yyjStoryteller

  We are walking libraries of those who came before us. Every ancestor whose name we speak, every story we remember, is a chapter in the ongoing book of who we are. Some of those stories are heroic, some humble, some complicated — yet together they make us whole. When I listen to stories of lineage, I often think of how easily a life can disappear from memory if no one tells it. A person is born, lives, works, loves, and dies — and unless someone remembers, the echo fades. But tell their story, even once, and they live again. Their laughter, their hardships, their small triumphs — all return, if only for a moment. We are the bridge between what was and what will be. The stories we inherit shape us; the stories we tell will shape those who come after. “We are the ancestors of the future.” — Winona LaDuke “The ancestors may sleep, but they are never dead.” — African Proverb To know our ancestry is not to cling to the past, but to understand our place in the great continuum o...

Some places stay with us long after we’ve left them. It might be the smell of cedar after rain, the sound of gulls over the harbour, or the way light filters through old windows in the house where you grew up. Every place has its legends, if we are willing to listen. Landscape itself tells stories — in stones, in rivers, in trees. Some stories are whispered in the wind; others are carved into the land by generations who came before us. On the West Coast, the ocean tells stories of both arrival and departure, of courage and loss, of hands that built and hearts that stayed. The more I listen to the land I call home, the more I hear its layered voices. The human stories are only one part of it. There are the stories of the salmon returning each year, of the forest reclaiming what was once cut, of the tides repeating their ancient rhythm. A place becomes home when its stories become yours. You begin to see yourself not as separate from it, but as a small, continuing thread in its unfo...

  Not all stories move us to tears — some make us laugh until we can’t breathe. This week, let’s celebrate the lighter side of storytelling: the laughter that connects us, the small absurdities that remind us how wonderfully human we all are. We remember what makes us laugh. Maybe that’s why laughter is memory’s best friend. It loosens the heart, softens the edges, and helps stories stick around long after the punchline has faded. A funny story is never just about the joke — it’s about recognition. It’s that shared moment when we see ourselves, our families, or our friends reflected in the foolishness of being human. Humour makes us feel less alone in our imperfections. I’ve noticed that in every family, there’s at least one story that always makes an appearance at gatherings. You know the one — someone starts with, “Remember when…?” and everyone’s already laughing before the tale even begins. Maybe it’s about a burnt turkey, a mix-up at a wedding, or a moment of well-intentio...

Dear friends, Every age faces its own kind of silence — the moments when truth gets softened, rewritten, or ignored altogether. Yet storytellers have always found ways to speak, even when it was risky to do so. This reflection is about those moments when telling your story becomes an act of resistance — not through anger, but through courage, honesty, and love for what is real. Not every story is told from the winner’s seat. For as long as humans have spoken, those in power have tried to shape the story that is remembered — and to silence the ones that are inconvenient. But truth has a way of finding its voice. Sometimes it comes as a shout, sometimes only as a whisper. Yet even a whisper, if passed from one heart to another, can outlast a shout. When the official story is false, telling your own becomes an act of courage. It might be as simple as standing up in a meeting and saying, “That’s not how I saw it.” Or as daring as writing down the story your grandmother told you, even ...

  When Grief Finds Its Voice “Stories are medicine.” — Clarissa Pinkola Estés “The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.” — Mary Catherine Bateson A story told in grief is a step toward healing. Sometimes we tell stories not to explain, but to survive. When words finally take shape around our pain, the chaos within begins to find order. The act of telling—of giving shape to the unspeakable—can be a kind of alchemy, turning sorrow into something we can hold, examine, and perhaps even share. Grief isolates, but stories connect. When we share our stories of loss or hardship, the burden lightens—not because the sorrow disappears, but because someone else helps us carry it. In the listening, we are reminded that we are not alone. Storytelling, in its deepest form, is not about performance—it’s about presence. It’s a way of saying: I have been there too. I have felt the cold wind you feel now. And somehow, I have found my way forward. So today, I offer th...

    “Stories are medicine.” — Clarissa Pinkola Estés “The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.” — Mary Catherine Bateson A story told in grief is a step toward healing. Sometimes we tell stories not to explain, but to survive. When words finally take shape around our pain, the chaos within begins to find order. The act of telling—of giving shape to the unspeakable—can be a kind of alchemy, turning sorrow into something we can hold, examine, and perhaps even share. Grief isolates, but stories connect. When we share our stories of loss or hardship, the burden lightens—not because the sorrow disappears, but because someone else helps us carry it. In the listening, we are reminded that we are not alone. Storytelling, in its deepest form, is not about performance—it’s about presence. It’s a way of saying: I have been there too. I have felt the cold wind you feel now. And somehow, I have found my way forward. So today, I offer this thought: Has a sto...

When you share a story, you build a bridge.” — Unknown In a circle, everyone holds the center for a while.  Political activist Gloria Steinem said that  “A circle is the oldest form of democracy.”  Being in a story circle  is not about performance, but presence. Some tellers say that you do not choose the story, the story chooses you.  The story you tell today may be the story someone else needed to hear. Something to think about... Who would you invite into your story circle today? What story would you tell? Leave a comment  below:

  “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” — G.K. Chesterton “Myth is the public dream, and dream is the private myth.” — Joseph Campbell Thoughts: Folk tales are survival kits disguised as entertainment. The old stories are not old — they are timeless. We turn to fairy tales not to escape reality, but to understand it. A Question for you:  What story did you love as a child that still holds meaning today?

“I am my mother’s daughter, and the drums of her heart are within me.” — Rupi Kaur  “The stories we tell literally make the world. If you want to change the world, you need to change your story.” — Michael Margolis In every culture, women have carried stories at the hearth, the bedside, the kitchen table. Women’s stories often survive in whispers before they become public truths. When a woman tells her story, she claims her power. A  Question for you: What’s a story you inherited from a woman in your family? If you want to, you can share it in the comments.

What others have said: “Listening is an act of love.                                                                                                                                                                  Dave Isay “To listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear.”                                                                                  ...

Interesting Thoughts “The shortest distance between two people is a story.” — Patti Digh “Stories live in your blood and bones, follow the seasons, and light candles on the darkest night.”                                                                                                                                  — Patti Davis Some thoughts A memory untold slowly fades; a memory shared becomes a story. We carry our ancestors not in our blood alone, but in their words. Storytelling is not about recall — it is about meaning. Question What’s a memory you’ve shared so often it has become more story than fact? Please share that memory with us in the comments.. ...

  Somethings to think about: A story is not only what is told — it is what is remembered. The listener shapes it as much as the teller. Every family has “that one story” that gets told again and again. Pay attention to it — it is carrying a truth your people want to keep alive. Folktales endure because they give us permission to imagine beyond the ordinary. Sometimes a fairy tale is the most honest way to speak about life. Quotes from others “Stories are a communal currency of humanity.” — Tahir Shah “Those who tell the stories rule the world.” — Hopi Proverb A Question for YOU What is the one story from your childhood that still echoes in your life today?

The Japanese Baku was a mythological beast comprised of the parts of a bear, an elephant, a tiger, an ox and a rhinoceros Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Do really bad nightmares wake you up? A Japanese grandmother would say that you need a BAKU talisman by your bed. When you wake, repeat this phrase three times: “Baku-san, come eat my dream. Baku-san, come eat my dream. Baku-san, come eat my dream.” The BAKU will then enter your room and eat the bad dream. Then you will be able to drift off and awake the next morning after a peaceful sleep. Just make sure that it was really a bad dream. Should the BAKU still be hungry after eating your nightmare, it might keep munching and eat some of your good dreams and hopes too! In that case, you might end up living an empty and unfulfilled life.

  National Magazine Awards rounded up this list of grants, with opportunities from coast to coast to coast. The roundup includes grants for emerging artists and students pursuing a career in the arts, to professional artists practicing in various disciplines. Well worth a look.

Did you know that spaghetti grows on trees? It’s April Fool’s Day! Widely recognized as the best April fool’s dayjoke ever, on 1 April 1957, the BBC produced a television documentary on theSwiss spaghetti harvest. Inspired by the Egyptian legend of Osiris and Seth, Romans celebrated Hilaria at the end of March. People dressed up and joyfully mocked important people. In 1582, France switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. A lot of people were slow to get the news that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March, leading to a lot of laughs on and about April 1. Paper fish were fastened to the backs to symbolize how these gullible people were easily “hooked.” In the United Kingdom, during the 1700s, people were sent on phony errands searching for gowks (a word for cuckoo bird, which became the symbol of a fool. The following day became known as Tailie Day, when pranks were played on people’s derrieres, such as ...

  Get your bling on for Spring, and join the Victoria Storytellers Guild for some glittering stories! Stories at Fern starts at 7:30, virtually. Connections accepted from 7:00 pm onward Stories at Fern is the Guild's regular monthly meeting. Admission is free for members who have paid their dues. If you would like to become a member or pay your $25 annual dues, you are always welcome. If you are just dropping in to a virtual event, the suggested donation is $5, which can be made in three ways: via Paypal (paypal.me/storytellersvictoria), an e-transfer to treasurer@victoriastorytellers.org, or you can contact them to obtain a mailing address for a cheque. They use Zoom, the online conferencing system. Admission is free, and there is no need to create a Zoom account, however they ask folks to register in advance for a secure, enjoyable experience. To register now click here , or copy and paste this link into your browser: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAtdu6hqTsuGNRrE-y1...

Today, April 7, is the birthday of the innovative African American, social activist, jazz and swing music singer Eleanora Fagan (April 7 1915 – July 17, 1955.) She was known professionally as Billie Holiday. After a troubled life, Holiday died handcuffed to a hospital bed. Posthumously,   she won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. At the end of her show each night, the lights would go down, all movement and chatter stopped, and Holiday would sing the piece called " Strange Fruit. " In 1999, Time magazine declared that song “song of the century.” The song was originally written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish school teacher, poet, and activist from New York City. A photograph of a lynching in Indiana some years earlier had deeply disturbed Meeropol, inspiring him to write “Strange Fruit,” and the song eventually made its way to the Greenwich Village nightclub where Holiday sang. The lyrics of "Stra...

 Black Cats: Beware!   What would you do if a black cat walked across your path? Would that be good... or bad? With hallowe'en soon upon us, perhaps, for the safety of all, we should concern ourselves with such topics. Black cats have featured in stories for over 2,000 years! In Celtic folklore, it was believed that black cats turned into fairies and back. In Great Britain, as in Egypt and Japan, having a black cat would bring you luck and good fortune. In the English midlands they make the ideal wedding gift that will bring luck and happiness to the bride. In Japan, it is believed that a single woman who owns a black cat will attract more suitors. On the other hand, in Europe, in the Middle Ages, t hey decided that black cats were evil and foreboding; that they were really witches or demons. Many black cats were destroyed. People caught with a black cat were severely punished. When European settlers took over North America they declared that if a black cat crossed y...

  Come out of the weather … and share the warmth by the fire. Stories at Fern starts at 7:30, virtually! You can sign in from 7:00 pm onward – Please come early to sort out any technical glitches before Al, our host, starts the storytelling at 7:30 pm We are using Zoom, an online conferencing system. Admission is free, and there is no need to create a Zoom account, however we are asking our friends to register in advance for a secure, enjoyable experience. To register now click here or copy and paste this link into your browser: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIqdeivrj4tGN0ZNffLh_VmwdHQgax7n4x4 When you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email with the specific instructions for joining us by computer, tablet, smartphone, or regular phone. We are looking forward to seeing you again and having you join us for our second Fern St. of the season!

Coping with the crisis, the Victoria Storytellers Guild have started a new service: Dial a Story! Contact info@victoriastorytellers.org and someone will arrange a suitable time and story for you to receive by telephone.