Stories, Sharing and Storing

Stories, sharing and storing. Life is just that. Moments where we are larger than ourselves. It might be time to bring to the table the expertise that you have accumulated over a lifetime. Your experiences have value, they hold a wealth of knowledge. You have been storing these over a lifetime. That could be 20, 40, 65 years or more but you are the holder of the knowledge.


Sharing ones understanding of a particular subject enriches you, your community and moves the bar in the field in which your topics lives.



Bring it to the table, write a paper, an article, do a presentation, get the information out there. It will help.

Be the teller,

The best is yet to come!

Thirty years, and who knew you could share a life with someone and not notice that three scores have marked the passage. We feel the same, we share the same way but lately it has been different. Something has changed.

Anniversaries have been a marginalized event with us. It happened every year so we did not put much stock into it. But here we are today and we are asking where the time has gone.

Whether we feel deeper about things or maybe its just the fact that we cannot be impressed by the comings and goings of fads.

News events pull together the backdrop of our lives. Good, bad or indifferent what impacts on the environment impacts on us. We listen, we watch, we contribute and we keep informed.

What do we say about a life, the best is yet to come!

Be the teller,

Tell it out loud

Have you ever heard a story you wanted to know more about? Black History Month in Canada offers up an opportunity for us to read, hear and tell stories that are part of our history. Sharing our stories helps us to appreciate our past, embrace our future and create a present that includes all of us.

One such story is Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold. Take a ride on Harriet Tubman's railroad. It tells of courage, love and community and takes you to the door step of freedom in Canada. The telling brings history to life.

Discover the power of voice by tuning into Voice Print and hear stories about Black \history in Canada. Visit Voice Print

Take part in sharing this history and be stronger for it.

Be the teller,

New beginnings : Collecting what stories?

New Year Resolutions, come and go and so does time. Peoples' lives are riddled with beginnings. Familylore tells the stories of those beginnings. The first time you met your husband, the first time your parents met. How are these stories told if not between family and friends.

The why of it is not important. Its the telling that connects us to each other and the way we reach out. Remember that first day in a new job? What was going on, who were the people in the office, what were your responsibilities? Who spoke to you first and what did they ask? Unspoken these moments are but fillers in space and time. But shared, told and reflected upon they become the beginnings of stories that enrich our lives and become part of our Familylore.

Be the teller,

When to collect stories : School Days

If ever there was time to collect stories and record shared memories, back to school is just such a time! No matter our age, no matter where we were, the feeling that something was going to happen haunts us still.

In the fall of 1986 I was studying at York University. In a first brush with the study of folklore I had the opportunity to collect "Yorklore". This was the title I gave to my collection of stories shared by faculty, staff and students about something they had experienced while at York. They were short or longer, they ranged between beliefs stories and anecdotes, humorous or mysterious. I still feel privileged by the tellers generosity in sharing these with me. Here is one such story;

"It was a the winter of 1985.
Three of us were support staff and we spotted
a body outside lying on the snow.
Watching for a few moments
and observing the body was motionless
security was called in to investigate.
Having taken CPR training the staff
still felt ill equipped to deal with an emergency.
Upon arriving the Security guards
quickly assessed the situation while the staff looked
on "safely" from the window.
All were relieved when it was obvious our victim,
whom the staff thought
might be dead, was only drunk.

===========================

Their imagination had wandered
from assault to suicide.
Being dead drunk hadn't entered
the repertoire of victim.
Strictly a sober set !

================================================================
What do Realtors say about selling? Location, Location, Location! Collecting stories can take place anywhere; an intimate corner at a Christmas gathering, on the porch while taking in the breeze, during a pancake breakfast with colleagues, an anniversary celebration. The place and time is determined by You and the Teller. You choose when and just record. Take it down in notes, a tape recorder, whatever fashion works best for you. Respect the act of sharing and stay true to the story.

It could be your returning to University or College, or perhaps your child's first day, record the moment, and share the telling,