Audio By Carbonatix
Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved to tell stories. She was quite sure she had some very interesting tales to tell, tales that other people needed to hear. She fancied herself a fascinating storyteller, one whom people would search out for her inimitable skill with words. She imagined that her long, vividly detailed stories held audiences rapt, that they could practically see her words coming to life. That must be why they closed their eyes as she was speaking of her recent adventure at the Department of Public Safety: They could see the grimy floor, smell the stale air and the unwashed man beside her, feel the time dragging by. And she recalled how her friends had hung their heads in grief when she had recently spoken of her childhood pet, Wendell the Turtle. She told the story of its all too brief and tragic life, beginning with its untimely death and then moving, a la Sunset Boulevard, to the beginning, when she found it when she was out by this creek, you know, the creek she fell into that time — that was so funny; she told you about that, right? — with her friend Jackie, or…wait, maybe it was Heather, or, no, wait. Anyway, it doesn’t matter.
She was quite a storyteller.
Hopefully, she and her ilk will attend the 15th Annual Texas Storytelling Festival in Denton. The festival is offering workshops in which you can learn to spin family heritage, traditional folktales, ordinary gossip, and everyday occurrences into enthralling narratives. Teachers, writers, and parents can all benefit from the sessions. But we’re hoping it mainly attracts rotten storytellers. Problem is, most rotten storytellers are oblivious to their rottenness. So we’re asking you to perform a simple public service: Get your long-winded friends to go to the festival. Not sure how to approach it? Try something like this:
Gee, (name of rambler here), I really loved that story about your broken-off toenail and its subsequent ingrown condition, followed by the complete history of problems with your toe. Did you hear about that festival in Denton?
In addition to workshops, the festival is hosting storytelling “concerts,” where you can see yarn-spinning masters from across the state in action. Many concerts have themes, such as war stories, hard times, lying, children’s stories, sacred tales, and ghost stories. Anyway…now what were we talking about? Um, roommate, feet — oh, forget it. See you there.
