Activated Stories

"The Rough-Skinned Girl" is a Native American story told among some of the tribes in the Great Lakes region of the U.S. and Canada, particularly the Miq-Mak and Algonquin tribes. The title (Oochegeaska in Miq-Mak) also can be translated as "Burnt-Skinned Girl". This is one of innumerable versions of the Cinderella motif found around the world; but in this case the similarity is more than coincidence. Natives apparently heard the popular French tale, as related by French trappers, and adapted it to their own culture.

We present the story with the aid of our guest star Mary, who's been a friend all her life (literally -- she attended Zephyr's first birthday party when we lived in San Francisco). She spent 10 days traveling with us under battle conditions, joining us in Reno as we were frantically trying to get our new show together, accompanying us on our 2000 mile dash to Arkansas, then aiding and abetting us during our show's first two performances in Hot Springs and Conway, AR. What a trooper.

But once the pressure was off, we managed to have some fun, absorbing the local color along historic Bath House Row in Hot Springs, where we also attended an open mic poetry reading at The Poets Loft, the longest running open mic poetry night in the world. Mary wasn't content merely to observe, but also got up and read one of her own poems, followed by her a cappella rendering of "Goodnight Irene" in Japanese.

We also spent an evening at The Brauhaus listening to the music of our friends The Itinerant Locals. And in Little Rock we took Mary to the Clinton Library and Central High School, site of the landmark 1957 school integration conflict. Now she's off to The Bay Area again, and we're off again on another summer tour. See you there!

Happy Listening! Dennis (Father, Hunter), Kimberly (Sister, Hunter's Sister), Zephyr (Narrator, Sister) and Mary (Rough-Skinned Girl)

Aloha! That's a word that can mean “Hello”, “Goodbye”, or “I love you”. But in this case, it means yes,  we finally took our trip to Hawaii. We had a glorious week packed with activity on the island of Oahu, and we've devoted this podcast to telling you about some of the things we did, interlaced with some sounds we captured at the Polynesian Culture Center.

We spent a day at the Polynesian Culture Center, soaking in the sights, sounds and tastes (a luau was included in our package) of several Pacific Island cultures. We visited Pearl Harbor, where we stood on a platform that overlooks the USS Arizona, sunk in the water a few feet below the surface.We went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay coral reef, where we were face to face with exotic species of fish we'd never seen before – Zephyr even had a close encounter with a huge sea turtle. We also went swimming at Waikiki Beach and Kailua Beach, where Kimberly used to swim when she lived in Hawaii as a child. And in Kailua we met Wally Amos, the founder of the original Famous Amos cookie company, who now owns a cookie shop there, and also is active in promoting reading to children.

Now we're back at “home” (I.e., the Continental U.S.) and it's crunch time to get our new show ready for its premiere on June 11. We're now a two-person act onstage, since Zephyr recently retired, but you can still hear his voice on the podcasts.

Our apologies for the tardiness of this post. In addition to our trip, we've faced a mountain of technical difficulties lately.

Mahalo!

Barefoot Dennis, Flower-Haired Kimberly and Sunburned Zephyr

"The Donkey and the cucumbers", a simple little folktale from India, is somewhat similar to Aesop's fable about the fox and the crow, a warning that sometimes crowing too loudly will cause you to have to eat crow later. We enact it with the aid of our special guest star Cassia, who is visiting us for a few days from Massachusetts. Who ever heard of a red-haired donkey? But it was her real-life fondness for cucumbers (some might say an obsession with cucumbers) that prompted our selection of this story.

We come to you from the beautiful city of Seattle and vicinity, where we're presenting a series of performances for the King County Library System. Previously we were in Portland, where Zephyr and Cassia met up with some friends, and dropped in at Powells, the fabled bookstore that may be the world's largest.

And speaking of books (which Dennis keeps doing in this podcast) we had to put in a plug for a new book called "50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth". We know, there's already been a book by that title. But this one, by the same author (John Javna, assisted by his teenage son and daughter), is not just a revised edition of that bestseller, but a whole new volume that addresses the realities of the Twenty-First Century more effectively. We're recommending it not just because John's a friend of ours, but because it's an informative and important book.

Happy Listening!
Dennis (Washerman and Watchman), Kimberly (Narrator), Zephyr (Fox) and Cassia (Donkey)

Link: 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth: Completely New and Updated for the 21st Century

So how did you sleep last night? Did a lump in your bed cause you to toss and turn? If this is ever a problem, you should be grateful that you're not as delicate as the princess in "The Princess and the Pea", the story we present this week. This tale was written by the celebrated Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), although he probably based it on a genuine folklore motif. First published in 1835, the story was immediately popular and has been translated, adapted, retold and mangled many times over the years. In 1959 the musical adaptation "Once Upon a Mattress" opened on Broadway and became a smash hit, further popularizing the tale. And more recently, a fractured version called "The Princess and the Bowling Ball" appeared in "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales".
As usual, however, we do not fracture this story, though we may bruise it a bit. We always stay faithful to the original plot, while injecting and infecting it with our own colorful style and humor that will appeal to contemporary audiences. We enact this story with our special guest Sarah, one of our "adopted daughters" who's spending a week on the road with us. She's both a fellow homeschooler and a fellow RVer. And no, our story choice was not inspired by her own sleeping habits. She is not a princess, and in fact could probably sleep on a bowling ball.
With Sarah in tow, we're having a busy April performing in Northern California; we've been particularly in demand for National Library Week. We've been revisiting our roots in the San Francisco Bay Area, where we originated nearly 20 years ago. And where, once upon a time, Kimberly was in a production of "Once Upon A Mattress".

Happy Listening!
Dennis (Prince), Kimberly (Princess, Royal Attendant), Zephyr (King, Other Princesses) and Sarah (Queen, Other Princesses)

Dreams play an important role in many tribal cultures, providing a revered source of advice, enlightenment and law. Our rendition "The Dreaming Tree", a considerably "trunk-ated" version of a folk mini-saga from Brazil, illustrates how seriously indigenous peoples take this nocturnal activity. It also makes use of the tree as a symbol of wisdom, a motif common to many folk traditions. And there's a reminder that even a good thing can be carried to dangerous excess.

This story about a potent tree seemed especially appropriate because we recently got a very good bird's eye view of some very nice trees, not to mention beautiful Snake Creek (which we just mentioned) at Historic Banning Mills, near Whitesburg, GA. It's called Historic Banning Mills because historically there were mills here (textile, paper, wood and others), and the ruins still stand. But now there's a rustic lodge up on the hill overlooking the creek, a serene location for a romantic getaway, a conference, or a wedding. At certain times of the year, the place is also abuzz with all manner of outdoor activities, including hiking, horseback riding, golf, skeet shooting (what did those poor skeets ever do to us?) and kayaking. And there's a very intriguing-looking ropes course on the grounds -- or rather in the trees. (If you don't know, a ropes course is a series of physical obstacles that involve climbing, designed to challenge your courage and tenacity and resourcefulness. If you don't know the ropes when you start, you'll learn before it's over.)

But the piece de resistance is what they call the Canopy Tour, a guided walk through the treetops on bridges too narrow even for ballerinas (though Kimberly did a pretty decent impression of one) and even, in some cases, a single cable. But oh yes, we almost forgot. There are also four ziplines, which are cables stretched from trees and/or towers on which the truly daring and/or truly insane soar at speeds up to 60 m.p.h. at altitudes of up to 220 feet. And you don't even need a pilot's license. It was the most exhilaratingly terrifying experience we've had in ages, and we can't wait to do it again -- this time with Zephyr, who was off in Massachusetts at the time.

The Inns at Historic Banning Mills, and the Canopy Tour, are family owned and operated, by some right friendly folks. We highly recommend this place. (Note: When you visit their website, we recommend the multimedia tour, which uses an exquisite arrangement of a haunting Civil War-flavored waltz to provide a perfect mood for the slide show.)

In celebration of Dr. Seuss's Birthday and Read Across America week, we are bringing you this special podcast on a Saturday, even though Thursday is our typical air date. Find out what we are reading as we drive across America. How are you celebrating? You are invited to call in and share what is on your reading list(206) 202-3976.

Happy Listening!
Dennis (Jaguar Man and Grandpa), Kimberly (Narrator) and Zephyr (Fernando and Pedro)

Recommended Podcasts: Brazilianisms and RVNavigator
Read a longer version of this story The Sleep Tree

"Saving Spring", a Scandinavian folktale, is one of numerous stories from around the world dealing with the cycle of the seasons -- such as, for example, the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. "Naturally", since this particular tale comes from Scandinavia -- a region that consists of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (sometimes Finland and Iceland are lumped with them as well) -- should revolve around a harsh winter, which is something they get a lot of in those parts.

But we're not getting it in the parts where we currently are. This podcast was recorded at Port Canaveral, Florida, where the cruise ships leave from and come back to -- including the Disney line and the Carnival Line. We could watch these enormous vessels depart in the afternoon, floating by so close that we could just about touch them with a fishing pole.

We were there for the third sort-of-annual sort-of-rally of Families on the Road (FOTR), an online community of families who live on the road full-time. And the folks who came to this one truly fit the bill. And there were oodles of them, too -- at least 15 families, making this by far the best-attended event yet of this kind. And we of course made use of as many extra voices as we could round up to be guest stars on this podcast. When you got talent like this, you gotta use 'em!

We crammed about 25 people into one RV to record this episode. Below are some of the families we interviewed (in no particular order):

• The Davis Family (Stephanie and Kayla)
• The Evans Family (Kati, Auvi and Conner)
• The Elliot Family (Sue and Savannah)
• The Whitcomb Family (Tim, Sue, Tyler and Natalie)
• The Miller Family (Lara and Joey)
• The Smythe Family (Deb and Jonathon)

Announcer ..... Abby Bennett
Narrators ...... Zoe Evans, Dennis Goza, Kimberly Goza, Cindy Whitcomb
Mayor .......... Tim Whitcomb
Oscar ..... Zephyr Goza
Greta ..... Auvi Evans
Wolf ..... Conner Evans
Animals and Crowd .... an RV full of FOTR
Guard #1 and #4 ..... Tyler Whitcomb
Guard #2 ..... Gayle Bennett
Guard #3..... Cindy Whitcomb
Winter ..... Chris Elliot
Spring .... Sue Elliot

Happy Listening!
Dennis, Kimberly & Zephyr