People's Choice contest - how everybody wins...and the Big Mouth Off April 20th

Joan and Susan now both have over the minimum number of votes. And Susan Lenoe's friends have been reposting her video, one fan has posted it on the front page of their website. This is  a great idea and a fine way to promote storytelling and these individual tellers.

Contestants may assure your friends that massmouth promises

NEVER TO USE THEIR EMAILS OR NAMES FOR ANY PURPOSE BUT THIS CONTEST.

No mailing list will be generated, nor selling of any list, nor publishing of any votes is planned nor  contemplated. All the information associated with voting will be deleted.  Believe me, we have more than enough things to keep track off.

Please help out these storytellers and vote here  http://tinyurl.com/yd7peb4  for one of  these members
[see below] to be entrants in massmouth's Big MouthOff on April 20th, 2010 http://massmouth.ning.com/events/the-big-mouthoff-slam-of-all

• Teaching English Liz Appleby Vote People's Choice
• Ambush A La Carte Joan Cousins Vote People's Choice
• Smoky Soup Susan Lenoe Vote People's Choice
• Breaking Open Rona Leventhal Vote People's Choice
• Mikel Rives Tony Toledo Vote People's Choice
 

Teaching English Liz Appleby Vote People's Choice
http://massmouth.ning.com/video/teaching-english-liz-appleby-1

Ambush A La Carte Joan Cousins Vote People's Choice
http://massmouth.ning.com/video/ambush-a-la-carte-joan-1

Smoky Soup Susan Lenoe Vote People's Choice
http://massmouth.ning.com/video/smoky-soup-susan-lenoe-vote

Breaking Open  Rona Leventhal Vote People's Choice
http://massmouth.ning.com/video/breaking-open-rona-leventhal-vote

Mikel Rives Tony Toledo Vote People's Choice
http://massmouth.ning.com/video/mikel-rives-tony-toledo-vote


VOTE HERE one vote per person 
Voting ends on April 16th at midnight.  

People's Choice Video contest - how everybody wins...
by Norah Dooley

One might think with all the "contest" this, that and the other flying out of massmouth lately, that we love competition.  We don't. Some of us despise it. I do, anyway. Especially in the arts. But contests are a cultural norm that people understand and it piques their interest. And it has tightened up the performance style of many a seasoned teller. Still,  I am more in this camp -  as articulated by Alfie Kohn

THE CASE AGAINST COMPETITION

The race to be Number One has been described as America's state religion. We have been trained not only to compete frantically, but to believe in the value of beating people -- and to help our children become winners. Research and experience, however, demonstrate that competition is actually destructive to self-esteem, poisonous to relationships, and counterproductive in terms of learning. Spelling bees, awards assemblies, competitive sports, and even informal contests at home teach children to regard other people as potential obstacles to their own success. The result is that everyone ultimately loses in the desperate race to win.

So, yeah - I am a hypocrite and an opportunist. One might even say I am a big mouthed hy-ppo.

But, here is the thing...through our activities, all kinds of people are getting interested in storytelling They are remembering or noticing for the first time, something that is as essential to a healthy life as breathing. Story. And all these folks listed below who have entered this contest are working to bring the power of shared story to new places. So because of this contest phenom -we all win. Thanks People's Choice Entrants for doing your part ! Others who want to help bring story into the mainstream can pass the word about the contest and ask people to checkout our 300 video collection of stories at massmouth.com