It was a paragraph in the New York Times telling of an event that had just happened in the small town of Jonesborough,Tennessee. At this occasion, people gathered to hear STORYTELLERS. Reading this article electrified a feeling in my mind and heart. What? There are people in the world who call themselves Storytellers? I was a secondary English teacher at the time. I was in my classroom discovering that what I did was storytelling. How I engaged with my students, no matter the name of the course, American Literature, World Mythology, was engage them as storytellers. I put that newspaper down and vowed that the next year I would be in Jonesborough, Tennessee when those Storytellers and listeners gathered again.

Time passed. I returned to my classroom from next year's pilgramage to Jonesborough with stories aplenty to practice on my students. I trekked back to Tennessee for festivals and conferences to immerse myself in the world of stories. I sat as a hungry person and ate up story after story. And I went forth becoming a story carrier.

That brought me from Jonesborough and classrooms in North Carolina and New York City to the outback in Australia. I performed for 2 years around Darwin in the public libraries and for the Aboriginal community college where I taught English and language arts. Stories lead me to be invited to sail on the ClearWater, the beautiful schooner the legendary folk singer Pete Seeger envisioned and co-built with his vision to clean up the mighty, majestic Hudson River. Story brought me to 10 years of teaching and directing summer theater for the Girl Scouts where countless stories became drama productions. 

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I was born to a storytelling father and poetry reciting mother who were ballroom dancers. They also loved to sing and attend the theater. In between, they had me and my 9 siblings. Our living room and backyard were the first stages for me performing and directing our family plays.

I have a B.S. in Secondary Education English and an M.S. in Education and Communication Arts. As a classroom teacher, I discovered the power of storytelling. I came to know in my heart and soul that STORY is the crux and core of our being here on the earth. The foundations of exploring story with my students came in teaching and presenting classical literature, world wide mythology, poetry, drama and narrative.  I engaged my students in exploring their own personal narrative.

I also taught middle school English and language arts and community college English. I served as a high schoolr reference librarian and as the children's programmer in a town library

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