theme music	

THIS IS SOUND SCHOOL FROM PRX AND TRANSOM. I’M ROB. 

I FEEL A LITTLE BIT SORRY FOR BRADLEY CAMPBELL. NOT A LOT. JUST A LITTLE. 

HE’S BEEN A REPORTER FOR YEARS AND YEARS. HE’S PRODUCED PIECES FOR LOCAL RADIO STATIONS…. NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO…. THE BBC…. PODCASTS LIKE “GAME BREAKER” AND “SPORTS EXPLAINS THE WORLD.”  

AND YET, DESPITE ALL HIS GOOD REPORTING, BRADLEY FEELS HE’S BEST KNOWN FOR A FEW DRAWINGS HE MADE ON COCKTAIL NAPKINS. 

TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY, THESE DRAWINGS ON THE NAPKINS BECAME REALLY POPULAR. BUT PEOPLE DON’T KNOW HE’S THE GUY WHO DREW THEM. PEOPLE WILL SAY TO HIM “OH. YOU’RE THE BAR NAPKIN GUY?” 

IN FACT, HE RECENTLY TOLD ME ABOUT A TIME HE WAS SITTING IN A STORY MEETING AT A PODCAST COMPANY. SOMEONE STARTED TALKING ABOUT “THESE  COOL DRAWINGS ON BAR NAPKINS” EVEN THOUGH BRADLEY, THE GUY WHO DREW THEM, WAS SITTING RIGHT THERE IN THE ROOM. 

Music – Stellwagen Symphonette – “Sugar Factory” 

WHAT BRADLEY SKETCHED OUT ON THESE NAPKINS WERE DIAGRAMS OF STORY STRUCTURE. LITTLE BLUEPRINTS FOR HOW SOME STORIES ARE PUT TOGETHER. I FEATURED THEM ON AN EPISODE OF SOUND SCHOOL BACK IN 2013. IT QUICKLY BECAME ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR EPISODES.. I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW MANY TIMES LISTENERS HAVE TOLD ME HOW HELPFUL THE NAPKINS ARE. JUST THE OTHER TWO PROFESSORS PINGED ME TO SAY: “OH. I USE THOSE NAPKINS IN MY JOURNALISM CLASSES ALL THE TIME.” 

BACK IN THE DAY, I CALLED THE EPISODE “MY KINGDOM FOR SOME STRUCTURE.” AND, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS QUITE POPULAR AND THE NAPKINS HAVE MADE THE ROUNDS, I’M GUESSING A LOT OF NEW SOUND SCHOOL LISTENERS MAY NOT HAVE HEARD IT. SO I’M PULLING THIS OLD EPISODE OUT OF THE SOUND SCHOOL CAVE TO SHINE SOME LIGHT ON BRADLEY’S NAPKINS.  AND FOR BRADLEY’S SAKE, FROM NOW ON, I THINK WE SHOULD REFER TO THEM AS BRADLEY’S NAPKINS. 

PLUS – PLUS, PLUS, PLUS -- IF YOU ALREADY LISTENED TO THIS EPISODE BACK IN THE DAY, YOU HAVE TO AGAIN BECAUSE BRADLEY SENT ME A BRAND NEW NAPKIN SKETCH. SOMETHING HE’S BEEN PLAYING AROUND WITH LATELY IN HIS STORIES. HE TALKS ABOUT IT A LITTLE LATER ON. 

BUT, BEFORE I PRESS PLAY ON THE OLD EPISODE, I NEED TO SAY TWO MORE QUICK THINGS. 

FIRST, THE BEST WAY TO EXPERIENCE THIS EPISODE IS TO LOOK AT BRADLEY’S NAPKINS WHILE YOU’RE LISTENING. YOU CAN FIND THEM AT THE POST FOR THIS EPISODE AT TRANSOM DOT ORG. 

SECOND. THE MUSIC IN THE SHOW. SOMEHOW, I THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO FRAME THE EPISODE USING A RIDICULOUSLY OBSCURE RECORD I HAVE IN MY RECORD COLLECTION. TALK ABOUT A BIZARRE DEEP CUT. I MEAN, , I LOVE THE SONG. DON’T GET ME WRONG. BUT, I THINK THE LYRICS, IN THIS CONTEXT, ARE A CHICKEN BOMB. THEY’RE JUST REALLLLY DISTRACTING. SO MUCH SO, I THOUGHT ABOUT REMOVING THE SONG FROM THIS UPDATED EPISODE. 

BUT THEN I THOUGHT, YOU KNOW WHAT? SOMETIMES YA JUST GOTTA BE WEIRD. SO, I LEFT THE SONG IN. AND THAT’S WHERE WE’LL PICK UP WITH “MY KINGDOM FOR SOME STRUCTURE.” I EXPLAIN THE ORIGINAL IMPETUOUS FOR THE EPISODE STARTING WITH THE MUSIC.  

They Must Be Russians – Don’t Try To Cure Yourself

ONE OF MY FAVORITE RECORDS IS BY A BAND CALLED “THEY MUST BE RUSSIANS.” IT’S A FORTY-FIVE. A LITTLE SEVEN-INCH RECORD WITH A SONG ON EITHER SIDE. 

THE SONG IS ON THE A-SIDE CALLED “DON’T TRY TO CURE YOURSELF.” IT’S THE ONLY RECORDING I CAN THINK OF WHERE THE SINGER REFERS TO PICTURES ON THE SLEEVE OF THE RECORD. IN THIS CASE, THERE ARE FOUR IMAGES OF VENEREAL DISEASES TAKEN FROM A MICROSCOPE. YA KNOW. GONORRHEA. SYPHILLIS. THAT KIND OF THING. YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO LISTEN TO THE SONG AND LOOK AT THE PICTURES. 

Singer: “Now look at picture number two please.” Song continues. 

NOW ENTER THE NAPKINS. MY FRIEND AND FORMER STUDENT BRADLEY CAMPBELL IS NOW A FIEND FOR STORY STRUCTURE. BUT THERE WAS A TIME WHEN, FOR BRADLEY, STRUCTURE WAS A MYSTERY. 

BRADLEY SAYS HE WAS IN A BAR ONE NIGHT WITH A REPORTER FROM THE VILLAGE VOICE. AND HE TOLD THE GUY THAT HE WANTED TO UNDERSTAND STORY STRUCTURE. SO THE REPORTER GRABBED A NAPKIN AND A PEN.

Bradley – He was like “Dude, it’s just this.” And he just writes on a piece of paper and he said “That’s structure.”… And for some reason for me that just clicked. I’m like “Oh, okay. I have a pathway.” It’s like he drew a pathway for me to follow. And then I could just picture myself writing the words and writing the stories along this pathway. So, it was like Google Mapping me directions. 

WHEN BRADLEY TOLD ME THE NAPKIN STORY, I THOUGHT: GENIUS. SO BRADLEY DID ME THE FAVOR OF DRAWING HIS OWN “NAPKIN-AND-PEN” VERSIONS OF STORY STRUCTURES FOR PUBLIC RADIO PROGRAMS. THIS AMERICAN LIFE. ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. RADIOLAB, AND SO ON. 

AND THEN I THOUGHT “WELL, WHY DON’T I SCAN THE SKETCHES, PUT THEM UP ON THE WEB AND JUST LIKE THAT SONG BY “THEY MUST BE RUSSIANS,” PEOPLE COULD LISTEN TO THE PODCAST AND LOOK AT THE DRAWINGS AT THE SAME TIME.” 

IF NOT, WE’LL DO OUR BEST TO DESCRIBE THE NAPKINS FOR YOU HERE. 

Bradley – They’re bar napkins. 

Rob – Which bar? 

Bradley – The GCB. It’s the grad school bar at Brown. It’s in the bottom of a dorm at Brown University. 

BRADLEY, BY THE WAY, IS A REPORTER FOR RHODE ISLAND PUBLIC RADIO. 

Bradley – The napkins are like: Okay, look at a house. Now take away all the siding. Take away all of the sheetrock. The floorboards. Take away all of the drywall. And take away everything and you’re just left with the skeleton of a house. Just the frame. And, on the napkins are just the framework of what, in my head, is how I visualize stories… And it’s for like if I want to copy ‘em. I’m like “How do I copy ‘em? What would that look like if I were to strip it down to bare bones. And I just kinda draw them out. And that, for me, is super helpful. 

FIRST UP, THE NAPKIN FOR THIS AMERICAN LIFE. 

Bradley – A line, a space. A line, a space. And another flat line and an exclamation point. And, it’s from what Ira Glass talks about when he says “Okay, what’s the basic story structure, the storytelling structure of This American Life?” Well, it’s this happened, and then this happened, and then that happened, 

Clip from This American Life. 

Bradley – And then this happened. And then that happened. And then this happened. 

Clip from This American Life. 

Rob – An the exclamation point is the moment of reflection. 

Bradley – Yup… Here’s the summation of it…. It’s an exclamation point because I tried to draw a light bulb, but a light bulb I’m not very good at drawing….

More from TAL. (fades out) 

NEXT FROM THE COLLECTION OF BRADLEY CAMPBELL NAPKINS, ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. 

Music – They Must Be Russians - Look at picture number 2, please 

IT’S ONE LINE. IT STARTS STRAIGHT, THEN EVENTUALLY SLOPES DOWN AND UP TO FORM A WIDE LETTER “U” AND THEN A STRAIGHT LINE AGAIN. SO STRAIGHT, A WIDE “U”, THEN STRAIGHT. IT’S LIKE AN UPSIDE-DOWN HAT WITH A BRIM. 

Bradley – That first part of the line, that’s your opening scene. So, a lot of stories on All Things Considered and stuff I’ve done for All Things Considered.  It’s starts out with a scene. A story I did on a tick biologist, I start out with “If you want to find Tom Mather…” fades and cross fades with: 

Clip - Opening scene by Bradley where he’s in the woods with a guy collecting ticks. 

Bradley – And that’s your opening scene. And then from there, it’s just this trough. 

THAT’S THE LETTER “U” IN THE DRAWING.

Bradley – Because you have very little time to turn these things around… it’s kind of like this ‘throw everything you got into a big pile, in this little ‘u’… just throw whatever reporting you have into that middle section. 

IN THE TICK STORY, BRADLEY TALKED ABOUT TICK RESEARCH, TICK BIOLOGY, AND LYME DISEASE. LIKE HE SAID, IT’S A KIND-OF TROUGH FOR INFORMATION THAT ROUNDS OUT THE STORY. 

Bradley – And then at the end of it, you kinda want to go back to where you started. 

Clip of concluding scene back in the woods. 

Bradley – That’s for like a three minute, thirty second story. You’re not going to have too epic of a narrative in there although you can have good narratives in that short, short time. But, um, you have maybe a one day, two day turnaround, or less, and so that’s like a really basic kind of a storyline I hear a lot. 

NOW LET’S LOOK AT PICTURE NUMBER THREE. 

Song: Look at picture number three please. 

THIS IS THE NAPKIN WITH THE “E.” BRADLEY LABELED IT “TRANSOM” FOR THE TRANSOM STORY WORKSHOP WHERE I TEACH. AND, IT’S TRUE, I TALK A LOT ABOUT THE “E” IN CLASS BECAUSE IT’S PROBABLY MY FAVORITE STRUCTURE. YOU CAN HEAR THAT REFLECTED IN THE STUDENT’S WORK. 

ANYWAY, THE “E” IS SHAPED LIKE A SMALL, CURSIVE “E” NOT A CAPITAL “E.” AND I LEARNED ABOUT IT FROM BRADLEY WHEN HE WAS A STUDENT OF MINE A BUNCH OF YEARS AGO. 

ONE DAY, WE WERE IN CLASS AND I WAS TALKING ABOUT STRUCTURE AND I SUGGESTED THE STUDENTS SHOULD CONSIDER A.B.D.C.E. NO DRAWINGS. LETTERS. 

I’LL REPEAT THAT. A.B.D.C.E.   

THE LETTERS STAND FOR: ACTION, BACKGROUND, DEVELOPMENT, CLIMAX, ENDING. 

YOU START A STORY WITH A CHARACTER IN A SCENE IN ACTION - A. THEN, YOU LEAVE THE CHARACTER AND YOU GIVE SOME BACKGROUND TO THE STORY – THAT’S B. BACKGROUND. 

THEN YOU RETURN TO THE NARRATIVE OF THE STORY AND MOVE IT FORWARD. THAT’S D, DEVELOPMENT. IF YOUR STORY HAS CONFLICT, WHICH I HOPE IT DOES, THEN IT REACHES C, THE CLIMAX. AND THAT’S FOLLOWED BY YOUR ENDING – E. SO, A.B.D.C.E. ACTION, BACKGROUND, DEVELOPMENT, CLIMAX, ENDING. 

WELL, BRADLEY’S THERE IN CLASS AND HE SAYS: “OH, YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT THE “E.” I WAS LIKE “WHAT?” “YEAH, THE ‘E.’” AND SO HE GOES UP TO THE WHITE BOARD AND DRAWS IT. HE MAKES A SMALL LETTER “E.” IN CURSIVE. IT LOOKS LIKE A LOOP ON A KIDS PLASTIC RACE CAR TRACK OR SOMETHING. 

Bradley – So you start at the start of the “e,” on the far left side. And you start to go forward and that’s your opening scene as the e is just going forward from left to right. And when you start to hit that point where you start to arc up to create the loop… 

BRADLEY SAYS RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT, RIGHT WHEN YOU START TO ARC UP, YOU WANT TO LEAVE LISTENERS HANGING. YOU WANT THEM TO SAY TO THEMSELVES “WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?” 

SO, YOU’RE LOOPING UP IN THE ‘E.’

Bradley – And that’s when you start to go back and you can kind of tell their history. 

BRADLEY’S TALKING ABOUT BACKGROUND, EXPOSITION ABOUT WHERE SOMEONE GREW UP. OR, INSTEAD, MAYBE IT’S THE ORIGINS OF THE SITUATION YOU INTRODUCED IN THE OPENING SCENE. 

SO, THE LINE SWOOPS UP…

Bradley – And then you start coming down the timeline all the way up to the point where you left the reader at.  

HE MEANT LISTENER, BUT I FORGIVE HIM.

which is where you intersect back with the e…. 

AND THAT’S WHERE YOU PICK UP FROM THE CLIFF HANGER. 

Bradley – You come back with your narrative… your narrative keeps on going forward in a chronological order. 

A LINE CONTINUES AFTER THE LOOP. THAT’S WHERE YOU MOVE THE STORY FORWARD TO THE CLIMAX, THEN THE DENOUEMENT OR LET DOWN AFTER THE CLIMAX, AND, LASTLY, THE ENDING. 

HERE, IF THIS ISN’T MAKIN SENSE, I MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP MAKE IT CLEARER.  I ACTUALLY HAVE A TWO-MINUTE EXAMPLE OF WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT. IT’S A STORY I PRODUCED ABOUT KAYAKING AROUND SOME ICEBERGS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. NOW, I USED THIS STORY AS AN EXAMPLE FOR SOMETHING ELSE ON A PODCAST YEARS AGO. BUT, TODAY, I’M GOING TO QUICKLY DISSECT IT FOR STRUCTURE. 

Clip – Opening to “Nothing Predictable: Kayaking Newfoundland,” an audio postcard I made for NPR.  

HERE’S THE. ACTION. THE BEGINNING OF THE LETTER E. INTRODUCTION OF THE MAIN CHARACTER. SOME ACTION – I’M KAYAKING. AND, MY INCREDIBLY MINUTE CLIFF HANGER. “I approach these icebergs with caution.” 

NOW SCENE TWO. BACKGROUND. THE UPWARD AND DOWNWARD SWOOP OF THE E. I TALK ABOUT THE DANGERS OF KAYAKING AROUND ICEBERGS. 

Scene.

NEXT, THE SWOOP OF THE E RECONNECTS WITH MY NARRATIVE AND I PICK UP AFTER THE CLIFF HANGER AND APPROACH THE ICEBERGS. 

Scene.

ARGUABLY, THAT’S THE CLIMAX. I KNOW, IT’S NOT MUCH OF ONE BUT IT’S THERE. THEN I COME AROUND THE BACKSIDE OF THE ICEBERG. THIS IS THE DENOUEMENT, THE LET DOWN AFTER THE CLIMAX. 

Scene.

AND NOW THE ENDING. A MOMENT OF REFLECTION. I SUPPOSE IT’S A KIND OF EXCLAMATION POINT, LIKE BRADLEY USED FOR HIS THIS AMERICAN LIFE STRUCTURE. 

Scene. Fades out.

THAT IS THE END OF THIS SOUND SCHOOL EPISODE FROM 2013 WITH BRADLEY AND HIS BAR NAPKINS.  AND NOW I GET TO SAY “BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!” BRADLEY HAS A NEW NAPKIN SKETCH! 

Music – They Must Be Russians. “Look at the final picture please.” 

Bradley – The Callback. The latest edition of the bar napkin series. (Laughs). Which I still can’t believe. Thing just keeps going, man. 

IF YOU’RE LOOKING AT TRANSOM AND THE COLLECTION OF NAPKINS, YOU’LL FIND “THE CALLBACK.” DOWN AT THE BOTTOM. IT’S THE ONE THAT HAS A SERIES OF WAVES DRAWN ACROSS IT – LOOKS LIKE HOW A KID WOULD DRAW THE OCEAN. 

BRADLEY SAYS THOSE WAVES ARE YOUR STORY. THE NARRATIVE.

Bradley – And then on the far left side peeking out of the water almost like a periscope is your beacon of light. 

HE TOLD ME YOU CAN THINK OF THIS “BEACON OF LIGHT” ABOVE THE WAVES AS A LITTLE SOMETHING YOU PLACE IN THE STORY THAT AT FIRST PROBABLY DOESN’T SEEM IMPORTANT TO A LISTENER. IT’S SOMETHING MEMORABLE BUT NOT NECESSARILY ESSENTIAL. MIGHT BE AN OBJECT OR A WAY OF DESCRIBING SOMEONE OR JUST A WORD.   

HERE'S AN EXAMPLE. THESE DAYS, BRADLEY WORKS FOR MEADOWLARK MEDIA REPORTING LONG-FORM, NARRATIVE SPORTS STORIES. HERE HE IS ON AN EPISODE OF THE SHOW “PABLO TORRE (tore-ay) FINDS OUT.”	

Clip – Bradley is welcomed to the show and says “I appreciate the embrace.” 

THAT WORD, EMBRACE. BRADLEY SAYS IT’S AN UNUSUAL THING TO SAY. BUT HE SAID IT PURPOSEFULLY. THAT’S HIS “BEACON OF LIGHT.”  

AFTER HE SAYS “EMBRACE”, WHAT FOLLOWS IS BRADLEY’S STORY. THE WAVES IN THE DRAWING. IN THE PICTURE, THAT BEACON OF LIGHT GOES DOWN. UNDER THE WATER. 

Bradley – It vanishes from the story but not from the memory which is kind of cool. 

HE SAYS A LISTENER WILL CARRY IT WITH THEM AS HE TELLS THE STORY. 

Bradley – Your little call-back guy is underwater and it’s swimming under this whole time. 

IN THIS CASE, BRADLEY WAS REPORTING ON THE TERM “ALPHA MALE.” INITIALLY THE PHRASE WAS USED BY SCIENTISTS TO DESCRIBE THE BEHAVIOR OF MALE WOLVES IN CAPTIVITY. THE TERM MADE ITS WAY OUT OF THE SCIENCE COMMUNITY AND BECAME WIDELY USED IN POPULAR CULTURE. BRADLEY POINTS OUT THE IDEA OF AN ALPHA MALE IS OFTEN USED TO JUSTIFY MALE AGGRESSION AND DOMINANCE. ANDREW TATE IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE. 

Clip – Andrew Tate laying out his philosophy. 

TURNS OUT, “ALPHA MALE” ISN’T A THING. THE SCIENTIST THAT POPULARIZED THE WORD RECANTED HIS RESEARCH. IT WAS FAULTY BECAUSE IT WAS BASED ON THE BEHAVIOR OF “CAPTIVE” WOLVES. IN THE WILD, WOLVES BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY. LESS ALPHA.  

Clip – That’s not the way it works. 

EVENTUALLY, BRADLEY MAKES HIS WAY TO THE FINAL MOMENTS OF HIS STORY. TIME FOR THE CALLBACK. ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF HIS PICTURE ON THE NAPKIN, THE BEACON RETURNS. 

Bradley – Boop. It goes right through the surface of the water and it reappears at the end of the story. 

Clip – Wolves hug! And then Bradley and Pablo hug. 

AN EXAMPLE OF BRADLEY’S CALLBACK STRUCTURE FROM THE SHOW “PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT.” 

Music – More from They Must Be Russians. 	

THERE ARE TWO MORE OF BRADLEY’S NAPKIN SKETCHES AT THE POST FOR THIS EPISODE AT TRANSOM DOT ORG. ONE FOR NPR’S MORNING EDITION AND ANOTHER FOR RADIOLAB. BACK IN THE DAY, JAD ABUMRAD, A FORMER HOST AND PRODUCER OF RADIOLAB, USED BRADLEY’S RADIOLAB NAPKIN WHEN HE GAVE TALKS ABOUT THE SHOW. VERY COOL. 

MUSIC ON THIS EPISODE COMES FROM THEY MUST BE RUSSIANS. A SINGLE THEY PUT OUT IN 1980. “DON’T TRY TO CURE YOURSELF.”  

THANKS TO GENEVIEVE SPONSLER, JAY ALLISON, AND JEN JERRETT. IF WE EVER START A COVER BAND, WE’LL BE SURE TO PUT THAT SONG IN OUR SET LIST.  

I’M ROB ROSENTHAL IN WOODS HOLE MASSACHUSETTS, THE RADIO CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE. 

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