Story Paths

Metaphors as spotlights on the layered, patterned nature of reality. Allegories as ecosystems of metaphors. The relationship between time, clocks and music. All this and more in this riverstone-hopping conversation with sensory-metaphor-joiner Blair Francis.You can find the music of Blair and his partner Elisa on bandcamp and youtube, on these links:https://elisaandblair.bandcamp.com/https://www.youtube.com/c/%C3%89lisaandBlair  If you'd like to learn music with Blair, you can write him at: blairfrancismusic@gmail.com To be notified about our own upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here.  Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story IdeasLink to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

Can devices that are ecologically harmful in their creation and disposal truly be called high technology? In this episode I explore fruitful relationships between human technology and the ecology within which it exists. To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story IdeasLink to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

Have you ever been called stupid? How about a loser? Weird? That might have been an unwitting compliment. Let's get to the bottom of these words and see what mysteries we find. To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story IdeasLink to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

Oral storytelling is book, film, theater and more, all rolled into one. Join us today as storyteller Jessie Wild tells the story of Jack and his Golden Snuffbox.For the full visual effect, you can watch this one on here on youtube.Jessie Wild is a mum, drama teacher, apprentice storyteller and lifelong enthusiast of learning (everything and anything). She became obsessed with both Shakespeare and Greek myth and tragedy at around 12 years old. The logical path seemed to be acting but having trained, first at uni then at drama school, she realised what she was most passionate about was the exploration period of rehearsals- the learning and growing. She toured extensively doing Shakespeare in UK schools and realised how powerful education in the arts truly is - hence her step into teaching. She is now a secondary school drama teacher of ages 11-18.You can find her here on instagram. Share this podcast with a friend by copying this link: https://storypaths.buzzsprout.com/ To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story IdeasLink to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

We live in a time of colliding worldviews. So what is a worldview anyway, in storytelling terms? Perhaps a filter to experience reality, a naming of things, an interpretation, a personal story. These days we inhabit multiple stories simultaneously, and perhaps we're being invited/initiated into hot-composting some of those stories so we can find news ways build bridges between each other and the other-than-human world. To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story IdeasLink to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

Like many of us, my relationship with computers and the internet has been rewarding and challenging. I'm setting some healthy boundaries, and perhaps my thought process will aid your own. To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story IdeasLink to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

This song is inspired by ancient Polynesian sailors who traversed the sea, guided by refractions of currents against their hulls, which told them the position of islands beyond the watery horizon. They were also helped in their journeys by the stars overhead, by their excellent memories and inherited knowledge, and by the presence of birds, who like to return to land, just as we humans do.I'm not sure if those Polynesian islands hosted falcons, but above the farm that's now hosting me I see twin falcons flying overhead. By their agile movements they reveal the currents in the air, which would otherwise be invisible to me. Although I'm landbound, I feel connected with those ancient sailor poets, “whose eyes were gifted with unbounded vision” by the birds who showed them islands in the vast ocean. To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story IdeasLink to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

I had a powerful dream recently which I'd like to tell you about. To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story IdeasLink to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

A little late to the party, I watched the movie Avatar, and was both pleased and horrified. Pleased with the theme of connecting to a living planet. Horrified that the planet's native people became secondary to the saviour outsider. Today I get together with my friends Elisa and Blair to discuss the victories and downfalls of this film, and to make some suggestions for improving the sequels.Share this podcast with a friend by copying this link: https://storypaths.buzzsprout.com/ To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story IdeasLink to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe

Blair Francis is a songwriter friend who I've only recently met. In this conversation we speak about the place of songs in growing culture.You can find the music of Blair and his partner Elisa on bandcamp and youtube, on these links:https://elisaandblair.bandcamp.com/https://www.youtube.com/c/%C3%89lisaandBlair Share this podcast with a friend by copying this link: https://storypaths.buzzsprout.com/ To be notified about upcoming creative writing and art workshops, sign up for the Story Paths mailing list here. Trailer for Creative Writing: Brainstorming Story IdeasLink to the course and a free month on Skillshare. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit storypaths.substack.com/subscribe