Saratoga News

Saratoga Sampler

Mary Ann Cook

Teachers make like the Brothers Grimm

STORYTELLING GURU: Betty Peck's indoor theater room is the perfect place for a solstice storytelling session, as 25 local kindergarten teachers can attest. Lit only by the fire in the deeply recessed fireplace, the setting helped create the magic that storyteller Nancy Mellon wove. Mellon is therapist/teacher/storyteller and author of The Art of Storytelling. She directs both the School of Therapeutic Storytelling in Concord, Mass., and Hearthrose: Healing through the Arts, a center in Wilston, N.H. She also teaches at the International School of Storytelling at Emerson College, Sussex, England.

By using the Grimms' tales as examples, Mellon showed the teachers how to create stories to deal with stressful situations in the classroom. "Compassion is a rare bird in the kindergarten classroom," she says, and teacher-designed stories can teach compassion for others and respect for nature.

"What we're doing is helping others control their [antisocial] impulses. Teachers create a tapestry where the children can find themselves, open their hearts, restore our love. An imaginative atmosphere is needed for the nourishment of self-esteem. A story holds you in a loving embrace, is a gift to both teller and listener.

"Problems can be resolved through the imaginative images created by spontaneous storytelling because of the bond between storyteller and children. Problem behavior can be translated into imaginative pictures that liberate teacher and child from frustration by opening new perspectives and feelings."

Teachers were encouraged to create their own stories, using situations in their classrooms and translating them into something akin to the Brothers Grimm.

SURPRISE PARTY: Betty Seefurth thoroughly hoodwinked her husband, Tom, with a surprise retirement party at the Plumed Horse the day after his last day at work. He hadn't a clue, she says. Among Tom's tennis, golf and business friends paying tribute was Rick Becker, who has known Tom since they were 14 and students at New Trier High School in Wilmette, Ill. Becker was the main speaker at the gathering. He was the one who lured the Seefurths to California in the first place, 31 years ago, by hiring Tom as a sales manager. Later, Tom started the Arcus company and ran it for 26 years, weathering three sales. The Seefurths and Beckers met their mates at Northwestern. Mrs. Becker is Margie. Tom Seefurth has no immediate plans, other than to regroup for a while. But since Betty Seefurth is a travel agent, that sounds promising. The ploy she employed to lure him to the Plumed Horse: that Bob and Alex Nugent wanted to take them to dinner. Though the Seefurths moved to Los Gatos recently, they lived in Saratoga for many years, and most of the guests were Saratogans.

LOST AND FOUND: After a trip one morning to a San Francisco flower mart, a Saratoga wife realized that her diamond ring was missing. The ring was a fine diamond, a highly prized present from her husband. When she saw it wasn't in its accustomed place at home, she realized she had worn it that day and lost it somewhere.

Tearfully, she reported the loss to her husband. He tried to console her, assuring her the ring was insured, it was only a material possession etc., etc. But the wife continued to grieve. By midnight she realized she must have lost it getting out of the car at the flower mart, since she had taken the rings off to apply hand lotion during the trip.

Armed with this detail, she was determined to go back to the parking lot--at once. Since her husband didn't want her to make the trip alone, the two trekked back to the city. Guided only by the lights in the parking lot she spotted the ring immediately. It had evidently been run over because the prongs were bent, but nobody else had spotted it aside from the owner in those ensuing 12 hours. A happy ending and many karats of relief.

FOOD CHAIN: Kay Kenyon is one fine friend to have. She organizes food chains for those recouping from surgery or illness, such as Mary Lou Taylor. This is Mary Lou's fourth hip operation. No, she doesn't sport that many hip bones, but the first two replacements simply didn't take. The designated dinner donors, at least 21 in number, intend to keep the Taylors supplied during those first crucial weeks after surgery. Bon appetit!

AUTHOR, AUTHOR, AUTHOR: Three local authors will be featured at the AAUW luncheon fundraiser Jan. 29, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at the Saratoga Country Club--Audry Lynch of Saratoga, author of With Steinbeck in the Sea of Cortez; Nona Mock Wyman who wrote Chopstick Childhood in a Town of Silver Spoons; and Joseph McNamara, author of Fatal Command and Code 211 Blue. Wyman's book is about growing up as an orphan at Ming Quong. For reservations at $42 per, call 867-1928.

AT THE Y: Women's Health Issues is the theme for the week of Jan. 26-30 at the Southwest YMCA, and a luncheon/lecture on that subject will be held Jan. 28, 1-2 p.m. Lunch free to nonmembers or members bringing a guest. On Jan. 29 from 10 to 11 a.m., the lecture is on strength training for women.

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