The Impossible Network

Tori Chickering O'Connell was born in New Jersey to parents that cultivated a loving, safe, and creative home environment where comedy, music, and dance were a central part of the daily furniture of growing up. 

There is no question that this nurturing environment set her on a path to a creative career of being a journalist, producer, documentary filmmaker, comedy writer and published author of two books Nookie Town and Twisted Family Values. 

In this vibrant two-parter, we cover Tori's upbringing and the influence of her parents, infusing the importance of having fun and not giving a damn. 

Tori's discusses the importance of gratitude, having a 'why not me' attitude, and how in her early career, this attitude landed her a job at MTV, as she applied her creativity and embraced life's uncertainty and ambiguity with gusto. Tori reflects on using this attitude in the time of Covid19, and we discuss how new models are emerging in comedy, music and the arts during the lockdown.

We cover her extraordinary experience of making a documentary of some of today's most lauded comedians 20 years ago before they were famous.

And we dive deep into how the serendipitous personal experience of becoming a divorcee in Jersey led to the idea for her first novel, NookieTown, and covers her second book, Twisted Family Values. 

I hope you enjoy the fun and freedom of not giving a damn with Tori O'Connell. 

What We Discuss

Tori's parental impact 

Glitter balls and dancing on Saturdays

The experience of her youth

Art Therapy

The importance of fun

The impact of her grandparents

Living in a household of love 

Freedom and life force of not give a damn 

Being outspoken and out there and the bullying that resulted 

The importance of Halloween costumes 

The connection of dis-ease to disease 

Her 'lets do it' attitude 

An early love of song and dance 

Having a sellout show at the Edinburgh festival with New York, Sex, Killing and Shopping

Having start over attitude 

You Can Do it attitude

Great Day in Harlem 

The evolution of NookieTown

The idea behind Twisted Family Values

Her upcoming novel

Fun, accountability and social risk

Social Links 

VC Chickering - author's site (with loads of fun links to buy books and procrastinate)

@vcchickering - author's Instagram

Tori Erstwhile & The Montys - author's band's YouTube channel

Links in the Show 

Nookie Town

Twisted Family Values 

Tori Erstwhile and the Montys

St Martin's Press 

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Mike Birbiglia Tip Your Wait staff

Mahler Chamber Orchestra 

 International Opera Choir Nabucco Opera 

Hamilton on Zoom

Stuck in the Middle Fallon 

CBGB's 

Bust 

Joan Jet 

Hurricane Sandy 

Great Day in Harlem

VEEP

Flight of the Conchords

Sex Education 

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We recorded this bonus episode with an early guest Dr. Courtney Rennicke on her advice on building resiliency in the time of Covid19. Courtney discusses Covid10 and resiliency in relation to our baseline nervous system's reactions to stress, tangible examples dealing with it, relates it to the Polyvagal theory and draws on similarities to her resiliency work during 9/11. 

Dr. Courtney Rennicke New York-based clinical psychologist who runs her practice Rennicke & Associates in the vibrant Tribeca neighborhood of downtown Manhattan.

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Guest Overview

Chloe Valdary was born in New Orleans, to a homemaking mother and banker father, and grew up in an environment of inquiry and orthodoxy that led her to opening a Pandora's box of curiosity.

Through curiosity, talent and education Chloe developed a love of art, music and English literature that expanded her world view and set her on a journey to develop the skills and insights needed to create her Theory of Enchantment educational program. The course is designed to use storytelling and pop-culture to equip students with the skills necessary to develop a healthy sense of personal empowerment and social wellbeing. It’s also the name of her podcast.

In part one of this two-parter Chloe discusses her upbringing, growing up with abundance and scarcity, the fusion of inquiry and orthodoxy, the impact of religion and her education, her love of, and desire to explore art, English literature, and film. We also cover her insider-outsider dynamic how her worldview developed and how she ended up with a scholarship at the Wall Street Journal

Part Two Chloe expands on the psychological and spiritual power and value of her curriculum in addressing the inability to see the other in identity politics.

We discuss the chaos of Covid19 and the broader issues underlying the moment, the opportunity of creating meaning out of disorder and chaos, less social distancing in our virtual lives and the role and power of storytelling and the power of Mumford and Sons Sigh No More

Maintaining discipline to continue learning, the role of A minor and developing and making meaning in the world

Of course, we discuss serendipity, curiosity, education, change, principles, and her quick-fire answers.

I hope you enjoy the enquiring mind, the redemptive spirit and, the educational storytelling of Chloe Valdary.

What We Discuss 

Her Banker Father and homemaking Mother

Chloe’s English Literature mentors

The important role and intellectual impact of Churchgoing

How the past always loomed large in growing up

Abundance and scarcity in her upbringing

The impact of her School and its academic rigor

Civically minded classmates

Developing values of Honor, Service Justice, and Wisdom

Forming Theory of Enchantment

Her love of art and English literature

Majoring in film and screenwriting

Getting a Barclay Fellowship and Tikvah Scholarship Fund for The Wall Street Journal

Bret Stevens NYT

Her post that went viral https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/students-justice-palestine

Learning how to love and the science and psychology of love

Her focus on pop culture

Power of story and our human potential

Redemptive storytelling

How a liberal professor shattered her world view

Explaining the principles of the Theory of Enchantment

Enchantment thesis explained

The impact of reading Literature vs polemical works

Teaching her theory

The role of dance in her life

Chaos of Covid19 and the broader issues underlying the moment

Using the program to address societal issues

Creating meaning out of disorder and chaos

Mumford and Sons Sigh No More and the book she is writing

Her process for learning and discipline

Remaining Optimistic

Redemptive archetype

The note A minor

Social Links 

Theory of Enchantment

Theory of Enchantment Discount Offer

Theory of Enchantment Podcast 

Instagram 

Links In The Show

Benjamin Franklin High School

Wall Street Journal Tikvah Fund 

Bret Stevens 

Students for Justice in Palestine A Letter From an Angry Black Woman 

Rosa Parks 

Martin Luther King

Jesus Camp Doc

Cognitive dissonance

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-theory-of-enchantment/id1439470479

Maya Angelou

Chloe’s Article that went Viral 

Marcus Arilias and Stoicism

YPO 

Mumford and Sons

Dominion - How the Christian Revolution Changed the World 

Unorthodox Netflix

Tasha Blank

Leonard Cohen

Terrance Malik Hidden Life 

Book - East of Eden

Jonathan Haidt NYU

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Guest Overview

Rodney Durso is founder of ArtBridge, a New York a non-profit that empowers emerging artists to transform New York’s ubiquitous construction scaffolding into large scale art exhibits 

In part two we focus on Rodney’s second life, as an artist and social entrepreneur forming ArtBridge in 2009 to give emerging artists unprecedented exposure by exhibiting their work on construction scaffolding and fencing across the city. 

Rodney discusses his mission and the impact this innovative initiative has had on the lives of underrepresented artists and how serendipity led to its scaling internationally. We also discuss art as therapy, procrastination, curiosity and his process of creation. And much much more. 

I hope you enjoy the candor, generosity of spirit, and artistic social enterprise of Rodney Durso. 

What we discuss:

His artistic mothers influence 

His father coming from the wrong side of the track 

Rodneys Landscaper father 

The influence of his older brother 

His love of music and being in rock band in his teens 

And his escape into music and art 

His ambition to be a rock star

1/4th between an A and C

Interest in abstraction 

The dark side of his upbringing and the emotional scarcity 

Having an antenna and the power of listening 

School life and mentor 

Growing up as a Italian in a Jewish Long Island culture 

Captain Quick food delivery and his early entrepreneurial venture 

His evolution through advertising and film production into design 

Having Chronic Fatigue syndrome and his Chinese Tea venture

Planet Organic Tea company and the lessons in business 

Setting up Storm house Partners Design Agency 

Burning out from the agency experience

Migrating to art as therapy

Seeking abstraction and dissonance in his work to create visceral work, working fast and messy 

Dealing with procrastination 

ArtBridge and getting work into a gallery 

Curating 26 artists and wrapping a building 

Working with Google and Facebook

Taking the program to Italy post the Earthquake- Offsite Art 

Scaling the program 

How the program finds artists 

Serendipity and the Highline open studio

Risk taking 

Monetizing Self Esteem - Facebook’s legacy

Amy Brown 

Links to Social

Website

Facebook 

Twitter

Rodney’s Instagram 

Links in show

Artbridge

CB radios

AdLab 

Emerson Lake and Palmer 

Yes 

Stormhouse Partners 

Three tarts in Chelsea

University of Rhode Island

Mononucleosis 

Michael Hanchett Hanson 

Whitney Biennial 

Offsite Art 

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Guest Overview

Rodney Durso is founder of Artbridge, a New York a non-profit that empowers emerging artists to transform New York’s ubiquitous construction scaffolding into large scale art exhibits 

In part one of this two-parter, we cover growing up in Long Island to a creative and artistic mother and a father who came from the wrong side of the tracks, feeling materially abundant while living in a landscape of emotional scarcity. 

We cover growing up as an Italian in a predominantly Jewish Long Island culture, his educational experiences, and his early entrepreneurial ventures. 

We discuss his musical influences and ambitions, transitioning his focus to advertising, film production before being drawn to design and learning from design icon Milton Glaser. Forming his design agency in NYC in 1999 with a holistic 360 approach before integration was a common term. 

In part two we focus on Rodney’s second life, as an artist and social entrepreneur forming Artbridge in 2009 to give emerging artists unprecedented exposure by exhibiting their work on construction scaffolding and fencing across the city. 

Rodney discusses his mission and the impact this innovative initiative has had on the lives of underrepresented artists and how serendipity led to its scaling internationally. We also discuss art as therapy, procrastination, curiosity and his process of creation. And much much more. 

I hope you enjoy the candor, generosity of spirit, and artistic social enterprise of Rodney Durso. 

What we discuss:

His artistic mothers influence 

His father coming from the wrong side of the track 

Rodneys Landscaper father 

The influence of his older brother 

His love of music and being in rock band in his teens 

And his escape into music and art 

His ambition to be a rock star

1/4th between an A and C

Interest in abstraction 

The dark side of his upbringing and the emotional scarcity 

Having an antenna and the power of listening 

School life and mentor 

Growing up as a Italian in a Jewish Long Island culture 

Captain Quick food delivery and his early entrepreneurial venture 

His evolution through advertising and film production into design 

Having Chronic Fatigue syndrome and his Chinese Tea venture

Planet Organic Tea company and the lessons in business 

Setting up strom house Partners Design Agency 

Burning out from the agency experience

Migrating to art as therapy

Seeking abstraction and dissonance in his work to create visceral work, working fast and messy 

Dealing with procrastination 

Artbridge and getting work into a gallery 

Curating 26 artists and wrapping a building 

Working with Google and Facebook

Taking the program to Italy post the Earthquake- Offsite Art 

Scaling the program 

How the program finds artists 

Serendipity and the Highline open studio

Risk taking 

Monetizing Self Esteem - Facebook’s legacy

 Amy Brown 

Links to Social

Website

Facebook 

Twitter

Rodney’s Instagram 

Links in show

Artbridge

CB radios

AdLab 

Emerson Lake and Palmer 

Yes 

Stormhouse Partners 

Three tarts in Chelsea

University of Rhode Island

Mononucleosis 

Michael Hanchett Hanson 

Whitney Biennial 

Offsite Art 

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As the frenzy of the Covid19 crisis engulfs us, we feel inspired, that everyone we talk to (on Zoom!) is each doing their bit to help alleviate the physical isolation, reduce suffering, or to offer support. Humanity is pulling together. 

We are going to stay focused on content related to the Virus. 

Podcast 

Everything You Need To Know For Antivirus & Immune System Enhancement: A Special One-Two Podcast Episode where Ben Greenfield interviews Drs. Matthew Cook and Matthew Dawson, real experts in the realms of functional and precision medicine, offer their advice when it comes to boosting immunity and fighting viruses. There is a lot more to this, but it's worth a listen in light of our reality. 

Posts and Articles 

Yuval Noah Harari's FT post last weekend has been shared a lot, so you might have read this one. If not, His op-ed reflects on how 'the choices we make today could change our lives for years to come' in particular given that the decisions and policies governments make during times of crisis tend to remain in place. He also makes the point that another key choice we must confront is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity. Global problems require global collaboration, but how things play out may not be what we expect. Harari's perspectives are thought-provoking. 

So if now is the time for these debates to be had and not to wait and look back with regret, an article shared by our friend and award-winning journalist Dan McDougall from Foreign Policy on How the World Will Look After the Coronavirus Pandemic builds on Harari's post.

Aside from the immediate loss of life, crashing markets, and policymaking indecision - this chapter of humanity will lead to permanent shifts in political and socio-economic power in ways that may not imagine.

Foreign Policy asked 12 leading thinkers from around the world to weigh in with their predictions for the global order after the pandemic and to help make sense of the ground shifting beneath our feet as this crisis unfolds. Lots of food for thought here

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/20/world-order-after-coroanvirus-pandemic/

Next, we want to share a moving, and beautifully written article by Dan McDougall called Finding purpose and perspective in a crisis - you will feel uplifted after reading this.

I will end with some resources - we helped our client, Rennicke Associates, a psychotherapy practice here in Manhattan, create this dedicated Covid19 Resource Page on their site Rennicke & Associates. The page is full of mental health resources and support for those seeking and those willing to give nourishment. Courtney Rennicke, the founder, has also curated a wealth of resources for those needing to make their isolation time more productive and to offer parents and carers useful tool kits of activities. 

It is quiteUS /NY Centric, but many resources are useful regardless of geographic location.

Stay strong everyone, and let's focus on helping build a better future. 

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Guest Overview

Tina Kelley describes herself as a cheerful optimist with a morbid streak. She is the author of Abloom and Awry, Precise, and The Gospel of Galore, and co-authored Almost Home: Helping Kids Move from Homelessness to Hope, and she reported for the New York Times for 10 years, sharing a staff Pulitzer Prize for 9/11 coverage.

Tina Kelley grew up in New Jersey to caring loving adoptive parents, her early love poetry. Tina describes growing up in small-town America, the influence of her poetic father, developing her love of poetry, reading, and writing that set her on a path to Yale and beyond as a journalist, poet and author via a detour through the world of NGO’s and Think Tanks.

Tina quotes Thomas Jefferson “If I had to choose between a well-functioning government and a well-functioning press I‘d choose the latter, sunshine is the best disinfectant” to frame her perspective on the decimation of local news media and print journalism, the impact of losing a generation of people asking hard questions of public officials or as she says leaving the pigs at the trough with no one watching.

Tina discusses quality investigative journalism in the world of fake news and voting for optimism and the importance of the hyper-local journalistic model. 

We discuss the resurgence and importance of local communities, her mixed views of Facebook, and the innovation of the Clear Health Costs startup and how it is disrupting the inequities of the pricing in the US health system. 

We also discuss her process for finding inspiration in everyday life, her journaling process and the purpose and role of poetry in today's society 

Tina discusses her vision for a world-changing educational model in the 21st Century and she answers all our quick-fire questions. 

I hope you enjoy the artistic advice, poetic perspectives and journalistic principles of Tina Kelley.

What we discuss:

Growing up in as a single adoptive child in a loving home in New Jersey 

Her auditor father and home-keeping mother 

Discovering being adopted age three 

Her self belief and feeling special age eight

Discovering poetry age eight 

Being an extrovert

The influence of the Church on language and music

Mixed diversity at School 

The impact of her music teachers and playing Sax 

Her path to journalism 

Journalism and learning for a living

Problem-solving through journalism  

Her perspective on the decimation of journalism 

 Her Optimism 

The future of local journalism and the power of community

We discuss Covenant House and her work as a staff writer and the life transformation work for adoptive kids 

Her process for capturing ideas 

Future of Education PTech Pathways in Technology, Early College and High school 

Corp, Schools and Community colleges   

Links to Social

Tina’s blog

Linkedin 

Twitter

Links in show

Yale 

Clear health costs

IBM 

Covenant House 

Almost Home book 

Abloom and Awry

Gospel of Galore 

Thomas Jefferson 

Bill Gates Mind

Fraud The Game 

James Agee 

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Hi everyone 

We are late with this week’s digest but it’s been a week of rapid changes as we witness the accelerated spread of the Covid19 virus. Today in New York the reported infections reached over 5000. 

So as we all start to inhabit the virtual world, I attended the Singularity University’s Covid19 virtual summit. Rather than follow our usual format I thought it best to share some of the great insights, information and future visions. Links to the videos are in show notes. 

Here are some key takeaways from the key speakers: 

Christina Gerakiteys From her talk - How you can take action during times of uncertainty

‘Our best work comes when the values of humanity intersect with the value of technology’

‘Humanivate - consider Humanity first in the process of innovation’ 

This was a truly inspiring and uplifting presentation. 

A more sobering and immediate talk was The Coronavirus Pandemic and the New Normal  with Jamie Metzl

“We are seeing the convergence of the world of science and biology with the world of geopolitics. And as this plays out geopolitical implications are going to be much greater and reflect deeply on the nature of this moment.

This is not a 2001 moment, this is a 1941 moment! “ 

James uses the seismic geopolitical changes from the past to make the case of why we are at a pivotal moment where we must collectively decide how the world will playout over the rest of the century. 

To frame his talk he Quotes 1930’s Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci

“The old world is dying, and the new world has not yet emerged; and in the twilight rise up monsters”

I think we can all sense this. 

This next talk was more about the steps we can all take to remain safe. Nell Watson’s talk How to stay healthy during Covid19 is full of useful tips and tools. As she says “Today the world is united against a common foe. We need to show up and do our bit” - Nell Watson 

As the future unfolds we need to rethink where and how we live. James Ehrlich in his talk 

The Future of Safe Living in Self-Reliant Neighborhoods Sets out a sustainable vision 

“There is a master plan that enables a software stack to create the neighborhoods of the future around clean food, clean water, and clean energy and circular waste to resource systems. 

This kind of decentralized living is what we used to have up to 1950 when most of the planet lived in small self sustaining regenerative communities, having agency and access to your own food supply, grown at your doorstep.  

We would argue that farming practices of Bio organic regenerative farming allows for greater bioavailability of nutrition and absolute food security” 

Watch this and feel uplifted. 

And finally checkout Why Authoritarianism is Bad for Public Health with Alex Gladstein 

Alex covers how different nations have used power and authority to deal with this virus

Based on two axis - the openness of a society and the other axis - the competency of the government. 

Citing examples of incompetence to competency and their levels societal openness by countries - US ( Incompetent / Closed), Singapore China ( Competent / Closed) and Iran (Incompetent / Closed) and Taiwan ( Competent /Open) 

He also discusses why keeping a free press and free expression is paramount and retaining control of our privacy and remaining vigilant as governments will use opportunities to slip in new legislation to create laws that undermine and erode privacy. As Alex says "Don't let them take your privacy and rights away from you. It's not necessary. You don't need a police state to fight the virus. "

All the Summits Videos are available here on the Singularity University YouTube Channel

Stay safe everyone. And Please share anything you find that you would like us to share.

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