WINTER

Patrick is a retired elementary school teacher who has been telling stories with the Portland Storytellers Guild the past 10 years. “As a teacher, my professional life was spent reading stories to my students.”

After sequential careers in public broadcasting and association management, Chuck McConnell retired to Portland in 2010. Here, he’s continued “working” (volunteer) as a mediator for small claims court and with OMSI’s special events unit. He never misses a chance to play old-time fiddle music.

John Wylder is a passionate storyteller and has won several Story Slams at the MOTH and a Slam at the Florida Story Telling Festival. He has appeared on stage with the Portland Storytellers' Guild and in the Art of the Story Festival with the Washington Country (Or.) library system.

His stories cover a wide range of themes and topics including his family stories, stories from his youth, love and learning. In addition to his stage work he has a Facebook story page where he shares his stories with friends and family.

His business stories are from his working days in banking and technology he appeared on stage and numerous business meetings and has been featured in television interviews. He is the author of numerous articles on technology and wrote a book about information security.

His favorite stories have a fable like quality allowing the listener to take away something from the story and perhaps a laugh or a bit of wisdom.