Every Day A Holiday: A storyteller's memoir

Every Day A Holiday: A storyteller's memoir

“Elizabeth Ellis’s words jump off the page and into the secret part of your heart where you keep treasured memories and sacred feelings. She sings to you of her life and the lives of others with whom she intersects. Compassionate and thought provoking, an Appalachian/Texan with a whole-world point of view with a little rabble rousing thrown in, Elizabeth Ellis is a true master of the written and spoken word.”                   --Robin Bady, Storyteller, Arts Educator, Brooklyn, New York “Perfectly paced, often amusing, always memorable stories, subtitled "A storyteller's memoir," is a slim but enriching collection of Ms. Ellis's experiences as they relate to different American holidays.” ― MK Turner for Bookreviews.com “In the forty-some-years of the (so-called) American storytelling revival, Elizabeth Ellis has been one of our most treasured truth tellers. Here she tells her own truths – some full of hope and others hard to hear. But in the hearing or the reading of these narratives, we are called to resilience, generosity, wisdom and love.” ― Milbre Burch, storyteller and workshop leader, Columbia, MO "Elizabeth Ellis is a storyteller who touches her audience in such a deep, caring way that you can almost hear them sigh, let out a deep breath and think to themselves, 'she knows.' We have all waited for a long time for these wonderful stories of the human spirit and its triumph to be published and the wait is over thanks to Parkhurst Brothers." ― Dan Keding, Circle of Excellence storyteller and author, Urbana, Illinois "A glorious, memorable brew of witty, irreverent, profoundly wise, and deeply sacred autobiographical tales, served up in Elizabeth’s lyrical, insightful, humorous style. Here we have written proof that the divine Miss E is both a master storyteller and an unofficial national treasure." --Geraldine Buckley, storyteller and pastor, Frederick, MD "Elizabeth Ellis's gift, and a rare gift it is, is to illuminate the universal through her honest explorations of the deeply personal. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes powerful and moving, her stories are always true to her own journey and her own remarkable storyteller's voice." --Gayle Ross, Circle of Excellence storyteller and author, Cherokee Nation, OK “Elizabeth Ellis has long been one of my favorite tellers, especially when it comes to her personal stories. I don't know of anyone who can do a better job of crafting and then telling the sort of down-home, engaging, amusing, moving, and thought-provoking tales that characterize her performances and stick to you like a burr.” --Joseph Bruchac, Circle of Excellence storyteller and author, Greenfield Center, NY "From her childhood in Appalachia to her adult life in Texas, Elizabeth Ellis has soaked up life's big stories, re-shaped them with compassion and wisdom, and now retells them with humor, honesty, and gentleness. Readers and listeners can do no better than to sit at her feet, feeling glad to be human and ready to be kind." --Jimmy Neil Smith, Founder of the National Storytelling Festival (USA), Jonesborough, TN "Elizabeth Ellis is pure psychic of a storyteller. She somehow is able to always appropriately comfort the afflicted or afflict the comfortable...often at the same time!" --Donald Davis, Circle of Excellence storyteller and author, Ocracoke, NC I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee and Kentucky. Because my Father died in World War Two, my Grandfather was an active force in my life. My Mother moved us to Tennessee to grow up in the house in which my Father had been born. Every day that school was closed for two days in a row, we went “home”. That was always the home of my Mother’s parents in Kentucky.        I was a child who lived mostly in my own head. I never stopped talking, a great cross for my Mother to bear. Most of my closest friends were imaginary. On one level, that is still true today.        The greatest influence on me as a child was Dr. Orvel Calhoun Crowder, the minister of the church across the street from my house in Tennessee. He introduced me to the world of books and the life of the spirit.       After getting an undergraduate degree in English and History from Milligan College, I received my Masters in Education from East Tennessee State University. I came to Dallas to work for the Dallas Public Library as a Children’s Librarian, a position I kept for a decade.        In 1978, my old friend Gayle Ross and I made a trip to the Appalachian Mountains to attend the National Storytelling Festival.  We met Jackie Torrance, David Holt, Donald Davis and the Folktellers, along with others who called themselves storytellers. On the way back to Dallas, “We could do that!” became “I will if you will!” We came home to Dallas and began plans to become professional storytellers.        We worked as a duo, as The Twelve Moon Storytellers, for about four years or so. But, making a living large enough to support both families wa