≈ Comments Off on Oral storytelling workshop at Hugo House now open!
Hi Everyone,
One of our regular tellers just confirmed that she’s holding a five-session, in-person storytelling workshop at Hugo House. Joanna Demarest has been telling stories and holding workshops for over 30 years, so she has a lot of experience to pull from.
She’s also the Northwest Folklife Festival’s Storytelling Community Coordinator and was 100% responsible for getting them to do a personal storytelling show this year where you’re going to see some familiar faces performing.
So if you want to learn from one of the most experienced storytellers in the PNW, get yourself to the registration page!
The Art of Oral Storytelling Workshop at Hugo House at 1634 11th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122. Only 20 spots are available.
≈ Comments Off on FGS: Better Late Than Never 3-19-2026
I’m embarrassed to say that this month’s theme is a little ironic since it took me so long to get it out. But a little late is better than a lotta late, so I take comfort in that.
Now that I’ve shared my better-late-than-never story, it’s time for you to start working on yours. Have you ever worked at something, given up on getting it, and then gotten it unexpectedly years later? Did your dad wait until you were 50 to say he was proud of you? Did you apologize to someone 20 years after you should have? Did you work the clubs as a musician for a decade until you got a sweet job at Microsoft writing notification sounds?
Whatever it is, we’d love to hear it. Remember that a story isn’t just a series of things that happened. There needs to be something at stake that you overcome by the end.
Practice the story out loud to as many people as possible and time yourself when you’re doing it. Please don’t get onstage if you haven’t practiced your story. The audience is giving you their time and attention. It’s not fair to them if you get up there and try to wing it.
All stories have to be under eight minutes. Stories can be as short as you want, but no longer than eight minutes. Stories also have to be clean in both language and content. Send me an email if you have any questions about that.
FGS themes are just suggestions, so you can come out and tell a story about anything as long as it follows our usual rules and guidelines.
≈ Comments Off on I have two more Swedish Club memberships to give away
What a show we had last Thursday! It was a magical night all around. Thanks to everyone who told a story and all the people who cheered them on. I hope you can make it to our next show on March 19. The theme is “Better late than never.” I’ll get the meetup invite out in a couple of days.
In the meantime, I’d love to give away two more Swedish Club memberships to Mae and Kate, the last two names in the Folger’s can. Mae and Kate, if you’re reading this, write me directly at freshgroundstories@gmail.com so I can get your applications in.
If I don’t hear from M and K in a few days, I’ll put out a call for anyone else who would like a membership to the club with the best view in Seattle 🙂
≈ Comments Off on The Moth features one of our own :)
I’ve been having a great weekend since I saw one of our FGS tellers on The Moth video channel. Some of the best tellers in the PNW come through FGS, and I’m always happy to see them get a wider audience.
The last time I saw Harjas was when he flew back from NYC to be in a grand slam in Seattle a couple years ago. I’m thrilled he’s still going into the city to get onstage at The Moth. Congratulations Harjas!!
I hope a bunch of you are bringing stories to our show this coming Thursday. This month’s theme is “Doing the right thing (or not).”
≈ Comments Off on FGS: Stories of doing the right thing (or not) 2-19-2026
I’m pretty sure I remember every time I had the chance to do the right thing and didn’t. Sometimes I wake up from a bad dream where I regret doing something selfish 20 years ago and have to track someone down and apologize.
I don’t do that second part as often as I should, but I do it sometimes, and that makes it easier to do again. The times I’ve done the right thing are harder to remember. I guess that’s because I’m not wracked with guilt over them.
If I were working on a story for February’s show, I might talk about the time Chuck’s parents let me stay at their house for months without paying rent after my mom died. I had a little money from a life insurance policy, and I could have paid rent, but I didn’t. I spent that money on the usual dumb stuff an 18-year-old would spend it on.
When I was 50, I suddenly remembered that and called Chuck for his parents’ address. I wanted to send them rent money 30 years too late. Turns out they were dead by then, so I sent the money to Chuck. Part of that story would include the months I spent between the dream and the call, trying to talk myself out of sending that money.
Or I might tell the story of the time I asked my adult son what I did wrong as a parent. I was getting a lot of credit from people for being a single dad, and I felt bad knowing that growing up with me was no treat. It took me a while work up the courage to work up the courage to ask him what I could have done better. Then it took him a few weeks to get back to me. He was trying to spare my feelings.
But then he finally called and told me the one thing I did that really hurt him during those years. As I listened, I could feel myself slowly bending down over the counter with guilt. I remembered those words I’d said over and over whenever he struggled with homework. I’d tell you what they are, but I don’t even want to type them. That time it was easy to do the right thing and apologize. But I wish I hadn’t needed to.
These are the type of stories we’re looking for at our next show. Come tell a story about a time when you had to choose between doing the right thing and the wrong thing. What did you do and how did it play out? Did you do the right thing but secretly wish you hadn’t? Or did you do the wrong thing and regret it? We don’t talk about current events or politics at FGS, so these stories will have to be about the smaller moments in life where we were faced with a choice of right and wrong.
Practice the story out loud to as many people as possible and time yourself when you’re doing it. Please don’t get onstage if you haven’t practiced your story. The audience is giving you their time and attention. It’s not fair to them if you get up there and try to wing it.
All stories have to be under 8 minutes. Stories can be as short as you want, but not over 8 minutes. Stories also have to be clean in both language and content. Send me an email if you have any questions about that.
FGS themes are just suggestions, so you can come out and tell a story about anything as long as it follows our usual rules and guidelines.
Fresh Ground Stories 