Percibald Garcia isn’t an actor or voiceover artist. He’s not a teacher or childcare worker. But since May, the 27-year-old architect has been a popular storyteller among some kids in quarantine.
During the pandemic, weeks of confinement—no friends, no group activities—have been dull and dreary, especially for children.
“Almost nobody was looking after the way that kids were experiencing this lockdown,” Garcia says.
For months now, Garcia has taken his “wandering microphone” into the green spaces between buildings in an enormous Mexico City apartment complex. There he broadcasts stories while children listen.
During His time on Earth, Jesus told stories. He often spoke in parables because He knows that stories can reveal truth, overcome barriers, gather people together—and even change them.
Garcia reads stories like El Tlacuache Lunatico (The Crazy Opossum) by David Martín del Campo. He often plays songs by Mexican children’s composer Francisco Gabilondo Soler. Children pop up at the windows of the multistory buildings for the show. A few venture out with parents to sit on the grass or a bench.
“The public plaza has been extremely important in Mexico since the time of our ancestors,” Garcia notes. “It is where people meet, talk, where the life of a neighborhood develops.” The pandemic hit this aspect of life hard, because people have been encouraged not to go out or gather. He calls his reading project “De la Casa a la Plaza” (“From the house to the plaza”).
Garcia believes his readings help to reclaim those shared spaces—and stem the movement to a digital world. “In the last three months, everything has gone online—work, contacts, shopping,” he says. “This is an act of resistance in the face of this ferocious digitalization.”
Rogelio Morales listens from his grandmother’s window. Since March, the nine-year-old has spent much of his time playing video games. “The only thing I go out for is to walk my dog,” he says. “It’s a little boring.”
But of the storytelling, Rogelio says, “It’s nice. We can relax a little.”
Luna Gonzalez came outside with her mother. They listened to Garcia from a safe distance, both wearing face masks. “I imagine what the animals are like,” says Luna. “I get bored at home.”
Rogelio’s grandmother, Maria Elena Sevilla, also sits at the window. “It is not just children he is entertaining,” she says. “It is people of my age too.”
These days, most of his neighbors have cellphones, tablets, or computers. But Garcia wants them to hear the human voice—and thrill in the world of shared tales.
:)
@Belwyn, are you still on here? And if you are ,Bella, were you the one with the Running Deer story?
@Above
Maybe we should take turns putting up ten minute writing plunges like the words you have to use and then see the diversity of everyone's stories... Just an idea. What do y'all think?
@Riley
That sounds like fun
I had a dream in which Gandalf defeated orcs with balloons!
@Caro
Oh wow, that sounds was a lot of fun! I bet you did a great job!
@Riley
That sounds like an AMAZING idea! Let's go for it! You should have the next turn, since you thought it up. It'll be fun! Let's do it!
@Dessie
Ok thanks! Uh, let me see..... what are some hard words? Ok here we go -
Tree
Balloon
Sand
Table
Chicken soup
Castle
Shark
Ok there you have it! LOL I bet mine will be terrible! It will be such fun to see what people come up with.
@Everyone: Please understand it is up to you if you want to compete in this challenge!
@ Caroline and...
Hhm... I'm only allowed on quizlet certain times of the month, so I'll try to get to you soon.
@ Dessie
Oh, I'm so sorry you can't join!
@ Everyone
Even though we have the quizlet class, let's stick to WNT, ok?
My Story
5 year old Mark ran to the scrubby mesquite tree in his 'backyard'. Sitting against it he hugged his stuffed animal shark. How he wished he lived near the ocean where sharks were, and not in this blistering hot desert, where you could see nothing but endless sand! As he sat, he began to play his favorite game - make believe. He would talk out loud as he made it up, and here is how his story went "It all started in a castle - yes, a castle by the ocean in Scotland. Prince Mark sat at the long dining table, filling only one chair out of a hundred. He desperately tried to finish his chicken soup, which the cook had not been very acquainted with and had made very terrible tasting. It was past eight o'clock, long past since when little princes should have been in bed. After chocking down the last bite or the burnt-cloth tasting stew, he went to bed. The next morning he was surprised by something round in his room. It was very light and expanded to a great size. He kicked it, and it floated in the air and bounced around before settling lightly on the floor again. The he had an idea. He would give it to the horse! He ran to the stable and threw it into the horse stall. Terrified, the horse bit the round object, and it blasted to pieces with a loud pop. the court jester found Prince Mark standing there in shock and said, "Well, it looks like that is the end of your balloon. Since you have popped it, you must be banished." Sadly, the King took his son outside of the kingdom and banished him. Prince Mark traveled down to the sea, where he went swimming down, down, down. he met with a shark, and there he lived happily ever after." Mark smiled at his little story and went inside, where his mother was dishing up some fresh chicken soup which she had just cooked up.
@Lissa
What is WNT?
@Riley
World News Teen
Hi
@Riley
Wow those were great! You did a good job on the words! And I loved the story! Good job! (I read it after I wrote mine though, I had ideas swirling in my brain!)
@Lissa
It's alright:)
@Riley and Everyone
Here is my ten minute thing! I had so much fun writing it!
The Messed Up Order
“I never wanted Shark Fin soup!” Roared the king, shaking his fist angrily at his bowl. “I said CHICKEN soup! Where is that nasty little servant! I’ll hang him from the tallest tree in the kingdom!” Jake heard the threat as it echoed through the castle and shivered as he glanced around the room for someplace to hide. There was nothing. Jake made a dash for the door, but the king thrust it open before he reached it, still roaring threats. “I’ll feed you to the dogs! I’ll bury you alive in hot sand!” He paused as he took in the room, the little table in the middle of it, and Jake cowering the corner. “You! This is the fourth meal in a row you messed up! You worthless boy!” He stomped over to the wide eyed cook boy. “It– it won’t happen again, your highness!” Jake cried, throwing up his hands over his face. “It was an accident!” “Accident! Accident! There has been far too many accidents in this castle and I won’t have it!” “Hold on a minute, sire.” Jake heard the soft voice from the doorway and relaxed. “Thank goodness, it’s queen Marilla!” He thought with relief. “Marilla!” The king said, turning to face her, cheeks looking like two bright red balloons. “This-” Marilla lifted her hand. “Wait...I already know.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “Dear,” she asked innocently. “Don’t you like shark fin soup? More than chicken soup?” The king started to calm down as he stared at his wife. “Why-I believe I do!” His voice returned to normal. “I believe I will eat it. Thank you, Marilla!” The royal couple walked, arm in arm, out of the room. Jake let out a sigh of relief. “Phew! I think there’s more than one person who is grateful to queen Marilla!”
@Above
@Lissa: Okay!
@Dessie: Wow that is amazing!! Great job! I liked it! You are so good at the ten mins thing!
:)
I'm going to write one soon but I should probably do my chores first.
:)
@Typewriters, this is my story. If you are offended to magic don't read this. It is fantasy-ish.
The Shark who loved Chicken soup.
Once there was a shark that loved chicken soup. He had only had it a few times, and only because he was the prince, since it was a delicacy. Chickens were hard to come by. One day, the shark, Klir, decided he would get the castle magician to turn him into human! Just for a day so he could have chicken soup. So one the scheduled day Prince Klir went very close to the beach and then ate the food the magician had sent. He burst out of the water, a human. Klir went on the sand of the beach and felt it between his toes! His toes! He ran up to a table a little clumsily and sat down at it. There was a bowl of chicken soup waiting for him! He started to gobble it up. And then “Hey! That’s mine!” Klir looked up and saw a human standing, towering, above him “I bought it, it’s mine!” “I’m the prince though” Klir replied a little shakily. “Of what country? This is America! We have a President not a monarchy! Now get out of my chair!” Klir leapt out and ran for the sea. He’d realized, maybe he didn’t like chicken soup so much! He jumped into the water, turned back into a shark, and swam home. Where there were balloons and little fish in blankets for everyone! He never did try to go on shore again.
@Caro
Really good, but was it just me or was there not the word 'tree' in it? Maybe I missed it...
Oh and yeah good idea to get your chores done before this! This is always second to chores and school for me!
@ Caro
We're still here, just had a busy weekend! Yes, I am Bella and I have the Running Deer book, which is going pretty well! =)
:)
@Belwyn, Awesome! @Bella, and you said you were going to try to publish it on Amazon in the first week or two of May, right? I'm really excited!
:)
@Riley, oh yeah! I forgot that one!
@ Dessie
OH! I DON'T LIKE MOVING! I've moved 9 times in the 13 years I've lived. I REALLY don't like change, I like to settle down in one place! I will be praying for you! This will be a hard transition! (P.S. Will you get ur dogs back when/if u come back? (P.P.S. Maybe ur internet will b better there! XD)
@ Caro
Yes, I'm going to try!
@ Dessie
Come back to AK, I meant.
:)
@Belwyn, I can relate! I have no idea how many times I have moved, but over the ocean more than five times. Here is a poem I wrote one day (well, it isn't really a poem.. lol. I hope you like it.)
I called China my home.
Called?
We left.
I had a new home.
Had?
We left.
I have a new place I call my home.
Good.
No, it isn't my home. My home is with my Father
You live with your father.
No, the Father who has prepared a room.
this is mylee
@Belwyn wow ya'll have moved a lot. we have never moved my whole life i've lived in the same house. our family has lived here 15 years so im not really us to change.
@ All Typelings\TypeWriters
I'm back and loosely read over the three and half pages that came into existence after I left.
Dessie: I will be praying for you, also, great subject lines!
Bella: Okay. I'm super excited for you to finish it!
Caroline: Interesting idea...I've often thought that Peter Pan is sort of bad. (He really annoyed me when I listened to the book! :)
Riley\Dessie: I think doing the "Writing Plunge" is a great idea!
Riley: Do you have any undated plans for publishing New Hope?
Mirela: Welcome back!
Lissa: Thanks for doing that! And I might join, but I think we should still keep Voice of a Storyteller, but thanks anyway!
Hopefully I responded to what you wanted to have be responded to!
:)
@Bethy, welcome back!!!!!!!!! Thanks, I think it would be narrated by a fairy friend of TinkerBell!
@ Caroline
Oh! That's a great idea!
this is mylee
I joined the wtt on quizlet but i guess You have to aceept my request ?????/
this is mylee
that was to Lissa or whoever it was that started the group.
This is Bella
@ Caro: Beautiful poem, thanks! I've only moved overseas (and back) once and I was 1, so I don't remember it! We almost moved overseas again a few years ago, but we didn't!
@ Bethy: Welcome back! Thanks, I'm excited for publishing, too!
@ Mylee: Whoa! 15 years! The longest I've ever lived in a house was 4 years!
:)
@Dessie. For me the longest I've lived in a house before moving and then moving back to the old house is three years. That is the house I'm in now.
@Typewriters, writing plunge. I'll write a short story with this later. This one the challenge is for 15 minutes.
YouTube.
Short.
Smiley face.
Funearal. (however you spell it)
Cupcakes.
Spleen.
The next subject lines after this one will make a poem
@Riley and all other Typewriters
So should we come up with a turn schedule for those of us who want to do it, or just randomly throw up the challenge every now and again? And who all really wants to do it?
@Bella
Wow, you sure moved a lot! And hopefully we will get our dogs back if we return...I really, really, REALLY want to take them. We have a dogcart I use on the trails in summertime, so I can use that I guess. But it isn’t the same as the dogsled though…
@Riley
Thank you! But as I said before, I have had a lot of practice!
@Caro
That’s a really good poem! Very encouraging, and I liked your story a lot!
(Do you do a lot of poetry? I do, but I am not good at all at poems that don't rhyme! And my poetry depends on my mood, I write some funny, some secretive, some sad... sorry I know that was random.....)
@Bethy
Good to have you back! Thanks for the prayers!
IM BACK!!!!!!!!!!
Yayyy!! I'm back and I have NO IDEA how many pages ya'll filled while I was gone SO can someone PLEASE fill me in on what happened?? Did anything important happen? Anything new? ANy new chapters? Should I go back and read everything I missed or can someone pls fill me in? Thanks!
@ Nadia
Welcome back! I just came back from my trip too and briefly read all the comments. There have been lots of small things, but not any new chapters. But:
Lissa made a site on Quizlet for us
Caro wrote a really good poem. (Or was it Dessie?)
Riley, Dessie, Caro and others have made a Writing Plunge, where someone gives you a list of words and you only have a few minutes to write a story using those words.
I think that's all..
Oh wait! Belwyn is actually Bella and her sister Kaewyn. (Which blew my mind, since I thought it was Belwyn, and her sister was just Wyn.)
If there's anything else I've missed, sorry! Feel free to put it up!
The egg splattered to the ground, forming a leering grin
(That was just a fun subject line.)
Riley\Dessie\Others: Making a schedule sounds like a great idea! Those who want to create lists could make a list on specific days of the week, or every other week if we have more people. Then those who want to do it and people who want to but don't\can't make a list can all write a story for the words and post it if they are so inclined.
If nobody minds, I can make the schedule if that's what we all want. But first I'll need to know who will be able to consistently make a word list and what days would be best for you.
If anyone else had any other ideas, you're totally welcome to share! :)
(I hope what I said makes sense.)
What's the Quizlet group
What's the Quizlet group called?
Poem Title: Who Are You?
@Nadia
Yay! Great to have you back! One thing Bethy didn't mention was that my family are thinking God is calling us to move to a country in the middle east, and I asked for prayer about it. But otherwise I think Bethy got most all of it! Um..me and Caro both wrote a poem I don't know which one Bethy was talking about...
@Bethy
Yeah, that sounds great! I think I may be able to do it regularly, and any day except for Saturday works fine for me as long as internet holds up.
@Caro
Whoops. didn't see your comment until after I posted my last one! I'll try to do that writing plunge but...sorry...I don't know what 'Spleen' is....Could you give me a definition then I'll do the writing plunge?
Poem Title: Who Are You?
@Nadia
Yay! Great to have you back! One thing Bethy didn't mention was that my family are thinking God is calling us to move to a country in the middle east, and I asked for prayer about it. But otherwise I think Bethy got most all of it! Um..me and Caro both wrote a poem I don't know which one Bethy was talking about...
@Bethy
Yeah, that sounds great! I think I may be able to do it regularly, and any day except for Saturday works fine for me as long as internet holds up.
@Caro
Whoops. didn't see your comment until after I posted my last one! I'll try to do that writing plunge but...sorry...I don't know what 'Spleen' is....Could you give me a definition then I'll do the writing plunge?
Poem Title: Who Are You?
@Nadia
Yay! Great to have you back! One thing Bethy didn't mention was that my family are thinking God is calling us to move to a country in the middle east, and I asked for prayer about it. But otherwise I think Bethy got most all of it! Um..me and Caro both wrote a poem I don't know which one Bethy was talking about...
@Bethy
Yeah, that sounds great! I think I may be able to do it regularly, and any day except for Saturday works fine for me as long as internet holds up.
@Caro
Whoops. didn't see your comment until after I posted my last one! I'll try to do that writing plunge but...sorry...I don't know what 'Spleen' is....Could you give me a definition then I'll do the writing plunge?
@Dessie
I did your 10 minute writing plunge, here it is (I'm note sure how great the punctuation is though)
Once upon a time there lived a girl named Cordelia. She always wanted to be a knight, out in the world doing exciting things and making a difference. Instead, she was cooped up in her house, baking, cleaning, and preparing for suitors all day. Until one day, when the Crown Prince’s Igloo Book was stolen. It was a rare book, a gift from the King of Novar who ruled the land of Ice and Snow. The Prince would read it aloud on celebration days because no one in the Kingdom had every seen snow, much less houses built of it. All they knew was trees, trees, and more trees. When the book was stolen, the King made a decree, that all able-bodied citizens were to start looking for it. But as Cordelia watched, many people simply ignored the decree, and said they would not waste time on a silly book when they had farms to take care of. Cordelia read the decree and realized that the King did not specify man or woman. This was her chance to make a difference and do something exciting! So, she marched right up to the castle, and knocked boldly on the front gate. She asked for a meeting with the king, and the guard was so surprised that he immediately let her enter the castle. She went towards the King and said, “I am here to find your book, but first I would like some assistance and supplies. Mother would never let me do something like this, much less assist me on my endeavor.” The king was taken aback, and could do nothing for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. “Well, fair maiden, I’m going to let you in on a little secret, the book was not really stolen. My son and I hid it in the dungeon as a test to see who would risk life and limb for knowledge. Since you not only want knowledge but have it. You were smart enough to ask for help, so as a reward, I will give you not only a dragon, but my son’s hand in marriage. But be careful, my son can be stubborn, and the dragon may try to fry you.” Cordelia rushed home to tell her mother, almost forgetting to bow on the way out.
@Riley and Caro I'll try to do yours sometime today or tomorrow
@Caro
Here is my story
I could barely stop the tears from flowing down my face as I walked into the building. I was on my way to my favorite clown’s viewing. His videos were viral on YouTube. He was the best thing that ever happened to it. I looked up to him and wanted to be as funny as him as I grew up. I looked down into the coffin, and I could not help but let out a small chuckle. Even in death, his face was painted in his usual smiley face. He looked so small and short in that box. I always pictured him as a bigger man, tall and muscular. I wished I could have met him before he died from getting punched in the spleen. As I walked out the door to my parent’s car, there was a lady handing out cupcakes. She smiled and said, “The clownster would never want people to be sad, so here, take this to cheer you up.” I tried to smile back as I took the cupcake, but only managed to curl up the edges of my lip briefly. I took a bite of the cupcake and almost screamed; it was filled with hot sauce!! Leave it to the clownster to pull a prank at his own funeral. I thought to myself, I could be like him and make people happy.
Who are you, one who stands in shadow?
So, I got from my Mom that your spleen is a organ in your body, correct? So I did the writing plunge and here it is.....hope it makes sense!
The chill wind swept across the barren landscape. Daisy pulled her coat tighter around her and shivered. The wind sure knows how to chill the skin, she thought. Daisy glanced around, at a loss of what to do. All she had done was set off from home to school, but now she was hopelessly lost in a place she had never seen before. The walk was supposed to be short, but she knew by her watch that she had been absent from home for hours. Daisy wished for goodness sake she had brought her backpack. The cupcakes with smiley faces that decorated it would have cheered her. She looked around again. This time, she noticed a faint line of trees far ahead of her. Daisy knew that the trees would protect her from the wind, so she started to make her way to them. She thought it would take at least an hour to cross the cold, windy landscape but to her surprise she had reached the treeline within a few minutes. As she entered the forest, she heard a low howl coming from deep inside it. Daisy shivered in terror, wondering what was better: the freezing wind or fear of wolves. Just then a gust of wind shook her to the bone, so she decided that she would rather enter the forest and warm up. Maybe the howl was just the wind. With that hollow hope, she crept deeper into the forest. Daisy had seen numerous movies on YouTube where bright red eyes peeked out of dark forests, and the uncomfortable thought came to her that she had seen no eyes, and yet could hear movements within the trees, the soft pitter patter of many feet. Could they see her and she not see them? She clutched her coat tighter and hurried on, fear gripping her so she could hardly move. But move she had too, so she continued on. The noises grew louder, and now she could see the path behind her was blocked by huge hairy shapes that had not been there before. Daisy began to panic as she broke into a run, in her mind a picture of the whole family, dressed in black and sobbing at her funeral. Suddenly she tripped and fell face first onto the path. Daisy rolled over and looked up in terror as a huge wolf bounded over and stood on top of her, fangs bared and...was that blood dripping off them? She screamed and tried to block the bite as those huge teeth came down to end her life….
“Daisy! Hey, Daisy, you can wake up now!” She jolted awake, breathing hard and sweat pouring down her face. ‘What?’ she thought, looking around the cheerful hospital room. Her mother stood over her, smiling. “Wake up, dear. They are done with the surgery on your spleen.” Daisy blinked, trying to take it all in. Then the realization hit her, and she gave a huge sigh of relief. ‘Thank goodness!’ She thought, smiling back at her mother. ‘It was all a dream!’
The end has come...for the cheese I'm going to eat
Amelia: Wow! Those were so good! That was very impressive. I really liked seeing how you took the words and then put them into the story!
Dessie: Thanks for saying that! And thanks for the other answer too.
All: If you are interested in continuously making a list of words, please let me know!
Me: My best days would probably be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, but I'll decided once I have everyone else, bc right now it's just Dessie and me. I'm assuming Riley and Caro would want to? (Sorry if I offended anyone, I know I was a bit blunt.)
@ Dessie
Yes, that's what spleen means. (<It rhymes!) :)
@Bethy
Thanks, it was actually more fun than I thought it would be. I’d do some days of picking words, I’m on here like every day so it doesn’t really matter to me which day
@Above
@NA: Hey there nice to see you back! See, we didn't get TOO many pages did we? :)
@Everyone: Well, for me I think it would be a little stressful having to do it on a certain day, so maybe we should just make an order and then whenever everyone has finished it the next person can put up their list. Does that make sense? I am willing to step up and be the organizer, unless Dessie watns to because she has had so much practice. I just need to get a good list of who wants to make lists. Please address the comment to me and either say "Yes I do want to make word lists" or "No, I don't want to make word lists", and I will make an order.
@Caro: Oh my word spleen is going to be hard! Good word choice, but hard! It is getting late so i will try tomorrow!!!
@Bethy: NOt really, we just decided to worry about getting it done, and then worry about publishing it! But I am personally hoping this year. It is just that as we get older we get busier and busier with life and school and work that we don't get much time to work on it.
@ Riley Yes I did get it,
@ Riley Yes I did get it, sorry it has taken a while to get back to you. I sent mine a couple of days ago so it should reach you in a couple of weeks. Can I join in the Writing Plunges thing? I don’t quite get what you mean by the list of words. Are we all having the same or making ours up for ourselves. Hey wait, we could do that one person does their story then thinks of the words for the next person to use. Just a suggestion.
@ Desarose thanks for the welcome! I look forward to your subject lines now!
@ Belwyn What is your book going to be called? It’s going to be on Amazon, right?
Here is my story with my words! I hope I remember all the words!
A story of a made up planet.
I’ve decided to tell you about some odd funeral traditions from the planet of Sare, I visited there for vacation. When people have funerals there they really decide to put the FUN in funerals. They all have smiley face masks. They are really weird. Each of the masks is a different emoji. Then they watch a few YouTube shorts from the person who died, YouTube channel. Everyone on Sare gets a YouTube channel when they turn 13. Then, they put a hard drive with all of the person’s videos from their YouTube channel on it. They do that instead of flowers.
After that they have cupcakes with a sugar printed picture of whatever killed the person. The one I saw had a spleen on each of the cupcakes.
So glad you could read my travel blog!!!
Talk to you later!! And see you on the moon!! -Alicia Kathrine Joyce.
P.S. Remembered not remeber.
:)
@Mirela
yes I will put you down! So how it works is that after I get everyone's names who want to do it, I will put everyone in an order and post it so y'all can see. Then we will go in order, and so the first person comes up with a list of say five or six random words. Then they and everyone else have ten minutes to write a short story including ALL the words. After everyone is done, the next person in line can put up a list of words. Does that make any more sense? (Ok I will be watching for it! )
@Caro: Good one!
:)
@Riley, Um, we might not all be able to write it in the first day, but good idea! Do you want to keep track and when everyone who wants to has written theirs you tell whoever is next that it is their turn?
@ All
Can someone explain this list to me? #Notunderstanding!
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