Thank you so much for the opportunity to work with you all. I enjoyed having the chance to talk about how storytelling can serve your artistic, professional & organizational development needs, as well as the mission of Alternate ROOTS.

I dearly want to thank the folx at Alternate ROOTS for having the vision to partner with me to bring this workshop to you during this year when our aim was to connect. It was such a joy to watch you connect around your stories, even though we didn’t quite get to that in the first session with our late start.

I love this quote (—–>) from Modern Love about how our stories connect us all, bringing us out of our isolated, individual experiences, and connecting us to the universal.

Below is a list, in no short or specific order, of places to keep leveling in story work.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. Pull over. Kathie d literally just handed me this month’s issue of The New Yorker with this juicy article that really upends the narrative about narrative. Specifically, this cultural moment we’re in about narrative. It kind of reminds me of what we talked about in one of our workshops about the fish and the water and how, when we move out of it all, we start to see that stories are the water we’re swimming in. (Cartoon accompaniment below.)

Aaaaaaanyway…

If you are a podcast junkie like I am, you’re always looking for recommendations. Here are a few of mine!

• Terrible, Thanks for Asking

• Hidden Brain

• Rough Translation

• On Being

• Snap Judgment

• This American Life

• Modern Love

• Clear + Vivid with Alan Alda

• Invisibilia

• The Moth Radio Hour

• Selected Shorts

• Slate’s Culture Gabfest

• TED Radio Hour

• Brené Brown’s TED Talks on Vulnerability and Shame, as well as her new Netflix special, which is a great summary of her writings and talks.

• Other TED Talks
  • The Danger of a Single Story
  • 50 Shades of Gay
  • 5 Ways to Listen Better
  • Three Ideas. Three Contradictions. Or Not.

ARTICLES

• Why Storytelling Works
• How Storytelling Affects the Brain 
• Why Storytelling Will Be the Biggest Business Skill in the Next 5 Years 
• Vulnerability as Strength 
• Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds 
• The Two Kinds of Stories We Tell Ourselves 
• Appropriate Vulnerability 
• Is Storytelling a “Soft Skill”?

BOOKS

These are some of my favorite books that have to do with the art & brain science of storytelling or related topics.

• Jo Carson’s Spider Speculations
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

• If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look On My Face? by Alan Alda

• Long Story Short by Margot Leitman

• The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall

• The Myth Gap: What Happens When Evidence and Arguments Aren’t Enough? by Alex Evans

• The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness by Kelli Harding

• The Assertiveness Guide for Women: How to Communicate Your Needs, Set Healthy Boundaries, and Transform Your Relationships by Julie de Azevedo Hanks

• Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle

• Finding Meaning by David Kessler
• The Storytelling Edge by Shane Snow & Joe Lazauskas