Episodes

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Jennifer Sizeland, who lives in Manchester, England. Her story, I found connection through a tattoo of a bee is a great example of situation and story.  It’s important to know the difference and we will discuss why.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Farida Taha. Farida writes about losing her daughter to cancer and how she’s moving forward. We talk a lot about loss on our podcast, because writing is how so many people process grief. We believe writing opens the heart, clears the mind, and helps us understand and process. In this essay, Farida throws out some incredibly poignant lines that reveal intense pain and so much hope for the future.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Sarena Neyman. Sarena is in Allison’s 2nd Draft class, which is made up of writers who come together to share a draft of their essay and receive feedback from the group. Sarena’s stories are funny and brimming with voice and perfect landings.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Janet Funk. Janet writes about her experience sharing an essay she wrote with her family prior to submitting for publication to. The essay was about the horrible fourth of July when her brother Robbie drowned and was published in Business Insider on July 3, 2024. We’ll discuss the age-old-memoir questions: How do we write about and publish stories about the people in our lives? Janet’s essay was written from a prompt given in First Draft . The prompt wa...

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Bonnie Shor, who we call Blee.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Alison Colwell. At age 8, Alison was responsible for making sure her mother’s epileptic seizure didn’t kill her. In this essay, Alison takes us to a moment in the hospital where if she’d looked away, her mom might have died. Alison’s essay is an excellent example of hot topic cold prose and is contained in a very short moment. We will go into detail about what we mean by hot topic cold prose and why the tool is so effective. Alison’s essay is called Look Away.

This episode focuses on how to tell a story out loud. In May 2024, our own Andrea Askowitz made her way to a Moth storytelling competition and for the 15th time (over nine years), dropped her name in the bag. The prompt was snooping. Before she left home, her wife told her to look at this evening, if chosen, as practice instead of assuming this would be her Moth. So, when her name was chosen, Andrea had not memorized a story but instead decided to have fun telling the audience about the time she snooped on her daughter’s Insta account. Did she win at long last? Listen to find out.

This story was originally performed on stage at the Flagstaff Festival of Science in October 2023. Like episode 174, 175, 177, 179, and 180 this was a collaboration with ECOSS, The Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, at Northern Arizona University and Story Collider, a podcast that airs true SCIENCE stories.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by our own Allison Langer. Her essay is called My Mom And I Fought For 55 Years. Now Battling My Son Is Making Me Rethink Everything, which was originally published in Huffington Post, May 16, 2023.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Darby Bergl, a PhD student at The Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (ECOSS) at Northern Arizona University (NAU). Her story is about resilience and survival in the face of a volatile father. Darby has a passion for ecology and the study of carbon dynamics in temperate forests, which she interjects into her story.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Keven Griffen, a PhD student at The Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (ECOSS) at Northern Arizona University (NAU). Her story uses science to understand an emotional connection to place. She did it by having us fall in love with the place. She set the scene and raised the stakes.

Today on our show we bring you a story by Morgan Sutton that embodies everything a story should embody. The story uses no extra words; the narrator looks inside herself; and the story matters to the broader world.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Jasmine Anenberg, a PhD student at The Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (ECOSS) at Northern Arizona University (NAU) . Her story is about losing a friend, but gaining something he taught her, which is seeing the beauty in small things. She takes this lesson into her fieldwork as she studies mosses in dirt. Her story was originally performed on stage at the Flagstaff Festival of Science in October 2023. This was a Collaboration with ECOSS, Northe...

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Jennifer Byrne, who conjures the courage to leave her husband after she's faced with removing a bird that flew into her house. Her story is an excellent example of using a book-end structure.

Nick’s story takes a personal experience that has been burned into his memory. As an undergraduate student, he and his housemates almost burned down the neighborhood when they got rid of their Christmas trees. This experience led him to his work today, building natural fire breaks in the forest of Alaska.

Happy Valentine’s Day. Today on our show, we bring you a story that was originally performed on stage at the Flagstaff Festival of Science in October 2023. This was a Collaboration with The Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (ECOSS) at Northern Arizona University (NAU) and Story Collider, a podcast that airs true science stories.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Christopher Blackwell. Chris is 42 and serving a 45-year prison sentence in Washington. Chris’s story came to us through writer and Chris’s mentor, Jamie Beth Cohen.This episode is about taking a small moment and bringing big meaning. Through details and emotion, Chris tells us so much about himself and his surroundings. When birds nest on the windowsill of the prison, all the men gather round. Their usual differences melt away. When the birds fly away, our narrator understands their lust for freedom.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Sumitra Mattai. Sumitra is a writer and textile designer based in New York City. She holds a BFA in Textile Design from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School.

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Maxine Poupko, a semi-retired nurse, long-time student of Writing Class Radio, and hilarious person. Maxine is a master at writing humor and writing the truth. Of course someone can learn the craft of writing, but there might be some debate about whether you can learn to write the truth. Maxine shows us it's possible. She's been writing with Writing Class Radio for the last five years and we have seen her writing transform. At first her writing stayed on the surface. Today, she brings out the vulnerable, hard truth in her very first draft. You will hear her story, Whipped Cream, which will have you laughing all the way through.For more Maxine, listen to Episode 158: Our Dead Mom Brings My Sister and Me Together.Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, Chloe Emond-Lane, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.There’s…

Today on our show we’re talking about the writing process and how getting rejected is just part of the fun. After our own Andrea Askowitz takes a class on rejection taught by Elissa Bassist, she develops a new way of thinking about failure. If you are not getting rejected, you’re not in the game. You will hear the story Andrea wrote after her 643rd rejection. Andrea’s story is called, “I’ve Been Rejected 643 Times. Here’s Why I Resolve to Fail More."

Today on our show, we’re talking about structure and planting seeds. You’ll hear a story by Claire Tak called The Unopened Letter. Claire is a freelance writer and editor living in Denver.

Today on our show, we are talking about hot topic/cold prose and when and why to write in the present tense vs. past. The story we share is written in the present tense, which gives readers the feeling that they're going through the situation with the narrator, in real time.

Today on our show, we’re talking about writing with personality and being vulnerable. And when we say vulnerable, we mean including the hard things, good and bad, about ourselves. You’ll hear a story by Dr. Jane Marks, who is a conservation ecologist and professor of Aquatic Ecology at Northern Arizona University (NAU).

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Kimberly Elkins . Kimberly is the author of the novel, WHAT IS VISIBLE , which was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and named to several Best of 2014 lists. She’s written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Iowa Review, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Glamour, Slice, The Cincinnati Review, and Best New American Voices. She was a Finalist for the National Magazine Award, and has also won a New York Moth StorySlam. ...