Richard Van Camp - Gather: Richard Van Camp on the Joy of Storytelling

2021 Richard Van Camp

All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any meansgraphic, electronic, or mechanicalwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping or placement in information storage and retrieval systems of any sort shall be directed in writing to Access Copyright.

Printed and bound in Canada at Imprimerie Gauvin. The text of this book is printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper with earth-friendly vegetable-based inks.

Cover and text design: Duncan Campbell, University of Regina Press

Copy editor: Rhonda Kronyk

Proofreader: Rachel Taylor

Cover art: Campfire in the Wilderness with the Northern Lights by iStockPhoto/ solarseven.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

title : Gather : Richard Van Camp on the joy of storytelling.

names : Van Camp, Richard, author.

series : Writers on writing (Regina, Sask.) ; 3.

description : Series statement: Writers on writing ; 3 | Includes bibliographical references.

identifiers : Canadiana (print) 2021011942X | Canadiana (ebook) 20210119446 | isbn 9780889778047 (hardcover) | isbn 9780889777002 (softcover) | isbn 9780889777026 ( pdf ) | isbn 9780889777040 ( epub )

subjects: lcsh: Storytelling. | lcsh : FolklorePerformance. | lcsh : StorytellingTechnique. | lcsh : StorytellingPsychological aspects.

classification : LCC GR72.3 .V36 2021 | DDC 808.5/43dc23

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

University of Regina Press, University of Regina Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, S4S 0A2 tel: (306) 585-4758 fax: (306) 585-4699 web: www.uofrpress.ca

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. / Nous reconnaissons lappui financier du gouvernement du Canada. This publication was made possible with support from Creative Saskatchewans Book Publishing Production Grant Program.

For our storytellers past, present and future, and for everyone that youre about to meet in Gather .

Bless you and the soul medicine that you weave. Your words have guided my life.

For my wife, Keavy, and our son, Edzazii. I love you with all I have and more.

I am grateful to every storyteller who I have mentioned in this celebration of family and community. You braid stories and hope together to blanket your listeners with peace and hope. I am grateful. We are grateful. Mahsi cho.

Writers on Writing

The Writers on Writing series offers readers witty, conversational reflections on a wide range of craft-related topics, as well as practical advice for writers and the writing life at any level. The books are accessible and handy, yet they dont shy away from the challenges of writing. Theyll become your friends. Think of sitting down in a coffee shop in conversation with a smart, friendly, veteran author. Part inspiration, part advice, part anecdotetotal oxygen after all those stuffy writing textbooks.

Jeanette Lynes, Series Editor

for more information on the Writers on Writing series, contact:

University of Regina Press

3737 Wascana Parkway

Regina, SK S4S 0A2

uofrpress@uregina.ca

www.uofrpress.ca

previous books in the Writers on Writing series:

Sleuth: Gail Bowen on Writing Mysteries , by Gail Bowen (2018)

Voice: Adam Pottle on Writing with Deafness by Adam Pottle (2019)

Contents

May your home be so holy with laughter

that wounded birds lean against your door to listen and heal.

my twitter and facebook posts, July 22, 2017

Hello! Ive Missed You

Edanete? Hello! How are you, Cousin? Ive missed you. Talk about living through hard times of late, hey, with the pandemic and all the uncertainty in the world? But weve learned a lot, too, in this major moment that we have called covid-19 , havent we, despite losses and fears and the lockdowns and the unknowns? Weve learned that we need each other, we need to reset, we need to reach out, that the best moments of your day can be standing on your porch, calling out to each other, singing to each other, the call and response of one another, the banging the drums made from family and friends with pots and pans to honour our first responders, and lifting up our voices together on porches or gathered around campfires. We have been telling stories since we began: its what makes us human and allows us to know one another.

So I want to share the joy of storytelling with you now, but I also want to share some techniques with you so you, too, can feel more ready and prepared to keep this tradition alive. Get ready for a very sweet and meaningful collection of some of the most affirming, inspiring, and empowering stories Ive ever had the pleasure of listening to. And then use my pro-tips on how you, too, can embrace the craft were all born with but maybe need to tweak a little as we grow! Each of the storytellers who appears in these pages has agreed to share their stories with us, so gather around, Cousins. Lets spread joy!

Mahsi cho and with deep respect,

Richard Van Camp

LETS GET COOKING AND SHARING

A Miracle Story

Lets start with something really powerful and let me also tell you something about myself that is important because it helps make me a good storyteller: I believe in miracles.

I really and truly do because Ive been a part of so many, and Ive had the joy of recording Elders and story-tellers whove lived them, witnessed them, recounted them.

I love asking people, Have you ever been a part of a miracle?

Im never disappointed when strangers, audience members, neighbours, and friends who I thought I knew everything about start sharing that they, in fact, have.

Miracles, to me, affirm that there is a divinity at play around us, and miracles remind me to trust the Great Mystery.

Want to read one shared by Tomson Highway in 2004? First, let me introduce you to Tomson with his short biographyin his own words!

Tomson is the son of legendary caribou hunter and world championship dogsled racer, Joe Highway. He was born in a snow bank in northern Manitoba (gods truth!), where it meets Saskatchewan and what is now called Nunavut, in December yet! Today, he makes his living writing plays, novels, and music. His best-known works, of many, are the plays, The Rez Sisters , Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing , and Rose, as well as the novel Kiss of the Fur Queen, which spent some weeks on Canadian bestseller lists. He divides his year equally between a cottage on a lake in northern Ontario (Sudbury area) and an apartment in the south of France. Trained extremely well at an early age as a classical pianist, he still plays the instrument, most frequently in cabaret form (his own words and music), sometimes solo, sometimes with singer and musician friends in Europe, North America, and elsewhere.

Tomsons story is the perfect welcome to Gather .

Enjoy

***

The Time I Fell to My Death and Three Guardian Angels Flew Down from Heaven and Caught Me in Their Arms

You know, I was told by an Elder once that, from the Native point of view, there is no death, only a going away. Death, in other words, is only a journey, a voyage to another dimension of existence, another level of energy, if you will. When you die, that is to say, you go to another place, another position, on that great circle that is the life, and the rhythm, of the universe, a place from which you will rise again in another form at some other time, whether as a blade of grass, a leaf on a tree, a bird, or even something as simple as a ray of sunlight that falls on a naked human arm, a gust of wind, a rhythm, or a certain spark, an electrical bolt of pure energy. Which is why this Earth that we live on is, in and of itself, a miracle, a place of magic, a sacred space. Something like that. Thats where I want to start my piece