Even people I know well can't always get their head around what I do, presuming that as a former teacher I just tell stories for children and to children. Many of them also presume that I sit and read them out loud from a book...
But oral storytelling is so much more than that, since the beginning of the earliest civilizations there have been storytellers and storytelling. Each of us is made of stories we live in a world whose very fabric is built upon them!
Whether we meet them in our day to day conversations, a well told joke, the news media, film, music, television, soap operas, history, legends, rumours, gossip, our traditions and festivals, relationship with others or our beliefs about ourselves, it all boils down to narratives and stories.
Stories provide us with entertainment, convey knowledge, develop understanding, help us process our feelings, build (or can break down) communities, resolve problems, create friendships, nurture creativity and allow us to dream ...
They are certainly not 'just for kids' why not check out a story telling event near you, and re-discover the chance to be part of a living breathing exchange of ideas, imaginings and human interaction ... much better than a night of channel hopping in front of the TV.
