NSN Blog

by Kevin D. Cordi, Ph.D. The lights were low. I deliberately waited a full minute and a half after my introduction before entering the stage in true Houdini-style. He would spark their curiosity and leave them wanting more. Loren Niemi and I traded hawking in the hallway, and soon after, the show began at the […]

by Ed Stivender A question that is often asked of me is “How did you get started in Storytelling?” I suppose it all began the day my sister and I decided to have a show in the basement for the family. It meant that my Mom had to take the clothes down from the line.

by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg & Laura Packer Transform your love of stories into a more abundant career and life through Transformative Language Arts (TLA): storytelling, writing, drama, music, and other word-based arts for social and personal change. We are honored to offer our workshop, “Your Calling, Livelihood and Life” at the NSN conference this July, allowing

by Regina Ress By the age of three or so, most of us can speak our native language. We’ve learned its basic structure, a lot of the vocabulary, and, remarkably, how to play with it to create fluid sentences. It is not memorized: it is “acquired.” How do we do that? The great linguist, Noam

By Jennifer Munro For many years, I had the privilege of teaching eighth grade English in a school in Connecticut where the curriculum was based on Joseph Campbell’s theory of the monomyth – and it was stirring, important stuff. We were teaching kids about life, the realities of the human condition, and the need to

by Sue O’Halloran In order to make curricula more relevant to the vast array of cultures represented in our classrooms, teachers and artists need to look for the “sweet spot” where four areas of learning can overlap: The core curricula for a subject The individual interests, motivations, personality, learning styles and communication styles of each

by Maureen Korte One day, before I was about to head off to University, I asked my Mother her secret to a happy marriage as she and my Father had been married for forty blissful years. She said: Never marry a man who is picky about their food. If he is picky about food, he

by Simon Brooks, © 2016 Sound is important in our job as storytellers. It is, for the most part, an oral art form for an aural audience. Obviously, this is not always the case. There are amazing storytellers who are deaf and use sign language, there are storytellers who use tell tales using a digital

By Glenda Bonin In the past two years, my storytelling repertoire has expanded to include audiences of elders – some in vigorous health, and others dealing with a variety of medical conditions and memory loss. For the most part, these audiences are associated with senior living communities or private assisted living sites. I have identified

By Cindy Rivka Marshall How do communities or organizations encourage understanding and respect of human differences? Those of us who deeply understand the potential of both story sharing and story listening have a lot to offer. I use personal storytelling as a tool for diversity work. I have strong faith in the power of story