Diversity Institute

Scene II

Chips Quinn Scholars Coach Pearl Stewart and Anne Saul of Gannett.

Victor Cristales and Maria St. Louis-Sanchez ponder lighting and setting for video.

It's all about the pizza

Career Coaches Colleen Fitzpatrick (left) and Mary Ann Hogan, known around the Freedom Forum as "Thelma and Louise," noodle over their pizza story.

I had an ah-ha experience re writing and storytelling when Colleen and I did our SoundSlides story How to Make a Pizza:
Making a good story is like making a good pizza.
According to our pizza guy, you have to start with the best fresh ingredients (sort of like starting with a notebook or recorder full of the best fresh information.)
Then you slap the dough into shape to make a shell (sort of like finding a good story shell.)
Then you put just the right amount of topping, evenly distributed -- too little and you get a stupid pizza, too much, and you get a gooey one. (Sounds to me like choosing the right details in the right sequence without over or under doing it to avoid stupidity and goo.)
Then you stick the pizza in the oven to bake for just the right amount of time (kind of like letting your story sink in for a bit before sending it off, to make sure it’s done just right.)
So the next time you go to create a story, think:
It’s all about the pizza.

-- Mary Ann Hogan, Chips Quinn Career Coach

The secret to making great pizza

Empowerment is.......learning to tell stories in new ways.

Intrepid fellow Chips Quinn Coach Mary Ann Hogan and I made our first audio slideshow two days ago. (Yea!)

We sought out Adam Brown at the Mellow Mushroom pizza parlor in Nashville, Tenn., as the lunch crowd was about to hit. Adam tossed the dough as we snapped photos and rolled the recorder.

Click here to learn one of Adam's secrets to making great pizza.

-- Colleen Fitzpatrick, Chips Quinn Career Coach