Video
World Storytelling Day March 20, 2015
Transcript
[0:12] The art of storytelling, and the stories that we’re going to hear today, they all circulate in human culture, human consciousness, and sometimes we forget that the most nuanced, the most effective, most pleasurable way of communicating experience is through the art of the human voice and manipulating it with narratives of tall tale hijinks of folklore. And that’s what we are going to do today.
[0:57] Everybody say “Oh!” Oh!
[1:00] “God, I’ve come all the way out here to talk to you! I want to find out why I’m so unlucky.”
[1:05] And God said, “You’re not unlucky. You’re just not opening your eyes! All you gotta do is look around you! There’s luck everywhere!”
[1:14] I’m going to tell you a story that I love because it comes from the south. And I’m from the south. I was born in North Carolina but only lived there twelve years! And I often say that if I’d known I was going to be a storyteller I would’ve stayed in the south longer!
[1:29] The story takes place in 1973, which I regard as still a part of the 60’s. A very different time than the one we’re living in now. There were a lot of people less interested in money, more interested in finding themselves, finding enlightenment. There were all kinds of different words for it. But people wanted to know what they were living for. And I was one of those.
[1:53] So, we have a lot of students. Fifteen students who are writing in English and have never read in public before, in English. So, we really encourage them to read their story.
[2:04] Remember again, in the beginning she said she’s an immigrant too. She could not speak English, you remember?
[2:10] Yes
[2:11] So to me English is not my second language, it’s my seventh language. I speak six of them.
[2:16] Hi everyone.
[2:17] Hi!
[2:18] My name is Lian. And thank you so much, all of you.
[2:23] This is Terhas Tekle, I am from Eritrea and I am very happy to share my story with you. And thank you. Thanks everybody.
[2:32] So yeah, this is what I wish for. I wish I was a pelican. I wish I could fly like a pelican. I wish for a good life for pelicans. I wish that, you know, hopefully this film will get out broadly so that fishermen will take better care.
[2:48] So, I’ve always loved the water. And so I’m going to tell you a little folktale that I hope you will remember and think about the power of water in our lives. You know you can’t do without it.
[3:08] And it’s away we go! Any way we go! We’re raising the anchors so let us unhand and we’re off from Hyde Street Pier!
Descriptive Transcript
[0:01] Singing in foreign language
[0:12] The art of storytelling, and the stories that we’re going to hear today, they all circulate in human culture, human consciousness, and sometimes we forget that the most nuanced, the most effective, most pleasurable way of communicating experience is through the art of the human voice and manipulating it with narratives of tall tale hijinks of folklore. And that’s what we are going to do today.
[0:46] Singing in foreign language
[0:57] Everybody say “Oh!” Oh!
[1:00] “God, I’ve come all the way out here to talk to you! I want to find out why I’m so unlucky.”
[1:05] And God said, “You’re not unlucky. You’re just not opening your eyes! All you gotta do is look around you! There’s luck everywhere!”
[1:14] I’m going to tell you a story that I love because it comes from the south. And I’m from the south. I was born in North Carolina but only lived there twelve years! And I often say that if I’d known I was going to be a storyteller I would’ve stayed in the south longer!
[1:29] The story takes place in 1973, which I regard as still a part of the 60’s. A very different time than the one we’re living in now. There were a lot of people less interested in money, more interested in finding themselves, finding enlightenment. There were all kinds of different words for it. But people wanted to know what they were living for. And I was one of those.
[1:53] So, we have a lot of students. Fifteen students who are writing in English and have never read in public before, in English. So, we really encourage them to read their story.
[2:04] Remember again, in the beginning she said she’s an immigrant too. She could not speak English, you remember?
[2:10] Yes
[2:11] So to me English is not my second language, it’s my seventh language. I speak six of them.
[2:16] Hi everyone.
[2:17] Hi!
[2:18] My name is Lian. And thank you so much, all of you.
[2:23] This is Terhas Tekle, I am from Eritrea and I am very happy to share my story with you. And thank you. Thanks everybody.
[2:32] So yeah, this is what I wish for. I wish I was a pelican. I wish I could fly like a pelican. I wish for a good life for pelicans. I wish that, you know, hopefully this film will get out broadly so that fishermen will take better care.
[2:48] So, I’ve always loved the water. And so I’m going to tell you a little folktale that I hope you will remember and think about the power of water in our lives. You know you can’t do without it.
[3:08] And it’s away we go! Any way we go! We’re raising the anchors so let us unhand and we’re off from Hyde Street Pier!
[3:29] Sound of waves and seagulls
Description
A diverse group of storytellers—from Laney College ESL (English as a Second Language) students to Sundance-and-Emmy award winning filmmaker Judy Irving—gathered at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park to share their narratives in the belief that that stories matter.
Duration
3 minutes, 55 seconds
Credit
NPS/George Carpenter
Date Created
06/06/2015
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