The Moth Radio Hour was a whole new concept for me. Introduced to me by my dear friend Lisa, I have to tell you it became a magical time for me.

Lisa had flown from her state of Virginia and had been visiting with me in Our Treehouse for a few days earlier this week. Part of her reason was to hang out with me and revisit Louisville, as she had lived in this fine city for eighteen years. The other part was to attend The Moth Radio Hour. Not only attend, but to step out on The Moth stage herself.

The Moth apparently has several locations all over America, and that includes my beloved city. Anyone over twenty one years young may attend. It is a storytelling time, an open mic event that invites anyone interested to tell a five minute story. That story must be true and it also must be a story about the narrator telling the story. There is a designated topic. This past Tuesday night the topic was “Guts”. Twelve people in the crowd had placed their name in The Moth hat, but only ten names would be drawn. Lisa had dropped her name in the mix so now it was a little more personal. Surely her name would be drawn! That beautiful Girl was stepping up to the plate, making a dream come true that she had had for herself for two or three years. A story about herself on The Moth which could end up on public radio! And it is a contest, the winner receiving an invitation to tell a story on the Grand Slam Story Slam sponsored by The Moth!

We took our seats up close to the stage. It was a nice venue, Headliner Music Hall. The stage at one end of a long, open room with a high ceiling, and a bar at the other end. Fold up chairs had been placed into several rows in the center of the room. And there were a few tables and chairs set up against the wall and also an upstairs area where several people sat in a balcony. I would guess approximately one hundred and fifty people were present to listen and enjoy an hour of storytelling time.

Three sets of judges were sitting in the crowd, volunteers who had been recruited by the Master of Ceremonies for tonight, a man named Graham. He gave them instructions on how to grade the contestants. I am assuming a score from 5.0 to 10.0 was utilized by the judges. No one received a score less than 7.3 or above 9.3 that night, but I never actually saw a score card.

There was a dry erase whiteboard up on stage and Graham’s assistant, Christina, would write each person’s name on that board when a name was drawn out of The Moth hat. When a contestant finished with his or her story a new name was drawn. The judges were given a few minutes to review the criteria in order to reach a final score for each storyteller. To help fill this time everyone in the audience had been invited to write a short note on a piece of paper that asked you to describe “a time you had chickened out”. Graham would read two or three little tales out loud after each contestant. They were quite entertaining I can assure you! Then Graham would ask each team of judges to call out the final score of the person who had just finished telling a story. Christina would record the number on the board. As the night progressed it was easy to read a contestant’s score and tally up the numbers to see who had the lead.

I think we were into the sixth or seventh story and Lisa still had not had her name called. I remember thinking, “That beautiful Girl will probably be the last name out of the hat, number ten.” But I was getting a little concerned. I so wanted her to tell her story. Then we were down to the line. Number nine contestant had finished his story. I think I held my breath as the final name was drawn, my hands together, tightly clasped, and I was saying “please, please, please” over and over in my mind. Graham held the paper up and spoke into the mic, “Our last contestant is Lisa Cooper Ellison!”

Oh My God! I was so excited! Lisa walked up those four steps to the stage, smiling and full of confidence. Lisa is a professional writer and editor, teaches writing skills and offers life coaching sessions to others. She is a natural born storyteller, of course. I was so proud of her. Her story was amazing and it was like she just took your hand and you walked with her back into a time and a place in her life in 1997. She rocked it!

The competitive spirit from the other storytellers definitely showed up on Tuesday night. I would like to tell you my dear friend Lisa was the overall winner, but another woman had a higher score. But you know what? I was just so proud of Lisa. She pursued a dream for her own life and gave it her best shot. She can choose to try again at another Moth Radio Hour. The main idea here is to follow her example; pursue your dreams!

c   Love, Joan