A Generous Piece of the King’s Cake
A Memory of New Orleans written to the Storytell Listserve - 2004
Hi everyone!
Did you miss me as much as I missed you? I've been off line for the last 2 weeks. Ah, poor me. I had to leave the snow and ice to go spend a week in New Orleans. I had a great time. Our own Angela Davis invited me down to spend a working vacation with her. It was a whirlwind week. In fact the first night the wind did whirl, but after that blue skies! I visited 4 schools, the Children's Castle, and did a workshop with Angela. In between we saw the French Quarters, the Mardi Gras Museum, and took a street tour of New Orleans. At the Children's museum I had a session called Purple, Green and Yellow and told Munsch stories. When I got to New Orleans everything was decorated in Purple, Green and Yellow! Wow, do they know how to welcome someone, or what! What a surprise to be at the famous Cafe Du Monde and pick up a paper with my name and program listed at the Children's Castle! I won't even tell you about the delicious seafood, French pastries and jambalaya (sp?) that we consumed. New Orleans is a feast for the eyes as well as for the food. One night Angela cooked and shared her Cajun, down-home-cookin' secrets with me.
One day, I visited Lafayette for a day of telling. I traveled over the bayou to reach the heart of Acadian country. I loved just listening to the town folk talk with their colorful Cajun dialect. At St. Pius School they had an International Symposium. The gym was transformed into the seven continents. This was all the parents doing. It was too remarkable for words. I told stories from around the world on a magic carpet ride to 4 year olds and 4-6th grades. Through the stories we visited West Africa, Ireland, Germany and Sweden. They were excellent audiences.
Then, the creme de la creme, the icing on my King's cake...our Dianne de Las Casas opened her home for their storytelling group to have me do a workshop for them. Dianne is not only an excellent teller, she is a gourmet cook! This group is a spontaneous, creative, fun-loving group called SELA. Our little joke was Kinsella was a SELA! All I had to do was throw some seeds out there and their creative minds grew as fast as Jack's fabled bean stalk! Samantha (my gorilla puppet) was even given a new dress and a tiara, no less, for her appearance at the Children's Palace the next day.
I've been reticent about Samantha, but she shone in New Orleans. So, she's going to be a part of my storytelling for my younger listeners from now on. Angela gave me some excellent advice. The first time I brought her out for a large group of pre-schoolers, I put her away behind a piano, so the children wouldn't be distracted. WRONG! They kept asking for her over and over. Angela said to keep her out, have a teacher hold her, and have Samantha model good listening skills. The next time I did just that. It was great. The little ones just accepted her as one of the audience.
The cooking secrets and the trick with Samantha was just one of the many, many gifts that Angela shared with me while I was there. She literally opened her home and heart to me. Samantha may have modeled good listening skills, but Angela modeled for me what it takes to bring my storytelling to the next level. I came home with a renewed... positive...look at my storytelling.
I hope to write a full report in the coming weeks, but for now...I'm still basking in shades of purple green and yellow! Marilyn
