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As before, the great @margaretatwood once wrote:
“There's the story, then there's the real story, then there's the story of how the story came to be told. Then there's what you leave out of the story. Which is part of the story too.”
“There's the story, then there's the real story, then there's the story of how the story came to be told. Then there's what you leave out of the story. Which is part of the story too.”
Part 2: The real story.
The story of me traveling around eating delicious food with amazing people who let me tour around in their brains awhile. This story stretches over our four seasons.
The story of me traveling around eating delicious food with amazing people who let me tour around in their brains awhile. This story stretches over our four seasons.
Starting in the autumn chatting with fabulous apiarist Dan Conlon, who let me talk to his bees and who sees both commonalities and divergences in how our two species navigating becoming cooperative species. warmcolorsapiary.com
Next the evolutionary biologist and dear friend Kimberly Norris Russell, who speculates with me about the degree to which we use fiction to train up our evolved ultrasociality.
We touch on work by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Michael Tomasello, @social_brains
We touch on work by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Michael Tomasello, @social_brains
Among the artifacts of the @HaffenrefferMus museum, biological anthropologist @Patrick_Clarkin and I discuss the evolution of culture and of romantic love, (citing some of @LenMandy ’s writing). 
On an unseasonably warm January night, we visit a rooftop bar in Brooklyn, Project Coordinator at First Nations Development Institute @RanaLapine and I chat about connecting with your cultural roots through social media, call-out culture, and generational stereotypes.
We also evaluate the ways that social media can both build us up and take us down. We *also* check in with speculative fiction writer @intelligentwat about finding a social network of likeminded peers (and also a burgeoning creative career) online. curiousfictions.com/authors/410-zi…
When snow starts to fall, we travel to Charlottesville, VA to talk with social neuroscientist @jimcoan about why he feels we fold our social others into how our brains construct our very sense of self.
Sick of all the cold, I head to Tallahassee, FL to talk with historian and writer @kelly_j_baker about zombies, the KKK, and how social media is facilitating extremist fringe groups to merge together under shared banners. (This is not an encouraging chapter).
Back in icy MA, I risk my neck driving out to visit clinical psychologist Nnamdi Pole, who challenges me to adopt the lens of asking who might be most vulnerable to the deleterious effects of social tech. smith.edu/academics/facu…
Traveling out to Las Vegas, I adopt this lens to consider whom among us might be most vulnerable to effects on depression, distraction, and addiction.
Finally, spring dawns. I greet it in Salt Lake City, sharing avocado toast and optimism with journalist @annecollier. We wonder together whether the best approach with social tech and well-being might not be panic but rather rolling up our sleeves.
We visit the work of people like @zephoria and @Livingstone_S, pioneers with sleeves already rolled.
Returning to our need for new appraisals, I get to hang with two of my bestest buds, @MaddBlackProf and @HeatherUrry , discussing with them their research (with @sarahegaither and Jenny Schultz) on how to help people reduce anxiety and engage in productive cross-race discussions.
Summer. In what my editor calls my “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” chapter, we visit @NEADSdogs to interview head trainer Kathy Foreman about the “invisible leashes” connecting dogs & humans, and how we need to make social connection the center of our universe.
We also take a dive into @bharedogguy’s research, and @wstorr ’s arguments in his book Selfie. goodreads.com/book/show/3529…
And then some take-home lessons and paths forward, checking in with the ideas of people like @bonstewart, @holden, @CassSunstein, @CathyNDavidson, @betsylevyp, @daviddesteno, @DevorahHeitner, @Kristelle_L, @johannhari101, @samsommers, @sivavaid, @NussbaumMartha, & so many others.
