Thank you all so much to everyone who came out last Thursday to the show. We had lots of first-timers and a supportive audience. It always makes my heart dance to see a first-time teller nervously walk up to the mic and by the end of their story they hear cheers and applause from the crowd. 

Naturally, I’ve lost half the slips of paper with names on them so I’m writing this from memory. Two stories that really made me smile were from Linda and Abhishek. Linda was the Scone of Courage recipient this month for being the first first-timer up. She told a perfect story for starting the show about throwing her mother out of a hot-air balloon. Is anything ever as funny as throwing your mom’s ashes out of a balloon as you float over this majestic land of ours? No, I don’t think there is. The best part was that she had to do it after being explicitly told to never throw anything out of the balloon. The main lesson we learned is that if you break the rules you’ll probably come home with a story.

If you’re wondering where Linda learned how to tell such a well-crafted story, I will tell you that she learned it here: https://unexpectedproductions.org/classes/, We’ve had a number of new tellers come out of the improv and storytelling classes there. I don’t get a kickback from recommending this place, I just know whatever they’re teaching people there works.

Abhishek, is another graduate from one of our local improv/storytelling classes – https://seattleimprovclasses.com/. He told a wonderful story about trying out for the Math Olympiad and struggling with the temptation to cheat on the test. Personally, I think you should be allowed to cheat on any test that gives you three hours to solve five problems. If there was ever a test made for cheating this was it.

One story I’m definitely going to post on our Facebook page and blog site is the story Kris told about the time she tried to tell a story at FGS without practicing it. I know it’s a big temptation to wing it when you walk onstage but after 10 years of watching people do that I can tell you it almost never turns out well. Kris was so embarrassed after the first and only time she tried to wing it that she didn’t come back for four years. None of us knew where she went or why she stayed away until last Thursday when she told us the real reason she didn’t come back. Thank you, Kris, for your honestly up there that night. It took a lot of courage to admit the real reason you stayed away so long. Since she’s come back, she’s told a number of amazing stories. One of the reasons they were so good is because she practiced on friends and family a bunch of times until each story was as good as she could get it. 

Speaking of practicing and getting good feedback, two of our regular tellers hold a free monthly workshop for anyone working on a story. We’ve had lots of good stories come out of this workshop and I always look forward to hearing people who have attended one: https://www.meetup.com/Fresh-Ground-Stories-Storytelling-Workshop/

We did have a full Mr. Coffee carafe at the last show and I had to bump at least three people (Gabrielle, Carl, and Taran.) There might have been one more but I don’t have all the slips. If you didn’t get to tell last night, go ahead and email me and I’ll get you on a future show. You can tell the story you prepared for last Thursday if you want. 

Two more things before I let you go. One, our next show is February, 20. The theme is, “Standing up for yourself.” I’ll get the invite out as soon as I can.

Secondly, we had two FGS tellers featured on KNKX’s Sound Effect podcast this weekend. Sound Effect is a really cool podcast that features stories from the PNW. They’ve interviewed a lot folks who have told at FGS and it’s always exciting when I hear familiar voices on the radio. Thank you Gabriel Spitzer, Jennifer Wing, Kevin Kniestedt, and all the other producers who have put FGS stories on the air.

Here are two from Saturday’s show
https://www.knkx.org/post/self-proclaimed-former-couch-potato-takes-4-month-solo-hike-shifts-how-he-sees-world

https://www.knkx.org/post/unlikely-roommates-win-trust-over-time-become-genuine-friends

That’s all for now. Look for next month’s invite next week in your inbox 🙂

Paul
freshgroundstories@gmail.com