28 | southernfamilymag.com SOUTHERN FAMILY MAGAZINE southernfamilymag.com | 29MARCH/APRIL 2011

Ar ts and Enter ta inment Ar ts and Enter ta inment

!e University of North Alabama Front Porch Storytelling Festival set for May promises to be an exciting, entertaining, and educational event: and now, because of the leadership of Dr. Bill Huddleston in the university’s Department of Communications, students can earn college credit during the festival.

Huddleston is offering his class, COM 480/580 Storytelling, during the interim between the spring and summer semesters (May 16-June 3). !e class will meet Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon. Students taking the class will be heavily involved with every aspect of the storytelling festival set for campus Friday and Saturday, May 20-21.

!ere are no prerequisites for the class, and it may be taken for either undergraduate or graduate credit. !e class will cover how to select a story, polishing the language of the story, body language during storytelling, and putting the information together in the final presentation. Huddleston said, “!e course will give students an opportunity to practice telling a variety of story types—fables, Who-I-Am stories, teaching tales, and Vision sagas. Students will hear professional storytellers, get practice developing their own stories, and learn about professional storytelling festivals.”

Huddleston, who with his wife Louise has travelled extensively to some of the great storytelling festivals, is excited about the resurgence of the art of storytelling.

“Over the last few years, storytelling has been rediscovered as a necessary art form, yet most of us don’t realize just how critical stories are to our everyday life,” said Huddleston. “For example, say someone asks, ‘What did you do yesterday?’ Your response is your story. !e ability to select just the right elements, express your feelings about the events, and to adapt to your audience is an important factor in how people will respond to you.”

Huddleston points to the sweeping influence story has on every aspect of our lives. “Education, business, and communication are quickly coming to the conclusion that

A CLASS ACT

Tellers will autograph books and CDs each afternoon on the front porch at Coby Hall. UNA Photo by Shannon Wells.

Spring is the loveliest time of year on UNA’s beautiful campus. UNA Photo by Shannon Wells.

�e King of Lion Country, Leo, will be on hand to greet visitors at his habitat. His sister Una will also enjoy the attention she and her brother are sure to get! UNA Photo by Shannon Wells.

Dr. Bill Foster will host the festival and perform on the �ursday riverboat cruise. Photo Courtesy Bill Foster.

�e Pickwick Belle board for cruises on the Tennessee River at Port of Florence, McFar-land Park. Photo Courtesy Pickwick Belle.

�e center of campus will be dotted with food vendors for the festival. UNA Photo by Shan-non Wells.

�e President’s Home. �e storytelling tent will stand next to the President’s Home during the festival. UNA Photo by Shannon Wells.

By Debbie Chaffin

THURSDAY, MAY 19, 201112 noon to 1:30 p.m. Riverboat Cruise Aboard the Pickwick

Belle**Florence Harbor MarinaMcFarland Park, Florence

FRIDAY, MAY 20, 20118:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Welcome & Announcements

Bill FosterStorytelling Tent (Next to the President’s Home on UNA Campus)

9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Donald Davis Storytelling Tent

9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Syd Lieberman Storytelling Tent

10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. BREAK

10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Carmen Deedy Storytelling Tent

11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Andy Offutt Irwin Storytelling Tent

11:30 a.m. to 12 noon Dolores Hydock Storytelling Tent

12 noon to 1:00 p.m. LUNCH BREAK

1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sparky and Rhonda Rucker Storytelling Tent

1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Bil Lepp Storytelling Tent

2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Andy Offutt Irwin Storytelling Tent

2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Syd Lieberman Storytelling Tent

3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. BOOK SIGNING Coby Hall Front PorchUNA Campus

4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Dolores Hydock Storytelling Tent

4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Donald Davis Storytelling Tent

5:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Carmen Deedy Storytelling Tent

5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Kathryn Tucker Windham/ Syd Lieber-man

Storytelling Tent

6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. DINNER BREAK

7:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Donald Davis Storytelling Tent

7:55 p.m. to 8:40 p.m. Carmen Deedy Storytelling Tent

8:45 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Ghost Stories* Memorial AmphitheatreUNA Campus

SATURDAY, MAY 21, 20118:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Welcome & Announcements

Bill FosterStorytelling Tent (Next to the President’s Home on UNA Campus)

9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Kathryn Tucker Windham/Syd Lieber-man

Storytelling Tent

9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Carmen Deedy Storytelling Tent

10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. BREAK

10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Donald Davis Storytelling Tent

11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Bil Lepp Storytelling Tent

11:30 a.m. to 12 noon Dolores Hydock Storytelling Tent

12 noon to 1:00 p.m. LUNCH BREAK

1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sparky and Rhonda Rucker Storytelling Tent

1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Bil Lepp Storytelling Tent

2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Andy Offutt Irwin Storytelling Tent

2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Donald Davis Storytelling Tent

3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. BOOK SIGNING Coby Hall Front Porch

UNA Campus

4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Syd Lieberman Storytelling Tent

4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Dolores Hydock Storytelling Tent

5:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Carmen Deedy Storytelling Tent

5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Donald Davis Storytelling Tent

END OF REGULAR SATURDAY SCHEDULE

6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Riverboat Cruise Aboard the Pickwick Belle**

Florence Harbor MarinaMcFarland Park, Florence

8:45 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Ghost Stories* Memorial AmphitheatreUNA Campus

* Limited seating (park benches) available for Ghost Stories. For your comfort, you may want to bring your own chairs, blankets, etc. �e Ghost Stories are not recommended for impressionable children.

** Persons prone to motion sickness should take necessary precautions before boarding the Pickwick Belle. It is unusual, but possible, to get “sea sick” on the Tennessee River!

The UNA Department of Communications plan to offer academic credit in storytelling coincides perfectly with the university’s storytelling festival

whoever tells the best story wins,” said Huddleston. “Doctors recognize that the ability to tell a story in explaining a diagnosis or treatment will determine the health of their patients. We use stories in everything we do. Being an effective teller is a major step to our success.”

Plans for the storytelling festival itself are continuing to unfold, and festival director Debbie Chaffin said that the event is going to be phenomenal.

Perennial favorite storytellers will be on hand, including nationally and internationally renown artists Syd Lieberman, Donald Davis, Carmen Deedy, Bil Lepp, Andy Offutt Irwin, Dolores Hydock, Sparky and Rhonda Rucker, Kathryn Tucker Windham, and of course, UNA’s own Bill Foster.

“Our storytelling tent is going to be set up by the President’s Home on campus,” said Chaffin. “It’s absolutely one of the most beautiful sites at UNA, at the entrance of campus with the fountain and all the beautiful flowers and trees that will be in bloom. We’ll have our food vendors set up through the middle of campus, so our festival attendees can enjoy a meal or a snack throughout the day, just a few steps away from the main event.”

Several food vendors have already committed to being at the festival and according to Chaffin, they all have delicious offerings. “We’re so excited that Mrs. Shelby Hood will be making her famous fried pies on site,” said Chaffin. “We also have Curtis and Carolyn Davis with C & C’s Eats and Treats, and Martin Jackson with Dixie Concessions, bringing Polish sausages, funnel cakes, turkey legs, chicken, burgers, corn dogs, potatoes, shaved ice . . . well, there are just too many items to mention!”

!e ghost stories planned for Friday and Saturday night will be in the Memorial Amphitheatre, also only a few steps away from the main tent. “We really tried to get everything centrally located so that our guests will be able to enjoy everything the festival has to offer without tiring themselves out by walking too far. !e only exception is the riverboat cruises,” said Chaffin. “We couldn’t figure out a way to get a 90 ft.-long authentic paddleboat on campus!”

!e Pickwick Belle will be docked for boarding at the Port of Florence, the marina at McFarland Park. Chaffin said that there will be plenty of time after the storytelling on campus ends to get to the marina for the May 21

Saturday night cruise. (Another cruise is scheduled for !ursday, May 19, at noon before the festival officially begins.)

Tickets for the festival are on sale now. Admission is $15 per day for adults; $5 per day for students. !e tickets for the Pickwick Belle cruises (which includes a light meal) will be $25, and admission to the ghost stories is $15. !e website, www.una.edu/storytelling, has more information and a link to purchase tickets online.

For more information about the Storytelling course, telephone or e-mail Dr. Huddleston at 256.765.4358, bmhuddleston@una.edu. COM 480/580 is a three-hour credit course.

!e University of North Alabama Front Porch Storytelling Festival is co-sponsored by the Alabama Humanities Foundation, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

If you’d like more information about the UNA Front Porch Storytelling Festival, or to schedule an interview with Debbie Chaffin, please call Lorrie Woods at 256.765.4208, or e-mail Debbie at dkchaffin@una.edu. For more information about the Storytelling class, please call Dr. Bill Huddleston at 256.765.4358 or e-mail bmhuddleston@una.edu.

University of North Alabama Front Porch Storytelling Festival Schedule

For more information or to purchase tickets: www.una.edu/storytelling

Admission:Storytelling under the Big Tent

$15 per day adult admission$5 per day for students

Ghost Stories*$15 adult

$5 mature student

Riverboat Cruise**