by Jack Uslabar

Ex Fabula’s second StorySlam of Season 18, Signs, took place at Dandy on an unseasonably mild October 13th. Fittingly, it was a bridge between the organization’s normal competitive StorySlams and Deaf Stories Project: Deaf emcees Erin Wiggins and Brian Peters communicated with American Sign Language, and there were a mix of speaking and signing storytellers. The talented team of interpreters over at Professional Interpreting Enterprise provided live interpretation into both English and ASL.

Having covered both a Slam that took place at Dandy and a Deaf Stories Project event during my internship with Ex Fabula, when I was offered the chance to blog the event, I took it as a sign to sign up. I watched the event from a particularly cozy corner of the quaint venue, surrounded by warm lamps and potted plants.  Following a land acknowledgement and an explanation of brave spaces, the storytelling got under way: 

  • Newbie Matt S. took the mic first and told a story about how escaping the wrath of high school football players during a night of adolescent hooliganry was a sign to abstain from drinking.
  • Newbie Grace K. was next, sharing a Shakespearean medical tragedy and the signs of care she observed from the people around her.
  • Newbie Megan W. rounded out the first set with a poignant observation on the ways people ignore signs in search of reassurance.
  • Alyson U. opened the middle section of the night, telling a story in ASL about some of the meanings lost in translation during her Peace Corps service in Ecuador.
  • Newbie Nancy G. recalled seeing the K-Mart sign from her aunt’s living room and getting lost while trying to follow it to the store.
  • Newbie Danielle K. closed the second set with a story about seeing her grandparents’ favorite birds everywhere after their deaths and the trouble of explaining to her son that the birds were a symbol, not his actual ancestors.
  • Mark S. opened the final set with a heartwarming tale of overlooking his initial “gym-broism” to make multiple turtle connections all the way down at the post office.
  • Newbie Roo S. told a story of improbable survival and conveniently placed warning signs during a family expedition on a flooded Mississippi River.
  • Newbie Jenna H. was the last teller of the night, recounting the signs of her declining vision through difficulties driving and navigating.

Danielle K. was crowned the winner at the end of the night for the funny and sad story of her grandparents and son. This was just the second Slam of Ex Fabula’s 18th Season,  and a newbie winner should be a sign to everyone thinking about sharing at a StorySlam: you, too, can connect Milwaukee through real stories.

Photo of the audience at StorySlam: Signs raising their hands to applaud in American Sign Language