Stories Connect Us

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“Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories.” ~ Roger C. Schank, Cognitive Scientist

“Love is a gift. It’s a gift of oneself given freely. It’s not something one can ever ask for.” ~ Alithea Binnie, Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

Last night, as I write this, I watched a movie I’d had on my TBW list for a long time. It’s, Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022) starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba. It’s a magical story about a scholar of story and mythology who, while at a conference in Istanbul, buys a lovely glass bottle for her collection and while cleaning it, unexpectedly releases a Djinn. She is skeptical about granting the Djiin his wish to be released from ever being trapped again, by asking for three wishes of her own. And so the intellectual debate begins. Asking for three wishes always ends in tragedy, Alithea states. But she’s curious how the Djinn got trapped in the bottle in the first place. So he tells her three stories of being trapped in three different bottles over three thousand years. And as he weaves his stories and she asks more questions, eventually she falls in love with him and he with her. You’ll have to watch the movie to see what happens to them.

Watching this particular story made me realize how stories connect us in a way I’ve never been able to articulate before. They are a way to walk in someone else’s shoes, to understand the world from their point of view. Sometimes we learn important lessons about our own lives as we listen to someone else’s story. For some reason I remembered a woman I met while in Thessalonliki, Greece while on our trip around the world in 1996. 

I’m sad to say I don’t remember this woman’s name. She lived in Thessaloniki with her husband who was studying to be an Orthodox Christian priest. This couple were friends with a theatre friend of mine in Portland. He connected us so we wouldn’t be completely alone while in Greece. 

In the Orthodox Church, a man who is already married when he begins his training, is allowed to remain so. He was happy in his chosen profession, but one day when his wife and I were alone, she told me how distressed she was. As I remember it, her dilemma was two fold, she wasn’t sure she wanted children, which her priest was urging her to do as her duty to God and the church, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be a priest’s wife. Or maybe she didn’t know how to be a priest’s wife. In any case, she was suffering because she didn’t have anyone to talk to about her feelings. She was told that her husband’s ambition should be her ambition. 

I could relate to her story because at the time, Barry and I were trying to decide whether or not to have children of our own. We were lucky. We didn’t have anyone pressuring us into becoming parents. So when she told me her story, I was furious with her priest. Of course, I couldn’t show that to her. But I kept thinking, “What nerve, to not only tell a woman that God wants her to have a baby she might not want, but to go so far as to coerce her into it by telling her it would reflect badly on her husband.” Her feelings, hopes, and dreams were completely irrelevant. I don’t know anything about her relationship with her husband. They seemed happy, but that may have been for show for us as their guests. I’m not sure I helped her much. All I could do was listen. I’ve thought about her often over the years and wonder what happened to her. When I think of her, I send a prayer of blessing and hope she was able to work things out for herself and find happiness.

Another thing the movie did for me was to solidify my commitment to sharing stories in all different forms. Because when we listen to others and share our own stories we connect on an emotional level. Our differences fade away and we’re just human beings caring for each other and that’s of supreme importance.

One final thought, I’m not sure I can articulate this very well, but when I read or watch a story, my emotions are engaged. The best stories change my feelings about myself and what it means to be a human being. I like being challenged to examine my viewpoint about the world, though I realize self-examination is scary for some people. Maybe even connecting with people who don’t think like you do is scary as well. One thing I do know, Being completely alone is not good. it’s better to have connections with people you can rely on, because we all need support at one time or another. 

Thank you so much for reading. Happy Autumnal or Spring Equinox. The changing seasons always feel like new beginnings for me. Share, leave a comment, or like. I appreciate you so much.

Blessings,

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2024

The Space Between Time

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards. It’s now available on the Hoopla App linked to your local library.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, after the last few years, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version and sequel are published.

Lucinda is also the host of Story-Power a podcast where she and her guests discuss their creative endeavors, and/or the stories that have changed their lives. It’s available here on Sage Woman Chronicles and on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube podcast apps. Please rate and leave a review. It helps people find me.

Rita Gau’s review: Recently, I finished reading a book titled, The Space Between Time, by my friend, Lucinda Sage-Midgorden. It was the best book I’ve read in a long time. It kept me captivated, which I have not experienced from any other book for the past couple of years. I loved all the little gems of meaningful and what I call spiritual statements throughout the book. You know, those words that make you pause and think, and sometimes have an “aha” from or a deeper awareness about something. And it was entertaining and informational about some of the history in the 1800’s and yet, contemporary. It also reminded me of the importance of “living in community” and how important it is to help one another and be engaged in your community. Thank you Lucinda for a wonderful, entertaining and captivating book!

Story-Power on Patreon and Apple Subscriptions 

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast, Patreon Community, and Apple subscription so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. Patreon is $5 a month for content not found on the Story-Power podcast, or on my Sage Woman Blog. They have recently instituted a free tier so you can try it out before you buy. Apple subscription is $3 a month, again with content not found on the Story-Power podcast. If you’re passionate about stories, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower. Or, you can add the subscription on Apple podcast where Story-Power is published. Let’s share what we’ve learned from the stories we love.

PodMatch for Podcasters

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. I call them a dating service for podcasters. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.

Question Everything

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This post contains affiliate links for which I get a small commission.

Propaganda: “information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation etc.” dictionary.com

“Fear is the mind killer.” ~ Frank Herbert’s Dune

“This is the west, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” ~ Maxwell Scott a character in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

I don’t want to be heavy handed with this post. I’m writing it because I’ve watched some of the political conventions, debates, and rallies this election season in addition to movies that bring to mind just how pernicious lies, told over and over again can be. They become “truth” for some people. And since it’s an election year, I’m being careful to listen to the candidates, journalists and news pundits and do research about the issues that are at stake this election cycle. But propaganda is all around us all of the time from many different sources, so we always need to be vigilant. 

My dad taught my siblings and me to question everything; the news, advertising, politicians, even our teachers and what our textbooks said. I’m so grateful that he did. I learned to take a step back and try to discern whether or not what I was reading or hearing was the truth. With the advent of social media and 24 hour news, I have to pay particular attention to all the information I’m bombarded with every day. Sometimes I get fooled, but asking questions and doing a little bit of research has helped. 

When I taught American Literature, I created a unit on propaganda. Social media was just becoming popular at the time and I wanted my students to be able to discern which things they read in their feeds might be forms of propaganda. I wish I’d had the Disinformation Nation website for them so they could learn more strategies to combat propaganda and lies. I tried to teach them how to question everything and even do research when they weren’t sure if a story was true or false. We examined propaganda during WWII, how the messages were stated, and how damaging they could be.

One thing I liked from the Disinformation Nation website were the suggestions. First, do a gut check. How does the information make you feel? Our gut is a good barometer, but we can’t rely on just that. A second strategy they suggest is to break out of our content bubble by choosing five news outlets to check every so often. Pick 2 general, 2 sources you don’t agree with, 1 with a specific perspective. I’m pretty good about double-checking the truth in advertising, but I have failed to make it habit to check different news sources when it comes to political issues. This year I’m changing that.

I have to admit I should have been more diligent in 2016. I didn’t like Trump, but I should have checked the disinformation about Clinton more closely. In 2020, I wanted Buttigieg, but when he dropped out and endorsed Biden, I had to examine my prejudice that people who’ve been in office for many years are suspect. I wasn’t sure Biden, a very long time politician, was honorable. This time when Biden dropped out, I had to listen to Kamala Harris, and do my research about her. 

There are so many times in our lives that we have to ask questions and research the facts. These range from buying a car, a house, choosing educational institutions, where to live … the list goes on. If we are going to live a happy life, we have to be aware of what’s going on around us and ask questions so we can make the best decisions.

I found this quote by Neil deGrasse Tyson on Facebook, and yes, I went to see if he was sharing information about a real study. Here’s one site about the topic. There are others. Here’s what deGrasse Tyson said, “In the 60s, the KGB did some fascinating psychological experiments. They learned that if you bombarded human subjects with fear messages nonstop, in two months or less, most of the subjects are completely brainwashed to believe the false message. To the point that no amount of clear information they are shown, to be the contrary, can change their mind.” That’s pretty scary. It makes me think of prisoners of war, political prisoners, or people who were in concentration camps. How did some of them survive with their core beliefs in tact? Even if we aren’t being formally brainwashed, we can still begin to accept the lies as fact unless we question and double check them.

Here are some examples from literature and movies that give us clues about how this “brainwashing” can happen.

In the book Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, the character, Wickham, is a pathological liar. His tactic is to be the first to get his licks in. In the case of the story, he meets the protagonist, Elizabeth, and knowing that Mr. Darcy, his nemesis, is staying in the vicinity, tells her a story about how Darcy abused him by denying him the inheritance Darcy’s father promised. It takes Elizabeth quite a while to discover that Wickham has told a huge lie. But since Darcy is a private, introverted man, and because of that is not very popular among the people of her town, she believes Wickham. Fortunately, Wickham gets his comeuppance.

In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, James Stuart is an Eastern lawyer who has come West to begin his law practice. He happens to be on the stage coach robbed by Liberty Valance. He wants to use the law to put Valance in jail. But John Wayne knows that’s not going to work in a town where the sheriff is afraid of Valance, as is everyone else. Wayne’s character is the only one who is a faster draw and tougher than Valance. At the middle of the story, Valance goads Stuart into a gun fight, but it’s Wayne who kills him. Stuart is the only one who knows this fact because Wayne swears him to silence on the subject. Wayne can see Stuart’s potential. The lie propels him into an illustrious political career. In the end, he tries to tell the press in the town where the fight took place, what really happened, but as the quote above indicates, the newspaper man will not print the truth because the lie has become legend.

The American President is a story that is probably closest to the situation in which we find ourselves. The story begins over a year before the Presidential election. Michael Douglas plays the President and he’s running for his second term. But he meets Annette Bening, a lobbyist for an environmental organization. He’s a widower, and is immediately taken with her so he asks her to replace his sick cousin at the State Dinner for the new French President. Richard Dreyfuss is the Republican most likely to run against Douglas. The smirk on his face when Douglas and Bening dance at the State Dinner, tells you he’s found the weapon he’s been hoping will help him defeat Douglas. And he uses it, by telling a TV reporter a lie that Bening got to where she is by sleeping her way to the top. That’s a complication in the story, but in the end, Douglas stands up for Bening and challenges Dreyfuss about that lie and other of his positions which I won’t bore you with here. I hope you watch this movie if you haven’t seen it just for Douglas’ speech to the Press Corps at the end of the movie. It embodies what I hope we will embrace as a nation.

There were other movies with similar situations, but you get the idea. Anybody can tell us lies that we might believe. We even tell ourselves stories that might not be true to protect our ego, or even to survive terrible situations. Advertisers tell outright lies, or bend the truth, food labels do it, journalists and news outlets do it too. It can be exhausting to be vigilant, but in today’s climate, it might be necessary.

I’m writing this post because it feels like we’re at a turning point in history and I’m encouraging you to decide what kind of world you want to live in. The choices we make in the next few months and years are important and will determine what kind of societies we create.

Thank you to all my followers, especially the new ones. Take care of yourselves during these contentious times.

Blessings,

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2024 

Story-Power on Patreon and Apple Subscriptions

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast, Patreon Community, and Apple subscription so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. Patreon is $5 a month for content not found on the Story-Power podcast, or on my Sage Woman Blog. They have recently instituted a free tier so you can try it out before you buy. Apple subscription is $3 a month, again with content not found on the Story-Power podcast. If you’re passionate about stories, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower. Or, you can add the subscription on Apple podcast where Story-Power is published. Let’s share what we’ve learned from the stories we love.

PodMatch for Podcasters and Guests

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. I call them a dating service for podcasters. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.

Spirits and Stories of Veterans

This post contains affiliate links.

I entered the Army in 1994 and spent 20 years in the military.  During the 20 years I spent 68 months in deployment/combat tours. 9 months was in Bosnia and the rest was in Iraq and Afghanistan.  After the Military I opened up my own company in the trucking industry.  I closed it shortly after covid. Since than I have started a podcast called Spirits and Stories with Donald Dunn to highlight the struggles and the success of our veteran community and I am building a nonprofit called Heroes Voices Media Foundation to help Veterans reach their dreams while getting therapy doing it. 

I have just released my first book called Echoes of War.

My podcast:  http://www.spiritsandstoriespodcast.com

My nonprofit: http://www.heroesvoicemediafoundation.org

Podcast program for veterans: http://www.militaryunitedpodcaststreams.org

Radio Station Program for Veterans http://www.gunroomradio.com


PodMatch for Podcasters

This episode is brought to you by PodMatch, the dating service for podcasters. They introduced me to Donald Dunn, and I’m so glad they did. I hope you’ve enjoyed our conversation and remember that if you have a podcast or something to share with the world, check out PodMatch at my affiliate link at PodMatch and tell them Lucinda sent you.

Story-Power on Patreon and Apple Subscriptions


I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast, Patreon Community, and Apple subscription so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. Patreon is $5 a month for content not found on the Story-Power podcast, or on my Sage Woman Blog. They have recently instituted a free tier so you can try it out before you buy. Apple subscription is $3 a month, again with content not found on the Story-Power podcast. If you’re passionate about stories, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower. Or, you can add the subscription on Apple podcast where Story-Power is published. Let’s share what we’ve learned from the stories we love.

Ask Any Woman

Business Women in Indonesia

“What history teaches us about misogyny can be summed up in four words: pervasive, persistent, pernicious and protean.” ~ Jack Holland, A Brief History of Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice

Ask any woman if they’ve been harassed, demeaned, attacked, or assaulted by men and they will tell you, “Of course. Multiple times.” Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, women are not treated the same as men, and the sad thing is, most times they are held to a higher standard, even by other women, when they dare to aspire to a job usually held by men.

I know I told you I was taking this month off from writing posts here, but two videos came up in my YouTube feed yesterday about the election and how Vice President Harris is treated differently than ex-president Trump. One video points that out with examples. The other gives examples of people saying she’s not qualified for various reasons, all of which are not true. This one contains graphs so you can compare her qualifications to that of the last few presidents. Spoiler alert, she’s more qualified than almost any president in the history of our country.

I’m going to share one of my stories and then I’ll include the video clips here so you can watch and make up your own minds whether or not Vice President Harris is qualified for the job of President of the United States. I know not all of you who follow me are from the U.S., but I hope you will bear with me on this post and think about how pervasive, persistent, pernicious, and protean misogyny really is all around the world. We need to change that and one way is to start calling it out when it happens to us and the women around us. That’s what I’m doing here.

Here’s ONE of my stories. I graduated from high school in 1971. I didn’t want to go to college right away so I worked for four years. In 1975, at the ages of 22, I began my college career. I’ve always been interested in stories and spirituality, so I took Introduction to Religion that first semester and was hooked. I immediately declared Religious Studies as my major. It was a small Christian college sponsored by my church. I was the only woman in the program of maybe 15 religion students. The harassment began my second year of study. Every lunch and dinner, I’ve forgotten how long this lasted, I was confronted by a group of about three or four guys thumping their Bibles and telling me that I needed to change my major because women were not meant to be ministers in the church. None of the men were in any of my classes or program. They didn’t know what I was learning about how The Bible was written many years after the events, especially those of the New Testament. But none of that mattered to them. They thought, because they were men, they had the right to tell me what to do with my life. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t convince me and eventually quit harassing me probably declaring that I was going to Hell because of my defiance. (Please note that about four or five years after I graduated, my church began ordaining women ministers.)

Most of the time we don’t recognize misogyny because we’ve lived with it for so long. If you watch these two videos, feel free to leave a comment. And I’ll also suggest that you read A Brief History of Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice. There were times while reading it I was filled with rage, so be warned. It points out stark historical realities that are extremely disturbing.

Here are the videos. I don’t know if I’ll write a post next week. We’ll see if I get inspired. 

I hope you have a good week ahead. Please comment, or even share this post if you’re so inclined. Thanks for reading.

Where Two or More are Gathered

Hands of different races

This post contains affiliate links.

Since I want to spread as much love to as many people as I can, I’m directing you to a scientific organization that has the same mission. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Heart Math Institute. Their mission is, “To co-create a kinder, more compassionate world by conducting interconnectivity research and providing heart-based, science-proven tools for raising humanity’s baseline consciousness from separation and discord to compassionate care and cooperation.” 

In addition their cause is, “HeartMath Institute is committed to helping awaken the heart of humanity. We believe that when we align and connect our hearts and minds and connect with others, we awaken the higher mental, emotional and spiritual capacities that frequently lie dormant. HMI aspires to always conduct our operations with passion, compassion and a heartfelt desire to transform lives. This is in keeping with our desire to help usher in an era of ever-expanding heart intelligence. HeartMath’s research, training and technologies are aimed at guiding all of humanity toward realization of its full potential and to rely on the qualities of the heart in its role as caretaker of future generations and our planet.”

I’ve been a member, or at least received their newsletter for a number of years. They hold Global Coherence focused meditations once or twice a month, among other important work. It’s my belief that if we band together and combine our loving energy, we can change the world. I share this information with you in hopes you will find their work not only interesting, but also comforting and inspiring.

Here is a recent video from their YouTube channel that might help you understand their work better.

I leave this with you because I’m talking the month of September off to finish my novel, Time’s Echo, which is almost ready to send out for comments and editing. I am also going to work on a new project launching in early 2025. 

I love and appreciate all of you. Feel free to share this post so more of us can join the many others like the members of the HeartMath Institute in spreading love, hope, and joy.

Blessings,

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2024

The Space Between Time

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards. It’s now available on the Hoopla App linked to your local library.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, after the last few years, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version and sequel are published.

Lucinda is also the host of Story-Power a podcast where she and her guests discuss their creative endeavors, and/or the stories that have changed their lives. It’s available here on Sage Woman Chronicles and on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube podcast apps. Please rate and leave a review. It helps people find me.

Rita Gau’s review: Recently, I finished reading a book titled, The Space Between Time, by my friend, Lucinda Sage-Midgorden. It was the best book I’ve read in a long time. It kept me captivated, which I have not experienced from any other book for the past couple of years. I loved all the little gems of meaningful and what I call spiritual statements throughout the book. You know, those words that make you pause and think, and sometimes have an “aha” from or a deeper awareness about something. And it was entertaining and informational about some of the history in the 1800’s and yet, contemporary. It also reminded me of the importance of “living in community” and how important it is to help one another and be engaged in your community. Thank you Lucinda for a wonderful, entertaining and captivating book!

Story-Power on Patreon and Apple Subscriptions

I’m so passionate about stories that I created the Story-Power podcast, Patreon Community, and Apple subscription so I’d have an excuse to talk story with other story lovers. Patreon is $5 a month for content not found on the Story-Power podcast, or on my Sage Woman Blog. They have recently instituted a free tier so you can try it out before you buy. Apple subscription is $3 a month, again with content not found on the Story-Power podcast. If you’re passionate about stories, and want to talk about what you’ve learned from your favorites, come join me at patreon.com/StoryPower. Or, you can add the subscription on Apple podcast where Story-Power is published. Let’s share what we’ve learned from the stories we love.

PodMatch

If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. I call them a dating service for podcasters. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a Story-Power chat.