Hey all!
Today marks 3 months since I landed in Australia. That puts me just past the halfway point in my trip. I’ve seen some amazing places, met some great people, and gotten to settle into life in a new city. But one of my favorite experiences of this semester so far is a thing that I totally could have done at home, but never quite got around to. I went to a Moth StorySLAM.
The Moth is an organization that hosts live storytelling events, including StorySLAM competitions. The stories are about 5 minutes long and they have to be both true and about the storyteller. Some of the stories from these events are broadcast on the radio and on The Moth Podcast, which I love.
I’m a writer (clearly) and live storytelling is a medium that fascinates me. There’s something about being able to hear the the pride when they talk about watching their loved one overcome a hardship, the regret when they talk about something they’ve lost, or the seriousness with which they describe a harrowing moment. It adds this dimension to the story that is one of the hardest things to capture in text (sorry, guys).
Or maybe what draws me to The Moth is that these stories are told live, with no notes allowed. I’ve got horrible stage fright. I challenge it constantly with choir and a cappella performances, but my presentation two weeks ago was delivered in a wavering voice and with a heartbeat that could probably be heard back in Boston. These people, as nervous as they are, get up on a stage in front of hundreds of strangers and tell a story about their lives. And they’re competing! Just the thought of doing what they do makes my entire vocabulary leave my brain.
The Moth holds monthly StorySLAMS in cities across the US and a few in the UK and Australia. I’ve been within an hour’s drive of a Moth event pretty much every time they’ve happened since I first heard the podcast. But I never actually went to one until Tuesday. I heard stories, ranging from a crazy firsthand account of a lightning strike (complete with St. Elmo’s fire) to a moving story about a woman’s visit to the home her family had lived in before the Holocaust. I’m still awestruck by the bravery that it took for those people to get up there, but also by the skill it takes to weave a story for a live audience.
Maybe one day I’ll try my hand at live storytelling, but for now I’m content to keep myself out of view. And besides, there’s no backspace key on stage.
Here’s a picture from Tuesday night:
And here’s a picture of a really cool mural in my neighborhood. The Block is an Aboriginal community here in Redfern. The history is really incredible and I'd recommend looking it up.
I hope your week is full of wonderful stories.
See you soon,
Emily
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