A Note from the President

Happy New Year,

As I look back on 2022, I am reminded of all the storytelling that took place online and in person with MO-TELL. We helped put storytellers in the Missouri State Parks, in person. A very successful Liars Contest was staged, also in person. We held several online events, including Tellabration! which was a collaboration with two other Missouri

storytelling organizations, River and Prairie Storyweavers and Gateway. A fantastic newsletter was published monthly, for eleven out of the twelve months thanks to Ken Wolfe.

I want to thank the MO-TELL board for making my job so easy. Thank you to Perrin Stifel, founder of Missouri Storytelling Inc., Sue Hinkel, charter member and our Treasurer, Linda Kuntz, our Secretary, Gary Kuntz and Nancee Walker Micham, board members At Large.

Many thanks to Ken, who keeps our newsletter coming in such a brilliant fashion and to Hilary Kuntz, who takes care of our website and social media accounts.

I owe a great debt of gratitude to all our members, without whom we would have no reason to exist.

It has been, indeed, a year to remember. I look forward to 2023. The new year is full of unexpected stories, mine and yours. I will create new tales and recreate the old ones and I hope you will do the same. What a fun adventure!

Expect to hear from a new board member this year, Jackie Wright. You will earn more about that in the coming months. Please let us know how we can make MO-TELL better. We want to hear from you.

One of our focuses this year will be rebuilding our history, our story, from the beginning. We will renew our interest in the state parks and of course we will celebrate another Liars Contest.

January is the last month of the fiscal year for MO-TELL. We will have our Annual Membership Meeting on January 14, at 5 pm, in Nevada, MO. It will be in person. I hope to see you there.

Keep telling your stories and stay in touch.

Joyce Slater

President of MO-TELL

A Note from the President

Hello my friends,

I hope your Thanksgiving was filled with good food and wonderful stories.

As we enter the holiday season, I wish all of you the very best. Holidays are a time for family and community. They bring us together to share joy, love, food and of course stories. Remember to share your stories this season and always.

Love and happiness to all of you.

Please keep telling your tales and stay in touch.

Joyce Slater

President of MO-TELL

“People are hungry for stories. It’s part of our very being. Storytelling is a form of history, of immortality too. It goes from one generation to another.”

– Studs Terkel

MO-TELL Member of the Month: Linda Kram

Linda Kram was born and reared in St. Louis and currently lives in University City. She attended Ladue Schools and married at the young age of 19. She said that was too young, but she is still happily married (to the same man) and has two wonderful children, Karin and Daniel, both living in California.

Karin is married and has a 6-month-old son. Karin has her doctorate in microbiology and teaches at California State. Daniel, a computer software engineer, is married with a 2-year-old son. Because his wife is from China, their son is being raised to be bilingual. Grandma Linda is learning Mandarin, too!

Linda works with Springboard, as well as with schools in the city of St. Louis

and some districts in St. Louis County. She fits perfectly into teaching children in Pre-K through first grade, using storytelling in the program “We Are the World.” The children love this multi-cultural project. Recently they “went to Sweden” as Linda brought in trolls, told stories from that culture and brought a special Swedish snack. Sounds fun! She also teaches preschool science and outdoor education and uses stories as jumping points for STEAM projects.

Always interested in folk tales and stories, Linda wanted to tell family stories when her kids were born. She was lucky to learn the art from Annette Harrison and January Kiefer. Marian Cohen influenced her to tell stories through Springboard.

Two of Linda’s favorite tellers gave her some important pointers that have influenced her storytelling. Pleasant De Spain told her to keep the focus of the story on the beginning, middle, and end. He told her the flow of the story was crucial. Jackie Torrence told her how caffeine was bad for the throat and that if you are a storyteller—even if you’re just a beginner-- say you’re a STORYTELLER!

Linda has served as president of Gateway Storytellers, and has followed the virtual storytelling events lately. Her connection to MO-TELL began as co-founders David Schlamb and Perrin Stifel taught and worked in the school that her children attended. Linda likes MO-TELL because it is statewide, and she appreciates the history and stories of Mark Twain and Hannibal, tales from the Ozarks, and the varied culture

of Missouri.