Vax Humana

For those of you who do not know the work of Studs Terkel, you should. He was an oral historian who interviewed people from all walks of life surrounding some heavy hitting societal topics. He published these interviews in books with titles like, Working, The Hard Times and Hope Dies Last. Through those books and his weekly radio show he must have talked with tens of thousands of us, giving all of our voices an outlet outside of a written line on Facebook, Twitter, or even a blog like this.

The animated short below from Story Corp, an organization formed out of the same mold as Studs, pays tribute to that voice.

It lends itself nicely to the topic of connection, as our voice, and subsequently our language, is our biggest tool to connecting with others. An article from this past Sunday’s New York Times digs into the science behind connection, arguing that if you don’t use it, you lose it. Additionally, that the more connected you are the healthier you are. This KQED article, even links connection to learning and creativity.

To honor Studs and our own Vagal Tones, I challenge you to say hello to a stranger today. Look up from your Driod while riding the bus and engage with the person sitting next to you. If you are like me, you’ll most likely find yourself talking with a 75 year old man about his beloved China. He might be unkempt and notably different but suddenly you’ll realize that he is singing to you one beautiful song from the movie that he watches every day at noon. And although the entire bus is silently staring, the two of you have entered a space of understanding, a knowing, that the world is more easily managed when you can connect like this.