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‘Narrative’ Category

  1. Happy birthday! You are dead, but I wrote you this letter

    02.14.2011 by Shannon

    (It is Valentine’s day. It is also my brother’s birthday, who passed away 3 years ago.)

    Dear C- (more…)

    Category Narrative, Over in Oakland, Unthinkable Loss | Tags: | 4 Comments

  2. Saying Yes

    07.25.2010 by Shannon

    Today I did a little Sunday-improv action with Upright Citizens Brigade over at Pan Theater.

    It’s funny how I enrolled in the Level I improv class back at the new year just to “keep myself from getting rusty” while I had to take a little performing hiatus while I started my new job in January — and have ended up taking six, now, improv classes and workshops, from traditional improv games to long form to Action Theater.

    (more…)

    Category Daily1, Narrative, Over in Oakland, Performance | Tags: | 1 Comment

  3. Grace II

    07.03.2010 by Shannon

    So today I got pulled over by a cop. We both played out the scripted roles.

    “Do you know why I pulled you over?”

    “I do.”

    “And why’s that?”

    “I was going too fast.”

    “Yes, yes you were. Are you heading home?”

    “No, I’m on my way to my teacher’s performance.”

    “And you’re in a hurry because you’re late?”

    “Well, to be perfectly honest, I just got my period and– (more…)

    Category Daily1, Narrative, Over in Oakland | Tags: | No Comments

  4. BART Ride

    06.29.2010 by Shannon

    There is no stopping it. The light continues to bleed. It breaks open in an endless run, yoke to sun. There will only be more light. We are essentially alone.

    Reaching up up up (more…)

    Category Daily1, Narrative, Over in Oakland, San Francisco glory | Tags: ,,, | No Comments

  5. Unbridled – Part I

    06.14.2010 by Shannon

    So it seems that 29 is the lucky age where I get to become acutely aware of this whole “age” business — or, rather, the “stage of life” I’m in — or, rather, “should” [?] be in.

    That is to say, I have been attending a shit-load of weddings and baby showers. (more…)

    Category Narrative, Over in Oakland, This Modern Life | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  6. Freewrite – Theme: “What?!”

    05.12.2010 by Shannon

    “What?!” I said, total disbelief splattered across my face. “How in the hell are you going to explain this–?” I glided my hand across and over the sloppyness below.

    God just looked at me, slightly embarrassed.

    “Well…?” I provoked. “Just try and tell me how the fuck you came up this.” I was trying to be gentle. I really was. But God had gone and done it again.

    “How am I going to handle this one? How the fuck did I end up being reborn?!”

    “I didn’t know it was going to be so… permanent.” God said, wincing. “It was just going to be a little love experiment — break me up into pieces, all loving each, each-to-all, and then add some pretty colors & fragrances & animals & experiences & stuff, and…” Suddenly God broke off crying.

    The Mouth of God flung open like a yawning cave, 10-thousand furlongs wide and full of empty eternity. Tears crashed oceans. All of existence tumbled out, Bahagavad Gita-like.

    “I didn’t mean to hurt nobody! ” God sputtered through sobs. “I just wanted to- to- play!”

    Now I felt like a douche.

    I reached for The Shoulder of God and touched it, gently. God flinched, at first, but then relaxed into my hand. We both breathed wide-lungs. I let a beat go by.

    I softened my voice to a whisper. “I know you had good intentions. And I’m sorry I yelled. It’s just… you might have thought you were playing, but now I — we — have to live this. There’s so much suffering you spilled all over the Goddam place — (sorry) — and you made quite a mess.” God looked up. I sighed. And smiled.

    “Here, here, darling — let me help you clean it up.”

    Category Daily1, Narrative, Over in Oakland | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  7. Creative, Schmeative

    04.20.2010 by Shannon

    27 minutes past my self-imposed bedtime (welcome to the life of a hypomanic-proclivitist*[1]) and I am keying-out some creative word-show. (more…)

    Category Daily1, Narrative, Over in Oakland | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  8. Long Lost Love/Hate Relationship

    01.25.2010 by Shannon

    Today I was reunited with an old lover: (more…)

    Category Narrative, Over in Oakland | Tags: | No Comments

  9. New

    12.06.2009 by Shannon

    New job.

    New city.

    New home.

    New season.

    Newly single.

    New travels.

    New sport.

    New hair cut.

    New music.

    New hopes.

    New dreams.

    New Projects!

    New gratitude.

    New direction.

    New story.

    (almost) New year.

    Category Narrative | Tags: | No Comments

  10. “Do Your Duty, Arjuna”

    09.26.2009 by Shannon

    “Ambition is the last refuge of failure.“  – Oscar Wilde

    One of the most amazing lessons of this adventure of producing my own show,  is how to not only accept but enjoy every moment that comes my way.  The Bahagavad Gita gently reminds us: (more…)

    Category Narrative, Performance | Tags: | No Comments

  11. (A New Post for Gigi)

    09.17.2009 by Shannon

    Dear Gigi,

    Thank you for sending me an email at 6:53am to remind me that I should probably be posting on my blog right about now. Between walking for hours in the Phoenix heat to hang posters, selling my soul to get some publicity, and struggling to make some money with freelancing gigs so that I can once again lose it all on a production of BURST, I had neglected my most important responsibility: entertaining you with my words. So here is a post just for you:

    (more…)

    Category Narrative, Performance | Tags: | 1 Comment

  12. Choking Hazard

    05.18.2009 by Shannon

    I feel like a working single mother, slinging hash until midnight, then stumbling home with three little mouths to feed, in want of love.
    (more…)

    Category Narrative, Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: | 3 Comments

  13. Conversation with Blog

    04.30.2009 by Shannon

    Wow.

    I come back from Vietnam, don’t write about being home in California, skip right over my trip to Manhattan and almost forget that I’m preparing to return to New Mexico. I’ve been too busy being here to remember to write about all the “theres.” It’s been so long, Not Keeping Score, that I almost forgot what you looked like.

    [Scene: a fancy restaurant. Dim lighting. Sounds of wine glasses clinking can be heard. SHANNON, 28, sits at a table across from BLOG.]

    (more…)

    Category Narrative | Tags: ,,,,,, | 3 Comments

  14. Kindness of Familiars

    02.25.2009 by Shannon

    Hello, Hanoi
    (Part 11 of Many)

    Across the street a man is loading into a hand-drawn cart dozens of red bricks. Each brick has 4 cylindrical holes, and one by one, he lays them on top of their comrades, each singing a soft little clank as they fall. (more…)

    Category Adventures in Asia, Location-Location, Narrative, San Francisco glory | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  15. Tieng Viet

    by Shannon

    Hello, Hanoi
    (Part 10 of Many)

    I’ve started Vietnamese language classes at University of Hanoi, and moved to Dong Da district, closer to the campus. I rented a room in a house, where the water is bottled and there is even a washing machine. So much for eeking it out local-style.

    (more…)

    Category Adventures in Asia, Location-Location, Narrative | Tags: ,,,, | 3 Comments

  16. Hold the ‘H’

    02.15.2009 by Shannon

    Hello, Hanoi
    (Part 8 of Many)

    More stories from my first couple of weeks…

    *    *    *

    It is Têt, and Bắc has invited me to spend this special new year’s week — a week so fantastic it is like New Year’s & Christmas & 4th of July & everyone’s birthday combined, I am told — with her family in Hai Phong.
    On the bus we pass by fields green with rice paddies. The air is cold and bone-drilling. I do not want to write, but I have told myself I will write under all conditions. (more…)

    Category Adventures in Asia, Location-Location, Narrative | Tags: ,,,,, | 1 Comment

  17. Love in the Chocolateria

    02.11.2009 by Shannon

    Hello, Hanoi
    (Part 6 of Many)

    Still remembering my first days here…

    *     *     *

    The rest of my day was full of pot holes and mud. Everything I wrote smelled like eggs, and I got lost 7 times over.  When I got back home to Bắc’s place, I swore I was buying my plane ticket home.

    (more…)

    Category Adventures in Asia, Location-Location, Narrative | Tags: ,,,, | No Comments

  18. Second Morning

    02.10.2009 by Shannon

    Hello, Hanoi
    (Part 5 of Many)

    I am sitting on the bed– on “my” bed for the next few months, I suppose. It is a little over a foot off the floor, made from dark mahogany-looking wood, with a woven grass mat on top. My friend and host, Bắc, has given me a couple of extra blankets to act as “mattress” and sheet. An old camping sleeping bag I’ve brought from home has already proved invaluable, as the weather took a dive toward cold for the week of Têt. I have come to love my bed, somehow cozy in it’s simplicity.

    As I near three weeks having been here, I smile to remember all that has changed, and all that hasn’t: (more…)

    Category Adventures in Asia, Location-Location, Narrative | Tags: ,,, | 1 Comment

  19. Delicious

    02.05.2009 by Shannon

    Hello, Hanoi
    (Part 4 of Many)

    Of course, I am just as trusting of the Vietnamese family as they are of me.

    Two hours ago I have stumbled in, following the signs for cafe and wifi, only to find myself sitting in someone’s dining room table cum coffee shop… and when I finally need to use the bathroom, I leave my laptop and bag (with wallet) in their living room as collateral. (more…)

    Category Adventures in Asia, Location-Location, Narrative | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  20. Cafe Wifi

    by Shannon

    Hello, Hanoi
    (Part 3 of Many)

    We made it.

    3 hours later than I set out to write, I am sitting in someone’s living room drinking strong coffee and sugared lotus seeds. The Xe Om driver, knowing a shortcut, made his way beautifully through traffic and dropped me off in the Tay Ho district. I have come to this street because my friend Jenny lives nearby, my friend Aaron owns a wine bar down the street, and I am confident that if all else fails I can beg them for some pity. It is the only place in Hanoi from where I can find my way home.

    (more…)

    Category Adventures in Asia, Location-Location, Narrative | Tags: ,,,,,, | No Comments

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