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Photo from this morning's walk in South Kingstown, RI
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My dad is alive, and I'm grateful.
He's fought like hell to live. And this week he gets 'back to work,' practicing walking again. His physical therapist is a young cancer survivor himself. J is special, and knows how to relate to a man in his late 80s.
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When they work together, hope and happiness occurs.
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My father was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer over 16 years ago. After a weekend on the road with abdominal pain, tests revealed he had cancer throughout his stomach with additional spots in his liver and lungs.
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His diagnosis was grave: he was told to get his affairs in order and call hospice. He was also given an option to participate in research treatment in Pittsburgh, where he lives. He chose the latter, and piles of protocols and treatments began.
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My father has always trusted science, has been willing to support others' experimental work, and knows people have great ideas that can make things better.
Treatments were successful: he's alive today. Along the way have been many challenges, super scary times, financial frights, and surprising strangers who helped him get by at all the right times. I've learned from his journey that good people will break the rules for the well being of others. Perhaps more on that another time.
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This dispatch is about stories vs stats, and where truth and hope sometimes reside: literally, off the charts.
To be honest, at first I considered my dad a "goner." Early in his treatment, he was so skeletal, I bought myself an outfit to wear to his funeral. He loves when people dress sharp, and I wanted to be sure to show up the way he'd like. This now rests in my closet with tags on tags, and dust on the shoulders. I won't move it.
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He's 16 years now without recurrence. A marvel.
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What's interesting to me is that his experience may only be relayed by stories because his data was stricken from the research set. His doctors would joke with him, "we can't count you, you throw off the curve, too much an outlier."
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Before this, I used to think of data an ultimate "truth:" the most accurate measurements of factual reality that could be parsed for knowledge. This situation taught me, while data is real, it is also incomplete.
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That's where stories are needed, to share information about those occurrences stricken from bell shaped curves and expectation. Things that could even seem unbelievable.
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Real and hopeful notes always ring waayy outside of facts, figures, and graphs of what's supposed to come.
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Please know, there are no criticisms or bullshit optimism here: data outliers disrupt the potency of 'useful' conclusions, and 'useful' is good for most, much of the time. It's just not whole.
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I wonder if stories can bridge that intriguing space between facts and truth, even when the stats seem against you.
Interesting characters with unusual outcomes can bring others ripples of hope, and sometimes useful protocols too. Perhaps it's also true that some of the mightiest stories carry basic bits of facts so long molded when told, they rise to the level of art.
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Stories survive inside conversation. And they thrive inside those who live long enough to tell their tales of living, and share the actual facts of an ordinary life.
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Thank you for reading, and wishing you great science and hopeful truth that help you experience a beautiful life well beyond the stuff of the data we deal with daily.
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I'll be tuning into stories that help me to think and feel complete this week. I am grateful to have this one (and others below) to share with you.
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Please forward this to anyone who may find this helpful.
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More Text & Images
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A true story about flipping the verbal bird and ungraceful pimping in New York City's art world? Let me share a little about my time in Greenwich Village in the 1990s. Tony1 sold Christmas trees on the official 'Corner of Walk and Don't Walk' for two seasons. This Corner was the far edge of Bleecker Street, where a strip of …
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Categories: Best of Mommess, For My Kids, Mommess, Uncategorized
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and what to do about it. Focusing on social media engagement stats can be antithetical to actually helping people show up in real life. Because "engagement-based" social strategies encourage more digital time, and less real-world activity, they need to be evaluated carefully before doubling down on "data-driven" drivel that often obscures facts. After all, engagement is what social media does: …
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Categories: Mommess, Research & Development, Technlogy, Web Marketing, Work
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Assumptions, click bait, and real communication across the Internet: stats are servants to storytelling Most of us have been conditioned to chase likes, loves, follows, and comments on digital marketing, but these stats are not always indicative of purposeful conversation with your actual readership. In fact, sometimes the quest for clicks runs counter to giving you what you really want: …
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Categories: Culture, Mommess, Uncategorized, Web Marketing, Work, Writing
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You received this email because you signed up here, or I thought you might find this interesting and added you to my weekly roundup of text & images. You may unsubscribe at any time at bottom. |
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In the days of AI and excessive optimization, mess is leading edge.
Some content on my site is political, some personal, much of it philosophical, and all of it meant to shine some light into the lives of my readers, because it was written to shine light into mine.
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I hope my work stirs your soul, ignites your creativity, and helps you feel connected to all the good things this life can offer. If it doesn't, please promptly forget it! This work is my soul's calling. If you find value here, please tip or consider a paid subscription.
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If 100 people subscribe at $4/month, I can offer physical art for sale. I'm aiming at securing a studio space. I intend to keep my work affordable, portable, human-made and enjoyable to contemplate.
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POLITICAL ACTION AREA: It's best to connect with your local civic groups, and show up in the ways you can. Peaceful crowd sizes matter, as does your positive energy, community spirit, and adherence to non-violence.
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