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Surprised about my relentless opposition to Trump? Why?

I’m shocked when someone doesn’t understand my relentless, unwavering opposition to Donald Trump. Why not give the man a chance? Why spend your precious time writing about him and to him and against him? Why can’t you ever give him any credit? I get these questions, and I’m always shocked when I do. Even if…

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Dumb geographical luck

I often think how defining geography can be to a person. Last week Elysha and I brought the kids to Boston to visit the Children’s Museum. We ate lunch, visited every exhibit hall, and walked through the streets as a light snow fell. We left the house around 10:00 AM and were home by 8:00…

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I don’t remember what I see.

While teaching storytelling at Yale New Haven Hospital last night, I was trying to explain to someone about how I am a strong auditory learner and an exceptionally weak visual learner. Essentially, I can remember almost everything I hear, but I have great difficulty remembering anything that I see. I don’t notice a lot of…

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Speak Up Storytelling #38: Lauren Doninger

On episode #38 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling. In our followup segment, we talk about upcoming shows and workshops and offer a shout-out to a listener who we recently met IRL! In our Homework for Life segment, we talk about four entries in Matt’s Homework for Life, and…

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New employment opportunity involves contracting malaria

Elysha is opposed to me taking on any new jobs, and I certainly understand her feelings. Between teaching, writing, storytelling, consulting, ministering, standup, coaching, and the occasional DJ gig, I am never short on work. But I also understand my insanity. When you’ve been homeless and hungry and facing the real possibility of prison, and…

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Wake up call

Elysha left a glass of water on the headboard of our bed. Around 4:00 in the morning, the cat knocked it off the headboard. Somehow the glass landed on the floor beside the bed, but all of the water landed on me, waking me up, because apparently I live in a sitcom.

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Great news, greater advice, and a cage

Today I offer you a bit of followup on previous posts. First, and I think most important, is a comment that my friend, John, left on my blog yesterday. I met John through Speak Up, where he has become a bit of a regular, and a couple years ago I played in his day-long, 54…

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Do you know who Madame CJ Walker is?

Madame CJ Walker is credited as the first woman in America to become a self-made millionaire. Unlike the President, who started his career with tens of millions of dollars of his daddy’s money (but lied about the amount for decades), Walker started with nothing and amassed a fortune. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on December…

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Advice from The Beatles

So many times in my life, I see something clever, brilliant, or truly inspired, and I think to myself, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Just last week, the trailer dropped for Danny Boyle’s latest film, Yesterday. It’s the story of a musician who wakes up in a world where The Beatles never existed, except…

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