That’s how you’ll be greeted when you go to Jordan’s website. Not only is he a storyteller with specialties in astronomy and Jewish stories, he’s also an educator in Jewish studies & math, plays a number of instruments in jazz, rock & klezmer bands and can do it all in 3 languages!

His versatility is showcased in the range of offerings he has listed on his website: party storytelling, storytelling workshops, custom story creation, living history, group drama activities and group musical improv (jam sessions / drum circles).  He even has a weekly Jewish storytelling segment on “Too Jewish Radio”, on KVOI AM 690.

Tucson is now the home of this world traveler. Sheila Wilensky chronicled some of his history in her April 3, 2009 article in the Arizona Jewish Post. You might have caught him telling on the storytelling stage of the Festival of Books and you’ve got some other opportunities to see him in action coming up.  He’ll be performing at the following venues:

March 27, 1 p.m. –  Water Tales at The Water Project

April 10, 2 p.m.,  Green Tales for a Blue Planet: Old Stories to Guide our New Way with the World Biosphere2

April 11, 1 p.m., Wandering Animal Tales throughout the zoo, Reid Park Zoo

April 17, 11 a.m., Animal Stories for Earth Day: Reid Park Zoo

Be sure to stop and say hi from another story lover.

It reminded me of the February 20, 2005 Breast Cancer Stories at Odyssey Storytelling. That year it was a much smaller crowd.  I was working in collaboration with a now defunct grassroots women’s organization; there was little publicity for the films and the theme of the storytelling evening seem to scare people away.

The audience was sparse but the 30 or so people who where there were treated to inspiring, sad, humorous, horrifying and uplifting stories.  The brave and amazing tellers that night were Amy Weintraub, Mickey Monroe, Tom Anway, Mary Wilson, Meera and Lisa Levine.  Donations were made to Susan G. Koman & Wingspan Breast Health Project and the art that graced the program, I See Them Everywhere, was generously donated by Susanne Gillatt.

Is the difference in audience size the fact that a large and established group did a great job of organized the show or is it because talking about and raising money for breast cancer has become so much more accepted in these 5 years?  Pink bracelets and ribbons may be annoying but they do “tell a story” if we like it or not.

I believe that the courageous people who have stepped forth to share their personal experiences with breast cancer, at a time when the words could just be whispered, have been instrumental in breaking down barriers and challenging taboos.  I am convinced that the heightened level of awareness and the “human face” on the disease has been a contributing factor to increased funding and research on breast cancer.

How has stepping out and telling your story changed the world?

“What’s your story?” is the first thing you see on the home page of the Tucson Festival of Books

Arizona storytellers will be spinning their tales on Saturday and Sunday, March 13 and 14, at the Storytelling Stage providing a story sampler of multicultural tales for families to enjoy. Glenda Bonin is the coordinator and Ron Lancaster will be the Master of Ceremonies for the show.  Some of the talented performers from local storytelling  Tucson Tellers of Tales will be Ray Hyde, Gil Payette, Anne Lee and Pearl Zimmerman and lots more.

Tim Tingle, a renowned Choctaw storyteller who has performed in festivals throughout the U.S. and the world, will lead a workshop for educators on how to tell stories to children and to invite children into their own storytelling. Tim will also share how he tells historical and traditional stories, accompanying himself on the flute and singing Choctaw songs to the rhythm of a drum.  You can catch him from 2:30 to 3:30 on Sunday in the Education Building, room 333.

When I did a search on “storytelling” on the Festival website, I also came up with “Women Searching (In Storytelling)” featuring authors Meg Waite Clayton and Michelle Richmond, moderated by Laura Penny.  This event is from 2:30 to 3:30 on Saturday in the Chemistry Building, room 134.

Hundreds of authors will be on hand for readings, signings, panel discussions from 9:30 to 5:30 on both days. In addition to the author events there are nearly 200 exhibitors along the UA mall and food vendors as well.

They expect 50,000 people to this free event and all proceeds will be used to promote literacy in Southern Arizona through the Tucson Festival of Books Foundation, a 501c (3) nonprofit organization.  Last year at the inaugural event they donated $200,000 to Literacy for Life Coalition, Reading Seed and the University of Arizona. The Festival of Books is sponsored by the Arizona Daily Star and hosted and organized by The University of Arizona.

I haven’t that fear.  As long as I’m made aware of the intention, I’m happy to mix and match.  But sometimes people form groups to explore specific interests.

A Special Interest Group (SIG) is a formal group created by and for National Storytelling Network (NSN) members joining together for a common purpose.

These groups and their purposes are:

Healing Story Alliance: to share our experience and our skills in the best ways to use stories to inform, inspire, nurture and heal.

Producers and Organizers: to encourage cooperation, networking and support among organizers of storytelling events.

Storytelling in Higher Education: to encourage cooperation, networking and support among college and university educators in storytelling.

Storytelling in Organizations: to bring narrative insights onto the contemporary business scene by documenting and promoting the constructive role and widespread importance of storytelling in corporate, non-profit, small business, education, and other settings.

Youth, Educators and Storytellers Alliance (YES!): to encourage educators and other adults to use storytelling with youth as an educational tool in classrooms and in other settings

In the blog A Storied Career Kathy Hansen explores traditional and postmodern forms/uses of applied storytelling such as journaling, blogging, organizational storytelling, storytelling for identity construction, storytelling in social media, storytelling for job search and career advancement.

There’s a new application on Facebook that can help you post your stories in short Facebookable snippets. Snipisode lets you schedule status posts as episodes of a story or feature.  The way it works is you type or paste in a whole story and then with a click of a button snip up the story either by line or by periods. Then you choose a time either daily or every two days. The story will unfold on your status line.  Very cool.

It’s the Perils of Pauline of social media.

This picture of my ‘50 Chevy invoked lots of memories!  The car was 17 years old in 1967 when I bought it for $300 from the original owner in Saugerties, N.Y.  It had 1700 miles on it  - that averaged 100 miles a year.  The only thing wrong with it was there was a hole in the muffler so my father fixed it with an orange juice can (the metal kind) and wire from a hanger.

I drove out of Woodstock, NY in 1969 in this car and headed West to the wide open spaces of Colorado.  With 4 “new” retread tires for seven dollars apiece, we were good to go.

We weren’t in a rush and it’s a good thing because top speed, going downhill was around 60 miles an hour. Most of the time we cruised along at 50, watching cars whizz by.  Gas averaged about 25 cents a gallon and Motel 6 actually cost six bucks a night. OK, the rooms weren’t first class but with all this economy we were able to travel the 1600+ miles on the $100 we had in our pockets and arrive at a friends house with enough to go out for dinner that night.

People of all ages enjoy hearing about the “old days” either because it stirs up their own memories or because they learn a bit of history.  I had lots more adventures with the ‘50 Chevy including getting Canadian plates on it and finally selling it when the engine died.  But the clock still worked!

Next time you open a box of old photos, have someone handy so you have an audience for all the stories that will jump out with the pictures.

His intention was to share knowledge that he’s accumulated over the years with the new graduates but instead of the usual lecture or inspirational speech, he chose a delivery method that inspired his listeners.

The first was a story about dropping out of college so that he didn’t spend all of his working class families money and how he hung around the college taking classes anyway, eating at the Hari Krishna center on Sunday’s and sleeping on dorm floors. Because he was a drop out he didn’t have to take prescribed classes so he took a calligraphy class for the joy of it, not knowing how it would fit into his eclectic eduction. When constructing the Mackintosh this skill and interest was used to develop beautiful computer typography.

The second was a story about being fired when he was 30 years old from his own company, Apple, and how it freed him to have the most creative period of his life. He started 2 new companies including Pixar and got married and had a baby. He’s convinced he wouldn’t have done this if he hadn’t been fired.

The third story was about death.  He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and went home to die.  After some tests it was revealed that his type of cancer was curable and he had the surgery and is now well.  But remembering he could be dead at any time has helped him to follow his heart in every decision he has made.

In conclusion he told that  ”Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” came from the back page of the final Whole Earth Catalog.  His last story was how he adopted that phrase as his motto in the 70s and still lives by it.

In the original Broadway version of The Vagina Monologues, Ensler performed every story herself.  The V-Day University of Arizona Benefit Production will feature undergraduates, graduates, faculty, and alumni who have joined together to bring you three nights of hilarious and captivating performances.

These stories are particularly powerful and moving because they are told from a personal point of view. According to Wikipedia, “Every monologue somehow relates to the vagina, be it through sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the variety of names for the vagina, or simply as a physical aspect of the body. A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality.”

V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of The Vagina Monologues.  Thousands participate each year in raising awareness and have contributed to over $70 million raised to stop violence against women and girls.

Performances are February 18, 19 and 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Social Sciences 100.  Doors open at 7 p.m. so that attendees may peruse educational displays and booths by campus and community organizations.

Tickets are $10 in advance (available on the University mall) and $12 at the door. Additional donations are welcome. All proceeds will be donated to the campus OASIS Center For Sexual Assault & Relationship Violence and the V-Day Spotlight Cause: The Women & Girls of The Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been chosen a second year
as V-Day’s spotlight campaign.  The women in the DRC are at a large
risk for gender-based violence.  Though the war is officially over,
the chaos of unregulated military forces have lead to a devastating
situation for women and girls in the DRC.  V-Day is currently working
on opening the City of Joy, a facility for survivors of sexual
violence.

For more information about The Vagina Monologues, please contact azvagwarriors@yahoo.com

Last year we were fortunate to capture a video of Maurice as he presented the story of his life at

With Maurice’s unexpected passing last week that video is even more precious because now we have another way of remembering him and his accomplishments.  You can see some of it on YouTube.  Goodbye, Maurice, you will be missed!

When I was the Senior Programs Coordinator at Wingspan, Southern Arizona’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community Center, a member of Senior Pride suggested that we start the Colorful Life project in order to preserve our LGBT history and the stories of our elders.  With the help of some wonderful volunteers and camerawoman Luanne Withee using Pan Left equipment, we were able to make six videos that are available at Wingspan’s library.  Our storytellers were – Richard Zelens, Alta Fly, Hannah Blue Herron, Shellie Lynn, Maurice Grossman and Deitrich Benjamin.

Now this important work will continue under the auspices of StoryArts Group, Inc. an Arizona non-profit (disclaimer, I’m one of the organizers).  Our big project, The Adobeland Project, will be a film documentary of the life of Joan “Adobe” Pepper and telling the story of Adobeland, women’s land west of Tucson.

LGBT elders tend to become even more invisible than their straight counterparts.  Some are not out, some don’t think that their stories are important, some don’t want to relive painful memories, some are estranged from their families.

Arden Eversmeyer and Margaret Purcell are working on  remedying this by writing A Gift of Age: Old Lesbian Life Stories through the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP).

The Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project seeks to find and document the lives of old lesbians who were born in the early years of the last century. The lives that they led were difficult and in many way difficult for us, today, to understand. There were no lgbt publications, institutions or even personal examples to help guide their lives. They had to make it up as they went along. We seek to record their oral histories, known here as their herstories, to preserve what will soon be lost when they are all gone.

Let’s keep the stories alive!  Please contact me if you or someone you know would be a good candidate for the next Colorful Life.

This summer you could be enjoying the cool days of Canada and participating in a five day storytelling conference, International Perspectives on the Art and Tradition of Storytelling. Plus, history buffs can partake in the celebration of the 400th anniversary of English settlement on the island of Newfoundland.

The theme of the conference put on by the Storytellers of Canada-Conteurs du Canada, is”Picture it. Summer 2010″.

This is the description from their blog:

Storytellers from throughout the world will merge in one place - St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador – for the 18th annual conference of Storytellers of Canada. For five days, participants will be engaged in an international meeting place of culture, art, and tradition with performances and workshops by storytellers from Canada, the United States, Italy, South Africa, Denmark, Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland and England.

This summer’s conference is brimming with opportunities for professional development. Participants will learn international perspectives about the art and tradition of storytelling. They will gain marketable skills to help them with the business side of their storytelling performances and teaching. Most importantly, they will be immersed in the story telling and story sharing of Newfoundland and Labrador.

For centuries, we’ve opened our doors to people from throughout the world. We’ve shared stories of mermaids swimming at sea, fairies hiding in woods, and mummers visiting our homes. Participants will be invited to listen to our stories and music; meet our people; explore our rocky coastline; and attend celebrations for the 400th anniversary of English settlement in Cupids, a community within an hour’s drive from St. John’s.

So plan ahead for your get-out-of-the-heat excursion.  The dates are Wednesday, July 28 to Sunday, August 1, 2010.

The back room of the Hemlock Tavern has a small stage, lights and a few mics, all you really need.  As people came in they could sign up to tell a five-minute personal story.  Out of approximately 60 people attending, 10 volunteered to get on stage and tell on the theme “The Old Me”.

Hosts Arline Klatte and Beth Lisick chose a random audience member to be the judge and the parade of stories began.

They’ve only been using this format for a few months and the audience is growing.  Open Door on the last Monday of the month is an addition to the regularly curated Porchlight shows on the third Monday of the month at the historic Verdi Club.

P.S.  I didn’t win the fifty bucks.