Keeping our Oars in the Water:
Gathering to bear witness to experiences
and stories of vulnerability and resilience
When a small boat meets turbulent water, the best way to maintain balance and stay upright is to keep your oar in the water. It will become your stabilizing rudder, enabling you to maintain course and steer your vulnerable craft towards safety. We are each like that small boat.
Next OARS in the Water
Wednesday, Jan 28th
7:00pm-8:30pm EDT
Hosted by Heather Forest & Laura Preiser
Theme: Home
Join us as we explore the many facets of what it means to be “home” and to feel “at home.”
OARS in the Water is a facilitated Zoom gathering that meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 pm Eastern Time. The Healing Story Alliance’s OARS in the Water offers a community listening space in which to share the experiences and stories that have emerged in turbulent times.
OARS co-hosts facilitate the evening and provide participants with a warm welcome and a meaningful theme which we hope will be healing, supportive and inspiring.
Format: A typical 90-minute meeting consists of a 20-minute, theme-based opening, followed by 20 minutes in breakout rooms, and then we reassemble for a whole group conversation.
Admission is free, although donations are deeply appreciated and help support our programming. Your tax-deductible donation can be made here:
About our Hosts
Laura Preiser is new to the storytelling community although she has been a lifelong story listener. Her early years were shaped by having a non-verbal, autistic brother and growing up in a family that moved often, searching for schools for severely handicapped children in the days before special education programs existed. Back then, community activism was the family creed. Yet, as an adult, finding a sense of home has been a long work in progress. Laura explores this, and many other topics, through writing and storytelling, as well as her work as an advocate, caregiver, and mother of two individuals with special needs. Her life experience, as well as academic training in disability advocacy and mediation, fuel her desire to connect through story.
Heather Forest, PhD, is an award-winning storyteller, author, musician, and organic farmer. A pioneer in the American storytelling renaissance, she has appeared in theatres, schools, literature conferences, and major storytelling festivals throughout the United States and abroad. She is the author of seventeen children’s books and recordings based on multicultural folktales. A modern-day bard, her dynamic fusion of original music, poetry, and the sung and spoken word brings multicultural folktales to life in the imagination of her listeners. She is President of the Board of Healing Story Alliance, Inc. She views storytelling as both a fine art and a powerful tool for positive social change.
Let’s come together to consider how, where and when loving relationships (or even simple loving gestures) permeate our lives, whether with a friend, colleague, client, family member, lover or even a stranger.
Have you ever wished that life came with an instruction manual? We all know that it doesn’t! Each of us has had to think on our feet to find a way to meet a challenge. Join us to celebrate the joy we feel when we succeed in figuring something out!
2025 OARS Meeting Hosts & Dates
Jan. 8 Elisa Pearmain, Lani Peterson, (Tech: Heather): Theme: Community
Jan. 22: Laura Simms & Nancy Wang (Tech: Heather) Theme: Grief For Angela
Feb. 12: Sara deBeer & Arlene Angelmaier (Tech:Noa ) Theme: Inspiration and Perspiration
Feb. 26: Elisa Pearmain & Lee-Ellen Marvin (Tech: Heather ) Theme: Aging and Saging
March 12: Jim Brule & Dee Palanisamy (Tech: Lani) Theme: The Forest for Opening Hearts
March 26 Sara deBeer & Mary Jo Maichack (tech: Jim) Theme: The Roots of Remembrance
April 9 Lani Peterson (Tech: Heather) Theme: Our First Guides
April 23: Heather Forest & Nyanna Susan Tobin (Tech:Elisa-) Theme: Generosity
May 14: Joe Doolittle & Kate Dudding (Tech Lee Ellen) Theme: Smiles Remembered
May 28: Mike Seliger & Regina Ress (Tech: Jim) Theme: Signal Fires
June 11: Lee Ellen Marvin & Sara deBeer (Tech: Heather) Chance Encounters
June 25: Heather Forest & Kristin Pedemonti (Tech: Elisa) Theme: Youthful Pastimes
July 9: Elisa Pearmain & Karen De Mauro (Tech: Heather) The Language of Flowers
July 23: Jim Brule & Peter Blum (Tech: Elisa) Theme The Mysteries of Caves
August 13: Heather Forest & Laura Simms Tech: Elisa) Theme: The Way of Listening
August 27th: Lani Peterson & Carol McCormick (Tech: Heather) Theme: Moving through Quicksand
September 10th: Liz Mangual & Bob Kanegis (Tech: Elisa) Theme: At the Crossroads
September 24: Joe Doolittle & Eileen Mark (tech: Lee Ellen) Theme: Perspective(s)
October 8: Sara deBeer & Robin Reichert (Tech: Heather) Theme: Delight in Trying
October 22: Galen Brandt & Mike Seliger (Tech: Heather) Theme: Persistence
November 12: Heather Forest & Lee-Ellen Marvin (Tech: Lani) Theme: Change
November 26: Penny Post & Karen Golden (Tech: Theme: It’s about Time!)
December 10th: Sara deBeer & Vivica Deanes (Tech: Jim) Theme Giving Care, Receiving Care, Self Care
2024 OARS Meeting Hosts & Dates
Jan. 10 Heather Forest & Lani Peterson (Tech: Elisa)
Jan. 24: Karianna Rosenberg & Kristin Pedemonti (Tech Elisa)
Feb. 14: Joe Doolittle & Elisa Pearmain (Tech: Heather)
Feb. 28: Sara deBeer & Anabelle Castano (Tech: Karianna )
March 13: Bob Kanegis & Liz Mangual (Tech: Elisa)
March 27: Jim Brule & Laura Simms (Tech: Noa)
April 10: Kristin Pedemonti & Robin Reichert (Tech Joe)
April 24: Heather Forest & Noa Baum (Tech: Elisa)
May 8: Elisa Pearmain & Joel Ying (Tech: Jim)
May 22: Lani Peterson & Jim Brule (Tech: Heather)
June 12: Sara deBeer & Renee Emanuel (Tech: Heather)
June 26: Penny Post & Carol Ribner (Tech: Jim)
July 10: Sara deBeer & Sonia Bareja (Tech: Elisa)
July 24: Karianna Rosenberg & Erin Johnston (Tech: Heather)
August 14: Heather Forest & Laura Packer (Tech: Lani)
August 28: Lani Peterson & Christine Carlton (Tech: Heather)
September 11: Elisa Pearmain & Yvonne Young (Tech: Jim)
September 25: Sara deBeer & Jim Brule (Tech: Heather)
October 9: Joe Doolittle & Claire Nolan (Tech: Heather)
October 23: Mike Seliger & Michael D. McCarty (Tech: Elisa))
November 13: Jim Brule & Hears Crow (Tech: Elisa)
November 27 Heather Forest & Megan Wells (Tech: Elisa)
December 11 Penny Post & Galen Brandt (Tech: –)
2023 OARS Meeting Hosts & Dates
Jan. 11: Galen Brandt & Jackson Gillman (Tech: Lani)
Jan. 25: Heather Forest & Lani Peterson (Tech: Joe)
Feb. 8: Sara deBeer & Donna Marie Kuczynski (Tech: Karianna)
Feb. 22: Lani Peterson & Linda Levinson (Tech: Elisa)
March 8: Elisa Pearmain & Faye Mogenson (Tech: Heather)
March 22: Penny Post & Joe Doolittle(Tech: Karianna)
April 12: Mike Seliger, Michael D. McCarty & Joe Doolittle (Tech: Elisa)
April 26: Heather Forest & Galen Brandt (Tech: Lani)
May 10: Bob Kanegis & Liz Mangual (Tech: Noa)
May 24: Sara deBeer & Donna Marie Kuczynski (Tech: Elisa)
June 14: Elisa Pearmain & Ai-Lin Chuah (Tech: Heather)
June 28: Jim Brule and Linda Schuyler Ford (Tech: Lani)
July 12: Noa Baum & Regi Carpenter (Tech: Heather)
July 26: Heather Forest & Sara deBeer (Tech: Karianna)
August 9: Karianna Rosenberg & Lani Peterson (Tech: Heather)
August 23: Elisa Pearmain & Diane Rooks (Tech: Joe)
September 13: Laura Simms & Sally Pomme Clayton (Tech: Heather)
September 27: Sara deBeer & Donna Marie Kuczynski ( Tech: Elisa & Noa )
October 11: Heather Forest & Lani Peterson (Tech Elisa & Galen)
October 25: Penny Post & Angela Lloyd (Tech: Heather)
Nov 8: Linda Levinson & Karen DeMauro (Tech: Joe)
November 22: Galen Brandt & Elisa Pearmain (Tech: Heather)
December 13: Sara deBeer & Ai-Lin Chuah (Tech: Heather)
December 27: Mike Seliger & Barbara Aliprantis (Tech: Heather)
2022 OARS Meeting Hosts and Dates
January 12th: Sara deBeer & Ruth Anne Faust
January 26th Kristin Pedemonti & Sarah O’Brien
February 9th Lani Peterson and Jyoti Pande
February 23rd Mike Seliger and Liz Nichols
March 2nd, Laura Simms and Lani Peterson offer a special holding space for Ukraine
March 9th Karianna Rosenberg and Jan Mullen
March 23rd Joe Doolittle & Phyllis Blackstone
April 13: Heather Forest & Lani Peterson
April 27: Elisa Pearmain and Nyanna Tobin (Tech: Heather)
May 11: Sara deBeer and Hearscrow (Tech: Elisa)
May 25: Wally Scott and Radhieka Al Hakawati (Tech: Joe)
June 8: Galen Brandt and Jackson Gillman (Tech: Heather)
June 22: Heather Forest and Noa Baum (Tech: Elisa)
July 13: Karianna Rosenberg and Penny Post (Tech: Lani)
July 27: ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING (Tech: Heather)
August 10: Joe Doolittle and Ai-Lin (Tech: Elisa)
August 24: Sara deBeer and Jyoti Pande (Tech: Lani)
September 14: Heather Forest and Megan Wells (Tech: Lani )
September 28: Lani Peterson and Karen DeMauro (Tech: Elisa)
October 12: Elisa Pearmain and Erin Johnson (Tech: Joe)
October 26: Mike Seliger & Regina Ress (Tech: Heather)
Nov 9th: Joe Doolittle & Penny Post (Tech: Elisa)
Nov 23: Elisa Pearmain & Usha Venkatraman (Kristin)
Dec. 14: Heather Forest & Jim Brule (Tech: Elisa)
Dec. 28: Laura Simms & Donna Jacobs (Heather)
2021 OARS Meeting Dates & Hosts:
September 22 : Hosted by Heather Forest & Lani Peterson
October 13: Hosted by Sara deBeer & Jean Hale
October 27: Hosted by Joe Doolittle & Mike Seliger
November 10: Elisa Pearmain & Laura Simms
November 24th: Heather Forest & Karianna Rosenberg
December 8th: Wally Scott and Carol McCormick
December 22nd: Kristin Pedemonti & Galen Brandt