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Speak Up Storytelling #72: Chris Gaffney

On episode #72 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling alongside the first Great Hartford Storyslam winner, Chris Gaffney! In our follow up segment, we discuss (and decide upon) the name for the start-and-stop episode that was so popular with our listeners. In our Homework for Life segment, we talk…

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“Skip Politics” is nonsense.

Seth Meyers – a comic and late night talk show host who I adore – released a comedy special on Netflix this week called “Lobby Baby.” It was very good. Not great, but perhaps that’s because I had heard chunks of the special before as parts of monologues on his show, but I still enjoyed…

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Chris Gaffney: “Suddenly there was a baby”

On episode #72 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling alongside the first Great Hartford Storyslam winner, Chris Gaffney! In our follow up segment, we discuss (and decide upon) the name for the start-and-stop episode that was so popular with our listeners.  STORYTELLING SHOWS 2019-2020 November 23: Twenty-one Truths About…

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“I don’t mean to insult you, but…”

I was speaking to an auditorium filled with high school students about storytelling. After completing my remarks, I asked for questions. A young man in the front row raised his hand. When I motioned in his direction, he stood and said, “I don’t mean this as an insult…” I stopped him right there. “I want…

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Warmer days ahead

The weather has turned cold in New England. Frost on windshields. Leafless trees. Demands that Charlie put on real shoes and socks before heading outdoors, damn it! On mornings like this one, when I’ll be forced to don a hoodie before heading outside and won’t be able to play golf until well after has risen,…

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Perfect pair

Three ways that clearly indicate how Elysha and I were meant to be together: We both eat our hot dogs plain. We are both vehemently opposed to finding out the sex of your baby prior to birth. We both firmly believe that Buffy the Vampire Slayer are the Battlestar Galactica reboot are the two best…

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Twenty-one Truths About Love!

Best cardboard box of the year showed up at my doorstep yesterday. Copies of my next novel, “Twenty-one Truths About Love,” have arrived. This is my fifth novel and my sixth book, and honestly, it was just as exciting as opening the box and seeing my first. There will always be a part of me…

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Speak Up Storytelling: Live from Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health (Part 2)

On episode #71 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, special guest Jeni Bonaldo and I talk storytelling! This week’s episode features the second half of a storytelling show at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts as part of a weekend of storytelling instruction. Following the stories, Jeni and I discuss each one.…

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A lot of feelings for my children today

My 10 year-old daughter, Clara, is teaching my 7 year-old son, Charlie, about author Mary Shelley and the writing of Frankenstein. Also about the feminist implications of Shelley’s work as it relates to her position in both the world and her marriage during her life. At 6:19 AM. While playing Minecraft. I’m not sure if…

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Live from Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health (Part 2)

On episode #71 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, special guest Jeni Bonaldo and I talk storytelling! This week’s episode features the second half of a storytelling show at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts as part of a weekend of storytelling instruction. Following the stories, Jeni and I discuss each one.…

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