Bulk Mailings: When a Sore Wrist is Worth It

My databases are growing due to this "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" premiere.

The information gathered now will help with future mailings.

Eventually I will have contact information for all the school districts in the following counties: Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Utah.

As the "Save the Date" postcards arrived on December 24th, it was tempting to mail the first batch today. However, I realized that school would not be in session until January 2nd. There may be a build up of mail so best to wait a little.

These schools are in Utah so timing is still fine.

In the meantime, Denae Palm, the Weber State University senior undergraduate student, sent me almost 90 family associations so far as part of her four key tasks.

Rather than slapping on labels and stamps, I prefer the personal touch. Though my wrist hurt afterward, I signed all of them.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Stamp Away: Bulk Mailing for the Storyteller

I will mail 500+ "Save the Date" postcards for the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" premiere and so I researched bulk mailing to see if it applied to me.

This may not be a huge number, though it was large enough a number to meet some of the "rules" of bulk mailing set by the United States Postal Service.

If you check with the main postal office for your area, there is usually a free short course on preparing bulk mail offered every week. Though I did not attend one of these workshops, I did learn much from the United States Postal Service website.

In order to receive the reduced postage rates through bulk mail, then a permit is required. At this time, it costs $180/year and it does not matter how often you use it with such savings like 42 cents for First Class reduced to as little as 21.6 cents.

Yet, to get this low rate, there is extra work to do so as to save time for the USPS. This could mean adding and printing barcodes for each of the addresses in the database. Having the 5-digit zip code plus the four extra numbers would be required for each of the addresses, too. Special software is out there to make this process easier (see Postage $aver Low-Cost Software for Postal Bulk Mail).

As in relating to my "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" premiere, between the permit and the extra work to earn the reduced rate, it did not seem worth it.

Eventually I plan to be more regular in sending postcards. Then gaining the permit and software may be helpful. Paying the full First Class rate is not so bad in the meantime.

Right when I had decided to be "normal" in sending the postcards, I learned about the option of Standard Class (Third Class). As I have always sent items by First Class, I did not explore what may be available if I did not mind the mail taking slower to arrive at its destination. Standard class is usually denied unless there are at least 500 pieces that are the same in messages with no personal additions. Even signing them could be considered "personal".

I like adding the human touch through a signature.

Again, I debated if I wanted Standard Class, especially when the mail does not forward or get returned to you in case the address is off. Then I learned that Standard Class is not available for postcards.

This made my decision-making easy. I would send the postcards as I have sent postcards in the past--with First Class stamps.

At least the time spent in research will help me as I use postcard marketing more often.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Dough between the Fingers: A Story Considered

Have you ever kneaded dough or rolled up a bunch in your hands?

When the dough squishes through the fingers and you feel a little bit of flour that did not quite get mixed up with the rest of it? That sensation had new meaning when I read the story called "Two Sisters" from Latin American Folktales: stories from Hispanic and Indian traditions edited by John Bierhorst.

A poor sister worked in the kitchen for her rich sister. As the woman rolled the dough and made the many tasty morsels, she was careful not to wash the dough from her fingers before heading home to her thin and hungry children. Once the children were gathered about, she would wash the leftover dough into a bowl and that would be supper.

Ironically, this type of meal made her children round in the bellies while the rich sister wondered how this could be as her own children were skinny despite having plenty to eat.

I seriously considered this story as part of the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production. The story, though beautiful, was too short for me to develop. Then again, I have known storytellers like David Novak who have taken a few lines of a nursery tale or song and created 30-minute or more masterpieces from them. As for me, I wished that the "Two Sisters" story would have had more scenes so that I could feel more comfortable in transforming it into a more encompassing piece.

In the end, I have chosen not to tell this story for this program. I do enjoy the image of the dough washed from the mother's fingers and may incorporate that part into a different story told.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Hansel & Gretel and Their Other "Homes"

While listening to the Hansel and Gretel opera created by Engelbert Humperdinck, my mind wandered into the story and then back to the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production.

Though the opera was sung in German, I was familiar with the tale and imagined what was happening. I realized that the Hansel and Gretel story had two elements: family abuse/abandonment and the lack/excess of food. Interestingly, the lady who sings for the Mother is often the same one to sing for the Gingerbread Witch.

Some people may think that the story involves a stepmother, though originally the mother was the one who sent the sent the two children into the forest to die. As this story was based on the Medieval times, it was not uncommon for parents to leave their children in the forest so there were less mouths to feed. Storytellers are aware that fairy tales have many elements of truth to them.

Though the Hansel and Gretel story intrigued me, I was not interested in telling the German version. I wanted to find a story with similar motifs and themes from another culture. The trick was to find a version that was authentic to the culture rather than being an adaptation of Hansel and Gretel that used another name.

Then "The Storyteller's Sourcebook: A Subject, Title, and Motif Index to Folklore Collections for Children 1983-1999" edited by Margaret Read MacDonald and Brian W. Sturm flashed to mind. At the time, only "The Storyteller's Sourcebook" was the title I remembered and the connection to MacDonald. When I arrived at the library, this book was in the Reference Juvenile Literature section.

The book used the Stith Thompson Motif Index, the enlarged version of classification of fairy tales, rather than the original Aarne Thompson Motif Index.

Since the Hansel and Gretel story was so common, I knew I could look up the title and see what motifs were listed. Then I noticed other categories where I may find other stories appropriate for the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production.

These were the codes found for Hansel and Gretel:

• G412.1.1
• Type 327A
• R135
• G526
• G512.3.2
• B469.4

These categories caught my attention:

• G400-G499 = Falling into Ogre's Power
  
• G500-G599 = Ogre Defeated
  
• C200-C299 = Eating and Drinking Tabu/Taboo
  
• T0-T699 = Family Life, which includes: Love (T0-T99), Marriage (T100-T199), Married Life (T200-T299), Chastity and Celibacy (T300-T399), Illicit Sexual Relation (T400-T499), Conception and Birth (T500-T599), and Care of Children (T600-T699)

Any combination of C200-299 with T0-T699 will likely be stories to pursue for the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production.

These codes and categories will act as my compass to find the other "homes" where stories like Hansel and Gretel may appear.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Orphans in Folklore--A Comparative Study

At some point we have all felt isolated or alone. For some of us, this thought is fleeting while for others it is a fact of life. . .at least until we discover our families.

It is not surprising that folklore has reflected these feelings.

MyLinda Butterworth, dear friend from East Tennessee State University Storytelling Master's Program, emailed me a link to the article "From Folktales to Fiction: Orphan Characters in Children's Literature" published by Melanie A. Kimball through Library Trends of the Winter 1999 edition. The bibliography alone is worth the read, though this comparative study also shares the patterns found among orphan tales.

Kimball stated that the orphan is the "quintessential outcast, operates in isolation, and thus makes the perfect hero figure."

The orphan is many times the victim of hostile actions from verbal abuse, physical abuse, emotional trauma, and even treat of death. Fortunately, any mistreatment usually is answered by punishment for the offender.

In the meantime of having justice, the orphan is forced to face obstacles alone without having a family member to say, "Come with me." or "Things will be all right." Although, the spirit of the dead mother, which embodies the essence of love, provides some form of supernatural help.

Kimball observed that instead of the orphan leaving home to become independent, the orphan is "finding a home after coming from nothing."

Much more was shared by Kimball's article and I encourage you to read it. As for me, I will review the bibliography and see what books can help in research for the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production.

Thank you, MyLinda, for the lead!

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Soucouyants, Ezili Freda & other Caribbean Tales

Caribbean folklore is intriguing as I know little of this culture or of the supernatural figures that abound in it.

European, African, and many North American stories (excluding Caribbean) are commonly found in the repertoire of most of the storytellers I know, to include myself.

I absorbed what several professors shared at the "Metamorphoses: An International Colloquium on Narrative and Folklore"on the University of Utah campus held from October 2-5, 2008.

However, my hand and wrist seemed unable to capture all the notes desired from the paper "Caribbean Animal-Human Metamorphosis and (Post) Colonial Agency" presented by Aliyah Khan, Professor of Caribbean Literature and Postcolonial Theory from University of California--Santa Cruz. My unfamiliarity with the culture crippled my speed.

I approached Khan and asked if she had recommendations of Caribbean folklore to research that related to the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production. She was kind to share a couple ideas. She was also willing to confirm authenticity of Caribbean culture in relation to any story I decided to tell.

Two supernatural figures require more research:

• Soucouyant--Old woman, mainly from Trinidad/Tobago areas, who transforms into a ball of fire by night to suck the blood of animals and humans, especially babies.

The Soucouyant often targets babies who are born a few nights previous. If the mother does not watch, then the baby may die. Some ways to protect are to wrap the baby in blue (references to water) or to scatter rice as the Soucouyant cannot leave until all the grains are counted. If she still is in her ball of fire form after sunrise, then she is destroyed. This could be a mother/child relationship piece for "Family Famine: Hunger for Love".

• Ezili Freda--A light-skinned Creole woman, from Haiti area, that is the Vodou goddess of love and luxury. She is doomed to unrequited love and she is often pictured with her heart pierced with a knife.

As the embodiment of femininity, there is the potential of finding stories that talk of fertility and barrenness and from there leads to motherhood.


To explore more about Caribbean tales, here are some sites:

• Bibliography from American Museum of Natural History
  
• The Franklin H. Williams Caribbean Cultural Center (no stories, though place to make connections)
• Wikipedia Caribbean folklore
  

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller