My Rant

Does this not just irk the devil out of you? You work hard for very little money, but for something which you feel passionate about and instead of gratitude or support, or even apathy, you get outright disdain for your efforts.
I subscribe to the Storytell Listserv (to join go to: http://www.twu.edu/cope/slis/storytell.htm) partly because it is part of my job, and partly because I am a storyteller and there is a lot of valuable information out there. Yesterday they started complaining about the total lack of value in NSN. Some of the NSN members spoke up for us, but for the most part it's been a gripe-a-rama.
It makes me mad to know that people don’t appreciate or even comprehend how busy the NSN office is. And where is the board? Do any of them read these posts? If not, why aren’t they? The Listserv is the pulse of the storytelling community.

I feel compelled to post something so that people will understand that NSN knows our shortcomings, but can’t do anything about them without help and permission from the board. However, I also know that I am not the voice of NSN- nor am I qualified to be, since I am not technically even a member (I've never paid my dues).

However- all of that aside- it's obnoxious. No one addresses these issue to NSN- no one calls us to ask why we don't sell our members' stuff or why we charge so much for conference or why we don't do all sorts of things. They just whine and complain about what NSN isn't doing or what they're not getting. They don't recognize any of the things that we do offer or that the office is seriously underpaid and understaffed. We're a non-profit and they think that means that we shouldn't make any money- monkey snot! The money we make adds new grants and new ways to promote Storytelling nationwide. This isn't just good for our business- it's good for their business.
I'm largely an artist- I don't really enjoy all that technical, mathy junk- but you have to pay the bills and you have to support the things you want to survive.

Another thought- Today I found out that I may be on the noon news show of Channel 11 here in the big JC. I'm getting ill.

Chara Watson
(who has to blow off steam every now and then)