Creative
Workshops 2009
May Writing Newsletter
You don't have to act crazy anymore…
Now retire from all that hard work
Of bringing pain to your sweet eyes and heart.
(Hafiz)
Dear writer,
storyteller, reader
This month I wish to meditate on a word. A word like a pebble in the mouth, a layered
rainbow ball , the ones we sucked as children. This word is sweet, sour ,
bitter, pungent, salt and spicy according to how I drop it into the throat of
the sentence. I love words that in their beginning are both noun and verb,
I
woke one morning thinking of the word. Only three letters. Rich in ambiguity,
economy, energy and nuance, arriving with a thousand synonym sisters. Act. And with the word arrives its ancestry -
an act of grace, an act of faith. The New Testament book
following the Gospels. A part of a larger drama, The
law, the statute.
Then
as a verb its genealogy from the Latin, agere to drive, lead, act, do .
To act is to move, to portray a character, to act on behalf of
someone. As in these lines from American poet
Elizabeth Ayres:
Circus
Family
I'm in a long line, buying
a ticket for the circus. I buy it
for the same reason I go to church: I need
to be there. I need
to watch someone act out
my beliefs and desires although,
waiting in line, I cannot name
my beliefs and desires.
May your
writing and story telling be an act of creation.
Dorian’s May Storyshops
If you want any of these in your area speak speak.
….To respond to two oft asked questions:
No workshop is
ever the same even if it looks as if it is. No one jumps into the same river
twice. As David Wagoner writes: “No two trees are the same to Raven. No two branches are the same to Wren.”
And for those who feel they might be ‘put on the spot’, I invite
people to read their writing only if they wish
to. You may share in
pairs or work in silence if that is your choice.
1. Stellenbosch
Writing and
Reading Conversations: Writing as a Sensory
Experience
Sat 9 May (3-5-pm) R65 includes a glass of wine
or juice.
Attention closet writers, lovers of words,
book clubbers, book lovers. We explore
how our texts come alive when we write though the five and other senses. We
browse the books that surround us to see, hear taste, touch and feel how
published writers engage with us in this way.
My Bookshop Die Boord Christine /Mariekie 021-8872997/info@mybookshop.co.za
2.
Movement for sharing Life Stories
3. Once Upon a Life…The Power of Story-Telling R300
16 May 9:30 – 13:30 (international story telling day)
La Petite
(on the fringe at Franschhoek during the Literary Festival)
Our lives are stories. We tell them in our own voices. Climb
inside your story and tell it from the inside. Listen to it, Shape it. Taste it
on you tongue. Reconnect to creativity, memory and imagination. This workshop
experience will energise you. You’ll emerge with
stories in your heart and on your lips.
contact Kirsten Pearson Symphonia 082
936 1898 021 913 3507 kirsten@symphonia.net
Louise van Rhyn (louise@symphonia.net www.symphonia.net ) explains the
context for this movement and the workshop:
The Museum of the Person
International Network and the Center for Digital Storytelling have announced 16
May 2009 as the Second International Day for Sharing Life Stories. People interested in, or currently
involved in storywork, are invited to gather in
community halls, classrooms, public parks, theaters, auditoriums to share their
stories, regardless of their interests or focus. Here are some examples
of the type of event:
• Story Circles in people’s homes
• Public open-microphone performances
of stories
• Exhibitions of stories in public
venues as image, text, and audio-visual materials
• Conferences discussing the issues
of storywork
• Open houses for organizations with
a life-story sharing component
The theme of the
2009 Campaign? Journeys Toward Justice, The organizers are also calling on
participating organizations and the public to share 1000 stories (as text,
image, audio and video) related to Human Rights and Immigrant Rights as part of
the online campaign. The project website, www.ausculti.org, will link to the stories from
participating websites including StoriesforChange.net, the Hub at Witness.org,
storycenter.org and museudapessoa.net.
Dorian Haarhoff has once more agreed
to partner with us to create a capacity building event for story
hosts. The Day coincides with the Franschoek
Literary Festival.
Other story
telling resources (a selected few)
Dorian Haarhoff's
site
http://dorianhaarhoff.com/
Story Corps (interview your loved
ones) http://www.storycorps.net/
Storytelling – passport to the 21st
century http://www.creatingthe21stcentury.org/Intro5-Why-storytelling.html
All people, black, white, brown, red, and
yellow, are like each other when they tell stories.
--Andrew Lang,
preface to The Brown Fairy Book, 1904
4. Somerset West
Living and Loving the Questions
R190
Sat 23 May 14.30 – 18.00
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the
questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a
very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you
because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live
everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then you will gradually, without
noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer (Rilke)
What are the great questions of our lives?
In this workshop we explore these though writing and story telling.
contact me for venue
5.
Somerset West (Helderberg
Nature Reserve)
Another
Great Metaphor Hunt: A Picnic for
Therapists and Other Healers
R270
Sun 24 May 10.00 - 14.30
Raise the stone and you will find me, cleave the wood and I am there.
(Gospel of
If you go down to the woods today, You’re in for a big surprise
for you’ll uncover metaphors in every possible guise…
Picnic time
for Therapists… Metaphors are everywhere, open to the
eyes that seek them. Especially in nature.
This hunt (rich in story, words, images and
symbols) aims to enrich the personal and work experience of those involved in
the healing professions. It will help you create a more dynamic practice and
widen your repertoire of skills. The feasting part of the therapicnic will also be structured around metaphor.
Bring writing materials and a light
lunch to share.
Playing with metaphor in the context of
a picnic and treasure hunt sounds like an opportunity to become curious again…,
to free fall with words ....to ignite creative participation in our
clinical work. (LIzbe Vos)
Bookings: Jacqui Zaina - 021 850 0420 or 084 377 5730 jacqui@zainainvest.com
6.
Journaling Workshop
Make your life a
work of art
Sun 31 May 10.00 - 16.00 R450
Embrace Your Past, Create Your future, Live
Life Now through Narrative Play
with
Dorian Haarhoff and Pauline van Zyl
Is
there not a certain satisfaction that natural limits are set to the life of the
individual,
so that at its conclusion it may appear
as a work of art? (Albert Einstein)
Pauline will
guide you to go within and find the true authentic you, while Dorian will guide
you through your imagination and creativity to find the words to tell your
story.
Pauline van Zyl who will join me is a
facilitator who studied the arts of Reiki, Crystals, Metaphysical Science,
Metaphysical Life Coaching, AD/HD Life Coaching through VEMISA, Living ADDventure and other institutions. Passionate about life
and grateful for the adventure this journey brings about.
Venue: The
Villa Pascal Theatre 28 van der Westhuizen
Street Durbanville Tel: 0219752566 Bookings: Pauline
072 220 6204, paulinem1@vodamail.co.za
or Dorian 0828736802
7. Egoli
Living and Loving the Questions R220
Sun 7 June 14.30 – 18.00
see info for this workshop above (Somerset West 23 May entry) contact me for venue
Ongoing
activities (some
repeat info)
Development Work
Last year the Storywell team I co-ordinate completed a UNICEF project
training caregives who look after vulnerable children
in story telling and listening. I’ve written this up as a resource book (see
site for details)
Corporate Work
Story work in organisational development is
growing. Stories shape our world of work – leadership, training, mergers,
marketing, product development, client services,
strategic planning. Stories influence organisations (the
larger body) as much as they do individuals (the smaller body). Unconscious
stories can sabotage an organisation. Stories made
conscious can save it. When employees’ stories are heard and received, they feel valued as an asset and are more present at
work. They feel a sense of belonging and begin to use their initiative.
Speaking Engagements
Be still when
you have nothing to say but when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got
to say, and say it hot."( D. H. Lawrence)
During 2009
I’m building up this aspect of my work.
Anywhere: Autumnal Stories at Home
This season I will be a storying
for groups of friends…an evening, wine, cheese, breads and tales for the
telling. Any rhyme or reason – birthdays, TV fatigue, the art of conversation, sommer. Gather a group for Autumn.
Mentoring
Walk with me in words. You put on one shoe, I
wear the other. Memoirs, mindfulness adventures, work in the word… genres
tumbling out of folk on the one-on-one path. Such a richness
of story here.
5-
Email Courses: Writer’s/ Poet’s Voice Course – one-on–one
tuition
Some folks respond to structure, assignments… if so, ask and it shall be
negotiated. Here is one possibility: Do you love reading and writing? This one-on-one apprenticeship aims to
take you further up the writing mountain and offer you a deeper engagement with
your craft. This course is structured in the nature of an ongoing conversation
with a few chosen writers or poets, (ancestral or alive) with me and with
yourself. I encourage you to keep a journal to record your observations and
reflections.
Books
Want to source a 100 stories? The Halo and
the Noose, the Power of story-telling and story listen in Business Life
with Graham Williams is out out out
through Pat Grayson of Graysonian Press. We run corporate
story workshops based on our book. R179.
A Book Review (repeated from April)
John Paisley, MD of the Coaching Centre, www.thecoachingcentre.co.za writes:
This book offers pure enjoyment of
reading the numerous stories, and practical application for all who work with
people – coaches, facilitators, OD practitioners, HR, managers and leaders, AND
this is not an instruction book. It is something to dip into and become
submerged, because reading the stories takes you places, stimulates the
imagination. The learnings are not laboured – most times you need to develop your own
conclusions, metaphors, meanings and interpretations. “I see story as a
honeycomb, a structure to hold the honey” (Quote from a workshop participant)
Enjoy the chapter on story
listening in which the authors make the case for deep listening, creating space
for listening, listening to others and following the threads. Some wonderful
stories are told in the chapter titled “Five creatures and a blue guitar:
Coaching”, which is followed by a chapter on Mindfulness, “Authentic connection
is the core of quality relationship and mindfulness is a practice that opens and
depends on our capacities for connection” Following the launch of this book,
Graham and Dorian are planning a series of Master Classes to dialogue the use
of stories in organizations – watch this space!
For orders: from the authors or
Graysonian Press Inspirational
books that change the world
www.graysonian.com
+27 11 6462956 or 0836101113
Writer-sites and
News (see site news on my web. see new web
address dorianhaarhoff.com The longer old one is linked to it.
May you act on your desire to tell, write and read.
Dorian
PS Thank you to all those who pass on this letter.
Dr Dorian Haarhoff
021 855 3937 / 082 873 6802/ fax 086 511 4751
http://dorianhaarhoffwriter.homestead.com
and dorianhaarhoff.com