I was having a fair bit of difficulty writing about our weekend in Hobart, where I also attended a story telling workshop, so I decided to write about each separately. The weekend seemed to be full of its own events, which belong to that weekend but then in a strange, or maybe not so strange way, each time I stepped into the school grounds where the workshop was held I felt as if I was stepping into a different time. Sure, we covered a lot of material but even so, the group dynamic and how it was made alive by our teacher, Iris Curteis, was something quite special and I wasn't alone in noticing this.But perhaps I should start at the start. People attending came from a variety of backgrounds - drama, teaching, singing and community work, and we all came to it with different goals in mind. Someone was looking to enhance their songwriting skills, a Mother wanted another avenue of instructing her children positively, a few people were looking for their own story.
And why did I go? Well, I suppose one answer would be like this:-
All of us, but children especially, yearn for a good story. I have beautiful memories of listening wide eyed while my grandmother told me stories of her childhood, and how I would ask a thousand questions eager for her to keep going and never stop. Now that my children are like this, I'd like to keep this tradition with them.
Iris began by telling us an enthralling story - yes, really! I'd read the tale of Fitcher's Bird before yet I could not take my eyes off her when she told it. I could hardly breathe! Therefore my first lesson was that a story can truly come alive when told. This is different to reading a story for yourself or even having it read to you. This may seem obvious or nonsensical, depending on your view, but it's an important distinction to make.
At a certain point in the story we each took an egg from a basket and later we found out we had to hold it for the remainder of the workshop. Which lasted until the next day. Should one shower with it? What to do at meal times? How to handle driving? Decisions, decisions. Some of you may be thinking this is way too crazy or stupid to be taking seriously but when you scratch the surface of what had been asked of us.... Wow, a veritable mountain of issues emerged. One can look at the situation a number of ways but what really hit me was imposition. How things can be imposed on us, how to react and what we should do with them.
This really struck a chord for me because motherhood in many ways is about imposition yet at its heart, a desired one. The practical, every day mundaneness of parenting is restrictive and lasts for many years. Mothers will know exactly what I'm talking about. The days of living spontaneously without a care in the world are long gone. But sometimes I think we need to make peace with this and live as best as we can on that day before tackling the following day. What else can we do?
And all this from the first hour of the workshop on day one!
There was such a wealth of knowledge which Iris, and the other attendees, shared that weekend. If you ever get a chance to meet her or hear that she's in your area, please seek her out. She is an amazing woman!
