Storytelling Festival this past labor day

a recap of the storytelling festival i went to that i sent to a friend this evening and thought others may be interested in. so this is a clip from the e-mail i sent to her: the festival is done every year in utah and is called 'the timpanogos storytelling festival' for those who may be interested in attending next labor day. it is not the most gay friendly environment as it is a mormon community, but there were clearly some gay folks around at the event and it was not mormon storytellers, or at least most were not mormon, but they were more reserved in some areas than they may have been with other audiences. that said, i felt very comfortable there as a whole, although if i had been partnered and with someone, pda probably would have had people saying something and had me feel like i was more spotlighted than i cared to be.

me being me though, i certainly didn't stop myself from discussing different things about my life where relevant with friends and family around. (ie. so and so is dating so and so - both clearly guys). stuff like that i don't try to censor, although i do tend to watch my language as far as swearing and may not discuss sex with them as boldly as i would with nyc friends.

here is the recap…

i was at a storytelling festival.an initiation of sorts for me to be there. rich experience.
storytellers who sang in some cases and/or used music. a certain group shamanic/ritual element to it in some cases, especially with two black storytellers. one was male. one was female. then i loved a particular male folk singer who i thought had a good and creative energy overall. by good though i don't mean super pure and without conflict. there was
definite conflict in the man's soul and music at times. something that was a creative clashing of sorts, but a lot of love to the man.


the storytelling festival was with my aunts and some of their husbands and it was a unique experience to get with them. to hear them say they couldn't do much of that stuff when they had kids and to think how much more rich some of the kids lives would have been if the mom's were doing stuff like that at times. parenting is challenging stuff. i think
i am feeling at the moment like the world is hard for a lot of people. of course hearing stories about racism, illegal aliens, growing up with a family trying to force culture on a kid, etc… tend to make you think about life and some of the turmoil, but also stories of
friendship and community and love, family, etc… were nice to hear.


as i understand it, this is the 2nd largest storytelling festival in the country. odd. and it was in tents in this special park created for it in the mountains locally. then there is an outdoor amphitheater where there were two larger communal experiences in the evenings with the storytellers. the festival was thursday night and then all day and eve friday and saturday. family environment. no drinking. no cigarettes (except at a nearby park outside the grounds). which made it nice in that it was less aggressive/grungy than some experiences can be when there is a LOT of that going on.

very fascinating to experience the grace and humanity of the different storytellers. although it is a mormon community, the storytellers were not mormon, and it didn't have an overall 'mormon' feel. there was an irish woman with a thick irish accent. a native american storyteller whose energy i liked somewhat, but didn't love her stories. then the two black storytellers who told different personal stories and then stories from africa and african american life. the guy was very into audience participation and played a drum at one point and then a traditional african instrument through different parts of it.

i followed mainly the one folk singer/storyteller who i guess is fairly popular in the folk world. a number of artists have recorded his work. some songs it seems 6-7 people have done. very quirky and creative, yet really human as well. he played a dulcimer which is a fun string
instrument, as well as a guitar at different points.

hard to imagine travelling and performing like that and being around so many different groups for one's life.

i think the folk element of it gave me a sense of some tradition in this country worth having. something with soul in this country, like john denver. i am so hard on this country and i think part of that is that we have gotten away from our soul and i forget that some of it was ever there in the first place. has me think about looking further into the soul of this country in different areas.

in addition to the storytelling there were music performers at various points and one
was a guy named matt harding who did a song called 'big city' that you can hear at www.mattharding.com and is about a boy who goes to new york city and his struggle with the city and how it wounds him in various ways. definitely spoke to me given my experience. funnily enough, it is about a guy who moved from orem, utah to the city and his struggles with the overall culture of the city (a friend of his perhaps? him? i don't know).

the folk singer by the way is named david massengill and his site is www.davidmassengill.com and his site has a couple songs in the 'recordings/mp3' section which you may enjoy just sampling through if you have the capability at some point. one is 'my name joe' and another is 'home must be a special place' or something similar.

for this recap, i am adding the following to what i sent to my friend which is…

the black guy is named kala jojo. in the festival booklet i don't see a site for him.

the black woman is named diane ferlatte and her site is: www.dianeferlatte.com

there was a guy named andy offutt irwin whose site is www.andyirwin.com . some of his stuff is more for kids than i would necessarily go for, but some of it was very real, even with all his quirky voices. he sings some fun stuff as well and plays guitar and was big with audience participation.

beyond that was a guy my dad was really into named bill lepp. his site is: www.buck-dog.com

Re: Storytelling Festival this past labor day

It sounds like a great experience!  The art of storytelling is the oldest tradition in the world.  For millenias, it was the only means of communicating information to one another and passing down culture through the generations.  All of the great religions and spiritual traditions began this way, and almost every facet of our culture is in someway or another derived from this ancient art.
Back in college we had this little group called “Gay Griots”.  Griots are African storytellers who are responsible for passing on traditions and ancestral knoweldge to the community.  I developed this little group after having been inspired by another university group called “Voices of Color”, which provided an open-mic setting for students who wished to share music, poetry, essays, etc., within a racially diverse environment.  As much as I enjoyed “Voices of Color”, I couldn't help but notice that I was the only gay person who ever attended, and certainly the only drag queen to ever perform there!   While most people generally liked me, many others felt uncomfortable by my presence.  Whenever I shared a poem or story, I couldn't help but notice the nervous chuckling and even blatant disrespect from audience members.
So I decided to organize “Gay Griots' which would operate in much the same style but in a glbt-friendly environment.  For a semester we met once a week, but due to the apparent lack of interest by students, we decided to meet only once a month. While a small number of individuals participated on a regular basis, we generally had no more than five to ten people attend at a time.  For this reason, the university would not allow us to use the auditorium anymore, and so we disbanded the group altogether.
I have often wanted to re-kindle the “Gay Griots” and get an active group started back up.  But where I live, I would have to be both the griot and the audience!  I really miss that group, though.  We had a blast!  Generally, we had all the people sit around a big circle on the stage, and the one who was telling the story would sit in the center.  There were no rules, no rehearsals, no taboos- everyone was free to contribute whatever they liked.  Some people would sing or play an instrument, some would recite monologues or tell stories, and many others would simply free-style.  It was anamazing experience, and one that I wish I were able to share once again with others.

Re: Storytelling Festival this past labor day

i think it could be cool to do a uu church storytelling festival or a festival sponsored by mcc church, and that sort of thing, given that they are groups that are focused on inclusiveness.

i like the idea of gay griots, but i also like an idea of an environment that is specifically set up to be gay friendly and inclusive and inclusive of various cultures as well.

plenty of zaadzsters for example are gay friendly. i would love to see events done in ways that are welcoming for people where we are there to hear housewife stories and indian people stories, and southwest stories, etc… to be together in an environment where we know our buttons will be pushed at times, but we are there to learn, share, grow, and develop, and some idea and control of what buttons are being pushed is allowed and the timing. for example, if there were a number of rooms set up for the event, say 3 rooms and 10 storytellers at different times throughout the day (some could be on 3 times each) then a wife who wanted to sit in on gay stories could do so, while a husband heard mountain man stories, and that sort of thing. gay people could go listen to different things, some of which could be gay related and some not.

maybe a queer storytelling festival could be done at some point and/or mixed in with courses, music, etc… for a queer consciousness festival. i love the idea of a quality drag queen experience. love the idea of shaneequa sings gospel between stories.

at the storytelilng festival, the black guy would tell african stories and they were often up beat and inspirational in a non-confrontational way, while the black woman would talk more about african american stories of racism and pain. her tent was less full the times that i saw, well, it seemed fuller in some points, and less full in other points. i think that it was just more confrontational for people to listen to and work with.

many of the more humorous storytellers seemed to be more full, partly because they were more kid friendly probably and many of the families came with kids for part of it.

as i think about it, smaller sort of events could be organized and run in different ways i think that could be interesting. would love to go to something that has willow performing for example, and then shaneequa singing and/or doing this or that. then awen doing his thing, etc…

and then maybe a panel discussion of this or that, and done in a way that things are unplugged for the most part. perhaps with microphones, but otherwise, no electric guitars and keyboards and such, and no films other than maybe a screen to be viewed from a distance for those who may need to see this or that, but to minimize the tech involved. this festival was in tents outside which were open on the sides, but had a flap behind the speakers, so it was outside and yet covered and contained in ways so we were not burnt by the sun and overly hot in the sun. also there were fans to cool it down if it got too hot and that sort of thing.

maybe something in that direction could unfold. this festival has evolved from something that was done in a family field to something that is done in a 5 tent local, plus a music tent, plus a tent for merchandise, etc… and where they have permanent fixtures set up in its own park and shuttle buses for people to get from parking lots in the nearby city up to the event itself since there is not adequate parking at the locale itself. all makes for a very nice communal experience.

perhaps something like this could be organized at a radical faerie sanctuary at some point for gay specific things and then maybe networked among churches for example in locales with different churches that people could flow between. just thoughts flowing around that seem worth exploring in a group discussion here..

-d

Re: Storytelling Festival this past labor day

this is all so interesting and inspiring !!!
hm, well, i've been thinking of approaching the folks at axiom mystery school/the prophets conference to invite them to explore hosting a queer storytelling/myth/healing/sacred people workshop/gathering event …..
they seem to have an interesting take on spirit and matter… and maybe this is something that would intrigue them.

keep this up folks, my head is spinning with ideas, and this winter i will focus on a few…

all my best,
the willow wonder

Re: Storytelling Festival this past labor day

my head is spinning as well and been making some further radical faerie connections lately, and that seems to be talking to me for some reason. not so much to join them as to perhaps glean from the experiences and understand some of the dynamics there.

some interesting conversations anticipated next week. glad your head is spinning wonderous willow.

om…
d

Re: Storytelling Festival this past labor day

ahahaha, is “joining” the right word for the radical faeries…tee heehehehe
and ya know at burningman someone asked me are their moderate faeries,….of course!

i don't see it as something to join, more as to experiment enjoy and engage with as one wishes…..

alas, i'm doing this puppet theatre project, so the gay storytelling seems the interesting way to go… and to keep it in a mythological /faerie tale mode of story…perhaps at first….

ah yes, the wondrous willow mind….
is urs to play with anytime….
peace,
cwc

PS who are those other faeries, we're so different….

Re: Storytelling Festival this past labor day

will tell you who the other faeries are off the pod. not wanting to make my personal connections overly public. we have talked about some of them already and you know one.

when i say join the faeries i guess that is not exactly what i mean, although i did on some level mean mingling in the sanctuaries and such as joining, which i am not sure if that is a direction that i would want to go. especially after word from one recently about an issue of having a car window broken recently by someone who seemed to be unhappy about things. sometimes it seems like it could be a messy community to be involved in on a number of levels and i tend to prefer less distortion in my communities.

moderate faerie. hrm. i am radical, just in other ways i think.

i am busily reading about culture and american culture and thinking a lot about that and then the other cultural influences. looking into details about the history of the world or different areas. not that i plan to read it all by any means, but just going through details here and there and assembling some sort of inner puzzle and looking for different roots and connections.

-d