Dispatches from the Moth

Explore interviews, storytelling tips, playlists and other Mothy fun curated by our staff and community.

Dispatches from the Moth · Posted On: Feb 02, 2017

Storytelling and The Power of Meaning

by The Moth Staff

What makes life meaningful for you? Writer Emily Esfahani Smith has dedicated her latest book to answering that question, and an entire chapter to the role of storytelling. She interviewed our Artistic Director, Catherine Burns, to learn about the story crafting process. Emily's book The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters is available on Amazon. We highly recommend it! Learn more about her work at http://emilyesfahanismith.com/, and read an excerpt from...

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Dispatches from the Moth · Posted On: Sep 07, 2016

Dispatch from South Africa

by Dawn J. Fraser, Sarah Austin Jenness, Larry Rosen and Nadine Tadros

On a hot August afternoon, 12 AVAC fellows from all over the African diaspora including Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe, converged in Johannesburg, South Africa where they were greeted by a team of Moth instructors. AVAC is an organization dedicated to global advocacy for HIV prevention and one of the cornerstones of AVAC is their fellowship program which trains emerging leaders in advocacy and activism to execute creative, context-specific projects focused on HIV prevention research....

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Dispatches from the Moth · Posted On: Aug 23, 2016

The Next Generation of Story Teachers

by Catherine McCarthy

This week, our Education Program is teaming up with The DreamYard Project to train the next generation of story teachers: the Moth Teaching Interns. Alums of our High School StorySLAM program, here in NYC, kept asking how they could stay involved and do more with The Moth. The Teaching Internship is a way for them to do just that-- while they also get important experience and training as teaching artists. Any high school senior or graduate who took part in a High School StorySLAM program...

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Dispatches from the Moth · Posted On: Jul 25, 2016

Meet the New Moth Interns

by Timothy Lou Ly and Zachary Zuckerman

Hi, it's Tim and Zach and we're taking over the dispatch this week! To welcome the newest group of interns to The Moth we thought what better way to introduce them than to tell a story. Producing these short videos was a great time and way to get to know our fellow interns. We hope you enjoy their stories as much as we do. We'd also like to thank George Dawes Green and his new project, Sudden Owl, for inspiring us. Omaria Pratt Omaria on her...

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Dispatches from the Moth · Posted On: Jul 11, 2016

Dispatch from St. Paul

by Jamie Goodin

The Amsterdam Bar and Hall in downtown St. Paul is normally used for live music, amazing french fries, and IPA-fueled revelry - at least until the Moth gets its hands on the place. On the last Wednesday of every month, the venue is transformed into a space of storytelling, connection, and powerful relatability. The Moth is famed for inducing this kind of metamorphosis. People come from all over the Twin Cities for the night of stories, the brief respite from daily routine. Since beginning...

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