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Archive Number 94

Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 04:46:58 +0000
From: "Julie K."
Subject: Re: Introduction



Storytel, Julie Kallio wrote:

Hi Bette,

Yep, AA has it's proven track record of peoples stories
facilitating their healing processes. And, so I don't
mislead you, I'm not a recovering person, but I did
counseling in the filed for many years, in 3 different
states. St. Louis, MO (my place orgin0 Illinois and
Minnesota, the later where I currently reside. I agree
with all that you shared, especially the part about
storytelling also includes the listeners. From Concerts
to classes I've advertised storytelling events as open to
Storytellers and Story Listeners. Some of the people who
participated and enjoyed them came primarily as a Story
Listner. And, they began to see how valuable they were
to the Storyteller and vice versa.

Are you at St. Mary's college in Omaha, where they have
the most wonderful Storytelling Event in June? I've been
a couple of years and had a ball! I didn't get there
last year and I doubt if I will this year. Except for
Omaha's annual, summer "heat and humidity convention"
both years it was GREAT!!

Julie
> Good morning, Healingstory people. My name is Bette-B Bauer, and
> my life today is a direct result of the healing powers of storytelling, as
> experienced in 12-step programs. One of the truths of this way of life is
> that our darkest moments become the gold that we pass on to others who
> travel our spiritual path.
>
> In midlife, I returned to school to change careers, and become a teacher. In
> teaching, I have used the dynamic of storytelling as part of the process of
> building community in the classroom. When I meet a class for the first time,
> I see a community waiting to happen. In my course, Women's Spiritual
> Journeys in Literature, for example, everyone tells a story from their lives
> that
> represents some aspect of their spiritual journey. By the end of the
> semester,
> we have been gradually transformed through the sharing of these stories from
> separate, unconnected individuals into a family circle.
>
> There is a wonderful talk by Leslie Marmon Silko, printed as an essay,
> "Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective", available in her
> collection of essays, Yellow Woman. "Storytelling always includes the
> audience and the listeners, and, in fact, a great deal of the story is
> believed
> to be inside the listener, and the storyteller's role is to draw the story
> out of
> the listeners." It is this recognition of our stories in others' tellings
> that has
> had such a powerful impact on my life.
>
> I was very fortunate to find a wonderful job in my profession at a small
> women's college in -- Omaha, Nebraska. Omaha? I wondered. After a
> long life in SF, the center of the world, why Omaha? Well, in Omaha, I
> met Nancy Duncan, and have become involved with storytelling at a whole
> new level, and she introduced me to this group.
>
> Ta, Bette