May 2022: Story Slam at the Mann
The skies cleared, the air warmed and the storytelling soared last Wednesday evening as the Sunday Breakfast Club held its final program of the 2021-22 season at the Mann Center’s Acclaim outdoor event space.
It was the club’s second annual Story Slam, with six storytellers - four club members and two invitees - weaving tales of six minutes or so on the theme “Now What … for Me and Mine?”
Maiken Scott, host of WHYY’s The Pulse, expertly emceed the proceedings, which ended with an audience vote on which of the six storytellers did the best job of combining strong content with deft delivery.
The winner was one of the guests, Terrill Haigler, who described his transition during the first year of the pandemic from novice city sanitation worker into “Ya Fav Trashman.” Haigler's alter-ego became an Instagram sensation, appearing on the Kelly Clarkson Show and getting invited to the White House. Haigler has now started a nonprofit called Trash to Treasure that organizes community trash cleanups.
Haigler described himself as a “skinny black guy with three kids” whose career as a professional dancer foundered when casting directors discovered that, while he sure could dance, he very definitely could not sing.
He started as a city of Philadelphia sanitation worker just months before COVID-19 hit. He began his social media account as "Ya Fav Trashman" in June 2020. His goal was to publicize how hard his fellow workers had been hit by the virus and to help explain to the public why trash pickups were going slowly.
“I figured I could be the host with the most, so I started going live at 7 a.m. to tell people what trash day we really were on. Like, in the real world it was Thursday, but in ‘trash world’ it was just Monday, because we were three days behind.” So, people started putting their trash out on the likeliest day and pickups started to go more smoothly.
By September, the Ya Fav Trashman account had 20,000 followers and the national attention was mounting. In December 2020, Haigler said, the Biden campaign came calling, asking him to be part of a commercial to air in Georgia during its Senate runoff: “They said: We need a black guy who’s a laborer to do a commercial. Do you have any training? I said: No, but for you, yes.”
As the audience’s pick for best story slammer, Haigler will get a $250 donation from the club to his nonprofit.
Here’s a rundown of the rest of our roster of fine storytellers:
Geoff DiMasi
Story theme: A tough road through the pandemic is redeemed by his experience of getting to know the adult that his oldest child was becoming. It all happened through helping his daughter write her college application essays.
Key quote: “The past couple of years have been the great unmooring for me. I’ve seen things, done things – wiping groceries with alcohol? – that I never thought I’d do, seen people behave in ways I never thought they would. … I learned the value of being a pessimist, of being skeptical. I will probably never trust in the same way again.”
You can hear about Geoff’s voyage of discovery with his daughter, Lila, here.
Martha Cooney
Story theme: The benefits and pitfalls of working in the gig economy. She told a funny tale of getting a gig tutoring a very strange fellow to take a graduate school exam. Somehow, this gig eventually landed her one day in a movie theater where she never saw the end of the movie because a knife fight broke out. (It all makes sense, when she tells it.)
To find out how Ryan Reynolds figures into this story, click here.
Barbara Silzle
Story theme: A candid, funny account of Silzle's long fight to keep the Philadelphia Cultural Fund running, concluding with a pop cultural allusion that she imbues with metaphysical weight: Am I George Jetson, or his dog, Astro? She finally realized she wants to be Astro, and that has made all the difference.
Key quote: "In the arts, it’s all about survival. Everyone in the arts, not just in Philly, around the world, we are on our knees."
To learn why Silzle got tired of emulating George Jetson, click here.
Pamela Raitt
Story theme: Raitt left the corporate fast track to found a values-driven start-up with a partner. The pair vowed never to ape the behaviors of “Silicon Valley bro culture.” Maybe you think you’ve heard this tale before, but this one has a twist. Raitt discovered she actually missed some things about corporate life – and her “now what?” is a return to a corporate job, but with an entirely new outlook.
Key quote: “I missed being on a team. I missed structure. I missed waking up each morning feeling excited about solving problems. I missed direct deposit.”
Matthew Cabrey
Story theme: When pondering a career change two years ago, Cabrey thought back to the lessons he learned as a kid in Delaware County, sitting around the “breakfast table” while his parents and siblings chatted about their days.
Key quote: “Frankly, sometimes it’s listening that is all that’s needed. … I’m where I was meant to be. My role is to help people think through complex challenges.
To hear Cabrey extol the lasting value of a family taking meals together, click here.
Chris Satullo, the club’s program director, also shared a story by prerecorded video, since he was out of town that evening.
Story theme: Give people dealing with disease room to handle it the way they need to. Spare them the rah-rah talk about “being positive” or “battling.”
Key quote: “The shadow is always there. You do not, do not, do not tempt it with premature victory dances. You just endure. You live on. You do your best. And you never, never, never forget that we all die of something.”
To learn why Chris has a strange fondness for Harry Stiles, watch this.