"air" mouthoff at Boston waterfront

Laura Cannon hosts the  "air" mouthoff last night.

The theme for tonight's mouthoff was "air" and the evening air was balmy on a gorgeous late summer evening.  And the 'air' was also full of engaging stories. A massmouth season II story slam winner, Laura Cannon was our able host and she was supplied with many poignant and funny stories that explored and broadened the theme "air" through stories of her life as an officer in the army during the Iraq invasion and war.  People of all ages and conditions, strolled by and stopped to listen at Christopher Columbus Park, right on the waterfront.

We loved Elizabeth Appleby's story about her first hilarious moments in Italy. She was stuck in a bathroom and mortified. Ben Cunningham took us on a fantasy ride that involved poptarts and a dreamy toaster. Then Andrea Lovett nailed the theme with her tale of honeymoon 'wind'.

We were delighted when "T'pring's"  name sake (see below ) stood up and told for the first time. When a person who had no intention of performing in public, finds us, and then finds a story in response to listening to our stories and then... gets up and performs? It is a testament to massmouth's vision and Laura's open and encouraging manner from the mic. Storytelling connects us and makes life sweeter. "Air" was the next to last mouthoff for the season.  Our next adventure is a return engagement telling traditoinal stories and folktales at Shleburne Farms in Stow, MA . This setting is in front of a the barn of an apple orchard in OCT and will be hosted by Doria Hughes.

'Elisabetta' Appleby

People come to our mouthoff's and slams for a variety of reasons.  Generally, they come because:

1]they have a great story on the 'theme' or prompt for the night or
2]they are interested in hearing what stories a particular theme will bring forth or
3] a friend or relative dragged them there

Mostly people come to have fun.

Liz used  Italiano in her stories

Performing is very satisfying and vital to our art form. An oral narrative story does not fully exist until it is performed for an audience. While we respect and appreciate the healing power of story we strongly discourage therapeutic storytelling as performance.  That does not mean all stories must be funny, but stories cannot simply be sad either- they most hold together as works of art.

Thanks to all for coming and making the stories come alive !
Norah 'LaTosca' Dooley