Flavia participated in speech and drama in high school and even went on to State but didn’t know it could be done in the “real world” until much later. Sue Hinkel gave a seminar in her town many years ago, and when she heard her tell the stories and give the workshop, she thought, “I did this in high school, and I can do it now.” Flavia contacted Sue Hinkel and Sue inspired her to make the jump and here she is today—telling stories.
Flavia does many different things, but of all of them, storytelling is her most favorite. The look on the people’s faces while she is telling, the body language as they lean into the story, the “jump” at the scary parts, the tears at the sad parts, the laughs at the funny parts, all of it delights her.
Flavia said the part that has changed her the most was when she was in Rwanda, Africa and told a Raffe children’s story about a spider on the floor. After she was finished the chief stood up and told the members of the tribe that they were like the spider, everyone was trying to squash them.......That event was a powerful lesson to her; that our words, no matter how innocent are more powerful than we think and we need to watch them very carefully, especially as weavers of the spoken word. Flavia takes it as a huge responsibility. She then went on to tell the tribe an inspirational story about resilience containing a turtle and a jaguar, which she hopes in her heart inspired them to keep fighting against the negative attitudes towards them.
Flavia specializes in folklore and fairytales as these are the stories that the cultures have used to teach the morals of their society. By telling these stories, you can teach children and sometimes adults the “rules” of society and the decent and not so decent ways to behave. She is also interested in looking into the “history”of societies through their storytelling and reconstructing the morals through the stories they told.
Flavia found out a few years ago that she is a “Scanner”. This is a Jack of All Trades as they used to call them. Flavia can do math and science, write grants, organize budget spreadsheets, yet ballroom dance, story tell, paint, draw and sing. She is not afraid to take dryers, washers, print cartridges apart and fix them. Flavia can garden, process deer and chickens and tend her fruit trees. She is currently teaching 18 different classes this semester from Creative Writing to elementary Astronomy, to pottery to drama. Flavia has a project in Rwanda, Africa collecting original folklore from the Ba’Twa people. Flavia recently participated in the Chennai India Storytelling Festival.
Flavia said she really appreciates that MO-TELL has partnered with the Parks Departments to bring storytelling into the parks. If there was a way to organize a master calendar of storytelling events in the state, that would be great, but she knows that would take some manpower and cooperation from local Chambers and groups of storytellers. She knows about the St. Louis and KC Storytelling Festivals, but it would be fun to have a Missouri event where we could all come together like a family reunion, have seminars and storytelling events, and share to the citizens of our great state. Flavia said she could help MO-TELL with grant writing and organization.
You can reach Flavia Everman on Facebook (with Tigger as the profile picture). People are free to message her from there and she will getback with them.
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