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The Gift of Story with Judith-Kate Friedman & Quanita Roberson

The Gift of Story

A Community Circle celebrating the publication of Daniel Deardorff’s The Other Within: The Genius of Deformity in Myth, Culture & Psyche, with your hosts Judith-Kate Friedman & Quanita Roberson

Saturday, November 12, 2022 - 7-9:30 PM PST - Online (Zoom)

THE EVENT

On Saturday, November 12, 2022, the Mythsinger Legacy Project celebrates the publication of the 3rd edition of Daniel Deardorff’s classic text, The Other Within: The Genius of Deformity in Myth, Culture and Psyche, with a community circle online around the virtual storyfire. The event will be held on Zoom on Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 7pm PST. Tickets are available at Eventbrite by clicking the button below. Advanced registration is encouraged, all ages are welcome. Suggested donation $20-$35 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds.

The event, The Gift of Story, will explore the power of Oral Tradition stories and myth-making and feature short readings from the newly published expanded 3rd edition of Deardorff’s book, hosted by Judith-Kate Friedman, Mythsinger Legacy Project steward and Daniel’s life-partner and Quanita Roberson, author of The Inner Ground Railroad and longtime colleague of both Friedman and Deardorff. Through the telling of ancient tales, sharing of archival audio of Deardorff telling and teaching, and conversation with attendees, we’ll explore the importance of myth, honor our dance with the diversities in our lives, and look at ways to heal otherness and “othering” in self and society. Together, we will experience the richness of community that comes about when the old stories are told.

In the online session, attendees will witness Deardorff’s calling of fire on video, hear music from the Mythsinger, and listen to excerpts and commentaries from his book. Following the hosts’ presentations and conversation, attendees will be invited to share their responses in the tradition of “feeding the story.” As Deardorff taught, the story has “fed” us and we must now feed the story (and the storytellers) in reciprocity for the nourishment received. This event, made possible with generous support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, the Human Family Unity Foundation, the Jubilation Foundation, a project of the Tides Foundation, and the generosity of all who attend, is an opportunity for Deardorff’s long-time Olympic Peninsula community to come together (albeit online) along with myth enthusiasts from around the globe.


ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Daniel Deardorff (1952-2019) was a master storyteller, author, singer, beloved teacher, and carrier of ancient oral tradition stories. A lifelong performing musician whose five-decade career included songwriting, national touring, and producing, Deardorff was a survivor of paralytic polio and resulting paraplegia. He believed that one of the greatest oppressions is the suffering of meaningless wounds. When post-polio required him to retire from the music business, he became an independent scholar of myth, collaborating internationally with Robert Bly, Martin Shaw, and others. Throughout his career, Deardorff lived in Seattle, Bellingham, Vashon Island, Lummi Island, and Central Washington, with his last two decades based in Port Townsend, WA.

Judith-Kate Friedman is an award-winning songwriter, performer, and producer, as well as poet and curator. Her multimedia work increasingly addresses kinship with the Living World and arts as a path to aliveness and transformation. As Deardorff’s life-partner since 2006, she is now serving as the steward of the Mythsinger Legacy Project. She first collaborated with Quanita Roberson in 2017 and is also known locally and internationally as the founder and director of Songwriting Works Educational Foundation. https://judithkate.com/

Quanita Roberson is a spiritual teacher, speaker, author, life coach, and storyteller whose work over the past 20 years has been focused in the areas of healing, initiation, grief, leadership, diversity, and inclusion. Co-author of The Inner Ground Railroad: A 40 Day Journey to Remembering Soul & Spirit (with Amy Howton), she identifies as a we’ver, a person who invites people into a dance that we’ves them into a them, we’ves them into a beautiful tapestry of love and belonging. https://www.nzuzu.com/


ABOUT THE BOOK

Daniel Deardorff’s The Other Within: The Genius of Deformity in Myth, Culture and Psyche is an initiatory journey through ancient myths, wisdom literature, and personal revelation. Having survived disabling polio as an infant, Deardorff knew well the oppressions of exclusion, outsiderhood, and the betrayals endured by all who are “othered.” His book guides us to discover our own true identity and honor the “other” that lives within each of us and within society, the exiled part that carries wisdom so desperately needed for ourselves and the culture at large. Originally published in 2004, this new 3rd edition published by Inner Traditions on November 8, 2022, includes commentaries by Robert Bly, Martin Shaw, and Robert Simmons and words from Judith-Kate Friedman. https://www.innertraditions.com/books/the-other-within


ABOUT THE MYTHSINGER LEGACY PROJECT

The Mythsinger Legacy Project (MLP), a fiscally-sponsored project of Songwriting Works Educational Foundation, continues Daniel Deardorff’s work of restoring myth to culture and community. In 2019, when Deardorff “flew out of this story and into the next,” he left an archive of writings, three albums worth of music, and many live hearthside recordings of his mythtelling and other teachings. In early 2022, MLP began hosting Mythsinger Community StoryNight events online, welcoming an international community of all ages and cultures to gather with us around the virtual storyfire hearth to hear one of the 10,000 year old stories from one of the finest mythtellers of the 21st century.

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The Other Within US Book Launch!

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#GivingTuesday tasters & Thanksgiving treats