Showing posts with label interactive storytelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interactive storytelling. Show all posts

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Story filled the air and fed the land

We pitched the tents and hung the banner as the Earth shifted from the season of Ku to the season of Lono, and announced the arrival of The Safety Pin Cafe. The overcast sky cleared, and we were treated to a warm late September Sunday.

 People we had never met before joined in the reading of the original medicine story of The Safety Pin Cafe.


Maria hung out with the humans, listening? hearing what she needed. Only she knows.
 Liz, a dear and long-time friend drove down the island from her island of Fidalgo (Anacortes) to share beautifully smoked salmon, and oranges then joined in the reading of medicine, too.
Adults sitting with their eyes closed, or minds in the story. I saw this often as I looked under the tent.
These were the first folks to arrive for story. We have seen them before here at The Safety Pin Cafe.
There were two canine story fans.
Our friend, Jude, reading the chapter of The Safety Pin Cafe, suitable for a pie maker, which she is in real life.
Liz, and Mark and Sophia a couple who we just met who live on Whidbey, sometimes, and in other places, too. From them we learned of something called 'Couch Surfing' ... we have to investigate. Travelers hook-up with people who have a place, a space to offer to land/spend the night. 
No money is exchanged! 
Have you heard of 'Couch Surfing?"
This young boy came with a snail that he was very, very surprised to discover was still at home. 
Prescott reading a chapter from Feed the Land, about what happens when Hares deal with orange growling machines. 
Angie Hart read from the newly written medicine story Feed the Land, a story written especially for the 'prairie front' the Tilth. 



There was no stage today, it was not a day for stages ... the power of story was in the voice, eye-to-eye. I told one tale of Pele and Lono, to begin the day,  and everyone joined in to make the story live. We heard many voices and it was very good! Thank you, mahalo nui to all the folks who joined Pete and me participating, learning about fire-making, whispering a treasured gift of ho'omana into the ear of a potential 'stranger.' Mahalo Kawika and Puni for sharing that mana'o with me, so I could pass it along to those who came. Story filled the air, soothed the heart and fed the land at the prairie front.

That is all, there is no more. Ho, ha, and so the stories were let go ... Amama.

Monday, June 22, 2015

The Safety Pin Cafe Opens for the Summer: "A Gathering of the Animals"

If you're a Whidbey local, or visiting in early July ... come join us as we open the doors, pitch the tent for "A Gathering of the Animals" (Chinese Zodiac-style!)

When: SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2015
Where: South Whidbey TILTH Farmers' Market
Time: 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM (give or take a little time either way)


A colorful story about Rooster, Centipede, and Dragon was re-told and read aloud by all who gathered. Sharing in the storytelling, the energy of community filled the space. The South Whidbey Tilth is flourishing with that vigor, the energy of The Green Goat/Sheep/Ram.

We gathered 'the animals of the Chinese Zodiac' in February ... and beat the pans to clear out the old and welcome the new. 

Join us midway through the Year of the Green Goat/Sheep/Ram. Check in and make your 'animal' presence know. Help refuel the mana (spirit) of all animals together. Have fun, and leave with a Red Envelope and a penny to dance with.
Come fragrance-free please so we can get close to you!


Sunday, November 23, 2014

Kamishibai: Japanese Paper Theatre

I was making dinner chopping onions, a thumb-sized glove of garlic and the stalks of red and yellow chard. Rice bubbled and steamed until I lifted the lid to let the angry rice sounds out. Just to be sure all the angry part of the rice went somewhere else I opened the window. Whoosh. Most cooks can multi-task, in a busy kitchen its a must. But, the skill of an excellent cook is to never lose track of one dish at the expense of the other two you might also be tending. Something like that happened today.

I'm not sure how it happened but I found KAMISHIBAI somewhere between steaming rice and chopping mushrooms. It's really quite a wonderful accidental meeting. Do you know kamishibai?

Now I do too and I love it.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Invite The Possibility

"The Safety Pin Cafe is close, nearer than one could imagine and is open especially to those who straggle borders listening for the comfort of an empty cup needing filling.
 
"This is a stop over place, The Safety Pin Cafe," the chef said as we watched The Faceless Woman empty the mug of warm milk and vanilla. Raven refilled her mug and sprinkled more cinnamon. "Not every one finds this place, it's easily missed among the distractions ... this and that, either or. But, many do find us and we never turn people, mostly woman, away."