(people chatting) - [Audience member] Next time (indistinct).

- "William, pay attention, learn something new, live a good life."

This was the blueprint for success for my parents, and they spent every minute reminding me.

By the time I was in the fifth grade, I decided to fulfill their wishes, and I learned six words: who, what, when, where, why, and how.

I always told stories, ever since I was little, to kinda make sense of the world around me.

Even at school, like, teachers would ask me questions, and I would have to, like, think of the information, but then I always asked why, why, why, why, why?

and then all these ideas would just pop up.

I also shared a room with my sister, and we would always talk late at night, and we would talk to, like, mid hours of the night, and sometimes she would pass out before I would, and I would just still be talking to her, and then once I heard her snore, I'd be, like, okay, time to go to sleep.

(upbeat music) So Capital Storytelling is kind of trying to break that notion of, like, no, everybody could be a storyteller, you just have to allow yourself to trust the process of storytelling.

I kinda like to think of it as, like, singing, right?

Before, people would sing in chants in, like, large groups, but then nowadays, it's like, you know, people that have the opportunity to sing are people that have, quote, unquote, "nice sounding voices," right?

But then it's like, what happens when we relegate singing to only people who can sing well?

Why don't we just break down the idea that, you know, singing is just not for people who sing well, singing could be done by everyone, right?

And I feel that's the same way with storytelling.

I think that people can be a good storyteller as long as they give themselves permission.

- [Presenter] Questions, who's to sing?

I can tell if you're in the courtyard or in school.

(audience laughing) - That's correct.

(audience laughing) - That's what you call it, leadership skills.

(audience laughing) (audience applauding) - I'm bombarding my teachers with questions at any opportunity I can.

(audience laughing) "What is the word for animals that only eat plants?"

"Herbivores, William."

"Herbivores."

"When do carnivores eat, again?"

"When they catch their prey, William."

"Okay.

How did people become omnivores?"

"Through evolution, William."

"What's evolution?"

By the end of the week, my teacher and I (audience laughing) were both mentally and emotionally exhausted.

(audience laughing) But luckily for me, Saturday was my day for self-care.

I would wake up bright and early on Saturdays and plop myself right in front of the television.

I like to think of myself as somebody who is a learner.

I think that the world has a vast amount of knowledge that I am not privy to, nor do I have time to develop that expertise, but luckily, there are like, what, 7 billion people on earth that have many different interests and passions, you know?

(audience laughing) If I can link up with these people, they can share their expertise.

And I was about to take my first bite of my breakfast, I see something orange out the corner of my eye, and I noticed that on the carpet was a big orange koi fish about the size of my forearm, just laying there.

- Ah.

- "Who let the koi fish out of the tank?

Where did the lid of the fish tank go?

Why does it stink?"

The aroma of room-temperature fish was really killing my appetite for my breakfast, (audience laughing) and as the newly anointed adult, I had to solve this issue.

Turtles are omnivores, we have a pet turtle, I could feed this koi fish to my pet turtle.

(audience laughing) - Oh.

- So I grab this koi fish and it slips out of my hand 'cause my arms weren't big enough to get a good grip, but now all of a sudden, the theme song to the Pokemon show comes on, so I pick up the koi fish like a football and I rush to the bathroom.

As I get to the door, I tossed the fish into the fish tank where the turtle lived.

The turtle, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp on the fish like the apex predator it was supposed to be, - [Audience Member] Whoo!

- and I stood there in the amazement, because I actually applied what I learned in school to real life, - Right!

- right?

(audience laughing) Like, we are learning about the circle of life, and I'm watching it right there, (audience laughing) but then I hear that the Pokemon theme song is about to be over, and I cannot miss any second of it, so I rush back out the door.

Being a lifelong learner affects my identity as a storyteller, it allows me to remain curious, it allows me to remain open, right, not only open to other people, but also open to myself.

It really allows me to be able to explore my experiences at a later point in time, and kinda unravel certain meanings.

"William, why is half of my koi fish in the turtle tank?"

(audience laughing) "Well, Dad, I woke up and it was lying on the carpet, and I learned that in school, you know, you can complete the circle of life if you give a omnivore meat to eat."

- Yeah.

(audience laughing) "A omni what?

I don't care what you learned in school, koi fishes are good luck, William.

If you ever feed my koi fish to this turtle again, you will not have a lifecycle anymore, boy!"

- Yeah.

(audience laughing) - I paid attention, I learned something new, but all I got was this big, throbbing headache.

Some life lessons are just not taught in school.

- Yeah.

(audience laughing) (audience applauding)