Wow! Our Annual Meeting and the workshops at the Rocky Mountain Storytelling Festival were just filled with inspiration and ideas!

My favorite take away from Kendall Haven:
Through the art of oral storytelling, Spellbinders®, an award-winning non-profit organization, enhances literacy, builds inter-generational community and develops character.

 

This month's feature profile is on Diana Landes.  If you happen to have attended one of the workshops when Diana was 'telling' you will remember her for the amazing gifts of song and poetry that she brings to her stories.  Thank you Diana for sharing your passions and your talents with all of us and with all of the teachers and students you touch each month.

 

Diana was born in Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.  After graduating from high school she attended Peirce Business School in Philadelphia.  Upon graduating from Peirce she worked as a secretary until she married her husband and moved to Alabama where he was stationed at Camp Rucker.  Later she attended the Front Range Community College completing a two-year degree in general studies.

Diana and her husband have been married for over 60 years and have traveled to almost every state, as well as, England, Wales and Italy.  She loves the beauty of Hawaii and Italy but not the climate of England and Wales.  One of the amazing things Diana has to share with the world is a marriage that has lasted for more than a half of a century and a family which boasts of 13 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.  That makes for a readymade private listening audience at each family gathering.

 

Besides storytelling Diana has many interests and hobbies which include:  genealogy, writing stories, songs and poems; creating greeting cards, quilting and playing the piano; traveling to see new places and of course reading.

 

Diana was first introduced to Spellbinders when she attended the Beacon Fest and someone manning the Spellbinders Booth gave her some information about our organization.  And....as they say, the rest is history.  One of the things she enjoys about being a Spellbinder is the 'search' for a possible new story to tell and then making up a song that goes with the story.  Diana likes to tell stories which teach a moral or contain learning  experiences for the children, as well as, involve the kids in joint participation.

 

Diana tells to four second grade classes and several of her favorite stories include:  Dolphin Adventure (a true story), Jujo, The Legend of the Poinsettia, Fox and the Sack, and her own version of The Paper Bag Princess.  She has observed both humorous comments from the children and some very intelligent questions after the storytelling.  For example once after telling "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" one child wanted to know why the goat wanted to go up into the meadow to eat and get big and fat?  The child commented.....that wasn't very healthy! And then, on the humorous side when she told "The Three Cabritos" ( and Diana thought she had clearly explained that "Cabrito" was the Mexican word for goat) at the end of the story a little girl asked if a cabrito tasted like a burrito?  So, at the beginning of the next class Diana made sure to explain once again that Cabrito is the Mexican word for goat.  At the end of the story a child asked if the Chupacabra ate the three tacos? 

 

Yes, storytelling is the birthing place for very interesting spin off stories.  Thank you Diana for sharing your rich experiences and  the  pleasure you receive from your interactions with the children.

 

 

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In our April profile for Mary Ann Janson we neglected to add "the rest of the story."  Here are the final paragraphs that did not make it into the final draft :-)

A couple of cherished memories included the day one little timid girl found the courage to give voice to the answer of a riddle that all the other children failed to solve.  The teacher later shared with Mary Ann that this simple event was an absolute breakthrough for this child and actually changed the way she participated in class from that day forward.  The second cherished memory occurred after the stories had been told and Mary Ann was preparing to leave when a bright young boy who had been totally spellbound during the Telling spoke up and said, "I wish you were my mother; I'd listen to your stories all day long!"

 

Mary Ann enjoys the opportunity to allow the whimsical child inside to be more playful.  However, the stories she selects are not just for entertainment; they also stimulate imagination, teach a life skill, model virtue and rouse discussion.  She invites us all to come along and dangle our feet off the edge of the world and let her stories carry us into another time and place where, with a bit of imagination, the story itself will bring a smile to your face and love to your heart.

 

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Laurie Kollasch gave a mini-workshop based on the workshop she attended at The Timpanogos conference in February.  The workshop was given by Motoko.

Some key points that we took away:

• Much of our communication with  others is non-verbal. About 70% of it comes from body language, 18% tone of voice, and the small remaining % from the text of what we say.
• If your behavior or body language fits with what you are saying it creates congruity.  If it does not fit it creates incongruity. (this can be used for a humorous effect, but if not used effectively can draw your listeners out of the story.)
• Motoko says the technique is not as important as totally immersing yourself in the story; being IN the story.  

See more tips along these lines in the highlights from Kendall Haven's fantastic workshops during our Annual Meeting and the RMSF!



"Super Grandpa" by David M. Schwartz is the tale of Gustav Hakansson  a retired 66 year old Swedish man, who, in 1951, took a notion to participate in the Tour of Sweden bicycle race across his country. 

Arriving at the starting point, Gustav was told that he was too old to qualify for the race and to "go home to your rocking chair".

This remarkable man with the flowing white beard embarked on a race of his own with the number "0" pinned on his shirt. along the way as news spread, he found himself supported by many fans including a little girl who called out "Stalfarfar!" or "Super Grandpa!"

Completing  a distance of 1789 kilometers in just over 6 days and having slept for only 10 hours during that time(!!), Gustav actually beat the best racers' time and became a legendary hero in Sweden!  

Nancy is a retired high school teacher and has been a Spellbinder for two years. She tells stories to fourth grade classes at Rimrock and Thunder Mountain. Thank you Nancy for enthusiastically bringing this happy, inspiring story to us!

You can find out more details about this remarkable man's story here.


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Jeannie Smith sent out an email about a Continuing Education Event offered through St. Mary's Hospital Spiritual Care Department.  In case you did not get it or forget where you "filed" it here is the information.

An overview:
Let Chaplains Pat Bradley & David Zucker show you how they use stories as tools for surfacing issues in pastoral counseling and psychotherapy.
 
Learning Objectives
·        Participants will be able to use sacred stories taken from various spiritual traditions as tools in pastoral counseling.
·        Participants will be able to draw therapeutic parallels between sacred stories and the patient's or resident's life story.
·        Participants will be able to select sacred stories to use in a therapeutic setting.

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Lois Becker, President of MCS Board and Mesa County Libraries Liaison provided the following information  at our May meeting in regards to donations collected at our April meeting:

Here is a PDF of the Library Foundation's donation form.  I mentioned today at the workshop that Jean Yale had raised more than $300 last month from amongst the attendees. ---"Thanks to all who contributed!" 

Clarification: If the Mesa County Spellbinders would like to have their name on the donor wall, the gifting level begins at $1,000 -- so, we could encourage tellers to contribute in Mesa County Spellbinders' name through October.  The reason, the Library Foundation has a conditional grant award of $50,000 from The Gates Family Foundation.  These funds will be lost if the total $1,250,000 campaign goal is not met.  So, those there asked if we could have something sent out via the newsletter. 

It would be important to mention --- "Please indicate your incoming gift to be designated to Mesa County Spellbinders"...That way I'll be able to track the Mesa County Spellbinders giving level without questioning incoming donations.  I do receive many smaller gifts. This will help me track Spellbinder gift from all other gifts.

Thank you....Lois

Lois A. Becker
Development Director
Mesa County Libraries
970.683.2438
lbecker@mcpld.org


MCS Picnic!  Save the Date!

A date has been set for MCS potluck picnic!  It will be held on August 1st at Penny Stewart's house and the tentative time is set for 5:00 p.m.  The Stewart's have a pool and tellers and family members are invited!  Stay tuned for further details later this summer!

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Your Board has been hard at work helping to strengthen and build our local chapter.  We are working on increasing the awareness of our mission through PR events, updating Board documents and operating procedures, problem-solving and much more!  It takes a lot to maintain a chapter and we are grateful to those who help us in this way!

We still have one opening on our local MCS Board. We have had one person express interest in serving our Chapter in this way, however, if you feel this might be something you would like to do just let one of our Board Members know!


Our current Board Members are:

Lois Becker, President & MC Library Liaison
Scott Fairbanks, Vice President
Jeannie Smith, Secretary & District 51 Liaison
Ingrid Bratz deLeland, Treasurer
Ruthmary Allison
Judi Sammons
Penny Stewart
Karen Hurst
Janice Koppang




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 Kendall Haven gave numerous workshops during an eventful weekend!

He gave a presentation at Denver University, to our Council of Trustees, to our Chapter Leaders and to all volunteers.

He spoke quite a bit about "Story Architecture" and what it tells us about "how people hear" and "what we need to say." How we say something is more important than what you say.

We use story to "buy our listeners attention" in order to influence them.  Our audience will only PAY attention if they are engaged.

He reviewed what research tells us about how our brains are wired to think in specific story terms.  We do this to understand, to make sense and to remember.  It is important that the information make sense or the listener will not pay attention. 

Kendall presented the concept of the "neural story net."  This is a location in the brain that information travels through to reach the conscious mind.  This process helps us make sense of incoming information.  In the process of making sense of information it acts as a sort of prism that splits apart information in order to make sense of it.  In doing so, there is some distortion of the information, however, with the use of good Story Architecture the Storyteller can minimize that distortion. 

Kendall presented the eight essential elements for good story structure.  We will try to present this information at a future workshop so stay tuned!


Our Council of Trustees has had some transitions.  Outgoing members of the council are Judith Casey, Nora Heaton, and Julie Herrera.  We thank them for their tireless efforts to support Spellbinders.




We welcome two new members who were elected at the Annual Meeting: Bill Miller and Judy Lloyd!




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We hope, as always, that you find this newsletter useful and fun!  If you have any suggestions/feedback please send me an email!