Talespinner

The Newsletter of the Story Circle of the Capital District

 

Editor and Publisher: Claire Nolan 11 Norwood Street Albany, NY 12203 (518) 209-6477

Email: cbnolou@yahoo.com.

Visit our web site at www.timesunion.com/communities/storycircle

October/November 2007 Issue

“Every possible use of words should be made available to every single person!’--This seems to me to be a good motto with a democratic sound. Not because everyone should be an artist, but because no one should be a slave.”  -- Gianni Rodari

 

Meeting Notes

August 15 Guilderland
Facilitator - Marni Gillard “Well here’s the report for the newsletter. It wasn’t what I’d call a story slam, exactly, but it was fun swapping tale for tale and we even told each other how we got interested in storytelling. It’s nice to see young people jumping on board. Wish we could find more...”

Tellers:  Marni Gillard & Adam Hoffman
Adam told  “The Magic Pear Tree” from Chinese Fairytales and Fantasies, Pantheon
Marni told  “The Pine Tree and Its Needles” from The Road in Storyland, ed. Watty Piper
Adam told “The Hare and the Hedgehog” from the Brothers Grimm
Marni told an original tale – “Wah Wah Tucci or Being Almost Ten the Summer of ‘62”
Adam told  “The Sobbing Ghost” from Legends of Long Beach Island
Marni closed with “The Fisherman and His Wife”, an original sea tale by Jane Yolen, Tales of the Seafolk

 

September 18 Colonie; Annual Dinner Meeting

Facilitator - Carol Connolly
Stories and Tellers: “A Summer Day with Ellie", personal, Joe Doolittle; 

"Mother of Sing Sing", Historical/original, Kate Dudding;

"Ananzi Takes a Job", African Folk Tale, Nancy Payne

 

Listeners: Cathryn Abbott, Beatrice Hunt, Florence Thompson, Dee Wind, Frank Wind, Suman S. Lashi, Don Darmer, Louise Koenig, Fran Berger.

 

Story Circle Business News

 

Meetings run from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the William K. Sanford Public Library and 6:00 to  9:00 p.m. at the Guilderland Library.  Every other month, from 6:15 to 6:45  at Guilderland, we will have a topic for panel/roundtable discussion. 

 

October 17 - Joe Doolittle                                            November 20- Louise Koenig    

                                         December 19 – Nancy Payne                                                            
              
October 17 Round table at Guilderland Library 6:15 pm a sharing: "Where we find and how we harvest stories we tell".  Are you interested in the story traditions of another culture? Come and join the conversation!  Some of the Cultures scheduled for discussion: Punjab, Celtic, Native American, Middle Eastern and African. 

 

If you'd like to research a different culture and add to the discussion -  contact Joe Doolittle: alldenjoe@worldnet.att.net.  Don’t have time for a research project this month?  Feel free to join in anyway! AND – New Members Welcome – Bring a Friend!  Regular meeting to follow at 7:00 pm.

Eat Dessert First!

The Story Circle of the Capital District

Invites you to

Get to Know Us

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Guilderland Library, 2228 Western Ave 6:15 pm

We are looking for New Members, Tellers and Listeners

Benefits of Membership:

Newsletters * Advertising on our Web Site * Great Stories

Advanced Notification for all our Events * Performance Opportunities

Support * Local Listserv * Workshops with Local and National Tellers

and did we mention - Great Stories!

for more information - www.timesunion.com/communities/storycircle or call (518) 384-1700

December 19 Round Table and Holiday Meeting: Guilderland Library 6:15 pm
with Holiday Fare and meeting at 7:00.  At the Holiday Round Table we have fun with a traditional tale.  Bring an unusual version of the tale - or create your own version.  This year’s story is Little Red Riding Hood.  (Hey there, little red ridin’ hood, you sure are lookin’ good, you’re everything a big bad wolf could want.) Bring your favorite holiday treat to share.

 

 

Family Programs

October 14 -- 1:00-4:00 p.m. “Squeaks, Shrieks and Squeals: Interactive Stories for Families", with storyteller Kate Dudding, part of the 12th Annual Rockland Storytelling Festival, Haverstraw King’s Daughters Public Library, Garnerville, NY (off Route 202, behind CVS). (845) 942-3335. Free.

 

October 27 --Claire Nolan will be telling (mostly) Spooky Halloween stories around the campfire at Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center  at 6:00 pm.  87 Nature Center Way; Voorheesville, NY, on Thompson’s Lake near Thacher Park. Call (518) 872-0800 for directions.

 

Adult Programs

 

October 1 -- Monday  Open Mic at the Moon and River Cafe,  115 South Ferry Street, (between Liberty and Union) in the historic Stockade,  Schenectady.  Sign ups 6:45 pm, program 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm . Featured teller:  Open anyone want some development time? 7:15 PM,  roundtable at 7:45 pm.

 

October 8 -- Open Mic at Woodlawn Commons, Saratoga Springs. Sign up at 6:45, tell and listen 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

 

October 12 -- 10:30 a.m. Painters and Friends: Stories of Claude Monet and John Singer Sargent. Learn the stories behind the paintings with storyteller Kate Dudding. See images of their paintings while hearing about their work and their lives. Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library, 450 Moe Road, Clifton Park, NY (518) 371-8622. Free.

October 14 -- Four Stories High will perform a program of "Leaves, Loves, and Lunacy" at Story Sundays at the Glen Sanders Mansion, 1 Glen Avenue, Scotia. 5:00-8:00 p.m. Dinner and stories. $27. Call 384-1700 for reservations.

 

Oct 25 and Nov 1 7-9 p.m. -- Consultation Center, Albany Marni Gillard will offer  Artfully Telling ‘The Tale You Need to Tell’. Some life tales, both the sublime and difficult, remain untold and unresolved. Our big spiritual experiences, tragic losses and shocking discoveries can, when told artfully, become a gift to others. On two consecutive Thursday evenings,  we’ll look at how to step into and back out of the emotions that keep a tale untold, and find our way to the artful sharing of a memory that wants telling.

The class is held at the Albany Pastoral Center, 40 N. Main Ave. (with a well-lit parking lot beside and behind the building). Cost $25 (before 10/18) or $30 after that for the series. Call 518-489-4431 to register.

 

November 2 – 4 -- The New York Folklore Society is co-sponsoring the November 2007 Story Circle for the Interfaith Council; Cunneen Hackett Arts Center, 9 Vassar Street, Poughkeepsie.  The theme for the NY Folklore Society conference is "Voices of Belief: Folklore and the Sacred Arts."  A full schedule can be found on our website: www.nyfolklore.org.  The Story Circle will take place on Sunday, November 4th at 2:00 p.m., with the theme of "Wisdom Tales."  Story Circle location: Second Baptist Church, at the corner of Vassar and Mills Streets, Poughkeepsie - Rev. Robert Bruce, pastor.  The church is located one bock north of the Cunneen-Hackett Art Center.

 

November 11 -- 2:00 p.m. “Remember When: Stories and Songs of World War II” with Kate Dudding, in honor of Veteran's Day. Voorheesville Public Library, Voorheesville, NY. (518) 765-2791. Free.

November 18 Sunday --Tellabration! ’07: Laughing Matters at the Whisperdome from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., at the First Unitarian Society, Schenectady. Imagine -- our twelfth Tellabration!
 
Tellers who will make us laugh and smile that night are Fran Combs Berger, Betty Cassidy, Margaret French, Kathleen Gill, Marni Gillard, Christie Keegan, Claire Nolan, Nancy Marie Payne, and Karen Pillsworth. Joe Doolittle and Kate Dudding will share the emcee duties. From the proceeds of the previous Tellabrations, Story Circle has underwritten over seventy storytelling events.

 

As we say, it takes a whole circle to put on Tellabration. We need people to:

•Sell tickets before Tellabration. Sandy Schuman has looked at the data over the years, comparing the number to ticket sellers and the number of tickets sold. Guess what -- the more sellers, the more tickets sold, AND the more money goes into our storytelling grants program!  Tickets will be available at the October Story Circle Meeting or by contacting Kate Dudding: kate@katedudding.com 383-4620.

•Help with refreshments. Micki Groper has graciously accepted heading up the refreshments committee. Now she needs helpers to bring, set up, serve, and clean-up the refreshments. If you want to help, please contact Micki m33micki@aol.com 475-0118
 
Note: Volunteers get in FREE.  If you see a job you'd like to do, please let Kate or Micki know.
 
We’d love to see you and a friend laughing in the aisles at the Whisperdome. 
 
Thanks for all you do to make Tellabration such a success over the years.
 
Kate Dudding and Joe Doolittle

 

Looking forward to 2008 ...

 

February 1, 2 and 3 -- Jeannine Laverty's winter myth workshop will be at the Spiritual Life Center in Greenwich, NY.  Mark your calendars now and stay tuned for more details.

 

 

Among Ourselves

 

Tales 'n Tunes (Carol Connolly and Don Darmer) are pleased to announce that their newest CD, Bunches of Beasts, has won a NAPPA Award in the Storytelling/Spoken Word category.

(Editor’s Note:  You can buy that CD as well as Carol and Don’s other fine work at their website: http://www.talesntunes.net. Don’t miss Carol and friends Mary Murphy, Jane Ainslie, and Barbara Palumbo, at Story Sunday: Four Stories High October 14)

 

Frank-Lee Speaking - showcase on L.I. for the Nassau Library October 1 at the L.I. Children’s Museum.
November 12th, Frank-Lee Speaking - staff training workshop for the Sunshine Program at Unity House in Troy.

 

Claire Nolan as Mother Jones will visit Voorheesville Middle School 8^th Grade Social Studies classes on December 14.  For more information about how you can book Mother Jones, Rachel Carson (Judy Lott) and other eminent personalities from history – Contact Schenectady Theater for Children – Great Minds Series – 518 209- 6477. or www.stcny.org

 

On Wednesday November 7 Storytellers Kent Busman Joe Doolittle, Kate Dudding, John Farrell, Jeannine Laverty, Nancy Marie Payne, and Eileen Stelljes will be featured at the New York State Reading Association, 41st Annual Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY in a program entitled  “Celebration of Oral Literacy – Storytellers Extraordinaire!!”

On November 8, during the same conference, there will be workshop on Storytelling in the Classroom with Kate Dudding.

 

 

Opportunities for Storytellers

Call For Tellers

Three N. Albany/Menands Churches – Sacred Heart, St. Joan of Arc, The Black Catholic Apostolate - are combining to hold their first fund-raiser Bazaar/Festival Oct 12 (5-9) Oct 13 (11-0) Oct 14 (noon to 5) at the Farmers Market space 381 Broadway in Menands, easily reached from I 787.

Marni Gillard has agreed to organize two olios, at 2 p.m. Saturday Oct 13 and at 2 p.m. on Sunday Oct 14. She is looking for tellers who'd volunteer for a family show.

You can display publicity flyers or recordings, and we’ll publicize Tellebration, Story Circle, and Riverway.

If you would be willing to tell a story on one or both days, or if you have publicity flyers to display, please contact Marni at 381-9474 or marnigillard@earthlink.net   Marni will be in or traveling to and from Jonesborough, TN between Oct 3-9. Please contact her before the 3rd or immediately after the 9th.

 

 

See You Next Time!

 

All meetings are held from 7 to 9 p.m. on the 3rd Tuesday or Wednesday of the month alternating between Tuesdays in odd numbered months at the William K. Sanford Library and Wednesdays in even numbered months at the Guilderland Public Library.

 

DIRECTIONS: The Guilderland Public Library is located at 2228 Western Avenue, Guilderland, 1/2 mile west of Rte. 155 on the south side of Western Avenue.

 

The William K. Sanford Library is located at 629 Albany Shaker Road, just off Northway Exit 4, and 1/4 mile east of the intersection of Wolf Road and Albany Shaker Road on the left side. 

October 17 Story Circle Meeting (GPL) – 6:15 – 9:00 Joe Doolittle Facilitator

November 20 Story Circle Meeting (Colonie) – 7:00 – 9:00 Louise Koenig Facilitator December 19 Round Table and Holiday Meeting (GPL) – 6:15 – 9:00  Nancy Payne Facilitator

 

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Name________________________________________________________________

 

Address______________________________________________________________

 

Phone__________________Email__________________________________________

cbnolouSch95338

(  ) I want to be a member of Story Circle, enclosed is a check for $10.00 for the newsletter and a roster of members.

(  ) List my name among performing storytellers for referral.

(  ) Send my newsletters via US mail.  

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Membership renewals are due each January and are good for one year.  Please make checks payable to “Story Circle” and send to Carol Connolly, 

1100 Niskayuna Road, Niskayuna, NY 12309

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