![\"I\"](\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/I.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI was invited by\u00a0a school district to do a storytelling performance with the theme being family history\/memories. At first, I was going to decline the opportunity, since I didn\u2019t have any stories about either. But I changed my mind. I had a very unique person in my family that I could talk about, that I was well versed in, and I could use to share any stories and songs I wanted to. That person was me. I decided to share about myself from my nieces’ and nephews’ point of view. My nieces and nephews used to, and sometimes still do, call me Uncle Itch. (Probably a mishearing of the name Uncle H when they were young). So instead of being their Uncle Itch, I told my stories in performance about my Uncle Itch. <\/span><\/p>\n In writing and in telling you have to have a believable character for the audience to be involved. In order to tell my stories I had to create the Uncle Itch persona. That was pretty easy to do\u00a0since I knew the character very well. I just had to presuppose what my nieces and nephews thought of me. You can read about Uncle Itch in my blog entries <\/span>http:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=173<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>http:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=176<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>He\u2019s quite a character.<\/span><\/p>\n At least one of my nieces reacted to reading my blog by saying “This story is a bit schizophrenic.” I guess I got it right. <\/span><\/p>\n When it came time for the performance. I talked about the character in my family called, \u201cUncle Itch\u201d, described him a little and then put on my hat and became Uncle Itch. I got to share some of my strange instruments with the audience and even told them some \u00a0favorite stories and songs that I loved to share (actually the songs\/stories that I had planned for that group). It\u2019s real easy to pretend to be someone\u00a0when you are being yourself. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Uncle Itch I was invited by\u00a0a school district to do a storytelling performance with the theme being family history\/memories. At first, I was going to decline the opportunity, since I didn\u2019t have any stories about either. But I changed my … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n