THE STORYTELLERS
I Believe In The Power Of…
May 9, 2015 – Bearsville Theater
Winners:
1st Place: Barbara Mansfield
2nd Place: Deb Weir
Martha Frankel believes in the power of humor. That is her church and her god. She hopes to die laughing.
Headshot of Martha Frankel by Franco Vogt
Kris Garnier believes in the power of crossing her fingers, making wishes and feeling completely hopeful about the possibilities of each new day!
Headshot of Kris Garnier by Ilene Cutler
Rachel Bailey is a transplant from NYC who’s lived in the Hudson Valley for nine, occasionally long years. Since moving up here, she’s worked in retail and customer service, till it drove her crazy. Now, perpetuating that crazy, she’s a full-time writer. She’s been published in Words 57; The Finger; The Stonesthrow Review; the 2014 Writing.com Anthology; Yahoo!Voices; Amative Magazine, and she’s had two short plays—The Big Opening and Messenger – performed for stage and screen, respectively.
Seth Davis Branitz no longer drops out, cheats on, bakes bagels or self-abuses. He now divides his time between raising sons, feeding people and reiterating odd experiences thru short stories and song (as Seth Davis, he releases his fourth record in 2015). Raised in a Queens housing project he now does the best he can in the Hudson Valley.
Kevin Buso is a Hudson Valley native. He is a photographer, a lover, a fighter, a painter, a sandwich enthusiast, a mediocre drummer, and an area rug. He loves sandwiches. When he went to Ireland to kiss the Blarney Stone, he kissed the wrong rock. According to him, this one time, he was almost Pope. He is available for parties. He just wants everyone to be happy and to check out his website at KevinBuso.com.
Melissa Eppard wanted to grow up to be a fire fighter, a chef or a forest ranger. Her love of unicorns led her to pursue Graphic and Fine Arts. After years spent working in holistic education & alternative healthcare, Melissa found herself diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 36. She wrote about her experiences all through that harrowing year, and continues do so at melissashealinghope.com. Melissa lives with her musician husband and 4 year old son in Woodstock and enjoys composing poetry while driving. She is currently pursuing her goal to become a Life Coach.
Freya Fox grew up in the jungles of Papua New Guinea & on the beaches of Fiji. She moved to Australia in her teens & once finished with school continued to travel the world in search of inspiration & experience. If stranded on an island she would not be able to live without a copy of Siddartha, a machete for opening coconuts & hemp lip balm. She enjoys long walks amongst these most excellent trees & eating, in general.
Lissa Harris is the founder and publisher of the Watershed Post. She lives in the Catskill mountains with her wife, daughter, and two pretentiously named cats. When not busy trying to figure out how to keep local news alive, she can often be found swordfighting, singing morbid shape note hymns, and becoming overly attached to fictional robots.
Barbara Mansfield is writing a middle grade mystery/recipe book with photos by husband Phil Mansfield, a lifestyle photographer (Bloomsbury, Wiley). She once ran a mom and pop café, and has recently been testing recipes for cookbooks. Barbara just completed Grumpy Fish Aid: Comfort Tips from Kids With Cancer, a self-help book distributed through top oncology centers in four states.
Matthew Rudikoff believes “Arbeit macht frei” (Work Makes You Free). Since childhood Matt’s work has included: selling sinkers to fishermen on Far Rockaway’s beach, soda-jerk at Moe’s Candy Store, Charley’s Grocery’s delivery boy, LI Press delivery boy, Woodmere Club golf caddie, Silver Point Beach Club cabana boy, college sports equipment manager, cafeteria pot scrubber/floor mopper, par excellence, planning intern in riot torn Newark, NJ, NYC urban planner, environmental consultant, grants writer, real estate developer and most recently, editr.
Deb Weir has worked as a mortgage broker, executive secretary, trainer for the military, and addictions therapist. She also owned and operated Flirty Girl Cupcakes, all of which means she’s either versatile or has attention deficit. She is presently working on her writing. She lives in Boiceville, New York with her Jack Russell Terrier and her extremely tolerant husband, Peter.
Photo credit: Jeff Notti
Pete Levin, Keyboardist Extraordinaire
Gongs by Hari Prakaash & Theresa Widmann of Shuniya
Sari Botton believes in the power of sharing TMI. Which makes sense, considering her position as Editorial Director of TMI Project, a non-profit that offers true storytelling workshops. She’s a writer with columns on The Rumpus and Longreads, whose work has appeared in the NY Times and elsewhere. She edited the award-winning anthology Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving & Leaving NY, and the NY Times Bestselling anthology Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love For NY.
Marko Tomassetti is a lot of things, some of them nice, and others are not so much. He believes he is special not only because his mother told him so, but because he is a unicorn disguised as a man. His hobbies include, but are not limited to, judging people. You could also find him burning hair in NYC. Marko resides in Woodstock, with his husband Brandon and their adorable son, Kameron.
Franco Vogt: After graduating top of my class at The Astronaut and Big Rig Training night school, I decided that being a “rocketman”, as we called ourselves, was just not thrilling enough. So I interned on the Rodeo Clown circuit, which still wasn’t really me, although it has left me tragically with one operational testicle. But no worries, it’s a good one. Oh right, and my Dad gave me a camera and I have been taking pictures ever since……I know, it sounds so cliché. But it’s not.
