Story Starters…Smell? And Meet Colleen!

A Bright New Voice

Join us @TUOLUMNE COUNTY LIBRARY*, 11/17/09 TU Eve 6:30pm for ONE HOUR of stories @The 10th Annual TELLABRATION! Co-sponsored by TuolCo Lib & Mother Lode Reading Council.

Recently I asked a group of kids, “Are you alive?”  “Oh, yeah!” they shouted back.  “Then you’ve got stories to tell.”

Truth is, if you get down to it…Our stories are all we have, and they make our lives incredibly rich!  As a 35+ year pro-teller I’ve had the joy of being invited to schools, libraries, festivals, communities and lots of living rooms, sharing my “wares.”  Storyware…That’s it!  Storyware comes in all flavors, textures, recipes and portion-sizes.  

Lately I’m being teased by the talents of a wonderful new voice:  Colleen Dolan. Just 24 years-old (same age as me when I kicked in to telling), a 2008 grad of UC Davis, but already a veteran of the stage, and she is ready to launch!  In the midst of her bright fire, she hears the call to Tell Stories.  How lucky for all of us!  This young woman dreams of carrying the ancient storytellers’ staff, to bring VOICE to a new generation. In fact, she has already done The Pilgrimage to Jonesborough, TN, to the National Storytelling Festival!

Colleen in Mecca

Will we “elders” be ready for what her tribe might say, and how they might say it?  YIKES!

Colleen got bitten by this storytelling bug pretty early.  As a home-school kid, she studied storytelling with the talented Cynthia Restivo, my partner with The Story Quilters since 1995. At home in the Sierra foothills, Colleen also performed with Sierra Repertory Theatre and Stage 3 Theatre, enhancing and developing her interpretive skills. 

Last year Colleen decided to spend six months in Chile, teaching English as a Second Language with the “English Opens Doors” program. Just days before she took off to South America, we met to talk about storytelling.  She wanted to pick my old brain for ideas on using storytelling methods in her teaching efforts.  Of course, it’s a perfect match for learning any language..and well-documented as a useful teaching strategy (too many to link)!  After a lively chat on that, we talked about all of the new stories that Chile would give her. Then I watched her fly out the door, winging her way south!

To keep in touch and to keep her juices flowing, Colleen initiated an email Story Starter Project.  She sent out story ideas, and asked friends to write a response.  One of her writing prompts asked friends to write about an evocative smell, to recall a time and place…a story elicited by that smell.  We all know how powerful the sense of smell is, but only two of us took her bait. (Pity.  There could have been so many rich stories to share, to record.)

But first  enjoy Colleen’s own story/stories of smell:

“Smell is a very powerful sense. One of the most powerful I would argue. Just recently I was walking down an automobile crowded street and the sharp, pungent sent of exhaust washed over my olfactory gland. Immediately my mind was thrust into a crystal clear memory of Christmas tree decorating. Don’t ask why. The connection between car exhaust and pine trees is completely lost on my conscious mind, but somewhere way back in my crazy, rather crowded unconscious mind, there is a link. That is what makes smell so wonderfully fascinating, so ultimately dramatic. Like how the smell of fresh rain on dried leaves can cause shivers of excitement.

My mother’s neck: It is a wonderfully warm, soft place to lay your head and snuggle in. And it has a very particular smell, a smell that I have only smelled in that particular part of that particular body. It is sweet and perfumy, even though she does not wear perfume, like honey and chamomile. My mother’s neck does not smell like her soap or shampoo or our laundry detergent. It is completely separate from any chemically induced scent, and it has the fantastic power to cause my entire body to relax. It is a lovely smell.

When my mother underwent chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer her neck smelled different. It smelled metallic and sterilized. The chemicals that were sent to kill the cancer cells inside her also changed some of the most fundamental things that I knew about my mom: her personality, her appearance, and her smell. Without her smell, I actually found it a little difficult to recognize her. “Who is that woman again? Oh, hey, that’s my mom.” Like the baby calf smelling every cow in the barnyard in search of its mother.

I am very happy to say that my mother’s neck once again smells like honey and chamomile, and I can once again relax.”  The voice of Colleen Dolan.

Another young friend, musician Julie Schmidt, took Colleen’s story bait. Before reading, know that Julie grew up in a large family.  She wrote this:

“Burnt Toast. It was a chance to hang out with Dad. To be the only two people in the dark morning. To feel the cold linoleum under my feet. And listen to NPR’s “Morning Edition” theme song for the first that morning. I’d hug Dad off to work, take another bite of my toast then scramble back to bed to re-warm my feet and sleep a while longer. It would start with the smell, then the sound of a knife scraping the burn in attempt to smother it with butter. The light from the kitchen streamed through the hallway landing on my pillow followed by the muffled mumble of Bob Edwards. I’d tiptoe out and Dad would make me my own toast. We’d sit together, often times in silence.  The funny thing was, I thought I was doing Dad a favor, keeping him company and eating breakfast with him while everyone else was still slumbering, when in fact, those mornings are one of my most favorite childhood memories.”  Julie Schmidt’s voice.   

And now me…BZ Smith: 

“Licorice!  My sweet Nana, Kate McCorkell Walker, loved to give her grandchildren a nickel to go to the penny candy store on the corner near her house.  With our nickels clutched in our fists, my cousin Joyce and I would dash down the street to the old gas station on the corner.  This gas station had a fantastic candy counter.  We’d pick and choose through the glass jars…all lined up on the shelves, shining and sparkling with colorful candies.  Sometimes my Nana would come along.  When she did, she’d always buy herself a nickel pack of BlackJack Gum.  As soon as I smelled the strong black licorice, my mouth would start to water.  Slowly she’d pull one paper-wrapped piece from the blue and black gum pack.  I couldn’t wait until she’d hand me my piece.  But then, just as I was about to reach for it, my Nana would suddenly tear the piece in half.  “Here’s one for you, B.Z.  And here’s one for you, Joycie.”  You know, even with 7 grandchildren, my Nana could make one pack of BlackJack last for more than a week!  Every time I see a pack of that famous gum and smell that black licorice, I remember my Nana.  

How about you?  Are you called to tell? No? Not sure? Well, keep listening to what your own heart says.  While you’re at it, listen to what your own mouth says.  Is it possible that you already ARE a storyteller?  You are alive, after all.

*If you live in California’s Sierra Foothills, come hear Colleen Dolan tell tales at the 10th Annual Tellabration! on November 17th, 6:30pm, at Tuolumne County Library, 480 Greenley Rd., Sonora, CA 95370.  Cynthia and I, The Story Quilters, will be there, too.  It’s a night to celebrate the Art of Storytelling…and to hear a dynamic new voice.

I’m B.Z. Smith.  I tell stories.  Here’s one.