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Your brainstorming session on storytelling via the Internet

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Stuck? Here are some creative ways to tell stories online:

 
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About Nate Baker

I chronically start things.

Belmont pinned a journalism badge on me in 2008. Learn more about me or let's connect on:

See also: Director of Technical Support at Sitemason; Belmont University journalism grad; Founder of over-lunch Internet consultancy Diving Board; Founder of homeless bloggers network Click Homeless; Aspiring fiction writer; Backup Groomsman for hire.

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Filter to the latest on Nashville, technology, homelessness, journalism, or original stories.


Feb21

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The first silver hair


A young mother ruffles the hair of her naked daughter with a towel
Momma what’s that silver in your hair? Should we tear it out?
The mother lifts the child on the sink so their eyes meet
Look at me

When the first silver hair arrives, never tear it out dear
It runs from your spine to your neck to your head, keeping you straight
Yours hasn’t grown out yet, but if I pinch above your head you’ll see
Mirror me

There will be a time when color will yell at you, but remember
Your silver hair is more beautiful than all the color that robes you
Your posture is more powerful than the spine of a magazine
You’ll see

The man that sees your silver hair will mirror you
Like you did me


Creative Commons License“The first silver hair” by Nathan T. Baker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Jan23

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My love now available on DVD




We are drawn together by an outside force
A faulty elevator, delayed planes, a broken revolving door—you choose
We share hotdogs and I wipe mustard from the side of her lip

Just as we are falling in love I lie about a secret
I’m not a prince, it was all a bet, I’m her enemy—you choose
It’s dark and messy but people are still winking at the camera

I find her and look ridiculous in public as an act of pursuit
I shed my fears, I find her symbolic treasure, I sing to the streets—you choose
She runs to me: repeats a phrase, repeats a phrase, repeats a phrase

She leaves the guy she’s really not in love with
Oh yeah, throw the other guy in somewhere near the beginning
At the end we give the bad guys happy endings too


Creative Commons License“My love now available on DVD” by Nathan T. Baker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Jan19

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Walking without headphones


The passing jogger has a smoker’s cough
I hear the buzz of neon and the guitar from the balcony
The short girl’s dog is named grace
I’m walking without headphones
and now the park sounds like a place

Dec20

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Sharpened Serifs (a stop-motion love poem)


I animated this original love poem with shaving cream, water and a digital camera. Enjoy!



Sharpened Serifs
By Nathan T. Baker

I watched her lips say
I love you
Into her phone
To her Russell Terrier
But it will never be for me
Until I whittle the words from my lips
And sharpen the serifs like arrowheads


“Floating Shells” music by The Suit, Inc. and “Sharpened Serifs” by Nathan T. Baker licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Can I have my emo badge now?

Aug31

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Fabry and the Goldfish


Fabry raises his wine towards the happy couple with his right hand. With his left he drops a piece of roll to the goldfish in the flower vase.

Through the vase, he watches the warped shapes of the best man talking.

Love is patient, the best man is saying.

Can I have what I want now? Fabry whispers to the fish.

The fish turns to listen and lets the carrot and roll bits fall around him like snow.

Fabry lowers his wine and finishes it in an Adam’s apple gulp.

Read More

Jul7

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Overlooking Florence Alabama on the Fourth of July



15:01 | itunes | podomatic | mp3

Every Fourth of July the Rainer family hosts a fireworks viewing on their lawn, which overlooks the Tennessee River in Florence, Alabama.

The best view in the area is always teeming with family and neighbors.

This is my attempt at capturing the sounds of Florence and the heart of the Rainer household.

Photos of the gathering from 2006 and 2005.

Jun30

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Dynamic Paintings of The Future


It calculates how close you are and enlarges the frame as you teeter close.

It creates the sensation of depth by merging inputs based on the distance between your eyes and your closeness. No polarization tricks. No glasses. No staring at a dot or crossing your eyes required.

The technology is seamless as air.

If you like, it recreates the weather in your precise location and spawns pixels of rain drizzle on a wet day and flashes of light during thunderstorm warnings.

It emits your daily does of vitamin D, which sets off a chemical response which pumps a mental association of childhood adventures into the crevasses of your brain.

The lifetime warranty guarantees if you spend at least five minutes a day looking at the painting, it will add two years to your life, or your money back—to whoever you specify in your will.

Art reviewers agree it reinforces the where of your belonging. They call it Essential.

Economists agree the price point for such an advancement in technology will make it accessible to every household. They call it Viral.

Dead artists agree in their well-catalogued notebooks it is the fulfillment of a prophesy. They call it Inspiration.

It can track the movement of a nearby fly and recreate the image of the fly’s legs touching glass.

If you like, you can teeter extra close and smash your hand against the paining, which responds and displays the fly fleeing from your input.

But the true magic is this.

Of all the reprints, none are the same. And in each instance of the billions of blinking eyes, large and small, that look into reprints of a Dynamic Painting, never—never even once, is the image the same as it was a millisecond ago.

They call it Window.

Jun3

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Bookstore Magician


A magician strolled down the how-to isle cradling Your First Herb Garden.

Rows of books became rosemary, basil, parsnip perhaps—the daydream died at the “Magic Tricks Revealed” sign.

The magician fumed. He readied the herb book.

  1. Twist the ends of you mustache with your finger and thumb.
  2. Press the desired series of letters in a bound book.
  3. While fanning the pages out, blow through them and towards your target.

“Sellouts and Traitors” spawned.

Smiling, the magician twisted his mustache and hide his fingers in his hands. He blew through his hands towards the magic books.

They shifted about but nothing happened.

He tried again. Nothing. Again. Nothing.

“Huzzombie!”

The girl at the checkout began to watch. The magician knelt and scanned the books.

Making Little Kids Cough Up Goldfish
Making Little Kids Think You’re A God Dude
Making Things Appear
Making Things Disappear


The missing step was in Making Things Disappear.

After twisting his mustache, he hid his fingers in his hands (behind his back this time), and blew at the books.

They disappeared.

He carried Your First Herb Garden and Making Things Disappear to the counter.

The girl looked up from her book.

“Look magician, unless you can make those books reappear, you’re paying for them.”

Flipping through Making Things Disappear his face grew red.

“Huzzombie!”

Luckily he remembered a trick.

  1. Twist the ends of you mustache with your finger and thumb.
  2. Take a check and fold it in half three times.


The girl’s finger tapped CASH OR CREDIT ONLY.

He handed her a Visa.

The magician walked out with a herb book, a bill for over $3,000, and the knowledge of how to make things disappear but not reappear.

At the chime of the exit bell, the girl bookmarked her spot in Making Things Appear.

She walked to the empty section and pulled a mustache from her back pocket.


Creative Commons License“Bookstore Magician” by Nathan T. Baker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

May27

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Terms of Marriage


He passed his proposal across the table.

His eyes undressed her. Her eyes paced over the page.

Terms of Marriage

For each minute of life we share, you may read one word from my JOURNAL until you’ve read it all.

JOURNAL is the bound book notarized by Shelby R. F. Goodman.

X__________________

“HUSBAND, how many journals do you have?”

“More than one.”

“I want the opportunity to know you completely.”

“We share a common goal.”

“Does that mean what I hope it doesn’t?”

“Yes. The reason I write is to have the opportunity to know myself completely.”

“HUSBAND, I’m jealous. Your words need to be for me.”

“That’s what I’ve written in the other journals. That’s what you can’t see. That it takes this much work to believe what I believe.”


Creative Commons License“Terms of Marriage” by Nathan T. Baker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

May6

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There are only roses in this park


Yeah so there were only roses in this park.

I heard about this in high school biology. Natural selection I think they call it.

But the people kept picking all the flowers, mainly roses, so the flowers that were pruned kept growing bigger and bigger each year.

And hardly anyone picked grass, maybe dogs ate it sometimes, so each year things turned to roses, like the trees, even the water when the ducks got jealous.

The people started to walk delicately to not step on them all, and all the gymnasts would hold lessons like how to pick a rose with your toes then grand battement it to your ear.

It was all roses till the local news broke a story.

The newscaster said something like “shit, there are thorns everywhere.”

So we killed the roses and now we only let them grow in a few corners.


Creative Commons License“There are only roses in this park” by Nathan T. Baker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Apr17

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BYOB


Best buy buns brotha
Best be bringin beer
Better believe bummin be beseechin be breakin byob basics, beware


Creative Commons License“BYOB” by Nathan T. Baker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Mar30

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Night


The shadows grew till there was no light
Imitating bar and street lights remainedLike weak cover bands
The sun moved to a different lover
Intrigued by the city on the next hill
Never settling down
Always covering ground
Leaving behind a trail of dark
Faces longing for light


Creative Commons License“Night” by Nathan T. Baker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Mar24

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A Silent Song



Creative Commons License“A Silent Song” by Nathan T. Baker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Dec25

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Santa gave me a recording box


mp3 | itunes

10 min. 48 sec.

I left my camera in Nashville and turned off Twitter during Christmas so I could focus on the sounds of family and the Holidays.

Follow my journey through the Cumberland Plateau as I discover the joys of pointing my recording box for the first time.

Credits: Samples from It’s a Wonderful Life. “Bread” song by Hi Stakes featuring KCentric.


Creative Commons License“Santa gave me a recording box” by Nathan T. Baker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.