The Water of Life

This is a wonderful team telling so well recorded and mixed with their own music. Bravo this is your standing ovation! Here is a standard we can all strive for in You Tube videos.

A Real Version of the Story of Sadako and the Paper Crane

It all began with the folding of a single paper crane. Tightly creasing seams fold after fold and the final fold and crease, to then hold it up and say, I did it! I was teaching myself from a diagram how to fold a paper crane and the first clumsy bird was finished. It took me forever. I realized that if I was to be able to fold a paper crane without barely looking at it while telling the story of Sadako and the Paper Crane I would need quite a bit of practice. ( Sadako and the One Thousand paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr) More paper , more practice crane after crane. I folded at school subbing when I had study hall duty, I folded in church after we sang the anthem, I folded in the morning and I folded in the evening.
Tellabration time 09 rolled around and my Veteran's Salute Tellabration ( storytelling celebration) was to be the day I unveiled my talents as a origami Paper Crane folding master!

I had folded so many cranes by then and was so busy at work our naked Christmas tree stood in the family room sporting nothing but the bare bulbs. It stood that way for days and the inspiration hit, paper cranes for the tree. Then my folding concentrated on two colors gold and red foil. Crane after crane dropped into the plastic shopping bag. All the while I thought of the story of Sadako and the Paper Cranes and when occasion warranted I would share the enduring tale, the legend and the little girl who tried so hard to fulfill its prophecy as she battled cancer post her hometown Hiroshima WWII bombing. www.informeddemocracy.com/sadako/howtofold.html

Christmas came, and on this year my daughter was not battling cancer it was in remission. The day dawned bright and clear and the tree glowed like some department store showpiece. It developed its own aura and shimmered in the light. The collection of family ornaments never made it out of the attic in 2009, instead we honored all who fight cancer and a legend and a story.

Now it is your turn. 10 year old David Heard of Easton, Pa. Is folding paper cranes. He needs thousands of them as the legend says. He has decided to decorate the five wards of the hospitals where he has received treatment for his terminal stage 4 Neuroblastoma. David is folding cranes, his family folds, his school and yet the goal of 5000 has not been met. You can help David see the 5000 Cranes fly high over the cancer centers by sending some paper cranes to:

The Heard Family

130 W. Lafayette St.

Easton, Pa. 18042

Information on David's plan came from the newspaper feature article by Devon Lash in The Chronicle Album Section 11/20/10 distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Get Out Your Paint Brushes!

The Nov. 21 Hartford Courant Newspaper alerted me to an interesting article posted by Donna Larcen in the Arts section. ( dlarcen@courant.com )

There will be an art contest to reproduce a Lincoln Portrait painted in 1890 by John Denison Crocker. The painting hung for many years in City Hall at Norwich,Ct. that is until 1994 when it was cut from its frame and stolen. The image has not surfaced in the 16 years since the heist.

Funding from The Slater Memorial Museum, www.norwichfreeacademy.com/museum/ Norwich Historical Society, http://www.norwichhistoricalsociety.org/ and the Sachem Fund http://www.norwichct.org/ will purchase the winning entry in the Lincoln Portrait contest for $8000.00. The winning artist will relinquish the rights to the portrait, which will then go on display in the original frame back on the walls of City Hall.

Painters are you ready? There is a whole winter ahead to perfect the war worn features of one of our most famous and influential Presidents. All submissions will be gathered by April 15, 2011 at 3 p.m. ( just a little before the infamous tax deadline) The entries will all be displayed at Norwich Arts Council Gallery 60 Broad St. Norwich, Ct. from May 1 - May 29, 2011. http://www.norwicharts.org/ A judges panel will discern the winner. More info can be acquired by calling 860-425-5560.

Metro - T riders take stage to tell their MBTA tales

In Boston this past slam was all about who rides the T ! It happens daily as thousands and thousands board and recede like the tide to the other world. So unremarkable that oblivion might better be the name. Then every now and again a ride becomes so noteworthy it becomes a story. Read the metro below how the stories were shared at the most recent Mass Mouth Story Slam. http://www.massmouth.ning.com/


Metro - T riders take stage to tell their MBTA tales

Christmas Spirits

Getting ready for the Holidays? Plan an evening of pure entertainment with Carolyn Stearns Storyteller performing my original epic piece "Christmas Spirits".

Marlborough Tavern http://www.themarlboroughtavern.com/ will host a telling on Saturday December 18, 2010 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10.00 for the performance but call and get your dinner reservations in and come enjoy the best of New England Tavern dining before the performance. Tickets for the show are available from the tavern call 860-295-8229 , or from Carolyn at 860-690-4292.

Christmas Spirits is a historical fiction holiday tale that begins in Newport RI and travels to New York City where the main character travels in time to meet many notables from New York History. This is a classic story that will give you the spirit of Christmas and put a little tradition and simplicity back in your holiday.

A Singing Breadbox

This Months feature performers Atwater -Donnelly on Nov 13, 2010



The venue St. Paul's Valley St Willimantic, Ct



Photo of Tom Callinan - A Breadbox Feature in the past



In the Community:

The Breadbox
www.breadboxfolk.org
A community showcase mic held monthly to benefit the Covenant Soup Kitchen at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Vallety St in Willimantic, Ct. This month a special concert performance will also be held Sat Nov 13 and the regular monthly mic on Wed. Nov 17 th. Your donations go directly to help feed the hungry among us. So come out and hear some incredible music at The Breadbox.

Saturday November 13, 2010
Atwater-Donnelly
Award-winning duo Atwater-Donnelly performs a unique and thrilling blend of traditional American and Celtic folk music and dance, along with original songs and poetry.

The highly praised husband-wife duo blends gorgeous vocals with an astonishing array of instruments including the mountain dulcimer, old-time banjo, tin whistle, guitar, limberjack, mandolin, harmonica, feet and more. They often collaborate with other musicians, Cathy Clasper-Torch, Heidi and John Cerrigione, and Uriah Donnelly; and Irish step-dancer Kevin Doyle; and can be seen performing solo, as a duo, trio, four-person band, or the six-member old-time gospel band, Jerimoth Hill.

Based in Foster, Rhode Island, Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly have traveled extensively for twenty-two years in the United States, and occasional trips to Ireland, England, and Canada, to perform as well as find their songs and dances one by one. They have produced six books, a film, and eleven recordings that receive international airplay.

Bruce John & Jim Bailey