so …. we keep on weaving our way here through the arts. from remembrance day to courage to storytelling … okay, let’s stay with storytelling for a while. i don’t know who said the words, “man is a storytelling animal” (hegel? derrida? tolkien? jung?)
stories – “narratives”, they call them in academia – are as healing, satisfying and spellbinding as mother’s milk and chicken soup. one of the things that therapists do is listen to people’s stories. or at least therapists of my stripe. a story is not “just” its content. it’s so much more. it’s about the words we choose; the pauses; the tone, pitch and volume of voice; body language; the story’s sequence; repetition …
lots to say about stories. for now, i invite you to listen and see what some of our storytellers have to offer you.
tori amos tells/sings a strange story about a dream she had; a story that might have helped her heal from a miscarriage.
here are the web sites of two vancouver storytellers: mythopetica by abegael fisher-lang, and a site dedicated to storytelling in connection with siberian shamanism, by kira van deusen.
then we have lance anderson, a little more on the raw-young-man side, with a very impressive site, and jackie torrence and donna washington, two african american storytellers, mostly with children’s stories, very expressively told.
and of course i have to get back to the whole war/peace/remembrance day deal. apparently i can’t tear myself away from it. because what’s an entry about storytelling without arlo guthrie’s famous alice’s restaurant where he talks, among a whole lot of other things, about his experience at the draft board?
isabella mori
counselling in vancouver