"What does the body know?" featuring Marissa Brooks

This episode features Marissa Brooks, one of Campfire’s Fellows. Marissa provides her answer to the Season 15 question, "What does the body know?" A Fellow’s Campfire can best be described as TED without the data, The Moth but interactive, and a sermon but without the religion. You can learn more about Marissa Brooks on the Campfire website, https://cmpfr.com/events/marissa-brooks/.

The Campfire Fellows go through rigorous training and coaching provided by Campfire Faculty so they can share their wisdom through story for you. Our Fellows are the people next to you at stoplights or walking by on the street. These Fellows apply or are nominated by people like you, who know interesting and introspective people with some wisdom to share. The Fellows go through a unique process with our team to discover a wealth of wisdom inside themselves and then are trained on how to share the origin stories of their wisdom. 

This episode was originally performed in November 2024, produced by Jeff Allen, and recorded live at Work & Leisure.

Please be advised, some adult language is used during this episode and there are adult themes.

Transcript

Steven Harowitz (0:13):

Hello Internet. I'm Steven Harowitz and I will be your host for this episode of the Campfire Storytelling Podcast, recorded here in St. Louis, Missouri. This podcast shares stories about life and how we live it, as told at our live storytelling events. In this episode, we hear from our Season 15 Fellow, Marissa Brooks. 

Something to know about this episode is that the stories we hear from our Campfire Fellows can be pretty different from some of our other storytellers. Our Fellows program is interactive, it’s long form storytelling, and that’s pretty different than other storytelling podcasts, that the stories maybe are a bit shorter. These episodes are a deep dive into somebody’s life and are really best listened to when you want to sink into a story. 

So let’s head to the Campfire to listen to Marissa’s stories as she answers the season question: “What does the body know?"

Marissa Brooks (1:14):

Alright, we're here. We made it through the rain, the storm, all the things. And I'm so thankful to see each and every one of you. Hello, my name is Marissa Brooks. And welcome to my campfire. I know that for a lot of us, life has been lifeing. And today, I want to share my testimony in hopes of helping someone who might be struggling.

Marissa Brooks (1:49):

Our seasoned question, like Jess said, is, what does the body know? Throughout my story you will hear me talk about both the body and the spirit, and I challenge you to listen and reflect on all the many ways that I use both the body and the spirit.

Marissa Brooks (2:21):

How many of you are familiar with the term grandbaby?

Marissa Brooks (2:31):

See? Well, grandbaby is a term often used by southern grandparents to acknowledge their grandchildren, especially when they're pleased with them. Some grandbabies are super attached to their grandparents, so much so that they never want to, I’m sorry, they never want to go home with their parents. It's me. I bet you can tell by my laughter. It's me.

Marissa Brooks (3:06):

I was that type. I would hide underneath my grandmother's piano… My cousin’s agreeing with  me.. But yes, I would hide underneath my grandparents piano. And I would hide from my mom and I would be hoping and praying that they wouldn't see me underneath this piano. But everybody knew where I was, because that's the same place I hide every single time.

Marissa Brooks (3:35):

And then my grandfather, he will always step in and he'll be like, “let that grandbaby stay. I'll bring her home later on”. And I love that man, because guess what? I got to stay just a little bit longer.

Marissa Brooks (3:55):

My grandparents had such a huge influence on my life, and they taught me so many different things. But I'm what you would call an unbridled spirit. Now, I know most of you probably know what unbridled means. And it's true. I was a little bit wild. So much so, I'm gonna tell you this next story. Where's my mama? So this is mom. This is my mother right here. Her name is Mary Martin.

Marissa Brooks (4:33):

And she would take me to the store with her when she went shopping. So, I was very… I'm giving you all the the age. I was very young. I was probably 3, 4 or 5 years old. Okay. So she would take me to the store with her. But have you guys ever seen a child’s leash? Well, I was one of those kids that had to be contained by a child's leash.

Marissa Brooks (5:04):

So I'm gonna tell you, I’mma run y'all through this. So we'll pull up to the store. We get out, get out the car. My mom will get down on my level. She’d be like, girl, don't you touch anything in the store. She said, you know, you stay by me. Don't touch anything. And don't you run away.

Marissa Brooks (5:20):

And then she would proceed to put this leash on me. Now keep in mind, I'm a smart girl. If I say so myself. I'm sorry. And so I'm watching. I'm observing her put this leash on me and I'm like, how does she do this? And so she puts it on and we proceed to walk in the store.

Marissa Brooks (5:45):

Now, what she don't know is, as we're walking in the store, I'm looking around at all the clothes racks, trying to figure out which clothes rack I was going to hide in that day. So, mama, my mother would later tell me, that she would feel a lightness, like she was attached to air, and then she'll look over to her left.

Marissa Brooks (6:10):

And guess what? I was gone. I was gone. But little did she know, I wasn't that far from her. I was literally probably about four clothes racks ahead of her in the middle, staring right at her. And before my mother could panic, I would jump out in my pink snowsuit and be like, here I am. And you know what?

Marissa Brooks (6:41):

That felt good to me. It brought both my spirit and my body so much joy. My spirit felt good in my body, and my body knew that my spirit was well. So my grandparents, I said they were such a huge influence to me, and I want to properly introduce them to you. First, I’mma introduce you to Mr. John Brooks.

Marissa Brooks (7:23):

Mr. John Brooks. Mr. John Brooks was my unbridled spirit. He taught me how to live without any limitations. That southern man from Memphis, Tennessee, with deep Mississippi Gullah Geechee Louisiana Creole roots would always get creative. He only had an eighth grade education. But let me tell you about this man. He was in the military. He played the guitar.

Marissa Brooks (8:06):

He even lived in Saint Louis for two years and worked as a car washer and a musician before settling down with my grandmother in Louisville, Kentucky. And that's where I'm from, I didn't tell ya’ll. My grandfather would even do more beautiful things. My grandfather, he had an Uber service before Uber. He had a moving truck business, and he also was able to buy three houses, honey. Three with eighth grade education. 

Marissa Brooks (8:51):

Talk about teaching me how to live without limits, limitations. And those three houses, one he lived in with his family, his children, his wife, and then the other two he rented out. But upon his death, those houses went to his children. Now, on the other hand, we have my beautiful grandmother, and she's sitting right, she's sitting right here looking at me.

Marissa Brooks (9:32):

My grandmother's name is Mrs. Pearlie Mae Brooks. Pearlie Mae Brooks. Grandmommy. I can't call her that, Grandmommy.. She was my grounding spirit. She's deeply rooted in faith and the wisdom of God's word. And so, since I like spending so much time with my grandmother, I spent a lot of time at church. And when I say that I spent a lot of time at church, I spent a lot of time at church.

Marissa Brooks (10:15):

I was at church on Sundays, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, maybe not Friday, but of course on Saturday. And I did activities like liturgical dancing. I was in the choir. I went to Bible study. I did all the things. But most importantly, I went to Sunday service. Now, in my household, preparing for Sunday service was major. It was a major thing.  you gotta remember from the South.

Marissa Brooks (10:53):

Okay. So my mom would tell me and my sister to go pick out our dresses and our clothes and whatever we were going to wear for Sunday service. And so I grew up during a time… See, I'm gonna say this first. I've always been plus size, and I grew up during a time where there wasn't many stores that provided little girls dresses in plus sizes.

Marissa Brooks (11:19):

I think the only two stores might have been, J.C. Penney and Sears. Right, mama. And Sears. But my mama was so determined to make me feel included that she found a little dress shop that made beautiful plus size dresses. And she…. It was such an experience. She would take me to this dress shop, and it was like, they had like a little dressing room and a little small stage where I was able to see myself in this beautiful dress, ruffle dress.

Marissa Brooks (12:02):

And every Easter, every Christmas, every major holiday, my mom made sure that I was able to get to that store to get my dresses and in my dresses my spirit felt good in my body, and my body knew that my spirit was well. So back to the preparation for Sunday. One of the things that I would ask my mama was, I'll keep in mind, I'm, I'm, I'm a chubby girl and I got chubby just cause I was actually eating food.

Marissa Brooks (12:42):

And so one of my favorite parts of Sunday service was Sunday refreshments. And so the day before, on Saturday night, I would ask my mom, are we going to have Sunday refreshments? Are we gonna have Sunday refreshments? She might say say yes. She might say I don't know. And so I would literally think about that. Honestly

Marissa Brooks (13:09):

And I would wake up. We'll get dressed. Me and my sister and I ruffle socks and our dresses and our fresh hair because mama… most of the time we went to get our hair done on Friday nights, but sometimes we didn't get our hair done. And so she would do it on Saturday nights, but we'd be lookin’ fly..

Marissa Brooks (13:30):

And so we’d get in the car and we would go to church and all during the service, I was like, are we gonna have Sunday refreshments? And all during the sermon… Are we going to have Sunday refreshments? And then the time came, the pastor said And we all sing together. Amen, ya’ll can go to the back for Sunday refreshments.

Marissa Brooks (14:08):

And, oh wee, I would get super excited. I would rush to the back of the church so that I can be first in line to get Sunday refreshments. But yes, I love the food, but Sunday refreshments meant so much more to me than some sandwiches and pickles. Kool-Aid. Our tea. It was a time where my elders would pour into me, and to me they would share words of wisdom.

Marissa Brooks (14:44):

They would uplift me. They would check on me. They would see if I was okay. And I loved that. It made me feel good. My spirit felt good in my body, and my body knew that my spirit was well. I had some favorites. I had Uncle Lawrence. He's Deacon Lawrence. Deacon Lawrence. I ended up going to his alma mater, and every Sunday he'd be like, hey, Bulldog, that's our mascot.

Marissa Brooks (15:18):

He ain't never called me Marissa. He called me hey, Bulldog. And that made me smile mad because I was like, oh, we have something in common. And then Reverend Gadson, my pastor, he… I had vitiligo, at one point in my life. And if you don't, if you're not familiar with it, I lost pigment in my face and my neck.

Marissa Brooks (15:42):

Reverend Gadson for about a couple months touched me, and he prayed over me, and he checked on me every Sunday to make sure that what he felt in his spirit was manifesting in my body. And guess what? My color returned.

Marissa Brooks (16:13):

And then we have Miss Wainwright. She was our choir director, Miss Wainwright.  She empowered my voice. She taught me how to use my voice and taught me that a voice is a valuable thing. Yes, she taught me how to sing, which I don't sing, but she taught me how to sing. But she also taught me powerful words.

Marissa Brooks (16:34):

How to bring powerful words from the pit of my stomach, up through my throat to my world, so the world could hear what I have to say. And then last but not least, we have Ronnie Palmer. Now, Ronnie Palmer, he can sing ya’ll. Yeah, he's a singer. And he ended up... He loved me so much. Like every Sunday he would give me hugs and kisses and be like, oh, you're so beautiful today.

Marissa Brooks (17:06):

And guess what? When I got married to my husband over there, he sang. Ronnie Palmer sang at my wedding because I'm just that special.

Marissa Brooks (17:21):

But, church service and Sunday refreshments was an opportunity for me to learn about community and about how community can support others and uplift them, because there would be times where I might have been bullied at school and coming to church on Sunday and hearing those kind words from my elders when they didn't have to. They didn't have to check on me, but they did.

Marissa Brooks (17:51):

I was able to feel that impact and knew that it felt good to have my spirit fed. My spirit felt good in my body, and my body knew that my spirit was well. Until it didn't.

Marissa Brooks (18:22):

My senior year of high school, I was at home on a Wednesday night. I decided not to go to Bible study that day, but my grandmother went, she went to Bible study and I was… You heard me say, home, my second home of my grandparents house. I was watching my nephew and my grandfather came into the kitchen.

Marissa Brooks (18:49):

He got his orange tray and fixed his plate, put his food on the plate, put it on the orange tray and walked back to his room like it always does. He never ate his dinner at the table and I'm sitting there watching TV. The phone rings. It's my cousin and he was in jail at the time, and so it was important for me to speak to him. I talked to him for a little bit, and then he asked to speak to my grandfather. So I got up, my nephew in my hand, and I walked to the back of the house. I was so unprepared for what I was about to see.

Marissa Brooks (19:44):

When I walked into my grandfather's room, my grandparents room, my grandfather was laying back on his bed with his orange tray in his lap, his food seemingly untouched. He had his left arm to his side, and his right hand was scaling his left. He was looking up at the ceiling. Silently screaming for help. I dropped my nephew. I'm glad there was like a little cushion there, but I dropped my nephew. I hung up the phone and I called 911.

Marissa Brooks (20:40):

After I call 911 I called my grandmother and I told her that she needed to come home. She was at church. My grandfather had a stroke. And he was in a nursing home for three months.

Marissa Brooks (21:08):

During those three months. I couldn't go to the nursing home to go see him that often, because it was hard for me to see my unbridled spirit stifled. His body was no longer working properly, and so he was trapped inside of a body that couldn’t move.

Marissa Brooks (21:41):

One day he was rushed to the hospital from the nursing home. And the hospital called the family in.

Marissa Brooks (21:58):

I walked over to my grandfather and I held his cold right hand, and I looked at him, and I saw a long tear come from his left eye. And in my mind, I was thinking, unbridled spirit. It is okay. You can go, I love you, we love you. Go be free.

Marissa Brooks (22:33):

And my grandfather passed away. Oh, that was hard for me because I had never... I was 18 years old. That was my senior year of high school, and I had never experienced death like that.

Marissa Brooks (22:58):

My grandmother always will tell me that in the midst of a storm, be still and be quiet.

Marissa Brooks (23:15):

She would literally, during a storm, cut off all the lights in the house and have us sit down, be quiet, and be still.

Marissa Brooks (23:34):

Hey Google. Play thunderstorm sounds.

Marissa Brooks (23:48):

Now. What I'm asking of you right now is to sit, listen to the thunder sing. Be still and be quiet. Like I said, life has been lifeing. And sometimes we just need to be still and be quiet. So that we can understand what's going on in our life at that time. If we keep on going we will never be able to say or decide on the things that are hurting us. And know the next move. So I'm inviting you, and I'm gonna be quiet as you sit and listen to the sounds of the storm. (thunderstorm sounds play)

Marissa Brooks (25:41):

For some, I will acknowledge that this exercise was probably a bit difficult. But it's a practice. And a practice takes practice. Give yourself grace.

Marissa Brooks (26:05):

Now, let's move on to adulthood. I had, this is 2020, December 2020, I graduated with my master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, and soon after I pursued a PhD. During that time, I was invited to interview for this position in the small cohort, and I had to wait one month after the interview to receive an acceptance letter. During that time, I was feeling very spiteful because I didn't know whether I had got in or didn't get in and what my next steps would be.

Marissa Brooks (27:06):

But luckily, a month passed and I received an email and it said, congratulations, you've been accepted into a doctoral program. Now, I was super excited about this doctoral program.

Marissa Brooks (27:29):

Until my first day of class. On the first day of class one of my professors asked, “what brought you to this doctoral program?” And so me, as ambitious and free as I am, I said, “I come to this program because I want to help the black community. I want to strengthen the black community, and I want to see change in the black community. I want to be a leader.”

Marissa Brooks (28:08):

And my very ambitious answer was not quite what the professor wanted to hear. Let's say that. And she responded and said, “we don't come to doctoral programs to change the world.” In my mind, I didn’t say anything to her, but in my mind I was like, well, why the heck am I here? I'm not going to spend, you know, 3 or 4 years studying, not to want to change the world.

Marissa Brooks (28:48):

My father was very much an absent father. Papa’s a rolling stone and during this time being in this doctoral program he decided to take interest in me. Now, let me tell you a little bit, a little bit about him before I go on to tell the rest of the story. So my father, he's a psychologist and my father, he has 6 daughters total.

Marissa Brooks (29:18):

I'm the youngest. My eldest sister, she is also a psychologist, and she was a principal dancer in London. And then my middle sisters were socialites. Are socialites, actresses, authors, singers. And then the sister above me, she is a provost at a university and an attorney. So highly successful children and I've always had issues with feeling abandoned and rejected by him.

Marissa Brooks (30:05):

And so finding something that he was actually interested in about me, I didn't want to necessarily leave that doctoral program because finally, this man's paying attention to me. A funny story, he came to visit me a couple times while I was in the program, and we was downtown, and anybody that would give him the time of day, he would literally say, oh my, he's a little bougie. He's like, oh, my daughter is in the doctoral program. And they didn’t even ask for any of that information. He just volunteered it. 

Marissa Brooke (30:53):

But even though I was embarrassed, it brought me a little bit of joy because h e's my father and I want him to love me. But then, on the other hand, my spirit began to feel stifled, and it was stifled with disappointment.

Marissa Brooks (31:20):

And I slowly began to feel like, oh, well, how do I break it to him that I might not want to stay in this program?

Marissa Brooks (31:35):

I stayed in the program anyway. And my ambitions were met with microaggressions such as, I was told once upon a time that… I said something beautifully in layman's terms. And I also went three months without getting my living stipend. And if you know anything about doctoral programs, you live off your living stipend. And so every little microaggression that I experienced, even though they told me that my insight was appreciated, I felt like I couldn't be my authentic self.

Marissa Brooks (32:41):

Eventually my body began to break down because my spirit felt stifled. One morning I woke up and I attempted to stand so I can go get dressed to meet my clients for the day. And I collapsed to the floor. I had been diagnosed with spinal stenosis, which, if anybody knows what that is, spinal stenosis is a spine degenerative disease that is often associated with older adults.

Marissa Brooks (33:27):

And so I will spend a few months going to a P.T. and to the doctor. Now, my husband here, he was patient and did his best to support me during that time. One day he had to take me to the doctor's office at an elderly clinic. We pulled into the parking lot and I looked around and I didn't see any young people.

Marissa Brooks (33:59):

All I saw was my elders walking in with canes and you know, the things that old people carry. And then I go into the office and I sit down. I look around again. No young people in sight.

Marissa Brooks (34:18):

They call me back. Marissa Brooks, that's the nurse. And as soon as I got back into the room, I began to cry. I had, not a mental breakdown, but I had a moment. And I shed tears of shame, anger, frustration, everything that had been built up in me over those months and years, actually, of being in my doctoral program and the hurt for my father, other things that was going on in my life to start to pour out.

Marissa Brooks (34:57):

And the time nurse said to me, “baby, why are you crying?” I said, because I'm only 38 years old and I got a spinal stenosis diagnosis, and what am I going to do? I gotta be able to walk. And I have kids. Complaining. So she said to me “now, baby, you might have received a diagnosis, but remember that God has the last say. God is in control.” And that reminded me so much of what my grandmother would say all the time, especially during those storms. My grandmother would always say, God is in control.

Marissa Brooks (35:57):

I want to invite you guys to do an exercise with me. It's an exercise reflecting on what a stiffled spirit may feel like. But first let me ask you, have you ever in your life felt stifled? You don't have to answer right now. I just want you to think about that. And I also would like to invite you, if you're able to stand, if you're able, you don't have to, but if you're able, please stand.

Marissa Brooks (36:46):

Now, I would like for you to take your hands. Put them in front of you, and I want you to ball your fists up as tight as you can. And then I want you to bring your arms close to your side. We're going to hold this for a few seconds. I know it's uncomfortable, but we’re trying to feel stifled. Now, I want you to release your fists and release your arms. Ya’ll feel that release? You can have a seat now.

Marissa Brooks (37:35):

Can I get two volunteers to reflect on what it feels like to be stifled? And you can just raise your hand.

Audience Member (37:50)

Hi there everybody. My name is Quinn. I'm a building sub at one of the concept schools here. And let me tell you, being the building sub for middle school and high school is always stressful when you have over 1000 kids. 500 on each side. You're needed everywhere. A kid's crying somewhere. Someone threw beef jerky at someone's face or whatever. So I am dealing with all sorts of stuff on top of being in grad school. And today I really want… I was so happy to be here. I really wanted to meet you and to meet wonderful people here, and I just needed a break. I am, when you were talking about your story, all I thought about was my own grandpa and just everything that I've been going through.

Audience Member (38:33):

This is the second year I have not had him, and I felt like I needed to cry because there's just so much going on and I don't like crying. And I like to keep it to myself. And just, this exercise really made me understand that it's okay to do so. 

Marissa Brooks (38:50):

I want to give you a hug. It’s ok, it’s ok to cry. Can I get one more person to share, please? Thank you.

Audience Member (39:05):

My name is George. I'm unemployed. I'm on disability. I have autism, ADHD, anxiety, depression. You know, the works. And honestly, I feel like I've been stifled my entire life. Growing up, there were simply no kids in my area. It was just me and my parents and my grandparents, and they were. They were good. They were supportive. But I never had friends. And that persisted throughout adulthood. And my adolescent years because I'm autistic and, you know, we don't fit in and, well, I don't exactly know how to describe how it feels, but, there's this movie that I watched recently called I Saw the TV Glow, and that movie scared me to death because it was about someone who was feeling the way I did.

Audience Member (40:17):

They, I don't know how to explain this succinctly,, but basically at the end they were working at an arcade, restocking the ball pit with balls, and in the middle of a child's birthday party, they started screaming, screaming for their mom. And everyone just looked away. And, you know, sometimes I hear that scream inside of me, quiet.

Audience Member (40:55):

But it's there and it keeps getting louder. And I'm trying, I'm making an effort to make things better for myself, but I'm… I don't know, I just have to hope that it works out. 

Marissa Brooks (41:21):

Thank you, thank you. Thank you to the two people that shared, I appreciate it. It takes a lot to stand up here and to share a piece of yourself.

Marissa Brooks (41:35):

And for both of you, know that I understand. And there's other people in this world that are experiencing something very similar. So for me, when I was going through my body breaking down, I felt depressed. My spirit was dimmed, not quite dark, but diminished, and I had to find a way to get back to me. And so I had to be still and be quiet so that I can bring awareness to the things that I needed to release.

Marissa Brooks (42:30):

And then also to the things that I needed to adopt. And for me, I had to let go of my doctoral program.

Marissa Brooks (42:43):

I could no longer stay in a program that made me feel less than, intentional or not. And I had to let go of people that were mistreating me and refused to treat me the way that I wanted to be treated.

Marissa Brooks (43:12):

So a part of my healing was finding communities where I belong and where I felt supported. Just like Sunday service, or Sunday refreshments. I needed that a community like that. And I found that in places like WEPOWER and Generate Health, and in those spaces I was surrounded by, I am I'm still there. I'm surrounded by like minded people with the same mission of supporting black communities, especially after years of oppression.

Marissa Brooks (43:49):

And so what I say to you, young man, is find your community, list things that you're interested in and go on sites like, just search on Google. That's kind of how I found, Campfire. Search on Google or Eventbrite, that’s what I was looking for. Eventbrite and type in those things that interest you and start going to those places, and you will find people that think like you, that enjoy the things that you enjoy, and won't think that you're so different and it's okay to be different.

Marissa Brooks (44:45):

You just got to find environments where people appreciate your different. And so you baby, take your time. Know that we are not robots. We don't have to keep on going, going, going. Sometimes we just have to be still. So that we can figure out what our next steps are. And I also would give you the same advice. Get you a tribe, because when you have good friends, when you have good friends and you have good family like I have, they check on you.

Marissa Brooks (45:31):

It might not be, you know, nothing more than a couple of sentences on a text message. But the fact that somebody thought about me makes my whole day so much better. So find your tribe. Now, I've kept ya’ll here. You have been pacing. You have done such an amazing job. And I'm someone that absolutely loves call and responses.

Marissa Brooks (46:03):

And I love affirmations. So I'm gonna get my paper out because this is something that I want to make sure I get right.

Marissa Brooks (46:18):

So because I love,,, I have two things for you guys, first of all, I want to say that. I have a call and response which is full of affirmations that I've used throughout my healing journey, and I have to also say that there's no resolution to my story. Other than that I'm still on the journey, still learning.

Marissa Brooks (46:40):

I'm still trying to find my pieces that are missing, remembering where I come from, and how can I bring those pieces into my life. So thinking back to my story, I felt good in my body when I was allowed to be unbridled. Not wild, but just free. And I didn't want to wait until death to be free.

Marissa Brooks (47:14):

So I took the initiative to relinquish control and to adopt the things and practices that sustain the life in which I wish to live. And a lot of time it’s just that simple. Planning those things that bringing in awareness, listing and writing down how you want your life to be, and then bringing in those pieces and practices that sustain that life.

Marissa Brooks (47:49):

So I'm going to offer you guys a call and response. And afterwards you guys will get a swag bag with some of my favorite items. So if you could please stand. And I'm going to invite you to repeat after me. Healing is not a destination, but a journey. Our bodies speak the language of resilience. We are worthy of restoration. In every moment, we can choose to heal and choose to heal. And this one right here is so important because of the state of our country. Together we rise stronger than before. And I want to leave y'all with this. My spirit feels good in my body. And my body knows that my spirit is well. 

Marissa Brooks (48:27):

Thank you. And I appreciate you guys for coming. We have swag bags in the back. Thank you!

Steven Harowitz (49:42):

That is a wrap. Make sure you’re notified when our next episodes hit the airwaves by subscribing to the Campfire Storytelling Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you liked what you heard, please leave a review. It helps others find our podcast and it really does support the storytellers. Hey, we’d love to have you come out to an event or take a class. Visit cmpfr.com for all the details. 

Steven Harowitz (50:12):

Our live events and these episodes are all ad and sponsor free. We can only do that because of the folks who take our public classes and the organizational clients we get to work with. If you or an organization that you work with are interested in learning storytelling, please reach out. Visit cmpfr.com for all the details. As always, a huge thank you to the Campfire team, everybody who attends our live events, and of course our storytellers. Thank you for listening to the Campfire Storytelling Podcast. I’ve been your host, Steven Harowitz. Until next time.