MY BACKGROUND—storyteller, folklorist, scholar

As a storyteller

Over the past 15 years I have performed in theaters, festivals, conferences, schools, colleges, and at community events. I create personal and family tales as well as stories about the people and history of Maine. I believe that humor and sadness are good bedfellows, and I particularly favor characters who have shaped admirable lives around unavoidable misfortunes.

My audiences range from adults to elementary school children. I also conduct workshops for adults on creative storytelling, finding and telling personal and family stories, creating stories from history, and (especially for caregivers) on helping others tell and value their own stories. For children, I offer workshops and residencies on storytelling as a dynamic literacy tool. I also collaborate with organizations and communities to create vivid stories and public presentations about their heritage.

Recently I have conducted successful storytelling workshops with young adults facing substance abuse issues.

A past president of the Washington (DC) Storytellers Theatre, I now serve on the Board of Directors of the National Storytelling Network.

As a folklorist and oral historian

I have taught, done field and library research, and published on diverse American and Irish cultural traditions; I have also served on the Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress, and have been President of the American Folklore Society (1998-2000).

I conduct fieldwork and oral history projects for communities, veterans' organizations, and other groups. My hands-on workshops on oral history interviewing have served historical societies and other community groups, hospice and home-care organizations, elementary and secondary schools, and intergenerational groups.

As a scholar and writer

I hold a BA, MA, and PhD from Harvard University. I have published books on early Irish history, contemporary Anglo-Irish drama, and women's folklore, and articles in scholarly journals on Celtic studies, literature, Irish and American folklore, women's studies, Deaf culture, and New England social history.

Currently I am writing a book titled "Performing the Paper: Rural Self-Improvement in Northern New England," about a 19th-century village tradition of creating and performing aloud handwritten literary newspapers.

After 30 years of teaching literature, American Studies, folklore, and storytelling as a professor at American University in Washington, DC, I have moved to my family's home in western Maine to apply my teaching and performance skills in a career of freelance consulting.