The Joy of Storytelling

Welcome to Story Garage. This podcast is a production of the Storytelling Program at East Tennessee State University.

Here in the Garage, we pop the hood and kick the tires, exploring how story, storytelling, and narrative impact human lives. Our contributors are students, faculty, and alumni of ETSU’s Department of Communication & Performance.

In Laughable Loves, Milan Kundera wrote, “We pass through the present with our eyes blindfolded. We are permitted merely to sense and guess at what we are actually experiencing. Only later when the cloth is untied can we glance at the past and find out what we have experienced and what meaning it has.”

That’s what we take time to do in the Garage today. This episode is both a retrospective and an homage.

When the Storytelling program began at ETSU, it was (and is) a one-of-a-kind blend of storytelling theory and practice combining the safety of classroom participation and real-world practicum. When the program began in 1989, one person spearheaded the effort of many to see Storytelling accepted as a legitimate academic and professional pursuit.

In an interview from the Fall of 2021, Delanna Reed sat down with Dr. Flora Joy for a frank discussion of what influenced her love of story, the path that led her to lead the way in founding the first master’s degree that included a Storytelling program, and the significance of Story to every person’s life.