Bend, Oregon that is. Last weekend I presented my "Crazy Gibberish"workshop for the Deschutes Library System at the Seventh Annual Central Oregon Regional Library Conference. My sister Constance flew down from Juneau, just to keep me company. She is an artist, and was looking forward to a road trip along winding mountain highways lined with stunning autumn color, and we were both looking forward to time to catch up. It brought to mind the Irish folk tale about the man and his son who set out on a journey. The father asks his son to "shorten the road," and the son has no idea what his father is talking about. What his father means is, "Tell me a story, and the miles will fly by as we walk." That is how Con and I travel, with time flying by as we gab, laugh, tell stories, gab some more, and figure out how to solve all the problems of the world.
I picked my sister up at Sea-Tac airport on Saturday evening, and we headed south on I-5 from there. Just being with her transformed a business trip into a vacation. It would be difficult to describe what makes time with Con so special. When I am with her, a trip to the grocery store becomes an adventure. For example, an hour and a half down the road, we pulled into a rest area. It was dark and nearly deserted. When we got out of the car, Con started doing jumping jacks on her side of the car, so I started doing jumping jacks, too. I decided to jog laps around the car, so Con started off, too, in the same direction. It didn't take long to degenerate into a wild giggling game of tag,until I caught up with her, tagged her on the shoulder, and raced off in the opposite direction, She immediately pivoted and took off after me, with both of us squealing and laughing uncontrollably. It is probably a good thing that the parking lot was deserted, because witnesses might have wanted to give the two fifty-somethings a breathalizer test, and take away the car keys. I got back behind the wheel giddy with joy, feeling blessed to have a playmate who really knows how to play.
We spent the night in Portland, because it is nearly impossible for a storyteller to pass through that city of bridges without stopping at Powell's a world class destination bookstore. It takes up a whole city block, and we could have stayed a couple of days, but unfortunately had to limit ourselves to a couple of hours. I can never be sure whether time flies, or clocks stop when I am in a bookstore. I do know that I left with a big bag of books, mostly folk tales, all of them well-thumbed used books, as books of folk tales should be.
When we checked into the Eagle Crest Resort and Conference Center, a few miles outside of Bend, in our room we found a big gift bag filled with goodies; a pound of really good coffee, biscotti, and chocolate, but my favorite present was the beautiful hand-knit scarf, made especially for me by Marian Thomas, the Human Resources Manager. I think that Marian must have set the tone for the entire conference, because I never met a warmer, friendlier bunch.
I presented a workshop,in which participants learned new story stretches, but also had an opportunity to create their own. I will post their stretches in the column, and you will be impressed. They are creative, funny, tailored to the librarians' upcoming programming needs, and as good or better than most of the stretches you might find in published resources.
I was also asked to participate in a discussion and demonstration of multicultural storytelling, and the ethical considerations of telling stories from other cultures. I was joined by Heather McNeil, Youth Services Coordinator of the Deschutes Library, and storyteller extraordinaire, and author and storyteller Susan Strauss.
Heather spoke about her experience collecting stories from Kenya, and of telling stories from a culture that was not her own. Her voice and presence were strong, and the audience was transported to Kenya on a stream of story. Heather is the author of Hyena and the Moon: Stories to Tell from Kenya, and The Celtic Breeze: Stories of the Otherworld from Scotland. I intend to order my copies from Libraries Unlimited; if her passionate and powerful storytelling voice is any indication of her writing ability, these collections will be worth having on my shelf.
Bend storyteller Susan Strauss also joined us. I met Susan nearly three decades ago, when she came up to Seattle to do some programs and workshops in the early days of the Seattle Storytellers Guild. Since then, she has written some very fine picture books of Coyote tales, which I have had on my shelf, and which were among the first folktales that I read to my my children. Susan was always a fine storyteller, but after hearing her tell at the conference, even as I laughed at the antics of foolish Coyote, I sensed in the storyteller a depth and wisdom that, perhaps, can come only from life experience. Susan also told about her experiences learning and telling Northwest Native American stories. Although Heather, Susan, and I were all telling stories from different parts of the world, we all felt strongly that respect, some knowledge of the culture, and staying true to the spirit and intent of a story was essential when borrowing a story from another culture.
After the conference, it was too late to begin the long drive north to Seattle, so Con and I enjoyed crunching sweet Honeycrisp Apples while walking along the river, amidst the red, orange and yellow foliage, and the lavendar sage and juniper of the high desert. Back in our hotel room, Con helped set me up with this blog. I am such a cyberphobe that I kept breaking out in a sweat, but Con was patient, kind, and persisent, and here I am, writing to you this morning, thanks to her.
I wasn't nearly as sad dropping Con off at the airport as I might have been, if I didn't know that I would be flying up to Juneau on November 1st, to help her hang pictures and attend the gala opening of her new art show. If you would like to meet my sister, Constance Baltuck Hartle, hear HER version of our trip, and get a preview of her show, go to: www.constancebhartle.typepad.com.
Next Monday I will post story stretches from the workshop, but now I have to run. Tonight is the grand opening night of the Forest Storytelling Festival in Port Angeles, and it is time to take my ramblings back onto the road. I'm springing my daughter Bea from school early (it's educational!) and we are going to soak up some stories, spend some time with some old friends, and who knows, maybe do a few laps around the car in a deserted parking lot.
Stay safe, have fun, and keep your eyes and ears open to the stories all around you,
Naomi
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