Posts Tagged ‘storytelling workshop’
An anonymous note about a possible murder
I arrived at Kripalu, a yoga center in the Berkshires, on Sunday night with a bag full of my novels, magazine columns, and comic books. I spread them on the table for my students to see, and then I stuffed them back into the bag and tossed the bag into the corner of the room. It…
Read MoreTeaching is full of unexpected surprises
One billion years ago, I taught a third grader named Kaity to multiply. Last night, as Elysha and I were leaving for a Moth StorySLAM in Somerville, I asked Kaity, now an adult and frequent babysitter to our children, to help my third grade daughter with her multiplication homework. It was surreal. No one ever…
Read MoreA possible (though not advised) replacement for heart medication
I spent a week at Kripalu Institute for Yoga and Health last week, teaching storytelling to a dozen remarkable people. On Tuesday night I performed my one-man show, and on Thursday evening, ten of the storytellers from class took the stage and performed. It was an extraordinary night. One of my storytellers had not spoken…
Read MoreSeven and counting…
One of our Speak Up storytelling shows earlier in the year featured four former storytelling workshop students who have gone on to tell stories at Moth StorySLAMs in New York, Boston, and Burlington, VT. In fact, two of them competed in the same StorySLAM in December of last year in New York, unbeknownst to them.…
Read MoreI don’t teach mindfulness. Don’t ever accuse me of teaching mindfulness. Here’s why.
When I teach storytelling, and especially when I teach about finding stories in your life, I’m often told by students that what I’m really teaching is mindfulness. When I hear that word, I want to toss the person right out of my workshop. I push back immediately, rejecting any application of that word to what…
Read MoreMeditation and McDonald’s
I’ve spent this weekend at the world famous Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. With its silent breakfasts, farm to table meals, candle-lit shrines, and slow walking, contemplative guests, the place doesn’t exactly match my aesthetic. I’m sort of like a bull in a China shop here.A man without a country.A misplaced, misbegotten vagabond. I…
Read MoreGo to The Moth and tell a story. And not “someday.” Go soon.
Just this past week I heard from listeners who heard one or more of my stories on The Moth’s podcast, The Moth Radio Hour, and/or The Moth’s website in: Cape Town, South AfricaLondon, UKColumbus, OHHartford, CTWestern AustraliaHong KongNew HampshireNew York CitySao Paulo, BrazilBlackstone, Massachusetts The idea that people across the globe are listening to me tell…
Read MoreMy “Diet Coke and aggressive attitude” didn’t exactly match the yoga aesthetic, but I somehow managed to fit in anyway.
Last weekend, I performed 90 minutes of storytelling to a capacity crowd at Kripalu, a yoga and fitness center in the Berkshires. I spent the weekend at Kripalu, teaching a weekend-long storytelling workshop to about two dozen people, but the show on Saturday night was open to the general public. The room was crowded and…
Read MoreA lesson on the importance of stakes in storytelling – Plus the story of the day I posed as a charity worker for nefarious reasons
In my most recent appearance on Slate’s The Gist, I discuss the importance of stakes in storytelling and some of the tricks that I use to build and maintain them throughout the story. Plus, I tell the story of a time when I posed as a charity worker for less-than-charitable reasons and got a lot…
Read MoreHow I teach storytelling
I did an interview with Jim Levulis of WAMC public radio on storytelling, and specifically, the teaching of storytelling. If you’re interested, you can listen here.
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