Stories help us get by.
Starting when we’re babies, stories ease us into sleep or soothe away our fears. If, say, a child falls sick, a parent might tell the kid a story about a little boy battling the Evil Mr. Flu, with, the child, of course, winning the day by virtue of his bravery. Continue reading “Be a Hero Contest”
Among the many gifts bequeathed to us by the novelist Kurt Vonnegut, one of my favorites is The Shapes of Stories, where he visualized different kinds of stories by drawing them on a line graph. Continue reading “Story Shapes”
This podcast Missing Richard Simmons has been keeping me company on my walk to work. As you may know, Simmons is an over-the-top fitness guru known for his wildly successful exercise videos, zany talk show appearances, and customary outfit of a tank top and short-shorts. For 30 years he embraced the public eye to the point of greeting sightseeing buses that stopped by his house, but for the past two years he seems to have disappeared. Continue reading “Unlikely Heroes”