Norman Lear brought the marginalized voices of America to television starting in the 1970s as a TV producer. His culture-altering sitcom stories included All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times, … just to name a few. There was time when 120 million people watched his television content every week! Eric Hirshberg sits down with …Read More
Category: Storytelling
Te Ata: Native American Storyteller
The role of the Storyteller goes beyond entertainment. The Storyteller holds the cultural wisdom of the people and keeps it alive for the next generation. Everyone can tell a story, but few are called to the role of Storyteller. Born in 1895 in Indian Territory, Mary Thompson Fisher grew up when Chickasaw children were not …Read More
Motivating lasting change: Fear vs. Efficacy
About 40 years ago, dentists in Connecticut ran an experiment.1 They wanted to know how to motivate people to brush and floss their teeth. They decided to try the well-known tactic–scare them into doing it. They randomized a large group of subjects into two groups. They gave one group an informational video of why and …Read More
Learning from College Jobs
In college, my financial aid package included work-study. There was a list of jobs on campus, and I ended up working in the dining hall. I don’t actually remember how this happened, but this was the “law of least effort.” There wasn’t an application process, just a box to check. There were about a thousand …Read More
Making your own Disney princess
“There was no Korean Disney princess so I decided to make my own,” says 22-year-old Korean American Harvard University student Julia Riew. She wrote “Shimcheong: A Folktale” — a full-length musical inspired by the Korean folktale, “The Blind Man’s Daughter” — as her senior thesis! Since releasing excerpts on TikTok in January 2022, she has …Read More
Creative Nonfiction ~ True Stories, Well Told
The banner of Creative Nonfiction defines the genre simply, succinctly, and accurately as “true stories, well told.” ~ CreativeNonfiction.org Stories can be told in many different media. In the literary tradition of the written word, we have books, short stories, essays, and more. As an oral storytelling performer, I craft stories that are meant to …Read More
My Personal Prayer for 2022
On this second day of the new year, I step into the ritual of looking at the year ahead. I celebrate beginnings and endings in the same way that I marvel at the sunrise and the sunset, marking time with their beauty. Today, I sink into my intention for the year. From a place of …Read More
This changes everything…
During my training as a doctor, I spent several months in the Pediatric Emergency Room. Babies with fever, kids with diarrhea and dehydration, asthmatics with breathing attacks — the common problems were common. The Director of the Pediatric Emergency Department was a thin woman, blonde, and well-organized. She never missed a day of work. The …Read More
Walking Home
As a resident doctor, I remember the intense days with overnight shifts, very little sleep, and emotional roller coasters. Most patients come to the hospital at their lowest. Over time, I just became numb to the endless cycle of new faces with the same problems—chest pain, fever, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, and only sometimes …Read More
Day of the Dead
In many cultures it is said that you die twice. First, when your body leaves this earthly plane. Second, when there is no one left that loves you to utter your name on their lips. On this day of the dead, many cultures have ceremonies to remember and honor their ancestors, visits to graveyards to …Read More