A Note from the President

Hello my friends,

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. It is a time to be with family and share stories. October was a scary month this year. There were so many storytelling programs on Zoom this year that were frightening. There were ghosts, witches, and vampires galore. Even MO-TELL proved to have a very scary program. We held a virtual concert on Zoom on October 16 th with tellers Bobby Norfolk, Sherry Norfolk and Ken Wolfe. The stories were so scary one of the audience members contacted me immediately following the concert with a message “The storytellers were great. I do think I may watch a Hallmark movie before I try to sleep tonight.” I can’t wait until next year’s Halloween program.

Speaking of programs, MO-TELL is gearing up for Tellabration! A Night of Storytelling for Adults. The date is November 19. The time is 7 pm. The storytellers are Lee Giezentanner, Sue Hinkel and Angela Williams.

Tellabration! We are a part of a something big! See you there.

“My gripe is not with lovers of the truth but with truth herself. What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story? What good is truth, at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney? When the lightning strikes shadows on the bedroom wall and the rain taps at the window with its long fingernails?

No. When fear and cold make a statue of you in your bed, don’t expect hard-boned and fleshless truth to come running to your aid. What you need are the plump comforts of a story. The soothing, rocking safety of a lie.”

Diane Setterfield , The Thirteenth Tale

Story of the Month: Mercury and the Woodman

A Woodman was felling a tree on the bank of a river, when his axe, glancing off the trunk, flew out of his hands and fell into the water. As he stood by the water’s edge lamenting his loss, Mercury appeared and asked him the reason for his grief; and on learning what had happened, out of pity for his distress he dived into the river and, bringing up a golden axe, asked him if that was the one he had lost. The Woodman replied that it was not, and Mercury then dived a second time, and, bringing up a

silver axe, asked if that was his.

“No, that is not mine either,” said the Woodman.

Once more Mercury dived into the river and brought up the missing axe. The Woodman was overjoyed at recovering his property and thanked his benefactor warmly; and the latter was so pleased with his honesty that he made him a present of the other two axes. When the Woodman told the story to his companions, one of these was filled with envy of his good fortune and determined to try his luck for himself.

So, he went and began to fell a tree at the edge of the river, and presently contrived to let his axe drop into the water. Mercury appeared as before, and, on learning that his axe had fallen in, he dived and brought up a golden axe, as he had done on the previous occasion. Without waiting to be asked whether it was his or not the fellow cried, “That’s mine, that’s mine,” and stretched out his hand eagerly for the prize: but Mercury was so disgusted at his dishonesty that he not only declined to give him the golden axe, but also refused to recover for him the one he had let fall into the stream.

Honesty is the best policy.

MO-TELL Member of the Month: Allen DeBay

I live in Osborne Kansas. I work at Osborne Industries building and repairing electronics for pigs, and other animals. The electronics help keep track of food intake, weight, ventilation, and heat pad controls. My hobbies include collecting stamps, coins, storytelling albums (my collection now includes over five hundred), and paranormal investigations.

I am interested in learning about all kinds of storytelling and storytellers. I study storytellers to help find storytellers for the Kansas Storytelling Festival, and sometimes recommend them to other festivals. My interest in storytelling started by watching storytellers at the Kansas Storytelling Festival. I now go to all the festivals in Nebraska and Missouri when I am not busy with acting in plays, lighting and sound effects at school plays, being President of the Downs Lions Club and other hobbies. Creating a network of collaboration between multiple festivals is also one of my interests that I work on to help the storytelling community.

It is important to be part of storytelling organizations like MO-TELL to help support storytelling, learn about events and opportunities to perform in live or online events, learn more about storytelling and make connections with people in the storytelling field.

Since I have primarily been a tall tale/liar’s storyteller and Bil Lepp was at the first contest that I ever competed in he was one of my early influences. When I was at the National Storytelling Festival, I performed at the National Storytelling Festival swapping grounds I performed in a style like Bil Lepp where somebody pointed that out. That’s when I realized there is already a real Bil Lepp. Why do I want to try to be another Bil when I can be me? Although I still tell stories in some storyteller’s styles when I am working on a story when I am on stage, I try to just be me. When I am working on creating imagery, I often think about how Laura Packer would describe something. If I am working on the timing of a story I often think about where Donald Davis would put pauses in the story. When I am adapting a story as I am studying an audience, I think how Tim Lowry or Ed Stivender would change the story to create a more interactive experience for the audience.

One of my favorite stories is “The Cracked Pot” because it shows how imperfection can create beauty. Since you asked, one of my favorite Halloween jokes is:

Q: What is the safest way to pay for creepy Halloween decorations on the internet?

A: Always use cryptocurrency.

My favorite holiday is the 4th of July because I enjoy blowing things up with my family. My favorite holiday memories are of Thanksgiving because that is when the most family members would come back, and I always enjoyed the family stories that would be told and to catch up with all the things that happened during the year.

My last favorite vacation, my friends from Michigan came and picked me up and we explored a Bishop Castle made by one man in Colorado, went hiking and seeing the

Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Zion National Park.