Apply to be the Next Pfister Narrator!
I’m still the Pfister Narrator for another few precious months, until May 15 when a new Narrator will be standing in the lobby on his or her first day. This is my letter anticipating that person. Is it you?
Dear Future Pfister Narrator,
I see you on your first day here, neck arched to the ceiling’s heaven, eyes wide with expectation. You’re clutching a carefully-chosen blank notebook, the pages hushed and waiting for scrawled stories. There’s a twinge in your stomach because you want so badly to capture this intriguing place well but you’re not quite sure who to talk to first, and what to ask them, and if you’re going to posses the bravery to approach a stranger and inquire about some of their most meaningful moments.
My advice: the Pfister is so rich with material that pretty much anywhere you begin is a good place to start. Start at a bar, or a fireplace chair, or an elevator. You’ll meet someone with a good story, because every single person has one. They may not understand or believe that their own story is interesting, so at that point it will become your job to help them sift through what’s happened to them to reveal the patterns, the beauty, the comedy, or the uniqueness of the one life that’s theirs. The best compliment I received as Narrator was, “I felt seen.” If you show people that you really see them, they’ll open up and they’ll light up. And if you can get them sharing about their love of their baby, their business, their childhood memory, their long-ago wedding at the Pfister, or their favorite book, it will be easy (and delightful) from there.
Every day when you pull into the parking garage that former Narrator Jonathan West aptly noted “smells like delicious fatty bacon”, you will feel so grateful to be here and thankful to whoever it was who convinced you to just keep plugging away at that extensive Narrator application. It will be worth it.
You’ll always remember this year, in these lavish hallways scouting story, as the year you were given such freedom and fodder that your writing finally bloomed.
Here, of all beautiful places.
-Nicole
The Pfister Hotel is taking applications for the eleventh Pfister Narrator now! The position will begin May 15, 2018. Apply before March 30 at:
http://www.thepfisterhotel.com/pfister-narrator