There was singing, sharing, dancing, and drumming this afternoon with our guest speaker, Richard Pitts.
Pitts is a professional storyteller and drummer who performs throughout the state. He is the Director/Co-founder of the Wonder Workshop Children’s Museum in Manhattan. He also studies and writes about the Underground Railroad in Kansas. He has written two books: A Self-Guided Tour of the Underground Railroad in Kansas, released in 2004, and Stories With a Lot of Soul, released in 2010.
He kicked off the afternoon session with a Swahili beat, before entertaining everyone with some engaging stories from his own life, and the lives of his ancestors.
After that, it was time for the participants to think about their own stories. He walked them through several fun exercises intended to get the participants to let go of themselves and feel comfortable with each other. One of the activities required participants to pair up and mirror each other’s actions and voices.
K-State Young Writers' Workshop 