Gleaning Facebook: John Schulz, Storyteller

One of my very favorite storytellers of all time was my late friend John Schulz. He created tight, interesting stories set in the real world of his life. I am thrilled to have been a small part of his adding "storyteller" to his many other titles. What a joy to happen upon this post again today. He had tagged me it the post so it cropped up on my Facebook wall. John is gone from us now, but we still have his words. If you aren't familiar with them check out his Facebook page or his website.

John Schulz, Storyteller

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From John Schulz's Facebook page, September 25, 2020

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“Just call on me brother if you need a hand,

We all need somebody to lean on

I just might have a problem that you’ll understand 

We all need somebody to lean on”

—Bill Withers, Lean on Me

It took some bonding to get to a point where I accepted that button. 

First off, it made me look different, I had to practice and get used to using it—and it took some practice. It was extra trouble to reach up and push a button every time I wanted to say something.

One day I got the notion that I have always been different anyway, so adding one more piece of strangeness didn’t seem to matter. It did take a long time to get over being self conscious, though, and then something happened…

In December, several years ago, my friend Terrell Shaw invited me to a Christmas get-together at his and Sheila’s house. He told me to be ready to tell a story.

So I decided that I would try it. I was nervous, as you can imagine, and I decided to adapt the story about Louann (I still think that story is one of the best things I’ve ever written.) It is a chapter in my first book “Requiem for a Redneck.”

At the party I was asked to put my name in a hat if I wanted to “be a teller.” I did so. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I told my story and it went over rather well. Either a lot of people liked it or else a lot of people lied to me.

It turned out that Terrell was (and is) the president of the Ridge and Valley Tellers, an organization that meets regularly for story telling practice and showing off.

A year later, I was invited to a similar get-together at the home of Bob and Beverly M. Harris. I wasn’t so nervous this time. I told a story, as did a number of folks. It was a very good time.

So I paid the dues, joined the group and began to come up with a short story to tell once a month. I cannot begin to tell you what this did for my self-confidence and mental well-being. All of a sudden, after a couple of years, I felt good about myself.

Gleaning Facebook: "The Living Room"

We were a small group but we sure had a good time in "the living room" for A Time to Tell tonight. First Mary Elena Rivera Kirk cracked us up with the history of her skiing career. But the highlight for me (as you will see) was something a little different: Show & Tell from John the Plantman (and sidekick Dekie Hicks). John Paul Schulz demonstrated how to take a fairly bedraggled inexpensive potted juniper, a clay tray, some dirt and rocks, a hacksaw, some snips, and a few clumps of pilfered moss right out of the woods to create a living sculpture. It was a story of care, keen observation, bravery, and joyful abandon. The results were fascinating. Then my name was drawn to take the fascination home. We treasure our new John Schulz original, but you'll have to wait for a picture.

Gleaning Facebook: City Clock Garden

Me

Ken Gossett & I took John Paul Schulz up on his FaceBook invitation and walked up to the City Clock to attend the dedication of the new garden John designed there. We took the opportunity to apply our silly faces to a big replica of Debby Brown’s folk art interpretation of our iconic City Clock.

Ken

The new garden at the City Clock honors long-time Rome volunteer Anne Culpepper. 

 

Here she shows off a beautiful platter these children and their teacher presented as part of the ceremony.

More from the City Clock garden dedication…
A limited edition Christmas ornament was created for this ceremony. Ken & I each purchased one.

More from the City Clock garden dedication… This one of a kind cloth was created especially for Anne Culpepper. The design creates a crown atop the clock for the universally recognized Queen of the Clocktower.

Gleaning Facebook: John on Preparing His Fib

John Paul Schulz is getting ready to compete in the 243rd Annual Big Fibbers Contest (during the Big Fibbers Storytelling Festival at the city auditorium here in Rome. He’s got some fierce competition from eleven other fibbers from five states! 

Getting ready for the Big Fibbers competition on March 16.

It's a rainy Sunday afternoon and I'm taking myself to school. I've learned some things today.

1. I learned that eight minutes is not a long time to introduce a character, set up a situation, and finish a story--especially if I pause for audience laughter (which I expect to do several times). Do you think the judges should deduct laughter time from total story time? I'm sure they won't.

2. And I have learned that a good short story is not at all the same thing as a script for a good storyteller story. That's what I'm working on mastering. I'm having to change the short story into a script. This concept is new to me.

But I shall persevere. "Never" is the best time to stop learning.

-John Paul Schulz

Gleaning Facebook: A Time to Tell

 Y'all put the date on your calendars for our next "A Time To Tell".

We had a great time today:

• Sara Beth Abernathy our 2018 champion YoungTales storyteller told her winning story about a kamikaze bird.

• John Paul Schulz told a great reminiscence about a wardrobe malfunction turned red badge that became a fad.

• Mary Elena Rivera Kirk regaled us with one of her wonderful native stories from Puerto Rico.

• Delmas Franklin gave a uplifting account of a very determined woman who ministered to orphans in Chattanooga, and someone in 2018 who owes much to that "angel".

• Bob (Beverly M. Harris) Harris told about the way stories helped him through the pain of childhood treatents for hemophilia and told one about Winnie and Eyore.

John Paul Schulz: All of the stories last night were so good that I had to tell about them at the dinner table after the meeting.