Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com
Published - Friday, March 18, 2005
Tellin' tales about women
 Holmen storyteller Lynn Wing pours a lot into spinning a tale, using character voices, dialects and a heavy dose of gestures. She will be one of three storytellers, all members of the Bluff Country Talespinners, who will share their storytelling craft Saturday at the Onalaska Public Library. Photos by Randy Erickson |
La Crosse County's libraries have had plenty of story times over the years, but an event at the Onalaska Public Library this weekend celebrating Women's History Month will put a new spin (or maybe an old spin) on the idea of story time.
The usual library story time is aimed at young children and usually features readings from children's books and maybe some songs and finger plays. But there will be some serious storytellers at the Onalaska library Saturday for "Threads Through Time," the program celebrating women's history.
A trio of members from the Bluff Country Talespinners, an area storyteller's guild, will take turns telling stories at the Onalaska library from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday. A quartet of women singer-songwriters also will perform at the event, which also will feature a silent auction of about 60 doll-sized quilts made by area quilters.
Lynn Wing, who moved to Holmen from Salem, Utah, about 2 1/2 years ago, will be joined in the storytelling by Terry Visger and Sara Slayton, who helped start the Talespinners with Phyllis Blackburn about five years ago.
A writer by trade (she's almost done with her first novel), Wing said she had long been interested in the oral traditions of storytelling. A college storytelling class gave her the push to start translating her interest into action about five years ago.
She started out telling children's stories at her local library and it blossomed from there. She was pleased to find when she moved to Holmen that quite a few area people share her love of spinning tales.
"I've found that there's really great storytelling here," Wing said. "There's been a real renaissance of storytelling."
The Bluff Country Talespinners meets the second Thursday of the month at Grounded, a coffee shop in La Crosse. At latest count, the club's membership was 24.
"Our goal is to just promote storytelling in our area," Wing said. "It's an ancient art, and we actually use it in every phase of our life and don't realize it."
Wing likes to do a wide variety of stories - including folk tales, fairy tales, personal stories. Some she writes herself and some she adapts from other sources.
With her background in acting, Wing enjoys telling stories that have distinct character voices, especially ones with dialects.
One of the stories she has picked out for Saturday, for example, will tell the story of a Southern woman, sharecropping on a rich plantation owner's property, and the woman keeps outsmarting the greedy plantation owner.
People tell stories by instinct, even if its just laying out the details of one's day at the dinner table.
"We're storytelling beings. We deal with stories all the time. We communicate through stories," Wing said. "It's a way we share values, believe, ideas, opinions and healing."
Although a carnal career traditionally associated with women has long claimed the distinction, Wing said storytelling really deserves the rank of "world's oldest profession."
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: "Threads Through Time," a celebration of Women's History Month.
WHEN: 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19
WHERE: Onalaska Public Library
STORYTELLING: Three members of the Bluff Country Talespinners - Lynn Wing, Terry Visger and Sara Slayton - will take turns telling stories from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
MUSIC: A group of four singer/songwriters known as Women's Work - Mary Cortesi, Leslie Traun, Kelly Dawn Kron and Lindy Kron - will perform from noon to 1 p.m.
SILENT AUCTION: Bids will be taken between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on 60 doll-sized quilts made by area quilters and an American Girl doll.
BONUS: Light refreshments will be served.
All stories copyright 2006 Holmen Courier and other attributed sources.