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The Moth Story Slam in San Francisco: Storytelling Live

July 31, 2014 by Lynn Krug Leave a Comment

The Moth Storytelling

Photo Credit: The Moth

Guest Blogger Lynn Krug joins us today with her review of the live storytelling event in San Francisco on Tuesday the 29th.

What are 3 Fast Facts about Krug?

1. She is a colleague at the Palo Alto Media Center, an award-winning community tv collaborative in California.

2. She is known for her art critiques.

3. She and her college-aged daughter share a love for National Public Radio (NPR).

Why are the Palo Alto Media Center and our Seattle SGL Media branch teaming up for this review?

community tv

Photo Credit: Palo Alto Media Center

SmartyGirls and SmartyFellas value the art of storytelling and the use of technology for excellent audio. The Moth is a nonprofit headquartered in New York. Its product? A radio podcast of true stories. Storytelling events this well produced? We wouldn’t miss it. Special thanks to KALW’s Matt Martin and The Moth’s Anna MacKinnon and Andrew Slusser for the invite.

The Moth Radio Storytelling

Photo Credit: Twitter: @TheMoth

What’s the call to action? 

Lynn Krug reports that San Francisco needs more volunteer storytellers to take the stage.

The Moth Story Slam
Producers: 
Anna MacKinnon
Andrew Slusser
Sponsor: KALW 
The “Public Works” Performance space at 161 Erie in SF.
The theme “Altered”
“Real people telling real stories for 5 minutes”.
 
The Moth Story Slam was a first experience of live story telling for me.  I must reveal, I  already held a jaw dropping bias for the Moth radio show, but it was a complete surprise what the experience of  “live” is when the audience (sitting next to you) are also the performers.
 
The Moth Story Slam at Public Works is an open fluid space with a celebratory atmosphere of happily anxious story tellers and their warm and encouraging audience. 
 
Judges are selected from the audience, and the speakers are selected at random. Memorable team names included: “Transformation”, “Fourth Date” ( with the daters), and “Loose Change”.
 
The host for the evening,  Dhaya Lakshminarayanan  sets a great pace with fast and witty humor for the audience, prompts the audience to wildly nurture each story teller up to the stage.
 
Each story teller is randomly selected from their entries by Dhaya. Once selected, it is like watching both semi professional and amateurs climb the ladder for the high dive.  You have no idea what to expect. 
 
This isn’t Ted Talk or Oprah-lite. The Moth stories are about being drawn in to a personal story.  A story teller is best when fresh, raw – and true to who they are.  Over rehearsed or stories that reveal the ending early won’t work.  it is all about the authenticity and the twist at the end.  
 
There is no “hook” for the performers.  There is only the audience’s anticipation and their willing  support.  Unlike the radio performances where you might change the dial, each 5 minute live experience may leave you rolling with laughter, paused in thought, or writhing in your seat.  With each speaker, I began challenging myself to be an active participant and go places emotionally that I would not normally experience.
 
Of the performers, the night launched with Silvio Menendez’s hilarious recounting of being a hospital Spanish interpreter in the operating room interpretting for a surgeon and woman having brain surgery while she was awake awake! 
 
A few speakers , as would be expected with the theme “Altered”, recounted drug experiences, as was told in a recounting of a Burning Man experience that was  screamingly inappropriate and funny…the advantage of unedited live theatre.
 
Mara Berg, was judged the winner with “I learned how to love at my first love’s funeral.” Her edgy discomfort and displacement of time and  space on stage, only made the story more real for how this experience could unexpectedly happen to someone, and bring them to a place where she (and now we) celebrate the life of her first love.
 
Reality TV has nothing on The Moth Story Slam. Get real. Get live. Connect with KALW and tell your story!
 
 

My Problem With Grace by Katie Kiesler: Memoir Review

July 31, 2014 by smartygirl Leave a Comment

John Lennon’s lyrics in the Beetle’s “Imagine” suggests that conflicts would end if we eradicated religion. Bahai-heavy Soul Pancake contributors and Zack Anner, Host of “Have a Little Faith” have a different approach: promote understanding.

 Photo Credit: YouTube Soul Pancake “Bahai How are You Doing”

Katie Kiesler self identifies as a Christian in her memoir titled, My Problem With Grace. Want to understand where she is coming from? She differentiates her faith from popular Christianity that worships the big house, the faithful spouse, and the problem-free kids. Her memoir is her conversation, at age 23, with Grace, unmerited mercy.

3 Paraphrased Thought-starters from Kiesler:

1. Idolizing consumerism is a waste of the big adventure that is life.

2. Mistaking your love interest (guy or girl) for god is a mistake.

3. A never-ending chase for acceptance is not peace.

Her writing is naked. Kiesler does not shield herself from embarrassment of “realness”.
kk grace

 

Photo Credit: My Problem With Grace via Katiesjournal.org

For instance, she confesses she realizes how “super-creepy” she must have appeared when she followed a stranger to warn her that the stranger’s back tires were smoking.

In another example, she describes how unromantic and uncomfortable eating at a French cafe can be despite its initial mystique: “metal wires shaped like a heart are poking me in the spine.”

Kiesler’s y’alls and discrediting faith-based dating websites with taglines that imply if you love the Lord, He’ll give you a spouse are liberating.

Katie Kiesler’s memoir is a call to action to expect battle and adventure in life instead of drowsy comfort.

 

 

Halt Comment Spam: WordPress Tips & Tricks

July 29, 2014 by smartygirl Leave a Comment

SmartyFellas and SmartyGirls use White Hat search engine optimization (SEO). Unfortunately, others use Black Hat SEO to tap into a blogger’s fuel-line. How to slow down these baddies from draining all your energy? First, assign someone on your trusted crew to moderate comments at regular intervals (i.e. once every 15 days) by granting him/her Administrator status on WordPress. Next, train your moderator so he/she knows comments that are welcome vs. comments that are unwelcome. Lastly, teach him/her to train auto-filters of WordPress to reduce Spam while your human moderator is off-duty.

Spam as Food

Photo Credit: Spam Musubi Bears via Pinterest Takapi Mama

Consider hosting a “Block Party”. Your real or virtual event can be an idea swap how to block unwanted ads and nonsense spambots. Share this Hold the Spam DIY with other bloggers:

  1. Go to Dashboard
  2. Select Settings
  3. Choose Discussion
  4. Add no-no word, one word per line to Comment Blacklistblacklist
  5. Monitor pending comments regularly. Bulk select and Mark as Spamblacklist 2

A Beer Summit with SmartyFella Caulder Bradford: Owner/CEO of Diverge Creations, LLC

July 28, 2014 by smartygirl Leave a Comment

Sleighr Ale

Photo Credit: Caulder Bradford Instagram Sleighr Ale

 

SmartyGirlLeadership Media interviewed Caulder Bradford, Owner/CEO of Diverge Creations LLC,  for his take on building a deliberate team with a shared vision while bridging the gap between artistry and commercial success.

Last summer readers received an exclusive interview with TED talker Guy Kawasaki on what makes a brand likeable.

This summer SmartyFellas and SmartyGirls are given business leadership tips from edgy, avant-garde, and likeable Caulder Bradford.

So imbibe your favorite non-alcoholic beverage or Harp’s lager and ponder these thoughtstarters from a young but wise CEO.

Divergent Creations LLC game development

Photo Credit: Caulder Bradford Owner/CEO Diverge Creations LLC

This was Sunday afternoon’s phone interview between our Editor-in-Chief Renee Marchol and Diverge Creations LLC CEO Caulder Bradford:

Tell me the history of your creative company.

C: In the beginning I was collaborating with my friend Edmund, who is an artist and game designer, on small, fairly unconventional web games. He’d have the vision and do all the art and I would handle engineering. With those early projects I think it wasn’t so much the core gameplay that was revolutionary but the unique art and the way we implemented our ideas. Ed moved on to create commercial works such as Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac, and I got more into engine and game tech development, and also worked in the mobile and social spaces for awhile, both as a contractor and also as part of several Bay Area startups. I’m now focused on my own projects under the Diverge Creations banner, as well as doing a bit of contracting & consulting for other companies.

How did you build support for you creative game development company?

C:I’m currently the only full-timer. The rest of my awesome team take on other projects 9-5.  For some it’s a weekend project, working with me, and that’s totally cool. It’s great to work with talented people in any capacity and see them contribute to a project. So first, I had a clear vision to bridge the gap between art and business. Next, I found like-minded community: talented individuals who also believe being professional is a part of artistic integrity. Lastly, I invited those who were interested and a good fit for the team to join me.

Our team has a shared vision. This doesn’t mean we have the same skill set, and I think we are even somewhat different people in terms of interests, but as a creative force we fit together very well.

How do you communicate with potential funders who don’t understand the technology industry or the gamer artist community?

C: Funders do not have to understand the finer details of graphics engineering or our artistic influences, for example, to participate. Get to know us: what we have created in the past and who we are. We’re self-funded but I would be open to potential investors that trust us enough to stay hands-off from the creative process, and have faith in our ability to deliver a great product.

Can you give an example of sacrifices you’ve made to keep creative integrity?

C: You must decide for yourself what compromises you aren’t willing to make. That may mean declining potential investment offers that would derail the creative vision. As a result this will probably change your development time-frame. It will take longer but you will stay true to yourself and what motivates you.

How do you protect yourself and the indie company brand from burnout?

C: In contrast to some in the indie community who maybe believe it’s necessary to sacrifice a social life to succeed, I’ve found it’s really important for me personally to have at least some semblance of a work-life balance.  Of course as the CEO of Diverge, I need to work much more than a 9-5 schedule. But I do take time away from the project to recharge. I do a lot of running, I check out concerts here in SF, work on my car etc. I find this prevents burn-out and keeps me motivated and enthusiastic about my business and my projects.

I make a point to network as much as I can and spend time with other artists & developers. I get inspired by just about anyone who is doing something creative and interesting with their life. I’m creatively influenced by all kinds of different sources, from music to film, literature, history, basically whatever. The idea of the reclusive developer, cloistering himself/herself in solitary confinement and subsisting on ramen isn’t exactly me. As a leader of a creative business you need to decide for yourself what kind of sacrifices are needed, and what you’re willing to do to meet your goals. Is creative control something you feel comfortable bargaining? How about the administrative control of your company? What would you give up for low overhead costs? Does the talent you want to attract require catered lunches? You just need to decide what kind of work you really want to do, and what kind of company you want to run, and then you need to stick to your guns.

 What is a fun fact about you?

C: I have a pretty eclectic taste in music I suppose. Heavy metal is probably my main thing, but I like a lot of classical music too. I am especially fond of Wagner, Beethoven and Mozart. Amadeus (1984) is one of my favorite films, although I don’t think it’s too historically accurate…

Follow @caulderbradford for rants and musings, his bizarre Spotify playlist and updates on Diverge Creations’ projects.

 

 

 

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