Archive for May 2017
A simple explanation of public opinion
If you replace the phrase “Americans think” with “Americans with landlines who answer unsolicited phone calls at dinnertime think” the world begins to make a lot more sense.
Read MoreSeven and counting…
One of our Speak Up storytelling shows earlier in the year featured four former storytelling workshop students who have gone on to tell stories at Moth StorySLAMs in New York, Boston, and Burlington, VT. In fact, two of them competed in the same StorySLAM in December of last year in New York, unbeknownst to them.…
Read MoreBe happy for rule breakers
A rule I live by: If someone is breaking a rule, and the breaking of that rule hurts no one, always leave the rule breaker alone. Leave them be. Don’t rat them out. Don’t wish them ill will of any kind. This seems like a fairly obvious rule to follow, but when the rule breaker…
Read MoreBaseball players are damn cowards
On Wednesday night, Toronto Blue Jays Jose Bautista flipped his bat at home plate before rounding the bases after hitting a home run. Flipped his bat. Tossed it into the air so that it rotated as it fell to the ground. On Thursday night, Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Julio Teheran intentionally hit Bautista in the…
Read MoreThe Moth: The Robbery
In March of last year, I told this story at the Brooklyn Academy of Music about an armed robbery that I experienced in 1993. It was the hardest story I’ve ever told but also one of the most important for me. Post traumatic stress disorder is a serious problem for many of our veterans returning…
Read MoreLet’s do this.
I choose to remember by aunt Diane in a way I never got to see her.
My Aunt Diane passed away yesterday. A sudden and unexpected loss. Diane – sister to my father – was one of seven children who once lived on a sprawling piece of land in Blackstone, Massachusetts. I grew up next door to that home and spent much of my childhood on the same land where she…
Read MoreThe Two-Day Rule: A means by which I have become more productive and trusted.
When I’m upset – angry or enraged or disappointed or annoyed – the rule I try to live by is this: Stop. It turns out that the words or actions that upset me today are often meaningless and irrelevant tomorrow. Almost nothing seems as bad the next day. So I try to say nothing whenever…
Read MoreVerbal sparring: Don’t allow your opponent (Trump) prescribe beliefs to you
A bit of advice to all of the journalists and news anchors who are interviewing Donald Trump (or any other politician): When Trump says makes a wildly false assertion and then adds, “I know it. You know it. Everyone knows it,” it’s perfectly acceptable and even advisable to say something like: “Actually, Mr. President, I…
Read MoreOne man. Two dozen women. A bunch of interesting questions.
This summer I’ll be spending a week teaching at Miss Porter’s School, a boarding and day school for girls located in Farmington, CT. This only makes sense. From 1996-1999, I attended an all-women’s college, and ever since graduating, I have continued to live in a female world. As an elementary school teacher for almost 20…
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