Story Crossroads

Cap’s Off to You! – Donna Marie Kuczynski (Posthumously) and Celebrating Story

Donna Marie Kuczynski was a storyteller whose warmth, humor, and fierce belief in people traveled far beyond any stage. Long before online storytelling became common, she was already bringing stories into places where they were deeply needed—especially with youth in detention centers, where she encouraged young people to discover that their voices mattered.

Viveca Deanes remembered first meeting Donna more than twenty years ago through juvenile court work, where Donna “would go into the detention home and work with the kids on storytelling.” Kevin Cordi later reflected that Donna Marie was “one of the main reasons I became a storyteller,” describing her as “a fierce advocate” for youth storytelling who “never failed to remind me to pass it on.” Through churches, WRAPPS, and community programs, Donna Marie helped young tellers recognize dignity, imagination, and courage within themselves.

Donna Marie carried stories everywhere she went. Friends remembered how hospital stays somehow turned into communities because she gathered people together with humor and conversation, even creating what Sara DeBeer Zeiger described as “The Table of Mirth” during rehab, where a few residents eventually became nine people gathered around pushed-together tables. She handed out rubber ducks to nurses, attendants, and strangers alike, transforming ordinary encounters into moments of joy and recognition. Sue Schueller shared that one hospital attendant even cried after Donna Marie asked him to sign one of the ducks because “she was the first person who ever recognized his work.” Whether telling Irish lore, stories of knights and chivalry, memories from McKeesport, or family stories rich with humanity, Donna Marie had a gift for making listeners feel welcomed into the story beside her.

During and after COVID, Donna Marie became a beloved presence in online storytelling circles around the world. Week after week, she appeared in Zoom gatherings from Ohio to Ireland to Canada, participating in sessions with Liz Weir, Love of Dunbar, Ballyeamon Barn, and 1001 Friday Nights. Liz Weir wrote that Donna attended online sessions “almost every week for the past six years” and that “her warmth and personality came through in her telling.” Oni Lasana of the Love of Dunbar Collective called Donna Marie “the wind beneath my wings” and reflected that she was “always the first to show up” for their Zoom gatherings. Even when she could no longer travel easily, Donna Marie remained deeply engaged in storytelling communities worldwide, sharing stories, wisdom, humor, and her famous reminders to “hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.”

Donna Marie’s legacy lives not only in the stories she told, but in the storytellers and communities she nurtured. She championed youth storytelling with determination, encouraged emerging tellers before they believed in themselves, and carried a joy for life that remained vibrant into her nineties. As Valerie Farschman wrote, Donna Marie embodied Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “Keep A-Pluggin’ Away,” while many others described her as a bright light whose kindness and storytelling changed lives.

Every time a story is shared with generosity, humor, and wholehearted welcome, part of Donna Marie Kuczynski’s spirit continues to speak.

If you have links to add – video, audio, articles – please share by emailing info@storycrossroads.org or commenting on this blog post.

You can see more details on Donna Marie Kuczynski with the Story Artists Memorial.

Do you know a Story Artist who has passed on and want others to remember them? Memories? Pictures? You can submit names and memories of Story Artists who have passed on through our online form.

Donna Marie teased that she needed stories for people aged 90 and older to “stay relevant.” She pursued storytelling opportunities with the same enthusiasm and curiosity as any adolescent. I especially remember her attending the virtual workshop to learn more about Dunbar and then becoming part of the Love of Dunbar Collective as a result. While many people slowed down during COVID, Donna Marie became even more present, engaged, and active. Oh, how I look forward to hugging you, Donna Marie!

Donna Marie Kuczynski still has a story. You have a story. We all have stories.

Z = Zebra & the Baboons (South Africa)

We are pleased to participate in the A to Z Blog Challenge for the month of April. The Story Crossroads theme for this year is “Becoming: Tales of Transformation & Calling.” We love exploring traditional tales from around the world within that theme.

About “Zebra & the Baboons”

This tale tells of a zebra foal raised among mares and shaped by both protection and conflict. When the young stallion grows, he must step into a world where old enemies—baboons—still claim authority over the land and water. The story follows a moment of confrontation that reveals identity not just by appearance, but by substance, voice, and action.

Symbolism and Themes

Becoming Through Identity Formation – The zebra stallion is shaped by care, but must ultimately define himself through courage and confrontation.

Calling Through Confrontation – His “calling” emerges when he speaks truth to power, refusing to remain passive in inherited conflict.

Transformation Through Recognition – The baboon’s challenge forces both characters to reveal what they truly are—milk-eater and gum-eater—exposing identity as lived reality rather than assumption.

50-word-or-less summary:
A zebra stallion, raised on mare’s milk, leads the herd to water but is blocked by baboons who claim the path. When a baboon mocks him, the stallion proves he is milk-fed, the baboon gum-fed, then seizes him and slams him onto hot rock, leaving a permanent scar.

Finding the Story:

This folktale appears in African oral tradition collections and public-domain folklore compilations. We did find this story in full text at sacred-texts.com called “The Zebra Stallion.”

Finding the Transformation:

This story is not a gentle coming-of-age—it is a story of identity tested in conflict. The foal becomes a stallion not simply by growing older, but by stepping into tension and refusing to be defined by the baboons’ control.

Transformation here is physical, verbal, and symbolic: the moment he speaks, he becomes. The baboon’s humiliation and lasting mark underscore a deeper truth in folklore—becoming often emerges through confrontation with inherited boundaries.

What defines us when we are challenged: ancestry, assumption, or the voice we choose in the moment we finally speak?

Share your thoughts in the comments! While you enjoy this blog, Story Crossroads has year-round offerings. See our popular links and upcoming events at our One-Stop.

As for our past A to Z Challenges…

Go to A to Z Archive

While you enjoy this blog, Story Crossroads celebrates the 11th hybrid summit & festival on May 2 & 4-6, 2026 – yes, in-person and virtual – and would be honored for you to join us.

Explore Summit & Festival

Thanks to funding from National Endowment for the Arts; Zoo, Arts & Parks (ZAP) of Salt Lake County; Creative West; Utah Division of Arts and Museums; City of Murray; Salt Lake City Arts Council; Utah Storytelling Guild; Murray City Library; Pleasant Grove Library; American Fork Library and people like you.

Cap’s Off to You! – Mother Mary Carter Smith (Posthumously) and Celebrating Story

Mary Carter Smith—affectionately known as “Mother Griot”—did not simply tell stories; she carried them, lived them, and offered them as gifts to anyone willing to listen. Rooted in the African griot tradition, she understood storytelling as sacred work: the remembering and sharing of history, culture, and human truth. Whether in classrooms, on stages, or over the airwaves, she met people where they were and reminded them that their own stories mattered. For many, she was the first to model storytelling not just as art, but as identity and inheritance.

Her journey into storytelling was not born from ease, but from a life shaped by profound loss, movement, and resilience. As a child, she experienced the death of her mother and was raised by her grandmother, whose voice and presence helped plant the seeds of story. Those early experiences—of grief, listening, and witnessing—became the foundation of her work. She once described how stories lived in her body long before they became her profession. By the time she stepped fully into storytelling after a 31-year career as a Baltimore City teacher, she had already been practicing it all her life.

In the classroom, she was ahead of her time. When African and African American history were largely absent from curriculum, she brought them in—through stories, poems, songs, and presence. She dressed in African clothing, immersed herself in cultural study, and even traveled to Ghana to deepen her understanding. Her teaching extended beyond academics; she nurtured confidence, imagination, and pride. Former students remembered not just what she taught, but how she made them feel seen, capable, and connected to something larger than themselves.

What sets Mother Mary apart is not only what she built—co-founding organizations like the National Association of Black Storytellers and helping elevate storytelling nationally—but how she lived her values. After the devastating loss of her only child, she chose a path that few can comprehend: forgiveness. Grounded in her faith, she transformed personal grief into a message of healing, often sharing that story so others might find a way forward through their own pain. Her life reminds us that storytelling is not just about what we say, but how we live.

To know Mary Carter Smith is to encounter a woman of deep humility and unwavering purpose. She often spoke of herself simply, insisting that what mattered most was not appearance or acclaim, but the person within. Her daily prayer—asking that her life touch others for good—was not just words, but practice. And perhaps that is her greatest teaching: that each of us is already part of the story, already carrying something worth sharing. Through her voice and her example, Mother Mary invites us not only to listen—but to remember, to honor, and to tell.

If you have links to add – video, audio, articles – please share by emailing info@storycrossroads.org or commenting on this blog post.

You can see more details on Mother Mary Carter Smith with the Story Artists Memorial.

While I did not meet Mother Mary Carter Smith, I have heard her name for decades. And it will be decades more. Yes, for founding the National Association Storytellers of Black Storytellers. But also the founding of storytelling in our hearts. Many people to this day honor her, sing her name, and share stories that solidifies again her legacy. Truly, I look forward to meeting her after earth time.

Mother Mary Carter Smith still has a story. You have a story. We all have stories.