THE SIDNEY LANIER LIBRARY IN TRYON, N. C.

Kind Hearts, I just got home from the best storytelling experience I have had in the last five years. On October 20th (a noon brown-bagger) I told stories at the Sidney Lanier Library in Tryon, North Carolina. There was a large crowd (they had to carry in chairs) and I had a very responsive audience. Some of these folks came from Burke County, Oconee down in South Carolina and Asheville. I saw Marilyn McMinn McCredie in the audience, along with a slew of relatives of Dot Jackson's. In case you don't know, the Sidney Lanier Library is not like most libraries. It is one of sixteen "subscription libraries" in the U. S. (yes, people pay for the privilege of belonging to it), and it is noted for its annual programming of the arts, which includes novelists, poets, playwrights, artists, and (thankfully) storytellers. Take note, all of you folks out there who are hawking your wares and searching for a responsive (and enthusiastic) audience. Contact the Sidney Lanier Library in Tryon, the town where my favorite blues/jazz singer and musician, Nina Simone was born. Further, this is where Margaret Morley wrote and paid tribute to my favorite outlaw, Major Lewis Redmond (who hung out "in Dark Corners" which is just outside Tryon).