atatnall

Me Talk Titty One Day | Jasmine Davila

October 7, 2015 by atatnall

Me Talk Titty One Day was read as part of Miss Spoken’s May 2014 show–the theme was Boobs. You can find Jasmine at 15:30. I’m fat. I am actually quite fat. I’m fat pretty much everywhere, from the top of my big old Charlie Brown head to the bottoms of my Fred Flintstone feet. Fat everywhere except for two places. The area between my neck and my stomach. Specifically, MY BOOBS. If I had to pick any two places on my body to […]

Categories: Jasmine Davila, Miss Spoken

Cookie | Nestor Gomez

October 7, 2015 by atatnall

I was fifteen years old when my family moved from Guatemala to Uptown, Chicago. On my first day in Chicago I befriend some Mexican kids who offered to show me around the neighborhood, especially Chicago’s famous lake shore. I got really excited and I told them in perfect Guatemalan lingo, “Vamos a chingar la pita,” which to me meant nothing more than, “Let’s go have some fun.” Unknown to me, my, “Vamos a chingar la pita,” to these Mexican kids […]

Categories: Nester Gomez

The Need of Suffering | Ian Belknap

October 7, 2015 by atatnall

Men, as a rule, do not suffer well. We cannot cope with the sadness that threatens always to overtake us. We are always afraid, and cannot put a name to being so. We are chronically confused, but are incapable or unwilling to acknowledge this reality. Mostly, I think, we do not like the admission that we are sad, and confused, and afraid. That’s what all the fuckin’ and fightin’ is about. And how sports have come to consume us. We […]

Categories: Guts & Glory, Ian Belknap

Handicap Bathroom Stall | Mary Jo Pehl

October 7, 2015 by atatnall

Whenever I use a public restroom, I go for the handicap bathroom stall. When I’m in there, I like to imagine how I’d remodel it if I were forced to live there. Like if the entire building were taken hostage while I was in the restroom, and they hostage-takers said, “You have to stay in there for an indefinite amount of time as we make our point or until our demands are met.” This is not a fear. This is […]

Categories: Cheap Theatre Storytelling, Mary Jo Pehl

Exploding Rainbow | Karen Gennelly

September 30, 2015 by atatnall

Room 376 is a quiet eighth-grade classroom. We have just come back from spring vacation. Suddenly- BAM! The door slams open with such force that the windows shake. In walks, no, in struts a skinny boy, who exclaims: “Hey hey hey homies, it’s me, Michael. I’m the new kid in school.” I have to tell you, from the point of view of a teacher, it is never a good sign when the kids announce themselves. Our aging security guard Mr. […]

Categories: Karen Gennelly, Story Club North Side

Aunt Linda | Jeff Miller

September 24, 2015 by atatnall

Things I’ve been doing differently these days: Fewer adverbs. More suspense. More nose hair monitoring. Less sleep. Not drinking enough water. Way more open discourse with animals on the street than their owners would prefer. And while I’m not exactly proud of this, I’ve been getting my hair cut at a place called SportClips. Sport. Clips. A place for people that love sports so much they’re here to cut their hair off just to prove it. Sport. Clips. Two words […]

Categories: Guts & Glory, Jeff Miller

First Lie | Robert Daniel Evers

September 16, 2015 by atatnall

Listen. I am eight years old and we are in a rural Iowa town. It is 1990. We have a pretty cool stereo; it has a double tape deck so you can dub tapes, an AM/FM radio, and a turntable that we use to listen to Yellow Submarine. Resting on the floor, attached to the record player, is a set of old speakers. They are covered in about an inch of dust. Written in the dust on the top of […]

Categories: CHIRP Radio's The First Time, Robert Daniel Evers

A Day at the Ranch | Kim Nelson

September 9, 2015 by atatnall

I’ve only truly feared for my life once. I was driving from Big Sur to San Francisco with two friends. We decided to stop at a ranch to go horseback riding on the beach. We talked to the stablehand, and were introduced to our horses. “Do you have any riding experience?” he asked. “Sure!” we replied cheerily, because junior high riding lessons totally count, right? I mean, I still knew all the words to En Vogue’s “Free Your Mind” and […]

Categories: Kim Nelson, The Kates

My Dad’s Housemate | Ramona Richards

September 2, 2015 by atatnall

I’ve called my dad on the phone every Sunday since college. We talk about normal, boring, old man things: the weather, the meals we ate that week, how our respective cars have been running, our cardiovascular health. The only thing that has really changed about our calls in the past couple years has to do with my dad’s housemate, who is usually gone when I call. Each Sunday his housemate volunteers at the aquarium, or as my dad calls it, […]

Categories: Ramona Richards, Story Club North Side

Story Club Magazine

A magazine for nonfiction performance.

Author Archives: atatnall

Me Talk Titty One Day | Jasmine Davila

Cookie | Nestor Gomez

The Need of Suffering | Ian Belknap

Handicap Bathroom Stall | Mary Jo Pehl

Exploding Rainbow | Karen Gennelly

Aunt Linda | Jeff Miller

First Lie | Robert Daniel Evers

A Day at the Ranch | Kim Nelson

My Dad’s Housemate | Ramona Richards