Coyote's Condoms (The Real Story Safe Sex Project) by Ty Nolan

I would often be recognized in airports by young people who would come up and tell me they had seen the DVD of me in their classroom. A DVD of my performance of Coyote's Eyes accompanied the 11th Grade edition of Houghton-Mifflin's The Language of Literature textbook, which gave me a national audience. I served as an Artist-In-Residence as a Storyteller for school districts throughout California and Washington State. I was expected to tell stories for a specific amount of time and either leave the stage, or wait for an arriving audience so I could start the next performance. Often people only wanted me as a Storyteller.

For many years I have told these and other stories across the United States and many other countries. My series-Coyote Cooks, has recipes included, but it's really more about ideas than how much flour to add to the fry bread. I currently live in Arizona, where our local college (South Mountain Community College) has one of the only Storytelling Institutes in the United States, where one can be certified as a storyteller.

I was asked to teach STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)professors at over a dozen colleges how to use Storytelling to more effectively communicate complex concepts about technology to a general audience. Most recently I've worked with the National Science Foundation's Flagship Project, Synergy. It wasn't until much later I realized my mom was forcing me to use the Stories I had been taught. Out of desperation, I would tell them a legend and teach them the song and dance that went with it. I would visit her in the classroom, and without warning, she'd walk out, leaving me with 15 preschoolers. My mom was one of the very first Head Start teachers on the reservation, and she always worked with three year olds. It’s about time Ebooks caught up with that crazy Trickster. Many Native Nations begin a Coyote legend with some variation of “Coyote Was Going There.” Trust me-Coyote? Still Going. I was raised with the importance of the sacredness of food and the legends that explain why we celebrate the First Salmon Ceremony, or why we understand taking a sip of water before a meal is a type of prayer. Food, spirituality, and community are always woven together-you can’t understand one without the others. Traditional Native American legends are powerful teaching tools. Rogers to using the Sahaptin legend of the Butterfly at an International AIDS Conference in discussing grief and loss. It's also a memoir of how I have told these stories, from celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mr. Coyote Still Going retells the mostly Sahaptin and Twana traditional legends I was taught by my relatives. I am a professional storyteller and a therapist. Here are some Stories (Traditional Native Legends) and some stories (personal history.) Winner of the 2014 BP Readers Choice Award for Short Stories and Anthologies

Coyote's Condoms (The Real Story Safe Sex Project) by Ty Nolan