Kate the Great and the State of Hollywood
The Academy Awards are the perfect place to witness how stories in our culture get told and shared. And while there were so many complex, challenging stories being recognized (5 Broken Cameras, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Silver Linings Playbook to name a few), last night’s academy awards also reminded me of the ways in which Hollywood creates and sustains our status quo. The current world order is formed and reproduced by narratives that justify inequality. If stories are the key ingredient in protecting the status quo- then it’s this more »
Happy New Year!
From Palestine to Uganda to Los Angeles, Orlando and New York- 2012 was a wonderfully busy year for us at ListenIn. We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to hear the stories of such inspiring people this year. As we look forward to 2013, we feel more optimistic than ever that real change is possible and is being created by courageous changemakers every day. Thank you for being a part of our journey this past year! Happy New Year From ListenIn Pictures from ListenIn Pictures on Vimeo. Tweet
Lessons From One Year at ListenIn Pictures
For a few years, I’ve been volunteering at a camp for children with life-threatening illnesses. Last year, one of my campers was Kelly, a strong-willed teenager with cancer. She was bone-thin and had very little hair. At camp, Kelly used a hiking stick to support her weight as she walked. She said that unlike the wheelchairs or crutches—which she used occasionally at the hospital or school—the hiking stick made her feel powerful. One day, I watched her climb up camp’s 40-foot artificial rock wall. It was one of the most more »
Nothing is Impossible- New video for the Global Women’s Water Initiative
“A single drop of water can start a wave.” From the first moment I gave Gemma Bulos a hug upon meeting her this summer at the Dell Social Innovation Lab, I knew I’d met someone special. I treasure good huggers. I was so enthralled by Gemma’s energy & story (she travelled for 9 years around the globe with $700), that I wrote a postcard to my best friend who is living in Botswana about her the next day. So when we found out that we were going to be in more »
You Should Vote for Obama If…
With three weeks until the 2012 Presidential Election, both campaigns have attacked each other with negative ads, distortions, and lies. At ListenIn, we believe that successful advertising caters to the good in people. It just makes sense—people respond when they’re inspired, empowered, and hopeful. Attacks full of campaign ugliness don’t get people out of their seats, skipping to the polls, jazzed up about their vote. Negative advertisements diminish voters’ faith in both candidates. No wonder only 51% of the population votes in presidential elections. So, when the good folks at Just more »
Happy International Day of the Girl!
Today marks the first International Day of the Girl! What’s that? Last year, a Resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the UN established that from 2012 forward October 11th would be recognized as the International Day of the Girl. On this day every year, individuals and organizations are encouraged to raise awareness and promote initiatives that highlight the strength of girls everywhere and seek to improve their livelihoods. Emphasis is placed on increasing girls’ access to education and jobs, fighting violence and gender violence against women and girls, and more »
Share Important Stories: 5 Steps to Master the Interview
How do you find and tell stories that embody entire movements, campaigns, or organizations? A crucial element of using storytelling to represent your organization or campaign is having either a single narrative or a set of individual narratives that represent(s) your vision and key messages. At ListenIn, we feel the best ways to learn and represent stories of individuals within an organization or campaign is through the direct voice of the protagonist. Often, individuals have a hard time seeing their place as a protagonist in an incredible story, or don’t more »
The Blessed Unrest – Photos of Artists in NYC
“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even more »
Artists in Motion – Created for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
“This piece is about the human hero. Those who choose to find meaning in the every day.” said Andrea Miller, founder of Gallim dance, explaining the inspiration behind their most recent work, Sit Kneel Stand. “I was inspired by the myth of Sisyphus, who was condemned to carry an immense boulder to the top of a hill, only to have it fall back down to the bottom, causing him to repeat the process for all of eternity. But if you consider our daily rituals —how we push things around more »
How Stories Change Behavior
“Science shows that humans organize experiences into stories and we categorize them based on our emotional reactions to those stories. And science has shown that it’s the emotional part of the brain that helps us make decisions. So when we appeal to people through facts and reason we’re missing the point. We need to reach them through emotion, and to do that we need to tell stories.” -Marion McDonald, managing director of strategy and planning at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide Tweet
