November
Writing Newsletter
STOP PRESS: Hogsback East Cape– Writing, Reflecting, Being
Mon 24 – Fri 28 Nov (Mon afternoon to Fri after
lunch)
Celebrate the joy of being alive… a five day
extravaganza…even stood on Hogsback? Join East Cape poets Cathal Lagan and
Brain Walter and
In 1794 a small boy underwent surgery for a tumour (No antibiotics
or anaesthetics.). To distract his attention he was told a tale so intriguing
that he later avowed he had felt no discomfort. The boy was Jacob Grimm. ( George Burns 101Healing Stories.)
Dear writer
I was at a UNICEF conference last week – creativity as part of
psycho-social support for caregivers and children in the HIV/AIDS context. We
presented the Storywell project I co-ordinate where
we trained caregivers (Upington and
I journaled around this question in
relation to my art and craft - stories:
It seems I cause less potential harm working in story. It protects
me from my own ghosts, the chaos of out there, unconscious interference. It’s
more accommodating of ironies and ambiguities, offering space to balance the
sobering Lear reminder,
” Oft with the best intent we incur the worst.”
Stories place authority in the heart of the listener. Their
structure offers us a spacious container. They offer us protection for only we
know where/how the story has touched or challenged us and we can share or
remain silent on this discovery or discomfort. In touching us on a subtle
level, stories speak to inherent ancestor knowledge for we come for a long line
of tellers and listeners.
We now remember (as opposed to dismember) and so through trance,
invoke transformation from within. Since stories work through layers and
symbols, we can accept what we are ready to receive and leave the rest for
another day. And so, as King Lear suggests, “Men must endure their coming
hither even as their going hence. The readiness is all.” Stories open us to
this ripeness, to presence, to mystery.
The other projects involved making a hero’s book, and mapping
our bodies (REPSSI www.repssis.org) art therapy (Firemaker, lesleybester@iafrica.com) and doll/soft toy making - ‘Make a doll, make a difference’ (www.uthandoproject.org) And arising
out of the doll space, a poem arrived:
Doll Project
hello
dolly, this is Dorian dolly,
it’s so
nice to have you back
where
you belong.
she
shares a project
where
rural women craft
dolls as
gifts and income.
from
her workshopping bag
we
choose a doll or soft toy.
I adopt a
cross –
billygoat/wildebees,
grey
and blue wooled,
button
eyed, floppy horns,
stuffed
with cotton wads.
the
creature rests on my lap.
I imagine this
story gran
snipping,
scissors grunting,
through
the scrap of felt,
butting
the bunting
with
her thumbs.
fingers
shape innards.
she
sews on a chair
against a
sun gather wall
with
other wrinkled women.
a
bead eye on her thread,
her
hand dips in rhythm,
a
monkey defleeing her young.
each
stitch a kiss, each ball
a
clew to who she is.
I, undolled in boyhood,
watched a
senile granny
wandering
the house,
the
other ghosted,
years
dead before
a
cotton womb
and sperm stitch
created
me.
I, who strung
an
older sister’s teddy
from
the light cord
in
blind revenge,
who
gave my daughter
Gladly, the
cross-eyed bear,
am
now undone.
I, who know
and tell,
to
tribes of women,
stories of
dolls in pockets,
that
rise alive in secret nights
and
given sustenance,-
bread
and beer -
succour
the girl,
separate
kernel from chaff
and
help her outwit the witch
who
smacks her lips
waiting
for failure,
now
succumb to this soft shaman
pawing my
ground and being,
sprung
from an ancient’s patience,
clicking in
needle tongue
born
now in this circle.
and as
I sit
in
buzzing silence,
dolour
rising,
Billy Wildebees and I
exchange
places.
I nest on its
animal lap,
sigh,
say hello and
know
the touch of enough
in a
heart stitched whole.
Dorian
Oct 08
Dorian’s Notember
Workshops
Stellenbosch
Increase
your Joy: Read Like a Writer - Write like a Reader
28 Oct (6-8pm) R65 includes a glass of wine
or juice.
Attention closet writers, lovers of words,
book clubbers, book lovers. The books we love are our first teachers. They
offer private lessons in the art of writing. I offer interactive
talks on how to enhance your writing/reading pleasure and enrich your writing /
bookclub evenings. We consider how readers read, and
how writers read other writers.
Egoli
Imagine Life (Coral Wilder) invites you to
a Workshop series that I’m facilitating
Contact coralw@telkomsa.net 011 622-8793 083 450-9148 for venue and costs.
Discovering
Meaning through Creative Writing:
‘Finding
Meaning though Words’
Sun 16 Nov 14.00
-18.00
I
know that there is room in me for a second huge and timeless life (Rilke)
Explore the meaning that is unique to you in your life, through the
art of creative writing.
You will be guided in a process that will help you ask questions
about the purpose of your existence. You will explore your creativity and
imagination and find words to tell your story… to infuse that story with
meaning and make it more alive. The
workshop also focuses on how to be present in our writing and engage readers
and ourselves as part of a great conversation that opens into mystery.
First South African weekend of Sharing Life Stories (14 – 16
November 2008)
Louise van Rhyn ( Movement
for Sharing Life Stories in
Dear people who are committed to strengthening the fabric of South
African society
Thank you for all the messages from people who are already
committed to arranging and hosting story sharing gatherings during this
weekend. It is exciting to see how many people are responding to the call to
action. We know from experience that stories strengthen relationships and we
are grateful for the opportunity to be part of a movement to strengthen
relationships in our beautiful country.
…we are keen to create capacity building opportunities on Friday,
14th November (to help us… develop our skills as story tellers
and hosts for story sharing gatherings)…
Dorian has agreed to partner with us to create a capacity
building event for story hosts.
Please let me know if you are planning to host a capacity
building event or story sharing gathering in your local community. I
would be delighted to send news … to the entire network. News about your local
story sharing gathering will warm our heart as it shows the reach and impact of
the movement.
Dorian is also putting together a resource for people who will be
hosting story gathering in their local community (and who may not be able to
join the session on 14 Nov.) (kerrie@symphonia.net / 021 – 913 3507).
Please forward this
information to anybody in your network / community who may be interested to
join us for this event. It promises to be a special experience
|
You are invited to join us for a unique opportunity to experience the
power of story telling Date: Friday, 14th
November 2008 Time: 9:00 – 13:00 Venue: Once Upon a Life…The Power of Story-Telling 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 and prepare you for
the Movement for Life Stories weekend (14-16 Nov) You’ll emerge with stories
in your heart and on your lips. Cost: R300
per person (thanks to Please let
Kerrie Brand know if you will be joining us (kerrie@symphonia.net / 021 – 913 3507). She will
send you banking details and directions to the venue |
Ongoing
activities
Anywhere: Spring Stories at Home
This season I have been a storying for
groups of friends…an evening, a fire, wine, cheese, breads and tales for the
telling. Any rhyme or reason – birthdays, TV fatigue, the art of conversation, sommer. Gather a group for Spring.
Mentoring
/ Email Courses
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-
Some folks respond to structure, assignments… if so, ask and it shall be
negotiated.
Poetry for Publication (PFP)
Bob
Commin and I guide you in writing and selecting your poems for a solo self
publication
Books
Corals
Publishers is publishing one of my children’s stories, The Water Diviner.
Should be out by Christmas.
The
Halo and the Noose, the Power of story-telling and story listen in Business
Life with Graham Williams will be out in Dec. Pat Grayson of Graysonian Press is publishing it. Watch this space for
launches in Egoli,
I am SO excited
about this publication and even more excited about having this kind of resource
available........ (Louise van Rhyn - BSc / MBA / DMAN (Doctorate
in Organizational Change), MD of Symphonia, lecturer at
For 2009
Conscious Living Diary with quotes, poems, recipes, play-dates and
gardening-by-the-moon tips contact linda@stillpoint.co.za
Workshops/Literary Events
with other Folk (repeat info)
Bob
Commin (poet, creativity coach ,
storyteller and pastor) runs poetry courses/events in the Southern Suburbs (
Writer-sites and News (see previous letters for other site news on my web)
Thank
you Inette Taylor for passing on news of Robert Genn’s free twice weekly letter .. Aimed at
creative souls, a recent one featured Rumi. painterskeys.com robertgenn@painterskeys.ccsend.com
…and thanks to Vanessa Bower who sent me an article from Doug
Lipman “Is storytelling the technology of the future?” In 1984 a friend of Lipman’s observed of the word
processor. "This is the first form
of writing that has the flexibility of oral language." etips@storytellingcoach.com. check
it out?
May tales intrigue you.
Dorian
PS Thank you to all those
who fly this letter into the winds and waters.
Dr Dorian
Haarhoff
021 855 3937 / 082 873 6802/ fax 086 511 4751
http://dorianhaarhoffwriter.homestead.com