Dreams Do Come True

          In the spring of 1969 as I filled out applications for teaching jobs, a difficult question for an eager young teacher-to-be to answer, “Where do you see yourself in ten years?” needed a special answer.  I loved my student teaching position.  I hoped I would love my first teaching position.  But where did I see myself in ten years?  Hmmm?

Tilton School 2nd grade



              Thinking long and hard I wrote, “I plan to write a children’s book.  In ten years I see myself as a children’s author.”  That dream did not come true.  For ten years later, I was the mother of a toddler with another baby on the way.  What I had done was tell stories to my second grade classes and obtain my master’s degree with a dual emphasis on library and media.  But still I wanted to write.

Preschool Story Hour

 

My son's birthday party.

           My children grew.  The volunteer task of holding the preschool storytime at our public library was offerd.  It was fun, I told stories, learned finger plays and silly songs.  All the children loved what we did and I became a minor local celeb.  But still I wanted to write.



Telling stories at Ortega Middle School

            My children grew.   They started school, I obtained a position as secondary librarian in a nearby school district.  I taught students how to find information.  We used Billy Joel’s “WeDidn't Start the Fire” as a fun way to start the freshmen on the road to scholarship.  The middle-schoolers learned research through History Fair and Science Fair.  And I introduced storytelling to these students, who loved it.   But still I wanted to write.

            My children grew.   They entered secondary school.  I became the elementary school librarian.  I was back with children’s literature!  I told stories and read the latest new books to children ages four through ten.  And I taught them how to find information.  The internet entered our lives – email, lots of information at our fingertips.  But still I wanted to write.

            My children grew.   They attended the colleges of their choice, graduated and started their own lives.  Now I was working only with the upper grades.  I still told stories and read new books to the students.  We learned research skills by making science booklets for the kindergartners and first graders.  The internet grew more sophisticated.  So the students and I together learned how to sift through the myriads of stuff to find just what we needed.  The principal directed me to help with the gifted and talented program.  My partner and I worked on reading, poetry, math, science, computer skills and storytelling.  The storytellers told their stories to the kindergartners and first graders and learned the joy that comes with sharing a story well-told.  But still I wanted to write.

Telling stories for my grandson's class.



            My children grew.   One started a family of his own; the other traveled around the world.  I retired and was privileged to spend nine months with my grandsons - singing songs, reading books and telling stories.  The oldest had his public debut while singing a story song with me to a group of other children and their parents!  And I was writing!

            Following an NSN sponsored trip to China with other storytellers and my daughter where we collected and shared stories, I began to research the story-gifts we had been given.  I told them and worked those stories into versions of my own.  I wrote the stories down and changed them as they changed with the tellings.  There were workshops about writing and books to read about publishing.  Then, oh then, I was ready to find a publisher.  Query letters went out, and my friend and fellow-traveler, Judith Heineman, introduced me to Ted Parkhurst of Parkhurst Brothers, Inc.  He was interested!  And now, very shortly the finished product will be ready and available.  I did write a book, a book not only for children, but also for storytellers and story-lovers.  My Dream Came True!

     

 

Chinese New Year - Spring Festival

What Westerners call Chinese New Year, the Chinese call the Spring Festival.  All Chinese Festivals are special events, but Spring Festival is the biggest, most elaborate and lasts the longest – 15 whole days and nights!  Each day has a special significance (See below).  Spring Festival begins on the first day of the first lunar month under the new moon; fifteen days later Spring Festival ends with the Lantern Festival which is celebrated under the light of the full moon.  This year that corresponds to January 23 and February 6 on the Gregorian calendar that Westerners use.

Before the Spring Festival begins cleaning, cooking, and shopping must be completed as the evening before the first day of the first lunar month is for spending time with your family, eating and telling stories.  Midnight marks the transition to the New Year with firecrackers and dumplings.  Spring Festival’s fifteen days all have special tasks.

First Day: No cleaning!  All your good fortune might be swept out the door!  Children are given money in decorated red envelopes.  And the gods are welcomed.

Second Day: Prayers are sent to your ancestors as well as the gods.  Dogs enjoy their birthdays this day.

Third and Fourth Days: Sons-in-law are expected to show their respect to their in-laws.

Fifth Day: The God of Wealth (Making Money Correctly) is welcomed into homes.  You should not be out visiting when he comes.

Sixth to Tenth Days: Visiting friends, relatives, and the temples takes place.

Seventh Day: Traditionally people eat noodles to bring long life.  It is also humankind’s birthday.  Farmers are honored on this day.

Ninth Day: Offerings are made to the Jade Emperor.

Tenth to Twelfth Days: Visiting is over and invitations to family and friends to join you for a meal are given. 

Thirteenth Day: Take a break from overeating and eat simply on this day.

Fourteenth Day: All preparations for the Lantern Festival are made.

Fifteenth Day: The Lantern Festival is celebrated under the first full moon.  Lanterns are lit, parades wind through the streets, and sticky rice balls are consumed.

The Chinese Zodiac consists of twelve animals each representing a year every twelve years.  This is the year of the Dragon (long 龙).  People born during Dragon years are said to be energetic, imaginative, full of fun and lucky.  Dragons are the movers and shakers of the world.

Chinese Dragons are benevolent, unlike the Western Dragons which are cruel and demand sacrifice.   The Dragon was the symbol of the Emperor because the Dragon represents wealth, wisdom, power, and nobility.  In the old days only the Emperor could wear this symbol.

Story of Nián

The Chinese word for year is nián (年).  There is good reason for this.  Nián was the name of a ferocious monster with a voracious appetite that plagued the countryside every year eating livestock and people as well.  So each year the people of the villages would flee to the mountains for safety driving their livestock ahead of them.

One year an old man entered the village just as everyone was fleeing.  He stopped at the home of an old woman and asked, “Why are the people leaving your village?”

“Because,” she answered, “they are afraid.”

“Why are they afraid?” the Old Man queried.

“You don’t know?”  The Old Woman was incredulous.  She told the Old Man about Nián and its terrible appetite.

“Ah…”  The Old Man stroked his beard.  “Would you like to be rid of Nián forever?”

“Of course,” replied the Old Woman.  “But how can we do that?  It eats everything!”

“Leave it to me.  May I stay in your house tonight?”

“Yes, but I hope you will still be here when we return.”  And with that the Old Woman picked up her bundle and was off.

The Old Man covered the all the windows with red paper and cloth.  He made pyres of bamboo on the paths leading to the entrances.  He set firecrackers up so he could light one and all would go off.  And then he sat back and waited.

That night the Old Man heard a terrible roaring and gnashing sound.  He peeked out the window and saw Nián emerging from the dark.  Quickly he lit the fires and firecrackers.  Nián saw the red in the windows and the bright flames from the fires.   Nián heard the loud pop pop of the firecrackers.  Nián stood still, then turned and ran away into the night.

When the villagers returned to their homes, there was the Old Man waiting for them.  They crowded around him with questions flying.  He held up his hand; then told them about what had happened in their absence.

“Really?” the villagers asked.  “Nián is afraid of red, loud noises and bright light?”

“Yes,” answered the Old Man.

And the celebration began.  Now every year people all over China and elsewhere in the world celebrate the New Year with Red, Loud Noises and Bright Lights.  And Nián has not been seen since.

There are many versions of the story of Nián.  This version of the story was told to me by Mr. Li Kuo, a teacher from Heilongjiang Provence located in the Chinese rooster’s head.  Mr. Li is spending the current school year teaching Mandarin to HS students in Monte Vista, CO, and was a great help in finishing the pinyin glossary for my book, Old China through the Eyes of a Storyteller, to be published by Parkhust Brothers late Summer, 2012.

Here are some websites that give more details about the Chinese New Year.

http://education2.uvic.ca/Faculty/mroth/438/china/chinese_new_year.html

               Brief explanation of the Chinese New Year and links to more details.

http://china.mrdonn.org/newyear.html

               A fun social studies website for teachers and students.

http://www.rightathome.com/Family/Articles/Pages/WelcometheDragon.aspx

               Hints for things to do to celebrate as well as ads for Johnson cleaning products.

http://www.china-family-adventure.com/chinese-zodiac.html

               Simple explanation of the twelve Zodiac animals and a very brief story about why these twelve and not others.

Story Changes a Life

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
-- Confucius

That Journey can be one of Change.  Change sometimes begins with a baby step.  A step outside one’s Comfort Zone. 

Four years ago this past September, I took that first step by inviting my daughter to accompany me to China to gather stories.  Then in April with my hand tightly clinging to my daughter’s we stepped out into the unknown.  Well, unknown to me.  Laura had been to China before which is why I was clinging to her hand.  We were going to China to gather stories!  Life changing – door opening…

Two years later on a solitary journey through the mountains of Colorado and across the deserts of the southwest, I felt a bigger change coming over me.  A change that required a giant step outside my Comfort Zone.  Another Leap of Faith.  Ever wonder what it would be like to reinvent yourself?  After an incredible four year journey, I can say it’s been worth the reinvention.  Growth has been phenomenal!  And I lay everything at the feet of Story and Storytelling.

The results of this journey have been an anthology of Chinese Folktales, Old China through the Eyes of a Storyteller, to be published by Parkhurst Brothers in May, 2012; the opportunity to help produce the Rocky Mountain Storytelling Conference in May, 2012; presentations at the Tumbleweed Festival in Abilene, TX, in October, 2010, Florida StoryCamp in March, 2011, LANES Sharing the Fire in March, 2012, and Northlands in April, 2012; attendance at the Global Storytelling Institute on the ETSU campus August, 2011; and to top it all off immersion into the world of Story including new friends throughout the Storytelling World and work finding me through avenues that had not been paying off until now.  Amazing , remarkable, wonderful …

Robert Frost tells the story best in his poem The Road Not Taken:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference

What's Next?

I am developing a program for upper grade elementary and middle schoolers on the value of writing.  The program will include information on how the publishing business works, and why it is so important to do your “homework” since luck is usually made it doesn’t just happen. 

Maybe you’re wondering why I choose to write an anthology of Chinese folktales.  Well, China entered my home early in my life when I was a youngster in the form of a tall, handsome woman who had been my mother’s best friend in nursing school.  Edith lived her life in China as the daughter of missionaries.  She would visit us every other year, tell us stories and bring my sisters and me little gifts from China – I still have some of them. 

During my life, my interest in China has been piqued several times - after Edith mysteriously vanished and no longer came to visit, trying to learn how to use chopsticks in sixth grade when we went to a Chinese restaurant as a field trip, when my grown daughter visited China to learn about indigenous medicine.  So when I was invited to travel to China in April, 2008, after careful deliberation and conversations with my daughter, I decided to go.  How glad I am that I did!  It changed my life.