Showing posts with label community service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community service. Show all posts

Thursday, August 26, 2010

History, Heritage and Community



This is a rare opportunity to learn from professional folklorist and author Dale Jarvis of Newfoundland. Dale will be the featured storyteller at the
September 18, 2010 Story Cafe and will offer his Storytelling and Historical Interpretation Workshop on Saturday morning September 18, 2010. (details below)

Make a day of it! Come to the workshop and afterwards you can take a tour of historical New Bedford. The Whaling Museum and National Park building is right around the corner, have dinner then return to the Story Cafe, which begins at 7:00 p.m. Click on the Story Cafe link above and scroll down to the "Things To Do in New Bedford" section for some fun ideas.



Storytelling and Historical Interpretation Workshop

Calling all museum and historic site staff, teachers, librarians, archivists, docents, tour guides, and history-loving storytellers! How do you search out stories in your community, tell these stories and make history come alive? Where are our community stories? What is heritage value? What can artifacts tell us?

Join heritage conservationist and storyteller Dale Jarvis for a half-day workshop on storytelling for museum and historic site workers. Through this workshop you will learn to utilize story telling for more engaging historical interpretation. Learn the basic principles of cultural interpretation, and what it means for a storyteller. Hear how fact and fiction blended together to become the chilling and entertaining tales of the St. John’s Haunted Hike ghost tour. Dale will talk about how he uses archives and oral history to find his stories, and bring them to life.

DATE: Saturday, September 18, 2010
TIME: 11:00 P.M. - 3:00 P.M. 
LOCATION: ArtWorks 384 Acushnet Avenue, New Bedford, MA
DIRECTIONS: http://www.artworksforyou.org/hours.html
COST: $55.00
This includes a light lunch or if you prefer you can bring something of your own as we cannot accommodate and special dietary requests. Registration and a $15.00 deposit are required. To register contact Alicia Moretti at ArtWorks at (508) 984-1588.*
PARKING:  There are two parking areas within easy walking distance to ArtWorks: Elm Street Parking Garage and Custom House Parking. http://tinyurl.com/ylx2akr It is recommended that you don't park on the street as there is a two hour limit on metered parking.

* A minimum of six participants are needed for the workshop to take place. Registrants will be notified by Thursday, September 16 if the workshop has been canceled.

About the Instructor 

Dale Jarvis is a heritage conservationist and professional folklorist and author living and working in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. He holds a B.Sc. (Honours) in Anthropology from Trent University and an MA in Folklore from Memorial University of Newfoundland.

He has been working as a heritage officer with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador since 1995, and currently serves as Newfoundland and Labrador’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer. He is Past President of the Newfoundland Historic Trust, and the author of three popular books on Newfoundland folklore, published by Flanker Press.

As a storyteller, Dale is the founder of the St. John's Storytelling Circle, and a coordinator of the St. John's Storytelling Festival. He has performed and taught at storytelling festivals and conferences across Canada, the USA, England and Norway. Since 1997, Dale has been the host of the St. John's Haunted Hike, a walking ghost tour through the historic streets of St. John's.

He regularly gives courses on storytelling for historical interpretation for community and regional museums and historic sites, and has provided workshops for Parks Canada, the Federation of Nova Scotian Heritage, Northlands Storytelling Network, and Storytellers of Canada/Conteurs du Canada.

This will be an exciting day and evening. Please join us! Questions? Email me at storybug@aol.com.



Sunday, January 18, 2009

Yes We Can!

This Tuesday, we will be witnesses to history as we watch the inauguration of our 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.

He has sent out a call for Americans to renew their commitment to their communities. With that in mind I offer you some other ways you can help our people in the US and beyond.                               


"We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.” Mother Teresa


Charity Navigator

An independent charity evaluator; provides tips for making decisions about donations, statistics, information about workplace donation campaigns, and a list of the highest and lowest rated charities in various subject areas. http://tinyurl.com/wlf7

Give A Good Card
Give a gift card for charity where the recipients get to donate to their charity of choice. http://tinyurl.com/3bymu8

The Hunger Site
Since its launch in June 1999 the site has established itself as a leader in online activism, helping to feed the world's hungry. All it takes is a click of the
computer keys. What could be easier?
http://tinyurl.com/2rdph4

Oxfam America Unwrapped
For those of us who are blessed to have what we need, why not and pick one of the 120 countries from around the world to help? Whether our budget is small or large, we can all do our part to help others in need. http://tinyurl.com/5uyjr5

Rwanda Baskets
Proceeds benefit Rwandan genocide widows who weave these exquisite baskets to provide for themselves and the orphans of this war-torn nation.
http://tinyurl.com/5l4dke

"It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story.”
Native American Saying


In honor of our President-Elect, I offer you stories from the island where he was born, and from Kenya, his father's homeland.

Hawaiian Folktales by Thomas G. Thurm (1907)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/hft/index.htm

Traditions of O'ahu: Stories of an Ancient Island
The site also offers an extensive bibliography.
http://tinyurl.com/5zbnwn


The King of the Sharks - Hawaiian Folktale http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/ha.html

Kikuyu Legends and Folktales from Kenya http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/tribes/kikuyu/stories.htm


Here's to better days ahead!


"Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest", but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is." -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (1917-1986)