TaleSpinner is a blog of tales told from my memories.

A Brief History

My tales are retold from my memories of stories that have been told to me. My mother was also a holder of stories and tales. Most of my stories come from her. And many of those are from her own experiences, or from her hearings from her mother and grandmother. In other words, these tales have gone through tellings and retellings, and may not be as true to their original occurrence.

While my mother was one of many story holders, my father also taught me to maintain memories. He, too, had stories to tell. From my father I learned to meet people and to gather experiences. From my father I learned to learn from each of these experiences, to gather stories for the intent of learning from others. My father is an avid reader. He is also an avid sharer of advice that comes from stories of experience.

I taught high school English for several years (please don’t judge my grammar and syntax, I still fail with these from time to time). As a Literature teacher, I lived in the telling of a story. I taught how to read the words, and to understand what stood between them and because of the words. I also taught how to create stories from words. How to create a narrative with purpose, how to persuade, how to analyze literature through the words on a page. I also used stories to keep kids interested. Whether my stories, or those of students. We all can make an attachment to an idea, a concept, or an event through the stories from our experiences. My students use to ask for me to tell stories. They were often the ones that said that I should write them down. I just never felt I could share them with full purpose. To me my stories are the words I think of to grow my knowledge or expand my understanding.

In addition to students, my family member, well, my cousins truly, have asked I write them down. The stories in my head, if kept there, do not go any further than my own thinking. Do my children want to know about their Great Great Great Aunt who came to the United States under interesting circumstances? Is it Instagram worthy? Probably not. But sometimes they make for great dinner table conversations.