Jason Cato / The Herald. Herald. Rock Hill, S.C.:
Mar 26, 2004. pg. 1.B
Full Text (536 words)
Copyright The Herald Mar 26, 2004
Each in their own way, the packed audience followed
along with the tale of love rediscovered years after the
Holocaust.
Herman, a Polish Jew, spent much of his childhood and
teenage years in Nazi concentration camps during World
War II. He survived largely thanks to the help of an angel
his deceased mother promised would visit one night in
a dream. That angel turned out to be a young girl on the
outside. She brought him food everyday, sneaking it over
the fence. First it was a red apple, then scraps of stale
bread. Their ritual continued for seven months.
When Herman was eventually sent to another camp, the
young couple shared a tearful good-bye.
The group of about 100 adults hung on every word Thursday
at the Baxter Hood Center as world-renowned storyteller
Connie Regan-Blake continued.
Years later, after immigrating to New York city, a still
thin, but grown-up Herman sat in the back seat of a car
on a blind date with a girl from his native Poland. He
was on the left, wearing neatly pressed black pants and
a starched white shirt; she was on the right, clutching
a red carnation Herman brought her that was a shade off
from the color of her dress.
Being about the same age and from the same area of Eastern
Europe, Herman and Roma talked about the war and where
they'd been. As Herman began listing off the places he'd
been held, Roma stared in disbelief.
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"Did a young girl throw food to you over the fence?"
she asked.
"Yes. How could you know that?" he replied.
"Did you tell that girl not to come back?"
she asked.
Yes, Herman answered. His mother had visited again during
a dream a few days earlier to ask if he'd found his angel.
Now he had.
"I was that girl," Roma said.
Everyone heard the same story, but likely saw a different
image in his or her head.
"I think storytelling is more than words,"
Regan-Blake of Asheville, N.C., said in an interview before
taking the stage as part of the ninth Patchwork Tales
Storytelling Festival hosted annually by the York County
Library. "I think it's images. And it's personal,
because it's your image."
The storytelling festival continues through Saturday
with various events throughout the area. Organizer Diane
Williams said there are events for everyone, from children
to adults, with plenty to learn and enjoy for everyone
who attends.
"Books and reading is the bottom line," Williams
said. "It's to make storytelling and literature alive
in our community."
Regan-Blake performed at the first National Storytelling
Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., the grandma of U.S. storytelling
festivals, and has repeated the feat every year since.
This October will be her 33rd appearance. Overall, she's
performed in 46 states and 14 countries.
"I think storytelling is what's the same about all
humans," she said. "We've all told stories and
heard stories."
Fellow storyteller Jackson Gillman of New England called
storytelling a universal art form performed by everyone,
everyday.
"It's not an intimidating craft," Gillman said.
"We practice. But everyone has stories and everyone
has the ability to be powerful, effective storytellers.
It's what makes us human."
Contact Jason Cato at 329-4071 or jcato@heraldonline.com.
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