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

 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 SLAMPIONS
Two years ago, the Windy City Story Slam was an idea. Now it’s a sensation. Story-slam representatives from eight cities will hit Chicago at this year’s revamped Printers Row Lit Fest for the first National Story Slam Competition. From Washington, D.C., to San Francisco, the slammers are coming, and they’re following Bill Hillman’s lead by making it happen at the grass roots.

“The story slam revolution is in full go,” says Hillman, who is a construction worker and grad student in the creative-writing department at Columbia College Chicago. “Story slams have been popping up completely homegrown and community-based.”

Three weeks before the nationals, massmouth out of Boston held a competition to decide which of its 12 slammers would win the $240 airfare to Chicago. “With massmouth, we want to engage a whole new audience and firmly plant storytelling as an art form in our culture,” says Norah Dooley, the Boston slam’s co-founder and champion of Hillman’s efforts. (my emphasis)


This national support helped Hillman convince the Chicago Tribune, producers of Printers Row, that an amped up national showcase on Sunday afternoon at the venerated Pritzker Auditorium in the Harold Washington Library would be better than a regular WCSS under a tent outside.

“I can sell ice to Eskimos when I believe in something,” Hillman says.

What is the draw, and how is it different than a reading? The attraction is the dynamic interaction with the audience. Hillman, the 2002 Golden Gloves champion, likens live storytelling to a bout where he was outmatched and beaten down by a bigger, better boxer. A knockout was imminent, but the crowd rallied and kept Hillman in the fight.

“I couldn’t believe I did that,” Hillman says, smiling and shaking his head. He didn’t win that one, but he learned to feed off the crowd. So do his storytellers. “The energy of the crowd can bring incredible things out of people. It’s electric.”

For the WCSS to host nationals seems like a natural progression. Since its inception, the monthly series has courted many and pissed off a handful, packed the Metro, featured headliners from great Scot Irvine Welsh to National Book Award–nominee Bonnie Jo Campbell, incorporated a musician from the Old Town School of Folk Music into each show, finally found a regular home at the Empty Bottle, and now established a national event.

Massmouth, like most slams Hillman has recruited, from Portland, Oregon’s Story Theater to Philadelphia’s First Person Arts, specializes in the personal narrative. “We get fiction usually, but for the nationals it’ll be true stories,” Hillman says.

That’s not the only difference. The Windy City Story Slam was built on audience involvement. Applause crowns the winner, as it did for Alex Bonner, this year’s All-City Champion and Chicago representative. Heckling can also shut slammers down. During the All-City Championships at a packed Metro in January 2009, the title event of a banner inaugural year for the WCSS, Hillman couldn’t persuade the crowd to give less-seasoned performers a fair chance. “I should have done a better job reining it in,” Hillman admits, wishing he had mesmerized and enchanted the crowd more like his slam mentor and inspiration, Marc Smith, the Slam Papi of the Green Mill’s legendary Poetry Slam.

At the comparatively reserved Pritzker Auditorium for the nationals, Hillman and his crew will recruit five judges (who hadn’t been named by press time—Smith was top on the list) to choose a winner. The audience won’t be forgotten, Hillman assures; there will be an audience choice as well. Both winners receives Story Slam bragging rights—over the entire country.

The slam throws down Sunday 13 at 3pm at the Harold Washington Library Center, 450 S State St.

Read more: http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/books/86270/windy-city-story-slam

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

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 Lovett worked in 90 degree heat to prime one side of the cardboard. But in the end,  it was me and big ideas that was left to do the rest. Not the ideal conditions for painting.  So humid. Nothing would dry. Hard to cut damp cardboard. Cramped apartment. Moving from boiler room to bedroom, tip-toeing around and through the sleeping family. Setting up a dehumidifier, and moving 16'X 6' wet cardboard boxes from room to room is just as crazy making as it sounds.  At about 3 AM some cardboard had dried enough to be cut and painted.  It was then that I started to have fun. I looked up flora and fauna of Haiti. I learned how to draw a hibiscus, the unofficial flower of Haiti. I was just hitting my stride when it was time to pack it all up and get it to the River Festival. *sigh*  Stu just uploaded a tom of pics and some of the little decorative pieces I made for the Bridge to Haiti. It was so much fun that I am itching to paint more. 

 
Find more photos like this on massmouth The Power of Story

But,  in the "cobbler's children have no shoes" mode, instead,  I am in a show coming up that I have not had a moment to personally promote.  I did find time to steal a frog and design a poster for the event ( above).  Here is some additional information:

An evening of personal narratives tall,short and otherwise

 some are stranger than fiction but all are true. by massmouth storytellers. 

organized by H.R.Britton of Overcoat Theater •  Tickets at the door - $10 dollars 
1353 Cambridge Street in Inman Square Cambridge from 7PM – 9:30PM

HR Britton’s most recent monologue, From Madison to Madurai: 134 Days in Mother India is a humorous and sometimes sobering look a Britton’s four-and-a-half month stay in India. Andrea Lovett telling “Grilled Underpants” and other personal favorites. Norah Dooley tells all in “Charter School” is English word for ‘gulag”   Tony Toledo  has been telling stories to pay the rent since 1990.  Elizabeth  Appleby Elizabeth Appleby advises you fasten your seatbelt  as she tells  

 If you lived here, you’d be home^DEAD now.

The storytellers:

H.R.Britton is new to Boston.  His new monologue about his time in India, “Melting in Madras” opens at the Piano Factory Theatre this Tuesday. Andrea Lovett is a founding member of massmouth, stoyteller, teacher, and has kissed a lot of frogs. Not complaining, just saying. Norah Dooley,  also a founding member of massmouth is a storyteller, author and educator. She has swallowed many flies.  More at: www.norahdooley.com Tony Toledo tells tales to elementary students, senior citizens and preschoolers, though usually not all at the same time. Elizabeth  Appleby is a performer, writer and educator. Her one woman show Fritz Perls Is My (tor) Mentor was produced at The Marsh in San Francisco.  Early on, she labeled her life a living joke.

Much as I love the short form of 5 minute stories, I am really looking forward to the chance to tell a longer story at this gig. Painting will have to wait. Again.  Speaking of things I have waited to do, Rosie and I sang again with the Mystic Chorale this weekend after an 8 year break. It was pure joy to sing with 250 other people in Sanders Theater, Cambridge, MA. We did two shows and it was so much fun to work with the guest conductors, Jonathan Singleton and Dr. Phillip Woods in particular.  Here is an article from WBUR - FM

Nick Page (center, behind the piano) leads his Mystic Chorale through a recent "sing" in Arlington. (Andrea Shea/WBUR)

Get Out Of The Shower: Mystic Chorale Says ‘Everyone Can Sing’

BOSTON — This story is about a potentially embarrassing topic: Singing. Where do you belt it out? If you’re like a lot of people, you might feel safe singing alone — in the shower, or maybe in your car. But Boston conductor and composer Nick Page thinks everyone can sing — and should — with lots of other people, in-tune or almost in-tune...He’ll be doing that this weekend in a concert with his posse, the 250-member Mystic Chorale....More than 200 singers gathered for a recent rehearsal at a church in Arlington. Page is the chorale’s founder and fearless leader.
“The trick with adults is to give them the emotional permission to let it out,” Page said. “Most adults who don’t sing sing at the same level as when they stopped singing. I got that from that book, ‘Drawing (on the) Right Side of (the) Brain.’ It says that people who take up drawing as adults start at the same level as when they stopped. And the same is true of singing.” Page lives by the mantra: “Everyone can sing.” There are no auditions for the Mystic Chorale. Some members are totally green. Others have been singing their whole lives.

The conductor is a big man with a big heart. He commands a hulking, playful, supportive presence. Barefooted and wearing a head band, Page works with the group through a song he wrote called, “I Found My Voice.” The chorale group’s affection for him is palpable. Page — a classically-trained musician and self-described “folkie” — formed the chorale 20 years ago. It started with much smaller, casual, community “sings,” as Page calls them. Open to all, they were inspired by Dr. Ysaye Barnwell of the African-American a cappella group, Sweet Honey and the Rock. She’s organized community sings all over the world, with a focus on teaching the art of song in the oral tradition. Over the years, the Mystic Chorale has grown organically as people in the audience sang along, got hooked and signed up... more here

 

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

“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 storyteller Norah Dooley during a visit at the Brown School on Jan. 13. Dooley, shown kneeling behind students in grades 1-3, told how curiosity about her own vibrant multicultural Cambridge neighborhood led her to write the book, “Everybody Cooks Rice.” Dooley’s other books include “Everybody Bakes Bread,” “Everybody Serves Soup,” and “Everybody Brings Noodles.”
By Delia Marshall Wicked Local Somerville Posted Feb 08, 2010 @ 06:55 PM  Somerville —

Speaking at the Brown School on Jan. 13, author Norah Dooley described her bumpy road to becoming a writer.

As a child she shed tears over writing assignments and put them off for as long as possible. It wasn’t until she had children of her own that she found her writing voice. Each evening she would tell stories to her young daughters, who figured out they could delay bedtime if they asked a lot of questions. As she agreed to tell “one more story, please,” Dooley learned something about herself: “If I kept my mouth moving and telling a story, I could find all the words I needed for a beginning, a middle, and an end.”

Dooley’s daughters wanted to hear about the older children living right on their block in Cambridge. “My kids loved the big kids on the block,” she said. “If the big kids had told them to wear socks on their ears, they would do it!” Her stories about those neighbor children and their families, who came from all over the globe, led to her book, “Everybody Cooks Rice.” This bestselling picture book has remained in print since 1991, and has been read by families the world over.

A professional storyteller who uses her face, her voice, and her body to bring her characters to life, Dooley treated the kindergartners to three folk tales. From Colombia came the story of “Conejito.” Dooley taught the children a song about this little rabbit’s aunt, “Tia Maria,” and they all sang it during the rabbit’s eventful journey. With voice and sign language she told the next tale, which began with a stonecutter chipping away at a mountain and wishing for something different. As his wishes are granted, one by one, he becomes a rich man, a king, the sun in the sky, a rain cloud, the wind, and then the mountain itself. With yet another wish he travels full circle. Dooley’s third tale was about the learning curve of a boy named Tony. It featured two donkeys, one magical and one not, and the difference magic can make to the state of a kitchen floor.

In talking about writing with grades 1, 2 and 3, the author encouraged students to ask questions, be curious, and “be a person who notices.” And she described some of the ways she gets her story ideas into written form, in spite of the gap between her mind and her fingers. “If I had to make a sound for how fast our brain works, it would be ‘shooooom!’” she said. “And our writing goes: ‘bah dum dee dum, bah, dum dee dum’. You may think you’re not a good writer, but it’s just that your ideas are going so fast you can’t catch up with your own imagination.” Adding another writing tool to the word webs and maps that students use in school, Dooley showed some pages from her sketch-filled journal. “Drawing helps me remember those ideas,” she said.

When a student mentioned “brainstorming,” Dooley nodded appreciatively and said, “We didn’t have brainstorming when I was in school. We had the right answer, the wrong answer, and ‘think harder, Dooley!’” She also uses free writing in creating her stories, and relies on all five senses to bring the fuzzy parts into focus, asking: “If I was in the ‘then’ and ‘there’ of my story, what would I see, hear, smell, taste and feel?”

Dooley has written many, many rough drafts on the way to each of her finished stories. For every new draft, her next step is to “read it out loud. This is the best editing program on the planet.” Hearing the words helps her to spot errors and to generate new ideas. Usually she’s the only one listening. But she also recommends reading to the family dog — “a big fan who doesn’t interrupt!”

Norah Dooley appeared at the Brown School on Jan. 13 as part of Young Audiences of Massachusetts, an arts education organization based in Davis Square. Her two presentations, for kindergartners and for grades 1-3, were sponsored by the Brown School PTA.

Podcasts on the 19th Amendment

Podcasts on the 19th Amendment

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Family: 'We will not succumb to fear' -

(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 terrifying. She was the eldest of a family we met back when we moved to Bittersweet Farm. I sang with the Noonday Farm Singers as an alto, with Margaret, her mother. When we started contra dances in Royalston,  Margaret played flute and whistle in the band. She also home schooled her kids, off and on and her youngest, Sadie, was Sira's age. We were not super close, just enough to feel an extra sting that connection brings to the stabbing pain of loss any parent would feel reading about her.

Robert and I thought this would be one of the saddest and hardest funerals we had ever been too. It was and the box of tissues I brought were put to constant and immediate use. And yet, Robert and I left this service feeling both drained and uplifted. At this memorial, the family, in laws and friends of the young woman who was just murdered sent out an amazing message of peace. They did so in a moment of deep pain and loss. They even embraced the sister of the murderer who rose and spoke during the Quaker silence and reflection. She was brave young woman and I think may have been invited by the families as she sat close to them in a packed hall.

"We are hurting and need each other's strength in this. We are shaken, and we need each other's strength," said Rachel Eleanor Haynes Coombs, a close family friend, at the opening of yesterday's service. "We are reeling from an act of violence, and we need each other's commitment to true peace."

Fleuraguste's sister rose to speak during the Quaker-style service.

 "I'm sorry for all of the pain," she said, tears streaming down her face. "I don't know why. But no one deserved to feel this. No one deserved what happened to Molly. . . . I'm so sorry."

Hawthorn-MacDougall's father-in-law, also named Daniel Paul, then embraced the sobbing woman, who declined to give her name after the service. Hawthorn-MacDougall was raised in "a risk-taking family" committed to "caring for people who need taking care of," her mother said. "Sometimes the risks we took backfired, but we wouldn't let fear rule our lives. . . . To love is to risk. Molly would want us to continue loving," Hawthorn said.

It was clear that we were certainly among people who marched, loved, mourned and sang..." in the light of God". They embodied the very words we Noonday Farm Singers sang in the South African freedom song, Siyahambe at the end of the service. On the way home I thought... how easy it is for me to hold principles and mouth ideas when there is no pressure, no test. How did those parents, siblings and friends find the strength to stand up for the life of their beloved and not give power to the shocking manner of her death? How many of us would find this enduring strength of love that would enable us to experience such deep loss and then not move from shock, to anger, to hatred ?

I am in awe. Their witness to the power of love and commitment to peace was beautiful beyond words. Everything we heard made it clear that this "Molly would want us to continue loving," was so true. A fitting send off to the soul of a beautiful young woman.

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

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 culture.


Let's talk about the team of the  hovering "darkness" those who lack of the "light" of wisdom which leads them to close libraries and cut jobs.  How could anyone chose to close branches, throw nearly 100 Boston citizens out of work and cut corners on vital services that libraries provide, during a Great Depression? Only really, really, bad guys, right?  Or people who are clueless? Or, leaders who do not share our values?  People who put the yaddah-yaddah of corporate speak before the common sense of human caring? Who ever they are, and  whatever their reasoning, what they are doing is bad. Bad to the bone. I am not quite sure whether to count BPL President, Amy Ryan or all of the Trustees on the "forces of darkness" team roster. She seems so befuddled by her own corporate speak that she has forgotten that libraries are buildings that contain people and books. However, the people who hired Amy Ryan to do the "hit" will not get off so easy.  I will not pull any punches for Mayor Menino and Board of Trustees chair, Mr Jeffery M. Rudman who said, at  the April 9th 2010 open meeting that;

“After much study, the board has come to what I deeply believe to be a judicious and prudent decision for the Boston Public Library in a difficult time,” “We are very grateful to President Ryan and her team for the rigor, fairness, and wisdom they have brought to this budgetary process.”

Mr. Rudman's pronouncement  sounds so grown up and responsible, doesn't it? Indeed, he was all business and rather condescending to the assembled crowd on April 9th.  However,  the "balance the budget" boys are spin doctors, prevaricators and fabulists.  Careful and responsible study will show that Dewey and his decimals would put Mr. Rudman and Mayor Meninio's words about budgetary concerns on the 398 shelf with the fairy tales. The layoffs and closings are not about balancing the budget.  It is a lie to file Menino's and Rudman's locutions in nonfiction. They have been misleading the people of Boston and I wonder if Mr. Rudman has not been misleading the Board as well? This plan to close branches and cut staff is about re-visioning a library and not just about budget.

The thing that sparked this latest volley of vitriol is the news that the very same city that cannot maintain its world class library because of a $3.6 million dollar shortfall had, at the same time, $10.5 million dollars to loan to a failing, albeit local, developer of luxury condo and hotel suites.   Yes,  Boston had $10.5 million to loan to the Hotel W developer but could not dream of spending money  "irresponsibly " by keeping branches open and jobs intact.  Our leaders seem to think we need more empty, high-end condos and hotel rooms. Even if it means less places of learning and culture. Worse,  they tout it as a near sacred duty and responsibility to make sure these budget cuts happen.


When we have such a wide divide between meaning and action on a word like "responsible"  we truly have "a failure to communicate". To whom are the Board of Trustees responsible?  Over and over the other Trustees spoke with a fanatical "fatwah" mentality about about a balanced budget. But when Trustee Donna M. DePrisco asked if the shortfall of funds could be found would the jobs be saved and the branches kept open,  she was treated dismissively by Chair Rudman and told, in so many words, no.

Using only one criteria for stewardship is not responsible - it is unbalanced.  Trustees should consider more variables than monetary issues. This makes one wonder, just who elects these Trustees of our common, cultural wealth?  Who elects them? O dear, that would be so "irresponsible."  No. The Mayor appoints the Trustees.  Can't help but think that this is a huge part of our problem. Especially since the Trustees chair,  WilmerHale corporate attorney( WilmerHale have Goldman Sachs and Citicorp in their client list)  Mr. Jeffery Rudman behaved like a bullying, pompous, over privileged, upper classman. He gave no hint that he had the slightest clue as to the needs and exigencies of every day life in the City of Boston.  Perhaps he is over privileged and upper class too ? I do not actually know the guy, but even so, his personal problems need not preclude intelligent compassion.  Just saying. And what is this raggedy-assed idea called "modernity" that it is still attracting fans?  Modernity ? Really, that is so 20th century.   What should a "modern" library look like, if not the Visiting Nurse Association/ Internet Cafe model that Amy Ryan has conceived?  From the BPL site we read:

"... the demand for books and programs is on the rise. In the last three years, the number of books, CDs, DVDs borrowed from the library is up 31%.Today, half of Boston residents use their Boston Public Library card,” Ryan noted. "

from Boston Public Library Board of Trustees Approves Budget For Immediate Release

April 09, 2010 :Released By: Library

 So, I am guessing a good "modern"  library will have lots of branches, loads of staff, more books, computers and  good programs?

 On the side of "light" and wisdom we have a few notable state reps, a majority of City Councillors and one kick butt grassroots organization. Here is what my state rep wrote to me(emphasis is mine):

Dear Norah,

Thank you for your letter regarding funding for the Boston Public Library.  I honestly couldn't agree with you more; I see the continuous cutting of library funding as extremely detrimental to our communities.  Our libraries are institutions within our state and their mission is crucially important in preserving our history, serving our citizens and as a resource to our all of our residents.  At a time of great difficulties for many people, the library is a place where the doors are always open and help is always available.  We MUST preserve this resource.  The libraries are already operating on minimal budgets, and have been for the last several years.  As I see it, the cuts to library funding will provide  the state with little in additional resources while abolishing establishments of great value to the people and history of the Commonwealth.

I am a strong supporter of our libraries and am a member of the legislature's library caucus.  We have been meeting regularly and have continued to advocate among our colleagues to realize the importance of our libraries and to take great caution in implementing any cuts.  I know that our libraries are currently funded at levels that are not even close to what they should be, and I will continue to do all that I can to ensure that future funding is not only restored, but that we continue to increase library funding as our economy continues to recover.  

Again, thank you for your letter.  Please feel free to contact me with any further questions or concerns.

Best Wishes,

Frank I. Smizik

STATE REPRESENTATIVE

More about grassroots efforts and other politicians who are on target below.

Meanwhile, in the words of Amy Ryan...

What ?   Well, yeah.  Of course I did. I took off the front part of her sentence - duh!  Still, In the immortal words of the corporate- star-struck, Amy Ryan 

Let's keep fighting to make:

  "... the library the reliable and responsive institution that the people of Boston deserve."  

Above: Vigil outside of Fanueil Library in Brighton on April 10th 2010

How to help from  People of the Boston Branches

E-mail: peopleofboston [at] gmail {dot} com
Facebook Group: Say NO to Branch Closings of the Boston Public Library Facebook Page: Keep the Boston Public Library Open Twitter:@peopleofboston Hashtag is #saveBPL Consider joining the Citywide Friends or your local Friends Grou

People of Boston Branches: Purpose

The purpose of People of Boston Branches is to bring together the patrons, community groups, schools, Friends, workers, neighborhoods and other supporters of the library who will be affected by these cuts. We seek accountability, transparency, and action from city, state, and library leadership.

Accountability

We want to hold leadership responsible where we see problems in the financing structure of the library, the timing of the recent announcements, the speed of the decisions, and the lost trust in our leadership.

Transparency

We want to see more information on what constitute statewide, regional, and branch services of the library, the budget process, the use of library funds, the action of city hall, the long-term plans for the library system, and the impact of the proposed changes.

Actions

We aim to inform the public, organize and publicize events, organize future fund raising and volunteer efforts, provide long-term support to the branches and workers on these issues, and work towards political action and advocate for the library at all levels of government.

Action You Can Take

1. Get on our e-mail list: peopleofboston@gmail.com  
2. Tell your State Rep. to support Budget Amendments 615-617 
3. Tell your State Sen. to support the same Amendments in the Senate Budget. The amendments are likely to be author by Senator Jack Hart, potentially co-authored by Chang-Diaz (if you tell her you want her too!). 
4. Call and write to: Ways & Means Chairman Mark Ciommo: mark.ciommo@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-3113  
5. Call or write City Councillors: 

• John Connolly: John.R.Connolly@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-3115 
• Ayanna Pressley: Ayanna.Pressley@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-4217 
• Felix Arroyo: Felix.Arroyo@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-4205 
• Stephen Murphy: Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-4376 
• Your City Councillor (Find him or her HERE)  

  Go to your coffee hour with the Mayor (see Events below) 

Call+ write to the Mayor: mayor@cityofboston.gov - 617-635-4500  E-mail your neighborhood liaison and tell him or her (find your liaison HEREthat libraries are important to your neighborhood If you are at planning meetings for the changes to Old Colony Housing Development, ask them where the space for the library is. Washington Village is staying open and if they manage to take it away, we will open our own a la Chinatown, so they had better keep a space for us. Watch here for more updates.

This issue is an embarrassment to our city, as demonstrated here. Note the use of the word "formerly" in the first panel. Other cities have solved this problem like we are proposing, such as in Charlotte. We will announce fund raising efforts soon to show that we are serious about our support for the library. These funds will go directly to help the branches and the workers affected by this plan. It will not be donated for the trustees to misuse.

Why every story is important.

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

 

Before the Audience Choice voting ends we want to say just how good all the stories at the grande finale were. Each teller contributed to putting storytelling as a performance art back on the cultural map of Boston.  Each story represented a unique experience and view of the world.  We all were a bit richer for hearing those stories and we want to thank the tellers. Each one of your stories ( and all the stories in all the slams)  was essential to the success of our project.

Below we recognize the tellers, individually, in set order ( 3 groups of seven as on the program) but not necessarily order of performance: Jim Stahl's My Beautiful Handpainted Iris, was one of our personal favorites. Jim writes his stories and his precise and evocative language brought us into the brain of a 13 year old boy where we could see clearly through his "eyes" and then, later, his one eye. Laura Packer brought embarrassment to new heights with her Bad Date story that started out bad and then, only got worse. We went on that cringe-worthy ride home with her and could actually see her feral movements, flying lobster and red face.  Amelia Kimball won the "it’s relative" slam with her wry take on communication between the Easterners (who knew?) and effusive Westerners. Her East and West added to our multicultural lore and her observations at a cross cultural wedding were New Englander succinct and very funny. We loved how Jackson Gillman expressed the theme "it’s my job" with his fun and crazy logic. He was so serious about Working the Room, and had such great pacing, that Rabb Hall was rocking with laughter. Bruce Marcus charmingly represented the foibles of parenthood connected to "it’s relative"  with his story,  Backwards Day.  Although he learned his lessons about glib parenting the hard way he told his story with ease.  Joan Cousins brought Ambush á La Carte to the  "it’s relative" slam but won a place in the slam through the People’s Choice Contest. She was new to the move from "page to stage" and brought memorable insights including  that someone would find homosexuality so...threatening ? that they would seek conversational relief in the mass murder of 6 million Jews. Diana Wiesner had roared  "in like a lion" with her The Back Story and we would have Skyped her entry in from DC where she was at a work related conference but communications broke down.  

In the next set of stories, Doug Lipman did a bang up job with his story of a brief folk music career and adventure gone outrageously wrong.   He lived to tell the story because Singing at Gunpoint did not end with a bang.  Michael Anderson  never looked back and took 2nd place with an audience favorite from the theme "so embarrassing".  Michael went to hell and home again bringing infidelity to a new low point with his The Myth of Orpheus.   His masterful performance brought us into his private Hades.  Joanne Piazzi came and conquered at the "love and lies" slam.  Hers  was an ebulliently told story. Dreams of romance never crumbled so sweetly as in  her Random Acts of Confection.  3rd place winner Nicolette Heavey showed how fruitcake can be an essential ingredient in setting family limits. Her  Fruitcake  story won at "dining disasters” and while we always knew fruitcake was heavy, she made it funny too.  Elsa Zuniga "it’s relative" revealed to us how her music lessons and minimal success at them brought her new appreciation of the power unconditional parental love and support.  Her engaging style brought the Piano Story, home. At  the "it’s relative" Ilene Fischer tossed her name into the hat and was immediately thrown on stage as the first storyteller.  So she knows from chutzpah. And if you didn't know about what to eat when sitting shiva in Miami you did at the end of this story We could see each one of her eccentric relatives as they acted out a family drama told with wit and style in Shiva.  Judith Black told Welcome Home for the first time at "in like a lion" slam in March.  Lionesses are known to be intensely protective and no one wants to be in between them and their young. Judith portrayed this ferocity and showed how it feels to be helpless in the face of the suffering of a child, a deep and human pain.  Judith’s range of human emotion and skillful telling about welcoming her son home from war, won 1st prize.

             Jess Sutich was our first ever Audience Choice winner at the "it’s relative" slam. She told a coming out story that spanned quite a bit of family relationships in under 4 minutes. In What Happens at Beerfest…we were right with Jess up to and including the deeply ironic ending where  her outgoing dad needed a guy to talk about his acceptance of his daughter. Chris Osborne style is low key and powerful at the same time.  The theme" it’s relative" was well examined in his story of how he and his wife reacted to the same event in his urban tale, The Neighbor.  He mused and wondered and we were right with him. Kevin Brooks told from the theme "dining disasters " and he had all the right ingredients and moves to show how cooking can make a relationship sizzle. His telling in Tomato Paste showed great timing and pacing. Paul Hlebowitsh won the first ever massmouth slam with his first ever performance of a story at "scared to death". He delighted us with a well-crafted story of childhood terror and lasting scars in Chocolate Milk. Paul also became the first ever massmouth Story 2.0 Award that goes to the teller of the next “generation” in the story slam season, with the best story. From the theme "it’s my job" Lani Peterson told about something familiar to any good teacher; often we learn as much or more from our students than they do from us.  In Facing My Fish she bared her soul and let us know that she is still looking for the right fish to take her personal bravery to the next level.  Her genuine, unaffected style was right up there and level with the best.  The mistakes of love are there to teach us and Rowan Meade "errors of eros" entry won our hearts. Rowan learned the hard way in A Man in Uniform that there is no easy road to love, but then, does anyone learn things about love the “easy” way?  Robin Maxfield  is  an "outrageous" performer  and had the stuff to tell all in  Standing In Line Stinks. She drew the last slot and that can’t have been an easy wait.  You wouldn’t know because she ended the night with a high energy performance.  ‘Pride goeth before a fall’ and Robin set herself up and then took us all down with élan. 

We were deeply happy to listen on Tuesday and more than satisfied to know that we helped to bring these stories to the kind of audience they deserve.

Now, please, buy a DVD, and tell a friend about storytelling and massmouth. Tell your story!

- Norah Dooley