I started out the day by doing storytelling at the open tell. Stories I remember involve:
* a guy and his tuxedo,
* a “who rescued who” story in which a guy scorned getting a “reject” rescue dog but later the dog saved his life in a fire
* a lady telling a story about how her dog was in heat and the dog got out and got pregnant and had puppies. And I REALLY REALLY WANTED TO TELL MY HUMPING CAT STORY RIGHT THERE. They let you pick what slot you wanted and I signed up for slot 14 out of 16 in hopes that any children in the room would have left for the (overlapping) children’s concert halfway through. Alas, a few children stayed in the room anyway. Dammit.
* A story explaining dog customs
* A lady saying she got butt whooped at skiing by her 7-year-old (one of the few children remaining in the room).

I ended up telling the story of the time I crashed my ex’s car while in college, and people really liked it and someone told me afterwards it was one of the best. Huzzah! So I felt a lot better.

At one point I was also introduced to someone calling herself “Starlight Compost.” She has a radio show.

A girl named Aubrey told me that my outfits were the best and that I “win the prize.” :)

We didn’t bring food for the last day (nobody was in the mood/effort to keep doing that) and figured we’d get food there, but there wasn’t much left so we had some kind of slushie ice cream for lunch.

And finally, we had the last show in the afternoon.

Charlie: told a story about a brother and sister washing up in a weird land where they were instantly appointed king and queen. Apparently the citizens picked random folks every 20 years to rule and then would abandon them on an island to starve to death and die, and they wouldn’t let them leave. The siblings smartly arranged to have all the staples of life put on that island so that when it happened to them, they could eat, build a boat, and leave.

Charlotte: told the story of school integration in the 60’s, combined with the church bombing of the little girls. Dawn was slightly annoyed that Charlotte kept explaining the stories before she acted them out, but I think people needed that clarified since she was doing them continuously.

Izzy: was teaching a storytelling workshop for kids where they were told they already have their own stories, just add a beginning and end. This leads to stuff like “never stick a tic tac in your nose,” but then he heard the story of a girl’s best friends being shot and they moved to this area to be “safe.” He then finished by saying that America works out unsolvable problems, but I dunno on that one these days.

Clare: told a story about a young Irish lad meeting girls at the local dances. The first one didn’t sound that into him but dated him, and then he brought her home to meet the family and his dad was all, “Hey, go into the garden and pick up that giant rock.” The lad was unable to pick up the rock and dad was all to the girl, “You wanna marry a guy who can’t pick up a rock?” She said “No, I don’t,” and left. Even though the lad takes up weightlifting, the same thing happens with the second girl. The third girl asks him out (by this point he’s too disheartened to make a move) and he likes her, but really postpones bringing her home to the family until she objects. Finally he agrees, “let’s get it over with,” and when he struggles to get the rock, she goes to help him. And dad says, “Now that’s a woman you want to marry!”

Clearly Clare loves to act out doofy Irish dudes awkwardly looking for love.

She also finished with a brief story about the best music in the world being “whatever happens.”

Vicki: told a story about wanting to get arrested at protests, and then attending a protest at Alcatraz at Thanksgiving where people were fighting the right to exist.

Sadly, Larry finished out the set. Everyone else got fifteen minutes, but Larry went on for a half hour and I cannot tell you what the heck he talked about other at the start when he was randomly pouring water on people in the audience and said, “hey, if the Pope can do it...” After that I zoned out and Dawn fell asleep.

We packed things up, went back to Mary’s for an actual lunch and hung out for a bit before we had to leave. We had a very good time and look forward to hanging out with them again--hopefully before next July, but who knows. Dawn wants to drive up there again when they’re able to get together.

We drove back home and hung out with Ron for a bit--he’d saved SIX pieces of pizza for us to eat for dinner, how sweet. He also said to me, “You’ve fit the knack, go with it,” about storytelling :)

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