Oral History Program Rachel Hedman Interviewed by Kandice Harris 17 March 2021 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Rachel Hedman Interviewed by Kandice Harris 17 March 2021 Copyright © 2022 by Weber State University, Stewart Library iii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The WSU Storytelling Festival was implemented by the Friends of the Stewart Library in 1992. The library sponsored and managed the annual festival until 1998, when the festival was moved to the Department of Teacher Education, with the Library continuing as a sponsor. The three-day festival entails storytellers from all over the nation, including youth storytellers. The events are made up of workshops and presentations, a fund-raising banquet, and a wrap-up of wonderful stories from gifted performers. This interesting collection includes oral history interviews with visiting storytellers, discussing how they became interested in storytelling and where they receive their inspiration. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Hedman, Rachel, an oral history by Kandice Harris, 17 March 2021, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Rachel Hedman 17 March 2021 1 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Rachel Hedman, conducted on March 17, 2021, by Kandice Harris, via Zoom. Rachel discusses her life, her career as a storyteller, and her memories of the Weber State University Storytelling Festival. KH: Good morning, my name is Kandice Harris, today is March 17th, 9:00 a.m. I am with Rachel Hedman and we are doing an oral history interview to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Weber State University Storytelling Festival. Can you tell me, how did you become interested and involved with Storytelling? RH: It's been many years ago now. This is actually my 27th year in Storytelling. And it's kind of funny to say that because I'm 41, going to be 42 in August. So most of my life has been with the art. And that's because way back in high school, I was still an animated type of person and I had some high school friends that said, "You got to do something with that." And I didn't know what. My freshman year I decided not to do anything extra, just focus on studies. You know, high school is a new world. But then, sophomore year, I thought, "Well, I should do something." And they said, "You should look into forensics!" Which were public speaking contests. And so I looked at the different categories and the one that popped out at me was Storytelling because it was the only one I didn't have to memorize for. So that kicked me off and the first time that I told a story for the coach before tournaments and everything else I was awful. I mean, I was stumbling and I couldn't remember the ending and mixing up voices. It was awful and I knew it. And I knew the coach knew it. So I was waiting to hear what she 2 would say, and all she said was, "Make sure you sign up for more practices." And that was probably the worst thing I could ever hear. Because I knew there was plenty of things to do. And on the ride home on the bus, I was debating on to even continue this art. And I wanted to prove to myself finally, that I was a good storyteller. I didn't sign up for more practices, so I was naughty that way. But I did practice on my own. And she still let me compete in tournaments. So it's not like I was amazing at the beginning. But by the end of my senior year, I ended up getting fifth in state. So at that point, it was more than a competition. And then it just kept going from there. KH: Okay, great. What part of storytelling brings you the most joy and satisfaction? RH: Well it's funny because it evolves. I mean, in the beginning, I wanted to prove something to myself. But that's not what it's like anymore. And now, it's been able to have as many people as possible be able to experience storytelling. Not that storytelling doesn't happen. It happens informally all of the time. You know, people talk about, "How was your day?" or whether it's at school or work or anything. So that happens all of the time, but I love it when people can recognize that there is something amazing happening, that there is some connection. So my greatest joy is when people finally get it. And they see it. And not only that they see that storytelling exists, but then they actually use it more often as a result. And when it can be available to more people, all cultures around the world, and different languages, that brings me a lot of joy when it can be shared with everybody. KH: Great. What are the qualities of a good storyteller? 3 RH: Well, a good storyteller, has to actually tell those stories somehow. They have to just get it out there—you might say to breathe, to play around with it. What I noticed in the beginning of my years was that I was really frozen in how I would perform and share. But to become an actual good storyteller, I had to be willing to play around with the story that it didn't have to just be done. It would always have a chance to be moving forward, to be able to get better, to adjust or adapt to the audience before me. So it's more than just having a great story. You have to be willing to move along with that story knowing that the people before you will be different people. And that means that there's different things that they will be getting out of it, and being aware of it. KH: What elements are required for a good story? RH: Well it's interesting because a good story for a person is that it has things that will move them in some way. And not that they are going to suddenly take action, but there's something that happens inside. The only way that we really connect is when there is some kind of emotion linked with it. So it doesn't mean that the story has to have a happily ever after. Sometimes the ones that move us the most are the ones that are sad. Maybe it's really funny, and a lot of times comedy has a way of bringing out some deeper issues in society. So I think that a good story is one that points out some trouble that we can find within ourselves, even if it is a folktale or a fairytale or a tall tale. It doesn't have to be a personal narrative or a historical tale for that to be there. So I think we can find it in any of them. And if for the storyteller it moves the storyteller, when the audience hears the story, they go, "Awww." You know, there is something 4 there. It may not be the audiences favorite story, but they'll recognize that something is there, and that makes for a good story. KH: Do you think our current pandemic environment has an impact on the importance of storytelling? RH: Yes. The short answer would be, yes. But I actually think that it has brought storytelling out more. It's actually pushing the whole storytelling community to do more with the art. For a while there were people who were thinking that they could just wait it out. That, "Oh, this might be just for a couple of weeks, or a couple of months." And obviously, we know that it went longer than that. And the people who decided to wait are now trying to play catch up. Or what I've noticed is that they just decided to maybe turn away from storytelling and turn towards other things. However, for the majority of the world, what happened is in isolation people needed to keep sane. And one of the best ways to keep sane is through the arts. So not just storytelling, but all kinds of arts really increased during this pandemic. If nothing else, there will always be the people who will say, "Oh, well, we can't spend money on the arts, we need to do the basics. You know, the reading and the writing, and the math." But after going through the pandemic, I'm guessing that a lot of those people that would say those kinds of things realized that it was actually the arts that got them and their families through it all. That it felt like we can survive as humans as long as we are able to express ourselves. And of course, the arts are a way to do that. And storytelling has always been a parental art form. Any good art has some element of story within it. So you think about dance, theater, music, all of them. If it's going to be 5 memorable and something that is going to impact society, it will have a story that could be obvious upon the canvas or upon the stage. But it's the story that the person looking at it or listening or experiencing the art, the story of that which also helps add to the whole impact. So I think during this time with all of the virtual world and we are still offering storytelling, it hasn't stopped the art at all. If nothing else, it's just added more ways that we can embrace this art. KH: Perfect. Where do you see storytelling in the future? RH: My first thought, when I think about storytelling and the future, would be holographic storytelling. You know, holodecks and everything else that we see like with Star Trek and some of the other sci-fi shows. And those are actually real type of things, even ten years ago people were talking about holographic storytelling because you have wonderful storytellers, and they pass on. And yes, a CD can capture their voice and of course CDs are starting to go out, so maybe more of a digital file these days. And a hologram would have more of a 3D element which is wonderful, which is important. When you have storytelling that is live and in person, you have that 3D element. Live will always be best, so that in the future of storytelling, there always has to be live. And that can still be done even during a pandemic. What we've experienced is we can still do proper distanced outdoors masked events. Eventually we will see what happens. I don't think that we are always going to be in this mask type of situation. I think eventually we will go somewhere else. But just like in the hero's journey, when the hero returns after having this great triumph and a boon to share with society, the return is never the same. I think about it with Frodo and with The Lord of the 6 Rings, when he and his comrades returned home, they were not the same, even though they came back to the same place. So that's what's going to happen for us. We are going to go on this journey, we're getting through all of those trials, we have our triumph, we are just around the edge. We will have our boon, we will learn many things from it. We will value the arts even more and we'll be higher than where we were before. There's no going back exactly, we will be back in our same places, our homes, our workplaces, we will still be there. But our minds, I think, have expanded and exploded. And we can realize more and more that storytelling can be experienced in a hybrid situation. Why do we have it just live? Why just virtual? It will be more and more obvious that we need to actually do both. And by doing both, remember how the great joy is when everyone can experience it? There's always a technical divide, there's going to be the people who don't have the technical devices and that's going to be a problem. And so there's going to be that gap. By doing hybrid for the future of storytelling, then we can make sure that everyone is covered. But yet, virtual has the ability to have live captioning, or closed captioning, or open captioning, or pre-recordings. And then you can add more languages, you can do American Sign Language, your Spanish, that might be easier than if it was done purely live. So we don't have to choose one way or the other, the future of storytelling means we use anything and all things to share that story and connect. That's what we have to do. We connect as human beings, and that happens, and the future of storytelling is bright. 7 KH: Great. How many years have you been involved with the WSU Storytelling Festival? RH: Oh boy, how many years? Well, I know for eight years I helped on the board itself, to help lead it. Which was a wonderful experience. So there's that for sure. And I know that I did a few years beyond that. I'm thinking at least 15 years. So here we are doing the 25th, and I know I would have been there for the 10th. So I'm saying a good solid numbers would probably be 15 years. KH: That’s great. Do you have a favorite memory from the Storytelling Festival? RH: Oh, favorite. Favorite memory. There's too many. But one that comes to mind, was when Carl Bailey and I, we were listening to Angela Lloyd. She was teaching teachers about the importance of using storytelling in the classroom. There were a couple of special guests, this was at the Treehouse Museum in Ogden, and the special guests were youth, which I thought was fantastic. I think usually when we have these workshops with the teachers, we don't always have youth there. But because the youth were there, they got to perform and be a part of the experience which already was wonderful. And then Angela interviewed them in front of the teachers and said, "Well how was your experience there?" And what came out of that was fascinating. They said, "Well, really it's kind of strange that we don't have much time on stage." And Carl Bailey and I were on the board with the storyteller committee and we heard that, and said, "Oh, well we've got to change that." Because at one point, the youth could only tell stories for three minutes or less. Which is hardly anything. I mean, you can find them obviously because we have plenty of youth tellers, but 8 that was just a short, short time. So Carl Bailey and I, as well as the rest of the storyteller committee, really went before the board and said, "Please, can we give more time to the youth? If they even have a couple more minutes, I think they will feel more part of this festival." And it took some doing, and it took some time because we had worked out the timing, you know, to a science. You know, "There's fifteen minutes and this is how much we give to the special guest or out of state teller. And this is what we give to our regional teller." But once we shaved off a minute here, a minute there, we suddenly were able to give the youth five minutes or less. Which it's amazing how that two minutes could change the overall feel of the youth, and the ones who always felt rushed in their story—not that they couldn't feel rushed with five minutes—but they were more appreciated on stage for that extra two minutes. It was amazing. And then, as a result of that too, we started the youth teller reunion. At the time, we did it at the Dinosaur Park in Ogden, which was really wonderful. A fun, fun magical place to even have a reunion like that. We would do story games and it was wonderful to see them come back again and again. And they would grow up and they would still recognize us. They were harder for us to recognize because they were growing up, but they could still recognize us anytime we went to the Weber State University Storytelling Festival. And it didn't have to be just the summer for our reunion, every time we went to the festival it was a reunion. So my biggest memories have been with the youth tellers. I mean really, in all of the world, I have never seen as many youth that are represented on stage than the Weber State University Storytelling Festival—and I am aware of storytelling on a 9 national and international level—nowhere has this many youth been on stage. And that doesn't even represent all of the youth from the schools, you know, on the classroom levels, wow. I mean, it's just awe inspiring. And then when you get to have that audience get to soak it up. And yes, they love the professionals, yes that's always wonderful, but there's always been so many comments about, "Wow those youth, aren't they amazing?" And when youth can see other youth perform, it just builds the art. I mean we talked about the future of storytelling, now that. Maybe I should have said, "That's really my big joy." I mean it's connecting everybody and that means multigenerational. That means our youth. KH: Great, those are all of the questions I have. Is there anything else you’d like to share? RH: Oh boy. Of course there would be. That question, "Anything else that I would share?" Just that I am fascinated by the potential of storytelling. That it's something that for some people it feels almost like a calling of sorts to do so. And I don't think it's because it's the storytelling itself, it's because of the people that are connected to it. Storytelling can only happen if there's at least one teller and one listener. It's okay if it's not before hundreds of people like on a festival stage. If it's one-on-one, that is still something that is special. And that's what it comes down to. It's a people-to-people connection. KH: Great. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to help with this project. I really appreciate it. RH: Of course. Thank you.