Friday, July 31, 2015
Storytelling and Listeners
And yes, I do believe that storytelling encourages better listening skills---which not only relates to education---but to any time human beings are engaging in oral conversation. How often, I wonder, do people not really listen to each other---but only wait for the opportunity to "interject their own thoughts."
Joy
Anybody knows Brandon's phone number?!?!
I seem to have an old number for Brandon. Does anyone have a current-et number? Or if Brandon is watching this could you call us?
We're trying to get his info so we can give him all this lovely refrigerated food we have collected from Cynthia and ourselves.
Thanks!
Dwayne
586-231-4192
Live Through Our Art
Well, I think that David Novak has presented excellent tools in these classes that each of us can use to advance the storytelling art through our lives and on into the lives of all who listen and perpetuate this art in the retelling.
May you always be blessed with stories,
Wenny
Contact!
email: david@david-novak.com
website: novateller.com
No “Right” Way to Tell Stories
Orientation
We have been reading and discussing about the use of space and having presence while we are in the wind tunnel and yet I feel I lack better orientation of my presence inside the stories. I was thinking about a story I told a lot to kids last semester and realised it was lacking that orientation inside the Fox house and where he takes the pig throughout the story. The exercise yesterday was great because I was able to feel like I was there in my story despite the fact I wasn't born yet...
At moments when we began to leave the center and emerge into the circle or stage, the eyes of audience opened up as if they (we) followed.
What i got out of yesterday was; In order for you to see my story I need to see me inside the story.
Resonance and Topping Up the Breath
On pages 78 and 79 of the Rodenburg text, the author explains about females who adopt an unnaturally high vocal pitch and how that can keep them from working in the natural middle range where they can explore richer, fuller resonances of their voice. To experiment around with this, Dwayne and I tried out different voices in different ranges and felt the difference in resonance. It was a fun activity and I would suggest trying this if you think it might be interesting.
Rodenburg also talks about something that happens to females (but I would assume almost everyone would have experienced this at least on a minor level) where the breath is held or they will "top up the breath" in anticipation of getting to add a comment to a conversation but waiting for a break in the flow of conversation to speak. Well, she says that sometimes we experience this holding in of the breath even when not in a turn taking conversation. So I think that is useful information for trying to see if any if us exhibit that habit when we speak.
Thank you all for your willingness to just put yourself out there and be vulnerable with new stories and expressions.
I liked watching stories grow as we confronted issues of space and volume as well.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Fear and Permission
As we discussed reaching out to the audience today and how that can override our nervousness I began to consider how permission and fear can get tangled with each other. This was forcefully presented to my mind when Brandon literally threw the chair away, and when Julie snatched the air in front of the class audience I felt the impact of surprise on the other side of our circle even though I already knew what to expect.Then I laughed so hard as Idilio vocally expressed and physically interpreted his parents behaviors during his time of birth.
In musical performances, with others or solo, my thought was always that of sharing something, offering a gift, a part of myself. I know going into the music offers me many things outside of the ordinary day and that others can enjoy this too. And so I have found going into stories provides similar opportunities. Music and stories are art forms as old as humankind. They have always been and will always be with us. We are helping to perpetuate the art as we go into a story and invite others to come along.
Lipman's Response to Personal Experience Stories
Reposting Photo Links
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qyo60e3ba6tdg99/AAAknWFTNDTfhO5Hv-Uy3_Wva?dl=0
http://dwayneandaimee.pass.us/advanced-storytelling/
These links so far have the pictures that I have edited from the two after-class photo days so far. That means pictures of Wenny, Cynthia, Chelise, Laurina, Chris, and Tzitel. Not all of the pictures that I have of this group (I am going to edit more after I get home) but 5 pictures for Chris and Tzitel so far and 10+ for the others.
My hope is to get all of the after-class pictures to 10+ each before we leave and at least 1 of the best in-class pictures for everyone else I don't have pictures posted of yet. But I will continue editing over the weekend and will have more pictures for everyone within the first few weeks after class is over. I didn't mind adding the extra photo days of taking the photos in class, and please believe me I am not holding the pictures hostage. :) Ultimately the class day photos are (at least in terms of hours) almost a wedding's worth of photos since it adds up to around 4-6 hours of storytelling. This will be great because somewhere in all of that are great pictures of each of you. But going through and picking the best takes a bit of time, and my poor work mac says, "Not enough power" ha. I have to restart the laptop about every 10 photos edited because otherwise I run out of active memory. But once I get home to my computer it will be easier to go through the photos and edit. :) Thanks for your patience! Can't wait to show you more photos!
Vocal Habits
According to Rodenburg, the louder, aggressive voice is derived from urban areas. "Urban speakers do appear more aggressive, more impatient, less inclined to finish sentences."She compares the big cities of London, Glasgow and New York City. She talks about the slower, softer voice from the rural areas. I am still trying to compare those slower, softer rural voices to what I know of Swedish voices. I haven't noticed the same difference in Sweden between urban and rural voices, but perhaps I can't hear it myself. Rodenburg does share an example of her time living in Norway and how she cut back on her breathe. She felt she couldn't breathe there and her right to speak was compromised. I have the opposite reaction, because I find the calmer and softer voice in Sweden soothing. My ears are happy again, when I am no longer hearing the loud and aggressive voices from urban areas of the US. Has anyone else thought about these vocal habits or what Rodenburg describes as settling in habits? -Laurina
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Never being comfortable/never being satisfied
I think this is because a story is a living entity---affected not only by the teller---and where they are psychologically---but how they choose to interpret the story for a given audience (which always changes).
Joy
Open and Closed Posture
Urgency
But seriously, I love this urgency thought, and I think it ties into a bit of what we were talking about today near the end, with giving outward, with shaping gestures and releasing them out toward the audience. I think what makes for a sense of urgency is the idea of "give." The, "I have something to give you, and this is important to me, and I think it may be a gift to you too, and I think it's possible that you need this, that the world needs this right now." I think if we're feeling that, we'll automatically fight the "wind tunnel."
Lessons from the Bees
As I began to consider these characteristics in reference to "My Bee Sisters" story I discovered things that I had not yet canoodled about. Considering how themes like wisdom, courage, and resourcefulness applied to my part in that experience and the lessons I learned brought me around to those thoughts on how important listening is to understanding. Then there is the courage required to reach out with a gentle but firm (unwavering) hand giving acceptance and gaining, for all of this, a knowing heart of who I am and love for all around me.
A question for my colleagues
Here comes my question: I was struck by the relative economy of how Ms. Wells portrayed Helen's tumultuous life and the Trojan War. The war raged for 10 years, filled with the screams of dying men, the battle cries of charging soldiers, chariots crashing, swords swinging and clanging, yet she spread it all out before us without doing it. No huge gestures, screams, running feet, yet I "saw" and "heard" the war. This ability is connected to a statement she made towards the end of our discussion, about the storyteller's job: it is not to show the emotion, but to guide an audience to it.
How do you guide your audience to an emotion? Can anyone explain how this is done? I have been picturing how it isn't done, and recalling a Monty Python skit about a School for Overacting in which a group of acting students beat ".... my kingdom for a horse!" to death, but I wish I had a clearer idea of how to guide rather than demonstrate.
Megan Wells- a humble art
My favorite quote that I wrote down today from Megan was about emotions. " My feelings awaken yours in you."
And I appreciate everyone being a good sport when i asked for a class photo with Megan. Here it is:
The animal in us
All this connections and the readings from the letters to a young art is got me thinking of my collegiate running career.
Arlington TX was a new environment, a big city with lots of sidewalks and running through paved roads. Shin splints were inevitable, but I was able to get through. The way I had to adapt was to imagine moving cars were animals and enjoy all the trees and rolling roads I didn't had in the flatness of deep south Texas.
The animal inside me came out and I was able to succeed all 4 years but when I first moved here to JC in the summer of 2012 I fell in loved with trail running in the mountains. The real animal in me came out and felt so happy with the real nature and constant change of elevation and direction. Since then I have ran mountains trails in 4 different continents and every time I feel safe even in very unsafe trails.
Marathon running (I have done 3) feel like the transitional set of stories we often hear like joy describe in her post, but trail running is what we discussed yesterday in class.
Idilio
Came across this talk on creativity by John Cleese...it is full of gems. So many of the ideas in this echo our work in classes. I wanted to share because as John Cleese says, "Any dribble may lead to the breakthrough."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qby0ed4aVpo
Enjoy. (If you can't get to it through the link google Youtube john cleese creativity 36minutes)
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Into the garden room
Faith and Fear
Connections
Joy
Braiding a Program/Guild Program Today
On the other hand, to braid a story into a larger program might mean that the story I am prepared to tell, is not the story I will tell.....that's a little scary!
Joy
May I So Live....
Ah yes, practice, practice, practice.
May I so live that I may enjoy a continuation of these associations in sharing and caring about stories in the world.
Universal Perspective
The Health Benefits of Narrative
http://novateller.com/images/Downloads/Health%20Benefits%20of%20narrative.pdf
I also recommend his book Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions
Challenging This: Ideas are Worth Nothing Unless Executed
This isn't from our text but rather from a blog article I read a few months ago. Here's the link if anyone is interested: https://sivers.org/multiply
In a business sense, I can see how this is true sometimes when only considering the bottom line. But as a writer or an artist, I do not think this is true.
Being an ideas person, with lots of (I'm biased) great ideas and no big successes to show for it yet financially, this article once dragged me down for a few months. But I sat down and I asked myself the other day, "If someone offered me $1,000,000 in exchange for me forgetting all of my best ideas, would I take them up on the offer?" Now this question is extremely sci fi (like as if there is some giant memory-erasing ray gun or something), but I was just playing in the realm of imagination. I quickly came to the conclusion of, "No, I would not."
Even if I knew that the ideas themselves would never amount to anything close to $1,000,000?
Yes, absolutely.
I realized that the more ideas I had, the easier it was to come up with another good idea or at least something worth considering. It's all about the connections that David discusses in class. The more connections we make, the more imagination, the more creativity we have at our fingertips. If you get rid of all of your best ideas, you might miss out on an even greater one that is just around the corner!
So I realized something the other day. Ideas are definitely worth something. It might not be money but they are definitely worth something to someone out there.
The Death of Cool
ADS talks about a discussion she had with one of my favorite trumpet players, Wynton Marsalis. In this conversation, Wynton said, "Cool is... cool is you don't show emotion. Cool is you never raise your voice."
This is kind of a bit of note taking I am publicly doing to not keep falling behind in the blog posts. But I have written a bunch of comments today on others' posts explaining why I loved their stories. I think that between the beginning of class and now we are all learning to be "less cool" when needed and trying to find the right balance between cool and warm expressions.
Sitting at a table yesterday in the Zentangle class, Cynthia was explaining that she didn't have to take basic storytelling because of her previous experience. It had come up somehow in the conversation. Whereas I was on the opposite end of the spectrum, I was explaining to Wenny. When I was taking the basic and foundational classes I was the student that looked like they got off at the wrong bus stop.
But I told Dwayne when I got here, when I spent hours working on stories, writing them out, thinking about them and trying to unravel them and then wind them back up, that I wanted to fight that stereotype. I wanted to fight to be like everyone else. I wanted to get to tell stories and feel like there is no ceiling so there's never a moment where I just "stop learning" and "its enough."
Thank you David for this class where we have all learned so much. When we tell it will never show all of what you have taught us so far. The neat thing about teaching a class is that you'll still be teaching us months from now without even having to do any work. Because we'll be making new connections and new realizations and threading it all together to things you introduced to us. You gave us hooks to hang new ideas off of, and always encouraged us to keep fighting to become better versions of ourselves, better storytellers than ourselves.
We're not in a race against each other but against ourselves. I feel like we're all a bit faster and stronger than when we arrived. And how could anyone put a price on that? So I just wanted to express my thanks.
Chelise - this is for you.
continuation of connections
Thank you everyone for making today a connection of deeper experiences and for sharing your courage and talents.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Why Personal Stories Are Hard, and Awesome
1) Beauty. I have a hard time shaping my own experience into something that I feel is as beautiful as a traditional story, with all their deep, ancient, mythological and spiritual roots.
2) Boundaries. Either it's not a very strong memory, in which case, why share it, or it's a really potent memory, in which case I'm disinclined to bare it to an audience. I tend to err in favor of the latter, and then get vulnerability hangover later.
But here's what I've gathered about these two issues:
First of all, it seems that they're kind of bound up in each other. Without at least some vulnerability, the "beauty" part is not going to happen. (This is just as true of traditional tales; it just seems slightly less exposing when it's not your own experience under the microscope.) Of course, boundaries are also something to approach with sensitivity and care for your audience--as David has mentioned before, you don't want them to be more concerned for you than for your story. It's a delicate line. But as he was saying today, it's actually #1, beauty, that really defines where that line is. It's not a question of stating some arbitrary standard of social "appropriateness," but rather a question of value for the listener. What does it give to them? Is what it offers them worth it? Worth their journey, going wherever you take them?
As for beauty and listener-value, while it's dependent on vulnerability, that's not all there is to it. For this question I've been thinking about some Anna Deavere Smith, trying to figure out what it is that makes personal stories--stories built on our own life experiences--beautiful. What makes them art? From her chapters on "Questions" and "Art and Reality," here is the tiny beginning of an answer:
- Questions. She talks about "curiosity for the questions, respect for the questions, hunger for the questions." Personal stories are an opportunity to highlight some of the questions that drive our lives--and if they're of deep concern to us, chances are they're of deep concern to at least some others.
- Economy. Life itself isn't framed, and doesn't have neat beginnings and endings, and isn't a fixed representation. But a personal story can take life and make it these things. In doing so, it both "condenses and amplifies the world." Basically, personal stories can condense human experience, with all its complications and ambiguities, into a digestible piece of art, one that sheds new light on--amplifies--a particular theme, question, or aspect of our experience.
- Resonance. Smith says that someone experiencing art encounters "something about the humanity of the artist that rings with their own humanity." This, I think, more than anything else, is what can make personal stories beautiful. We can highlight aspects of shared humanity.
Support and Mentoring
Also, I have enjoyed telling in a large boisterous class. So often classes have been small and to practice telling to a larger audience was very helpful. Together, we have created a safe place which is no small thing.
I have been reading tonight Smith's thoughts on mentor and support. Some of it reminds me of "A Room of One's Own" but that doesn't make it any less so. Look how everyone is blossoming in this environment. I would love to see what would happen over an even longer period of time. But then I also wouldn't be able to suspend my life any longer than I already have, and that in essence contributes to the magic.
Some of what I heard Smith say is to pick a mentor because of the strength and authenticity they bring to the table, and from that perspective you are all my mentors tonight.
Telling today
My brain is filled with memories and love and hurt and sadness, and the chance to put that all away and tell a story today was wonderful. Thank you all for allowing this space to exist.
I look forward to taking David's feedback and applying it to my telling in the future. I knew I have a lot of hair, but I never thought about how it might impact an audience being able to connect with me by it's getting in the way of my face, physically. Thank you, David.
In love and stories,
Patti
Combinatorials and Tans
No, not my suntan, my "combinatorial" assignment, the proposal for 60 minutes of storytelling
we will give David. I started taking notes on possible combinations, and I am having some difficulty with the art of it (r -a - t , t - a - r, etc.) The notion of putting together one program based on an "MIT", one unifying theme, is giving me pause. How do you do this with subtlety and grace, without clobbering your listeners over the head with your unifying theme? I don't have a huge bank of stories in either my repertoire of memory to draw from, so that might be limiting me; but I am looking forward to learning more about this as the week progresses.
Storytellers Can't Exist in a Vacuum
Courage
My first observation is that these tales could be shared because David has helped us build a safe, supportive environment in our black room. I am grateful for that.
Separate from the environment, the tellers still chose difficult stories and shared them bravely.
I looked in Anna Deavere Smith and Doug Lipman for snippets on courage. What I found instead were passages on fear that touched on confronting fear and how an artist makes use of fear. (ADS pp. 133-136 and DL pp. 171-180.) ADS writes, "Your fear sounds a little more like uncertainty. Is it a lack of courage? The life of an artist is risky. There's a lot to be afraid of."
Courage was visible in the room today. I applaud you for telling deep, meaningful stories. We listeners benefited from it.
Trusting the audience
I have found that it takes time for me to create an environment that fosters empathy within my classroom. Interestingly, this happens only when I am willing to be vulnerable in front of my students with the personal stories I share.
The Tangram effect
"The same stories can be re-assembled with different elements emphasized for various intentions."
I had thought that a story becomes finished after a little practice and that it evolves slowly after that. I am learning that this isn't true, that stories are much more organic and dynamic than that.
In addition to the natural evolutionary changes in the story and the influence of the audience, there are many other items that are influencing my stories this July -- what stories come before it, what exercises we have been working on, what tone will have the most resonance in the moment of telling, where I am in my life's journey and in my storyteller's journey, etc.
The dynamic nature of story makes sense, of course. In seminar presentations, I used to think that I would borrow a story for one topic and use it for another purposes -- thus, my story on voir dire might get used for other purposes, say fighting bully judges. I now realize that the stories are not for one purpose and subject to being loaned out like a library book. A story can be told for multiple reasons to multiple audiences, each time taking a different personality and emphasizing different points.
Caught (as a listener) in a story
Joy
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Presence, Presence II, and Ultimate Presence
The Tangram Effect
Saturday, July 25, 2015
A room full of instructors
The sensory banquet Idilio spread for us describing his grandmother's shop was pure enchantment for me - I fell deep into the fragrances of the foods he described, and then the colors. I was intrigued to watch my mind's eye throw up a splash of color before I saw the actual item: bright green for the cilantro, red for the tomato, and the cheese did a switcheroo. First I saw a flash of yellow, then white, because my conscious mind said, nah, Mexican cheese is probably white, and then I saw a round white cheese. I adored the comparison of his grandmother to margarita bread, doughy and sweet. My imagination added the fragrance of yeasty bread rising, a perfume that screams "home" to me. Thank you, Idilio, not only for giving me a tour of your home, but also for showing me an effective way to draw listeners in to the story world.
Now, wasn't it Bill who wanted to know how Bill Lepp makes listeners forget something so he can remind them of it later? Well, I saw Chris do exactly that - I didn't exactly diagram his story, but here is what I saw.
He began the "orientation" by handing around his watch so we would all focus on it. Then he launched into a totally watch-less story. I mean, who would remember a watch when you're waiting to hear about a strip club murder trial? So Step 2 of Planned Forgetfulness seems to be to send listeners downstream on a fast moving river of story, filled with different details. Then Chris dropped Little Louie's watch comment into the diaglogue again,briefly, and made it disappear from our consciousness like Houdini, by taking us downriver again into the trial and the tension of his client's refusal to testify against his (undeserving) father multiple times, climaxing with the sentencing and the dramatic and frankly surprising, farewells. I didn't know lawyers hugged their clients, did you?
And then, he opened the surprise package: bringing the watch back "onstage" again at the end of the story. So if you want a story to conclude with the item you want listeners to forget for awhile, a formula for Planned Forgetfulness in a story could be Show -- distract with an emotional story -- dangle -- distract with more of your emotional story -- final showing.
Looking forward to more great moments on Monday.
Cost, Worth, and Value - an example
Two things about this example:Value = Worth - Cost (for the sake of a simple transaction, we can substitute "Price" for "Cost" – though this is subject to question, later)Value (to me) = Price (15¢) - Worth (10¢) = 5¢ (Hence, I get 5¢ of Value from the transaction)Value (to you) = Worth (20¢) - Cost (15¢) = 5¢ (You also get 5¢ of Value from the transaction)
1) As promised, I want to address "Price" vs. "Cost". Price is pretty clear-cut. How many cents? But it turns out that money carries different Worth for different people, or even in different situations. It's why we have terms like "easy money" or "hard-earned dollar". A corporation that it not earning enough money to make its payroll, fund its maintenance plan, or support its growth objectives places a higher Worth on the dollars that it does earn - versus how it assigns Worth when the profits are coming easily and in abundance. People do the same thing. A popular gambit among sailors is for one who has managed his money well to offer another $10 in exchange for $20 at payday. Funny thing: that offer carries a lot more weight at the beginning of a long-overdue liberty call than it does out on the high seas with no port call in sight. So, while we may use Price to be reflective of Cost, there's no real absolute there.2) What about the child (that didn't get the candy)? What kind of ogre would sell the piece of candy for a 5¢ return instead of giving it to the child? Well - it's my example and (as I hope you figured out) I did it on purpose. So let's explore this...I got 5¢ more for the candy than what I would have paid to watch the child enjoy the candy.You got 5¢ more enjoyment from the candy than you had to pay to get it.10¢ in Value was created by this transaction. That value was enjoyed by you and me.But the kid? C'mon, Bill, what about the kid?!? Wouldn't you have gotten 10¢ in Value by just giving the child the candy?The child got nothing. No Value. But unless I promised the candy to the child (which would change the equation, by the way), they didn't lose any Value, either. But – I'm now clutching 15¢ in my hot little hand! That's enough to go and buy five more pieces of candy and dole them out to the little urchin - giving more Value to both the child and me than would have been available had I not conducted a little business with you first. Maybe not 5 times as much value (the kid will get sick of candy, probably, and will certainly attribute less Worth to the fifth piece less than the first).Total Value potential from this transaction (ignoring whatever you did to get the 15¢, and the whole candy retailer part of this): 5¢ for you, 50¢ for me, and who knows how much to the little candy muncher, who doesn't really "get" money, yet. All from a 3¢ piece of candy in my hand, 15¢ in yours, and a candy-loving kid.
Cost, Worth, and Value - Defined
Cost - the amount of one's resources which must be expended in order to accomplish an objective (whether to acquire a tangible object, secure a service, or provide a benefit to a third party.
Friday, July 24, 2015
I am not musical!
Sorry guys I left at the middle of David discussing the process for our last days in school, but I got to say :-) These two weeks have been so good and great that at the end of my interview, the principal offered me the job for a Spanish High School position at a STEM magnet school!
During my interview I was able to use a lot of connectors (and thanks to researching about the school in the middle of the night) I was able to speak a lot about their mission statement and school vision. Two things that I am really passionate about and my experience shows that.
Now I feel like elaborating my story from today even more and continue finding connectors to help me out with my capstone!
I can't describe the pleasure I got from everyone of you to give me and hear your distinct voices and share today a personal story that for sure touch my heart! Thanks
Idilio
The Man: Societal Forces and the Need for Story
I enjoy breaking up into small groups. I think the most powerful for me of all of that is when we switch having to tell and reexamine constantly. I tried to keep an aspect of that up by meeting with people in between and around class times, which is a great opportunity. Uncle Charlie's one minute stories last night was a fun addition to this. P.S. David I really enjoyed your story, and it made me a bit homesick for my boy who at age 11 still talks to me and moonie as if we are different people. Who knows maybe we are, that strange schizophrenia of storytellers?
Seth Godin on "Opposition"
I'd like to share Seth Godin's blog entry for today It resonates with some of what I'm reading in Anna Deavere Smith's book, and I believe the concepts he surfaces are relevant to our telling. The entry is repeated below, but I've also given you a link, in case you decide to look at his earlier entries - or subscribe!
Opposition
The opposite of creativity is fear.
And fear's enemy is creativity.
The opposite of yes is maybe.
Because maybe is non-definitive, and both yes and no give us closure and the chance to move ahead.
Perfect is the enemy of good.
Us is not the enemy of them. Us is the opposite of alone.
They can become us as soon as we permit it.
Everything is the opposite of okay. Everything can never be okay. Except when we permit it.
The right is not the opposite of the left. Each side has the chance to go up, which is precisely the opposite of down.
Dreams are not the opposite of reality. Dreams inform reality.
One-minute-story
food for the body, food for the soul
Storytelling Photos Download Link & Photo Update for Next Week
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qyo60e3ba6tdg99/AAAknWFTNDTfhO5Hv-Uy3_Wva?dl=0
That is the download link for the pictures for Cynthia, Chelise, Wenny, and Laurina. Sorry for the weird file names. I am using my Mac laptop and I don't know how to batch re-name files on this thing. :)
Here is a gallery link for a quick look through the pictures in case anyone was curious to check them out:
http://dwayneandaimee.pass.us/advanced-storytelling/
A few people have asked if we could have a second shoot day because there were some scheduling conflicts the first time around. Dwayne and I are totally fine with that and think it would be fun, and are willing to give it a go. As far as we know there are no scheduling conflicts with the room for next Wednesday after the class trip to Jonesborough. So if everyone can break after class for dinner while Dwayne and I set up, I think it would be safe to say we could meet at around 5:30 PM at room 205. But I'd like to get an idea of who all is able to make it if possible. I am still taking pictures for the telling today but if anyone did want the kind of one-on-one time that we got last Tuesday to take some pretty neat pictures I don't mind meeting again.
I don't know if I will have access to Dr. Sobol's stool this week or not. We are going to try to check with his wife over the weekend and see if it's possible to borrow it again if there's some interest in meeting again.
Thanks for reading my message!
Thursday, July 23, 2015
The Storyteller's Schizophrenia
This exercise helped answer a question I've had about characterization: what are other ways of showing characters to an audience besides using your voice? I really appreciated the opportunity to see Chris embody that quirky character through his tics and movements, then observe narrator Chris take over when he told us he had a heart, both seeing and hearing him express affection for the character, and then slip back into embodying some of the man's behaviors again.
By the way, an added bonus is that this exercise, and this class, is helping me develop my eye for how storytellers enhance a story. In previous posts I've expressed how helpful it is to do things, to learn through movement, and how much I learn from learning through conversation with colleagues. I also learn much from watching others, and wanted to express my thanks for my colleagues' willingness to let me study you as you learn.
Where's My Magic?
Butterfly Friend
https://goo.gl/photos/tTUqzfV9SnQizBhX7
Here is video of the story:
https://youtu.be/A41R7_gm91c
Here are instructions:
https://youtu.be/SZuT6e7FbxQ
Mining memories into mosaic
The Man, Mentorship, and Fractals
Wenny brought up Anna Deavere Smith's writings on mentorship, and as I was reading that section I was really moved by hearing ADS' dentist's holocaust experience. The mentorship chapter is in pages 77-79 of the ADS text. It reminded me of class yesterday because we were discussing how personal stories can really be crafted well if you find something in your story that can relate to someone. And when you find something that relates to someone that you can express in your story, it's no longer just about you but about you and someone else or something else. It's about a relationship. It's about something that the listener can hopefully relate to.
I couldn't relate exactly to the holocaust story because I've never been in that exact situation, but I was moved by hearing about that experience. Anna describes that her dentist was so young, and they couldn't give her any toys in her room for fear that she would make noises and the Gestapo might find her if they came. She explained that her dentist was so little that she wouldn't be able to understand who was OK to make noises around and who was not. So I've never been in that exact position but I have minded children before. And anyone who's babysat or raised a child has experienced those ages and stages where children can't tell the difference between how to act in one situation vs. another if the situations seem similar enough.
So it's a far jump trying to form a connection between babysitting in the U.S. and trying to protect a child in the holocaust. But even though they are different experiences, the one experience helps you to sense the danger in the other experience. Kind of like how we were talking about fractals in class. If you can understand one small part of the picture sometimes it lends an understanding of the bigger picture.