Sorry, Jim (and Northerner!) previous post was not meant to be critical. My only intention was to offer food for thought. If my guess as to 'Northerner's identity is correct then I am happy to confirm that her performances have most assuredly improved over last last year or so, and I have enjoyed the last couple of stories far more than the first few. But she did state earlier in the thread that 'most people had not encountered a storyteller before' and I feel that if this is not true, then she may be working harder than she needs to, (thinking she needs to explain the medium as well as tell the stories) and may also be inadvertently conveying the impression that storytelling is neither understood nor acceptable, which would be a shame.