No, YOU Tell It!

Our first story finds a dyed-in-wool New Yorker facing unforeseen suburban horrors. Negotiating neighborly encounters that make her question whether to recalibrate her moral barometer to keep up with the Joneses. Or, in this case, the Weavers. Kicking off the second half of our special Brooklyn Book Festival event at The Astoria Bookshop, here is Ellie Dvorkin reading “The Neighbor’s Muse” written by H.E. Fisher. Top left: Ellie Dvorkin; Top right: Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons and H.E. Fisher; Bottom left: Story partners!; Bottom right: H.E. Fisher Switching it up, in our next story, a daughter fails to find anything amusing about her lifelong role of caretaker. Her mother’s recent health scare causing her to rethink the responsibilities we take on, the ones put upon us, and what it takes to release yourself from burdens of the past. H.E. Fisher reads “Fun” written by Ellie Dvorkin. For this 2019 Brooklyn Book Festival event, we partnered with The Astoria Bookshop for a special evening of poets and comedians trading true tales inspired by the theme “aMuse.” Stories performed live on September 17th, 2019. Storeis were directed by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons who also narrated this episode.

First up, Pichchenda Bao’s “Speak, Muse” contemplates the roles we are assigned in life and the roles we adopt: refugee, American, daughter, mother, artist, citizen; the compromises we make for survival and the ways we interpret silence, and ultimately how we can expand, not contract, our relationship to each other and the world. Read for us here by Carolyn Castiglia. Story partners: Pichchenda Bao and Carolyn Castiglia Switching it up, in Carolyn Castiglia’ s story “A Friend Request,” the author looks back at a time in her early twenties when she chose comfort over vulnerability and suffering over fulfillment. A small gesture reminds her how people who pass through our lives can show back up on our radar years later to remind us how we’ve weathered life’s storms. For this 2019 Brooklyn Book Festival event, we partnered with The Astoria Bookshop for a special evening of poets and comedians trading true tales inspired by the theme “aMuse.” Stories performed live on September 17th, 2019. “Speak, Muse” was directed by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons. “A Friend Request” was directed by Erika Iverson. Podcast narrated by Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons.

In celebration of Pride and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, for this, our 50th podcast episode, we wanted to share some of our favorite LGBTQ stories from years past. First up, from our recent “Snapped!” show at Dixon Place, a drag queen offers handy advice about standing one’s ground in “Lessons from The Queen,” written by Robb Leigh Davis and read for us here by story partner and Lambda Literary fellow, Mariam Bazeed. Pride. Drag Queens. Courage. It’s all in there. Click here to read Robb’s story, recently published on The Good Men Project. Left: Robb Leigh Davis and story partner Mariam Bazeed. Right (top to bottom): Nicholas Maistros, Jeff Wills, Ariel Mahler, and Erika Iverson directs Molly Touger. Next up, we revisit a show from our previous longtime home, Jimmy’s No. 43 in the East Village.  Author Nicholas Maistros writes of unexpected revelations during a visit with his mother in “Collecting.” Read for us here by his story partner, Jeff Wills, as part of our “Outdated” show. Click here to give a listen to Nick read Jeff Will’s story “Lost Track” in Episode 41.  Finally, a superfan desperately wants to connect with the Wonderful Wizard of YouTube, Todrick Hall, in Ariel Mahler’s story “Under the Rainbow, Over the Sea.” Presented here by Ariel’s story partner Molly Touger for our “Blowback” show. Switching it up, click here to hear Ariel’s performance of Molly Touger’s “And in Local News…” in Episode 37 Speaking their partner’s piece aloud gives a No, YOU Tell It! storyteller the chance to step into another person’s shoes and experience their story on stage, a powerful way to amplify queer voices at a time when their true-life tales need to be heard and shared more than ever. If you enjoyed these stories, please help us spread the word and share with your podcasting loving friends!

This story swap, recorded live at Dixon Place on June 11th, 2019, was directed by Mike Dressel who was also our host for the evening. Switching it up, in Kent D. Wolf’s story, escape from the isolation of Midwestern farm life lies in a plane ticket for a semester abroad, but first, he must negotiate permission and withstand the disappointment of both parents. Here is Naomi Gordon-Loebl reading “July 1995.” Click here to see the full set of “Snapped!” photos and LIKE our page on Facebook for more!

 Restoring old chairs and cooking dinner may first appear to be common creative acts but stripped down resides a pair of stories about life, death, near death, and second chances. First up, celebrated author Rebecca Chace (Leaving Rock Harbor, June Sparrow and the Million Dollar Penny) revisits a true-life tale she previously thought of as [more at…]

More at http://www.noyoutellit.com/2019/03/05/episode-47-crafty-part-1/ 

Since our own Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons started No, YOU Tell It! six, WOW, yes, six years ago one of her favorite things has been going out to Fairleigh Dickinson University to switch-up stories with students, faculty, and alums from their Creative Writing MFA program. Earlier this summer, authors Tiffany L. Berryman, Andrew Condouris, and Eliot [more at…]

Angela Cobb’s story is a romantic liaison set against the backdrop of Hurricane Sandy. After the storm subsides, she finds the attempt to recapture that intimacy fraught and even the best-laid plans might require a “Plan B.” Kicking off the second half of our “Mayday” show, recorded live at The Astoria Bookshop on May 10th, [more at…]

In the first half of our “Mayday” show, recorded live at The Astoria Bookshop on May 10th, Allison Escoto is forced to listen to an unexpected SOS of the heart. Here is M. Skye Holly reading, “Vessel in Distress.” Switching it up, M. Skye Holly goes back to school to receive her MFA in Creative Writing from [more at…]

A young man’s obsessive quest to complete a set of Batman trading cards embroils his extended family in a hunt across the borough of Queens. First up, from our Wild Card show, Raquel Penzo presents Roger Nassar’s story “The Elusive Card #66” Switching it up, author Raquel Penzo’s mother once warned her that the second [more here…]

Give a listen to this alternate No, YOU Guess It?! version of our show featuring switched-up stories from students, faculty, and alums of Fairleigh Dickinson University’s MFA in Creative Writing program. Plus, our own Kelly Jean talks about her inspiration behind creating No, YOU Tell It! These six stories, inspired by the theme “My First,” [more at…]

After switching up stories at Jimmy’s No. 43 for the past five years, we were saddened to hear that influential East Village beer and cider bar has quietly closed its doors. In celebration of Jimmy’s No. 43, here is one of nights that has really stuck with us – even though it was [more at…]

When we asked No, YOU Tell It! alums to bring in stories for an impromptu switch-em-up as part of our four-year-anniversary celebration, Mike Dressel and Alexandra Gray – who also happen to be birthday twins – came through in a big way. Mike Dressel is an integral part of the No, YOU Tell It! creative [more at…]

We’re thrilled that No, YOU Tell It! is once again part of the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Our own Kelly Jean is in Madison, NJ right now working with the MFA students, alums, and faculty for a special No, YOU Tell It! “My First” show on Sunday, August 6th. [more at…]

A simple neighborly gesture plus an ill-advised night of drinking leads to stalking, harassment, and an ever-escalating sense of danger. Kicking off the second half of our “Blowback” show, here is Courtney Frances Fallon’s story “Wine Wednesday” read for us by Gabriel Berezin. After another failed coupling spawned in the dumpster fire commonly known as [more at…]

A superfan desperately wants to connect with the Wonderful Wizard of YouTube, Todrick Hall, in Ariel Mahler’s story “Under the Rainbow, Over the Sea” read for us here by Molly Touger. Switching it up, when Molly Touger spends the summer as an intern at a local newspaper, she has to figure out which words to [more at…]

After years of staying on the fringes, Erika Iverson finds community and comfort through the intricate act of folding paper cranes in Union Square. Kicking off the second half of our “Migration” show, Ken Crossland reads, “September 18, 2001 or How I Became a New Yorker.” They say breaking up is hard to do. But [more at...]

After a devastating loss, an heiress comes to terms with the one thing that money can’t buy. First up from our “Migration” show, Leslie Malaika Lewis asks the big questions in “A Broader View” read for us by Elisa DeCarlo. What are the things we truly need in life? The things that we aren’t willing [more at...]

What begins as a letter to a long-lost childhood friend leads to meditation on the fragments of memory that linger after a person passes through our lives at a crucial stage… Kicking off the second half of our special TLR team-up at the AWP conference in Washington D.C., Jessie Vail Aufiery reads “Unsilencing, Or, I [more at]

We were excited to team up with the editors of The Literary Review to present a special switched-up storytelling panel at the 50th AWP Conference & Bookfair in Washington D.C. Our first true-life tale was written by No, YOU Tell It!’s own Mike Dressel who experiences the opposite of “ghosting” when an overseas fling takes a dark [more at…]