Archive for April 2019
Unfortunate restroom encounters at MIT
I was teaching storytelling at MIT yesterday. It was a long but exciting day. In addition to teaching two workshops, I received an amazing tour of their new nanotechnology facility, and I’m now convinced that nanotechnology is going to save the world. You wouldn’t believe the things what scientists can do today with a few…
Read MoreTheatrical wind chill factor
Credit Elysha Dicks for this gem: When you ask how long a play or musical runs, you should receive two distinct times from the usher: The actual running time The play or musical’s wind chill factor For example: “The play runs for 83 minutes, but it’s not very good. Quite dreadful in fact. With the…
Read MoreSpeak Up Storytelling: Sarasweet Rabidoux Kelsey
On episode #44 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling! In our followup segment, we introduce the “new” new cover of my next novel, discuss a bizarre coincidence, respond to a heartwarming email from a listener, and ask listeners for feedback on a reward for Homework for Life champions. In…
Read MoreThe standing ovation has come to signify nothing.
Elysha and I attended a play last night. I won’t mention the name because it wasn’t good, and I don’t want to publicly denigrate the effort and art of the people involved. I’ll leave that to the theater critics. Instead, I’d like to denigrate the audience. At the end of this tragically bad, objectively bad…
Read MoreI want to be the blind man with the elephant.
Earlier this week, someone accused me of taking a position on an issue that I didn’t fully understand and suggested that I was acting like a blind man in the blind men and the elephant parable. It’s not the first time someone has used this parable against me when suggesting that I’m taking a position…
Read MoreThoreau on regret
Henry David Thoreau offered this advice on regret: “Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.” Thoreau believed in regret. He believed in tending and cherishing it. He believed in making…
Read MoreChange of plan
Remember the cover of my new book that most of you liked so much? It’s been changed. Twenty-one Truths About Love was received exceptionally well during the sales conference except for one thing: The sales and marketing folks didn’t love the cover. And honestly, I didn’t love it initially either. I was eventually convinced that…
Read MoreTrump is an inarticulate, lying coward who refuses to answer to the American people
In cased you missed it, in just the last 24 hours, Donald Trump has: Told reporters that his father, Fred Trump, was born in Germany, which is not true. Fred Trump was born in New York. Suggested that the noise from wind farms could cause cancer. Repeated his claim that the Barr memo clears him…
Read MoreResolution update: March 2019
Each month I review the progress of my yearly goals and report on that progress as a means of holding myself accountable. Here are the results for March. __________________________________ PERSONAL HEALTH 1. Don’t die. I didn’t even come close to dying in March, which I can’t say for every month of my life. 2. Lose…
Read MoreSpeak Up Storytelling: Matthew Dicks
On episode #43 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling! In our followup segment, we talk about a moment on a Moth GrandSLAM stage and a moment in a classroom that unearth two potential stories. Then Elysha departs, and we listen to Matthew Dicks’s story about an unusual late night…
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