There are many ways to receive a Stage IV breast cancer diagnosis: disbelief, rage, horror are a few words that come to mind. But it’s possible that nobody has ever taken the news quite like TMI Project storyteller, Erica Chase Salerno, who was known to treat the chemo ward like a cocktail party, a place to chat up the other patients, whether they were in the mood or not.
Episode Notes:
This is Episode 5, Season 1 of The TMI Project Story Hour, Tragedy + Time = Comedy featuring the late storyteller Erica Chase Salerno. It was produced in partnership with Radio Kingson with production assistance from Ida Hakkila, Nate Brogan, Marlan Barry and Manuel Blas.
Sari Botton, TMI Project’s previous editorial director and workshop leader, worked closely with Erica on this monologue which she read for the first time at a gallery in New Paltz, New York in 2017. She passed away in February 2019. Six days before she died she invited Shana Falana from the podcast, I WANT WHAT SHE HAS to interview her at her bedside about the experience of dying.
Resources/Links:
Remembering Erica Chase Salerno: https://www.tmiproject.org/remembering-erica-chase-salerno-enthusiasm-incarnate/
Erica’s writing on HV1: https://hudsonvalleyone.com/author/erica-chase-salerno/
I want what SHE has podcast: https://iwantwhatshehas.org/podcast
Episode Contributors:
Eva Tenuto, TMI Project Co-founder, Executive Director, & Podcast Co-host
Micah Blumenthal, TMI Project Workshop Leader & Podcast Co-host
Hayley Downs, TMI Project Story Hour Producer
Erica Chase Salerno, Storyteller
Blake Pfeil, Operations Manager, TMI Project
Sara DeRose, External Affairs Director, TMI Project
Storytelling Prompt:
Write a story about a time you were able to clearly see the silver lining.
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