Modern Storytelling and the Singlehandedly! Storytelling Residency

In May 2011, I was invited to participate in Singlehandedly! a storytelling residency that coincides both with a unique narrative collaboration with other storytellers and also culminates in a series of showcase performances.

Sponsored by Portland Story Theater and founded by Lawrence Howard and Lynne Duddy in 2009, this program is the only storyteller residency and showcase program of it’s kind. As such, it exists as a vital resource for narrative artists and in my opinion is one of the nation’s most important resources for modern storytelling. 

Closing Night Performers: Lawrence Howard,
Penny Walter, Slash Coleman, Lynn Duddy.

Promoting and hosting one distinguished visiting storyteller per year, Portland Story Theater provides a 10 day-2 week studio residency. Every residency includes a comfortable, private bedroom, three excellent meals a day, opportunity for focused, independent work, access to a large and diverse creative community and opportunities to share work in various settings including: open studio evenings, workshops, readings, and performance.

As a result, I was able to complete some of my most important work to date. 

Located in the heart of North East Portland, OR, the residency takes place in a hip urban environment that is unsurpassed by any city in the world.  With accommodations a few blocks from mass transit as well as being located in the center of a walker's paradise, I found I was able to accomplish more in a matter of weeks during my residency than I could in a year at home. The residency offered a chance for me to work privately, but in proximity to other highly accomplished narrative artists with fresh insights, new ideas and stimulating conversation.

The Singlehandedly! process is so successful because at  it’s root there is also a very important mission. To develop personal creativity, nurture the creation of new work, provide support for oral tradition and connect tellers through community relationships and alliances. 

Are you a good match for the residency program? You are if you’re a storyteller who wants to:

• uncover, develop or stretch your creative spirit
• study with gifted teachers
• join a supportive community that encourages experimentation and growth
• create new work in the heart of Portland, Or
• participate in a hands-on learning environment enriched by lectures, workshops and critiques

For more about Portland Story Theater please visit: www.portlandstorytheater.com

For more about the work I produced during this time please visit: www.slashcoleman.com

Earthquakes, Epiphanies, and Kirsten Dunst Part 1

‎"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." - Leonard Cohen

A lot of people have been wondering if the world is going a little wonky in terms of our weather. Does an earthquake in Brooklyn, NY mean the world is coming to an end? Is the earth really getting warmer? Have there been an unusually high number of devastating storms this year? What about tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes? 

Sometimes it’s hard to know what’s real in terms of what’s going on in the world around us, what’s been filtered through the information spin cycle, and what’s just plain old conspiracy theory built by a brain that’s been playing Angry Birds for too long.  

I think I first started to get a little paranoid after Al Gore’s Global Warming campaign which seemed to literally heat up with the political climate and then go cold soon after. It didn’t matter if we had thousands of hot days in December dating back to 550 BC. The idea that the earth was getting warmer seemed to be all that mattered. All I could see when I heard the word Global Warming was a frumpy Polar Bear walking around aimlessly on a melting iceberg.

Then, when CNN covered Hurricane Katrina like it was an epic Hollywood Blockbuster, I began to have anxiety about the weather.  At about that time, a new market seemed to emerge and then snowball based on a new line of products meant to quell every consumers inescapable fear factor. Hurricane programming started to run throughout the year like the meteorologists were running an NFL draft.

Did it matter that Hurricane Cuba in 1924 and Hurricane Camille in 1969 practically knocked parts of the United States off the map?  I don’t think my grandparents or my parents had much of a concern in those days. For a more extensive list of the hurricane cycle check out Wiki’s list at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Category_5_Atlantic_hurricanes

When a reality TV show about nuts who chased tornadoes in their cars started to air it suddenly occurred to me that information about the weather was a product that required the same kind of marketing as a McDonald’s Big Mac or a bottle of Kumbucha from Whole Foods. And, that’s when I began to understand that the information I might be receiving might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Yesterday, I was eating a bowl of granola in a tiny coffee shop in Brooklyn, NY called the Blue Roost when the ground started to shake. As a recent transplant to the city and a first timer at the coffee shop, I thought it must be the subway and I wondered if the shaking was a selling point. “Get the shakiest cup of coffee in NYC!” Then, when everyone started running out into the street, I ran too - like a scared little boy.

Outside, as the ground continued to shake, there was a magical moment as all the coffee patrons and everyone else (from those in the beauty shop next door to those in the Indian grocery store) who flocked into the street began to bond over this unique experience. Traffic was at a dead stop and this busy NY street was silent.

In the street, I felt this beautiful connection with all these strangers around me. Everyone felt this. Boundaries were gone. Our differences had vanished. We were laughing together. Touching one another. The universe had pushed the reset button on our lives. I felt less alone in the world. 

It only lasted about four minutes. Back in the coffee shop, everyone was back in their little confined world within the forcefield of their smart phones texting friends and trying to call family members though most of the phone lines were down.

On the subway ride home though, I began to think about the bigger picture. Does an earthquake in Brooklyn, NY mean the world is coming to an end? Is the earth really getting warmer? Have there been an unusually high number of devastating storms this year? What about tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes?

Like most people, I'm well aware of the recent earthquakes:

• Chile - Feb 27, 2010
• New Zealand  - Sept 4, 2010
• Japan - March 11, 2011

These were all over the news. But, is this a lot? A little? Should we be concerned?

Back in my apartment I did a little research and was relieved to find information that made me feel a little better. According to information listed on the Wiki page “Earthquakes in 2011,” which lists global earthquakes ranked at a magnitude 6 or above, there have actually been 140 earthquakes this year throughout the world.

But, is this a lot? A little? Should we be concerned now? Considering that in 2000, there were 146 earthquakes and in 2007 there were 178 earthquakes, it seems like we’re right on target for an average year.

And since todays earthquake was only a magnitude 5.9, it won’t even be included on this chart. Obviously, the media isn’t deciding to devote coverage to every time the earth decides it’s time to shake and wiggle.

But, if you keep yourself glued to the media, like I sometimes do, it’s easy to get paranoid about the earth coming to an end. Yet, the data just doesn’t justify it. As my father reminded me, there have been people saying the world was coming to an end since he was a little boy.

Slash Coleman is a professional storyteller best known for his award-winning PBS special "The Neon Man and Me." His twitter campaign helped him win over PBS stations nationwide and land a two year distribution deal with NETA His recent column in Storytelling Magazine concentrates on social media and marketing strategies for artists and he was most recently featured on the NPR series "How Artists Make Money." For more information about Slash Coleman - please visit www.slashcoleman.com

Earthquakes, Epiphanies, and Kirsten Dunst Part 2

Being raised by a family of artists and groomed to understand the creative world through emotion and intuition, I know that quantified and qualified data can only ever provide half of an entire picture. Sometimes you just have to trust your gut on things.

Even though the data I’ve collected on earthquakes, tornadoes and temperatures shows that there’s no cause for concern, I began to dig a little deeper. I mean, if the weather is now a market like a Big Mac, then there must be information that’s deliberately being kept from me. After all, Mc Donald's doesn’t want you to know that using of their products leads to obesity, diabetes and death. 

Meet my friend Elenin

It is most likely a coincidence, but there is a lot of information out on the web that says that the major earthquakes in 2011 have coincided with the earth’s alignment with a comet known as Elenin. Here’s a video that shows how the astrological alignments have caused the earthquakes in Chile, New Zealand, and Japan and is scheduled to cause 2 more major earthquakes in the coming months: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOZy5Gbfl1I

According to the NASA website,  http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-135  “Comet Elenin is coming to the inner-solar system this fall.” The official word from NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is, “Right now this comet looks kind of wimpy."

Yet, when I did research on the actual size of Elenin I found that NASA’s math just doesn’t compute. When Elenin comes closer to us next month it will most likely be the size of a large planet. Here’s a video which explains the math in elementary terms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVEfHW5-cR0&feature=related

If Elenin wasn’t bad enough, NASA also says that an asteroid named YU55 will nearly miss the earth on November 8, 2011. Here’s the link to the info on YU55 on the NASA site: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news171.html 

To me it’s pure science that large astral bodies such as planets can and do and will have an effect on the earth, it’s rotation, it’s gravitation pull, etc. If the moon has an effect on the earth’s tides, it makes sense that a large astral body that is coming close to our orbit would have a similar pull. Quite possibly, enough to cause earthquakes. Quite possibly, to pull the earth out of orbit or push it off it’s axis by a few degrees like the earthquake in Japan did.

If you believe, as I do, that we share a collective consciousness and that often times artists create art that represents a collective vision then you may be more than a little disturbed that the movie “Melancholia” (by Lars Von Trier) starring Kursten Dunst which debuted at the Cannes film festival this year, reveals the scenario above.  To see the movie trailer which literally took my breath away visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_xsm46s2Gg

Other ancient cultures such as the Hopi’s and the Mayan’s both left prophesies about the science listed above. Much of it reminds me of the ridiculous moment in the movie Ghostbusters when Bill Murray's character frantically says, “Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!” 

If you can bare the cheesiness factor and let yourself be open to the idea that not everything is a conspiracy theory, then this video gives a good interpretation of how the science above applies to the Hopi prophecy. It can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y1GdKdNhY4

Lastly, I can’t help thinking about the buzz over 2012 and the Mayan prophecy. The Maya “long count” calendar is said to end on December 21, 2012 and end a 5,126-year cycle. In the late 90’s I lived in Portland, Or and came to know Jose Argulles’s work with the 13 Moon Calendar quiet well (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Argüelles). 

Yet, Many scholars have said that the belief that the Maya calendar actually ends on that date, rather than simply resetting for another cycle, is erroneous -- and the implication that the calendar predicts a worldwide cataclysm is wrong.

Will 2012 be another blip in our encyclopedia of cosmic jokes like Y2K? Is major change on tap for the coming year?

My artist’s intuition reminds me that the fleeting four minute feeling of being close and connected to my fellow human beings in front of that coffee shop yesterday was palpable and real. Through a shared experience of fear we found a place to love one another even if it was just for four minutes. If the ground shaking could cause that, who knows what might cause that on a grander scale and cause it to last much longer. I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to sacrifice most of the apps on my iphone, including Angry Birds, to find out.

Slash Coleman is a professional storyteller best known for his award-winning PBS special "The Neon Man and Me." His twitter campaign helped him win over PBS stations nationwide and land a two year distribution deal with NETA. His recent column in Storytelling Magazine concentrates on social media and marketing strategies for artists and he was most recently featured on the NPR series "How Artists Make Money." For more information about Slash Coleman - please visit www.slashcoleman.com

Twitter Love Q & A with Slash Coleman

Q: What’s the difference between Facebook and Twitter?

A: Facebook is a public platform that pushes the personal toward business. Twitter is a public platform that pushes business toward personal. 

Q: What does that mean?

A: You can do business on Twitter 24-7 and no one will think any less of you. Do business on Facebook 24-7 and your account will get flagged and deleted.

Q: What does Twitter do?

A: Joining Twitter gives you the ability to scream on the internet. Once you choose to follow someone, you now get to eavesdrop on every scream they make. The more people you follow, the more screams you’ll hear. I’m following 1,335 people on Twitter. That’s a lot of noisy people!

Q: Doesn’t all the screaming hurt your ears?

A: Yes, that’s why you need to download Hootsuite.com. The free application gives you the ability to listen in on individual screams and target the screams you want to hear in two ways:

1) By a persons name (also called a Name tag)

2) By topics that interest you (also called a Hash Tag)

Q: What is a Name Tag?

A: When you sign up for Twitter you decide what your name will be. Each name tag in Twitter has the @ symbol in front of it. My name tag on Twitter is @slashcoleman. I have a friend Tiffany Ferreira. Her name tag is @iknowtiffany. My family runs a furniture biz called Tinkers. Our name tag is @thetinkergirl.

 Q: What is a Hashtag?

A: When Tweeters tweet about topics they put the “#” in front of their topic. Some recent Hashtags I’ve used are #storytelling #virginia, #va, #grief, #bereavement. At Hashtags.org, you can type in a Hashtag and you’ll find out who’s using it on Twitter and how popular the Hashtag is. Better yet, it even breaks usage up by date, hour and number of times it's been used with a really cool graph.

Q: How do I use Name Tags and Hashtags?

A: As I said before, name tags have a @ in front of them. Topics have a # symbol in front of them. For instance if I want to mention something going on in Richmond, VA when I tweet it, it’s better to type, “I love the #rva #snow and drinking warm coffee with my friend @valleyhaggard” rather than “I love that it’s snowing in Richmond and am drinking a cup of joe with Valley.”

One is a scream. The other is a part of a global conversation.

Some Sample Tweets I sent out for my PBS Tweet campaign:

a) Thank you @WGTEPublic #ohio for deciding to air @PBS special #neonman about #loss #grief #widow #hospice http://bit.ly/neonhelp

b) sure hope @RMPBS will air #neonman #NETA @PBS special about #grief #hospice #widow http://bit.ly/neonhelp . Thanks @UNCTV for airing it!

Q: Is it good to have a lot of followers?

A: Yes and no. It looks bad if you’re following 1,000 people and only 13 are following you back. If you’re using Twitter to develop relationships most of the people you follow will want to follow you back. The best advice I can give is to follow others that are aligned with your mission. Friendorfollow.com will allow you to type in your Twitter name and it will tell you which followers aren’t following you back. Is it important? Sometimes it is.

Q: What is #FF or #Follow Friday?

A: There’s a trend or a holiday on Twitter that happens every Friday called #followfriday or #ff. When you want to thank someone for helping you out or want all your peeps to follow one of your own followers, you can make a list like "@kindnessgirl, @davidbhutchens @la_poetessa #followfriday" and send it out into Tweetland. This results in friends of friends finding out who your friends are. They in turn sometimes follow your friends and you've just made the world a better place.

Q: What is a direct message?

A: After a day or two of following someone, send them a direct message that shows them you’ve been following them, visited their website or at least read their Twitter bio. When I found out that @GingerTice loved making artwork I wrote," I'm looking forward to checking out some of your artistically inspired tweets."

Q: What is a RT or a Retweet?

A: If developing a relationship with followers is important, then re-tweet some of their tweets, which means you copy and paste their message into your tweet bar and send it off into tweetland with a RT before it. If you have an upcoming event that you’d like help with in spreading the word, you can add PLZRT (please retweet) after your tweet and, with any luck others will heed your call.

Q: How can I talk to someone I don’t know?

A: Follow their conversations and then try to find a way to include yourself. When you ask them a question or include them in your own conversations include something from their bio or about them in the conversation. This is an example of something that doesn’t work. A performer was trying to get on the Ellen show and wrote, “Hey @theellenshow I know a great performer you should check out!”

Q: How do people have time to tweet all day long?

A: I’m not one of those Tweeters who has a fancy phone to send tweets out all day. Plus, it's not my style. Hoot Suite allows me to sit down in the morning and create all the tweets I want and schedule them to be sent throughout the day. When I was sending tweets out to every PBS station for my campaign, this application was the terrific!

Slash Coleman is a professional storyteller best known for his award-winning PBS special "The Neon Man and Me." His twitter campaign helped him win over PBS stations nationwide and land a two year distribution deal with NETA His recent column in Storytelling Magazine concentrates on social media and marketing strategies for artists and he was most recently featured on the NPR series "How Artists Make Money." For more information about Slash Coleman - please visit www.slashcoleman.com

Twitter 103 with Slash Coleman

Q: How can I improve my chances of being seen on Twitter?

A: Like most on-line tools that are meant to build your professional community, you’ll need to participate in conversations on a regular basis. If it helps, think of Twitter as a virtual telephone.

Q: What do you mean “participate in conversations”?

A: Twitter is more than just a Billboard for advertising your latest projects. Sure, your next tweet has the potential to be seen by thousands, but if you only Tweet “Look at me! Look at me!” your followers will eventually look the other way. 

Q: What’s a good Twitter Strategy?

A: I recommend sending out 5 tweets per week minimum, divided up in the following ways:

• 1 Re-Tweet.
• 1 Follow Friday.
• 1 Random Thought.
• 1 Direct Message.
• 1 Conversation Starter.

Q:  What is a Re-tweet?

A:  I covered this in the previous article, but it bears repeating. When you copy and paste someone else’s message into your tweet bar and re-send it, you have re-tweeted their message.  

Q: What is Follow Friday?

A: It’s a Twitter holiday that happens every Friday and is also known as #followfriday or #ff. When you want all your followers to know about your favorite people, tweet “@kindramhall @storyLornaMac, @pdxstorytheater #ff.” This results in friends of friends finding out who they are and in turn who you are. 

Q: What is a Random Thought?

A: It’s a quote you like, it’s a reference to your current trip to Starbucks, or it’s a link to your recent blog entry. For example, “It’s always darkest when it’s really dark out,” or “The #traffic on I-95 is horrific!”

Q:  What the best way to use a Direct Message?

A:  A day or two after you start following someone send them a Direct Message that shows them you’ve visited their website or read their twitter bio. When I found out that @kindramhallhad also performed on the Exchange Place stage I wrote, “Hey Exchange Placer. Your blog is awesome.” An on-line twitter friendship soon blossomed.

Q:  What is a Conversation Starter?

A:  Find someone you’d like to start a conversation with, read their tweets for a week and once you’re familiar with them, find a way to include yourself in their conversations. This is a good example, “@thecheckoutgirl do you know about the @PBS program about 2 #VA boys? Since you write about #comedy I thought you'd like it too!” This is a bad example. A performer was trying to get on the Ellen show and wrote, “Hey @theellenshow I know a great performer you should check out!”

Slash Coleman is a professional storyteller best known for his award-winning PBS special "The Neon Man and Me." His twitter campaign helped him win over PBS stations nationwide and land a two year distribution deal with NETA His recent column in Storytelling Magazine concentrates on social media and marketing strategies for artists and he was most recently featured on the NPR series "How Artists Make Money." For more information about Slash Coleman - please visit www.slashcoleman.com

Twitter 102 with Slash Coleman

(This post was originally published in Storytelling Magazine in 2011)
 

Q: Staring at a column of random thoughts (Tweets) is overwhelming, isn’t it?  

A: Yes, that’s why you need to download Hootsuite.com The free application gives you the ability to listen in on individual thoughts in two ways:

a) By a persons name (also called a Nametag)

b) By topics that interest you (also called a Hashtag)

Q: Is it true that having Twitter without Hootsuite is like having a car without keys?

A: Yes.

Q:  What is a Nametag?

A:  When you sign up for Twitter you’ll decide what your username will be. Each Nametag has the “@” symbol in front of it. My Nametag is @slashcoleman. I used my own name. Others use something clever like @getstoried.

Q:  What is a Hashtag?

A:  When Tweeters tweet about topics they put the “#” in front of their topic. Some recent Hashtags I’ve used are #storytelling and #NSN2010. At www.hashtags.org, you can type in a Hashtag and you’ll find out who’s using it and how popular it is.

Q:  What is the correct way to use Nametags and Hashtags in my tweets?

A:  Right: The #NSN2010 in #LA is awesome. I’m meeting great #storytellers.

Wrong: I’m meeting lots of great storytellers at the National Storytelling Conference in California.

The first one is a part of a global conversation that others can search, find and read. Anyone who follows the topics #storyteller, #LA or #NSN2010 will immediately see my message in their Tweetdeck column. The other is a random thought that is un-searchable and lost. (When I set Tweetdeck up, I was surprised to find mentions of me dating back a year. Some resulted in bookings).

Q:  How do people have time to tweet all day?

A:  Most don’t, that’s why they download HootSuite (free at Hootsuite.com). It allows you to create all your tweets in the morning and schedule them to be sent throughout the day.

Q: What now?

A: Click your name in the right corner. When the menu pulls down, click “Who to follow.” Click “Find Friends” Type slashcoleman in the search bar. Click the green“+” sign. You are now following me. Tweet a message to me: “@slashcoleman I love your #Twitter article in #storytelling mag.” I will tweet back to you recommendations on how to use Twitter to boost your storytelling connections.

Q:  What is a direct message?

A:  A 140 character private message that only the person you’ve sent the message to can see.

Q:  What is a Retweet?

A:  When you copy and paste someone else’s message into your tweet bar and re-send it, you have retweeted their message.  Retweeting is a nice thing to do, like holding the door open for someone else.

Slash Coleman is a professional storyteller best known for his award-winning PBS special "The Neon Man and Me." His twitter campaign helped him win over PBS stations nationwide and land a two year distribution deal with NETA His recent column in Storytelling Magazine concentrates on social media and marketing strategies for artists and he was most recently featured on the NPR series "How Artists Make Money." For more information about Slash Coleman - please visit www.slashcoleman.com

Twitter 101 with Slash Coleman

Re-posted from my original article in Storytelling Magazine 2011.

Q:  What is Twitter?

A: Twitter is a room on the internet that is open 24 hours a day where you can speak and listen to conversations happening around the world. 

Q: Isn’t that what e-mail or a phone call is for?

A: Have you ever spent all day trying to get a Verizon representative on the phone or waited weeks for an answer to an important e-mail? Twitter conversations can happen instantaneously.

Q: Yeah, but I’m already overwhelmed with online stuff why should I worry about another one?

A: Twitter gives you the most bang for your buck, period! 

Q: What does that mean?

A: Whether you choose to speak, eavesdrop on global conversations, or contact others directly, you are limited to 140 characters. That’s roughly 18 words. It’s quick, to the point and for those who tend to ramble, it keeps things tightly focused. 

Q: Facebook consumes gobs of my time, won’t Twitter?

A: Nope. You don’t have to worry about photo albums, answering messages from old boyfriends, or losing hours of your life playing Mob Wars or Farmville. On Twitter you simply speak or listen.

Q: Isn’t Twitter just a stripped down version of Facebook?

A: No. Facebook is used to make personal connections. Twitter is used to make business connections. One is like a living room while the other is like an office space. Facebook will punish you if you use it strictly for business, Twitter won’t. 

Q: How do I sign up?

A: Go to www.twitter.com. Choose a user name and password. My user name is slashcoleman. I used my own name. Others use something clever like storyconnect. (Hint: Use your first and last name, no capital letters or spaces)

Q: Any advice for creating my bio?

A: Reveal your most unique aspects. Avoid dry and factual and lean toward unique and truthful. Rather than write, “Award winning storyteller from Lexington, VA,” write “Storyteller and bicycling enthusiast who loves fishing.”   

Q: What am I seeing on my screen now that I signed up?  

A:  A few self explanatory links at the top, space to write your tweets, followers, following and listed.

Q: What is it called when you speak on Twitter?

A: Tweeting. You simply write something in the empty space labeled, “What’s Happening?” and push the Tweet button.

Q: I signed up, what do I do now?

A: Click the Find People link. Type in someone’s name. If they come up, follow them. Now, when they send out a tweet, you’ll see it.

Q: What does “following” mean?  

A: It means you are following this persons tweets. 

Q: What does “followers” mean?  

A: These are people who are listing to your tweets.

Slash Coleman is a professional storyteller best known for his award-winning PBS special "The Neon Man and Me." His twitter campaign helped him win over PBS stations nationwide and land a two year distribution deal with NETA His recent column in Storytelling Magazine concentrates on social media and marketing strategies for artists and he was most recently featured on the NPR series "How Artists Make Money." For more information about Slash Coleman - please visit www.slashcoleman.com