Weaving a good tale

Liz 11: I
Mystery, intrigue, a sense of wonder all pop up in this the best chapter of the book. Simmons states that "recipes and formulas only take you only to places already mapped". The adventure of a story is undeniable especially when the author takes a risk in breaking some rules. Bella a beautiful true story (new movie) about a cook, a waitress and a child & a day that changed their lives is a case in point. Like the author Tim O'Brien in The Things They Carried The storytellers here jump in a non linear fashion but by the end of the story a revelation of a completed story occurs. The director of Bella said that he went to FLA film school to learn all the rules to break. The editor took an element that would have fit in the introduction of the movie as the inciting incidence and placed it near the end almost book ended with the critical turning point. Simmons would probably applaud.

Barbaric Yawp

Liz 10:Q I loved the story about Studs Terkel in the airport. Why? Because I’ve done that. Sounding my barbaric yawp in the midst of silence that needed to be pierced. I can’t stand it so much at times that I burst. If you are ever stuck in an elevator on my way up or down be prepared for an actual comment or conversation or abstract act. Maybe it’s why I wore a nuns habit outfit to my Christian parochial (very non Catholic) high school reunion. What a blast that was yet, loads of people didn’t get the humor. Guess that’s why I didn’t get invited back. But it’s okay. It was worth it to jog a few people to think outside their comfort zones. Isn't that what Simmons is encouraging?

Risky Business

Liz 9:I
“Playing it safe isn’t interesting. Being superficial isn’t interesting. Authenticity is interesting. Passion is interesting. Authentic human tragedy and comedy are interesting.” Annette states. I agree.
Age affords a new sense of boldness. You have hopefully learned by then that risk can pay off. So without spoiling my personal “just ask” stories to tell here is what can happen if you just ask. Ross Perot had two college students sitting before him at a desk. They had mustered the courage to ask him to donate $250,000 to their cause. Half of what they hoped to raise. Ross said very little as he listened. He then began to write a check and handed the happy young men a check for the full amount. The students were amazed and grateful. Then Ross spoke, “let that be a lesson to you”. They looked perplexed. He continued, “if you would have asked for the whole amount, I would have given it to you.”.
Let's risk more, sometimes it has a nice pay off.

Eh?

Liz 8: Q

Eh? Anybody listening? I don’t think we listen well…unless we care about someone else more than ourselves. Even Simmons is constantly talking about listening. For what reason ….obtain a goal …..a position of influence, get our way? She states, “our emergent social patterns have us running in a disconnecting spiral of ‘I’m not getting enough attention. Why should I give you attention? In this environment, cynicism replaces mutual respect, alienation replaces community, and resistance replaces influence.’” Until we really care about another person, will we truly listen? Question: Do we exacerbate the problem of disconnectedness by using communication methods like text messaging and facebook which involve little of the 85% of connection in the message highlighted in chapter 4? Does this form of storytelling in essence diminish it’s effectiveness?

Self talk

Liz 7: Q

Which one are you? What is the big picture story you tell yourself?

a. Cynic b. resentful c. apathetic d. jealous e. hopeless f. greedy

Don’t know why, I’ve built patterns of “hopeless” into a running sound track in my self talk. Even though, I’ve paid for every dime of my schooling by working. My perception is when I succeed, the power to effect positive change still seems to elude me. Perhaps it’s because I look too often at temporal values, things that don’t really matter. Maybe by broadening my perspective I could see that being content with small influence is enough. The Inner Game of Tennis was great in helping me rewire some of these erroneous self talk loops. Maybe it’s not all about being an influencer but being influenced at times. So which one are you?

MEETING with DEL Com

group two: Update.

Liz will be meeting with Cheryl Graves, Dan Edwards and Cory Edwards on Tuesday Oct 2 at 10:00 am. I will find out more about the schools needs/desires. They are checking into a fast turn around of taping Oct 6th. Oct 20th is there Fall Break and wouldn't be a good choice. I will check to see if Tonya, Sam, Hans group would have a better connection to this system or be a better fit.

Group 1 The"A" team.

Josh, Brian,Liz

Project: Ok, Move
Logline: Students on their way to fitness club get swept away in exercises that anyone can do without special equipment.

Style: Music video
Promoting: Impact Club. "exercise in ordinary ways".

Status: Liz contacting the Impact Club thru Steve Hall. Has also contacted Sheryl Graves in case that would work better. Hope to converse this week.

Emoticons

Liz 11: Q

My preferred Personality Model: Hey, I thought these few pages were intriguing. It’s like trying to boil the human persona down into four pages. Take Mood for instance, we can have a ton of variables for that quality but Mood covers the category fairly well. I love little emoticons. This chapter made me think of them quite often. Of course the little yellow guy would look pretty perplexed in the "automatic relationship adjustment" section. After this chapter I have determined to camp with the artists and chuck the math/techie world…what about you?

Look below.

Liz 6: I My comments are way below in the fives, sorry got ahead of myself. Will post next week on Chapter 7.

The most Romantic story ever . . .

Liz 6:I

(Sound bite response no epics in this chapter).
Okay, sigh, that’s not enough to meet my obligatory criteria. SOOOO this chapter should be reviewed “author STRAYS” from profitable topics. It was a mish mash with a few chunks in the spew. Yup. Still stickin to “it was stinky” with one exception. “The Best story wins”, I agree there or why would women constantly search for the perfect, most romantic movie or story of love ever. It’s great for business if you can tap into those underlying motivations.

"Ok, Move"

Greetings from the motley crew of Josh, Liz and Brian.
We have pitched our individual idea with the Wellness Center and are moving forward. We will be contacting a Jr. High fitness club that has been advised to us (or another club if they can't participate fully). The basic premise should fit into a larger message nicely. Our smaller message is "just move" and will be promoting fitness clubs to do it "together". Just wanted to share with you so you can consider our project bent into your proposed concepts.

LIZ: votes for "Change One Thing" theme proposed by J. Ellery.

Relational design

Liz 5: I

A few very important bottom lines were highlighted in this chapter.
a. Shared humanity
b. Deficit of human attention
c. Aim under rational thought.
d. The more specific the story, the more universal the connections.
e. “Story induces an altered state of awareness”

hmmmm back we go to why story connects…perhaps we were designed for relationships.

Liz 4: I
Stanislavsky said, “acting is living truthfully in imaginary circumstances”. Storytelling is sharing circumstances truthfully. I find the two intersect in the areas designated by Chap 4. If “words are less than 15 percent of what listeners ‘hear’”, then what we communicate nonverbally is intimately entwined with the story. Prof. Burgon’s Acting 220 was the single most important class I’ve ever taken in college. Conducted like a psychologists sessions with patients, we journeyed deep into where the valued stories are hidden discovering the beauty in sharing them, naturally. My journal from the class is the most important storytelling manual I own. I’d love to share some of his techniques some time. He taught us how to create the "mind picture on our internal screen" that would motivate a physical emotional response in our public demeanor. Instead of portraying happiness, we would think of happy things and our face would succumb. Idealogically right in sync with Simmons.

Chapter 4 is now the officially most highlighted chapter in my book, because it’s 85% more valuable than the rest of the book.

Just the Facts Ma'm

Liz 3: Q
“Just the Facts Ma’m” The old Dragnet approach with stoic faces collides with a new reality proclaimed by Simmons, “a story has life. Facts don’t have a life. They are inert.” Is this a fall out from the days of moral absolutes to relativism? No longer can truth be truth and perceived through logic and facts? Or perhaps, is it just a change in the delivery system? Are emotions (based on our predisposed judging systems) the only way to determine the trustworthiness of an individual or thought concept? What if our screening systems are flawed? Feelings determine the new facts? Could we be hoodwinked by such a fallacy? Subjective truth vs objectivity now prevails. Do you concur?

Awaiting the Pleasure

of borrowing "Story Factor" until Half.com supplier provides and then joining the illustrious commentators of said manuscript.

Liz 0: I
How about consulting www.dictionary.com to get more on three targets of communication? Here are the short versions.

The mind: intellect, (in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.: the processes of the human mind. The will: center for conscious choice and decision and intention The emotions: The part of the consciousness that involves feeling; sensibility: "The very essence of literature is the war between emotion and intellect" (Isaac Bashevis Singer).