News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Storyteller Leah Lamb and Sisters artist Mark Smith will launch their illustrated book, "The Little Book of Change," and the community-hosted Gatherings of Change Tour with a free evening of storytelling at Paulina Springs Books on Thursday, October 29, at 6 p.m. The authors will share stories from "The Little Book of Change," while also calling for stories from the community. This gathering will also feature song from Beth Wood and a story from Kellen Klein of Citizens4Community as co-hosts.
Change rarely arrives on schedule. It shows up as a move, a loss, an ending or a calling that will not stay quiet. Born in the aftermath of the Los Angeles fires, "The Little Book of Change: A Storied Guide to Navigating Transitions, Loss, and New Beginnings" is Lamb and Smith's illustrated companion for the moments when life asks us to begin again.
The 246-page book brings together short stories, reflective practices and rituals that readers can open to at any point in their own process of change. Its chapters follow the arc of a transition, from Courting Change, and Know Thyself through Threshold, Loss and Crisis to Rituals for Transition, Integration and Arrival.
Smith's illustrations weave throughout the book, offering a visual language that accompanies readers through the many stages of change. At a time when people are navigating climate disruption, displacement, loss, changing relationships, and profound shifts in how we live and work, Lamb offers another way to think about change: not simply as something to survive, but as a practice we can learn.
Lamb is a storyteller, educator, and founder of the School for Sacred Storytelling, where she teaches story as a living, relational practice that connects us to land, the unseen world, each other and ourselves. Her work draws on years as a wilderness guide, a master's degree in social work, and a lifelong exploration of how story shapes identity and creates change. She grew up in Vermont, lived in California for 20 years, and now lives on Maui. Learn more at http://www.leahlamb.com.
Sisters resident Mark Smith is an artist whose work spans multiple media, and explores the threads that connect people, stories, and the world around them. After meeting Lamb, Smith came to understand his archetype as "the thread," inspired by the mythological clew - the ball of thread Ariadne gave Theseus to find his way through the labyrinth - and the origin of the word "clue." His illustrations for "The Little Book of Change" serve as visual clues, inviting readers to discover and weave their own lives of meaningful change. Smith writes at eleprocon.substack.com.