The stories didn’t have to be about ‘Murica at all and they weren’t.
Fear can be a healthy emotion when used sparingly and for things we need to be mindful of. But when fear is taken to an extreme, I’ve found it terribly unhelpful.
Living in fear is not the way to go. Swing out, sisters and brothers! Get your brave on. We’re here for you. We can’t let bullies get in our way. Especially now.
We’ve got work to do, things to celebrate, and idiots to ignore.
A brief mention about our tagline. When we initially launched WBTYS, our tagline was 1 Story. 4 Minutes. Zero Dicks. Some people loved it, some absolutely did not. I thought it was funny. I still do. And we won’t lose our edge, our snark, our freedom to say what we want to, without fear. We’re taking a stand and using our voices. We’re taking care of each other.
I’ve decided that it’s time to focus on more kindness. I still won’t tolerate dickish behavior, but we’re pivoting a bit. The new tagline is:
1 Story. 4 Minutes. All Heart.
It feels right to make this change now.
We can be angry about the great divides happening all around us, and about the injustices being perpetrated every single day. It doesn’t mean we have to lose connection with the love that resides within each of us. I believe that more than one feeling can exist at the same time. And I’d rather start from a place of generosity and kindness than one of anger, aggression, and exclusion.
I’m devoted to creating and maintaining a safe space for anyone who feels excluded, disenfranchised, and judged for not fitting into a rigid cultural construct imposed by others who think they know what’s right.
There will be more about this later but for now, let’s leave it here.
Wham! Bam! Thank You! Slam! has reached a significant milestone this past week. We’ve become a Bestseller on Substack. That means more than 100 people are paid subscribers because they believe in the work we do here, and want to support our project and growth!
To celebrate, we’re offering a 50% off discount on the regular annual subscriber price of $100.
For today, June 20, 2026 you can get the subscription for $50 for the next 12 months. That means you’ll get a free ticket to the live show!
Watch the show in full, or scroll beyond it to see each storyteller’s video.
However you choose to watch, enjoy!
Watch the entire show here.
Or see the stories, one by one and meet our storytellers, below.
Mel Moseley
Mel Moseley is a storyteller, writer, actor, musician, mosaic/mixed-media artist, and fledgling witch at Mel’s Messy Love Lab. She lives with her black cat, Shadow, mostly off-grid in Fiddletown, CA. If you want to collaborate with her, the project has to include play, community, and creativity and Wham! Bam! Thank You! Slam! passes the litmus test!
Amie Newman
Amie is a 57-year-old writer who is too stubborn to want to write a snarky bio on demand. This is definitely not because of menopause. She is editing an anthology about eating disorders in midlife women titled This Is Not Your Mother’s Eating Disorder, producing an associated documentary, and is hard at work nurturing a menopause coven to topple the patriarchy.
Bridget Young
Bridget Young is not a mama bear. She is a mama wolf who refuses to perform in the circus. A mother, a psychologist, and the creator of Black Sheep Mom on Substack, she questions everything she has ever been taught.
Christine Destrempes
Christine is a visual artist, social and environmental activist, and writer. Born into an eccentric (think Coen brothers meet Bergman) family, she became familiar with the absurd early in life. Once she figured out the key to happiness is self-acceptance, she’s rocking her golden years.
Claire Polders
Claire was born in Gouda — that place from the famous Dutch cheese — lived two decades in Paris, married an American in Italy, slow travels the world as a nomad, and is in love with Japan. She published six books. She’s mainly funny when she doesn’t intend to be.
Claire’s books are listed on Wham! Bam! Books! Bookshop or Amazon shop.
Wake Lloire
Wake Lloire is a non-binary whirlwind. They love macarons, the colour of night just before it’s truly dark and want to apologize for the extra ‘u’ in colour, because they are very very Canadian. You can read their work at Whimsical Writing With Wake.
Wake has joined our Crew, and their title is “Intermezzo.” They willl tell a story at each show in the space between the first and second acts. I was calling it our “intermish” but Intermezzo has a much better ring to it. Wake brings their delight, humour (I put the “u” in humor, in honor of Wake’s Canadian Ways) and whimsy to this project. Wake also brings 30 years of experience producing and participating in storytelling shows.
Welcome, Wake. Slamone is jumping for joy. You’re someone who’ll converse with her en Français!
Elizabeth Yoffe
Elizabeth Yoffe is an independent documentary producer, a writer, an artist, and a stroke survivor. She has come to relate deeply to the lyric from Bowie’s “Changes: “Ooh, look out you rock ‘n’ rollers… pretty soon now you’re gonna get older”, while reveling in the joy, freedom and clarity of post-menopause.
Lisa St. Lou
Lisa St. Lou is singer-songwriter and comedy writer at the “no fucks to give” part of her life. Finding humor in middle age, ex-pat life in France, and reflections on being married to (and divorced from) a megalomaniacal narcissist. But it’s funny.
Maria Cassano
Maria Cassano is a professional writer, editor, journalist, and author who now spends a disproportionate amount of her time arguing with conservative trolls in her comments. She's been published in HuffPost, Bustle, NBC, Food & Wine, and USA Today, and her debut memoir (Numb, Party of One: A Memoir of Healing From Dissociation) is currently available for pre-order.
Maria’s book is listed on Wham! Bam! Books! Bookshop or Amazon shop.
Natalie Serber
To the chagrin of some, I’ve written about family, love, and friendship, abortion, rape, cancer, and eating disorders, all in the service of learning to be a better human. I have a story collection, Shout Her Lovely Name, a NYTs notable book. And a memoir, Community Chest.
Natalie’s books are listed on Wham! Bam! Books! Bookshop or Amazon shop.
Professor Meredith
Professor Meredith is a historian, writer, and professional overthinker who spends an alarming amount of time yelling about gender, politics, and pop culture. When she’s not ruining nostalgic myths for the public good, she can usually be found talking about Star Trek, Taylor Swift, or why the past is never as dead as people keep insisting.
Rosana Francescato
Rosana has been called a hippie. She calls herself a Flower Child, her name for the hidden generation between Boomers and Gen X. A semicolon lover who will fight for the Oxford comma —and a liberal user of em dashes and disdainer of AI — she was made in Argentina, raised in Illinois, and found her people in San Francisco.
Nan Tepper
Nan Tepper is the creator of Wham! Bam! Thank You! Slam! and Wham! Bam! Book! Slam! She’s memoirist-in-chief at The Next Write Thing. She styles stacks for writers on the Substack platform. She’s living her creative dreams, writing, designing, and being a kosher ham on stage. She recently discovered that she’s lusted for the spotlight since childhood, so now she’s making up for lost time!
To Gloria Horton-Young, who writes She Who Stirs the Storm, and was one of my first paid subscribers, (I’ll never forget that), thank you for signing up for this slam. I’m sorry you couldn’t make it this time. I hope you get well, SOON, and come play with us in August, for Sister Suffragette!
The slams come packaged with all the feelings. There may even be a couple you haven’t felt before.
If you couldn’t make the last one, here we are. Again!
We’ll be here for every month that follows.
Some spots are still available for our slams from September to December.
If you feel an unquenchable thirst to join us on our virtual stage to tell your story, you can sign up for a slam today!
We’re celebrating becoming a bestseller on Substack. We’re having a sale. Become a paid subscriber for only $50/year because paid subscribers see all the shows (12 & bonus events).
After today, Monday July 20, the price goes back to the regular price of $100/year. Which is also a great value!
If you can’t afford either option but want to see the live show, DM Nan. There are no paywalls to scale here.
We have a fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas. Direct donations made in WBTYS’s name are tax deductible as permissible by law in the U.S.
Law? Do we still have that here?
Did you hear the news?
I launched Wham! Bam! Book Slam! last week. They’re book events with a twist!
Watch our slam replays:
