Long time no hear from… I was in Ohio a few weeks ago to keynote the Ohio Math Teachers Conference, and thought of you. But it was in Toledo and I was working every minute then flying off to Mobile AL.

How goes it? Still interested in hosting Darwin or Audubon at Dominican? I have done more college convocations of late and do enjoy the college crowd. I also recently presented a full day of pre-service teacher training at Ohio Northern.

And my fifteenth book was recently published, so life is good. WHat have you been up to?

I am thinking about one very poor performer in particular. Those who use the artist shake their heads and complain to everyone else, “I wish that they would stop doing XYZ. It’s awful.” The directors won’t tell the performer to their face, and rather than say, “no, this is not the time for you,” they allow the artist in public shows where the public says, “Well, this storytelling thing is not so good. Let’s go back to Karaoke night next time.”

Speaking only for myself in the platform of my artform of traditional oral storytelling and the community within it, this statement just continues the problem of the unwritten rule of “never say anything negative to each other.” An artist who wants to be brilliant in their own mind and expect every audience to “get” them is free to engage in that type of narcissism if that is what they wish to do privately.

The issue for me comes about when an artist wants to be in front of every single audience. When an artist crosses the line into the “professional” world and wants to be paid they need to be ready for rejection that may or may not be coated in the shellac of validation. It is the responsibility of the director to say, “No, your work is not yet ready for *my* audience.” We don’t hear those words enough in the old Oral Storytelling tradition. In every other art form, there is a process to move from point A to point B. In storytelling (the old community that we are) there’s too much “how do you feel about your work?” rather than “this is what I saw as an audience member.” To be audience-focused in our critique of others is not to invalidate- it is rather to hold up a mirror, imperfect glass and all and to say, “Let me help you see what you can not see.” It’s the third pane of the Johari window. A good artist seeks out others to “invalidate” their own beliefs and performances, allowing the artists to be lifting their eyes from their navels to the attentive audiences of the real world.

In addition, when referring to “economic oppression,” do you mean of artists in particular or of the worldwide economic situation. If you mean artists, then being economically oppressed is a choice that an artists makes for themselves- usually because they’re full of lovingly validated untruths about their work. You can be unready for the stage and still get booked….once…by others.

All over the U.S. and Canada, storytelling guilds that want to grow and be impactful are hindered from it because someone will need to be the grownup and say which members are “ready” and which need work. Woe to the guild leader who dares to grow as they’ll be met with gossip, anger and shunning.

And after all that, maybe I’m wrong.