Keeping with our spiritual exploration this winter, we have another interview with Imani Quinn, a mystic and quantum oracle who talks to Julia Christian about how storytelling is connected to our spiritual selves.

As a quantum oracle, Imani explores how every aspect of our physical self connects to our spiritual and conscious selves. Her work as a healer is deeply rooted in energy, helping people understand Chackra’s and energy blocks, as well as incorporating some astrology and tarot. She talks about how therapy and quantum healing can go hand in hand, why honesty is essential to storytelling, and how telling stories and listening to stories can bring greater understanding of spiritualism and healing, ourselves and each other.

If you are interested in spiritualism, energy, astral plains, moving beyond your physical body and the work of healers, give a listen.

Imani Quinn is a multi-hyphenate, biracial mystic artist. A Quantum Oracle healer, and host of The Modern Mystic Chronicles podcast, inspiring curiosity through storytelling of mystic living. She is also co-author of Astrology SOS, with Hardie Grant Publishing. To find out more about her work, booking a session or listening to her podcast check out her website www.imaniquinn.com or instagram @imanirachelquinn.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, an episode all about finding love and falling in love. Both of these stories discuss unlikely paths to finding love, with lots of laughs along the way.

The first story is from Rachel Forrest, a writer and food critic with a killer sense of humor, especially when it comes to her own life. Here she tells a touching story of loving someone and letting them go, and if they really do return. This story is from the March 2016 show Past Lives.

The second story is from Erin Laplante, who isn’t one to hold back when it comes to observation about her life and the people she’s dated, or tried to date, or that tried to date her. In this story, told at the June 2018 show, Changes, you’ll get a cathartic release and a good laugh from Erin’s dating adventures.

What happens when we think we're right and end up being so completely wrong? This episode includes two stories about a time someone acted on impulse, thought they were making the right choice, only to regret that decision later.

The first story by Lisa Langevin is about how heartache and seeking a new direction in life can leave you unprepared to fully assess your surroundings. It’s a misjudgment you feel both physically and emotionally. This story was told at the March 2020 show, Denial.

The second story is from Heather Armitage, told at the June 2020 show With Friends Like These. It touches on that feeling of heading toward doom in slow motion and how having good friends is essential to survival.

For more information about Long Story Short, getting tickets to our live shows, or how to become a storyteller, go to https://longstoryshortpod.com/

As we enter a new year, it is a perfect time to look inward, look to the year ahead, and consider our purpose in the world. It's also a perfect time to share this interview with Ellen Bowles, an artist, astrology and Tarot reader, and ancestral healer from Los Angeles, CA.

In this interview with former Long Story Short intern Julia Christian, Ellen discusses the difference between pop culture astrology and true astrology work, how understanding the energy of the universe can give us insight into ourselves, and the importance of representation in astrology and spiritualism.

Ellen Bowles, an artist, astrology and Tarot reader, and ancestral healer from Los Angeles, CA. Ellen’s life’s work stemmed from her creativity in illustration, creative direction, and fashion. Her spiritual practice is still deeply intertwined within her art, as her subject matter is inspired by goddesses and divine deities. Ellen's practice contains the use of modalities such as candle magic, ancestral healing, Tarot readings, moon magic, astrology, and much more, which she offers through individual readings and birth chart analysis sessions and monthly workshops she hosts on spiritual topics.

Ellen is the former co-host of The Woke Mystixpodcast, a space dedicated to spirituality, astrology, and magic from the perspective of two non-conforming women of color. She is also a writer and co-author of ASTROLOGY SOS: An Astrological Survival Guide to Life, published by Hardie Grant UK.

If you like our show, please subscribe, rate and review! You can also find us @longstoryshort3s on Instagram.

To learn more about Long Story Short and sign up for email alerts about upcoming live shows, go to https://longstoryshortpod.com/

Youth is wasted on the young, or so they say. This episode explores the way we see the world and the choices we make when we are young. 

The first story is from Dylan Haigh, the art director for Pete & Gerry's Organic Eggs, from the September 2019 show "Breaking All the Rules." We first hear Dylan talk about his many arrests as a teen the final arrest which made him reevaluate the path his life was taking.

The episode also features Erin Laplante, of Portland, Maine, who takes us on a hilarious tour of her younger years. Like so many teen girls, she pines for cute boys, yet just can't seem to nail the cool moves. This story was performed at the 2016 show "Past Lives."

We explore storytelling, photography and acting in this episode with Michael Cinquino, a photographer and trained actor who splits time between New York and Portsmouth, NH. Michael discusses how photographers help their subjects show their true selves, how he’s learning the craft of filmmaking, and how performing can reveal the true meaning of a piece.

You can check out Michael’s short film, “12 Frames” at https://www.sohocreativestudio.com/12frames

In this interview episode, Beth and Michael also talk about how storytelling is closely connected to the process of recovery and overcoming substance misuse. He shares his story of getting sober and how storytelling was instrumental in his personal recovery.

Upcoming Live Show in Portsmouth

If you like our show, please subscribe, rate and review! You can also find us @longstoryshort3s on Instagram. You can also get tickets to our next live show on Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. at 3S Artspace now! The show, Family Heirloom, features four storytellers talking about all things family and the objects we use to remember the ones we love. Tickets available here: https://www.3sarts.org/performances/performance/Long-Story-Short:-Family-Heirloom?performanceid=5329

Life unfolds slowly. We get sucked up in our day-to-day, with work, school, kids and the latest binge-worthy TV show. Then one day we look around and see that things are completely unlike what we expected. Sometimes it's when life throws you for a loop, like in Raya Al-Hashmi's story about reckoning with her father's absence. Other times, it's a slow burn, like in Brooke Williams' story about how the ambitious, artistic 20-something she once was faded into the background as marriage, kids and homeownership took priority. 

In this episode, we examine how "seasons change" in our lives and the ways in which we come to accept the passage of time. Al-Hashmi told her story at the December 2018 show, Family Ties, giving a touching, and at time heartbreaking, overview of what it's like to deal with the choices of our parents, and the need to have answers. Williams told her story at the March 2019 show, Regrets Only Please, highlighting how age has a funny way creeping up on you and the reminders we get in our 40s about the things we once dreamed of doing, but likely never will.

If you like our show, please subscribe, rate and review! You can also find us @longstoryshort3s on Instagram.

To learn more about Long Story Short and sign up for email alerts about upcoming live shows, go to https://longstoryshortpod.com/

How are we supposed to act in an extraordinary situation? When logic is telling us one thing, but our hearts say to do another. This episode, all about reactions to strange situations and how to make difficult decisions. The first story, from Ryan Van Dalinda, revisits his time in Los Angeles, trying to make it in show business and finding a different kind of job in the process. From the March 2020 show Denial, Ryan touches on the ways we act foolishly when we want something so bad, and how people in a city of dreams can take advantage.

The next story is from Charlene Thorburn, a Long Story Short fan favorite. This physician assistant talks about the time she volunteered to be a living organ donor, and what was behind her difficult decision not to do it. Charlene told this gripping story at the March 2019 show, Regrets Only Please.

If you like our show, please subscribe, rate and review! You can also find us @longstoryshort3s on Instagram.

To learn more about Long Story Short and sign up for email alerts about upcoming live shows, go to https://longstoryshortpod.com/

Who's ready for Halloween? This show features spooky tales told at Portsmouth Halloween Parade fundraisers held at 3S Artspace. If you haven’t been to Portsmouth, NH at Halloween time, it's worth the trip. The city goes all out with a community-run Halloween parade that nothing short of an impressive show of creativity and creepiness. Anyone can join the parade, which is probably wide it draws hundreds of participants, musicians and floats, and about 10 fold the number of spectators.

The first story on this episode is from Kristen Ringman, a fantastic horror and fantasy writer, who shares a story from her book I Stole You, Stories from the Fae, which was a Lambda Literary Finalist in LGBTQ Science fiction, fantasy and horror. This story is a mesmerizing tale about a woodland supernatural creature longing for human connection and the consequences that come from trying to seek it.

The next story we have is a story from Long Story Short advisory board member Mark Michael Adams with this "true" story about exploring an abandoned prison at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. This prison is a looming castle over the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth and Kittery, Maine, made famous for being one of the most fearsome military brigs in all of the armed services. Known as the Alcatraz of the East, legend has it that if anyone escaped, the Marine guarding that prisoner would have to serve the remainder of his sentence. The prison closed in 1974 and has since been empty--with plenty of local conjecture as to what secrets might be inside. Here, Mark talks about a night he and his friends dared enter the secure facility and the supernatural occurrences they witnessed there.

The Portsmouth Halloween Parade is a community-funded event that relies on donations. Please consider making a donation at https://www.portsmouthhalloweenparade.org/ or attending one of their spooky fundraisers:

Fri Oct 1 – Rock Show @ Press Room, 8pm

Thu Oct 21 – SCARY-oke @ Daniel Street Tavern (aka D Street), 9pm

Fri Oct 22 – Movie Night @ Liar’s Bench, 8pm

Sat Oct 23 – Pumpkin SMASH @ Portsmouth Farmer’s Market*, 8am – 1pm

Sun Oct 24 – Halloween Costume Paddle Contest @ Pierce Island, 11am – 12pm

Wed Oct 27 – Flatbread Community Night @ Flatbread Portsmouth, 3pm – 9pm

Thu Oct 28 – Undead Beat Night @ Book and Bar, 7pm

For the most up-to-date information, check their Facebook page.

For more information about Long Story Short and the live shows, go to https://longstoryshortpod.com.

There's a lot more to someone's story than just their words. Body language or facial expressions help us get the full meaning. But what about audio-only media? Podcasts and radio? What happens between the words that help reveal the depth of the story?

This episode, we talk with writer and podcast producer Amor Yates about the craft of creating stories in podcasts. Yates is the Producer for Design Museum Everywhere’s weekly podcast, Design is Everywhere. Originally from Los Angeles, Amor discovered her love for audio storytelling at her KCRW internship in Santa Monica. There, she produced her first feature on the value of a community college education. Amor studied abroad in New Zealand where she wrote about tech news for an online publication. She graduated with a B.A. from UC Davis and has written and reported on topics of education, dating, travel, the restaurant industry, and technology. Before joining the team, Amor produced narrative-style podcasts, including We met on Tinder. Amor is based in New York City and loves sloths.

To connect with Long Story Short and learn about our live shows, go to https://longstoryshortpod.com.