Happy Friday! As all of New York City panics in glee over the imminent hurricane headed our way, we’re preparing to spend the next few days inside (and probably filming the rainy action as much as we can) since we are releasing several videos in the next few days… so keep an eye out.

But I have to say, I love paying attention to how events like the hurricane become so much about storytelling. The earthquake earlier this week catalyzed a whirlwind of online (and then later, in-person) storytelling- everyone sharing their experience of one (extended) moment in time. Through hearing a collage of accounts from our peers, we each created an imagined image that one collective moment. That is what is so powerful about storytelling- it’s capacity to collapse time and space and help us imagine ourselves as part of bigger collective moments (and movements).

Check out some of our favorite stories we’ve come across recently:

This is the story of Manuel de los Santos, an ex-pro baseball player who became a professional golfer after losing half of his leg in a motorcycle accident. His strength and perseverance are awe-inspiring. This video features breathtaking slow motion sequences and overall is just beautifully shot.

This animated short from StoryCorps (which has been successfully making my friday mornings teary for the past seven years) features a man near the end of his life reflecting on an action he took decades earlier. Makes me think about how the trauma of war is just as violent for the millions of humans living it today.

This is just really cool. 1,500 photos were taken to make this amazing ‘movie within a movie’ stop motion animation happen. It blew my mind. Check it out. Now.

For all those on the East Coast- good luck and I hope you get to tell a really great story about this weekend.