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Run to The Moth. Allow stories to lighten your load.

Here is my suggestion: Run to The Moth. On the radio, the podcast, or a live show.  As you probably know, The Moth changed my life. It gave me a stage to tell stories. It provided me with a platform to be noticed. It opened the door to a new career. A bunch of new…

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Moth StorySLAM: Clara Wants a Sister

This summer I took about 30 young ladies from Miss Porter’s School to a Moth StorySLAM in Somerville, MA as part of a weeklong program on writing and storytelling.  It was kind of a magical night for these young ladies, who came from all over the country and the world to attend this program. As…

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Dan Kennedy is right. Reach out to people whose work means the world to you.

Dan Kennedy, writer, storyteller, and Moth host, tweeted earlier this week:  (@DanKennedy_NYC) Gonna get better at sending notes to people whose work means the world to me. Feels fanboy, but beats waiting to send an RIP tweet. I like this advice a lot.  I receive emails, tweets, and Facebook messages almost daily from readers around the…

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Teaching 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…

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Seven 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.…

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One person is listening. Perhaps more, but at least one. I’m so pleased.

I was asked by many people on Monday morning about the AFC championship game that I attended on Sunday night. One of the most frequently asked questions was: “What time did you get home?” I arrived home on Sunday night around 1:00 AM, but I explained that it was fairly early given the fact that I…

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I went to the bathroom alongside a bunch of ladies, and something surprising happened.

I competed last night at a Moth StorySLAM at The Oberon in Cambridge, MA.  The Oberon has two restrooms. When I started performing there in 2013, these restrooms were identified by placards as “Men” and “Women.” About a year ago, the “Men” and “Women” placards were replaced with placards that read “All Gender.” Since then,…

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I thrive in possibly inappropriately competitive situations.

Next month I will be teaching storytelling at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. This will be my second year teaching at Kripalu and I’m already scheduled to teach there in 2017 as well. The fact that I teach at Kripalu astounds many. Though my students at Kripalu have assured me that my teaching and…

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Resolution update: October 2016

PERSONAL HEALTH 1. Don’t die. I have fluid trapped behind my eardrum, making it hard to hear, but I don’t think it will kill me.  2. Lose 20 pounds. I gained two pounds in October. Fifteen down and five to go.  3. Do at least 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups five days a week. Done.…

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The Moth: The Promise

In November of last year, I told this story about my high school sweetheart at a Moth GrandSLAM in Brooklyn. I was lucky enough to have the story air on the Moth Radio Hour and their podcast a couple months later. I can’t tell you what a honor and thrill that is. I hear from…

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