writing class radio

This episode is about obsessions. Andrea Askowitz, the teacher of the class speaks to Allison Langer, co-producer and student in the class. They discuss what she learned from the Tim Ferriss podcast when he interviewed Tony Robbins. Allison heard Robbins say, “Rejection breeds obsession.” And, ”The parent whose attention you were trying to get is the person who shaped you.” Andrea talks about how at the dinner table growing up, her dad would tell her to cut to the chase. That led to her obsession with getting her dad’s attention and everyone else’s. Basically old rejection-wounds create obsessions. And obsessions create our best stories. We asked our listeners what they’re obsessed with: Karen Tolchin said, “Mermaids. I think it's about wanting a girl. Or to be a girl again, in a different, glitter-spun way. Carol Coombes said, “Philately.” Which sounded dirty so we looked up. It means stamp collecting. Carol’s particularly obsessed with stamps about film, children, flowers, architecture. Not dirty, but everyone’s entitled to their obsessions. Emily Isabel Arauz said, “My hopefully-future wedding.” Rabbi Jamie Aklepi said, “I am obsessed with Dairy Queen’s vanilla cone dipped in chocolate shell. For 45 years I have ordered only that at Dairy Queen. I try to order something else - but I can't. Why? A vanilla cone dipped in chocolate shell is the best ice cream to cone to chocolate ratio.” Now we’re also obsessed with the vanilla, chocolate dip. Steve Almond is a special guest on today’s show. He’s one of our favorite teachers. He’s the author of at least 10 books, including Candy Freak and Against Football and co-host along with Cheryl Strayed of the podcast Dear Sugar Radio. Andrea sat down with him to talk about his obsession with obsessions. He says obsessions are just our way of paying close attention to our desires. So, rather than view our obsessions as some sick, unhealthy thing, Steve thinks of obsessions as expressions of who we are. He also says you are the right guide to lead us through your obsession. Which is to say, you’re the only one who can tell your story. Allison Langer tells a story that takes place in her spin class. She is obsessing over her spin instructor, until she realizes she’s still obsessed with Gerald, her ex-boyfriend, who died two years ago. Allison met Gerald five years ago in a spin class. They became friends, reserved bikes next to each other, and fell in love. Now when she sees a man who wears sneakers without socks or a bald man, she thinks of Gerald. One of our listeners, Melanie Merriman, a long-time student of Andrea’s and a participant in Steve Almond’s class about obsessions, shares a story about a childhood fear. Another listener, Jennifer Dertouzos sent in a voice memo of an obsession that calms her the way only yoga can calm her.Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Diego Saldana-Rojas, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

This episode is about self destruction. Jahn Dope, one of the students in our class, reads his story, Dark Matter. Jahn’s story begins after he overdoses on LSD after a crazy night of drinking and drugs, then backtracks to childhood. After Jahn’s story ends, the class was left with questions. So, producers Diego and Misha met Jahn at work to get the whole story. Listeners will hear why Jahn dropped out of college and what happened next.Jahn tells us how he got deeper and deeper into drugs and eventually ended up homeless. For ten years, Jahn lived on the streets of Miami doing whatever it took to stay alive. When Andrea Askowitz, co-host and teacher of our class, met Jahn Dope, he was living at the Miami Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter in downtown Miami. Andrea taught writing classes at the mission every Friday for two years. Jahn did not miss a class. A year and a half ago, when Writing Class Radio started, Jahn joined our class. This is where Jahn first told this story. Recently, Jahn left the Miami Rescue Mission after working and living there for three years. Because of his affiliation with the Rescue Mission, we allowed him to use a pseudonym. Now, he is proud to use his real name: Philip Sylverin. Phil told us that writing class was one of the main things that saved his life. In class, when Jahn wrote about the shitty things he’s had to overcome, it seemed like writing them down and sharing them with the class helped him move past Jahn Dope and on to a thriving, healthy, Phil Sylverin. Everyone who comes to class is working through something. Are you working through something in your life? If so, we want you to share your story with us.Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Misha Mehrel, Diego Saldana-Rojas, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. This episode was produced with editorial help from Wendi Adelson and Sonesh Chainani.Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

This episode explores perspective, how sometimes it takes years to figure out that something you did or thought was totally fucked up. Bo tells his story about getting blocked from a 1-900 gay hotline. But the story is really about how it took him years to become comfortable enough with himself to stop judging the free expression he witnessed among the gay people he first encountered on Miami Beach 24 years ago. Bo came from the deep South in search of freedom from oppression. He wanted gay book clubs and stimulating political conversations with other like-minded gay men. But what he found instead were all kinds of people who fit into categories he describes as circuit boys, gym rats, fashion queens, papi chulos, and bears. He felt like he didn’t fit in. He didn’t want to fit in. But when Bo called the gay hotline to try to “save the gay soul” and made fun of it, he realized he was imparting the same hurtful and hateful church messages he came to Miami Beach to get away from. Twenty-four years later, our teacher Andrea Askowitz sits down with Bo on Lincoln Road, the heart of South Beach to talk about what’s changed and how he changed. Andrea tells her own story about trying to “save the straight soul” when she finds out that her next door neighbor doesn’t like lesbians. (Her neighbor’s housekeeper told Andrea’s housekeeper). So Andrea tries to make friends with her. When that backfires, Andrea brings cookies to her neighbor but “forgets” to wear shoes. And a bra. Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Diego Saldana-Rojas, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

This episode explores the different zones we live in: comfort zone, stretch zone and panic zone. Allison talks about her experience at dinner with new friends and how she complained the entire night. She realizes she ventured too far into her stretch zone and panicked. Misha Mehrel tells his story on the stage at Lip Service, a live storytelling event in Miami. The story is about his hairy ass. The story was written in his very first writing class in response to a prompt. Misha worked on the story for the stage. Misha knew he had to reveal something difficult in that first class in order to feel comfortable writing about any other intimate situations. Our teacher, Andrea Askowitz, tells her story about wanting to give birth to her first child on stage. She realizes that she’s not as comfortable as she thought having people witness her in such an intimate moment. In fact, she’s extremely uncomfortable with people watching her give birth. A new student in the class, Karen Collazo, reveals her struggle with drug addiction. For Karen, staying in her comfort zone is dangerous. She has taken over our Writing Class Radio blog for the next 90 days. Follow Karen on our website. Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Misha Mehrel, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. This episode was produced with additional support from Chaplin Tyler.Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?Find Seeds of Peace at http://www.seedsofpeace.org/

This episode explores the epistolary form, which is just a snobby way to say stories written in the form of a letter. Andrea Askowitz starts with a letter written to her from her best friend in high school. Robin and Andrea wrote hundreds of letters back and forth to each other throughout their friendship.The letters in this episode were written 30 years ago, when Andrea spent a summer at camp away from Robin. She also has the letters she wrote to Robin, because Robin died when they were both 33. Robin’s mom gave Andrea the letters. In a round of letters between Robin and Andrea from the summer of 1986, Robin writes about how something was missing while Andrea was away. She reveals how hard it is to date boys and Andrea writes back with very specific dating advice: “BJ’s are a big deal, very personal, but if you lust peni, only do it if he’ll eat you out, it’s only fair.”Andrea shows us an example of an inside joke between Andrea and Robin. Andrea might be the only one who thinks her joke is funny.Stories as letters are as old a stories. Seneca, the Roman philosopher wrote letters in the year 50 or 60 and those are now known as the first personal essays. Writing a story in the form of a letter allows the author to be informal, direct, and totally personal. It also forces the storyteller to get to the truth, which is what we're after in any story.Misha Mehrel tells his story as a letter to his old roommate. In it, he reveals so much of himself. He tells us what it’s like to lose his best friend to marriage.Bo uses the letter form to ramp up intimacy with a stranger he meets at a truck stop. Bo gives us a little of his own insecurities and a little of his humor. Stories in the form of letters enable the narrator to be funny, especially if the letter is addressed to someone very familiar.Chaplin shows so well what a letter can do. The story is intimate with the recipient, the audience and with the self. This story is about Chaplin’s struggle with gender identity. “Ask yourself this, how do you envision yourself growing old, as a woman or as a man?”Letters are cathartic to write and to get. Especially in those days when letters took effort and money and were written alone in the middle of the night. There’s love in a letter.In the last letters between Andrea and Robin, Robin says it was good that they were apart that summer, so they could see they could be apart from each other. Then Andrea sends Robin a birthday card on her 20th birthday. The card is really a 40th birthday card and Andrea hopes Robin will send it back to her when she turns 40. Robin doesn’t send back the card.Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Diego Saldana-Rojas, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. This episode was produced with additional support from Claudia Franklin.Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?This episode is dedicated to the families of the victims of the Orlando shooting.

In this episode, we discuss what is taboo. Is it a word, a topic? Is it the same for everyone? We learn why we need to talk about things considered taboo, and when to actually write taboo words instead of referring to them. You’ll hear from Inessa Freylekhman who’s mom tells her what not to say on a date. You’ll also hear from Nicki Post, who feels that abortion is more taboo in the United States than in Korea. We’ll also take you into our community workshop where several new students write after given the prompt: Pussy. Also, Sallye Zilberstein and Mary Parker share stories about subjects that feel taboo to them. And in honor of International Masturbation Month, Allison reveals her masturbation story. Andrea offers insight into when it’s ok to use words like fuck and pussy in a story and when using taboo words is just distracting. Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Diego Saldana-Rojas, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. This episode was produced with additional support from Misha Mehrel and Sonesh Chainani. Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

In this episode, student and co-producer Allison Langer puts herself out there in writing and in love. The first story she tells was submitted to Modern Love, a column in the New York Times. Allison’s story got rejected, which is the subject of the second story she tells. Also in the second story, Allison compares the Modern Love rejection to rejection in love. Allison shares her motto for dealing with rejection. A motto she borrowed from author Cheryl Strayed. You’ll also hear Andrea discuss her current rejection and why she puts herself out there. Like most of us, Andrea wants connection and love. Inessa, a student from Season 1, tells a story about the time she missed a bus to an audition when she was nine years old. Inessa is 40 now, but she still wonders what would have become of her had she been on that bus. Here’s the thing: If you want to get published, you have to risk rejection. If you want love, you have to risk rejection. Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Diego Saldana-Rojas, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. This episode was produced with additional support from Misha Mehrel. Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Have you ever told a story or shared a secret and regretted it? Like you wake up the next morning and you’re like ew, why’d I say that? And then you want to vomit? Today we’re talking about telling stories that give us emotional hangovers. Those times when you feel you told too much. In this episode, Nicki Post tells her story about the time she was raped. Andrea discusses the class rules after someone tells a story. We pretend the person who just told the story isn’t in the room. We address that person as the narrator and talk about what worked and what didn’t work in his or her story. We do this because it creates a separation between the person’s life and the person’s story. The comments can only be about the writing. We can talk about where we got confused in the story. Or where we wanted more details. Or where we wanted less details. Those are the types of comments that are fair game in class. “So even if someone says they were raped, we can’t say, ‘Oh my God, are you okay?’” Another thing that happens in class is the narrator wants to clear up anything people don’t understand, but the narrator has to stay silent. When this happens, Andrea always says, “We don’t care about your life, we care about your story.” That’s true in class, but outside of class, we care about each other’s lives. The day after telling her story in class, the first time Nicki told a group of people (a group of strangers), she speaks to Andrea and Allison about the emotional hangover she experienced after telling her story. She felt pretty bad telling her story. But here’s the thing, she submitted the same story to a live storytelling show in Miami. If you live in Miami, you can see Nicki tell her story this Saturday, May 7th. Nicki told Andrea she’s expecting to have another hangover, but she’s telling her story again anyway. We know that whenever we tell a hard story, whether or not it causes a hangover, it always us brings us closer to the people we’ve told. And when that hangover clears, whatever it was that was so hard to tell, doesn’t feel so hard anymore. We always feel better after telling our story. You’ll hear Italome Ohokihare tell her story from our community class called, A Time I F’d Up. The story is about a time she shoplifted. Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Misha Mehrel, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. This episode was produced with additional support from Tobi Ash. Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

The words we say to each other and ourselves shape our lives. One of Andrea’s favorite writing tenets is: Make every word count. In today’s episode we learn that every word counts in life also. This is the first episode of our second semester and we have some new students. You’ll hear Missy Hernandez tell her story called Words. Her story is about sharing words with her hero Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat Pray Love. Missy ended up on Gilbert’s Podcast, Magic Lessons. Hear how Lizzy’s words brought Missy back to life. Misha Mehrel, also a new student tells a story called Fighting Words about how words can trigger repressed emotion. We also bring you a response from a writing prompt by Rebeca Ruiz, a student in one of Andrea’s community workshops. Her story is about a single word, NO. Her parents said “no” to her when she wanted to go to New World School of the Arts and killed her creativity. Until now. Hear what tips Andrea gives Rebeca to make her story stronger. Here’s the prompt for this episode: A time words changed your life. Follow our daily prompts. Record your story and email to info@writingclassradio.com.Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Diego Saldana-Rojas, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. This episode was produced with additional support from Wilson Sayre, Misha Mehrel and Miriam Herman.Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?

Today, we’re talking about writing stories meant to be told out loud. Jahn Dope tells his story, Tackled, about the time he was raped. Andrea Askowitz tells her story Thank You For Listening, about the time she went 24 hours without talking about herself. Both stories were told on stage at Lip Service in front of 600 people. You’ll hear how a performance can change the gravity of a subject. Allison Langer is the host and substitute teacher for this episode. Andrea, our regular host and teacher is taking a personal day, but she does show up at the end of the episode to give her top tips for writing a story meant to be told out loud. Some tips include: end your sentences, paragraphs and the whole story on the strongest note; and avoid gerunds, because for some reason the audience can’t hear ING words. More tips can also be found on the Craft Talks page of our website. Writing Class Radio is a podcast where you’ll hear true personal stories and learn a little about how to write your own stories. Writing Class Radio is equal parts heart and art. By heart we mean the truth in a story. By art we mean the craft of writing. No matter what’s going on in our lives, writing class is where we tell the truth. It’s where we work out our shit, and figure out who we are.There’s no place in the world like writing class and we want to bring you in.Writing Class Radio is co-hosted by Allison Langer (www.allisonlanger.com) and Andrea Askowitz (www.andreaaskowitz.com). Writing Class Radio is produced by Diego Saldana-Rojas, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer. This episode was produced with additional support from Tobi Ash, Miriam Herman and Alejandro Santiago. Visit our musicians page to learn about the talented and generous people who allowed us to use their songs.There’s more writing class on our website(www.writingclassradio.com), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/writingclassradio/) and Twitter (@wrtgclassradio).If you love the lessons you get on each episode, you can get them ALL in one place--our three-part video series. $20 for one part or $50 for the series. Click on Video Classes on our website.Writing Class Radio is now open to submissions from our listeners. Go to the submissions page on our website for guidelines. We pay!If you want to be a part of the movement that helps people better understand each other through storytelling, please go to writingclassradio.com and hit the DONATE button.Everyone has a story, what's yours?