Everything old is new again!

I just returned from attending the Atlantic Provinces Libraries Association's conference in Saint John and I did feel like I was visiting home. Having been in this historical city only 11 months a few years back it seeped into my skin, into my very consciousness.

It could be said to be the moisture, the rain, the dampness but the place became one with me. Could it be the way people hold the doors in public places for each other, or maybe the way folks smile and say hello to total strangers. Not sure of the origin of this common behavior, but I am certain of the food.

The Saint John Market helps walk into the past feeling decades of stress, tension, feelings of isolation leave you as you go from kiosk to kiosk. Whether you are looking for fruit, nuts, meats or cheese this wonderfully well stocked venue provides the purchaser will find a fine variety and great quality.

People given the opportunity will share stories about their activities, their hopes, their dreams and plans on how to achieve their goals. Listen and you may be enlightened, entertained and overwhelmed at the diversity that is storytelling.

Photos by Bob Ewing.

Be the teller,

Its been a little over a year

I am back!

Suffering an injury in March 2009 many things I love to do fell to the wayside.
As of April 1st I will be back on my weekly schedule, sharing stories, books, tellings on topics that touch my community and how we are connected with it.

Be the teller,

Rendez-vous de la francophonie: Stories galore

Whether we speak English, French, or both, in Canada, we are aware of the connection we have with each other. Language joins us, explains our similarities and differences and draws on a shared history. Today language is more that cultural identity, it is our link with time itself.

Tied to all aspects of life language is a force to unite, reach out and create opportunities. Social, economic and cultural tapestries are woven around this unifying source.

Families share stories describing the influences in their daily lives. They create memories all the while living within their images of self and community.

The National Film Board celebrates its 4th Rendez-vous. Between March 6th and 22nd enjoy the animated shorts and films presenting the diversity and uniqueness of the Canadian tapestry.

Be the teller,

Valentine's Day : A time for the telling

Valentine's Day continues to intrigue, delight and tease us into believing that there is a day special enough to tell of your love, or to say what you feel to your love or even to sing the praises of your love. St. Valentine, is said to have been a priest in Ancient Roman. Picture it; Rome about 270 A.D. and you are not a supporter of the current Emperor Claudius. A christian, Valentine would be martyred for refusing to give up his faith. Centuries later Henry VIII declared February 14th as Valentine's Day. After all who would know more about courtly love.

These and others stories will lead you to asking 'Who was your first Valentine?' 'How did you share your special day?' 'Where were you when you received your first Valentine?'. 'So wants with Cupids arrow?'

Sure some of these questions may be invasive or they could just be fun. Our memories need cajoling at times and February 14th might just be the right day to get some insights into your surroundings by asking those you love. Will you be my Valentine?

Be the teller,

When to collect stories: Festive Season 2

Collecting Familore can be an adventure. Every family has its own way of doing things. The way they share their memories, the times at which they tell these memories. Styles may vary but the sharing most often takes place in a time of celebration, a time when members of the family, friends come together.

If you were to select a time for collecting, the Festive Season would be a wonderful choice. It has a unifying thread running through it. Family members and friends make a special effort to be together. Time itself becomes more fluid and we give ourselves permission to relish in each others company.

Remembrances, memories, shared experiences become the reason for being together. The cost is minimal and it may enhance your holidays in ways you cannot imagine.

Whether you invite family and friends to your place or you go to theirs, you can be the collector. There is a magical atmosphere attached to the holiday season. We feel a connection to our past that often is forgotten the rest of the year. The coming ofthe New Year looms heavy on our conciousness. Hopes, dreams, fears and joys remain closer to the surface. Make space in your activities to encourage the telling. Remember to value the stories shared, they are pieces of the puzzle that is your Familore.

Be the teller,

Stories told through poem : In Flanders Fields

Stories will never run out. Those who have experienced war in any way realise that the experience stays with them. It is in the way that we remember that makes it human. The loss lives with us all. As long as we Remember.

The Last Post sets the tone for Remembrance Day, November 11th. This instrumental tells stories through sound. Notes and cadence breaths life into the story.

Other forms of storytelling are found in poems.

In Flanders Fields, by John McCrae,MD (1915)


In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

There are not just words they are images of stories told and shared between colleagues, commarades, wives, daughters, fathers, sons and mothers. Encapsulated in the flower that embues the feeling of loss, its red colour rises to set a pulse for the ryhtym of these stories.

Lest We Forget encompases a multitude of generations, of yesterdays and tomorrows.
The following stories are shared in images and words to help us meet this responsibility,

• 3 Veterans from the SunnyBrook in Toronto recite these immortal words.

• Images of soldiers yesterday today
  

• British Armed Forces in Afghan Remembered

Remember,

When to collect stories : School Days 2

"YorkLore" includes 26 stories from staff, faculty and students at York University. The stories were all shared in the fall and winter of 1986; the tellers were recounting a moment in time that impacted on them in some way.

This next story reminds those of us who have stood in the registration line up in September waiting to get your classes selected.

Atkinson College 1977: Registration
This was the setting for an onslaught
of profane language directed towards the staff.
A student speaking in an aggressive tone
used foul four letter words bellowed out clear and loud.
The Administrative Assistant took it upon herself
to call out the Registrar for aid in the disturbance.
Now our Registrar was known to possess a thorough
knowledge of slurs, insults and
four letter words held no mystery for her.
With steely confidence she approached the counter
and addressed the perpetrator,

"Young man, I don't use that kind of language.
The ladies in this office are members of my staff
and they will not be subjected to this ugly discourse.
You will now leave !"

Our highly indignant intruder was no match for this
valiant College Registrar and left.

The staff in Registration still today appreciate
the irony of the story as well as the support
rendered them by their Registrar.

It is often said that "No good deed goes unpunished". But respect in the workplace is forever, pass it on,

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,

International Women's Day : Women and the oral tradition

Listen to your grandmother talk about when she came to this country and you will hear stories that are unique. Entertain your mother with questions about how she met and fell in love and you will hear tellings of love, passion and youthfulness. Take the time to spend an evening with your sister. Share with her an initimate moment in your life and soon you will be taking your place in the sea that is womanlore.

The stories that keep families together remain the most powerful and the least known of all the stories. As women we are expected even requested to keep these stories that are uniquely our families' alive for the next generation and the next after that and so on. Why are these life affirming experiences important?

Every family has a voice of its own, the way in which it interprets the world around it. The very ebb and flow of a family and its stories require a recorder, a person to keep these stories vibrant and remembered. The women in your family know this, just ask.

International Women's Day March 8th reminds us of the tradition and the power given to women in keeping our histories, our stories and sharing these with our families. Consider your family stories and celebrate

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.

Black History Month : A Canadian Story

Viola Desmond, ever hear about her? Chances are the stories about this successful Halifax beautician and businesswoman never made it to your newspaper, school texts or storytelling session.

Living in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in 1946, Viola had gone out to the movies. She got a ticket in the balcony. Since there was a "no-Blacks" rule, she was not allowed a downstairs seat.

And so begins Viola's story. It tells of being arrested for refusing to seat where she was told, fined for stealing 1% amusement tax from the governement for the superior seat and finally sent to prison for 30 days.

Many people know the story of Rosa Parks, another woman who on December 1st 1955 refused to give up her seat to a white customer. This story is told in schools, shared amongst activitists and held up as an important moment in time.

This year tell the story of a woman who brought the plight for social justice to the public eye in Canada. You can be part of this history by sharing the story with your friends, students or people who just like to be part of stories. It's all in the telling!

To learn more visit

It's a family affair - Happy Family Literacy Day

There was a time when the oral tradition of storytelling was the only way in which stories, be they factual or made up were transmitted throughout the generations by the small pieces of information shared. One major reason for this oral tradition was the inability to read and write. If a picture is worth a thousand words then it would be fair to say that the ability to write those words give you the power to express any picture you can imagine.

Over the past several centuries stories that remain powerful often speak to heros, fairytales, fables, and tales of the weak overcoming oppression. These stories remain to a great extend because they were written down and read out loud to generations of children who then shared them with their children and so on and so on.... This tradition in the form of oral stories often originated from letters, diaries, journals, even songs...

Family stories have this power when shared and cherished. Such a treasure trove of family stories makes it possible to create your own familylore, those stories that define your family's history, your family's experiences. Be your family's storyteller, the chronicler who recognises and expounds on the uniqueness of your family. Begin or expand your familylore.

Share in the Family Literacy legacy, visit

Stories As History - Black History Month

February is Black History Month. This year marks the 175 anniversary of the Act to Abolish Slavery in the British Empire (1833-2008). Now right off you begin to wonder about the connection with stories and storytelling. One way we learn about storytelling as with so many other things we do is by watching, listening and appreciating others. To get an ear full of what storytelling can do you could listen to James Earl Jones and his partner Virginia Hamilton. Together they have brought history to thousands of students and adults. I am one of those adults.

Northwestern Ontario in 1991 was the setting for embracing the power of stories. Cold, snow and below zero temperatures encouraged sitting comfortably curled up in a winged chair or floor cushion and reading.

I read the book The People Could Fly for the first time. Soon I found myself listening to this story on CD and quickly after that giving high school children the opportunity to witness, as a future observer, past events.

No, we can't know what it was like, and no we cannot ignore the experience. But by sharing the telling, we can gain insights into another space and another time.

Check out Canadian Heritage on Black History Month

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.