“It is in our nature to need stories. They are our earliest sciences, a kind of people-physics. Their logic is how we naturally think. They configure our biology, and how we feel, in ways long essential for our survival. Every culture bathes their children in stories to explain how the world works and to engage and educate their emotions. Perhaps story patterns could be considered another higher layer of language. A sort of meta-grammar shaped by and shaping conventions of character types, plots, and social-rule dilemmas prevalent in our culture.”
— Jag Bhalla, Scientific American, “It is in Our Nature to Need Stories”
How has the right managed to make an incoherent, tangerine-tanned, failed business man into our nation’s knight in shining armor? How did we get here? How do the stories we tell, and the ones we leave out entirety, create “common sense” notions of what’s possible? What makes an irresistible story? How does effective storytelling strengthen our communication and organizing skills? How might collections of stories that make up a larger narrative lead to legislative changes impacting people’s material conditions? And, most importantly, how can debtors fight back — not with million dollar marketing budgets — but with people power?
Find out! October 21st, 4 - 5PM ET, 1 - 2PM PT
Ian Goldstein will be leading a virtual Storytelling Jam workshop! Participants will learn the fundamentals of storytelling and build community with one another. To tell you a bit about Ian, he’s a writer, performer and Webby award-winning producer with years of experience creating content for brands that include New York Magazine, The New Yorker, CBS Interactive and Nylon. Not only does Ian’s special storytelling technique draw upon irony, but he’s involved in fighting against our for-profit driven healthcare system. He runs a healthcare comedy newsletter called The Out-of-network Network, he’s organized a comedy show called Rage Against Medical Debt with DC’s Medical Debt team, and he’s just getting started.
Get Involved with the Med Debt Team!
The United States’ for-profit-driven healthcare system is failing us. Upwards of 100 million Americans are burdened by medical debt and the Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid will make matters worse. For example, The Big Ugly Bill will cause 10 million additional Americans to lose access to healthcare — the very people who are least able to afford their bills. These changes won’t happen overnight. Instead, it will be a gradual process full of confusing and tedious applications, work requirements and more.
As debtors, allies and everyday people fighting for a healthcare system that works for the many instead of the few, it’s time to get organized.
Debt Collective’s Medical Debt team is working on fighting the early implementation of cruel Medicaid means-testing requirements in Nebraska, Montana and Arkansas.
Find out more by filling out the Healthcare Watch Interest Form.
And remember, you’re not living beyond your means,
you’ve been denied the means to live.
