Native American Oyster Workers
Over the past week or so, as I was preparing for last night’s class, “Putting the Story Back in History,” I felt more than once that I had too many stories to tell in my allotted hour and fifty minutes. I pared and cut and honed but nonetheless… So much to tell, so little time.
Last night was the second in our series of eight sessions and my topic was “Creating Communities: A Sense of Place.” I focused on Oysterville for obvious reasons: its history is my biggest interest and I have more stories about its beginnings than about most other places. Still… it was a jam-packed class and the lesson learned by this teacher was… I could probably teach all eight weeks on that particular topic!
Abe Wing and Captain James R. Johnson
However, next week we’ll be moving on to “Boom, Bust and Subsistence: The Realities of Making a Living.” I am trying mightily to choose only the most illustrative, the most humorous, the most poignant, the most memorable. “KISS,” I tell myself. “Keep it simple, stupid.” Following advice, particularly my own, has never been my strong suit. So, we shall see.
Meanwhile, singer/songwriter Larry Murante – who also happens to be one of the best storytellers I know because what, after all, is a ballad or a folksong – sent me this:
Remember this one thing. The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put these stories in each other’s memories. This is how people care for themselves. -Barry Lopez’s Crow and Weasel
The Louisa Morrison, Oyster Schooner
What a wonderful thought. I’m not sure how it applies precisely to “Putting the Stories Back in History” but I’d like to imagine that each of the thirteen class members will find one or two stories each week that they, in turn, can ‘give away.’ Wouldn’t that be great! Eight weeks times thirteen people times two stories each. That would be ‘quite a many” as my mom used to say. Yes. Quite a many.
Having long loved the Peninsula, I am greatly enjoying the class! The oft referred to Sou’Wester magazine was a staple of my childhood as my father picked them up somewhere and we poured over them at my grandparents’ beach house. The class has also made me revisit family stories of my own, which may or may not prove interesting to the grandchildren.
But, even so, those stories will be of interest and use to future historians, of that you can be sure.