Our lives our stories

"Our lives are stories,... and the stories we have to give each other are the most important. None of us have a story too small and all are of equal stature. We each tell them in different ways, through different mediums-and if we care about each other, we'll take the time to listen." Foreword by Terri Windling to Waifs and Strays by Charles de Lint.

Everyday of our lives are filled with happenings, great and sorrowful, small and gentle, ephemeral and minute. But these our all parts of our story. Yours and mine. While searching for a teller to share with you today I was reminded of one such person, a writer, dwelling in Ottawa. Charles de Lint unfolds spaces within spaces to create that which cannot be seen, cannot be touched unless you venture forth.

Be the teller of your story,

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 !

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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,

Where are your stories?

It began with the grandfather clock chiming noon, and Mom and Dad sitting on the sofa while I explained my assignment. This was the setting for one of the most powerful telling sessions I ever took part in.

As an undergraduate at York University I was studying with Dr. Carol Carpenter. She had given her students the task of asking our parents how they met. No closed or leading questions and no feeding answers. They were to tell their story. and you as the recorder collect them.

I began by setting them down in the living room in their condo. Tea and chocolates were placed on the coffee table and the sun streamed into the room making it feel more than a little surreal. As one of eight children I had been the first to make the request. Mom and Dad just were. They met, fell in love, and got married. That was our version.

Mom giggled and Dad laughed at the serious way I was approaching this but soon we were in it. Dad started sharing his experience as a soldier in New Brunwick stationed in Moncton.

"She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Sitting with her friends in a restaurant I was across the room having lunch with another soldier. He laughed at me when I said "I'm going to marry that girl". Dad got back to base and requested a transfer. It took a year but he did get back, spotted who would become my Mom on the street with a group of friends. He introduced himself and within 6 weeks they were married.

That's the magic of familore. It never gets old. And everytime you tell it it gets newer still.

Gail DeVos, Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta. Her courses include storytelling and literature for children and YA (young adults). Having recently read Gail's first book Storytelling for Young Adults: Techniques and Treasury I appreciated how this teller made the reader feel the power in themselves to share their stories. More important still , she provides ideas and techniques for new tellers to help others bring forward their stories.

Your family has its own stories. Learn to tell them.

Storytelling: A sharing of experiences

It's Easter 1961, and my sister and I receive our new patten leather shoes to go with our new dresses. Our dresses are in the same colours as always, purple for her and green for me. Asked why we had these colours Mom replied, "Green for your eyes and purple for your sister's bold nature."

How and why these determinations were made were not explored.

Holidays can give us more time to reflect. Reflect about a time, a place, a moment when you were entrenched into a story. Take a moment and think back. Think back to a time when you sat quietly listening to someone telling you a story.

Step into that moment. Now look into the eyes of the teller. It may have been your mother or perhaps grandmother answering a question you posed or explaining a particular event about the family and its origins. Try and visualize where you were and what was going on around you. Can you hear the words spoken?

The imagary playing before you are scenes from a life, a life that belongs to your history, your family, they are your familore. These scenes might describe how you came to be part of this family, who you take after and what caracteristics you have that connect you to that member.

Other scenes may tell of moving to a new town, starting a new job and even resettling back home and what it meant to the family.

These and other stories make up familore. Through the telling of these stories we gain invaluable insights into our history, our past and in a way our future.

So the story goes,

Heritage: A treasure trove of stories

Heritage Day! What comes to mind when we hear it? Some of us envision the past, horse drawn carriages, a pristine forest, a one room school house. There is so much more.
Its the stories.

"Friends, Romans, countryman lend me your ears". Old, but good stuff. Everyone is from somewhere, everyone has connections that are not easy to locate, not handy maybe not even still present. But the stories survive.

No matter where your family is, no matter when you last spoke with them, there are stories of the distant past, stories from last year's Thankgiving diner, stories that will continue if you share them with yourself and others.

I worked on a project entitled "The Being Here Project". It was meant to identify the families that had emmigrated to Ontario between 1900 - 1987. These threads in time told of escape from war, flight to freedom, dreams of futures not yet imagined.

You and I are made of these stories. Begin by writing them down, short notes that jog the memory then start to speak to those who can expand on your recollection. Through this process you will begin a journey through life that is done from where you are right now.

Heritage Day 2008! Make this year your start!

Voice: The Storyteller's Tool

Words give birth to thoughts and sounds escape through the teller.

A whisper carries a feeling, a shout resounds with volume.
A scream unleashes joy, fear or confusion.

Storytelling defines us, exlains our reality and breaths into our very essence a connection to our past, present and future. Have you ever asked yourself who are we, what are we and what will we become. These questions have been asked by cynics, poets, philosophers, lovers, dreamers, artists and most people I know.

The storyteller shares with their audience their energies. One hundred years or ten years and the life experiences remain similar, united, repeating mistakes and remembering triumphs. What they convey is articulated in the voice.

February is Black History Month. Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), folklorist and storyteller par excellence appreciated sound and breath. In her book "Their Eyes were watching God" you not only hear the words but feel the sounds.

Where stories come from

In this season of snow, cold, winds and ice northern New Brunswick is bombarded by the sights and sounds of activities such as tobogganing, snowmobiling, skating. Winter sports are key conversations in coffee shops, hockey being the most talked about. Ah! hockey.

A storyteller shares events in his life and helps you experience them. Roch Carrier, renown Canadian author and formerly the National Librarian of Canada is the quintessential storyteller.

Picture it, rural Quebec, early 1950s. You are a young hockey player and your hero is Maurice Richard. So the story begins;

“The winter’s of my childhood were long long seasons. We lived in three places, the school, the church and the skating rink. But our real life was on the skating rink. Real battles were won on the skating rink, real strength appeared on the skating rink, the real leaders showed themselves on the skating rink.” (Roch Carrier, The Hockey Sweater)

In 'The Hockey Sweater' the reader is witness to the stress of youth, to the limitations that come with being a child. You sense the helplessness the boy feels when his mother insists he wear a Toronto Maple Leaf sweater rather than #9 Montreal Canadiens. How does this young boy explain to his friends that his sweater is now white and blue rather than the red, white and blue.

The teller seeps his reader in the atmosphere of the setting. In the distance you see the ice rink, you can hear the school bells and feel the closed quiet space of the church. The denouement brings a resolution with humour and dignity. How? That's another story.

Enjoy listening to storyteller Roch Carrier share his story with you, visit

The Stories Tell It All!

What is always new, always old and always yours?

Your stories. Whether they begin with "I started out as a child" or "One dark stormy night" stories unveil a moment of truth. For one instant, one infinitesimal space in time it was yours.

Storytime is a time of contemplation, a time to sit with your thoughts, a time that begins and ends with you. No matter where you grew up and no matter how you grew up you were surrounded by stories and these became, at times, and in part, your stories.