It’s one of the most intriguing and captivating ways people communicate. A primitive and yet enduring method of teaching, storytelling continues to be a favored way to pass along information and teach about the world.
As a young Latina in East L.A., listening to stories was a way for Olga Loya to connect with her culture. She couldn’t get enough of her grandmother’s stories about life and enjoyed hearing about her grandmother’s trips to the mercado and visiting with friends. She also enjoyed her father’s stories.
Storytelling ran in Loya’s blood, but she didn’t realize that truth until she became an adult. After attending a storytelling conference in 1980, she realized that, in fact, storytelling was what she wanted to do with her life.
“It was like a thunderbolt to my heart,” she said. “And I knew I wanted to pursue storytelling.”
Then she realized she had always enjoyed stories: those of her grandmother and her father. She had even been a storyteller herself without knowing it through her teaching. It had always been in her.
“Then when I went to this conference, it became focused,” she said.
Loya uses stories to examine themes like healing, racism, and multiculturalism by drawing on a large repertoire of family and personal accounts. She also tells bilingual Latin America folklore and stories from Africa, India, Asia, the Antilles, and Europe. She often incorporates a variety of performance styles, including improvisation, dance, song, and instruments.
Loya said many of the stories she’ll be telling at an event at the Santa Maria Public Library will include love, ghosts, or both. The tales will be a mix of personal experiences (like the love stories of her grandparents) and some will be myths and legend—including La Llorona, the crying woman—though she’ll add some personal experience with that, too.
Loya was one of the performers at the library’s grand opening in August 2008. Deborah Hildinger, cultural events coordinator at the library, said that as part of the library’s new adult programming, staffers would like to bring in performers who are free to the public, especially for multicultural and bilingual performances.
“With September being National Hispanic Heritage Month, Ms. Loya’s program celebrates that heritage and will make more people aware of it,” Hildinger said.
While many of Loya’s stories explore multicultural themes, others reveal themes anyone can relate to. Most of the tales she tells have been passed down through the ages.
“They endure because people love them,” she explained, “and people love them because they can relate to them.”
Mature listeners see their past and experiences in some stories, she noted, and younger people see their futures.
Loya has created two videos and three tapes, and has written a book called Momentos Mágicos, which won a 1998 Aesop Accolade, the International Reading Association award for young adults, and an America’s commendation for young adults. She also presents one-woman shows that explore redemption and forgiveness.
By their very nature, stories get told and retold, which could sound repetitious to some, but Loya said the variety and ever-evolving nature of her storytelling keeps things exciting.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone is ready for a good story. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 17-24, 2009.