Posts Tagged ‘the moth’
A celebration of so much more than just a book
On Saturday night, I took the stage at the release party for Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling, and told five brand new stories to an audience of more than 200 friends and family. It was quite a night. My friend, storyteller, and producer Erin Barker once told…
Read MoreDon’t be selfish. Tell a story.
I tell people to tell stories a lot. I know. It’s my clarion call. But allow me to say it again. Last Wednesday night, I performed in The Moth GrandSLAM at the Cutler Majestic in Boston. My plan was to take the stage and tell a story that was a lot more humor than heart.…
Read MoreRun 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…
Read MoreMoth 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…
Read MoreDan 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…
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 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 MoreThe Moth: The Robbery
In March of last year, I told this story at the Brooklyn Academy of Music about an armed robbery that I experienced in 1993. It was the hardest story I’ve ever told but also one of the most important for me. Post traumatic stress disorder is a serious problem for many of our veterans returning…
Read MoreMy three greatest acts of storytelling cruelty
I like to think that I have been a supportive and positive force on the thousands of storytellers who I have performed alongside over the years, but I’ve also had moments when my judgment and disposition was less than ideal. My three most despicable moments as a storyteller: 1. On Thursday night at Infinity Hall,…
Read MoreOne 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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