The Tipi Tellers & Phonenix Storytelling Tipi
Presents The Tipi Tellers

Jaye Ramsey McLaughlin, "Lady Jaye," was one of the four founding Tipi Teller members who began storytelling in 1997. After serving as a children's librarian (1983 - 1990) and Youth Manager (1990 - 2005) at the Fort Worth Public Library, Jaye is now retired and a full-time storyteller.  Jaye uses her experience to plan and implement storytelling programs with Tipi Tellers. Her travels have added many traditional tales to share along with personal experiences. Jaye studies and collects Native American tales which respect all living things and believes stories should reach the heart. Oral tradition, she believes, plays an important role in entertainment, education, and understanding. Stories that reach the soul and help to make our complex world more harmonious, balanced and liveable for each listener are the stories she likes.

Jaye has served as Vice-President, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Tarrant Area Guild of Storytellers.  She has served on the Tejas Storytelling Association Board for 6 years.  Her last major achievement as a librarian was to co-ordinate an IMLS Leadership (2-year) Grant awarded to the Fort Worth Public Library in 2004. Museums Utilizing Storytelling for Education (MUSE) was a collaborative grant involving schools, Fort Worth Public Library, Museums in Fort Worth and the Tarrant Area Guild of Storytellers.  Jaye now serves as President for Tipi Tellers, Inc, a non-profit business whose mission is to carry stories of the earth, history and diversity to children and adults in Texas .

Janet Latham retired from over 30 years of teaching in 2011 to pursue storytelling full time. As a teacher, she has taught high school English, middle school English, ESL, and Reading, and most recently served as an elementary librarian, pursuing her passion for the art of story. There, she developed a student writing program that led to in-house publishing of student written and illustrated short stories. She also started a youth storytelling troupe whose members have told stories at the Texas Storytelling Festival in Denton, TX and the Tejas Storytelling Association Summer Conference, the National Youth Storytelling Showcase, and have combined telling stories with the visual arts at places such as the UNT Gallery Ugandan Bark Cloth exhibit, UNT on the Square International Seed Vault exhibit, and the Denton Center for the Visual Arts children’s book illustrator exhibits for Gerald McDermott and Leo and Diane Dillon. Janet has conducted numerous workshops on teaching children to tell stories and on librarians as storytellers.

Janet’s teaching career gave her the opportunity to travel to many place around the world, which is the inspiration for her love of multicultural stories. She taught for 4 years in the Middle East (Bahrain) and for 2 years in Nairobi, Kenya at the International School of Kenya. While overseas, she studied English as a Second Language in Majorca Spain and traveled to places such as Oman, Jordan, Yemen, Bali, Hong Kong, Portugal, France, Italy, England, Cyprus, Malta, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic.

Janet’s love of the earth and eco-storytelling comes from her involvement in programs such as the Teacher Conservation Institute (Project Wild, etc), Real School Gardens, A Forest in Every Classroom (Stephen F. Austin U.). She established the Outdoor Learning Environment (OLE’) in her most recent position as Elementary Librarian at WS Ryan Elementary School in Denton. She is a fan of No Child Left Inside and The Last Child in the Woods (Richard Louv), and firmly believes that it’s not too late to save the planet and ourselves …from ourselves using the healing art of storytelling as a way of reconnecting with nature and with each other.

Paul Porter "Decee" is a native Texan and has been telling stories in Texas, parts of Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Kansas for over 10 years. He has shared the stage with Rex Ellis, Tim Tingle, Elizabeth Ellis, Debbie Allen, Nicki Ginovani, Dan Kelding, Bobby Norfork, and more, in schools, public libraries, festivals, and performance halls statewide. Decee has been a featured teller in festivals statewide, including the "25th Annual Tejas Storytelling Festival" in Denton Texas, and the Texas Library Association. In addition he's conducted workshops and performed at major colleges and universities statewide. His stories come from oral histories, gathered and documented for various groups, schools, municipalities, and special interest groups. Decee writes and develosp stories for at-risk youth.

Known as “The Urban Aesop, ” in 2010 Decee was the Texas State Liars Champion. Currently a 2010-12 TCA Touring Artist he works with youth in the DFW Metroplex and was recognized by the Presidential Committee of the Arts and Humanities with the “Coming Up Taller Award” in 2006, as well as by the “I Have a Dream Foundation” in 2007.

Decee has captivates audiences both young and old. In schools, libraries, parks, special events, and festivals his stories have entertained, enlightened, and educated listeners using myths, history, folklore, tall tales, legends and more. His ability to take a moment in time and relate it to today’s youth is amazing. Decee’s travels in the military has given him a perspective that is truly global. Multi-Cultural programming at its BEST! Decee adds this P.S.: "It‘s just plain FUN!!"