A friend of mine teaches graduate students at a prestigious university. He also has a second grader at home. One day he was making a little presentation on storytelling to his little daughter’s class. To get their attention, he started by yelling, “Be a lion!” Immediately, the children started growling. Some waved their hands like […]
Mr.Gehry’s Chair Reframed
May 8, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Frank Gehry is a starchitect. He designs amazing, innovative buildings like The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. But above all, Frank Gehry is a reframer. He follows The Reframers Credo. So when he was asked to design a chair he started reframing. He redefined the problem as, […]
For The Unsure
May 5, 2023 by Leave a Comment
It’s July 1966. And it’s sweltering hot in Austin Texas. Claire Wilson and her boyfriend Tom Eckman are taking summer classes at the University of Texas. Hot as hell They just got out of an anthropology test. So they head over to the Student Union, to hang out for a while. They’re just starting to […]
What A Story Is Not
May 2, 2023 by Leave a Comment
It was a quiet Tuesday morning in my hometown on the edge of the prairie. The sun had just begun to peek over the tops of the trees. The birds were just beginning their morning serenade. Ahhhhh It was a quiet and serene morning in my little world. I had just sat down for a […]
To The Whispers
April 28, 2023 by Leave a Comment
They come from behind you. Oh, so quietly. They silently sneak up on you. And dance in your imagination. Be quiet They won’t hit you between the eyes. They won’t come screaming in your face, “This is who you are. This is what you must do.” Rather they creep slowly on little feet of silence […]
Marinating In The Mediocre
April 25, 2023 by Leave a Comment
It started out innocently enough. Quite pretty, actually. Lovely little messages, dripping down. Falling lightly in our collective lap. Then things changed The wind shifted and the messages increased. Now filling the sky, turning everything in their way into a messy soup. Each message now propelled horizontally like a bullet stream. Making everything indistinguishable, indecipherable […]
Scared: A Storyteller’s Tale
April 22, 2023 by Leave a Comment
It’s lurking in that white piece of paper. Be careful, my friend. The Scared might get you. The Scared is everywhere. And it’s waiting for you For some people, it’s waiting for you on an airplane. The Scared is out there in the audience you’re about to address. If you’re an artist or a storyteller, […]
What To Look For When You Fall Into A Hole
November 5, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Joe is walking down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can’t get out. A doctor passes by, and Joe shouts up “Hey you! Can you help me out?” Don’t look for sympathy The doctor writes him a prescription, throws it down the hole, and moves on. Then […]
You’re Not Done Yet
October 20, 2020 by 2 Comments
There’s a great deal to be said about the past four years. Which, of course, is why Webster’s summarized it all with one word. Their word of the year… Surreal Merriam-Webster defines “surreal” as “marked by the intense, irrational, reality of a dream.” That’s a fine definition. But it’s also kind of tricky. Like everything […]
The Streets Of Heaven
October 1, 2020 by Leave a Comment
The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels today. They are our fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, our sons and our daughters and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels who should not have been there today. More than anytime in our recent history America’s destiny is not of […]
