Southside Storytelling

Once upon a time, there was a library school blog. That blog was very sad, because its author was easily distracted and neglected it for the longest time ever. Little did he know that, shortly after finishing his MLS (Masters in Library Science), a new journey through library science had started.

I started library school in August of 2008, fairly quickly finding my way into the youth services program. The most enticing aspect was storytelling - I knew I had to take that course the moment I heard about it. Through a most wonderful series of events, I'm finding myself telling stories largely to elementary school students. So far, I only seem to have one story that works well - a story I call "trouble." Now, the story really hasn't changed all that much over the course of time. In it, I'm just the right age where my parents can leave me home without a sitter - but not quite old enough to escape the oppression of an 8:00 bedtime. I'm always caught watching TV, I'm always grounded, and I'm always devising a new scheme to outsmart my parents to avoid punishment. You can probably guess how successful I was.

What I never expected to see is a transformation in how I am able relate to my audience. My first performance had me stare at the floor. Later, I could only tell stories if I could pretend that the room was empty. The more positive feedback I get, the more I can finally loosen up and start telling my stories to the audience. But now? Suddenly, there's a two-way relationship with them - a give and take, which requires a bit more flexibility on my part. The greatest reward from this was that I'm now able to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes each crowd giggle, then give them more of what they want. In one instance, a girl responded to something I said with "Ooh, I have two middle names!" I was able to chime in with "Oh, that's really awesome!" and then jump straight back into my story. No problem.

I know these are small steps into a larger journey, but they're important small steps. Having the chance to visit schools and meet the students has been such a rewarding experience - one that I want to have much more frequently. I feel that I need this type of interaction to grow, and that I need the opportunity to bring a sparkle in the kids' eyes just long enough that they feel motivated to share their stories with everyone. I have always seen such amazing things when kids finally come out of their protective shell and start sharing their brilliance with the world. They're smarter than they think they are - they just need to believe in themselves.

For that, they need adult role models who believe in themselves, too; adult role models who weren't always so sure about themselves, but came out pretty awesome in the end. As role models, we need to throw all our support behind our kids, making it known that we truly believe that everyone has the capacity to succeed, and that there's no power in the 'verse that can stop us. Not race, gender, orientation, economic status, or special education status will interfere with our success. Nothing will prevent us from making the most of ourselves.

I believe in myself, and I believe in you. Together, I believe we can do awesome things.