Two Goats, frisking gayly on the rocky steeps of a mountain valley, chanced to meet, one on each side of a deep chasm through which poured a mighty mountain torrent.
The trunk of a fallen tree formed the only means of crossing the chasm, and on this not even two squirrels could have passed each other in safety. The narrow path would have made the bravest tremble. Not so our Goats. Their pride would not permit either to stand aside for the other.
One set her foot on the log. The other did likewise. In the middle they met horn to horn. Neither would give way, and so they both fell, to be swept away by the roaring torrent below.
It is better to yield than to come to misfortune through stubbornness.
Hello my friends,
I love Halloween and I have usually spent the night sitting on my front steps with a bucket of candy to hand out to the hundreds of tricks or treaters we get in our neighborhood. I missed all that although I didn’t miss the chilly weather. We celebrated my sister’s birthday this year. She was in town this year, so we partied. I remember the night of her birth. I was six years old and eager for treats. Our mother, who was nine months pregnant, took us Trick or Treating. We had only walked about eight blocks when she ducked into a house of some friends and made a call to our dad. Dad came quickly. We rushed home in the family auto. Dad took Mom to the hospital and two hours later baby Gloria Jean was born. Not so much candy that year but a beautiful baby sis. We don’t often get to celebrate her birthday in person because she lives half the year in Arizona. We had a rare treat.
November ushers in colder weather, Tellabration! Thanksgiving and Gratitude. I am thankful we have stories to share.
I want to thank the board members of MO-TELL for all their hard work this year keeping Missouri Storytelling Inc alive. Many thanks to Ken Wolfe for the beautiful newsletters he creates. Thank you to our members and the tellers who shared their stories on our behalf at the Missouri State Parks and our online events.
MO-TELL will kick off the week before Tellabration with a program on November 12 featuring Bil Lepp. There is a live in person Tellabration in St. Louis. River and Prairie Storyweavers will also have Tellabration. Check out the events.
Love to you all,
Joyce Slater
President of MO-TELL
“Stories tell us of what we already knew and forgot, andremind us of what we haven’t yet imagined.”
– Anne L. Watson
by Annette Harrison
I have to confess that that I thought MO-TELL was a great idea and was amazed as Perrin got it off the ground and made it happen! But I don’t have a lot of memories of the concerts, overnight workshops, and Tellabrations but I will share what I remember.
I thought having the MO-TELL storytelling concerts aboard the Goldenrod Showboat was a brilliant idea, although somehow Al and I always got lost getting there, every time! St Charles was on another planet for us. But once we got there, WOW, what fun it was.I remember getting such stellar tellers to perform and the food was always extrayummy! One of my fondest memories was when we walked onto the showboat andthere was Jimmy Neil Smith and Judith Black just sitting there at a table! This was storytelling royalty!
Jimmy Neil was the executive director of the National Storytelling organization, called NAPPS at that time. Judith Black was an amazing, zany & “tell it like it is” teller. She was one of my favorites. We always had a nice appreciative crowd.
In the old days, we would have weekends at Cuivre River State Park. I am a city slicker though and had only been camping once, but I loved these weekends! A women cook, Carol Potter and her relative Violet Beaver made such good food. OMG! They became like members of the storytellers, so warm and fun. The workshops were enlightening and interactive. The weekends left a warm, fuzzy feeling as we reluctantly left our new community of friends and storytellers. We might have gained a few pounds too!
I think I was part of the first Tellabration Concert at Perrin’s church. I loved sharing my Jewish Heritage with an enthusiastic audience.
Kudos to Perrin for having the brilliant vision to go statewide with our storytelling! State parks have benefited for years from tellers all over the state. Still happening!
I am so happy that I could be part of MO- TELL through the years!