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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
To Towers Of Tenacity
June 11, 2019 by Leave a Comment
It was a hot and humid August day. One of those days when you start to sweat the minute you open the front door. It was also the first day of the long-awaited family reunion. That’s a problem In hopes of avoiding the merciless heat, grandma and grandpa got out the wooden blocks for the […]
Art Changes Things
January 31, 2017 by 1 Comment
You want to change things? Make art. Art is the human ability to do something for the first time. Something that may not work. Art is the work of a human being doing something real and personal that might change things. Art is about the important stuff. Because… But this world of art is not […]
To Those Who Leap
February 23, 2016 by 2 Comments
One day, Bill Klann took a trip to Chicago. Of all the wonders that he could see there, Bill found himself in the midst of the Union Stock Yards. In a slaughterhouse, of all places. The world’s capital of butchery There, he was immersed in a model of industrial butchering efficiency. Animal carcasses moved by […]
To The Big Uneasy
September 16, 2015 by 1 Comment
You’ve probably been here before. In fact, there’s a really good chance you’re here right now. Feeling uneasy. With that queasy little flutter in your stomach With that voice in your head questioning if what you are doing is worth all the extra time and effort and pain. Wondering if you’ll ever break through. Because […]
