She said, “A great storyteller has a talent for compelling narrative and an eidetic memory. And a good feel of the listeners.” So said Megan ap Owen, our Storyteller in residence for this Winter. It’s a tradition that we’ve been doing for centuries now — a storyteller that we knew is worth hearing and learning new stories from is invited to stay here for a Winter. They get room and board, plus a healthy compensation as well.
Each Storyteller is asked to do a project, something that will live on long after they leave the Estate. Some created stories based on the history of the Estates, others taught folks how to treat the life of the Estate as an ongoing story.
So ap Owen settled into room, came to the eventide meal, and spent a few weeks just getting used to the social patterns of our community. She also spent quite sometime talking to as many individuals as she could do. It was fascinating to watch her working her way softly from me to Finch, the small piper that works for Gus, to Svetlana, Ingrid’s sister who’s a refugee from war torn Ukraine. She seemed to be composing a map of the social life of the Estate.
Her project would be to create an oral history of the Estate as there hadn’t been one to date. Oh the Journals kept by, well, lots of folks documented the Estate well, but they didn’t get to the soul of this place, call it the cultural terroir.
She enlisted the Several Annie’s, the Library apprentices, to gather as many interviews as possible. There’s roughly forty people on the Estate in Spring through Fall seasons when Gus, the Estate Head Gardener, beefs up his staff. She and they created a complete history of the Estate as perceived by the inhabitants here. It was indeed a story that was amazing as the oral histories found details that being here we just overlooked because it was just part of the background here. She credited The Several Annies for their brillance in interviewing.
It was every bit as fascinating as Ursula Le Guin’s Always Coming Hone as a oral history of an entire community. Kudos to everyone involved!
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