Finding Inspiration from Events
“Making Waves” at The Moth: March 24, 2025
Last night at the Aratani Theater in Los Angeles, The Moth hosted its Grand Slam storytelling event based on the topic: Making Waves. Brian Finkelstein served as MC, his understated wit warming up the audience for an unforgettable evening.
Two man band at the Moth
Ten storytellers took the stage to compete—not for a trophy, necessarily, but for the honor of having told the best story. Each narrative brought something different: humor, sorrow, absurdity, or bittersweet reflection. Justin Angel kicked off the night with a riveting image of a meth addict trying—and failing to outrun the law. Most poignant was Michelle Grua’s story that began with the painful loss of her husband in 2002, followed by her attempt to follow in his footsteps as a wildlife rafting expert. But Brittany Ross stole the show with her lighthearted, funny five-minute story as a three-time national college cheerleader. Each of the ten storytellers had a diverse background, while a few of them were most obviously in the film industry at some capacity—director, scriptwriter, actress, etc.
In between each story, Finkelstein read out loud random audience written responses to the question: “tell us about a time you didn’t mean to make waves.” The audience favorite was: “Accidently text messaged Jeffrey Goldberg from The Atlantic about war plans to bomb Houthi targets in Yemen.”
Audience at the Moth in Los Angeles
How can one pack in a full story—beginning, middle and end—into five minutes? I guess you will have to check out The Moth podcast and look for a scheduled event near you.
If you love storytelling and haven’t yet been to a Moth event, I can’t recommend it enough. A fictionalized version of a Moth-style night even made its way into an episode of Girls, Lena Dunham’s series, for those who remember.
AWP in Los Angeles: Amber Tamblyn Kicking Things Off
Coming soon . . . AWP March 26 - 29
At the end of March, the AWP conference will be in full swing at the Los Angeles Convention Center. I will be reporting on various panels, recent trends in publishing, etc.
