University of Iowa sculptor and storyteller Steve Thunder-McGuire of Kalona will mount his bic…

By Kalona News

University of Iowa sculptor and storyteller Steve Thunder-McGuire of Kalona will mount his bicycle this summer to share and collect 1,000 Miles of Iowa Stories June 11-22.

Thunder-McGuire, a UI art education faculty member, will work during his two-week bike tour with Care Initiatives of Iowa senior centers in Ottumwa, Corydon, Corning, Avoca, Dunlap, Sioux City, Fonda, Eldora, Waterloo, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

During afternoon storytelling sessions at Care Initiative Centers, he will tell some stories that have an Iowa connection and collect recordings of Iowa elders’ stories. In the evening he will tell and collect Iowa stories at public libraries and other locations. The Iowa stories will be anthologized in a CD, 1,000 Miles of Iowa Stories slated for a spring 2000 release.

Thunder-McGuire is a contemporary traditional storyteller, and teaches “What is Storytelling For?” with UI social work scholar Tom Walz. He is also director of BIKEFORALL, a bicycle adventure program for students with developmental and physical disabilities.

Two years ago, he rode 3,478 miles from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Iowa City to raise $15,000 for the Close Encounters Art Workshop, a two-week summer resident program for students with disabilities.

He and Walz are using the 1,000 Miles of Iowa Stories Project to help purchase specially designed tandem bicycles. The bicycles allow two riders to sit along side each other to help riders with disabilities.