My good friend, and filmmaking partner, David Beilinson challenged me to the ice bucket challenge. I am of course pleased that this example of social viral action has led to a huge outpouring of financial support for research. There have been many people who have minimized the amount of money raised, but it is undeniable that it is significant for...
Though I grew up in a culturally Jewish household I don’t think that we ever went to a Synagogue while I was growing up, except for a single Bar Mitzvah. We didn't really discuss much about the ins and outs of religious holidays or rituals, but we did have the big book of Jewish Humor and the Woody Allen collection...
The link for this post was broken so we have re-posted Last week I heard on BBC radio that the National Health Service in England is instructing doctors to prescribe self-help books. The radio presenter seemed a little aghast at this idea and pressed a doctor by asking something along the lines of, “So you’re saying that you think that people...
My family returned from our yearly visit to my wife's parents in Santa Fe last night. When we arrived home, the pool was a mess, and one of the thermostats for our AC had decided to die. I stayed up a bit late trying to shock it back to health to no avail. Thankfully I slept well,...
Just before sitting down to meditate the other morning I read a couple of sentences about the truly evil actions that ISIS is taking in Syria and Iraq. We’re talking about torturing children, and holding up severed heads while smiling. As I lay on the floor I couldn’t help but think about the disconnect between the calmness that...
recently I have been posting pieces about friends that inspire me. I think that Tim is an amazing song writer who is woefully unheard. Please grab one of the videos below and share it. Let's get Tim some listens. I met my friend Tim Simmonds the old fashioned way; through a band flier posted on the street. ...
My partners and I have been making, and distributing our own films for 20 years, so people often come to us for advice about how to get their films seen. Unfortunately, I’m not the best person to ask because we don’t always make the best decisions. Like all artists we struggle with getting our work past gatekeepers like...
We have written about the relevance of Dr. Nadine Burke Harris' work a number of times on Rumur. She's the San Francisco-based doctor who realized that a good deal of the time, she was treating the symptoms of stress in her high poverty patients. When she began to practice with an understanding that her patients' stress was a causative factor...
My Friend Tim is another person that both inspires and supports me. Like Letha, he toils away at his work, without doing enough to let people know what he's doing. I'm gonna have to kick out some videos for his old songs; I played in his band for a few years and there were some hits there. ...
Last summer we had an intern named Ana. She is the new york born niece of a good friend from Chapel Hill. When she first came by our office we were just starting a project for Newyork.com in which we were going to profile interesting and creative New Yorkers. Ana is a film student at NYU and she had made...
**** I have updated this several times. I kind of dashed it off originally, and wanted to expand it. **** For many people the idea that their emotions are causative in terms of their pain or illness is unfathomable. However to me it's crystal clear that this is the case. This is not to say that all pain is emotional pain. ...
update**** Letha passed away this evening Sept 24, at 9:05. I wrote this piece in July. I just sat down to write something about what an amazing person Letha is, and realized I'd already done it. **** There was a fundraiser planned for Letha in November in NY. I'm assuming it will now be a memorial, but should still be...