Storytelling

Telling stories at Holiday Park Senior Center worked out really well.
The wonderful audience was interested in the stories because many want to write or tell their own stories. Now that makes it even more fun for the storyteller.

As teaching prompts I told personal stories to demonstrate how storytellers find stories. I started with childhood stories from elementary school that also had some memories of what I remember life was like on the homefront during World War II. Then I told of something that happened to me as a demonstration of recognizing when you are living a story-to-tell. Closing with the Tatooed Man a recent story - that I asked for from a stranger sitting near me in a doctor's office. It turned out to be a memorable moment and the man gave me permission to tell his story.

The real pay-off - - the comments afterwards when members of the audience thanked me, told me they learned something - "come back." It all goes to make me so grateful to be a storyteller.

And often, the gift is in the people you meet.
How about this wonderful sign to announce the program!
Carol Fuentevilla, Director of Holiday Park, gave the program a warm and enthusiastic welcome and afterward introduced me to this very special guy. Mr. Seymour Green, now lives near-by in MD but once he traveled the globe as a musician, playing in large orchestras. He was a member of the orchestra of the 1940s Irving Berlin Broadway musical "This is the Army". As well as performing in the Hollywood version of the musical in the movie of the same name. After that the show toured to Camps over-seas during the war. This man has stories!!

And Mr. Green is not sitting still today. At 90 years old he is a member of three bands playing in the Maryland area. His advice: "when you retire do not stay home. Get out. Keep doing something." He is a man who follows his own advice.