The Apple Seed

On today’s episode of The Apple Seed, you’ll hear a story from Mara Menzies, whose Scottish and Kenyan heritage makes every storytelling performance a trip around the world. She’ll share a tale she learned from her Grandmother when she was a child, called “Chicken and Eagle,” about two friends, the trouble that comes between them, and about why the chicken still pecks at the dirt, even today. You’ll hear a story from songwriter and storyteller Susan Reed – a take on a very old story called “The Golden Thread.” It’s a story that ponders a question: if you could skip the difficult parts of your life (or the parts of your life that you anticipate might be difficult), would you? How would you pick the moments to skip? A story that might give you something to talk about, from Susan Reed. You’ll also hear a story from Laura Simms, about a visit to a New York City secondary school full of students, and the effect that Laura’s stories had on them, in “Making Peace.” You’ll hear a conversation with Teresa Love about the Maurice Sendak classic “Where the Wild Things Are,” and an entry in the Radio Family Journal, too. 

On today’s episode, enjoy the following:

“Chicken and Eagle” by Mara Menzies

“The Golden Thread” by Susan Reed

“Making Peace” by Laura Simms

A conversation with Teresa Love about Marice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.”

“Rushing By,” an entry in the Radio Family Journal by Sam Payne

What’s a piece of particularly good advice you got from someone older? Perhaps you remember your grandmother telling you stories about when she was young, or you remember your father helping you through a hard time in your life with a small dose of sage wisdom. Today’s stories from Big Joe Pagliuca,  Joseph Bruchac, Carmen Deedy, and Kevin Kling are all about the good advice that comes from those who are a little older, but a lot wiser than we are.

 

On today’s episode, enjoy the following:

“Rabbit’s Snow Dance” by Joseph Bruchac on The Boy Who Lived With Bears (7:28)

"Willie and the Hairy Man" by Big Joe Pagliuca on Spooky Ooky (12:23)

Daily Mix: Stewart Foster discusses “Stuff You Should Know”

"Silly Jack" by Ed Stivender (6:54)

“Snow Day” by Kevin Kling on Stories Off the Shallow End (6:42)

Radio Family Journal: Aunt Ann's Advice

 

Storyteller Spotlight: Big Joe Pagliuca

His name is Joe Pagliuca, but you can call him Big Joe! That was the name given to him by the preschoolers he taught, and it is the same name he now uses as a professional storyteller. Hailed as “One of the best in the business” by the Boston Globe, Big Joe has been delighting children and families for many years with his exciting storytelling show. With a huge collection of original and classic tales as well as a box filled with puppets, props, and surprises, Big Joe has added lots of humor and fun to birthday parties, schools, libraries, and all kinds of events across New England!

It’s great to have you with us here for an Apple Seed Extra – something special that’s available only here in the Apple Seed podcast space. We may have talked about it in an episode of the Apple Seed you heard, but you’ve got to come here to get it. We want to encourage you to subscribe to the podcast for all kinds of podcast-only content, in addition to full-length episode filled with stories – something new just about every day from The Apple Seed.

 

In recent episode of the Apple Seed, we brought you a story called Wiley and the Hairy Man, or at least it’s usually called Wiley and the Hairy Man – in the version you heard, the hero was Willie, not Wiley. But we don’t want to concentrate on the kid, the hero of the story, or his dog, or his mom. We want to concentrate on the Hairy Man for a second. We mentioned in the episode that the story was first written down in the 1930s in Alabama, as part of the pieces of folklore being gathered by the Federal Writer’s project during the depression. And we mentioned that the story is much older than that – no one knows exactly how old. But we do know that the Hairy Man as a villain shows up in other stories, too. He shows up, for example, in a story called Ashpet, which is a version of Cinderella set in the Appalachian hills. Learn more in today’s Apple Seed Extra. We’ll talk about the story, and you’ll hear Mary Hamilton tell some of it.

 

We’ love to know what you’re up to, how you’ve passed the time in an era of isolation. Reciting Shakespeare monologues? Singing broadway show tunes? Telling family stories? Let us know, by emailing us at [email protected]. We love to hear from you, especially now.

 

Our hearts go out to all of our storytelling friends, who even in times like this never cease to reach out in all kinds of creative ways to share stories at a safe distance. Hang in there, all. We love you, and can’t wait until you’re back in front of your beloved audiences in person.

What’s a piece of particularly good advice you got from someone older? Perhaps you remember your grandmother telling you stories about when she was young, or you remember your father helping you through a hard time in your life with a small dose of sage wisdom. Today’s stories from Big Joe Pagliuca,  Joseph Bruchac, Carmen Deedy, and Kevin Kling are all about the good advice that comes from those who are a little older, but a lot wiser than we are.

On today’s episode, enjoy the following:

“Rabbit’s Snow Dance” by Joseph Bruchac on The Boy Who Lived With Bears (7:28)

"Willie and the Hairy Man" by Big Joe Pagliuca on Spooky Ooky (12:23)

Daily Mix: Stewart Foster discusses “Stuff You Should Know”

"Silly Jack" by Ed Stivender (6:54)

“Snow Day” by Kevin Kling on Stories Off the Shallow End (6:42)

Radio Family Journal: Aunt Ann's Advice

Storyteller Spotlight: Big Joe Pagliuca

His name is Joe Pagliuca, but you can call him Big Joe! That was the name given to him by the preschoolers he taught, and it is the same name he now uses as a professional storyteller. Hailed as “One of the best in the business” by the Boston Globe, Big Joe has been delighting children and families for many years with his exciting storytelling show. With a huge collection of original and classic tales as well as a box filled with puppets, props, and surprises, Big Joe has added lots of humor and fun to birthday parties, schools, libraries, and all kinds of events across New England!

It’s great to have you with us here for an Apple Seed Extra – something special that’s available only here in the Apple Seed podcast space. We may have talked about it in an episode of the Apple Seed you heard, but you’ve got to come here to get it. We want to encourage you to subscribe to the podcast for all kinds of podcast-only content, in addition to full-length episode filled with stories – something new just about every day from The Apple Seed.

In recent episode of the Apple Seed, we brought you a story called Wiley and the Hairy Man, or at least it’s usually called Wiley and the Hairy Man – in the version you heard, the hero was Willie, not Wiley. But we don’t want to concentrate on the kid, the hero of the story, or his dog, or his mom. We want to concentrate on the Hairy Man for a second. We mentioned in the episode that the story was first written down in the 1930s in Alabama, as part of the pieces of folklore being gathered by the Federal Writer’s project during the depression. And we mentioned that the story is much older than that – no one knows exactly how old. But we do know that the Hairy Man as a villain shows up in other stories, too. He shows up, for example, in a story called Ashpet, which is a version of Cinderella set in the Appalachian hills. Learn more in today’s Apple Seed Extra. We’ll talk about the story, and you’ll hear Mary Hamilton tell some of it.

We’ love to know what you’re up to, how you’ve passed the time in an era of isolation. Reciting Shakespeare monologues? Singing broadway show tunes? Telling family stories? Let us know, by emailing us at [email protected]. We love to hear from you, especially now.

Our hearts go out to all of our storytelling friends, who even in times like this never cease to reach out in all kinds of creative ways to share stories at a safe distance. Hang in there, all. We love you, and can’t wait until you’re back in front of your beloved audiences in person.

Today we have some stories about trouble. That’s not a big deal - most stories revolve around trouble, but we’re playing with the idea that trouble can brew and come out with different outcomes. Sometimes trouble can turn into more trouble, sometimes it boils down and ends up better than it started, and sometimes it results in something profoundly delicious. In every case, there’s something to be learned.

 

 

On today’s episode, enjoy the following:

 

Radio Family Journal: RFJ title

 

Daily Mix: Rod Gustafson discusses “Secondhand Lions”

 

Story Spotlight: “Nanaue”, by Alton Chung

 

Storytime: “The Changeling” by Clare Murphy

 

“The Spruce Grouse” by Doug Elliot

 

Storyteller Spotlight: Alton Chung

Alton performs at storytelling festivals internationally, sharing stories and legends from Hawaii and spreading aloha. He also tells stories from the Hawaiian Monarchy and the Plantation Days as well as Asian folk tales from all around the Pacific Rim. Alton is also passionate about sharing stories of the Japanese American Experience of WWII. In 2005, Alton was awarded the first J.J. Reneaux Emerging Artist Award by the National Storytelling Network. He has performed at the Congress of Asian Storytellers in Singapore, the International Gimme Story Storytelling Festival in the Cayman Islands, as well as venues in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan.. He has also performed at the Talk Story Festival, the Bay Area Storytelling Festival, the Four Corners Storytelling Festival, the Oklahoma City Storytelling Festival, and has been a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival.

In these days of flattening the curve, we’re producing the Apple Seed from a couple of home studios – like you, we’ve been self-isolating, and, like you, looking for ways to reach out to our fellow humans. During this time, Sam took to posting to social media a little song every day – something filled with a little hope and a little encouragement to hang on. We thought we’d bring you some of those pieces here, as Apple Seed Extras. These aren’t studio recordings, and you’ll be able to tell – they’re made with a little Canon SLR camera, aimed at Sam while he sits on the piano bench in his office. But we do hope that you enjoy them.

 

On today’s extra, the quintessential song of hope: “Keep on the Sunny Side.” The words to the song were written way back in 1899 by Ada Blenkhorn. The story goes that she had a wheelchair-bound nephew who always asked to be pushed along on the sunny side of the street.

 

The song was recorded in the summer of 1928 in a now-immortal recording by the Carter family, positioned just so that it could be in the heart of every American just a year or so later, when the stock market crashed in the fall of 1929.

 

The song, of course, became not only the calling card of the Carter family, but a song sung in determined hope in living rooms and social halls and around kitchen tables when the country needed it the very most.

 

Keep on the Sunny Side

 

Well, there's a dark and a troubled side of lifeThere's a bright and a sunny side tooBut if you meet with the darkness and strifeThe sunny side we also may view

 

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny sideKeep on the sunny side of lifeIt will help us every day, it will brighten all the wayIf we keep on the sunny side of life

 

Oh, the storm and its fury broke todayCrushing hopes that we cherish so dearClouds and storms will in time pass awayThe sun again will shine bright and clear

 

Let us greet with a song of hope each dayThough the moments be cloudy or fairLet us trust in our Savior alwaysTo keep us, every one, in His care

In these days of flattening the curve, we’re producing the Apple Seed from a couple of home studios – like you, we’ve been self-isolating, and, like you, looking for ways to reach out to our fellow humans. During this time, Sam took to posting to social media a little song every day – something filled with a little hope and a little encouragement to hang on. We thought we’d bring you some of those pieces here, as Apple Seed Extras. These aren’t studio recordings, and you’ll be able to tell – they’re made with a little Canon SLR camera, aimed at Sam while he sits on the piano bench in his office. But we do hope that you enjoy them.

On today’s extra, the quintessential song of hope: “Keep on the Sunny Side.” The words to the song were written way back in 1899 by Ada Blenkhorn. The story goes that she had a wheelchair-bound nephew who always asked to be pushed along on the sunny side of the street.

The song was recorded in the summer of 1928 in a now-immortal recording by the Carter family, positioned just so that it could be in the heart of every American just a year or so later, when the stock market crashed in the fall of 1929.

The song, of course, became not only the calling card of the Carter family, but a song sung in determined hope in living rooms and social halls and around kitchen tables when the country needed it the very most.

Keep on the Sunny Side

Well, there's a dark and a troubled side of life

There's a bright and a sunny side too

But if you meet with the darkness and strife

The sunny side we also may view

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side

Keep on the sunny side of life

It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way

If we keep on the sunny side of life

Oh, the storm and its fury broke today

Crushing hopes that we cherish so dear

Clouds and storms will in time pass away

The sun again will shine bright and clear

Let us greet with a song of hope each day

Though the moments be cloudy or fair

Let us trust in our Savior always

To keep us, every one, in His care

Today we have some stories about trouble. That’s not a big deal - most stories revolve around trouble, but we’re playing with the idea that trouble can brew and come out with different outcomes. Sometimes trouble can turn into more trouble, sometimes it boils down and ends up better than it started, and sometimes it results in something profoundly delicious. In every case, there’s something to be learned.

On today’s episode, enjoy the following:

Radio Family Journal: RFJ title

Daily Mix: Rod Gustafson discusses “Secondhand Lions”

Story Spotlight: “Nanaue”, by Alton Chung

Storytime: “The Changeling” by Clare Murphy

“The Spruce Grouse” by Doug Elliot

Storyteller Spotlight: Alton Chung

Alton performs at storytelling festivals internationally, sharing stories and legends from Hawaii and spreading aloha. He also tells stories from the Hawaiian Monarchy and the Plantation Days as well as Asian folk tales from all around the Pacific Rim. Alton is also passionate about sharing stories of the Japanese American Experience of WWII. In 2005, Alton was awarded the first J.J. Reneaux Emerging Artist Award by the National Storytelling Network. He has performed at the Congress of Asian Storytellers in Singapore, the International Gimme Story Storytelling Festival in the Cayman Islands, as well as venues in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan.. He has also performed at the Talk Story Festival, the Bay Area Storytelling Festival, the Four Corners Storytelling Festival, the Oklahoma City Storytelling Festival, and has been a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival.

We always hope the stories we share with you on The Apple Seed spark memories you can share with your family. And so we thought we'd bring you a special mini-episode jam-packed with Family Stories! 

 

On today's episode you'll hear the following:

A story about what it's like to be a dad by Bill Harley

"Fighting in the Car" by Antonio Sacre

"Independence" by Dolores Hydock

A story about Christmas pie from Richie Steadman of BYU Radio's "The Lisa Show"

And a rich experience Sam had at Rosa's Cafe