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So, the annual Third Coast International Audio Festival went down last weekend. I’m still processing it all, but it was great as usual. A whole weekend surrounded by smart, fun, curious people always feels luxurious. And challenging.

Standouts for me were the sessions with Brooke Gladstone, because I love On The Media and really respect the great interviews done by her on that show (It was odd to hear such a familiar voice coming out a body, rather than my radio! ) and Jonathan Goldstein. I hadn’t been familiar with Jonathan Goldstein’s work before going to his session, but I am definitely going to go out of my way to find it now. It gave me a lot to think about in regards to how to personalize work and how to allow yourself to be a character in a piece. I could never do anything like his stuff, but it gives me new ways to think about my own. I think everyone also loved the end of conference sing-along led by the Kitchen Sisters.

And of course, the socializing. Always a bit of a struggle for me. When I’m tired, I get a bit withdrawn. When I talk to people, I get tired. BUT. I met a lot of really great people. The energy drain and the week it will take me to recover are small prices to pay for so much frivolity. As Jay Allison (to paraphrase from memory) said, “We’re [radio people] shy – that’s why we tell other people’s stories.”

If you have any interest in story telling, no matter the format, I highly suggest that you attend Third Coast -  in reality by um, attending, or else virtually by listening to the sessions on their web site. I always walk away with my brain and my conception of what I can do with a story stretched a bit, changed a bit, deepened a bit. And I always look forward to going back.