I took an extra year to finish college for health reasons. That year taught me a lot about myself, and it also gave me front-line exposure to the uncertainty and ambiguity that’s a normal part of conventional medicine. Take the adjective idiopathic. It’s used to describe conditions or symptoms that seem to arise in individuals from nowhere […]
Who tells your story?
Early on in high school, my English teacher introduced our class to U.A. Fanthorpe’s poem, “Not My Best Side.” It’s a snarky modern piece inspired by Paolo Uccello’s painting of St. George and the Dragon, and it features the perspectives of St. George, the damsel he aims to rescue, and the dragon who brings them together. Why, I […]
Truth through those who’ve lived it
No one understands history like those who have lived it. Oral histories are recorded or transcribed memories—often of everyday people—that capture unique personal perspectives available nowhere else. These valuable records reveal facets of history that are not recorded elsewhere, like the daily lives and struggles of formerly enslaved men and women who were rarely allowed […]
The story that won’t die
This week on Civic Hall’s Civicist blog: the story that won’t die returns. Andrew Slack uses examples from popular films and franchises to illustrate a subset of “We will win!”, the tale of the orphan who goes up against the evil empire and, after a tense confrontation, is victorious. Star Wars. Superman. The Lion King. Jesus. When […]
Resistance
An ex-slave woman told of the doctrine of resistance passed onto her by her slave mother, who refused to be whipped by slave owners. The daughter claimed that: ‘…The one doctrine of my mother’s teaching which was branded upon my senses was that I should never let anyone abuse me.’ The heart of the slave […]