It’s the unofficial half-day in the U.S. today as people prepare to travel or host a Thanksgiving celebration.  We will have a special Grateful issue tomorrow.  We hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday this year.  Before that, we will hit you with stories about; recording family stories, a standup comedian spotlight, a physical health breakdown, science projects for kids, and much more.  Something for everyone; we are grateful for you!

NPR has a story about a way to outline telling your family story.  This has become popular over the last several years with various services.  Storyworth is a company that will send out family members an email each week with questions they can respond to.  At the end of the year, the stories are bound into a book for everyone to read.  This is also one of those things that seems like a good idea at the time, ideas, but after fifteen to twenty of these weekly emails, you start to think, don’t I have enough deadlines?  Or worse, if you are retired, you might think WTH, I’m retired.

The NPR article goes into tactical advice and covers everything from; outlines to research and even sensitive conversations.  Kim Hawley, the founder of a company that helps women tell stories called Strength Through Story, talks about how the stories we tell can bring us together over issues we didn’t know we shared.  It is also essential to go into a project like this and prepare for the work.  It won’t be easy, and there will be much herding of cats.  If you put together a solid outline and start to brief your group on what you hope to accomplish, you can look at multiple ways to get the information out.

If a part of the family group has never seen an email, you will have to pull that information another way.  Take the same questions from Storyworth and call your family, record the call and turn that into the book or recorded history.  Record a zoom call, or film a family gathering where you tell stories.  There are many ways to gather information, and it’s more fun to get the stories from the people who lived through them than trying to piece unanswered questions together after they are gone.

We have been telling stories since language was invented.  The Internet tells us humans have been around for approximately 300,000 years, language maybe 200,000 years, and the oldest written report could be The Epic of Gilgamesh, said to have been written almost 5,000 years ago.  All that to say, most of this starts with a conversation, talking to the elders, and finding a way to keep and share their stories, especially as the holiday season begins.

Taking our advice and tracking our laughs, and trying to increase the daily counts, we will spend more time looking into comedy.  Today we are highlighting Nate Bargatze, a stand-up comic from Tennessee who also has a podcast called NATELAND Podcast.  In one of his Netflix Standup Comedy specials called The Tennessee Kid, Netflix introduced us to Bargatze, who pronounces his last name as Bur-Gotz-Zee.  Nate is a clean comic and reminds us of a “Seinfeld of the South.”  He is clever and self-deprecating, and his timing and delivery are the work of a true professional.

He has several well-known bits, including; iced coffee, arguing with his wife, and one of our favorite bits, his explanation of something called “common core math.”  He has a daughter who asked for help with her math homework, and the bit had those of us who have ever tried to help a kid with homework rolling on the floor.  In researching this piece, we found a new Netflix special from Nate called The Greatest Average American; it’s now on our watchlist.

S.E.E. stands for Sleep - Eat - Exercise, a simplified philosophy of the fitness nuts in our office.  Here’s the rundown:

In order of priority (H4)

Get 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night.
Bonus points for going to bed before midnight and getting up early.

Include five or more servings of fruits every day.
Include five or more servings of vegetables every day.
Drink water (the amount of water depends on your body mass).
Bonus points for a high protein and low card balanced diet.
Bonus points – no food or drink after 8 PM.

2 to 3 high-intensity cardio workouts per week.
2 to 3 strength training workouts per week.
Bonus points for stretching sessions, yoga, and pilates.

Some of us have been working out consistently for twenty years.  SEEING is believing!

While doing research for another story we did on elements, we found an excellent website that helps put together science experiments for kids.  The website is produced by Home Science Tools and has all kinds of tools for teaching kids.  We landed on the Four Elements science lesson and what we liked about the lesson and experiments was all the info that came along with it.  Four elements from ancient Greece were a way of describing what the earth was made of.  Additional comparisons to the four elements went into philosophy, medicine, and even the description of certain personalities.

After the lesson is a get your dirty hands experiment, including how to make a Fire Extinguisher.  We recommend following the instructions; we may have been distracted when we tried it and required a real fire extinguisher.  That surprised no one.

[Music Notes]

Some of our favorite musicians are leaving Twitter.  In a move that goes to what punks are about and what it’s not about, many musicians see the latest moves as a highlight of hate speech trying to wrap itself up with the American flag of free speech—artists like Trent Reznor, Jack White, and Soulja Boy.

A new exhibit will open in December at the Beyond The Streets and Control Gallery in L.A.  The collection will include personal items and artifacts from the Boys, forty-year history.

Robert Smith and The Cure will be hosting a listening party for the thirtieth anniversary of Wish.  Smith with Tweet with a part on Friday, November 25th.

Words | Music | Art | Unknown

93 Bodeans.

Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us!

With A Shout Team