Porch stories at Lakeside 2018

There’s a 20 year old movement of communities and neighbors getting together to tell stories.  The book, The Moth, has become very popular and many communities are forming around the concept of the old time story telling as a social event.

“The storytelling phenomenon the Moth — with a Peabody Award-winning radio show on more than 450 stations around the world and a hugely popular podcast — is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The Moth was founded in 1997 by the writer George Dawes Green — its name comes from his memories of growing up in St. Simons Island, Ga., where neighbors would gather late at night on a friend’s porch to tell stories and drink bourbon as moths flew in through the broken screens and circled the porch light. It has since grown into what its artistic director, Catherine Burns, calls “a modern storytelling movement” that has inspired “tens of thousands of shows worldwide in places as diverse as Tajikistan, Antarctica, and Birmingham, Ala.” “ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/03/books/review-the-moth-presents-all-these-wonders.html

Last summer, a Lakesider, M.A., decided Lakeside needed a way to capture some of the flavor of this national movement.  The first meeting of Porch Stories which was planned for one of the large gracious porches of our little community was rained out, so we met at the Lakeside Women’s Club—and had practically standing room only! I believe there were three last summer and four this summer. M.A. has her rules—pithy, no more than 15 minutes, created a significant change in your life or beliefs and no questions from the audience to interrupt the flow.

On Monday, August 20, my husband was one of the story tellers, speaking to 115 friends and neighbors at the Lakeside Women’s Club.  Several days later I’m still being stopped on the street with comments and questions. He told about his first year of going to Haiti on a short term mission trip and how that changed his life. The next night, all the story tellers from 2017 and 2018 met for a reception so all could get to know each other.  It was an amazing gathering, and we caught up on three stories we’d missed while we were in Columbus one week this summer and had an opportunity to discuss the “rest of the story.”

Our Ireland Trip from S-T

Sanachi: Irish story telling with singing was our entertainment Saturday evening September 15 at Brod Tullaroan. These guys were fabulous, we participated, and ended the evening with a cup of Irish coffee.






He also quoted poetry and Shakespeare.

Shopping in Blarney: About half the tour group went into Blarney to shop while the rest of us had a day of leisure in Ennis on September 13. They were delayed getting back because of a traffic accident, so we waited dinner and all had a late supper together.

Thomastown: Just outside on the banks of the River Arrigle, stands Jerpoint Abbey, a well preserved Cistercian monastic ruins. It was self-sustaining, so there were many buildings to suit the needs of the community. The wind was brisk and a drizzle started and my cold was coming on, so the carvings and crosses were starting to all look alike by this time, but it really was a magnificent place.







Travellers, Irish: It didn't seem appropriate to take photos, but they are an ancient people, sometimes called Roma or Gypsies, which travel in caravans. We did see small groups parked along the road with vans and trailers and laundry. When I googled the term I was surprised to see there are a lot of social workers and about 80 organizations making a living trying to fight for their civil rights and new regulations to protect them. If I might just editorialize a moment, I’d guess that if they want to preserve what's left of their culture they should dump the camp followers! They've made it a few thousand years without them. There are also Irish Travellers in the United States, having come here from Ireland in the 19th century, living in their own communities, but becoming ever more assimilated and middle-class moving from trailers to McMansions, old vans to new SUVs.