Telliing Phrase from Baltimore, MD,

A church sign in, Baltimore, after the last blizzard.
"Whoever is praying for snow...please quit!"
Funny play on the "power of prayer". Plus they must have been tired of weekend blizzards. Could have been a little advertisement for attending church, "prayer works".

February 27, 2010 9:13 PM

Word Etymology - Escape

Escapology has always been very fascinating to me and a close tie with magic for my interest. Watching someone escape chains and fetters of all kinds was not only good entertainment it was also very metaphorical and artistic. I would be watching someone escape a straightjacket and thinking about my own life and certain hurdles I was struggling to overcome, burdens I was trying to be free of. Escape was more than just release...

Escape is a word with origins in both French (eschaper) and Latin (excappare). The Latin word 'excappare' is formed from 'ex' meaning "out of" and 'cappa' meaning "mantle." The original word literally meant "to get out of one's cape" or "to leave a pursuer with just one's cape." But over time meaning has evolved and become more than just a liberation from various articles of clothing. The word has become indicative of liberation from all kinds of mantles and burdens.

How it relates to storytelling: Everyone wants to escape something. Doesn't matter who, doesn't matter when, doesn't matter where, every person desires to be free of something. This desire to escape is often the reason behind many forms of entertainment where the participant can forget all their worries and troubles and be liberated... escape. As storytellers we are not bound by the limitations of reality, we may create as we choose because our audience gives us license to take them outside of the bounds of reality to enjoy and feel freedom. Even if it is only a brief respite it is still...escape.


P.S. I have been performing the straightjacket escape for several years now and three years ago was part of the Worldwide Escape Artist Relay (W.E.A.R.). You can check out a picture of me in the straightjacket at the link below. This is an old pic - be kind ;v)

http://ibmring362.org/WEAR2007/WEAR2007JohnWade.html

Neologism - Escapology

If you know the name Houdini then you know the most well known escape artist of all time. Houdini was a great magician in his right but he is remembered for his escapes, for freeing himself from the most impossible of restraints and even taking on spectator suggested challenges.

It has been 84 years since Houdini died and his escape artistry is just now being appreciated for how impressive it was. In fact there is now an entire branch of study and performance outside of the field of magic called "Escapology" which focuses on self-liberation. It does not focus on "tricks" but rather focuses on learning the mechanics of locks, the construction of different fetters and shackles, and the physical workings of knots.

Escapology is a new word that comes from combining the word "escape" with the suffix "logy" meaning 'the science, theory, or study of'; which leads us to the new word "escapology" ---- The science, theory, and study of escape.

snowed

Telling use of language:
"Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up"
from an inspirational poster on the wall at Park Ridge Hospital.

Here is interesting language using "directional metaphors" assigning directions to abstract concepts such as past, present, and God. I am increasingly distressed by the use of "up" for all things good and holy - the negative connotation being that all things "down" are bad - leading us into a very unhealthy relationship with the earth and our bodies. What if faith looked elsewhere? "In"? "Out"? "To Others"?

I missed you all last week and have not been able to "look up" from more pressing demands. As the above quote might suggest, I have been at the hospital often. Not due to my own health but due to my aging mother - suffering multiple "pulmonary embolisms." The language of hospital stays is filled with health and illness, death and dying, and evasive terms that shield doctors from direct communication.

Hey Folks - Class is cancelled - and so is "this one time, at band camp"

In case you haven't seen on the University site - class is cancelled today. Can't see why, I'm in the office and there isn't really a problem, but anyway...when the University speaks...
Obviously this means I will also cancel my "please come and talk with me about purpling" lunch at 11.30am. I'll try and call you all to let you know - but just in case I don't get hold of you.

Cheers :)

cut tags - problematic

This is the tutorial for how to cut tags so posts can be behind a single line

http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?answer=154172

But it doesn't work. Apparently it needs changes on the settings page and I don't know if we all have to do them seperately or not. The Blogger programmers have just not got this sussed properly.

Neologism: "literally", remarks on a reversal

"Oh my God! Did you just see that?"
"What?"
"Rafalski's shot! It literally danced by the Canadian."

Actually, no. The team USA hockey player, Brian Rafalski, did not cast a magic spell on the puck and convince it to literally, to actually, dance past the Canadian defenseman. I was just excited. It was merely a well-executed shot in an unanticipated upset that allowed me to dare dream of gold.

I'm not the only one making the mistake. "Literally" is not a new word; however, using the word to convey excitement and/or magnitude, meanwhile reversing the actual meaning - "actually" - of the word does seem to be new.

If you're like me and you follow a professional sports team, you've likely heard enough play-by-plays to make you wonder if Kobe "literally flew", if Peyton "literally throws like Thor", and if the Lions "literally could not be any worse." Barring the probability of that last one, statements like these aren't literally true. They are indeed figurative. So when exactly did the meaning of the term get reversed like this.

I'm not entirely sure. But I can say that I started noticing it only recently, after listening to the comedian David Cross. One of Cross's bits pokes fun and the ridiculousness of all this literal misuse.

If you like, you can check him out on YouTube at this link. Beware, his mouth is not figuratively clean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ly1UTgiBXM

Etymology: heel

I'm taking Ethnographic Research this semester and have chosen the Inspirational Championship Wrestling Association as my topic of research. After this past Friday's match, I had the pleasure of interviewing a life-long professional wrestler, whom I'll refer to as Jackie (that is not his character name).

Jackie has a lot to say on the differences between "the old days" and the current form of wrestling. I was lucky to hear Jackie's interpretation of the art of wrestling, one that is more showmanship than mere athleticism. According to Jackie, very few of today's wrestlers manage to "stay in character" during matches or while exiting the ring, something that would have gotten a man fired back when Jackie started out. Indeed, the characters seem to be the magic behind the spectacle.

According to Jackie there are "heels" and there are "faces" or "babies". The former referring to "bad guys" and the latter implying "good guys." As Jackie explained to me, if the heel is not bad enough then there is no fun in watching him lose, nor is there any fun in watching the baby beat him. Establishing a believable through line of aggression, revenge, and retaliation is what Jackie tells me is the best, the only real, way to keep fans coming back.

When I asked him where redemption lies in the heel's story, or if it was even a possibility, he replied that it would be climactic and would need to bring in a big enough crowd to make the end of the story arc legitimate.

Listening to Jackie, who plays a heel in the ring, I began wondering about the origin of the term...hence this etymology.

Heel can mean the back of someone's foot.
Heel can mean to sit, as in "Heel Fido!"

But in the informal sense heel is a synonym for these nouns:
scoundrel, rogue, rascal, reprobate, miscreant, beast, rat, louse, swine, snake, scumbag, scumbucket, scuzzball, sleazeball, sleazebag, and stinker...to name a few.

The negative connotations of the word may have started brewing way back in the 16th century when the verb "to heel" meant "to be tilted temporarily by the pressure of the wind or by an uneven distribution of the weight on board." My dad, a former sailor, tells me that such a situation is "baaaaad djoodjoo"... and yes, he is superstitious.

If we think of people as generally good and bad, what does it mean when they lean to far in either direction? What does it mean when they list, when they heel, too far down? Indeed, Jackie's description of the heel is that of a character who has clearly gone over to one side (dare I say "the dark side"?), but who may still be turned - set to rights. Just as the wrestling heel's reformation must be amazing enough for a story climax, a boat's restored balance is the result of some very impressive maneuvering by captain and crew.

It may be interesting to note that Jackie worked in the carnival circuit during his traveling days. I was told that this was not uncommon and that many other wrestlers spent their off-seasons at the carnivals. That said, it could be enlightening to know how the good guy/bad guy dynamic functions in the sideshow arena, and if it's similar, if the same trade lingo applies.

Neologism: "fanmade", "fanvideo", etc.

I became addicted to fanvideos about a year ago. It was a dreary Milwaukee winter and Harry Potter - gateway drug to all that is good in the world of fantasy and geekery - led me to Youtube. You see, I was searching for trailers for the then-upcoming "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

While the true trailer was not yet available, I did stumble upon a slew of so-called "fanvideos." Numerous and varied, these videos all involve four common elements: fanart, movie footage or stills, pop music, and desired projections of the plot. Of course, there are variations. Some feature fanart exclusively and foregot he clips. Others may use photoshopped images featuring the faces of characters overlaid onto the bodies of other celebrities - a typical method when spinning a romance that doesn't or hasn't yet happened in a film (Ron and Hermione are classic examples of this technique).

The preferred combination for viewers, based on the comments left by other YouTube addicts, seems to be impressive fanart + ludicrously bad photoshopping. At the same time, the driving force behind the creators appears to be a desire to "set things right" with the story - a sort of self-administered catharthis if you will. An example of which you'll find at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhfqICsZRhU

Beware, the fan's projections do divulge info from the last book, so if you're not that far into the series I wouldn't watch it.

If the creators are careful, they remember to state that they do not have rights to the footage or music and that the video is simply "fanmade." This disclaimer implies that the fan's love of the material absolves him or her from copyright claims.

In the case of "fanmade", "fanvideo", and "fanart, these closed-form compound words turn "fan" from a noun into an adjective, as in the case of "fanmail." These terms are by no means the result of the Harry Potter phenomenon, although I suspect that the mass Potter-love and agony betwixt film and book releases have helped feed the plethora of Potter fanart. It may be interesting to not that the Twilight series also has a large quantity of fanart and fanvideos on the web. And I suspect for much the same reason.

Given that so much of the fanart is in Anime style, I'm willing to suppose that the fanvideo's origins are tied up in the fanart that sprang from Anime. But I am by no means knowledgable on that front. At the same time fanfiction has been around for hundreds of years and still going strong in Jane Austen Societies across the world. So we coulds suppose that fanvideos are just another manifestation of fanfiction - one that has been enabled by modern technology and the beginning of self-broadcast at venues like YouTube.

Repetition - Humorous Usage

Since we have been reading about repetition in conversation I thought I would share a video of a skit that one of my students at church and I performed for our Valentine's Banquet. It uses repetition in a very concise conversational form to produce a comedic reaction as you will see. The skit is called 5 Minute Shakespeare and is based on a skit I learned when I was a Boy Scout at summer camp.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl2s2j4mEuQ

Telling Phrases - Are you kidding me?

I had 7 minutes while my potato microwaved, so I flicked the tv channels looking for telling uses of language, and landed on the episode "Rudy spent the night" with Rudy in full voice, as all her favorite foods were revealed to be on the menu.

The phrase is interesting for me because it becomes almost devoid of the denotational element of the meanings of the words, to take on a range of other meanings. Not "is that a joke" but "I don't believe it" or "Is that really true?" and finally when Bill echoes the line, promising to drive safely (and I think, wear his seatbelt, I wasn't transcribing) it becomes "of course, I'll do that.

It shows perhaps, the stroke value of conversation, and repetition as an involvement strategy, far more than it signifies information. (Of course it is also a device for creating humor, but thats a whole other level to consider).

Word Etymology - Misdirection

Over the years one of my favorite places to hangout was the magic shop. It was full of mysteries and secrets, smelled of pipe smoke, and was always filled with older magicians who talked about the glory days of magic. Now one thing that the old magicians used to say was that misdirection was the key to magic, that you could pull off anything with the proper misdirection. They also told me that the best form of misdirection was a beautiful assistant in a seductive outfit. They then proceeded to tell me a story about a magician who was so masterful in his ability to misdirect the audience that he once produced a live donkey on stage using no boxes, trap doors, mirrors, or any other devices or magical apparatus whatsoever. He simply led the donkey on stage while everyone was watching something else on stage (they told me it was his lovely assistant). But having no way to verify this story I don't know if it is actually true.

Misdirection is a relatively new word that is recorded as first being used in 1943 in relation to the art of magic. It is complex word starting with the prefix 'mis' which comes from Germanic origins and meaning "bad" or "wrong." The latter part of the word 'direction' which is comes from the Latin word 'directus' meaning "straight" or "set straight." So the word takes shape as "to wrongfully set straight" or "to set wrongfully straight." In either case the meaning of the English word becomes misdirection becomes clear.

What it means to storytelling: Storytellers are masters of misdirection in their own way. They may not perform illusions but they do set about pointing people in a different direction than what is true (not in all cases). Storytellers especially those who take on the role of a certain character for their performance are masters of leading people away from truth that they are not their character. The masterful storyteller can almost completely convince the audience that he or she is that character. This is misdirection, portraying something that is not and leading your audience towards that end. If we can master our own version of it we can become very powerful storytellers indeed.

Word Etymology - Deception

Deception is necessary in magic, and in many cases storytelling and I have always found that very interesting. From an early age my mother began telling me I was a wonderful storyteller, she'd hear the lid close on the cookie jar from across the house and yell "are you getting in the cookie jar?" My mother must have had ears to rival Dumbo's cause I was very quiet. I would bound up the stairs with a fist full of cookies yelling "No mom, I'm upstairs, something must have fallen in the kitchen." Storytelling and deception, they are closely related in many ways and we all learn both of them to some degree at an early age. But deception seems to have a different tone and is somehow different then lying.

Deception is a stem of the Latin word 'decipere' which is word we get "deceive" from. The word 'decipere' means "to ensnare, take in" and comes from de - meaning 'from' and capere - meaning 'to take.' So literally to deceive someone is to take something from them, presumably the truth.

What it means to storytelling: Storytellers like magicians take the truth from their audience, not stealing it but rather exchanging it for something else. The audience willingly participates in this exchange and it is assumed that there is deception taking place. The interesting thing about storytelling is that it can work in the opposite order as well. We can take the lies that our audience have been taught and exchange them for truth. So there is a very interesting choice that storyteller must make between deception and correction when telling. I am not saying that one is more valid than the other or morally objectionable (in most cases except for things such as seances, fortune tellings, and spiritual healings where charlatans, and storytellers in their own right cheat people out of money) but it is still a decision each storyteller must make.

Word Etymology - Revelation

In many different cultures around the world storytellers, court jesters, magicians, and the like all have a very mysterious role. They are entertainers yes but there is another level to their purpose. They are a type of historian and they preserve the culture. They are also secret keepers, those who know things that have been passed down and protected through generations. But the secrets that they hold are not ones that they seek to hide from all, but rather ones that they share, ones that they whisper to the listeners. These performers and informers reveal their secrets and this revelation comes in the form of the performance and is often mistaken only as entertainment.

The word revelation can be traced back through the Old French word 'revelacion' all the way to its Latin roots in the word 'revelationem' or 'revelare' the base word for "reveal." A revelation is in its most basic form just a disclosure of facts, but as time has progressed and the word has changed it has been attached to religious secrets and divine information that is given by a deity to a devout follower. While I do not deny the religious context of the word as I am a Christian believer I do think the original meaning of the word as a disclosure of facts and information in a basic sense is still not only appropriate but also useful.

What it means to storytelling: As storytellers, keepers of lore, historians, cultural preservationists, and any other title we choose to attach to ourselves we have an opportunity to reveal to our listeners secrets and information that is not only entertaining but also in many cases enriching to their lives. As we begin to reveal stories to our audiences a certain rapport develops between them and us that is developed around and through our revelations to them as well as our own ability as storytellers.

Word Etymology - Mask

As a young man I remember seeing Jeff McBride perform on different magic specials that were on TV and thinking he was the most amazing magician I had ever seen. His magic was very well performed but what stuck out most was the originality of his show. He not only did tricks, he performed rituals. He involved not only sleight of hand and clever contraptions to make his magic but also unique things like miming, music, dance, the one thing that intrigues me even still to this day... his masks. He had an act where he changed and multiplied masks, but the masks also had a character of their own that was both beautiful and haunting.

The word mask is a hard word to trace because scholars disagree on its exact origins, but we do know that it comes from the Middle French 'masque,' the Italian 'maschera,' and the Middle Latin 'masca' (some scholars suggest the word mask has its origins in the Arabic word 'maskhara' meaning "buffoon" but this is not certain). The Latin word 'masca' is my favorite because of the dark connotation that it suggests in its meaning "mask, specter, nightmare." It has a scary quality that reminds me of Halloween (my second favorite Holiday) masks.

What it means to Storytelling: We as storytellers have an unlimited array of tools and items that we may incorporate into our tellings and I think that the mask is one that we may discount too quickly. A mask not only hides an identity or persona, it can also create a new one for the performer. Masks can also add a mysterious and macabre element to a story if used properly and create an entirely different feeling for the audience. In fact the most eerie an unsettling performance I ever saw was a Christian Illusionist performing one of his acts and portraying Satan in a plain white emotionless mask. The thing that was so eerie was that the mask displayed no emotion which was very powerful in that moment. If I can find a clip of it I will put a link on here to it cause no matter what your religious views are I think you will appreciate the performance. Until then take a break and enjoy some of Jeff McBride's famous Masks and Magic show that is linked below (also see if you can note a change in his character when he goes from one mask color to another):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWDSiiEQCNc

Word Etymology - Hypnosis

Hypnosis is one of those strange practices that many people have encountered on some level, either through personal experience or more often through television. It is also a somewhat controversial practice and is considered by most skeptics to be a branch of parapsychology. There is also a wide misunderstanding of what hypnotism is and what it can do, because of its rather obscene and incorrect portrayal on television by charlatans to con people. As a person who has been "hypnotized" I have an interest in the word and where it comes from, because the word hypnotized has been connected with being put in a trance state which is not coherent with the meaning of the word.

The word hypnosis is actually a combination of two words from the Greek, 'hypnos' meaning "sleep" and 'osis' meaning "condition." So hypnosis is actually a word literally meaning a "sleep condition" or according to some and more in line with the modern word "a condition like sleep." Many, but not all, hypnotists begin their "routine" by inducing a sleep like state on their participants which while not really sleep resembles it in that the participant is relaxed and usually has their eyes closed.

What it means to storytelling: While I am not eliminating hypnosis as a valid means of entertainment and "theoretical science" I think that putting our audiences into a sleep like state is generally a bad thing. Do not mistake a hypnotized person for a mesmerized or entranced person. Entrancing and mesmerizing our audiences can be a wonderful thing, but hypnotizing them will probably not get you asked back as a storyteller... well maybe at a nursing home ;v)

Word Etymology - Persona

The word persona has been popularized by Jungian psychology in recent years and has taken on a psychological meaning that is not present in the words original meaning and context. The word persona has also been used in theater quite extensively in reference to taking on a certain role and personality. But the origins of the word persona are quite simple.

The word persona is Latin and literally means "person." While the word later in Latin literature was used with the word 'grata' to refer to "an acceptable person" the meaning of the word persona did not change or morph.

What does it mean to Storytelling: The usage of the the word persona is interesting to storytellers and actors because we really don't think about what we are saying when we say we are putting on a persona or personifying someone. We are using the word in this context to suggest that we are taking on the role of that person, that we are essentially putting on that person, becoming them if you will, for the duration of our performance. I think it is important we take this seriously as storytellers because half halfheartedly trying to take on a persona is galling and makes for a very pitiful performance. If we are taking on a different persona then our own we need to put all the energy and pay attention to the minutia of the person and their character that we are portraying.

Word Etymology - Mystery

The word mystery is a very interesting word that in our current culture has lost some of its original meaning. The word mystery gets thrown about and added as a label on a great many items such as cheap novels, atrocious movies, and freakish carnival side shows when in realty the word has a deeper and more arcane meaning.

The word mystery can be traced back through Old French 'mistere' and Latin 'mysterium' to its origins (most scholars agree) in the Greek 'mysterion.' The word 'mysterion' means "secret rite or doctrine." If you have ever heard of certain Eastern and Middle Eastern Religions referred to as Mystery Religions this is why. Mystery religions involved certain rites and rituals only revealed to the initiates (usually after a hefty financial contribution). These mysteries were secrets, knowledge that few people possessed and even fewer understood. It is also related to the Greek word 'myein' which means "to close, shut" possibly referring to how the mysteries were kept closed off from the uninitiated or to how the initiated were to keep their mouths shut about what they had seen. It wasn't until many centuries later that the word became the common word referring to detective novels.

What it means to storytelling: While it is not "inappropriate" to refer to detective stories and crime solving journeys as mysteries it doesn't do the word justice to just leave mystery at that. Mystery is something as storytellers that we can make so much more important. As storytellers we have the chance to put on a persona that emanates an aura of mystery. We have a secret knowledge that no one else has, not so much puzzles to be solved as in crime dramas, but knowledge that is special and private; knowledge that is given to only a very few. And we can offer a peek of it to our audiences, not a full revelation mind you, but rather a taste; just enough for them to wonder and imagine and escape their reality... even if just for a moment. This can be a very powerful tool if used effectively.

Don't just tell a mystery, be one, and share one with your audience.

Pennebaker re: Narrative in Therapy

Here is James Pennebaker's Home Page and some articles you can find there.
James Pennbaker
Forming A Story: The Health Benefits 0f Narrative
The Immunological Effects of Thought Suppression

Man and Beast from The Moth

The story reminds me so much of the movie “Avatar” and in follows the basic Joseph Campbell Journey of the Hero. The main character, the boy, is the average kid, a good potential hero, who has a problem that keeps him from becoming the person he strives to be. He stutters; a speech impediment over which he has no control. However, it is not insurmountable, because he knows that under the correct circumstances, he can speak freely; he can do that with animals. So he needs to attain the basic means to live in his own world, the speech classes, and then sets out to live in the world in which he can flourish, the jungle. When he finds that the way of life of his new environment is threatened by civilization, he has to use all of his teachings to overcome his disability and rescue his charges. In the end he is also judged by the inhabitants of his new chosen world as worthy of being accepted into their community, a dangerous, potentially life threatening confrontation.
In Avatar, the wounded hero, has through much hard work, been taught to be functional in spite of his disability. He is given an opportunity to live and become a part of a different community, an environment in which he is not hampered by that disability. He must then be the one who saves his chosen “family” from the destruction of “civilization”. He must also be accepted and trusted completely by his chosen world by successfully proving his sincerity even in life threatening confrontations.
The Campbell model is the hero who has a problem he must overcome through guidance and deprivation, given an opportunity to prove his worth. He eventually gains the recognition and subsequent paradise he so longs for.

What touched me most in the story were the helplessness of the boy and the inability of the status quo to be able to recognize that though there was a problem, it was not insurmountable. In schools, we keep running across kids who have some problem that interferes with their growth, their learning potential and their self esteem. By the time it is addressed, as an educator I keep wondering, “Didn’t anyone think to address this in a positive way before now?” Why it is so hard for people to see this is not an indictment of the child is difficult for me to fathom? It is nothing that cannot be tweaked so that it is not a major factor in their self image for the rest of their lives.

Man and Beast - A Journey of Self Discovery

Alan Rabinowitz telling of Man and Beast is the story of one man finding his voice, and chronicling a journey of self-discovery. The story encompasses a lifetime of struggling to accept and overcome personal limitations while discovering his true purpose.

There were many moments in the telling that evoke emotion both in the teller and the listener. For me the moment that most involved was the final chapter, the encounter with the jaguar. In my opinion, this moment also showed the greatest use of distinct sound variations.

In this scene we can hear a wide range of emotion from amusement to fear to awe. Rabinowitz uses a lot of fluctuation in his vocal volume and speed to let the listener know which moments was extremely tense and required immediate action. When he realized that it was getting dark and he did not want to be caught in the jungle after dark his voice gets much louder and his rate of speech quickens. His speech softens both in volume and speed when he is eye to eye with the jaguar in the forest.

You could really sense his excitement and passion in this scene. He was very anxious to tell this part of this story. He had great personal pride in what he had accomplished both for the jaguars and for his own personal self worth.

The climactic line was when he explains what he saw in the jaguar. He reflects back to his childhood and his encounter with the “sad eyed” jaguar. In his most powerful voice Rabinowitz says, “In this animals eyes there was strength and power.” He says this with such conviction that the listener believes in the power and assuredness of the animal.

Alan Rabinowitz takes his listeners on a journey with him. A journey that starts as a scared little boy wanting desperately to have a voice in the world but unable to find his voice both physically and emotionally. This is ultimately demonstrated in the encounter with the jaguar at the zoo. The discourse leads us on his journey of trying and failing (conflict) to overcome his disabilities. He makes the most of life as it is, but always dreams of what life could be.

Throughout childhood he seems to have a basic understanding of what life could and should be, if only he could overcome himself.

In his later college years the break through in his speech seems to give him permission to follow the path of his heart. He has encounters with people who guide him on his way and give the knowledge and advice that he will need for his journey.

It is his own personal experience though, that brings everything together (climax) and helps Alan realize his true purpose and mission, one that has been since he was a boy.

As has been stated in other thoughts, the story comes full circle, ending with Rabinowitz once again face to face with the beast. This time however, he has found his voice both physically and emotionally.

Neologism - Hauntiques

Have you ever held an item and wondered about its history? Ever wondered "if this item could speak, what tales would it tell?" Have you ever pondered an item that is so soaked in history that it is practically palpable? Some of these items go one step further, they begin to have a story of there own... one that they create... one that they design... supposedly.

We have all been to an antique store or a museum at some point in our lives and have heard the tales and legends that surround certain historical artifacts, but these items that are haunted by the ghosts of their former owners have never had a name of their own. A magician has given these items a name of their own... they are called hauntiques, which is a word made of the two words "haunted" and "antiques." Simple enough... but very strange indeed.

The magician has a book entitled "Hauntiques" which is about such items. It about not only magic tricks involving hauntiques but also about their procurement or creation and how to "imbue" them with power. A strange book especially if you are not a magician or actor, but a fun one.

If you want to see some examples of hauntiques you can check out the book or you can go to ebay and look for haunted antiques and you will get at least several dozen hits. Ignore the half melted baby dolls and the crappy costume jewelry and you will occasionally find something truly unique... something... extraordinary.

The Making of a Great White Hunter

The big idea in the discourse. The big idea is that “man” often has a very different idea about the nature of language, the reality of nature and the truth of life than “beast.” Rabinowitz presents this idea in a very profound and well-informed way.

HE (Man and his kind) thinks that truth is defined by the spoken word. From this truth, language either is, or ought to be
• defined by consonants
• composed of sentences
• limited to humans and
• discontinuous in experience.

THEY (Alan and the animals) sense that language, reality and truth are NOT defined by the spoken word and in fact are not even speakable. From this understanding, language either is or ought to be
• defined by vowel tones
• composed of discourse
• unlimited by culture amd
• completely continuous in experience.

Phonetic description: The reader sets the tone for the story at the same time he defines his telling world in the opening statement, “I was five years old.” /ɑɪ wɑʒ fɑɪv yiaʒ ɑʊld/ The voice draws upon the listener to join the world of the child. Part of this is a definite lengthening of the vowel sounds /ɑɪ/in “I” and “five.” The same sentence slides down in a way that signals a time for empathy. Sliding up this sentence might have asked for active involvement, but sliding down appeals for reflection and contemplation. By the time the initial appeal in /ɑɪ wɑʒ fɑɪv yiaʒ ɑʊld/ is complete, we are on our way in the world of the child and ready to accept all the problems that come from being young in an adult world. This leads, for me, to the most involving moment which is when Alan finds him caught between the authentic world of animals and the authoritative one of humans.

Overall , the affect of the voice is of the bleeding heart, one who tends to plead for others to feel his pain. Success using this kind of voice depends primarily on compelling content which certainly exists in the tale of “Man and Beast.”

For some twisted reason, I can’t help but think of this as a typical “great white hunter” story (ala Tarzan, Lone Ranger, Kevin Costner, Teddy Roosevelt). Great white hunter stories usually have some well-educated and technically advanced savior who goes into the wild and saves the day for the natives who are incapable of helping themselves. In this case, we a nice city boy who goes to UTK long enough to learn how to deal effectively in the jungle. To save the day, he uses an entirely modern argument—that one saves the animals by demonstrating economic benefit. All this may sound cynical but it is more skeptical that providing economic benefit ever really saves the day for anybody involved. The story begs this point. The bleeding heart voice generates contempt the moment it runs out of compelling content and expressions like “tree hugger” begin to signify tales told more for political than personal reasons—not from the heart at all.

The most involving moment. The moment that he begins to talk to the panther, the father comes over to challenge, “What are you doing?” This is a double layering of conflicted interest for the boy: not only does discourse with the panther come to an end, rapport with the father stops cold. This double dose of conflict delivers the most heated and involving moment. At this moment, the listener, tends to side with boy and panther against father and mankind. At this moment, we tend to empathize with the storyteller’s world and his sense of how language works within that world.


Map of the discourse. Key discursive events in the story include the following: 1. Enter the world of the child on the edge of discourse with animals. 2. Suspend potential discourse and enter the world of humans. 3. Child becomes man by learning to compete and become competitive in his world. 4. Young man reenters the world of animals and engages them in discourse. 5. Young man rejoins the human world by using his voice to compete for influence that allow him to save the world of animals. 6. He becomes savior of the animals by using articulate speech in their behalf.

Word Etymology - Mime

There is a wonderful French magician and mime named Jerome Murat who is one of the most unique performers and, I would argue, storytellers that I have ever seen. He combines magical illusion with silent motion to create a truly amazing experience. He is what many would label as a mime.

Mime is an old word that can be traced back through French 'mime', Latin 'mimus', and originally, most scholars agree, to Greek 'mimos' which means "imitator, actor, buffoon." It wasn't until its usage in French that it became associated with silent acting. Nowadays Mime has its own category of theater, though many see only the silly street performing, box enclosed, rope pulling buskers who are trying to make a dime by performing on sidewalks in big cities. Mime has the ability to be so much more meaningful and to go much deeper than mere imitation. It has the ability to communicate story when done well.

What it means to storytelling: We are all 'actors' and 'imitators' at some point in our storytelling careers. We sometimes even change roles quicker than we change clothes. But most of our stories rely on spoken word, on language to communicate our message or story. But could we communicate a story without using language including sign language? Could we communicate a story, even a simple one, using only gestures? My answer is yes. It would require extreme amounts of dedication and effort, but I believe it is possible for us to mime a story.

Please enjoy the following performance by Jerome Murat of France and consider it as my evidence for believing a story can be mimed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If6gUDsEbkA&feature=player_embedded

Word Etymology - Illusion

The word illusion is an interesting word to study. Its origins are know to be traced back through Old French 'illusion' to the Latin 'illusionem' and 'illusio' which mean "a mocking, jesting, irony." It also could mean "to mock at" or "to play with." Over time this somehow became associated with deception, as if someone were playing with reality, bending the rules, or even mocking the very fabric of the universe. In a very real sense then storytellers are a form of illusionist. They mock reality play with the world around them as if it were a set of Legos. They deconstruct one reality only to build up another.

This is not an altruistic fact as many tellers, including myself, love to tell true stories. But for those of us who delve into other worlds, where happy endings are standard operating procedure and magic mirrors come pre-installed in every castle, this is something we will understand very well. Real life is often times harsh, unwelcoming, unfriendly, unhappy, and even deadly. In the fantasy worlds we create in stories we can reshape this reality, play with it as it were, and build a new world in which we invite our audience into, and into which many readily will go to escape their own realities.

What it means to storytelling: As storytellers we are in some ways illusionists. We mock reality and play with it every time we stand to speak. This is not a disrespectful act but rather an effort on our behalf to benefit others around us, by entertaining them, allowing them to escape the real world and enter into something else... even if only for a moment. If you have never watched the movie "The Prestige" I highly recommend it. It may not be some people's cup of tea but it is one of my favorites. At the end of the movie a line is said when talking about making sacrifices to entertain the audience and I think it very much applies to storytelling. The line is spoken...

"You never understood, why we did this. The audience knows the truth: the world is simple. It's miserable, solid all the way through. But if you could fool them, even for a second, then you can make them wonder, and then you... then you got to see something really special... you really don't know?... it was... it was the look on their faces..."

Word Etymology - Astonish

There is a magician named Paul Harris who is one of the most amazing magicians and storytellers I have ever known. He travels a lot and owns practically nothing and while I'm not entirely sure he qualifies as "homeless" he is often thought to be so. But this man is a man that is full of wonders and beautiful works of art that just seem to emanate from him. He has an entirely different perspective on magic than anyone I have ever known. He does not view magic as something to use to make money off of people. Rather he sees it as a gift that he gives to each person he meets. He wrote a series of three books which relate this philosophy of magic called the "Art of Astonishment." He discusses what astonishment and wonder are and how they are what the performer strives for, because they bring the audience back to a time when the world was mysterious yet wonderful and large yet simple. I love what he has to say of these things but what does the word astonish mean and why does it matter to storytelling?

The word astonish is traced back through middle English 'astonyen' and Old French 'estoner' and eventually back to Vulgar Latin 'extonāre." The Latin word breaks down into 'ex' meaning "out" and 'tonare' meaning "to thunder." Literally this would translate into a word in English such as "Thunderstruck" (also a pretty a good song by ACDC I might add). Astonish can mean many things such as surprise and amazement or even shock and awe.

What it means to storytelling: As storytellers we invite our audience into different worlds, some very similar to our own, some very different. But always we are drawing them away from their own current reality, even if only for a moment, to experience something outside of themselves, something... amazing, something... astonishing. When we do this something inside of our audience is drawn out, the thunder is drawn out of them. This can be a good reaction or a bad reaction, people may throw roses or they may throw beer bottles. All depends on your venue and your content I guess, but the idea is still there that some reaction and emotion has been brought to the surface that previously may have been laying dormant.

Go forth and astonish the masses (just beware of flying bottles, they do hurt.... A LOT!!!).

Telling Phrases - Jesus Calling, Don't Hang Up

Yes, you've guessed it, another Church billboard. And I'm sorry, I don't mean to mock religion so constantly. No, thats a lie. I definitely mean to mock religion, it tends to deserve it. What I mean is please don't confuse this with me mocking anyone's personal faith - I regard that as a very different thing.

So here we are: Jesus is a double glazing salesman, don't stop listening, the offer he is about to make is a really good one!

And the problematic connotations begin. Once again, faith is reduced to being described in the terms of other everyday experiences. More disturbingly, the persona Jesus is given is one of the least liked stereo(arche?)types in modern America - the telesales caller. And next, we, poor uneducated souls need to be told not to ignore him, lest in our ignorance we miss out on something good. Which, one assumes, only the church can reveal to us. What's his special offer? Will save the souls in your front room, at the same time as the ones on the back porch, so long as both orders are placed together?

Etymology: Oh Snap!

The phrase is an exclamation of surprise, regret, disappointment, happiness, and many other emotions. People usually say "Oh SNAP!" as an exclamation, and it can be either positive or negative. (Urban Dictionary)

First known usage was in the 1989 rap song "Just a Friend" by Biz Markie. (I remember seeing that video and laughing until I cried. We had signed up for the first (and only) time for cable. We turned on the video channel whenever we were working around the house so that Jack, my two little girls and I could all come running to the TV whenever Biz and his song came on. I can’t imagine how that term has hung around for 20 years, but it has. The last time I saw Biz Markie, he was in Men in Black II, in the post office scene. He is a home boy from Savage, Maryland. “Oh Baby, you…you got what I need.” Check out the color music video on Utube; it begins with a scene of the brothers doing their “dozens” routine.

Regards,
Sleepless in Jonesborough (notice the same number of syllables as Seattle)

The Telling Etymology of a Neologism: Blog

I couldn't go to sleep until I worked this out. And perhaps I have figured out how to post this. Here goes:

A blog (a contraction of the term "web log")[1] is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Web + log = weblog = we + blog = blog.

I wonder if this is the true derivation of the term blog. Personally I think it was coined by the following combination of words with more definitive implications.

“'Blah' dates back to 1918. That first 1918 citation is from a book called Wine, Women and War – A Diary of Disillusionment.
The author Howard Vincent O’Brien writes about his experience in the First World War and seems to use the word blah quite a few times.
He meant “talk” but one wonders if he had the blahs since his subtitle mentions disillusionment and he published the book anonymously." (Podictionary)
There are other definitions which have over the years evolved into more negative meanings. I will stick with the original definition, talk.

“Blah, blah blah” adv. And so on; et cetera. (The Free Dictionary by Farlex)
Lots of talk; much talk.

Slog: v.i to plod heavily, to work hard (at something)
This reminds me of...
Shlog: german, verb. (schlagen): to hit. (Not the Urban Dictionary’s definition which is just nasty! Although, there are times when I feel that I have been beaten that way.)
yiddish dictionary .... Gai shlog dein kup en vant! or Gay shlog dein kup en vant! - Go bang your head against the wall!
An analogous meaning could be that a person's mind has become senile.

This is a telling use of speech, especially in my definition of blog.
MY conclusion is that blog (verb) is a neologism comprised of these two words - blah and slog
Blog = Blah + Slog = blahslog. The definition would be: struggling through the talk.
Inferences include: I am beating my half senile old head against the wall trying to work at all of this talk and come up with my own discourse. (I thought I would toss in that word for David.) Sometimes feeling as if someone is beating me about the head with a nasty sock weighted down with…oh the imagery is painful!
Don’t laugh! Do you know how much time I spent on the internet looking up words to come up with this drivel?

Telling Uses of Speech - Thanks y'all

Hardly seems telling does it, just a standard Southern (well, ok that makes it a teller of regionality) expression.

But when a performer uses it to signify the end of every single poem in a 45minute set, it begins to signify a range of other things. "I'm not sure if you know I've finished so I'll tell you"; "I'd really like you to applaud now, because I don't know if what I've just done was worth listening to"; "oh god, I'm not getting any feedback here, are they enjoying it"; "An ending needs a downbeat, this is my downbeat"...

Of course it's as much the paralinguistic elements, the performers' cut off tone, their dropped stance or turning away, as the words themselves that carry the meaning. But by its very sparsity, and constant repitition, it allows us to focus on these other elements which are so indicative of lack of confidence in performance.

I don't use "thanks y'all" as it's too American. But I do catch myself finishing stories looking at the floor and saying softly, "thankyou (all one word, deliberately)". Bad habit, needs breaking.

Neologism - Twart

Reported to me by a friend in England, from Radio 1, I thought this was the latest from the Twitterverse - a Twart - meaning a random piece of uninteresting trivia about the tweeters day, tweeted in the mistaken belief that it would interest others. Turns out it has been in use with this meaning since at least January 09. Conflation of twitter and fart.

Has greater currency in the UK than in the US, because it isn't so commonly confused with flatulence that only females can produce - though we do have the term twat, expelling air from that area is more commonly referred to as a fanny fart than a twart - confusing to Americans I imagine, since in American, fanny refers to a slighty less private part of the anatomy.

Interestingly Twart had some currency in the twitterverse with an entirely different meaning - ie an artistic tweet (presumably haikuesque in its ability to express an emotion or thought). The artistic community objected to the other connotations, and so the term didn't last in this sense.

Alan Rabinowitz - Man and Beast

I'm sitting in Kennesaw near Atlanta, following the cancellation of Storyfest, reflecting in general on different types of storytelling as I trade my evenings plans for a trip to a theatre performance that claims to be built round two characters sharing stories. Specifically, I'm focusing on The Moth story told by Alan Rabinowitz. I'm reminded of David's earlier response to one of my neologisms - can we call some of the personal storytelling today autohagiographic. I don't have an answer yet for Jonesborough and the storytelling revival movement, though I think it might be that familiahagiographic fits. If however, we take Alan Rabinowitz as typical of Moth storytelling, then I think the term autohagiographic definitely applies there.

This is not to disagree with Guy - I don't think Rabinowitz is particularly arrogant or prideful - but the nature of his discourse is such that it constructs a central personal narrative which highlights his life a) as conforming to an overarching pattern or purpose b) as having to overcome difficult obstacles c) as successful d) of benefit to others not just himself. Which seems autohagiographic to me.

In terms of the overall shape of the discourse, I like John's episodic titles (I'd be tempted to add in Encounter with Wise Helper - the professor who offers him the work in Belize, and perhaps rename Character Introduction as Face to Face with the Beast 1 and end Face to the Face with the Beast 2, just to emphasise the envelope construction of the story) - however my main interest is in trying to identify what it is about the discourse that makes me consider it weak storytelling. Because I do. Although the shaping is clever (perhaps because the shaping is clever) I find my attention wandering repeatedly. Something about the involvement strategies employed means that they are not effective for me. And yet, plenty of the involvement strategies identified by Tannen as essential to effective discourse, most notably repetition, are present. I could recall Never, never and never... from dating to kissing to speaking a fluent sentence, or could've... could've from the final encounter with the jaguar.

Perhaps it is the relatively flat, and careful delivery tone. However this tone, which can be somewhat monotonous is broken at key moments -as John has already noted, his voice breaks when describing his father selling things, and the recollection of excitement at working in the Smokey's is palpable in the increased pace, and breath content of the voice in this section.

Rather, I think it is a problem of the discourse itself, not the delivery. The focus is very heavily on tell not show. For most sections of the narrative, we are given a state of affairs, and explanations of things that created that state (habitual visiting of the pets in the cupboard, rather than a single, vivid instance; general approach to getting better grades; even his distaste for what is done to lab animals is described). The narrative, with the exceptions of its opening and closing encounters (and the offering of the contract in Belize) is almost entirely exposition. Elements that could have been key points of a dynamic story - nearly dying in a plane crash, losing a friend to snake venom - are glossed over. At his most emotional, he does not allow us full involvement in the story, saying only that his father sold something of value, not what it was. Kaleidescoping is necessary in order to cover an entire life in 17 minutes, and also to give the illusion of a single pattern that shapes that life. But I think it results in a less than gripping narrative.

What it does allow is for Rabinowitz to make communicate certain of his beliefs - a separation (artificial? but real for him) between the world of people and the world of animals; truths to be found by studying nature; the possibility of understanding between man and beast and value in his own life. It doesn't do anything however, to convince me of any truth in those beliefs, which I think it could have done, had it been more vividly told.

Ironically, the moment when I feel most involved in the story, is the moment when the audience comes to life, and Rabinowitz seems for a moment to step away from his overall sense of direction. "I drove from New York to Central America". He explains nothing (particularly in contrast to all the earlier explanation) but the audience constructs the preposterous reality of such a statement, and collectively responds to it. I respond with them, and hearing the warmth and liveliness in Rabinowitz's tone as he says "that's a separate story" I want to hear that story, rather than the careful one he is telling. And perhaps that is the issue, by providing exposition, rather than instances from which we are to draw conclusions, Rabinowitz does too much of the work for us, and reduces our involvement. This instinct again comes from following Tannen (But I don't have the book with me at present, so I can't quote a specific reference).

I'll return to Man and Beast to look at a section phonetically when I'm back in Johnson City with my books.

Man and Beast Assignment

Phonetic – when he says the word stutter around 1:00 “…I was handicapped with a severe, severe stutter.” The last part of the sentence is in and of itself a stutter. The word severe is repeated which is a type of stutter and the word stutter itself has three “t” letters which seem almost to be another stutter. Phonetically it looks something like this:

aɪ wʌz hændiːkæpd wɪɵ eɪ sevɪər sevɪər stʌtr

Emotional – When speaking of his Dad selling one of his precious possessions to be able to pay to send him to a special school. You can tell from the way his voice waivers and almost falters that he is at the point of tears. This suggests that whatever was sold was highly valuable both monetarily and emotionally and that selling it was a sacrifice made out of love for his son. This was a very touching moment for me because I know the sacrifices that my own family has had to make over the years to give me the opportunity to grow. Self sacrifice seems to be a commonly understood act and almost always causes some level of emotional reaction.

Discourse: Path of the Narrative
Character Introduction – Five year old boy looking into the Jaguar’s eyes. Whispers gently to it which is quite an accomplishment, because of his obstacle/character flaw… his stutter.

Scene is Set – He is hindered by his school and misunderstood by his teachers.
Heroic Action sets the Bright Future in motion – His father sacrifices something valuable that his son can overcome his stutter.

Promise to an Old Friend – Because animals “listened” to his problems and hopes he promises to his animals while in his closet that he would be their voice is he could ever find his voice.

Overcoming the Character Flaw or Personal Obstacle – many types of therapy are gone through to no avail. Senior year in college he is given the opportunity to join an expensive clinical group that helps him overcome his handicap. He works hard to do so.

Keeping the Promise – All his pursuits outside of his promise fall short of his desires. He begins to study animals at UT. He is given the opportunity to study in Belize. This would be in line with his promise.

Fulfillment of the Promise – He goes to Belize and begins studies on jaguars which interestingly is the animal that started the story with. He makes his life about the animals, not just studying them but keeping them safe. He is instrumental in establishing the world’s first and only jaguar preserve.

Facing the Beast – a month later while following Jaguar tracks faces the biggest Jaguar he has ever seen and the realization that his promise has been fulfilled. The Jaguar could have killed him but instead only watches him as if acknowledging the fulfillment of the promise. Not only has the promise been fulfilled but he has grown and overcome his former self. He whispers again to the jaguar.

The overall progression of the story is from external problem to internal problem. Then the long trial of overcoming the internal problem and then the external problem.

Alan Rabonowitz Continued

I noticed that Alan also used a significant amount of emotion in his story. There were a couple of particularly emotional moments in the story, but overall, the whole story was deeply underscored with emotion. One moment that really involved me emotionally was when he was talking about his parents trying to give him the therapy, and clinical guidance to overcome his stuttering problem. When he said that his father had to sell something that was really valuable to him in order to send him to the speech therapy clinic in Genesseo, I was really touched. I know that my parents have invested a lot in me, and I cannot even express the amount of gratitude that I have for them. It was obvious to me that Alan felt the same way.

The amount that Alan had invested in this story is probably one of the factors in why their was so much emotion in the telling. Essentially, the story was about Alan's life, including his deepest pains and greatest accomplishments. The way that his story was basically outlined and mapped out was very intentional. By beginning his story at the Bronx zoo staring at the Jaguar, he was able to bring his story to a beautiful ending looking into the eyes of the large jaguar in Central America. His story structure was paralleled throughout. He basically mirrored himself with the Jaguars, and ultimately the entire animal kingdom, throughout his entire story. This could especially be seen in the way that he showed that he had to withdraw from people because they attacked him in the same way that Jaguars had to withdraw so that they would not be hurt, or even killed. He also spoke about how he felt safe in the closet with his animals as well as safe in the wild with the animals.

Overall the story mapping that he used was a rounded design in which the story beginning wrapped around until it came back to the beginning. There was a great sense of completion in the stories design, and he was able to use himself as a hero without seeming to be an arrogant or prideful teller. The way that he did this was because the story was not just about him. It was about bigger issues.

The first big issue that Alan spoke about was the way that people treat each other. He was really speaking for anyone that has an impediment or a disability. His story also addressed the animal's rights concept. As a matter of fact, the driving force of the story was the idea that, "Animals have feelings too." He was able to create a sense of bias within the audience to the idea of animal rights with that simple message. His goal was clear. He wanted to be the voice fr animals, and that was exactly what he was doing inside the story and outside in the telling world as well.

Alan moved across the terrain of many issues including people's desire to prove themselves better than others through sports and academics. He also noted the difficulties that exist within the communication system that surrounds an individual's voice in the realm of government. He spoke of the importance of parent support for children, and of the value in lowering the costs of treatment for things that could be considered disabilities. Although most of these ideas were not clearly stated, they were present within the narrative.

Alan showed how he had invested in the animal rights movement with his intellect (pursuing a doctorate degree for the study of animals) and his emotions, from his commitment to be the voice for animals, to his endeavors in Central America, his story continually emphasized his investment to the animal cause.

Alan Rabonowitz

In Alan Rabonowitz's story "Man and Beast," there were some very interesting messages. Before I start to describe some of the phonetic elements, and discourse observations, I am going to apologize in advance for any strange spelling areas that I might miss with spell check. I have been transcribing, and I am tempted to write everything phonetically.

In terms of Phonetics, Dr. Rabonowitz used many different vocal choices in his telling. As he began the story, it was easy to see that the tone was going to be soft, somewhat melodic, and laid back. He used a whisper at the beginning f the story, especially when he spoke of the Jaguars cage at the zoo in the Bronx. His breathing was very heavy, especially at the beginning of his story. His sounds seemed anticipated as if he had written the story, and had practiced it many times. This matches earlier observations about the way that tellers at the Moth typically prepare their stories. The phonetics of this story seemed to be very influenced by the high level of emotion that encompassed the entire tale. When he said "The New York City Public School System," and the word, "parents" about 2.5 minutes into his story, he started introducing more volume to match the emotional frustration of the memory recall that he was experiencing in that moment (although it seemed as if he had practiced the story multiple times, the emotion seemed to me to be genuine in the actual recorded telling). There were certain moments in the story in which Dr. Rabonowitz seemed to display a more heavily influenced NY accent. Examples would include the words, "like me," "stupid," and "Forest" These moments generally signified that he was conveying ideas that were held by his peers (particularly negative ideas), and things that signified that he was going, doing, and experiencing new things. These emotional moments in the story seemed like the times in witch he switched his accent to the NY style. At these times especially, there were some vowel transformations that are typical in NY accents (i.e. York changes from York to something like Yewrk). The plosive syllables are also more emphatic in the NY dialect (One example came near to the end when he said, "This was my life!" but there were many others when he used b's and p's especially.)

Rabonowitz also had a tendency to stretch certain words to give them more meaning. One example would be the use of the word, "years" which occurred around the 7 minute marker in the story. He also stretched vowels and used pauses constantly to add emphasis to certain words, ideas, and emotions. Another vocal change that he used to add emphasis was a heightening of his pitch. This change of tone was particularly emphatic when it occurred because his tone was so consistently low-key for the majority of his performance. A couple of instances that stood out to me where when he began to talk about how he was going to Central America. Two sentences in particular were, "I was driving into the jungle!" and "I learned how to capture the Jaguars!"

Man and Beast

He is a very methodic speaker with a slow, smooth rate of speech. Nothing is hurried or rushed. You can tell he is thinking about the words he is going to say and has learned how to avoid stuttering. He over enunciates his words and makes sure his listeners understand his words. I noticed he extends his "s" sounds and draws out the s, especially when it is the last letter of a word.

I like the moment at the end of the story when he is staring down the jaguar. First of all, that would be a very scary moment as even he admitted he knew it could kill him at any moment. But this was a moment that connected him back to his childhood, taking him back to his childhood days. He identifies with his scariest moment as a child, suddenly coming face to face with the fear and ridicule he lived with. When he told the jaguar it's all going to be OK, he let go of that fear. Him telling the jaguar it would OK and that he was their to protect the animal was also him telling himself, it would be OK. He could move on and let go of his past.

We start the story at the zoo, an intimate moment for a child and an animal. It's obvious there is a connection between the two. He then explains the reason for the connection with wild animals. He took use through his childhood and explains his battle with stuttering and trying to overcome it. The only place he could speak was with animals. He then explains how he overcame his stuttering when his parents sent him away to school. He returns to the animals and explains his educational pursuit of studying animals turning his childhood connection into a lifelong pursuit. His supervisor gave him the opportunity to go to Belize and study jaguars. He took off and began his study only to realize the jaguars weren't protected. Thus something needed to be done. Therefore he faced his fear and went to the highest authority in Belize trying to establish a haven for the animals which he did successfully. Finally, he is out in the field and comes face to face with a jaguar and is able to let go of the fear of the jaguar and also let go of his past.

Word Etymology - Magi

If you have ever read Biblical accounts of Jesus birth and the very brief accounts of his younger years you will remember the Magi (see Matthew Chapter 2 verses 1-12). These very mysterious men show up to worship him. But who were they? Where did they come from? The Bible isn't the only place we see Magi either. If you liked the movie "The Mummy" you will remember that the Magi were the group of warrior clerics that watched over the tomb of the High Priest Imhotep, making sure nothing gets out. This only adds to the confusion... Who are these guys for real?


The exact origins of the word Magi are hard to determine but the actual word "Magi" is Latin from around 1200 A.D. however the word can be traced back further to the Greek word "magos" and even further back to Old Persian "magush." All of these words are associated with the same type of person, a well educated person usually of some type of religious caste. They are associated both with "normal" practices such as teaching religious material, philosophy, medicine, and in some instances mathematics. However they are also associated with some more "unusual" practices such as astrology, dream interpretation, soothsaying, and sorcery. It is thought that the Old Persian word 'magush' comes from the word 'magh' which means "to be able, to have power."


What it means to storytelling: I once heard a magician say that he was not really a magician, but rather a storyteller who pretended to be a magician. As storytellers we are on some level magicians or Magi, we do normal things such as entertain and teach but we also do strange things such as create false realities, alternate endings, and emotions that may not have been present in our audience before. We are well educated and we have some level of power to create. This comes with a great deal of responsibility for us all.


Use your 'magh' wisely ;v)

Word Etymology - Conjure

If you haven't noticed by now I love magic and illusions and the history of it all. Especially because it plays so well into storytelling and vica versa. The word conjure is one of those old words that makes something tingle in your spine when it is whispered, as if it is a secret... as if it belies something dark and mysterious. The word however is used very seldom outside of speaking of witchcraft, magic, illusions, and the occasional story about a sorcerer.

The word has origins in Middle English, Old French, and Latin. The Latin is what we will stick with today. The Latin origin of the word is "conjurare" which is made up of two parts "com" meaning 'together' and "jurare" meaning 'to swear.' So literally the word means "to swear together." The original and now mostly obsolete meaning of the word was "to be sworn together in secrecy." However over time the meaning changed and the word became related to certain pagan religious practices and primitive superstitious rites and rituals especially ones in which a spirit or demon is summoned and then bound to the summoner through some incantation or magical words. In more recent times it has been associated with and more commonly used in relation to illusionary magic and legerdemain (that is sleight of hand).

What it means to Storytelling: I love the old meaning of this word, "to swear together" and I think it has a great application to storytelling. Over the years I have seen many Magicians and Storytellers but very few Storytelling Magicians. But I have seen one.... And he STANDS out. He was a conjurer in the old sense because he bound his audience together and to him by the words that he spoke, he literally swore them together. He did this by making the audience a part of his presentation, by including them physically and by making them invest emotionally in the story. Of all the performers I have ever seen in any field I have never seen anyone that was like him. Perhaps in time some of us will learn to conjure people through our stories.

Word Etymology - Invoke

If you have ever been to a "High" Church assembly where there is a lot of ritual and tradition involved with the "time of worship" then you probably are familiar with the word "Invocation." However the first time I ever thought about the word was when I studied Homer's Odyssey and was taught about what my teacher called "the invocation of the Muse." It fascinated me and I soon realized as I read more literary works (Dante, Canto 2, Inferno) that "the invocation of the Muse" is not something uncommon. I knew who the Muses were from mythology but what of the word invocation/invoke?

Invoke comes from the Latin word "invocare" which breaks down into two words: "in" meaning 'on' and "vocare" meaning 'to call.' It should also be noted that the word "vocare" in Latin is related is related to the word "vox" meaning voice. So the meaning that is understood in the Latin word "invocare" is 'to call on with the voice.' This word has been closely associated with religious ceremonies of every type and has a somewhat submissive quality to it as it is used most commonly to call on higher powers for help. With "the invocation of the Muse" it was used to call upon the aid of a the Muse or the Muses to aid, inspire, and protect the creative process.

 What it means to storytelling: An invocation is a calling upon or a summoning. As storytellers we may invoke our audience to all manner of emotions and reactions, but also we may if we have the desire and the proper setting use a structured "invocation" whereby we set the mood, tone, and scene of a story. Depending on the perspective of the teller and what character he or she portrays this maybe a fun, creative, and even moving addition to certain pieces.

"Oh Muse, still may tongue that thou may speak through thy servant more clearly. Purify mine lips and silence me that thine words only may be heard."   -----   John Wade, sample invocation of the Muse

Word Etymology - Abracadabra

For those of us who loved watching magic specials on TV growing up and for those of us who never outgrew our fascination with magic this will be a familiar word. A magician would utter this mystical word and would pull something out of thin air. As a child many of us believed that this word held some unbeknownst power to make things appear that a moment ago were not present, but as we grew older we began to lose our sense of wonder about the world and about the word.

But what seems to be a nonsense word made up by and for magicians and illusionists is actually a very old word that dates back to around the second century A.D. There are many different sources that the word is attributed to and meanings it is associated with so rather than explain them all I will briefly cover the two most reliable accounts of the word.

First: The word Abracadabra is attributed to the Late Greek word "Abraxas" which is the Cabalistic or Gnostic name for the supreme god. Gnostics believed that there was a certain higher level of knowledge (gnosis in the Greek) that could only be obtained by a very few people. Abracadabra is believed to have been one of the Gnostics secret "words of power" or magic words. It was used as preventative remedy for protecting the one who spoke it from harm, and it is even said to have been inscribed on jewelry as a talisman.

Second (and my favorite): The word Abracadabra comes from Hebrew and Aramaic origins. I haven't learned the correct Hebrew pronunciation or spelling yet but the Aramaic comes from two words: Avra - "I shall create" and the word Kedavra - "As that which I say." Translated more correctly the phrase means "As it is spoken, it is created." It is unknown the exact Aramaic origin and in what way it was used first, but many magicians even as far back as the 15th and 16th century A.D. are said to have spoken this word while performing.

What it means to storytelling: In storytelling as we speak we are essentially creating a world, a scenario, a thought, etc. in our listeners' minds. They imagine what we are speaking (if we are doing our jobs well) and thus something that did not previously "exist" has essentially been brought into being.

Abracadabra - NOT just for magicians ;v)

For this week

We are beginning to move towards the construction of meaning from the production of sounds to words to larger structures of thought expressed through language.

This brings us to discourse.
"Discourse" at its root means "a running about."
Consider moving to a new town. You don't know your way around. You find out where to get groceries, where to see a movie, where to shop for clothes. You meet people and learn the way to their homes and from them you learn about events and services you are interested in and so on. In time you "know the territory" and feel that you are at home in this new town. How did that happen? By "a running about." You became familiar with new territory by traversing across it and learning the particulars of the region. In the same way, a discourse traverses the territory of experiences, ideas, possibilities, and the realm of the imagination.
As we noticed last week, listening to Nicholas Petron tell about his grandfather, Rocco, the brief discourse traveled to certain events in time. In particular we noticed that 2 conspiratorial events were set up: the buying of hot dogs and the throwing of coal. This story, then, was a discourse across time, helping us to know the territory of a person (grandfather) and a culture (Italian immigrant family).

Listen to this story from The Moth. Alan Rabinowitz, "Man and Beast."


His is the 5th story down on the list.

Listen for the following issues:
1) Phonetics - use of sounds
2) Involvement -emotional, intellectual
3) Discourse - the coursing path of the narrative

Write up:
1) a phonetic transcription of a brief passage that has distinct sound values.
2) Describe a moment that involves you emotionally or intellectually and explain why.
3) map the path of the discourse. That is, outline the events that the speaker leads us through in the course of his speech.

Discuss: what is the terrain of this discourse? What are the Big Ideas that we become familiar with via this traverse across experience, idea, and emotion?

From Connie

Three neologism words (source Paul Mc Fedries" The Word Lover's Guide to New Words") 1) Copyrighteous,adj.
relating to a feeling of moral superiority based on one's responsible copyrighted views and views. 2) X2Y,noun. An abbeviation based on a business model that sells "something -to- someone" and derived by changing"to" to "2" and sandwiching it between the initial letters of the "something" (x) and the "someone"(y). 3) whistle number,noun. A number so impressive that it makes you whistle inresponse. Thanks. I hope you have a Super weekend. Connie

Three etymologies for class. 1) Internet online Merriam-Webster Word of the Day Feb.6,2010 comptroller,noun. A royal household official who examines and supervises expendenitures. Also means the chief accounting officer of a business enterprise or an institution (as a college).
From Dr. Grammar's Etymologically Speaking (Internet) 2/6/2010 Ballot- Italian term for small ball or pebble . Italian citizens once voted by casting a small pebble or ball into one of several boxes. 3) Biscuit (From the medieval French "Bis+cuit" meaning 'cooked twice'. Thanks. Connie

Telling Phrases - Fire Escapes on Billboards

"There are no fire escapes from Hell" Church Billboard, Johnson City

I failed to note the denomination of the church as I was driving past, but the phrase amused me as it revealed two dominant traits of that particular church's mission.

Firstly it feels the need to connect with people in modern, everyday terms – the fire escape being selected as something easy for a potential member of the congregation to relate to. Secondly it promotes a faith built on fear and threat – come to Church to escape Hell. Both strike me as negative. The former destroys the mysticism which is one of the few elements of faith that I have any time for, whilst the latter seems wrong as a building block of community.

Neologism - Autohagiopic

A friend from the vaudeville scene was describing (Facebook once again) a film made by another performer. A hagiography is an uncritical biography (or, originally, biography of a saint), and Alistair Crowley apparently caled his own autobiography an autohagiography. The pic part comes from biopic, because the work in question is a film. I rather hope this term might take off, despite its complicated make up.

Neologism - Technography

This is one of the other category of neologisms I have come across – words that have been coined by someone I know, but which have not yet necessarily achieved any wider usage. This term was created by a colleague in Liberal Studies, whose specialist area is the history of science, and his intention is that it should mean the study of technological developments in both an chronoligical and locational context (as opposed to purely chornologically as is more common)

Neologism - Blamestorm

As I seek out Neologisms, I am realising that the words I am finding tend to fall into one of two categories. In the case of blamestorm (which I came across on a techie friend's facebook update in the middle of their working day) I thought it was a new phrase as my techie friends tend to be quite up to date, but it turns out to be older. Questionning revealed that it is common in friends' vocabulary since about 2008, and has recorded usage going back as far as 2003 at least. Unlike a brainstorm – which people work together to create, the blamestorm tends to gather its own momentum, although it may be assisted by an individual or individuals who want to redirect attention away from themselves.

Etymology - Plot

We've tended to use narrative structure, rather than the term “plot” in our discussions of story shape. But I was interested in the possible connection with plot of land, particuary in relation to the fact that there is much thought recently about the relation between story and sense of place.
It turns out that the etymology of plot or indeed the parallel term plat (which I had never heard used) is unclear in that the OED is unable to say where the oldest use – plot of land, comes from. Many usages, certainly those relating to schemes to make things happen, are inked to the Middle French complot, which also functions as a verb (comploter – to plot (plan, scheme)) – and this is probably the closest to the narrative meaning.

Plot of land seems to exist in Old English, and be in common usage from mid 15th century onwards, whereas plot of a novel does not emerge until the 17th century, and is more likely to be linked to the usage of scheme or plan, common from the 16th century. There is a potential link in the usage of plot to mean a map or outline (mid 16th) between the physical plan and the narrative structure – but it doesn't tie clearly back to the idea of a plot of land.

Etymology - Wonder

I have long preferred the term Wonder Tales to Fairy Tales or Marchen and part of the reason for that is that it combines all the associations of the noun and the verb wonder. The noun comes from old germanic, frisian, norse with a predominant meaning of something that causes astonishment, or that is marvellous. Supernatural or amazing natural forces may often be implied. Meanings almost always include admiration, although in modern usage this can be reversed to convey contempt – as in “gutless wonder” from the film Strictly Ballroom.

Interestingly, the milder connotations of the verb wonder that I had in mind are not listed as within general usage. The roots are the same as the noun, and examples given retain the sense of surprise, astonishment or marvel, whereas I would have also expected to see usage relating to reflecting, mulling over or considering. Which is a shame, as I like the concept that Wonder Tales have the power to evoke those states as well as astonishment.

Etymology - Trance

I'm about to start studying the “storytelling trance” as it has sometimes been called, so it seems worth exploring the roots of the word.

Unsurprised to discover it was another word with its roots in old French, I was surprised to find that the original meanings are tied up with death – more specifically the passage between life and death. It also carries meaning of apprehension of evil, and links to Latin Transir of to cross or go over. From the 14th century through to the 19th it has been used both for a completey insensible state and for a state between sleeping and waking (the latter hopefully being more relevant to storytelling!). Associations with rapture, ecstasy emerge from mid 15th century onwards. Its usage as a verb is now most common in relation to putting someone into a trance, but obsolete usages included dieing, fainting and being in extreme dread.

Etymology - Evoke and Invoke

I wasn't sure, whether when I'm telling, to say that “I want to evoke worlds for my audience to travel to” was correct, or ifI should be speaking of invocation.

Both words come from the french and latin, from the latin vocare – to call. The prefixes, In and E come from movement inwards and outwards respectively, and the suggestion is that whist both have a sense of conjuring, to evoke is to call up, and invoke to call upon. They are sometimes somewhat interchangable in usage, particuarly as the usage becomes more and more figurative, and the reference to magic purely metaphorical – but this interchangeability relates more to the summoning side of things. The correct usage for storytelling would be, I think, evoke – unless the aim is to invoke the spirit of a particular story or teller for aid!

Etymology - Ghosts

Within the storytelling revivals, there are frequent references to the concept of the ghosts of previous tellers standing behind the teller as they tell. The term ghost is not always used, people might also talk of ancestors or just of standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before. But what does the term ghost actually mean?

Established in the spelling we now know by the end of the 16th century, it comes from old english, via the germanic languages – gast and other similar terms. Meanings focus on the soul or spirit as principal of life, and the soul as separated from the body, it is only in more recent times that the meaning has coalesced around the soul of the deceased, and not also the living. Other current meanings, mostly metaphorically collected are such things as a thin trace or outine, or an ephemeral sensation such as ghost of a chance.

I am fascinated by some of the speculation on pre-teutonic roots of the word in the OED, which suggest meanings of rage and anger or of a tearing apart. Both seem to me to be interesting. There is a madness or rage and a tearing in separating the soul from the body. It also loops us back round to the rage to tell stories.

Etymology - Liminal

I wanted to look up liminal because recently, aiming to sound academic, I described storytelling as a liminal art form. I was refering to the fact that storytelling takes places somewhere between the teller and the audience. Delighted to find, etymologically, that whilst limit is a good guide to what the word means – the listed meaning of its Latin root Limen is threshold – which is exactly the concept I was seeking. It appeals also, due to the extent we talk about thresholds and crossings in tales.

Interestingy, usage of the engish term liminal don't appear til the late 19th century, and really developed via its usage in anthropology to have a specific meaning listed as a transitional or intermediate state of a person's life (a different kind of threshold to the one I wanted to evoke). Storyteller Robert Bly is one of the writers cited by the OED to explain this usage.

Etymology - Verbal

An important word for me, because in English usage, its meaning can be confused with vocal relating it to speech, rather than to words. It can find it hard to remember that non-verbal language can still be spoken, and conversely, that non spoken language (eg written or signed) can be verbal.

It comes from both old french (verbe) and latin (verbum) meaning word. Interestingly, many of the definitions of its adjectival usage point out it relating to mere words as distinct from real thing – there is a lingering distrust of the word.

Etymologies, Neologisms, Telling Speech etc

Launching a series of posts from me - apologies for dominating the blog a little today, but I've realised that we need to be delivering journal entries at the rate of about 5 per week to get them all done for the end of semester, and I thought I'd play catch up - and maybe even try to get a bit ahead before writing papers starts.

I'm posting them as seperate entries in the main, because it seems easier in case anyone wishes to respond to anything - and also because then people can skim post titles to see words and phrases that have been covered without having to read everything.

Notes on Notes

Here are some clarifications to Hugh's notes.

The term Synaesthesia (also "synesthesia") is defined:
–noun
a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization of a certain color.

I enjoyed Hugh's comment that Juliet's speech seemed more "ovular." The word is an interesting invention. Perhaps Juliet is "ovulating" which could explain a lot about her. However, I think Hugh may have been going toward "oval" as opposed to "ovule." Even so, the words are clearly related.
Which brings me to a related point: an involvement strategy we have been touching on is "ellipsis." This is demonstrated visually by Atkinson's mime. He leaves out the actual drum kit, requiring us to fill it in, creating an ellptical relationship which would indeed be "ovally." In linguistics, "ellipsis" refers to the omission of some parts of a construction. In punctuation, this omission is written as 3 periods, "the periods of ellipse" ...
Elipsis is directly related to the geometrical term "ellipse"
Other linguistic forms pair with geometrical forms:
Parable / Parabola
Hyperbole / Hyperbola

Click here for more on the Bouba/Kiki experiment.

"Thematic Bubble" Help me out here. I was trying to find a term to capture my meaning but I'm not quite sure I can break it down. Hugh's understanding seems incomplete. What do the rest of you make of the idea?

My email address is novateller@aol.com and, yes, my mailbox did get full. Keep trying, I promise to clean it out!

Links

Here are links to Rowan Atkinson's "Invisble Drum Kit" and the 3 Story Corps recordings



Larry Hoover
Larry Hoover and his granddaughter Anastacia Garcia

Nicholas Petron
Nicholas Petron


Gwen Richards:
Gwen Richards

Class Notes and Tangents from 2/4/2010

Review the IPA. We recalled some of the ways of sorting sounds, e.g., between the
• voiced and voiceless fricatives (like the /ð/ in this versus the /θ/ in thin),
• hard and soft consonants (like /ʃin/ assure versus the /ʒ/ in azure) and
• the beginning alveolar sounds (like the /ɫʃ/ in church versus /dʒ/ in judge).

Vocal exercise. We experienced some of the mechanics involved with changing vocal tones—especially nasality. This brought up an interesting connection between voice quality and emotional condition.

Microphones and the experience of voice. David suggested that skillful use of a microphone can expand dynamic range. This raises another question. As storytellers today, is there a price to pay for dropping mechanical projection for electronic amplification? All things held equal, when would a storyteller want to drop a perfectly good microphone in favor of personal equipment?

The experience of language. Synthesia is translation from one kind of sense to another. For example, vocal stroking and grooming can and does translate from physical touch. Mime, of the kind popularized by Marceau, depends on synthesia to translate from sounded to silent language experience and his “art of silence.”

Mime as practiced by Rohan Atkinson in “The Invisible Drum Kit” draws the audience into a funny conversation between the performer and an imaginary set drums. While this performance was not a translation of sounded voice into silence, it did manage to translate an absence of a companion into the presence of one.

This also raises the recurring question (at least in our discussions) about how language works and the principles involved. The stimulating conversation between Atkinson and his drum set suggests that learning is taking place—not only within the performer and his own imagination but also between the performer’s imagination and the audience in participation. This recalls the notion of “mirror neutrons” in an earlier discussion in which we can and do experience the actions of others by translating them into our own. Are we hardwired for synthesia, and “synthetic experience”? If so, there is more to language than exchanging information as transmitting and receiving facts, figures and data bits.

The notion of synthesia tends to argue that we learn by transcending the world of personal experience and translating from the actions and experiences of others. The related concepts of “cross modal thinking,” “synthesia,” “mirror neutrons” and “multisensory integration” tend to suggest that about as much “good stuff” comes from the sensory experiences of others—from a collective intellect—as what comes from the memory and information collected. .


The Kiki/Bouba Effect. We continued this general discussion about the experience of language by looking at the famous study where audiences describe what is going on with two drawings, one of a pointy Kiki and the other a rounded Bouba. People all over the world, some of them preliterate, tend to attach similar contrasting characteristics to the two figures. This effect may have implications for the evolution of language, because the naming of objects is not completely arbitrary. The rounded shape may intuitively be named bouba because the mouth makes a more rounded shape to produce that sound, while a more taut, angular mouth shape is needed to articulate kiki. Hence, there may be some basis for “sound symbolism” in which case what we see may come from what we hear in natural order—that vision may begin with sounding.

Part of the discussion, at least for me, seemed to call to mind the most basic reference for language development. Most of the time, we default to a visual frame of reference. This discussion, however, would appear to suggest a primarily sonic or “sound-first” approach to referencing. Missing in visual referencing comes the question of what role, if any, does the sound of silence play in how the imagination operates? Visual referencing tends to assign a lesser role to the significance of silence just as sonic referencing pays little attention to hard stuff.

Comparative sentencing. We compared two passages from Shakespeare: “Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?” and “To be or not to be, that is the question.” We discovered that word sounds and vocal patterns go a long way to convey mood, attitude and sense of things to come—all well beyond the meaning of words and their rules of usage. Even the essential characters came alive by an examination of these two small passages in a way that many might find improbable if not impossible. The female voice as represented by Juliet’s passage is relatively open with longer vowels coming from farther back in the throat. The more male voice of Hamlet, by contrast, is more closed with shorter vowels formed more by teeth and lips.

We concluded by observing that form and content are highly related in such a way that they may very well merge on occasion to become inseparable. When this happens, we get the happy coincidence of sign and significance--a definite synthesis of form and content. When the two do match in this way, we benefit from a double sensing wherein the heart (emotional affect) becomes inseparable from the head (more about memory). The voices of the players are also highly related to social conditions. Nobody is watching Juliet enabling her to operate in a continuous way that is completely disarming whereas everybody is watching Hamlet rendering him discontinuous and self-protective. Synthesis of form and content in these two passages reveals that one (Juliet) is more the romantic springing from a Romance language whereas the other (Hamlet) is more the realist born of Scandinavian heritage. To continue in the same vein of happy coincidence, she sings legato to his staccato.

One vocal principle operating here is that vowels tend to carry and extend emotional intent whereas consonants break down long sounds into informational content. Juliet is ovular—sounding and sensing more from the back of the throat—as Hamlet is more dentate—up toward the front. This raised the suggestion that the sounds and phonemes we use tend to convey our emotional condition so that careful analysis of speech patterns can and does for Hamlet carry a resident anger when compared to Juliet (who reveals more of an ambient hunger?).

Class conversation then turned to popular characterizations found in Snow White and the Lion King. Snow White, the one of strong heart and great emotional affect goes up against a Snow Queen of fixed mind and territorial imperative. This predetermines speech sounds and vocal patterns. Similarly, in the case of “The Lion King,” Scar displayed a relatively cultivated, educated and emotionally distant voice compared to the “hearty” king. Do these examples suggest elements of class struggle represented as vocal styles?

Discussion of voices and their stories. We approached the relationship between voices and stories by listening to three separately recorded stories from different and fairly well-defined cultural backgrounds. The first was by Larry Hoover representing the Hispanic tradition (even though he claimed to be blue eyed and blond-haired), one from urban Italian experience with loss of community, and a third from Gwen Richards of African heritage who recalls her mother’s struggling with Alzheimers.

In one way, the series revealed a progression of emotional distancing and becoming personally objective. The first was relatively open, comparatively disarming and highly engaging—actively cultivating the audience. The second was more closed, reserved and objective—struggling to avoid emotional display. The third also struggled to maintain a relatively independent orientation. From this came one suggestion that vocal representation can signify educational background. Does “higher education” tend to carry a more discrete voice? Does the other extreme tend to imply emotional involvement and sense of belonging? When one culture calls another “uppity” or “pretentious,” can this also mean “highly educated”? When the second culture calls the first “authentic” or “unpretentious,” can this signify a certain lack of education? One idea worth considering as a common way of comparing voices is the notion of “thematic bubble” a metaphor that may come from geophysics and mapping technology. Is it just as useful to the worlds of mythology and storytelling?

Possibly, this kind of modeling enables a certain escape from the limitations of purely structural approaches to language and literature. Can it be that theme, content, central conflict and social struggle are just as suitable for serious discussion of language and storytelling? This is not as true in structural approaches. Continuing with the notion of “thematic bubble,” can it be that the tales we tell of others are typically reflections of the our own life stories?

Assignments:
1. Mail to David at novateller.org the workbook exercises on pp 38-41.
2. Finish Chapters 1-4 in the textbook up to the beginning of Chapter 5 on Syntax.
3. Read the Introduction through Chapter Two in Deborah Tannen’s Talking Voices.
4. No class next Thursday, February 11th.
5. David will send a listening assignment on The Moth. Respond on the blog with observations on narrative structure in relation to elements of discourse.