connecting stories

storytellers, unite!

2012-01-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

Who Knew? I suppose it is my own fault and I should know better. But I decided to archive my 'google' alerts at an old email account and was just cleaning out all my old folders when I found myself listed as the only storyteller at Murray Hill Talent Agency. Wow! Who knew? Does this make me happy? No. And, Yes. No! With all the amazing storytelling talent in New England, I shouldn't be the

1001 life saving stories...at Arabian Nights

2011-12-05T04:58:00.001-08:00

What makes our true stories so compelling? Why do we listen with such rapt attention? Paula Junn, our Social Media director at massmouth said she realized that while she was listening the story allowed her to feel as if she was to living a life that was not her own. But after listening she felt a level of connection that was extraordinary. That really resonated. When we listen deeply, we are

"what to say "- coaching dilemmas

2011-12-02T21:04:00.001-08:00

Just a nice picture, not a weak performance at Royalston Shakespeare Co. Just another day online, at the office. The research errand I was on was serious - time sensitive tax information for our nonprofit corporation. Not exactly my fave topic. And somehow I had wandered into the ArtsEdge site. Delightful. Not what I needed to be doing but what a rich resource for arts educators. Warning: DO

Heroic Imagination and Stories

2011-11-23T21:07:00.001-08:00

I was reading about Professor Phil Zimbardo's "Heroic Imagination Project" when I reread an email from my friend Bruce in Japan. While talking with his class and Professor Allen-Tamai's classes the week before I had told some the story, "Boys Wear Pink" and students had responded with some important, heartfelt stories of their own. Here is a page from Professor Zimbardo's web site...

Japan in under 7 days

2011-11-18T21:44:00.001-08:00

Day Six Wednesday, NOV 16, 2011 Being immersed in Japanese culture, even for so short a time, was like meeting an old friend and starting up a warm friendship right where we left off 30 something years ago. This was not the starry eyed admiration of a 23 year old who was so disappointed in her US plastic-TV 'culture' Back then and even now I feel this exchange mirrors my deepest misgivings

Day 2 Nov 12, 2011

2011-11-18T21:14:00.001-08:00

This was the big day, the day of presentation for the Japanese government grant that Mistue wrote to bring me to Tokyo. Mitsue went off early to get ready. I was felling a bit better prepared for my 2nd talk to teachers of English and education students. Bruce and I traveled together as he had a free day and Mitsue's students met us at her office where I made final adjustments to a program for

Dazed- Day One JAPAN Fri NOV 11 2011

2011-11-16T14:52:00.001-08:00

Balcony in Bunkyo-ku Where did Thursday go anyway? That pesky international date line! I slept like a baby for over 12 hours and awoke at 6am. Like a little kid at Xmas, I got up before anyone else was awake and padded around to the front of the house to look out and see where I was. I was so excited! Not only were my hosts dear friends who never see enough even though they have been visiting

Tokyo - Nov 11, 2011

2011-11-10T17:29:00.001-08:00

Whooeeee! It is Friday already and I can hardly believe I am here! Plane journey was relatively easy (considering how much I hate it) and without complications. I liked Air Canada and Toronto Airport has a ton of lovely public art. But mama mia, I am a long way from home. Below is a youtube of some pictures - a little backwards look at my journey which did take the better part of a day. I

Kamishibai and Why I love Powerpoints: Insight from wikipedia

2011-11-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

Kamishibai and Why I love Powerpoints: Insight from wikipedia Tokyo kamishibai with a mic Looking at pictures and talking about them must be in my DNA. I love making and working with Powerpoints and digital projectors. Perhaps, many, many years ago a distant relative or ancestor was a "cantastoria" who told stories with i giuglliari di piazza or the "jesters of the square" kamishibai

Getting ready...

2011-11-07T03:44:00.000-08:00

hiragana chart I have been been listening to Japanese language podcasts all this week. Finally worked out why my downloads were not coming in and now I have 100s of podcasts on all kinds of situations. It has been a little bit fun to see how much I can cram into my head and what was left from 30 years ago. And I think I wold have learned a lot had there been these kinds of tools when I was

Going to Japan to tell stories and...

2011-10-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

Aoyama Gakuin University Late this summer I was surprised and delighted to learn that a project proposal, written by a friend was funded by the Japanese Government and this has prompted an invitation, complete with all travel expenses, for me to give some lectures on Story, Storytelling and ELL in Tokyo, Japan. My sponsor and host, Professor Mitsue Allen-Tamai, has just published a book,

The Life of A Storyteller: It's Like This, too...

2011-08-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

It is a beautiful thing to be an artist. And I am ever grateful that I have work that allows me such full expression of who I really am. But lest I get too ecstatic in this " art and life are beautiful" vein, I feel I should mention that the merry life of a live performer is like this too... It's Like This, too: the life of a storyteller in two short acts Telling stories in an urban park on

Last Day of Read Boston for me

2011-08-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

It is my last day of Read Boston. I will be in Charlestown all day. Yesterday was a great day. I worked in the South End Settlement House in their lovely walled garden, the Tadpole playground on the Boston Common, at a school in Chinatown and then at the zebra gate of Franklin Park Zoo in the evening. Hard to express fully how joyful and satisfying it is to tell stories all day. Here is a short

2011-08-04T00:16:00.000-07:00

Been working on sound recordings of our work at masmouth for nearly a full year. Finally about to publish some podcasts at iTunes and SoundCloud. I have also put up a few of my own stories at Sound Cloud and here [below] is the player. The audio content will be updated in the player to the left as I add more of my slapdash material. Latest tracks by norah_dooley

Vermont to Montreal July 26th - July 27th

2011-07-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

The Galaxy Book Shop in Hardwick, VT self serve with cash in the till Amazing roof garden Nearly all of Monday was spent driving up and down Route 2. I was taking youngest daughter for her obligatory immunizations before college. This was a lot of time in the car - 7 hours due to traffic but relatively easy. Easier than we had thought and Rosie and I enjoyed pleasant conversations and a

We talk a good game...July 24th 2011

2011-07-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

We talk a good game... Robert and Rosie did the framing of the screen house/shed extension. Robert and I talk a good game about sweetly "doing nothing" but as soon as the sun went down I was immediately engaged in transferring old family videos to DVD. This is my idea of fun. I love that the little gizmo in white is now all that is needed to connect and digitize from VHS tapes to .mov

The Sweet Doing of Nothing July 23rd,2011

2011-07-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

Patti is the gardener. We appreciate and eat. She plants, weeds and waters. Our first day of official vacation involved rising early and paying bills, answering and emptying email in-boxes until 3PM. This seemed an inauspicious but necessary start to a week without internet and sometimes even without cell phone as we would see once we were au Canada ( O,Canada ?). I felt guilty for being

My other Summer Job

2011-07-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

This summer the Boston Public Library features Norah Dooley telling stories from from around the world, around the branches and neighborhoods of Boston. This is in conjunction with their annual Summer Reading Program. Spoken word is the source and sustenance of written language and oral stories, in performance, make that connection come alive. All performances are free and open to the public,

Why I Love My Summer Job

2011-07-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

Storymobile, ReadBoston and me Telling a story in a basketball court for ReadBoston, 2010 During the past 12 summers I have worked for the Storymobile. This is ReadBoston’s most well-known and public program. Each summer about 12 storytellers tell stories at nearly 80 sites throughout the city of Boston for six weeks. These programs are free and open to the public. They are in parks and

An Open Letter to Justice Scalia

2011-07-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

" [with the game] BioShock, the developer Irrational Games...is... "testing the limits of the ultraviolent gaming genre with a strategy that enables players to kill characters resembling young girls." The game presents an ethical choice to players, whether to kill 'Little Sisters' for extra abilities or save them and receive less." Dear Justice Scalia: I hope your mother is not alive to

Where I Have Been for the past 4 months

2011-06-10T23:03:00.000-07:00

The Queen of Hyperbole is a title I wear easily. It fits. So when I say this has been the most intense and exhausting few months of my life, most people will "pooh-pooh" me. But it has. And I guess I have done things like this before? But it is impossible to remember. Which is likely why I do things like this over and over again. What is "this"? "This" is/was an epic project that cost me many

Offices - here there and everywhere...

2011-01-30T14:27:00.000-08:00

View from the Royalston office... I am moving target these days...up and down Route 2, to and from Boston. Seeking internet connection in the boonies... Feeling a bit like the Red Queen from Lewis Carroll's, Through the Looking-Glass. The Red Queen said, "Now, here you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least

The Way of the Woodcutter

2010-11-28T21:14:00.000-08:00

We spent a gorgeous afternoon with Nelson. Patti, Robert and I worked side by side and it felt great to be outside and working with wood under Nelson's gentle direction. Nelson is pretty deaf from working with a chain saw for 60 of his 86 years so my questions are loud. I recorded him by turning on my cell phone memo function and putting it in my pocket while we worked. The pics are all from

Storytelling for Adults and Kids: Everybody Has A Story pt 2

2010-11-24T15:43:00.000-08:00

Checked out my tape and here is what I captured with my video cam set up. I adjusted to catch Eric and the rest of the tape has my head cut off - I sure needed a camera person.

Everybody Has A Story: A Storytelling Concert by Norah Dooley

2010-11-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

Great fun at Cambridge Center concert where we Skyped in Eric Miller in Chennai, India. NATIONAL STORYTELLING NETWORK: CONNECT WITH INDIA on 11/20 from my friend Jeff Gere and the ccae.org for sponsoring my performance NSN Vision: Connecting people to and through storytelling The Chennai Storytelling Association and the Mumbai Storytelling Association are wondering if there are adults and/or

The M&M Hotel - farewell to horror

2010-10-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

Front entrance and waiting room where we spent hours Looking for a story for the "horrified" story slam I bumped into an "old friend" and took some pics. Then I recorded my thoughts while sitting in our car, on an errand. In this short digital story, I have combined my thoughts and images with some images I found on line. They were amazing. These photos by Anna Shuelit were the exact

Taylor Mali poem on conviction!

2010-10-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

I am so often chided for speaking too strongly and I noticed this trend at the charter school I taught at. Thanks, Taylor Mali. And I love the graphics too. Ya know?

Stationery, Not Stagnant ~ University Stationery

2010-10-21T04:15:00.000-07:00

First Emerson assignment

2010-10-21T04:14:00.000-07:00

Just had an amazing and typical experience at University Stationary with my heroes, Gail and Barry Seidman. They just helped us find and install a part for an Automatic Numbering Machine. We had looked on line for replacement pad and ink and we saved money and our sanity by checking in at University, before we ordered. The part was a 3/4″ X 1/8″ inch felt pad. Online it cost $7.95 plus

stories about being transported - JP slam huge success!

2010-10-17T22:26:00.000-07:00

Stories about being transported - JP slam huge success! Here is the story I did not get to tell - that is not a complaint - we want more new people to tell. My father was a lace curtain-Irish/American-Edwardian-self taught orphan who ran away to join the cavalry in 1921 - by lying about his age. He was just 17. He told me a story about my great great grandfather which helped me a lot. I told

An artists work is never done.

2010-09-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

my new icon Was thinking today about an old saw "A man may work from sun to sun but...a woman's work is never done. Or as put in one of the first written iterations of this bromide: "Some respite to husbands the weather doth send, but huswiues affaires haue never none ende."[1570 T. Tusser Husbandry (rev. ed.) 26] My take - "Normal people may work from sun to sun but an artist's work is never

Millionaire Pt. 2: The written WWTBAM pre-audition prep

2010-09-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

Meredith Vieria seems to genuinely enjoy her work Below is some of what we had to fill out and bring with us. They knew our name, gender, age and address from the online form. In the email, they called what we were doing an "audition" and that sounded very exciting. But the abc staff never saw my answers below because you have to make the first cut to actually have an "audition" where your

Edited - My Brother's Keeper - for real

2010-09-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

(Sorry about this posting and reposting. Something about blogger autosave and my sloppiness combined to produce versions with lots left out or in weird order. But this is the version I intended to post. I hope. Please dump all others.) You may listen above at "Listen" page My big brother does not live nearby but he is in the same metropolitan area. Even so, not many people who know me now,

NY,NY: My Mission to be a Millionaire - the "movie"

2010-09-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

No time to write at the moment, but I promise there is more to come...These images on the video are meant to be the visuals for an oral story on this. Gotta say I still HATE Mac's newest iMovie. It is sooooo bad. Okay, I was editing while very sleep deprived but still...iMovie 6 worked so well. And the new one just - does - not! Some of the edits didn't take and the music ...sound was the

Visting NYC: On a Mission

2010-09-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

Went to NYC yesterday and had a ridiculously good time on a fool's errand. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Me? Well, I wanted to see what getting on the show was like. And winning some serious cash would be very good. Been trying to get an audition for the show since I started watching with my 92 year old mo-in-law. We are pretty good at it. And have been goading each other at the end of each

" Passing on your left." Don't hit the old lady on the bike.

2010-08-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

"Passing on your left." I say this all the time after ringing a very pleasant little bell. "Ding." Sounds like a toy Green Line Trolley bell. People jump and others scowl and all I want to do is let them to know where I am. Which is too damn close without giving some warning. An Urban AdvenTours group makes its way into Kenmore Square. (Josh Reynolds for the Boston Globe) I love to ride

Emerson College - nearly 40 years ago...

2010-08-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

WERS is the best and oldest college radio station. I have been listening since I first discovered the left end of the radio dial. 39 years ago I was accepted to Emerson College as a freshman. I had already been accepted and registered at Boston University so I blew it off, albeit a bit wistfully. Back then BU was big, ugly, more expensive and just down the street from the family apartment in

Check out the credits of the new Will Ferrell Movie -

2010-08-12T23:35:00.000-07:00

'The Other Guys' is a parody of old-school buddy-cop movies like the 'Lethal Weapon' films, but director/co-writer Adam McKay wanted to give it a realistically grandiose and relevant villain, which is the reason he turned to Wall Street. "All those old movies had drug-smuggling story lines -- if you did that now, it would be quaint," McKay told Entertainment Weekly earlier this summer. "Who

What he said...Kurt Vonnegut on Creative Writing 101

2010-08-12T22:45:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia Kurt Vonnegut listed these 8 "rules" for what he calls Creative Writing 101 in his preface to Bagombo Snuff Box: * Kurt Vonnegut's words are in black. Commenting in red below, I am using Kurt Vonnegut 's light to see better into the process of 5 minute, personal storytelling 1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted

"Why are you telling us this old stuff?"

2010-08-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Check out what Jeff Gere says at 21:00" He recounts in this interview what he said in answer to a high school student who asked, petulantly "Why are you telling us all this old stuff?" Jeff's answer? Is mine too, I say these ancient stories are blue prints for possble actions. Jeff Gere goes one further and says his story is a "life jacket" you do not need it now but when you do it will be

"But I am back again said Norah..."

2010-08-06T04:26:00.000-07:00

A coincidental meeting at a Somerville performance in May, my monkey curiosity and a desire to see some of the kids I had been teaching and had to leave so precipitously drew me to do a free gig for my old school yesterday. Yep, I am that sentimental and I love storytelling that much. Yesterday I was the guest speaker/teacher at a Theater and Literacy Class for middle school kids. The students

Tipingee and Boys Wear Pink

2010-08-03T22:41:00.000-07:00

The legend of the King of Denmark and the Yellow Star has long been a favorite of mine. And I was delighted to find an authentic, but soon to be legendary example of that kind of creative response to bullying in Boys Wear Pink written about here at Parent Dish by Peter Sinasohn: Students wear pink to fight bullies: Seniors David Shepherd and Travis Price decided it had to stop. Using the

This is your brain "on" storytelling" - a deep connection

2010-07-31T04:50:00.000-07:00

This is your brain on storytelling - from Roger Dooley (no relation) We storytellers often describe a successful performance by saying that our audience was "entranced" by our story. After a storytelling performance in a school, I sometimes have the opportunity to break it down for students. Explaining what just occurred, I might say, "I used words to transmit the images in my mind and you

a little storytelling manifesto

2010-07-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

A wordle created from the words of the manifesto by wordle.net - thanks to Joanne Piazzi of LANES A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as a creed. Manifestos may also be life stance -related. Manifesto is derived from the Italian word manifesto, itself derived from the Latin

Broken Bodhisattva - a poem

2010-07-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Broken Bodhisattva by N. Dooley I apologize for my tone. I have not been myself. The climate control Is cold and penetrates. My smile feels stiff as if it had been pinned on and God knows I didn’t pin this smile on Do you see any fingers on these stumps? No. I do not bleed On their shiny floor. I can hear the night watchman’s heart beat And the sad thoughts of the woman who sings in

Advanced Entrepreneurship: Teaming Up for Success

2010-07-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

Advanced Entrepreneurship: Teaming Up for Success The post above is the third in a series on Advanced Entrepreneurship and what distinguishes a great entrepreneur from a good one, by by Stever Robbins. Would any one have pegged this writer [ Norah] big mouthed, left wing, radical butt pain as a reader of the Harvard Business School review? Not bloody likely. But here I am posting a link [

The Windy City Story Slam takes it national. article from Time Out, Chicago

2010-06-09T19:07:00.000-07:00

Last week, in the middle of all the heat and whirlwind of activity, I was interviewed as a rep of massmouth about our participation in the Windy City Nationals. Here is the article. Glam slam The Windy City Story Slam takes it national. By Robert Duffer top: Alex Bonner, representing Windy City Story Slams, Photo: Tim Schreier below: our massmouth rep, Jim Stahl Photo: Norah Dooley WE ARE THE

I nearly forgot how much I love to paint,sing and tell stories...

2010-06-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

massmouth's Bridge to Haiti was a fun idea. But the weather and other commitments conspired against me until I was left with just 12 hours, in which to paint, load and deliver enough cardboard to make a scene on the Weeks Memorial Footbridge. Man, that is one big-assed bridge. Sheila Leavitt helped enormously by creating HUGE cloth banners for both sides. Amazing. Adriane Spunt and Andrea

From the Somerville Journal : Somerville’s Brown School gets visit from author Norah Dooley

2010-05-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

“I was not someone for whom writing comes easily,” said author and storyteller Norah Dooley during a visit at the Brown School. Dooley, shown kneeling behind students in grades 1-3, told how curiosity about her own vibrant multicultural Cambridge neighborhood led her to write, “Everybody Cooks Rice.” Delia Marshall “I was not someone for whom writing comes easily,” said award-winning author and

Podcasts on the 19th Amendment

2010-05-14T13:44:00.001-07:00

Podcasts on the 19th AmendmentPosted using ShareThis

Family: 'We will not succumb to fear' -

2010-05-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

(at left) Hundreds of mourners line up to attend the funeral of Molly Hawthorn-MacDougall at Pats Peak in Henniker; Saturday, May 8, 2010. The 31-year-old nursing student was killed in her home last week. Family: 'We will not succumb to fear' | Concord Monitor We tried not to talk about it as we drove up to NH in the driving rain. As parents, the murder of any daughter felt too close. Too

A Saga in the Making: Save the BPL - Powers of Darkness and Light

2010-05-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

It is small minded of me to divide up this struggle for the integrity of the Boston Public Library into teams representing darkness and light. But, that is me and this is my blog. Read elsewhere if you want mealy mouthed paeans to streamlining and modernity. I am simplistic, and simple. And I am equally as fond of bombast as I am disgusted by the deformities caused by adaptations to corporate

Why every story is important.

2010-04-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

Why every story is important. Grande Finale Story Slam April 20, 2010