Mid-Missouri Storytelling Festival, part I

I meant to blog while on the road last week, but I left the power cord to my laptop sitting quietly on my desk. I jumped online for a few minutes each day, not daring to spend too much of my battery power. Oh, and if you tried to e-mail me near the end of last week, try again. Had a few other glitches, now resolved.

I was in Jefferson City and Columbia, MO at the Mid-Missouri Storytelling Festival, my third year in a row at this mostly school-based festival. Some festivals take place at one site, some are spread over a larger region. For example, the Cape Girardeau Festival was held in three tents, while Mid-MO took place at almost 50 sites, mostly schools and libraries. Depth and breadth? Each style has its merits.

One of the fun things about this festival is getting to see the other storytellers in between shows (and we get to see some of them tell stories, tra la!). We check in with each other, talk about what we're working on, see pictures of grandchildren (Jim Two Crows even brought his grandson Zach), tell stories and jokes, play dice, sing and generally behave like the kind of grownups we are. That is, the kind who still remember how to play.