We have been introducing you to the tellers who will be stepping up to the microphone for our April 8th Main Stage Event. Tickets are available and will serve as a fundraiser to help support Storycatchers mission and programing. You can buy your tickets HERE.
I received an e-mail from Cheri shortly after putting the requests for tellers out into the universe, pretty sure at that point that the only person who would be interested or show up would be my mom. So imagine my delight when I received Cheri's e-mail that she would be interested in telling a story! As the weeks went on we exchanged a few more, Cheri mentioning she was nervous (as is usually the case for first time tellers) and I replied as I always do, "You'll be great!" Not really being entirely sure of this proclamation as at that point, as I hadn't even heard a sliver of her story before. I put Cheri as our first teller of our first event and she...absolutely killed it. Setting us on the map with Storycatchers Live events and for the amazing stories that have been told since. Her story told that night is still one of my favorite stories. And what she's got lined up for the Main Stage event? Won't disappoint.
Cheri Miller
Cheri Miller worked in the Ripon, Neenah and Kaukauna school districts for 35 years, teaching English and serving as a Library/Media Specialist. She retired in 2012 but now works part time at Fox Valley Technical College teaching reading and writing, and tutoring. Currently Cheri lives in Appleton with her husband and rescue kitty cats. She grew up in the thriving metropolis of Luxemburg, Wisconsin. Cheri's childhood with six siblings on a dairy farm named Animated Acres, her experiences at Catholic School, her MANY jobs to get through college, her one year residence in a real life convent and her crazy life with a pilot husband and boy/girl twins provide fodder for a range of interesting stories!
Here's an excerpt from one of Cheri's great stories HERE
Franklin was in the audience of our first event, with his ever present smile and encouragement for all tellers. We talked and agreed that he should be up there, sharing his stories with us too. So, from the second event on, Franklin has been the resident grandfather of us all, sharing his stories with a mix of wisdom and wit. As one of our other tellers says of Franklin, "I believe everything he says. He could read the phone book and I'd be at the edge of my seat." We're so grateful for Franklin sharing his stories and a little bit of himself with us each time.
Franklin Chen
Frank (Ming-Kai) was born and raised in Taiwan under impoverished economic situations but with loving caring parents. He received a B.S. in agriculture chemistry from Taiwan University, and PhD in chemistry from Princeton University. He was a industrial chemist from 1977 to 2002. In 2002, he became a chemistry professor at UW-Green Bay. He uses storytelling to teach students about love and compassion besides the scientific subjects. He has been telling stories in the past 10 years, first with Wisconsin Storyteller Get Together group (meets once a year), then with the Storycatchers community. He has told a few stories with various plots with the Storycatchers community, but with the same theme: Love and compassion. He will tell a Japanese story, Sakura on April 8th.
Listen to excerpt of the first story Franklin shared with us at Storycatchers HERE
