"Stories are important"

"...stories are important.

People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, it's the other way around.

Stories exist independently of their players. If you know that, the knowledge is power.

Stories, great flapping ribbons of shaped space-time, have been blowing and uncoiling around the universe since the beginning of time. And they have evolved. the weakest have died and the strongest have survived and they have grown fat on the retelling...stories, twisting and blowing through the darkness.

And their very existence overlays a faint but insistent pattern on the chaos that is history. Stories etch grooves deep enough for people to follow in the same way that water follows certain paths down a mountain-side. And every time fresh actors tread the path of the story, the groove runs deeper.

This is called the theory of narrative causality and it means that a story, once started, takes a shape. It picks up all the vibrations of all the other workings of that story that have ever been.

This is why history keeps on repeating all the time."

Terry Pratchett, 1991

The Festival of Ghost Stories

As the leaves flew off the trees on the last Friday in October, storytellers and audience gathered in Bryan Park for the annual Festival of Ghost Stories.

Temperatures dropped rapidly as night fell, but the audience was enthusiastic for chilling stories.

We heard from some new voices this year and some new stories from familiar tellers.

Cats (Community Access Television) of the Monroe County Public Library did film the event and as I understand it you can call and request a copy of the program (349-3111).

It was quickly too dark to take many pictures of the tellers, and the audience were just shadows huddled on the hillside.





You'll find a review at http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=83793&search=festival. Thanks, Jessica Williams, for taking the time to write about us!

And many thanks to this year's coordinator, Stephanie!

Hope to see all of you next year for another evening of spooky and supernatural tales!

Annual Festival of Ghost Stories

Are you ready? The Annual Festival of Ghost Stories

Friday, October 28

7:00 to 8:30 pm

Outdoors at Bryan Park

This concert of scary and supernatural tales is performed by members of the Bloomington Storytellers Guild and sponsored by:

The Monroe County Public Library (also the rain site)

and

Bloomington Parks and Recreation.

Wear warm clothes! Bring a chair or blanket to sit on!

NO young children, please!

Festival of Ghost Stories coming up

The time approaches for the annual Festival of Ghost Stories.

Do you have a scary story to tell?

Something eerie and unusual?

Auditions are coming up on Monday October 17th at the Monroe County Public Library (one of our co-sponsors for the event).
Email the Guild for more information!

Your audience is waiting....

Are you missing emails?

Sometimes our coordinator can't read your handwriting.

Sometimes our coordinator can't read her own handwriting.

Sometimes she even loses the little scrap of paper with your email address on it.

If you want to stay connected to the Guild and you are NOT getting emails, please please please email the BSG at btownstorytellers@gmail.com.

And forgive the rapidly aging coordinator for losing your email the first time.

And we're off!

Another storytelling season has begun!

New folks welcomed, our next meeting planned, a focus found for the year, requests for tellers coming in, and our annual Festival of Ghost Stories coming up -

The time will race by!

Let the Season begin!

The Guild is planning its menu for the coming storytelling season.

Up first:
The appetizer!

Our first meeting of the fall,

Thursday, Sept. 22

5:30-7:00 p.m.

Monroe County Public Library Room 1-A

Come join us if you are interesting in learning about the Guild!