Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Williams.
Hi Jason, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Well, what started out as a byproduct from a Storytime class that I adapted for school kids during Covid would later evolve into a showcase for all kids everywhere. You see, in addition to writing science fiction novels, I made a living by day working in elementary schools and summer camps.
Back in 2010, I was approached to teach a Storytime class for a local private school. Knowing that I had a few books published, I think they were hoping I’d do a few read-alouds, draw pictures on the board and maybe make a few comic books with the kids. When I asked if I could create stories for the kids using some of my own drawings and comic skills, they were all for it. So I created a few of my own original stories that took some of my favorite comic book characters and blended them with fairy tale characters to teach lessons on inclusion and diversity.
From there on, I became known as ‘Story J.’
Once the pandemic hit and stopped the gears and cogs of our old normal, we teachers had to figure out new ways of working with kids in the arts. While all this was going on, kids were inundated with school tasks while their play-dates and recess time with friends was ground to a scary halt. Around them was a terrifying world where there was an invisible virus, injustice after injustice, and a frightening realization that maybe grownups in charge didn’t always know what they were doing. So they escaped into screens where there were speedy, super explosive, super-loud animated characters.
I thought somewhere out there, there are kids who wanted to see something that didn’t yell and didn’t explode. Being from the generation of Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo, Dusty’s Treehouse and of course, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, I wanted to bring back some of that old-school slow-down where children’s programs showcased animation from all around the world like Nickelodeon’s Pinwheel, or told and taught stories in new and imaginative ways as The Electric Company and Romper Room had done.
I also know what it’s like to be the kid (and the grownup) that felt unseen as an artist. So I wanted to see a kids’ show that wasn’t just a show but a showcase, one for authors and artists of every color and every community, those who are unrepresented and invisible to the public eye, who only want to share their stories.
Well, if you can’t see the colors in the picture, paint ’em in.
So I took my old summer camp program and retooled it to become “The Storytime Show with Story J.” It even gave me the opportunity to take my old fairy tale cartoons and put them to animation.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not always.
On the heels of my having spent four months animating my fifth animated short, my father called weeks later to tell me he was having surgery for a cancer that plagued him for over thirty years. My wife and I left LA for Louisiana to help out so he could fully heal. Once I returned and escaped into my work again, it was only a week after returning home that Hurricane Ida battered Louisiana, and hovered over my hometown and laid waste to places, memory markers, I knew since childhood.
So with every tiny triumph came some storm clouds.
Within a few months of booking and interviewing such amazing and incredible heroes of mine, like Leslie Maxie, John Semper Jr and Dr. Francois Clemmons … I lost my cousin to Covid, my dad lost his best friend to the storm, and this past May… I lost my beloved sister to Cancer.
Being from Louisiana, it’s easy to say we’re from a little town outside of New Orleans – because it’s incredibly difficult telling people your parish is located in what’s known as “Cancer Alley.” (I highly encourage people to Google this).
All of this above … was the edited version.
I can’t say it hasn’t been hard. This year hurt. These past two years have hurt – a lot of us.
So doing this, I really hope it helps someone out there. I really hope it connects with a kid out there, or a grown-up out there who’s having a hard day or season, and maybe seeing something mellow and hopefully, ‘joyful’ will help – even a little bit.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
The Storytime Show is a kids half hour show promoting stories of diversity where we do Read-Aloud’s, virtual field trips, animations, and interviews with independent artists from all communities… As Story J, I have the honor of hosting this showcase where I’ve done drawing tutorials and usually wrapped up with an interview with a writer or artist making a difference in their community.
Over time, the show has evolved where I move out of the virtual classroom (one that resembled my old room for summer camp) and into “The Treetop Stop at 143 Sycamore Tree.” The Treetop Stop is a virtual classroom/library where the students ‘Comic Classmates” have spun off from my animated Fairly-Paired Fables series on the show and now interact with me — much like the Muppets interactions with the grownups of Sesame Street’ or Mr. Moose and Bunny Rabbit to Captain Kangaroo.
I’m not doing this for money, nor in the hopes of going viral.
I’m doing this because I can remember being invited to a studio by a fellow artist only to be turned away at the front desk by someone who refused to even acknowledge I had a personal invite – as others with the same invitation but not the same skin color, could pass through the door. I know what it’s like to get so close and still be so unseen.
Kids of all ages deserve to be seen. That’s why I’m doing this. I host a showcase for everyone’s story to be seen. Everyone: the Black Community, the Latin Community, the LGBTQIA Community, the Muslim Community, Asian, White, Jewish, and Indigenous Peoples. Everyone.
Any big plans?
There’s always something on the horizon whether it’s a new story I’m working on, illustrating or scripting. I do have a few live read alouds I’d like to do for the holidays, but I’d love to get more local interviews with local artists and hopefully a few new celebrity guests (Bill Nye the Science Guy, Neil deGrasse Tyson, if you’re reading this, hintedy-hint-hint).
Now as far as “Storytime” goes, I’m always hoping to gain more stories from artists out there and more subscribers so that the show can reach more families. Kids deserve to know that there are others out there like them, grownups going for their dreams like author Fionna Wright who wrote “100 Days Inside” for her daughter, Madison, or Kalia Love Jones, fifteen-year-old animation director of “The Power of Hope.”
Normally authors will contact me with their children’s books, which I love, but I’d also love to get more independently made family films and animations that may have seen a Film Festival or is just sitting on someone’s shelf waiting to be seen by the world.
I’m also working on a new animated short for an author that has actually been featured on the show, as well as a radio show based on my science fantasy series, “KnightWatchers.” There are also a few new characters coming to the cast as well, and a few that aren’t even an homage to a comic book heroes.
Contact Info:
- Website: storyjstorytime.com
- Instagram: storyjstorytime
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqD6bom2Q8SIt7SoyRt7CZQ
Image Credits
1 John Semper Jr. 2 A Picture for Harold’s Room by Crockett Johnson 4 Leslie Maxie (US Olympian)
