Took a class in the ART OF TRAVEL at University of Colorado recently. Not how to travel. The philosophy of travel–why we go; what we report, etc. etc. We talked about explorations, pilgrimages and tourism. In every case, unless someone recorded the adventure, it was lost to history. For example, we learned Lief Ericsson wasn’t the first Viking to arrive in America. According to the Vinland Sagas, he found evidence of earlier Viking...

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Our son announced that he wanted to be an animator when he was five years old, sitting on the couch, watching Saturday morning cartoons. “Fine,” we said, thinking he’d outgrow it. When he was sixteen, still watching Saturday morning cartoons, and still saying he wanted to be an animator, we started to wonder—where do you send your kid to college if he wants to make cartoons?  The answer is California Institute of the...

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If you’ve ever been moved to tears on Saturday Morning listening to the life stories StoryCorps has recorded and played on NPR, you’ll love listening to the founder, Dave Isay talk about the project–how it was founded, what they’re doing, why we care about life recordings . . . [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIdwAymdAa0&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999] Blog this!...

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“What makes us stiff,” my Tai chi teacher asked. He was looking at me, or, self-consciously, I thought he was looking at me. As a class, we were trying to learn the spin near the end of the short Yang form. It hadn’t been going well. “Fear,” he said, answering his own question. Besides feeling old and awkward, I was barefoot that day. Should have worn socks, I told myself, when I realized my feet were sticking to...

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We make stories every day. We don’t always capture them this well. Enjoy Virginia and her IPad. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndkIP7ec3O8] Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin Share on Posterous share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post Print for later Bookmark in Browser Tell a friend

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Chimamanda Adichie, Nigerian novelist, makes a dramatic argument on the danger of a single story. This is worth 18 minutes of your time! I’ve watched it three times. She argues that when we think we know someone’s story, we limit them. When we try to make our lives fit some story, we limit ourselves. We need all our stories. We need to tell them, listen to them, search and preserve...

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