February 9, 2015
(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and
illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)
Stoop
Storytelling has become a Baltimore tradition. We were at Center Stage tonight
with daughter FL to hear stories. As we walked into the lobby, our friend Joe
Challmes, previous five-time storyteller on the stage, was there in his wheelchair
and I greeted him with a kiss, his gray beard brushing my cheek. He usually
attended the shows to hear seven storytellers and three audience members whose
names are drawn during intermission.
The Stoop
Storytelling series bases its concept on summer days and nights of long ago, before air
conditioning, when neighbors sat outside on their front stoops
and talked with one another. This is one of my fond childhood memories from
Lyndale Avenue in Baltimore. Although this scene is not so common today with TV
and air conditioning pulling people inside, stories remain as the fabric of
family life. One of our many family stories
goes back to when FL was around eleven years old and one of our cats had
disappeared. After two days of searching, we accidentally found her trapped in
FL’s closed dresser drawer. Any cat cries had been muffled by clothing heaped
in a solidly built This End Up dresser. Stories that repeat themselves become
traditions, part of the glue that binds families together. Our daughters
remember the “face plates” their father always made for them, breakfast plates served
with sliced banana eyes, a strawberry nose and bacon moustache, curly yellow
scrambled egg hair.
Our
friend Joe always had stories to tell, like when he lived under a shopping
center with his son and young friends, some
of them homeless, or when he won big at the racetrack, or his strategy in poker
tournaments. His voice conveyed enthusiasm as he shared with his friends. Even when he lost his leg several
years ago, he continued to shower us with stories and his booming laughter was
infectious. “I’m the happiest one-legged man you’ll ever know,” he told us. I
told him that he was my role model as I cope with bad knees.
Addendum: An early morning call Tuesday
brought us sad news that Joe had died of a heart attack as he left Center Stage
last night and became the unofficial last story for the night. For sure, his many friends will continue a tradition of
Joe stories. It is so appropriate that Joe will live on in the tradition of
storytelling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> DAY 63 Sometimes Outrageous
You can read my other posts on this project here:
Listen to Joseph Challmes on stage at Stoop Storytelling:
A tale of hitting it big at
the Belmont and winning the money to buy a farm took place on Nov. 10, 2008, in
a cameo appearance as an audience storyteller for a show titled "Money
Changes Everything."
June 1, 2009 - "Good Sport: Stories
about winning, losing, and everything in between":
http://www.stoopstorytelling.com/storytellers/803
http://www.stoopstorytelling.com/storytellers/803
July 25, 2012 - "Scars":
October 4, 2011 - "Scaling the Mountain: Stories of
resilience, determination, and battling the odds." Joe spoke about losing a leg to an aneurysm
and gangrene complications a year earlier, and how he walked into Camden Yards for an Orioles game the next season.
Feb. 11, 2011 -
"Gimme shelter: Stories about finding, creating, and losing a
home": http://www.stoopstorytelling.com/storytellers/982
February 11, 2014 - Joe Challmes in SpeakeasyDC's Full House- Kids not Kittens At My Doorstep -
http://youtu.be/71047blHMLMWalking again into Camden Yards to watch the Orioles--a challenge
http://www.stacyspaulding.com/new-season-of-hope-on-opening-day/
https://web.archive.org/web/20130929130543/http://lame-excuses.com/?p=69
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