Festival Report

Well, I guess I have a lot to say today, so bear with me.

I got back Sunday night from the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough. AS soon as we took down the stuff in our tent on Sunday and managed to get it unloaded in the office I took off. I drive straight home, changed my shirt and went to church. It was a long day.

However, backing up to the previous Sunday... I was sitting with Haydn in my lap during church and she sneezed. In my face. No big deal- children often share unwanted bodily fluids and if you're going to be a good aunt you just deal with it.

The next morning I woke up with a scratchy throat.

Tuesday I left town to head to Jonesborough to get everything in place for Thursday night- my most immediate concern. There wasn't as much to do as I thought there would be. I spent a lot of time checking and re-checking lists. Thursday was very much the same. I checked the lists and arrived really early- still feeling rather icky and sporting a pretty strong cold... also, probably a fever... but I had a job to do.

The Concert went swimmingly. Bill was fabulous as were Larry Kelley and Hannah Wynne. Hannah was adorable. I was very excited to give her the opportunity to tell to such a large national crowd, and she was very excited to take advantage of it.

AS soon as the concert was over and we started to pack everything up it began to rain. It had been sweltering, but the rain cooled things off... and made it a bit miserable to get out of the tent.

The next morning I had NO voice. I don't mean I had just lost my voice- I mean it left me entirely. I could whisper a bit but apparently that's pretty much like yelling when you have laryngitis. So I spent the day with a little note on my nametag that said: "I can't talk :( "

I didn't really get to see any storytellers, except the ones that came into the tent. Nancy Donoval came in and talked to me about the excercize I participated in with Dan Yashinsky at the conference and made me feel even better about it- hard to explain.

The workshops that I had ben working on came out pretty well. There was a time discrepancy in the festival book and that was annoying- and I'm pretty sure that I know how it got in there- but it was dealt with.

Despite the general apprehension that I felt about going it was basically uneventful. I had worried about some work stuff that has been awkward lately, but I set up some boundaries before I left that were (shockingly) actually respected.

It was all a bit bittersweet, though. Two weeks ago I got a phone call from a principal I had interviewed with and she wants me to take over a 5th grade class starting in january for a teacher who will be going on maternity leave. I have a new job starting and I have a big job wrapping up the one that I have now.

I applied in metro at the begining of the summer when NSN started to get wonkier than willy, and I didn't really think anything would come of it once the semester started and I still didn't have a job, but I am really excited about starting something new. I'm also terrified- but more excited than anything.

This is a big change and I really feel sad leaving NSN- especially the other office staff and my new boss- our interim ED Nancy Kavanaugh, who is absolutely wonderful!

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ON a totally different note, I've found this wonderful Indie singer I love- Brandi Carlile- and I think you should all take a listen. She's got a really soulful, Janis Joplin-esque kind of sound that make me melt inside.