May/June 2010
Writing Newsletter
Re-story
and re-imagine your Life and Work
Thus I, gone forth as spiders
do
In spider's web a truth discerning,
Attach one silken thread to you
For my returning.( E.B. White)
Dear writer, storyteller, reader, word watchers…
This month we follow the spider theme as a metaphor for
our writing, spinning of yarns, our connection, and shared myths. As children
we probably encountered Miss Muffet and ‘said the
spider to the fly’... Spiderman... and later Walter Scott’s cautionary "Oh
what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice
to deceive." And now we surf the world
wide web.
I have an illustrated book, Arachne Speaks, which
tells, in poetry, the Greek myth how a mortal woman challenged the goddess,
Athena, to a weaving competition and who "Cast to the four winds my
stories thread." One version tells of the contest:
…they both set up their looms and stretched out on them
the delicate warp…, their skilled hands moving backward and forward like
lightning… weaving all the colors that are made by the merchants--purple of the
oyster and every other dye, each shading into each… (as
in a rainbow), between each color there is a great difference, but still
between each an insensible shading. And in their work they wove in stiff
threads of gold… ancient stories by pictures.
Arachne wove perfectly, the foibles of the Gods and
Athena in jealous anger ripped the tapestry off her loom and struck her on her
head with a shuttle. Arachne, who would rather die by her own hand, slung a
rope around a branch to hang herself. Athena turned her into a spider;
"Blown on ceaseless winds/ my thread uncurled/ round a changing world/…my
descendents thrive / weaving our story again and again." (Text Kate Hovey)
And from
Once there were no stories in the world. Anansi went to Nyame, the sky
god, to get them. In exchange Anansi’s tasks were to
bring back Onini the Python, Osebo
the Leopard, the Mmoboro Hornets, and Mmoatia, the dwarf. Anansi
captured these creatures through trickery. Python agreed to be tied to a palm
branch to measure his length. Anansi helped leopard
out of a hole with his sticky web. Anansi enticed the
hornets into a calabash and sealed the opening. He caught the dwarf by covering
a doll with sticky gum. So he became keeper of the sky god’s stories.
Such myths lie beneath our writing like deep underground
lakes with the mist rising and seeping into our texts. Here is the first verse
of one of my recent poems, ‘Story Spider:’
a story spins a spider web
twenty times its size.
touch the edge of silver thread
and the form trembles,
setting the body, mid-centre
or huddling on the edge, vibrating.
spider silk reels from glands
in abdomen land where breath begins.
And then there is Walt Whitman’s
"A Noiseless Patient Spider" who
launch'd
forth filament, filament, filament out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you O my soul…venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the
ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
So, too, may your web of word tremble.
Dorian’s
April / May Storyshops/ Writeshops/Conversations
If you want
any of these workshops in your area speak speak.
To respond to two oft asked questions –
No workshop is ever the same. No one jumps into the same
river twice.
I invite people to read their writing only if they wish to –noooo
pressure
1.
The Joy of Stories: Engaging Body Mind and Spirit
Tues 4 May 19.45 -21.30 R110
The first task is re-storying the adult... in order to restore the imagination
to its primary place in consciousness in each of us. (James Hillman)
When we share experiences, plans or dreams we tell
stories. This evening aims to enlarge our understanding of how we can grow
though stories. A story is a store-house of the collective wisdom. Stories
start a conversation with ourselves, with others and
with our community. They help us to be more conscious. To
heal. Stories move us from stuckness. Induce
change. Offer us new ways of being, Offer alternatives and engage.
All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or
tell a story about them.( Dinessen)
Venue: Green Power House,
Contact : Diana sundancer@sundancer.co.za
082 300 8117
2.
Rekindling the Fire: An Evening
to revive our Love of Stories R60
Thurs 6 May 19.00 - 21.00
Ever since I heard my first
love story I have been looking for you (Rumi)
For content see 3b below
Everybody is welcome for everybody has a story.
Venue:
Cost: (includes a bowl of homemade soup)
Contact: Norah Beukes 041 586 0604 / 082 684 8869
3. East Cape -
Story Jamboree
Fri 7 – Sun 9 May - 4 activities – book for one… book
for all
Bedford… surrounded by the Kaga Mountains, Bushmen
Koekoe frontier country., 150 km
from Port Elizabeth …is
calling curious folk, lovers of life, healers, artists, seekers. coaches, teachers, magicians, tricksters, ecologists
gardeners, come one… come all to play. story and raise
your story and writing IQ.
a .
Rekindling the Fire: An Evening to revive our Love of Stories
Fri 7 May 18.30 – 21.00 R30
I know that there is room
in me for a second huge and timeless life (Rilke)
During this interactive evening we enter the world of
story to recover our creativity, zest, energy and passion. Snacks,
wine, get to know each other… an intro to the weekend
Venue: Die Ou Waenhuis.
b. Writing Yourself Alive: A Life Story
Workshop
Sat 8 May 09.45 – 15.30 R395 (Organic farm lunch included)
We are all endowed as
story-tellers. There is a mystic in every one of us.
Writing is about a conversation with yourself
and with others. An exchange of energies. It is a
skill drawn from attention and openness – an organic process rather than a
talent. In this workshop we explore our innate creativity and imagination and
find the words to tell our stories… to make them more alive.
Venue: Albertvale Farm. Exquisite edible garden. One of our Garden Festival show gardens.
c.Bosman &Boerekos: Fundraising Eve for Child
Welfare/Adelaide Hospital
Sat 8 May 19.00 – R130
It is not the story that
counts. It's the way you tell it (Oom Schalk Lourens)
Join us for an evening of fun, laughter, food & wine, with Herman Charles Bosman
stories Listen to ‘Oom Schalk’ narrate
stories of love, leopards, peach brandy, concertinas and psalm singing. An unforgettable evening. Kaleidoscope Kafe and friends
provide Boerekos Bedford style. Cash
Bar.
Venue: The Old Gaol. A
stunning, stunning venue..
d. The Great Metaphor Hunt A Picnic
for all who love Nature
Sun 9 May 10.30 – 15.30 R375
(Picnic lunch provided)
If you go down to the woods to today… Picnic
time… 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 your experience.
Venue: Old Oak Tree. Where Bedfiddians traditionally picnic-ed in the old days.
Details: Kim van Niekerk 046
685 0680/ 082 775 5178. kim@bedfordproperties
or Jan Lister (Wrankmore) 082 871 7715 jan@dragonflydell.com (Jan runs Kaleidoscope Kafe and is involved in Kaggaberg
Kraft centre)
Accommo: from
self-catering at R100 ppn to 4-star accom at R495 ppn. visit the Bedford Websites www.bedford.co.za and www.bedford-gardens.co.za.
We are compiling a list of people who will offer homestays
at around R175 pp.
3.
International Day of Sharing Life Stories - Writing Yourself Alive: A Life Story Workshop
Sun 16 May 14.00 – 17.00 R150 (pensioner and student
discounts)
Contact: Kirsten Pearson: 082
936 1898 kirsten@lightyard.net
Venue: St Cyprians School,
"Telling
stories as a lure to the future is an ancient strategy of sages, philosophers
and great religious leaders." - Diarmuid O'Murchu
4.
Corporate workshops via Quality Life
a. Storytelling in Organisations:
Leading Change through the Art of Narrative
Mon 24 May
"There can be few talents more important to managerial success
than knowing how to tell a good story." Michael Hattersley, Harvard Management Updates.
b. Creative Corporate Communication: A Writing Skills and Ideas Workshop
Tues 25 May
I’m sorry this business communication is so long. I didn’t have time to
write you a short one.
To book: Lizzy Mafalo
(011) 880-9749
lizzy@qualityife.co.za
5. West Coast Langebaan
area
a. Bosman (oom
Scalk) Story evening
Sat 12 June 19,00
b. Place, People and Personal Stories: A West Coast Writing
Workshop
Sun 13 June 09 .00 –15.30 R360
Come, and celebrate living along the West Coast. Write
your stories of nature, characters and memories. Write of the rich fossil past.
Find the writer inside you. Explore your creativity and imagination and learn
how to be at home with words. Participants can write in English or Afrikaans
(Elma will offer input) Beginner writers are welcome. Elma Pollard joins me.
Elma Pollard kom
haar deel haar passie vir
die aanwending van die skryfkuns
om ons
samelewing te inspireer om meer
kreatief en bewus van die aarde te leef.
Sy lei eko-skrywers op in
‘n kursus "Write for Earth" en is die skepper van ‘n groen publikasie, The Green Times (kyk na
www.thegreentimes.co.za)
Bring a light lunch to share.
To book and for venue: Pippa Haarhoff
022 766 1606 pippah@iafrica.com
6. Somerset West
Sat 26 June 09.30 – 13.00
How to be at ease with words a
U3A (University of the Third Age) workshop – for U3A members. Elders teaching elders. Free… venue TBA: a private
home. Any offers?
7. Stellenbosch ,
Beginning Again: An Evening of Poetry
R80 includes a glass of wine
Sat 19 June 19.00 – 21.00
I believe that poetry is a
primal impulse within us all. I believe we are all capable of it and … that a
small, often ignored corner of us yearns to try it (Stephen
Fry)
For many of us poetry was made difficult at school. We
had to guess the meaning of obscure texts. Yet we can all enjoy reading and
writing poetry.
This evening is about recovering this simplicity and
opening ourselves to the joy poetry can bring. Poetry is another way of paying
attention, listening and observing the world. With Wordsworth, ‘we see into the
life of things.’ Poetry opens us to our creativity and imagination. It
cultivates a sense of belonging. I encourage participants to bring and share
poems they love.
Venue:
Reaching
into Winter
8. Walvis Bay/Swakop Story Jamboree
Fri 2 – Sun 4 July
The following workshops will be on offer (details in June
letter)
a. Inside
the Sentence: A Writing workshop for Schools
This experiential creative writing workshop encourages
students to improve their writing skills. The workshop covers these aspects:
·
reading other writers
·
writing as alignment
·
finding your voice
·
being at home with words
b. Rekindling the Fire: An Evening to revive our Love of
Stories
I know that there is room
in me
for a second huge and timeless life (Rilke)
During this interactive evening we enter the world of
story to recover our creativity, zest, energy and passion. We allow the
imagination to lead our search for a myth to sustain and transform us. We
consider how attention to life stories and fiction, so rich in image, symbol
and rhythm, can release us from traps and create a more abundant life.
Curious folk, lovers of life, healers,
artists, seekers. coaches,
teachers, magicians, tricksters, ecologists gardeners, come one come all and
raise your story IQ.
c. Writing Yourself Alive: A Life Story Workshop
We are all endowed as
story-tellers. There is a mystic in every one of us.
Writing is about a conversation with yourself
and with others. An exchange of energies. It is a
skill drawn from attention and openness – an organic process rather than a
talent. In this workshop we explore our innate creativity and imagination and
find the words to tell our stories… to make them more alive. We travel in
search of our personal myths - the stories that energise
our lives. The workshop also focuses on how to pay attention, be present in
your writing and engage the reader as a creative partner. And source your bliss.
You will explore how to
·
align yourself with the one inside who
knows how to write
·
start and sustain that conversation
·
be thrilled by words
·
create a first draft
·
breathe life into the words and let words
breathe life into you
Bring writing materials, old magazines, scissors, a glue stick.
d. Bosman & Boerekos evening
It is not the story that
counts. It's the way you tell it (Oom Schalk Lourens)
You are invited to join us for an evening of fun,
laughter and great food & wine, with Herman Charles Bosman
stories told by Dorian. Listen to ‘Oom Schalk’
narrate stories of love, leopards, peach brandy, concertinas and psalm
singing as you savour traditional South African
cuisine. And sip a farmer’s thumb of mampoer.
e. Stories, Faith and Belief Engaging Body Mind and Spirit
The first task is re-storying the adult... in order to restore the imagination
to its primary place in consciousness in each of us. (James Hillman)
When we share experiences, plans or dreams we tell
stories. This evening aims to enlarge our understanding of how we can grow
though stories. A story is a store-house of the collective wisdom. Stories
start a conversation with ourselves, with others and
with our community. They help us to be more conscious. To
heal. Stories move us from stuckness. Induce
change. Offer us new ways of being. Grow us spiritually.
Stories
·
motivate us, raise awareness and stimulate
thinking,
·
offer
alternatives and engage.
·
offer a structure to hold and place what is
happening
·
open us to lateral thinking and to imaginative
solutions
·
accompany our healing
contact Theresa
Potgieter tjp@mweb.com.na 0
264 64 205 735
9.
Beginning Again: An Evening of Poetry
R70 includes a glass of wine
Sat 17July 19.00 – 21.00
I believe that poetry is a
primal impulse within us all. I believe we are all capable of it and … that a
small, often ignored corner of us yearns to try it (Stephen
Fry)
See blurb for 7
Venue: TBA
Ongoing
activities
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) I’m building up this aspect
of my work.
Development Work
During 2010 I will be again be working alongside Dr Laura
Campbell of the HSRC facilitating training of home-based caregivers and
grannies - - through stories and creative play - who care for children who are
dying.
Bosman and
Nasrudin under starlight
This summer season I will be a story-ing
…an evening, wine, cheese, breads and tales for the telling. This kind of
evening is a bit like the old days -
singing around the piano at home. -Except I use stories and creative
activities to get folk interacting and to prompt conversations. Themes…
Chinese, South African,
Mentoring – one-on-one (repeat
info)
"You make me sound like myself" (various
clients.) 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.
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.
Corporate Work
The Halo and the Noose, the Power of story-telling and
story listening in Business Life R195
Want to source a 100 plus stories? co-written
with Graham Williams (Graysonian Press). We run
corporate story workshops based on our book. Roma Howard, a training practitioner in
leadership and team effectiveness, writes:
I was utterly captivated by The Halo and the Noose, and
now regularly recommend it when I am facilitating my Train the Trainer &
Presentation Skills courses. I am also experimenting with more use of
stories in my training, and loving the fresh slant it brings to my education
role (a real "VitB-Injection" after 20
years of doing what I do !)
For orders: from the authors or Graysonian
Press Inspirational books that change the world www.graysonian.com 0836101113
We've established a website in order to offer The Halo and the Noose as an eBook, and
to create a Member's facility for those who are serious about their
story-telling and listening prowess in business. Members can access various
resources, audio streams, article archives, their own newsletter,
questionnaires, communicate with the authors and will get ongoing offers.
The site is http://www.haloandnoose.co.za (The .com version will be up soon).
In response to a growing demand we will very soon be
offering an eWorkbook,
discounted to members (Story
Matters @ Work) that contains many new stories and exercises
covering elevator, personal, business issue, corporate, crucial conversation
and other stories.
CD out: More Stories: Stories from
Some fifty plus stories to entertain, tease
, stimulate creativity, prompt discussion… … R100 plus postage
And out during April….
The Stone on the Stomach - a
Poetry CD with 30 of my poems old and new read by me and by my son Dominic -
R120
Friends at Work and Play
Aneta Shaw:
Creative relaxation in a small group context
Enhance personal growth and honour
your soul through creative techniques. Aneta
is a clinical psychologist and hypnotherapist, has
integrated years of experience and life in other countries with ancient ways of
being in this world.
Aneta 082 686
8118 or 021 8555415 aneta.shaw@vodamail.co.za
Peter Fox : Embracing the Grief
Response at the Time of Life’s Surrender
A Workshop for Clergy, Pastoral workers and Counsellors
An opportunity to understand the possibilities
of a healing and transformative dialogue happening at the time of death.
Presenters: Rev Peter Fox, Rev Nicky Ing
and Mrs Chris Barry
2 Dates:
Tues 4 May or
Fri 4 June: 9h00 – 13h00
Venue:
Cost: R280.00 p/p cash, EfT or cheque (Refreshments, handouts included)
Peter Fox is an ordained Presbyterian Minister seconded
to St Luke’s Hospice as the Spiritual Care Co-ordinator.
He is the co- author of "Dying-A Practical Guide for the Journey"
2005. He runs a private practice working in loss, grief, marriage and
spirituality.
RSVP by the 10
April for the May course /10 May for the June course
to Olwyne
021- 797 5335 Ext 111
olwynek@stlukes.co.za
Richard Rohr: Where you are is where I will meet you.
(from Penny
Day)
May 4th, 5th, 6th
Fr. Richard Rohr, American theologian, will be conducting
a three day workshop - an overview of the spiritual journey, its goals, its
traps, its methods, and its reliance on divine grace.
Call Penny Day on 082 77 11 952, or email pjday@iafrica.com
Venue: Schoenstatt Retreat, Constantia,
Here is my favourite extract
from one of Richard Rohr’s books, Hope Against
Darkness:
Imaginal
knowing, the only way that the unconscious can move into consciousness, happens
through fantasy through dreams, through symbols… and through well-told stories.
It happens through poetry… the words that create the image that in turn creates
a new awareness - that is in us already."
Writer-sites and News - see site
news on my web.
Writing For Magazines:
Absolutely Everything You Need To Know by Catriona
Ross, a freelancer based in the
May the silken threads we send forth return to us
Dorian
PS Thank you to all those
who circulate this letter.
Dr Dorian Haarhoff
021 855 3937 / 082 873 6802/ fax 086 511 4751
http://dorianhaarhoffwriter.homestead.com and dorianhaarhoff.com