Loralee Cooley
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Storyspinning, the name Loralee Cooley has used for over 25 years for her storytelling work, comes from STORYtelling and yarnSPINNING. A new project “tapped her on the shoulder” back in 2009, after she had related stories about presidential inauguration days to several groups on January 20, the day Barack Obama became president. With so many students who listened to those stories having questions, misunderstandings, and downright inaccuracies about the new president, she felt that “shoulder-tapping” to tell the story of Barack (aka Barry) Obama’s childhood. The results ended up being a small book entitled ISLAND CHILD. It recounts Barry’s growing-up years on the two island chains of Hawai’i and Indonesia. Published in 2011, it’s now available on order from Amazon. (Input “Loralee Cooley” and “Island Child” and the book should come up.)