93: The Griot in the Prison Yard: Provoking Community Healing Through Story

Michael McCarty in my prison workshops, they say. “Storytelling, you're going to show us how to tell the Three Little Pigs?” I say, “Every living person has at least one story they need to tell. And (telling) that story will help them in their relationship with the people around them, and the world, and more importantly, with themselves.BIOMichael McCarty: Mother always told me stories. I began telling stories formally when I was in high school in Chicago (St. Ignatius) in the 60’s, stories of Africa and the struggles of African-Americans for freedom. In 1992 I met Joel ben Izzy from Berkeley, CA who was introduced to me as a professional storyteller. “You mean to tell me that people pay you to tell stories!?” I asked. I picked his brain and vowed that I was going to become a professional teller too, and my motto would be “Have mouth. Will run it.” A week or so later I asked myself what would I do as a profession if I was independently wealthy. Tell stories, was my answer.So I went to my local library and began collecting folk tales from different countries and reading books about storytelling. One day the Young Adult Librarian asked me why I was getting so many books of folk tales and asked if I was writing a paper. When I told him that I was a storyteller he said that he had a group of teenagers that wanted to learn storytelling. Could I give them a workshop? I said sure. The workshop was a success. Thus began my career. And I’ve been running my mouth around the country and around the world ever since.In 1996 I initiated the GRIOT Workshop in Leimert Park in Los Angeles. This is a place where anyone can come and get assistance in developing their storytelling skills. From 2004 until 2008 I was the Pacific Region Representative for the National Storytelling Network (NSN) Board of Directories.My life has been one heaven of a story: Student activist, Black Panther, US Army martial arts instructor, acupuncturist, world traveler, spiritual seeker, construction worker, storyteller, husband, father, crazy friend. Never a dull moment! I LOVE my life;-)Notable MentionsHigh John the Conqueror: John the Conqueror, also known as High John de Conqueror, John, Jack, and many other folk variants, is a folk hero from African-American folklore. He is associated with the roots of Ipomoea purga, the John the Conqueror root or John the Conqueroo, to which magical powers are ascribed in African-American folklore, especially among the Hoodoo tradition of folk magic.[Have mouth will run it: Michael D. McCarty’s web siteBlack Panther Party: Founded in 1966 in Oakland, California the Black Panther Party for Self Defense was the era’s most influential militant black power...

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.