Telling and Listening to Stories: Being Human Together

written by Julie Pasqual

     

  I hope I am not the only one who loves it when someone you admire, and think is talented, smart, deep, and inspiring says something that you yourself have thought?  Something that you have felt to be “deeply true”, but you were never quite sure if that idea, or concept, would make sense to anyone other than you?  That moment when your mouth drops open, and you bleat out, “That’s what I ALWAYS thought!!”

           If it hasn’t happened to you, let me be the first to tell you that it is an AWESOME feeling, it’s like having the kid that teased you in junior high march up to you and say, “Sorry, I stuffed you into that locker, you’re actually pretty cool.”  It has a sense of immense validation, a giant “I told you so” to the world, and it leaves me thinking that maybe, just maybe, I am not as crazy as I look!!

            And that is how I felt the other day, when I opened up my most favorite author – Anne LaMott’s, newest book “Small Victories” If you are unfamiliar with her books – READ THEM, if you know her work – READ THEM AGAIN.  Here is a woman who lives a REAL life – that is messy, joyful, funny, and tragic – and so when she speaks in her poetic yet earthy voice, she is more than worth listening to.  And, so I – a storyteller, who, through the marvelous opportunities that Storytelling Arts has allowed me, tells stories in prisons - was delighted to see that one of her essays was about her experience going to San Quentin with a storyteller friend of hers.

          She speaks of her fear that the prisoners will not respond to her friend’s stories, and stands ready to save the situation – but then, as I have seen it do over and over in the Morristown Youth Detention Center,  the magic of storytelling, to quote Ms. LaMott “steals the show right from under her”.  She writes of how this group of hardened career criminals listened to the stories, mesmerized, and when they did, she writes “they looked like family.”  And why?  Because, her friend, the storyteller, Neshama had shown them that “I’m human, you’re human, let me greet your humanness.  Let’s be people together for a while.”  And that “they had thought Neshama was going to teach them a lesson, and she instead sung them a song.”

          YES!!  BINGO!!!  THAT’S ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!!  ENOUGH SAID!!!  NAILED IT!!!

               I have witnessed first hand, this “song” of storytelling, and I have experienced over and over, the power a story has to create not just a relationship and bond between teller and audience, but, also, between one listener and another – one human being to another.  Too often, these incarcerated young men and women have had their essences whittled down to the mistake they made that put them in that facility.  But they, like all of us, are complex, multi-faceted beings.  Their lives have, and will, twist, turn, then twist again – just like those of the characters in the folktales we bring to them.  And because to tell a story one must listen, REALLY listen to their audience by looking at their faces, feeling their energies, feeling out the way to the tell the story at that moment, for just those people, we are given a chance to, as Ms. LaMott beautifully states – greet them at their humanness. 

          There is such a beauty in that – reminding someone that their transgressions do not define them, and that life is not simple, streamlined, or linear. It is big, messy, individual, and to a great extent a mystery.  Stories remind of us that – with their sometimes incredible series of events, larger than not just life, but the universe’s characters, and their truths – things that resound in all of us, that sound off an alarm of AHA!! somewhere inside those that hear them, and that make us turn to the person next to us and, even if just for a second connect!

    

         

       

                   

Revaluing the Ordinary

A group of Storytelling Arts performers including myself just finished a residency at Frelinghuysen Middle School in Morristown.  Our theme was community.  The story goes that first you shoot the arrow, and, then, you draw the bullseye.  So it was that, as I told my stories, I once again realized that the oral tradition by its process is a lesson in community.  Whether to a group of two or two hundred, storytelling follows an alchemical formula that creates not only a shared experience, but an empowering experience, that turns the everyday into gold.  One of my stories was the Great, Big, Smelly, Small Toothed Dog.  My friend Margaret Read MacDonald has published it as a picture book, but the story is far more powerful as an oral tale with the teller and audience using body, voice, and imagination, to be in the midst of the story instead of an observer looking at illustrations.  The dog tests the princess three times before he can reveal his true self.  When, at last, he pulls his smelly fur aside, there is a gasp of aha!, not because we are surprised, but because our community’s values are confirmed-  i.e. A prince hides under every smelly dog skin.  Storytelling is a journey, not only to strange and magical experiences, but to a revaluing of the ordinary that is too often taken for granted.

illustration by Walter Crane

Even with sixth graders (or should I say especially with sixth graders) verbalizing these recognitions is an affirming experience.  When we share the stories of popular culture, television, film, music, we often excuse the experimentation and rebelliousness of preteens and teens as a natural part of growing up.  Too often, we encourage middle schoolers to explain away behavior; but when we tell the old stories, we see that the journey is only complete when it includes wisdom and restoration.  Thus, the final day of my residency was spent telling and retelling Little Red Riding Hood.  This story has been distorted as a warning against strangers.  In fact, it is an investigation of rebellion.  “Don’t go off the path,” Little Red’s mother warns, but Little Red just rolls her eyes.  The class improvised various scenes from Little Red Riding Hood as we discussed the theme and consequences of actions.  One of the most interesting moments came when we personalized the wolf.  I have always wondered why the wolf doesn’t just eat Little Red up.  In this sixth grade, I got my answer.  The wolf became a bully and a self promoter who enjoyed the process of toying and teasing Little Red.  The students recognized this character as everything from the advertising that assaults them everywhere, to the temptations of drugs and alcohol that they hear lie down the way, to the personal actions that individuals choose as a way of defining themselves.  All this came from telling the story and making space for the Aha!

Our final writing project was to write an ode to something or someone we take for granted.  Stories are tools for observation and appreciation.  One girl wrote an Ode to a Door.  Who has passed through you? What feet and hands have left marks and scratches? What cries and sounds have been shut out?  What strangers have been welcomed?  Each question was the seed of a story to ponder and cultivate and develop; for one story is the doorway to another story, which is why, when people gather, one story inevitably leads to another. 

Students often ask where do storytellers learn their stories.  Books and sharing are the obvious answers, but a good storyteller doesn’t’t just repeat a story.  Good storytellers puts themselves into the story, opening the door so that the listener can enter too.

written by Gerald Fierst

Another Artist's Experience from Jack McKeon

The three days at FMS went very well, I think.  The teacher, Renee Marchand, was happy with what I proposed and let me go for it.  Basically I taught the classes for the first two days. When we had time on the second day, Renee put some topics on the board about community and had the kids write post-its and went over them. 

It was a very enjoyable three days. The classes were very different and their reactions to things varied.  They all loved the stories.  I told Jack and the Beanstalk and Tatterhood, both to illustrate figures who have to make their own individual ways into the larger community.  Jack worked particularly well since they got the notion of leaving a small community (family) to get into something broader but that this means facing large, scary things that might swallow them up.  Good lesson for the sixth grade.  The first class was largest and giddiest so the discussions took a little longer and they didn't immediately get to the point, but they finally made it.  The second class was actually slower in some ways but they nailed the stories and their relevance to individuals and community.  The third class was "honors" and more serious and more perceptive.

I told Hardy Hardhead on day two for the movement exercises.  We discussed the contribution of different skills to community. They were puzzled by Jack's doing very little until they considered his generosity and his leadership.  For movement I started with a walk-like-the-character and freeze exercise (thank you JP).  All groups got it, though the responses were fairly obvious. Group one was again more giddy.  I tried an artist/statue activity but it was too complicated for group one and it became a bit chaotic.  Went on to tableaux and let them draw on all the stories.  Not a lot of imagination but enough so that the class could guess the story and scene.  I bagged the statue thing for group two. The rest went very nicely, though when one group made a tableaux with Tatterhood's sister below decks, one kid went under a table.  They loved it so that every group after had to have someone under a table.  Sixth grade.  

We had time leftover so Ms. Marchand reviewed the post-its and tried to generate a bit of discussion that didn't get too far. I re-instituted the statue for the third group (at the teacher’s suggestion) and they were much better at it. I demonstrated the idea using Ms. Marchand as the statue. They all had a lot of fun and it helped them remember the stories, but I'm not sure they got into the stories any further with all this activity.

Ms. Marchand was absent for the third day but there was a good substitute.  I reviewed all the stories I'd told, reminding them of the points they were all supposed to make.  The first group needed more prodding. The other two were right on it. I told The Gecko about animals combining to dig a well, discussed it a bit and the sub presented the writing assignments. All three classes dug into the assignment and worked on it for the rest of the period. There was time left in the last class so I told Br'er Rabbit and He-lion as a parting gift.

In general I think it was a success. The students certainly loved the storytelling and seemed to get the connection to their own lives and the theme of community.  I'm on for next year.

written by Jack McKeon

Middle School Residency: A Teacher's Perspective

The Storytelling Residency was such a valuable experience for my sixth grade students. The experience connected to so many different areas of our curriculum and skills that we are working on in our reading and writing class.  More specifically, asking students to really think about community at the start of the year is beyond helpful in creating an environment conducive to learning.  Through her storytelling Paula was able to help students recognize what helps make a community thrive, and what can deter one from becoming a functioning group.

As a reading teacher, I found it inspiring to see students who were usually afraid to participate raise their hands and provide insightful thought to a discussion. Even during the stories, the level of engagement of all students was astounding. In one class, students took a risk and acted as a character from one of the stories Paula shared with us. My students stood in front of one another and allowed themselves to feel and speak as a character from the book. It was beyond moving to see these children let go of their inhibitions and speak freely in front of one another. Even more, you could see the pride and happiness they had in themselves when they were done sharing.

I feel as though the discussions and activities lead by Paula really allowed students to let their guards down and bring us closer together as a community, both in and outside of the classroom. It has also given me a renewed appreciation for the art of storytelling, and I hope this is something that we can continue to implement at various points throughout our 6th grade year.

written by Ashley Daly, 6th grade ELA teacher at Frelinghuysen Middle School

Storytelling and Community: A Tale of Middle School

Image by Arthur Rackham

A great, great experience at Frelinghuysen Middle School this fall. Sixth grade ELA teacher, Sarah Satkowski, is a joy to work with, an amazing teacher. I loved watching her extend the discussions and writings to fit the needs of her different classroom communities. She really knows sixth graders.  Sarah took lessons from the stories, characters from the stories, and words from the students and expertly wove them into mini-lessons of respect, character, language building and community formation.

As a storyteller hired by an ARTS council, I wanted to emphasize the ‘art’ part of storytelling in all three sessions. (Paula subbed for me on day 2, but we were in conversation). I researched storytelling performance and culture from Haiti and Africa. Paula spoke to the same in the Artic. Because the underlying theme was community I wanted to stress how storytelling brought (brings) communities together, and how storytellers are responsible for keeping the traditions and cultures viable in these communities.

Another underlying conceit was that of storytelling as a form of communication in all forms, oral, physical and written.

In discussion via email Sarah and I developed the following plan of attack.

Day 1: What is storytelling? What is community? Listening and oral response were the focus.

We started with blank chart paper titled “What is storytelling?” The students worked in groups with post-it notes and developed ideas of what they thought was going to happen. These were put on the chart and added to or subtracted from as the students got to hear stories. A few of their ideas were: Storytelling is  the art of creating a story, suspenseful, entertaining with creativity and imagination, beautiful language, connect to audience, magical, stories explain the unexplainable.

I told a story from Haiti. We discussed briefly answering such questions as “Why did so and so do this?” “What happened to so and so?”  Then another post-it note session for students to generate ideas to answer, “What is Community?” Some of what they wrote: Community is working together to solve a problem, to be respectful and responsible, rules and laws, connecting to each other, a civilized group.

I spoke about storytelling in Haiti and then told more Haitian tales from The Magic Orange Tree. Deep oral discussion followed. Inevitably the question arose, “Are these stories true?” Staying quiet, I waited to hear how they would respond. One girl said,” It could be true without the magic in it.”

Day 2:  Exploring stories and characters through movement

Paula told The Girl Who Dreamed Geese and led the class in movement exercises.  Sarah and students told me all about it. As you will see in her response (below) Sarah honed in on the aspect of empathy. She brought this up as we listened to stories on Day 3. I believe it’s true. We feel empathy for the characters as we listen. Even if it is only for those 6-10 minutes of the story, we have at least experienced empathy.

Day 3: Exploring storytelling and community through writing

Sarah came up with some great questions to be used as writing prompts. These were written on chart paper. Before we even talked about what students were going to write, stories were told and discussed. This time stories came from countries in Africa. Again, we explored storytelling traditions and cultural values.

At this point students wrote. Sarah lets them chose from different writing prompts. 

These were posted.

1)    How are storytelling and community connected?

2)     Chose one story and explain what it tells us about community.

3)    How has the storytelling experience changed our classroom community?

The students chose one prompt,wrote and then shared a bit. We made sure to save enough time for a short wrap up story.  Here are some of the students’ writings. Sarah’s is here as well.

Excerpts from student’s writings:

·       “The community and storytelling are both alike because the stories that a storyteller tell (sic) can be true.”

·      “Storytelling is time when you need a community to talk and discuss about storytelling People participating is a sign of community.”

·      “The story I chose was Anansi’s Six Sons. This story tells us that to have a good community everyone has to do their part. All of Anansi’s sons helped him in their own way...”

·      “A story that involved community was Tipingee. When the girls teamed up and saved Tipingee from becoming a servant, they worked together as one little community.”

·      “Most storys (sic) or folk-tales are about a community coming together or working together just like a community would. The things we need to have to have a successful community is another thing we learned from storytelling. Story telling helped us learn more about communitys (sic) work and how important it is to have a successful community.”

·       “I think we have changed in a happy way because we enjoy storytelling and love hearing the fun stories and activities we do. That’s why I think storytelling has changed our classroom and also we learned about different cultures.”

·     

Sarah Satkowski (teacher) This was written in the time, at the same time, allotted to students.

     “Over the three storytelling sessions with Julie and Paula I think that our classroom community has changed dramatically. To begin, I feel that listening to stories leveled the playing field and really allowed everyone equal access to understanding and engagement. The content of the stories we heard facilitated conversations around many of the pillars of community and allowed us to examine our roles in communities. I believe the most challenging aspect of this experience has been our willingness to share, increased comfort level with one another and our ability to empathize. (Something that is often sorely missed in middle school.)

     Overall--- I think we are all better community members because of storytelling.”

Post by Julie Della Torre