Tulsa
The Lucky Find In The Dumpster Fire: Hot Messes Tackle Hot Topics At Tulsa Story Slam
by | Aug 17, 2023 10:34 am
Posted to: Spoken Word
Cassidy McCants Photo
Karl Jones' turn at the story slam mic.
“OK, So” Story Slam: Hot Mess
Aug. 11, 2023
Living Arts of Tulsa
The literary theorist Roland Barthes believed it was a photographer’s job to “shock” — in other words, capture a gesture at the point on its course where the eye on its own can’t catch it. To accomplish this, the photographer needs many skills, but most important is the gift of trouvaille: “the lucky find.” I think this could be true of all art. And the lucky find is what OK, So monthly story slams are all about.
“Hot mess,” the theme of August’s slam, is a hot topic. We love hot messes. We don’t want to be hot messes — or do we? We want to be hot — significant — even if it’s embarrassing.
There were more people than chairs as the night’s event kicked off at Living Arts (this was quickly remedied). Some wanted to tell, many wanted to listen. On index cards, the audience was encouraged to write short stories about “when you were the hottest mess of your life.” These became anonymous tales told between storyteller sets. Over house-music Sting, I heard someone say, “I got one. It’s goin’ in.” And countless variations on this feeling: fear, but also a frisky feverishness.
The rules of a story slam are simple, announced at the jump. Storytellers are judged on adherence to theme, adherence to truth (“We have a way of knowing when you embellish,” the hosts explained), and time (five minutes). And then, simply, is the story well told? This is the part I, a “writer,” find scary. Performance is different from lonely nights at the keyboard.
On this night, only 12 among the hundreds of people volunteered to share their story. Maybe we do prefer witnessing hot messes to embodying the mess. As the second storyteller of the night put it, “I put my name in the hat and thought to myself, out of 200 people, more would have signed up.” That risk is what it takes. After spinning a tale involving a 30th birthday, MDMA, camping in Austin with a friend who maybe was more than a friend, and lots of hot dogs and Evan Williams, this storyteller said she “experienced more adrenaline in five minutes than I have in the last five years.” Her story let us enjoy the madness of desire and consumption, but also forced many of us to face our white privilege. Not everyone can camp out for several days on the Austin Greenbelt without more serious repercussions.
We heard about awkward TSA security encounters (“I’m a good person! I just like bread!”) and sobering addiction stories. “The serious ones are as important as the funny ones,” the hosts reminded us, and the atmosphere in the room proved it. There were disconcerting (but relatable and funny) drug, sex, and Peeping Tom stories.
A real-life Barbie tale unfolds.
There was even a story from a real-life Barbie, who had to run to the venue in her pink heels on her birthday to make it on time. She pointed out the difficulty in identifying one particular story of hot-mess-ness when your life is one big dumpster fire.
This storyteller was self-aware, charming, honest, awkward, sweet. She opened with “Hi, Barbie,” and the audience responded in kind. Her friends cheered her on, even as she confronted the fact that we might see her as a “narcissist” for acknowledging why she needed them there.
Every story was a win, because each had that trouvaille, that lucky find. OK, So and the crowds who gather for these events month after month know that these many seemingly minor moments are significant — that these stories matter because they’re real.
My takeaway: Don’t miss the following slams. And put your name in the hat if you’ve got a story. Even awkward me is thinking about it.
September theme: Trip
October theme: Spooky
December. theme: Home
Next at Living Arts: Aug. 18 Book Club on Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Laing
So founders Branda Jean Piersall and Michelle Bias.
