Ohio State U Project Narrative Summer Institute 2010

The Project Narrative Summer Institute (PNSI) is a two-week workshop on the Ohio State University campus that offers scholars who have earned a Ph.D. (or other terminal degree) in any discipline the opportunity for an intensive study of core concepts and issues in narrative theory. Jim Phelan and Robyn Warhol-Down will direct the 2010 institute, which will accept twenty participants and will run from Monday, June 28th to Friday, July 9th.  The deadline for applications is Monday, March 1, 2010.  For more information, including application instructions and a syllabus, go to http://projectnarrative.osu.edu/aboutUs/summerinstitute.cfm.

Call For Papers: 25th International Conference on Narrative

25th International Conference on Narrative
8-11 April 2010
Cleveland, Ohio
Website: http://www.case.edu/narrative

Special Session: “Ecological Narratives of Our Future”

This session will focus on contemporary environmental texts (prose, poetry, drama, or film) that use narrative in such a way as to envision, depict, warn against, or redirect the future. I’m thinking of the role that narrative plays not only in such texts as Thomas Berry, /The Great Work/; Albert Gore, /An Inconvenient Truth/; James Gustave Speth, /A Bridge at the End of the World/; and David W. Orr, /Down to the Wire/; but also in more literary works like Margaret Atwood, /Oryx and Crake/; Terry Tempest Williams, /Mosaic/; or even /Urinetown: The Musical/. A variety of theoretical approaches is eagerly anticipated.

Deadline: Please send a 500-word abstract and brief (2- to 3-pg) vita due by October 25, 2009 to Mark Bassett (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)). Panel proposals are due by October 30th.

The International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN) is a nonprofit association of scholars dedicated to the investigation of narrative, its elements, techniques, and forms; its relations to other modes of discourse; its power and influence in cultures past and
present. “Narrative” for us is a category that may include the novel, epic poetry, history, biography, autobiography, film, the graphic arts, music, performance, legal writing, medical case histories, and more.

Presenters must join the ISSN. (You can learn more about their publications, conferences, etc., at this website: http://narrative.georgetown.edu.)

Power of Words Conference 2009

Liberation, Transformation & Celebration
Through the Spoken, Written & Sung Word

Explore how we can use our words — written,  spoken or sung — to make community, deepen healing, witness one another, wake ourselv es up, and foster empowerment and transformation. Organized by the Transformative Language Network, and founded by Goddard College, this conference features experiential workshops on a wide range of the expressive language arts and right livelihood, performances, open readings, and celebrations. Make community with others who share your passion. Keynote presenters for the 2009 conference include:

• Kayhan Irani, performer of the Theatre of the Oppressed and creator of Artivista, an organization that combines art and activism as a form of political expression and engagement
• John Fox, poet, author, poetry therapist, and founder of Poetic Medicine, and author of Poetic Medicine and Finding What You Didn’t Lose.
• Lewis Mehl Medrona, author of Coyote Medicine, Native American physician and psychiatrist and professor of family psychiatry who calls himself a post-modern, semi-urban neo-shaman.
• Dovie Thomason, award-winning Native American storyteller, recording artist and author
• Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, founder of Transformative Languages Arts, and award-winning author of several books including Write Where You Are and Lot’s Wife, who will be debuting her memoir, The Sky Begins at Your Feet.
• Sherry Reiter, poetry therapy pioneer and author of Writing Away the Demons: Stories of Creative Coping Through Transformative Writing will present a workshop with her co-authors.
• Callid Keefe & Kristina Perry, facilitators-in-residence and writers on Theopoetics and the Quaker meeting tradition.
• Terry Hauptman, artist-in-residence, painter and poet, and author of On Hearing Thunder, Rattle, and Masquerading in Clover.

Visit the website for more information: http://www.tlanetwork.org/conference/

 

Beware of Your Brand

When I was a kid, and staying at my grandparent’s house, my grandmother called down the stairs to my grandfather who was collecting something from his in-house art studio.

“Al, the toilet won’t stop running,” she told him.

We were about to go out and fixing the toilet was not on the to-do list, I’m sure. But it wasn’t that which surprised me. It was my grandfather’s reaction. He simply said, “Shit.”

I was devastated. My grandfather said the S word. I must’ve been between six and eight (he passed when I was eight) to be able to remember this so clearly. I have an older brother and there were many older kids on my block so I knew my share of curse words. However, it wasn’t the curse that floored me.

I’m sure my grandfather did things that he thought would have a lasting impression on me. I’m pretty sure he took me to the park, gave me ice cream, told me something profound, or gave me advice filled with wisdom. But none of that stuck. It was his curse that I remember. This story stuck with me for years before I finally realized why it contained any impact.

Pop-Pop cursed.

Up until that point in my life I saw my grandfather as a supernatural being capable of amazing feats, knower of all facts and keeper of all answers. He knew things my father didn’t know. He was mysterious and immortal… until he cursed. One word taught me that he was real and flawed, just like you and I.

If my grandfather could have been told that when he was dead and gone his youngest grandchild’s most vivid memory of him would be the day he said shit, I imagine he’d protest and opt for a different memory. But he got “shit.“

What does this have to do with branding? Everything.

A brand is a story that lives in the mind of the people who interact with you, your organization, or your company. When we think about personal or corporate branding, word-of-mouth marketing, and/or plain old trying to make an impression on someone, we tend to forget the child’s mind. We can never quite completely understand—or spend enough time trying to understand—the people in whom we are trying to make our brand a reality. No matter how hard we try to brand ourselves by looking and acting in a certain way, the truth always seeps through unexpectedly.

My grandfather did not tell me he was supernatural and amazing, I just thought that. Sometimes your customers, partners, children, or friends develop unreal expectations of you or your company. Sometimes it’s their fault for idolizing you and sometimes not.  Many companies, jobless hopefuls, and lonely singles will say just about anything to get a prospective customer/employer/suitor to bite. It’s not the bite that’s the problem—it’s the disappointing after-burn when the bubble containing the brand-fantasy gets burst.

In the case of my grandfather, I still loved him, possibly even more. But in the case of you or your business or organization, you might not get a second chance to live up to the fantasy that you painted. For those of you who leave branding up to someone else, beware. Could branding for who you want to be be more detrimental than branding for who you already are?

Remember that a brand is a story that lives in the minds of other people. Problem is, they might get so personal with your brand that they run away with it and make you into their god or guru. Don’t let them.

CFP: ICIDS 2009 - Interactive Storytelling Call for Workshops

Proposals are solicited for full-day or half-day workshops to be held on December 12, 2009, the Saturday that follows the main ICIDS 2009 Interactive Storytelling conference.

ICIDS workshops shall provide a platform for presenting or developing novel ideas in a less formal or more hands-on way than the main conference itself.

Workshops may be oriented towards theoretical topics, but also address practical issues. The format of each workshop is to be determined by the organizers. It is expected that they reserve ample time for general discussion and involvement of the participants, especially integrating students and novices to our research area.

Researchers and practitioners from all segments of the interactive digital storytelling community are invited to submit proposals. The organizers of approved workshops are expected to define and manage the call for contributions, and to take an active role in gathering the participants. The organizers will have to provide an 1-2 pages article for the ICIDS 2009 proceedings (Springer LNCS), describing the motivation, aims and format of the event. This summary must comply with the formatting rules for final camera-ready papers (http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html) and be submitted by September 20, 2009. Organizers are also expected to provide a summary of the actual outcome and derived future activities, after the event.

Submissions describing proposed workshops (up to 1,000 words) should include the theme and goals of the workshop, planned activities, the maximum number of participants, and a description of the participants recruitment and selection process, along with a clear
and complete specification of the practical requirements, concerning room size, equipment, etc. Submissions should also include a one-paragraph biographical sketch for each organizer.

The workshop will be held at the CCG Computer Graphics Center (http://www.ccg.pt), at a walking distance of approximately 20 minutes (1.7 km or about 1 mile) from the main conference venue. A bus transfer service will be provided.

Workshop proposals must be sent by email to the chairs of ICIDS 2009 (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

) by September 10, 2009.

For more information on ICIDS 2009, please visit http://www.icids2009.ccg.pt.

ICIDS 2009 co-chairs: Ido Iurgel, Nelson Zagalo, Paolo Petta.

Posted in Opportunities on August 13, 2009

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