Archive for January 2020

Gallup released its survey of the most common cultural destinations for Americans in 2019. The most popular cultural destination by far was the library, averaging 10.5 visits in 2019. As an author, I’m thrilled to hear that reading books is alive and well in America, but I’m also a bit torn. I hope some of…

The crazy thing about this outstanding ad (at least for me) is that for the first half of my life, I spoke just like this. I have video of myself prior to moving to Connecticut, and in this clips, I sound exactly like this, in accent, word choice, and even attitude. My children hear the…

On episode #83 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling! In our follow up segment, we share about upcoming events in the Speak Up realm. STORYTELLING SHOWS 2020 February 8: “Storytelling for Students” at Henry A. Wolcott School, West Hartford, CT February 22: “Leap: Stories of Daring Risks and Epic…

In the midst of math lesson on decimals, a student asked me: “It is weirder to be able to burp on command or not be able to burp on command at all?” Because when you teach elementary school, the level of discourse can sometimes elevate to truly extraordinary levels. For the record, it’s much weirder…

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a Laconia, New Hampshire city ordinance banning women from appearing topless in public and acknowledged that the law treats men and women differently. A group with the motto “Free The Nipple” argued that topless bans are discriminatory and violate the Constitution by holding women to…

Charlie came downstairs yesterday morning, sat on my lap for our customary five minutes of cuddling and conversation, and then went into the backroom to turn on the TV. “Dad, come quick!” he shouted. I did. When I arrived, Charlie was standing in front of the television, pointing at the screen. He had yet to…

Four years ago, I did a TEDx Talk in Natick, Massachusetts entitled “Live Life Like You Are 100 Years Old.” You can watch it here: The premise of the talk is that when it comes to decision-making, the current version of yourself is an unreliable decision maker because far too often you don’t consider the…

Last night we celebrated Clara’s last meal as a ten year-old girl. She turns eleven today. During dinner, Clara asked about the day she was born, so Elysha and I spent the rest of the meal telling Clara and then Charlie the stories of the days they were born. Both stories were lengthy, filled with…

After the Saturday snowstorm, Clara, Charlie, and I went outside to build snowmen, and I must say, if you have the chance to build a snowman at some point in the future – or do anything that you loved doing as a child but haven’t done since you were young – please do it. Building…

On episode #82 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling! In our follow up segment, we share about upcoming events in the Speak Up realm and thank listeners for some unexpected kindness. In our Homework for Life segment, we talk about the power of anecdotes and illustrate how they can…