One can define a mission statement as specifying the goals and objectives in their chosen field or profession.\u00a0\u00a0So, what is my mission statement? \u00a0It is to enlighten, enrich, and educate others about African American cultural traditions through the art of storytelling.<\/p>\n
Now that the Summer Reading Program has concluded, I can reflect on the many opportunities I had to fulfill my mission statement.\u00a0 As I toured the greater Salem area throughout the Chemeketa Cooperative Library System, I was thrilled at the audience response to the folklore and folktales in my program.\u00a0 From the Dallas Public Library to Mt. Angel, the venues were well attended and the audiences\u2019 were eager with anticipation to hear stories or as a colleague puts it, \u201clisten with a juicy face\u201d.<\/p>\n
This eagerness to listen excited me even more than usual because of the library locations. Each of the eleven locations I visited was in a rural community where typically there is a lack of exposure to the arts. Having grown up in a small town, an important part of my mission is to return to rural areas and use storytelling (specifically African American storytelling) to bridge cultures and connect with the community.<\/p>\n
The stories I told throughout the Summer Reading Program were well received by a variety of audiences.\u00a0 As a result, the listeners were open for audience participation as well as volunteering to join me on stage to tell a story. And after each performance there were always questions.\u00a0 For example, I was asked several times about my cow tail switch, my African clothing, the Djembe drum, and of course how I made the sound effects I used.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n In conclusion, this tells me that the listener\u2019s interest was aroused and they wanted more . . . more information, more knowledge, more stories.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0And as the saying goes, \u201calways leave them wanting more\u201d.\u00a0 Mission Accomplished.<\/p>\n The End<\/p>\n Chetter Galloway<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One can define a mission statement as specifying the goals and objectives in their chosen field or profession.\u00a0\u00a0So, what is my mission statement? \u00a0It is to enlighten, enrich, and educate others about African American cultural traditions through the art of storytelling. Now that the Summer Reading Program has concluded, I can reflect on the many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chettergalloway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chettergalloway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chettergalloway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chettergalloway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chettergalloway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chettergalloway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50,"href":"https:\/\/chettergalloway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions\/50"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chettergalloway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chettergalloway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chettergalloway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}