Papa Joe ~ Travel Notes


From: Papa Joe <papajoe@tiac.net>
To: Storytell <Storytell@VENUS.TWU.EDU>
Subject: Tour Notes #12
Date: Sunday">


 

 Papa Joe ~ Travel Notes


From: Papa Joe <papajoe@tiac.net>
To: Storytell <Storytell@VENUS.TWU.EDU>
Subject: Tour Notes #12
Date: Sunday, July 13, 1997 11:20 PM

July 7th - 9th, 1997
The Road to Indy and the NSA Conference

The last day at Oak&Ivy Cottage went like clockwork. Everything was packed. Each item on the check list secured. I left New Hampshire at 10 pm and drove to a rest area just South of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for a 5 hour nap. Not bad for an eight hour drive. :) Sues and Zaque aren't with me this trip. :( Sues stayed behind to water the gardens and handle other mundane tasks. She really wasn't too excited about working in the cities anyway. The first part of Summer's tour is mostly booked around Detroit.

Twelve more hours of driving brought me to Fran Stallings' brother, Ken's house in Indianapolis. They were still awake and I got to hear about his work with hospitalized children. I should have taken notes. He had set a an interactive program between the children and NASA about Mars. I was rather tempted to go with him in the morning, but...

Wednesday morning, I shared a tale with Fran and her nieces. Wonderful girls. I got to take a peak at the book Fran put together with Fujita-san. One of the story games in the book was almost the same as a folk game I played as a child. Fujita-san played it with a fox and I played it with a wolf. We'll have to explore the possibilities of how a Japanese child from a small village might be playing the same folk game as a boy from New England. I'll be ordering that book. Fran, can you give us the ordering information?

---------
added note : August House will be producing a commercial version (full color covers etc) in the fall of 1998, but until then I've got the self-published version you saw for $15 postpaid: folks can send to: Prairie-Fire Productions, 1406 Macklyn Lane, Bartlesville OK 74006-5419
~ Fran Stallings <ignatz@galaxy.galstar.com>
---------

I made it to the conference about 11 am. It was difficult to leave Fran and the girls, but there is always so little time. Chuck Larkin was very easy to find. He tried to make it easy to find me. Kept putting up signs next to me:
PAPA JOE --->
lol He said I didn't look old enough to be a papa and figured I needed the sign so everyone would know it was me. Well Chuck, I've been a Papa since I was 22. Maybe I'll grow into the name eventually. Meanwhile, I kept changing seats and it got pretty funny seeing the looks the ladies got sitting next to the sign. Chuck never stops telling stories expect to listen to other folks tell. It was great watching him critiquing his students in the hallway.

Hours of meeting folk from Storytell. It was wonderful. I'm not trying to make anyone jealous, but if you ever get the chance to make it to one of these conferences, don't miss it! Just don't go for a day. I could fill a post just naming the names of the folks I talked with during those short twelve hours, but instead I'll just mention one. Mark Wilson. He's a wiry little cowboy make no mistake and the spirit that flows out of him could fill up a football stadium. He doesn't even need to tell stories to make you feel his presents. Just a look in his eyes and I felt like a brother. And he has a smile that would light up the darkest night.

The swap that night was fun. This year I got to tell. David Alexander became my mommy for "Poccamandas". But I couldn't even stay 'til midnight. I didn't know Indiana doesn't use daylight saving time. So I gained an hour coming into the state, but I lost it when I wanted it most: on the road to Flint, Michigan.

One of these days I'm gonna find a way to stay at the conference from beginning to end. Next year, it'll be in Kansas City. For the year 2000, we're trying to get it back to New England. So we'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, as always,

Pax & Amicitia,

Papa Joe
In the Vardo, On the road, USA


 Papa Joe ~ Travel Notes

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