Life stories

Hear directly from individuals about their highly personal journeys into meaning and self-understanding

Stories of change

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Illustration of a hedgehog in a hat pulling a cart with flowers and fruit. Russian text says “Happy Birthday”
RITUALS AND CELEBRATIONS

The birthday gift

In the Soviet Union, you’d never wish someone ‘S dnem rozhdeniya!’ without a proper present

by Margarita Gokun Silver

Painting of settlers in covered wagons crossing a grassy landscape with mountains in the background and people on horses nearby.
IDENTITY

Ancestor trouble

What happens when you discover a family legend is untrue?

by Patricia Olsen

Popular

Illustration of a hedgehog in a hat pulling a cart with flowers and fruit. Russian text says “Happy Birthday”
RITUALS AND CELEBRATIONS

The birthday gift

In the Soviet Union, you’d never wish someone ‘S dnem rozhdeniya!’ without a proper present

by Margarita Gokun Silver

Photo of a person speaking into a microphone holding an electric string instrument with a choir in the background.
THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE

The barbarians are at the gates in this electric Laurie Anderson performance

Video by All Arts

Woman in a white dress standing in front of a geometric quilt in a garden setting with trees in the background.
TRADITIONAL ARTS

Beauty is woven into everyday life for the quilters of the American West

A film by Carly Jakins and Jared Jakins

Illustration of two female anthropomorphic bears in a romantic embrace sitting on a window sill, with trees in the background and a red bird beside them.
SEX AND SEXUALITY

Sweet illustrations capture women’s stories of first-time queer attraction

A film by Diane Obomsawin

Illustration of a room with a person lounging on a bed, a pink dresser, a table with cups and a plant.
AUTISM

A mysterious black orb trails Mo, growing ever harder to ignore

A film by Gil Goletski

Photo of a man holding a microphone and equipment standing on a walkway with blurred people passing by in the foreground.
LONELINESS

Lonely in London, a filmmaker sets out to make a new friend

A film by Hugh Clegg

Photo of a man sitting in a circle on a speckled background, focusing on an object in his hands, with a cosmic effect.
TRAUMA AND PTSD

How small creatures helped James connect with the human-scale world

Directed by Spencer MacDonald

Popular

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Illustration of a hedgehog in a hat pulling a cart with flowers and fruit. Russian text says “Happy Birthday”
RITUALS AND CELEBRATIONS

The birthday gift

In the Soviet Union, you’d never wish someone ‘S dnem rozhdeniya!’ without a proper present

by Margarita Gokun Silver

Photo of a person speaking into a microphone holding an electric string instrument with a choir in the background.
THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE

The barbarians are at the gates in this electric Laurie Anderson performance

Video by All Arts

A man lying with a serene expression surrounded by white lilies against a dark background.
PERSONALITY

At 84, Jun lives to shock. His next act? A living funeral no one asked for

A film by Mari Young and Anika Kan Grevstad

Photo of a dark rocky asteroid with a starry sky background and small particles visible near its surface.
MEMOIR

Seeing myself in a rubble-pile asteroid

Exhausted and adrift, I felt just like Bennu: a heap of fragments of a world that could have existed

by Elizabeth Landau

Illustration of a room with a person lounging on a bed, a pink dresser, a table with cups and a plant.
AUTISM

A mysterious black orb trails Mo, growing ever harder to ignore

A film by Gil Goletski

Two people on a train reading Metro newspapers with headlines about royalty and sports transfers.
LOVE

Adventures of an agony uncle

What I’ve learned from 10 years of sifting through other people’s problems

by James McConnachie

Photo of a man holding a microphone and equipment standing on a walkway with blurred people passing by in the foreground.
LONELINESS

Lonely in London, a filmmaker sets out to make a new friend

A film by Hugh Clegg

A prescription pill bottle spilling tablets onto an open book with highlighted text.
ADDICTION

Professor’s little helper

Once I was prescribed Ritalin, I couldn’t do without it. How had I functioned before I got my pharmaceutical wings?

by Gordon Marino

Photo of a person speaking into a microphone holding an electric string instrument with a choir in the background.
THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE

The barbarians are at the gates in this electric Laurie Anderson performance

Video by All Arts

Charcoal sketch of a person with curly hair sitting in profile, gazing upwards.
THE SELF

Losing her, losing myself

My mother’s dementia ruptured her sense of self. Why did it also shake mine?

by Noga Arikha

An elderly woman in black standing in a garden of pink roses with snow-capped mountains in the background.
HABITS AND ROUTINES

Mzia the elevator operator leaves her post for the first time in two decades

Directed by Madeline Leary

An antique string instrument with intricate carvings on a dark background.
MUSIC

Music stirs my savage breast

I have sensory overload. I figured out how to be a musician despite it

by Neesa Sunar

Shadow of a person on crumpled paper in dark setting photo.
TRAUMA AND PTSD

Sent to boarding school, a boy conjures up a friend to soothe his distress

A film by Tony Gammidge

Photo of a woman’s face reflected in a glass window with soft, abstract focus and greenish tones.
THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPS

More than survival

I suffered from PTSD for 10 years without knowing it. Psychodynamic therapy set me free

by Lucia Osborne-Crowley

Paper collage of a man and a woman lying on the floor petting a grey rabbit and a white cat with a small table in the background.
MIND AND BRAIN

After a life-altering diagnosis, Case crafts a loving message to his future self

A film by Case Jernigan

Photo of rolled corrugated paper forming spirals and curves, with light creating shadows on its textured surface.
EMOTION REGULATION

What geometry taught me about grief

And how thinking about grief gave me new insights into geometry

by Michael Frame

Woman in a white dress standing in front of a geometric quilt in a garden setting with trees in the background.
TRADITIONAL ARTS

Beauty is woven into everyday life for the quilters of the American West

A film by Carly Jakins and Jared Jakins

Photo of a cyclist casting dramatic shadows on sunlit pavement, with warm light flares creating a dreamy effect.
PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATION

Foggy bottom

Benzos probably saved my life. But I also don’t remember much of it

by Alex Smith