Hearthside Salons with PageCraftWriting

Michael Mack - Writer, Actor, Director - Boldly going where no (black) man has gone before: Star Trek, spirituality, creativity

As we cope with a pandemic and wrestle with national and global unrest following the murder to George Floyd, actor and writer Michael Mack and I sat down to search for a little light. As the first Black Romulan in Star Trek history, Michael is a trailblazer and he’s part of a show that’s a cultural touchstone for so many of us. A show that, from its inception, dealt with racial issues in America through the metaphor of SciFi.

Michael asserts that success isn’t about what you can get. You have to decide: what’s your contribution to the craft, and to the world. and then live with faith in that. In this peculiar and painful moment in American history, Michael starts by drawing parallels with now and the Civil Rights marches of 1968.

Conversation and Q&A has been edited for time and clarity.

We obviously talk a lot about Star Trek: The Next Generation

And Michael's episode: The Pegasus

His mentors Jeri Taylor, Brannon Braga, Ron D Moore

Working with LeVar Burton

And someday, taking over for James Earl Jones as Darth Vader.

On an early mentor's advice, he entered The Nicholl. He attributes part of his early success to doing well there.

And he recommends the documentary What We Left Behind regarding the African American experience in Star Trek.

We also touch on the seminal nuclear power movie: The China Syndrome

 

Rob Latimer - Mental Performance Consultant - Hunter, Gatherer, Accountant, Nurse: the psychology of stress and mental performance in the modern world

As we collectively face a global pandemic, many people are experiencing extremely high levels of chronic stress in their lives brought about by uncertainty and change. Even under normal circumstances, our response to stress often prevents us from performing at our best. But since stress is such a universal part of the human experience, why is that the case? The short answer is because the way we respond to stress is suited for a very different type of stress than we usually face in the modern world. Join us as Rob Latimer, discusses the historical, biological, and psychological dimensions of the human stress response and provides practical instruction on several different techniques we can use to reduce and manage its negative effects.

We talk about Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

We also talk about Valerie Hager's thoughts about empathy for strangers. 

And Heidi Harris' thoughts on communication and conflict

You can improve your own performance working with Rob

and follow his photography too. 

Heidi Harris - Applied Behavioral Science Expert - The Emotionality of Polarization

How do we get through this when we’re all so angry and sure we’re right? What’s coming next?

The ability to create understanding between people is crucial for relationships. It's especially important in today's heightened environment of polarization. Our emotional reactions can lead to defensiveness, anger, and divisiveness, or to deeper human connectedness, dialogue, and collaboration. The choice is ours. Heidi provides insights and tools for coming out of this with relationships intact.

Conversation and Q&A has been edited for time and clarity

Heidi and I talk about her formative understanding of others at French Camp.

We talk about principles covered by Patrick Lencioni in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

We also talk about Chris Argyris' Ladder Of Inference and how it shapes our reactions. 

And the Awareness Wheel as a tool to foster communication. 

And her mentor Russ Hamilton. 

Molly Sweeney - Author, Political Scientist - The Black Flag of ISIS: Living Within the World’s Best Organized Terrorist State

Molly Sweeney is a researcher and author who specializes in the Middle East. Her upcoming non-fiction book, You Must Understand, tells the story of the Islamic State through the eyes of civilians in Iraq and Syria. History and culture sections frame the narratives of the interviews of those most impacted by ISIS. Analyzing the socio-political factors that led to the emergence and proliferation of the Islamic State, Ms. Sweeney invites readers into a nuanced understanding of stories of resilience, courage, and heartbreak.

Conversation and Q&A has been edited for time and clarity.

More on Molly's book

And Naomi McDougall Jones' book which is how we met.

 

Paul Whitehead - Playing with Perceptions: The Art of Creating Identity

The artist Paul Whitehead came of age in Swinging Sixties Britain and was on the front lines of massive cultural shifts. He’s the founding art director of Time Out London and is known for creating album covers for the band Genesis. Never comfortable being defined as just one thing, Paul developed an alter ego as the artist Tricia Van Cleef who creates works in a style all her own. Join us as we talk about gender, art, creative spirit, and playing with perceptions. 

Conversation and Q&A has been edited for time and clarity.

A note to listeners: this conversation touches on sexuality and gender identity. 

We talk about:

Paul's own art as well as Trisha's. 

His film about Picasso and the ephemeral nature of art.

His album work with Genesis: Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot

The cover for Van der Graaf Generator's Pawn Hearts

The founding of Time Out London

And the Bhagavad Gita

Valerie Hager - Performer, story coach, former exotic dancer - Finding your fire and bringing your beast forward

My friend Valerie Hager reminds me that we go to the theater to be woken up and brought back to life. She would know. She’s an award-winning solo show performer and director who’s now a sought after solo show coach. She works through a unifying principle: bring your beast forward. Anything less won’t move an audience. Anything less isn’t real. She talks today about this need for story tellers to crack their hearts open, and the value of radical empathy. She’s learned a lot about human nature. 

 

She used to be a stripper. In Alaska. She mined all of her experiences there for her show “Naked In Alaska” She says there is gold dust under the pain. That underneath it all, we all just want to be seen, forgiven, and held. 

 

[EXPLICIT] A note to listeners: This episode deals with sexuality, drug use, and adult situations. It contains some adult language.

 

Learn more about Valerie's art

Her show Naked in Alaska

Her Insta gives daily inspiration and fierceness

One of her greatest inspirations: Women Who Run With The Wolves

and Anne Lamott's Bird By Bird

We discussed the power of vulnerability like Brene Brown's talk

Sarah Yeomans and Rob Latimer - How does epidemic change storytelling?

As a story teller I’m interested both in what stories I need to tell and what stories people want to hear. When a question came up in our April 7 salon about how the collective trauma of the Covid-19 pandemic could impact the nature of storytelling, we thought it merited exploration. Now archeologist and researcher specialist in ancient epidemics Sarah Yeomans and I are joined by Rob Latimer, historian, writer and teacher as we delve into this. 

 

As we’ll discuss, how we communicate these events can be critical to policy and societal shift in the brief window that we’ll have before we'll want to forget and move on. We could be poised for a golden age of story not unlike the modernist period of the 1920s. 

 

Useful links to things referenced in the episode:

Our April 7th episode that produced this inquiry

Lynn Ferguson's live storytelling class, Fish & Bear

Past epidemics have produced books like Love in the Time of Cholera, Pale Horse, Pale Rider, and of course the grandaddy of all plague books, the Decameron

Past traumas have produced films like United 93 and Philadelphia and every WW2 movie ever. But sometimes a remove is needed as in the case of MASH set in the Korean War but about the Vietnam War.

Superheroes give us a sense of order and protection but what happens when they are as corrupt as the forces they're supposed to be saving us from as in Amazon's excellent The Boys  

Finally, storytellers are already processing this into story as with this American Quarantined in Paris

Silvia Gallini - Visual Artist - Breaking out of darkness to find a path and make mistakes

Visual artist Silvia Gallini comes from a strict family in the north of Italy where she was expected to become a dentist and join her father’s practice. Her dad actually told her “dreams are not allowed.” Today she shares with us how she found the courage to defy all that, and the winding path that brought her here to LA where she’s a wildly imaginative image maker and art teacher. She talks about the magic of mentors, and casting off the curse of the words “You can’t” but the real magic of her world view is how she gives herself and others permission to make mistakes. 

The Q&A portion has been edited for clarity and time

Silvia's Art

Silvia's Etsy Shop

Silvia's Film

Silvia's Instagram

Silvia recommends the books: “You Can Heal your Life” by Louise Hay

“The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. 

“The Wounded Woman: Healing the Father-Daughter Relationship” by Rr. Linda S. Leonard

 “The Wizard of Oz and Other Narcissists” by Eleanor Payson

Sarah Yeomans – Professor and Archeologist - What historical pandemics can teach us about our present crisis

Archaeologist and researcher, Sarah Yeomans, talks to us about what ancient plagues and epidemics have to teach us about Covid-19. This talk is about "perspective and hope, we’re more well-positioned to deal with this current crisis than any other humans in history." Sarah takes us through the Antonine Plague, the Justinian Plague, The black plague "the worst we’ve ever seen," The Spanish Flu (a bird and a pig and loosey goosey RNA). She debunks conspiracy theories and talks about wet markets, the clash of disparate ecosystems and secondary consequences: the human reaction to the disease. Sarah asserts that at the end of any collective trauma there is a window of opportunity for real change. What might that change look like?

The Q&A portion has been edited for time and clarity.

Sarah offers some additional reading: https://www.livescience.com/worst-epidemics-and-pandemics-in-history.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/were-not-facing-second-spanish-flu/607354/

Here's what's coming up on Hearthside Salons.

 

Liz Hara - Emmy winner - Pursuing your passion and the necessity of failure

Emmy-winner and Sesame Street puppeteer, builder, and writer, Liz Hara, shares about what failure has taught her about being an artist, what it's like inside the magic world of Sesame, and what she's learned being a woman of color in Hollywood writers rooms. She talks about what makes a great show runner and how TV can teach empathy. She also shares about her Minnesota roots and how working on a Japanese Internment Camp project has brought her closer to her family members who survived the camps. She's a writer on Helpsters and an upcoming Marvel project. 

Her quarantine binge recommends include:
Helpsters, of course,  

Canadian sitcom Kim's Convenience

and Cold Blood on BritBox

As a PageCraft alum, she talks about our Orvieto retreats.

And I talk about Naomi McDougall Jones fab new book The Wrong Kind of Women