On January 3rd at 3 a.m. my very first grandson, Luca Maliek Timothy Donovan was born. He’s well. Mama and Dad are getting better and asking the age old questions, “how do I keep him alive?” and “what have I done?” Here is a poem for little Luca from John…
“Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be Notorious.” Rumi Today I started teaching a class “Living Out Loud ” for the Transformative Language Arts Network . The first class addresses how fear and shame silence us. What do we fear when we consider sharing a…
Part of every storyteller’s summer is performing in public libraries, usually not like this one. More often like this Dave Ruch and I met last summer when we were both doing a showcase for the Northern New York Public Library System. Dave’s work was wonderful, interesting, kid friendly and very…
My old high school is the home of the Vikings. Thousand Island High School is smack dab between Clayton, my hometown and Cape Vincent. My class was the first graduating class to leave Clayton Central School and go to TI High. This was a long time ago and I expected…
Sometimes everything has to be inscribed across the heavens so you can find the one line already written inside you. ( excerpt from David Whyte’s poem The Journey) I’ve been writing a book for the last 21 years… yes, really. “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that…
This is my friend Steffani Raff’s new book , The Ravenous Gown. It’s a beautifully written and thoughtful book about girls and beauty. I wish I had read this book when I was a girl. I wish my mother had read this book when she was a girl and…
I teach two sections of storytelling every semester at Ithaca College. Often students come to class thinking it will be a survey or historically based class on the function of stories in different cultural, religious and racial communities. Many have also confided that they hope it’s an easy “A”…
“If you don’t risk anything you risk even more” Erica Jong Last Sunday afternoon I taught a slam workshop, “Hit Me! personal stories with a punch” in Asheville, North Carolina. There were 23 brave people in the room, some experienced tellers and others complete novices. The theme of the slam…
The little girl in this video is telling a story in her second language, English. I am inspired, aren’t you? I love her use of language and imagination and her ability to hold a narrative thread throughout the story with poise and confidence. Everybody is talking about the Common Core-…
I teach two sections of storytelling every semester at Ithaca College. I love teaching this class. The students are bright and interested and so creative. I also admire my students for who they become over the course of the semester. They go from “I would rather throw myself…