Why I am a Storyteller....

Inspired by the readings and our work in class I've been thinking a lot about why I call myself a storyteller and what it is exactly that I want to do with stories. Along my storytelling journey I’ve come to understand that my presence as a storyteller has essentially two equally important facets: (1) my voice as an Appalachian native working to preserve the folk heritage of my ancestors and the region they called home, and (2) my voice as a servant-leader, one who may incorporate the power of our shared narrative experience to help create opportunities for social and political transformation. Each aspect has had a profound affect on the other as I work to grow and develop as a storyteller and attempt to understand my role and responsibilities within my family and community. While each aspect has equal significance to my journey now, my first steps as a storyteller took place along paths in a rural county in hills of East Kentucky…

I’ve begun to discover my storytelling voice is one that I hope will carry on the traditions given to me by my ancestors and help preserve the beauty and sacredness of the South-Central Appalachian region. The hope woven into any narrative of why this area and its folk traditions should be cherished and preserved is essentially a moral discourse, one shared with me by the people who called this place home. Breaking beans with my grandfather was not only a vocation of subsistence, but was also an exercise in morality. During my development as a storyteller over the past two years I’ve begun to see how storytelling can help share with others not only a way of life, but a way of living. Contemporary society may be experiencing a dearth of moral exemplars and an unraveling of our sense of place and community responsibility, but within the woven narrative of the communal oral tradition we may find keys to reclaiming an integral component of our humanity: our ability to understand and empathize with others as a way of embodying hope in the human potential. Woven into my particular family tapestry are these important moral threads, which I have chosen to emphasize as a significant aspect of my own narrative journey.

In many ways the two stories I’ve been telling are one. One important family tradition that I strive to embody is a desire to serve as a servant-leader. The importance of community service is woven throughout many Appalachian folktales. For me, this is the truest narrative of Appalachia, its most authentic story, and these are its storytellers – the people that use their warm words and loving smiles to help share the understanding of community interconnectedness and sense of place we cherish so highly. I pray that they will give me the strength and wisdom to voice their stories as they deem appropriate and that their stories will influence and shape my own. It is here in Appalachia that I remember most profoundly the innate power of humanity to change, and that this transformation can be brought about by reaching out with the limitless love of the human heart. When we find the confidence to dance with the sensuous harmonies of the stories being told all around us, we will find the true means to fulfill our deepest yearnings as human beings, and then discover the truest sense of place. Perhaps then the framing of ethical and moral dilemmas will change and we will understand that only with a commitment to revering the sacredness of all narrative traditions will we find the necessary courage to heal ourselves, our families, and our communities.