Books… Reading is for Babies 25 Jun 201413 Jun 2015 The American Pediatrics Association says, "Immunize your children against illiteracy." NPR's Audie Cornish interviewed Professor Susan Neuman about new evidence showing that the younger you read to your children, the better. Reading benefits babies,…
Books… Friday Flick: Advice from a Master Storyteller 4 Jan 20133 Jan 2013 Forget your opposable thumbs. What makes you distinctively human is your storytelling. Even if you couldn't entertain your own family around the dinner table, you tell stories in every moment.…
Caring… Hamlet in Prison 12 Jul 201111 Jul 2011 Jack Hitt's hour-long report for This American Life on Hamlet performed by prisoners, originally broadcast in 2002, has inspired me all week with its deep insights about Hamlet and encouragement for…
Business… How to Succeed in American Business 11 Jul 2011 Teaching in a multicultural environment often includes overtly explaining American business culture and helping students practice that language. For starters, there's the direct eye contact, the body language, the smiling,…
Composition… Friday Flick: How to Tell a Story 1 Jul 201110 Jul 2011 A great reporter is a storyteller, and Scott Simon can do that, and even teach it. Here's Scott's storytelling advice:
Courage… Scheduling Improv 21 Jun 2011 Listening to Krista Tippetts' interview with musician Bobby McFerrin, it first surprised me that he ever considered joining a monastic order, and that the main attraction was the silence! He…
Advertising… Your Brain on Ads 14 Jun 201114 Jun 2011 Take a therapist who trained her daughter to watch media, including ads, with critical attention. Now imagine this daughter, Maya Cueva--already a journalist while still a teenager--not only applying that…
Caring… Record of Settlement 4 Jun 20113 Jun 2011 Icelander Baldur Hedinsson can trace his lineage to 1075; that's how complete the Icelandic records are. It's a culture based on reading through the dark winters and they wrote, too. (Oh,…
Baby Boomers… Have you seen this woman? 26 Apr 201126 Apr 2011 Photographer Bruce Davidson took this photo of a teenaged girl holding a kitten 50 years ago. Now as he receives the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award, he would like to…
Academic Writing… Bilingual Brain Advantage 4 Apr 20114 Apr 2011 During the decade politicians were banning bilingual education, I was in graduate school studying linguistics, including language acquisition--even bilingual language acquisition--and wishing we could all have bilingual (or trilingual) education.…
Blogging… Some Lawyers Can Write 21 Mar 2011 If you've ever wondered how privacy issues would be handled on Krypton with its x-ray vision, or whether the statute of limitations applies in cases of time travel or suspended…
Change the World… Tell Your Story, Inspire World Peace 12 Mar 201112 Mar 2011 "Peace comes about when one party recognizes the narrative of an antagonistic party and sees its point. Peace presumes the capacity of one party to enter in some way into…