well, Anya wants you to tell her why you think you're awesome and for every comment, she'll give $1 to Girls, Inc.

So, visit Anya's article and tell her why you like the way you look. Tell a different story about yourself and change the world's perception of YOU. I did.

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With StoryFUSION just around the corner - met up with Susan Petrole at NCC today to talk workshop plans.  So much fun! - ANYWAY, with this festival of storytelling awesomeness speeding towards us, it only makes sense that Her Own Self, Elizabeth Ellis, be the featured teller on Storytelling Thursday.  Even if I have featured her before - have I? - she deserves more exposure and recognition.

You can read all about her storytelling activities at her website.  Go to this page on the StoryFUSION site to listen to a story and interview.

Elizabeth is a fount of storytelling wisdom.  Her down home, laid back telling style is deceptively simple.  She uses her voice in powerful ways and her performances NEED to be experienced.

Zeus Radio interviewed Elizabeth last Fall.  Listen to that interview here.

A librarian, a mother, an author, a professor, and the member of a family with stories galore - all these roles inform Elizabeth's telling.  All of the hats she wears make her stories relevant, funny, touching and perceptive.

There are still tickets available for her Keynote address on HOPE: Storytelling in Financial Hard Times on Friday evening, March 30th AND for her Storytelling Performance on March 31st.

Elizabeth's workshop for teachers, librarians and performers on Saturday March 31st also has a few spaces left.  Please click here to register for any or all of these events.

These events and more take place at Northampton Community College - at StoryFUSION - in Bethlehem, PA.

I hope to see you there.

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Well, I have two passes to Saturday, March 31st show at StoryFUSION.  Any takers?  This is no longer a blog Giveaway.  This is a First Person Gets It Giveaway.

I am performing - with Larry Sceurman, who is amazing and magical, - on Sunday afternoon, 2 pm, at Godfrey Daniels, 7 East 4th Street, Bethlehem, PA 18105.  I will bring my accordion, just for fun.  Larry will bring his magic.  We plan to tell a story together, too.

So, my storyteller of the week is...ME!  I am awesome.  Actually, I am pretty good, even if I say so myself.

Here I am as Monsieur Maurer (Mah-ray)

Here is my storytelling history.
About 30 years ago,  someone told me I should be a storyteller.  I had only seen two actual "storytellers" at that time, Kathy Pierce and Ed Stivender.  The idea that anyone could actually make money doing something I just did naturally - honestly, try to shut me up when I get going - was amazing!

So I began to tell stories everywhere I could - in storytimes, to church groups, at Halloween bonfires.  I made up a flier and sent it out - cut and paste since design software was very expensive back then.

A year or two later, a F(f)riend asked me if I would be her storytelling partner, and Ollie Ollie Infree Storytellers was born.  We told at schools and camps and church groups and retirement dinners and ladies' clubs.  We even told at Mayfair, which was a brand new festival back then.

Before or during this partnership, I started an intergenerational storytelling troupe at the library where I was the YS librarian.  Storytellers' Circle, the group was called and it was a lively fun group.  We put on Halloween shows for the library, visited senior groups and nursing homes and nursery schools and day cares.  We had parents and children join together.  And children who joined without parents and parents who joined without children.  We were all learning together.  Chaz Kiernan and his daughter, Emily, were members of this troupe.   YAY!

This is how the Black Rose Tellers began - and that is Kelly on the right!

  I started the Black Rose Teen Tellers in 2004.  And it continued until I resigned from that library in 2011.  The Teen Tellers did reader's theater, planned and performed for Dr. Seuss Birthday Parties and Teddy Bear Costume Parties, Tellabration, for benefit events, and BEST of ALL, these teens hel

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Storytelling Thursday, here!

StoryFUSION!!  STORY - fusion.  A fusion of all the ways story can be told.  Well, maybe not all the ways. But a whole SLEW of ways.  The whole thing happens at Northampton Community College, one of my alma maters.  And it happens from March 29th through April 1st, 2012.  That's THIS month.  Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild is a MAJOR contributor to this event - as in we make it happen.

So I promised you I'd give you the low-down on this event.  But there is really too much to tell.  Here's a link to the schedule.  

Elizabeth Ellis is the featured teller.  She is intelligent and mesmerizing as a performer.  She sweeps people up into her stories.  She is a fantastic educator.  I <3 Elizabeth Ellis - could you tell?

So many other people are involved.  The workshops alone are amazing - and that's NOT just because I am co-leading one of them.  Here is a nice description of all the workshops.

The student performances promise to be wonderful.  I saw a minute or two of the multi-media project. I am in love! 

So here is YOUR cost analysis (smirk) of this event:

Free events:
Thursday afternoon and evening - all FREE! 
Friday's "Dear Mr. Lincoln" Reader's Theater event at 10 am and 1 pm - FREE (10 am is pretty full, though.)
Saturday afternoon - Film shorts, Story Jam - Free but donations are gratefully accepted.
Sunday - Sacred Stories - Free

Admission events:
Friday night - Keynote Address - $10
Saturday workshops - $35 each
Meals -$12 for lunch and $18 for dinner.  Nice menus, I promise!
Saturday afternoon Children's show - $5!  A bargain!
Saturday evening performance - $10
Sunday afternoon:  Elizabeth Ellis workshop for performers - $50

Pick THIS to save money:
ALL FESTIVAL PASS  - $60
This includes all performances on Friday and Saturday, 1 workshop and both meals.  This does NOT include Sunday afternoon' workshop.

Register HERE.

Comment if you want to sign up for a Thursday workshop.  Since there is no cost, there is no online way to register in advance.

See you there.

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