A Message from Asian American Storytellers in Unity (AASIU): Last year, when the world shut down and anti-Asian violence increased, a group of Asian American storytellers began meeting weekly to provide support and friendship to its members. From this beginning, Asian American Storytellers in Unity grew into a collective whose mission is to promote and …Read More
Category: Education
Why incompetent people think they’re amazing
“We don’t know what we don’t know.” Beginner’s Mind When I first discovered the art of storytelling performance, I had beginner’s mind. Here was my process: Pick a story that I like. Learn the story. Tell it. I relied on “natural talent.” Vocal variety, facial expressions, and gestures came naturally to me. Other skills had …Read More
International Week of InterPlay 2020
Why would adults play? Isn’t that a waste of time? My friends, Olaf and Jamie, invited me to an InterPlay workshop. After quick introductions, the group of us started off with “warm up” exercises. (If you haven’t used your play muscles in a long time, you might strain them.) Stretching, playful, free movements loosened the …Read More
Make Good Art ~ Neil Gaiman
“When things get tough [in life], make good art.”~ Advice from Neil Gaiman Doctoring is my profession. The job requires writing notes, billing patients, dealing with insurance companies, and the list goes on. At some point, I began to loose sight of the things that I enjoyed about doctoring. When I discovered storytelling as a …Read More
The Puzzle of Motivation ~ Daniel Pink
Are you motivated by the carrot or the stick? reward or punishment? These are the traditional motivators of most traditional business models. Reward the person who is most productive; punish those that fall short. Extrinsic Motivators Extrinsic incentives (like reward and punishment) work really well for activities that need narrow focus on a goal that …Read More
Eat Nutrient Dense Foods ~ Dr. Joel Fuhrman
“Clearly, it is difficult to eat healthfully in our crazy world, where it seems that everyone else is on a mission to commit suicide with food.” ― Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss Fuhrman’s Equation for Health: H = N / C Health Expectancy = Nutrients / …Read More
Autumn Equinox ~ a day of balance
“There is a harmony In autumn, and a luster in its sky…” ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley Today is a day of balance! September 23, 2019, begins the Autumn Equinox, the change of seasons, the first day of Autumn. The sun shines directly on the equator. The hours of day and night are equal for the whole …Read More
Speak Like a Leader ~ Simon Lancaster
“Instead of teaching our kids how to sit down and shut up, we should be teaching them to stand up and speak out.” ~ Simon Lancaster The ancient art of rhetoric (the art of effective persuasive speaking) is no longer taught routinely in schools. The STEM education initiatives support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. However, …Read More
The Interconnected Web – How Wolves Change Rivers
The world is an interconnected ecosystem. Within this system are the predators—the characters in the stories that we love to hate. Ever since Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs encountered the Big Bad Wolf, there has been a campaign against the wolf. We are quick to judge these animals that travel in …Read More
The Decline of Play ~ Peter Gray
“Stop playing around,” she said with a look that could turn even the Greek hero, Hercules, to stone. “Be serious! Stop wasting time.” We know that children learn by playing, but at some point we expect them to put away their toys and become adults. What does it mean to grow up? It often means …Read More