The Toolbox: Video, Movies, & TV

"Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.  The parent website at the link has a number of video and other resources as well.  The site linked above says, "Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential."  For this reason, items tagged "half the sky" on http://counterfear.com/ reference women, girls, and related topics.  #HalfTheSky

Check out this book by Eben Alexander, M.D., "Proof of Heaven:  A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife."  Videos also available on the author's website.

From author Chris McGoff in Part 1 of the book:  "How do some people, organizations, and coalitions thrive in uncertain times?  What enables them to appear so certain and take decisive action amid ambiguity about the future?"  The PRIMES website says "The PRIMES are universal patterns of group behavior that outfit you to work with any group to solve any problem - especially the big ones."  The PRIMES book notes "... Here's the deal.  Almost all the tame problems have been solved.  We get to solve the wicked problems.  Wicked problems affect a lot of peple and it takes a lot of people, all with their own agendas, to collaborate and solve them. ... The people who, amid uncertainty, successfully lead large problem-solving groups share these characteristics.  First, they are clear about what they are up to and how they spend their precious time.  Second, they are intentional and willing to go first.  Finally, they have mastered the art of enrolling others to join them."  The PRIMES website also has short videos and info about each of The PRIMES.  Another core counterfear resource is Chris McGoff's TEDx Rock Creek talk on "Quad4: Realm of Your Highest Impact and Highest Risk."  The author's company The Clearing has done significant work on wicked problems in many counterfear focus areas.

What can be said?  The Star Wars movie series may be the primary myth of our time.  Episodes IV, V, and VI - the original series - are a foundation for finding the ways of The Force.  Excellent Jedi wisdom and training from Yoda in Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode VI, Return of the Jedi.  Episodes I, II, and III are primarily useful as back story for the more deeply curious.  Star Wars for a new generation came in with Episode VII, The Force Awakens.  No spoilers here, but The Force Awakens truly is a myth for our time.  It brings tools we need for the world we have in front of us.  The myth and the metaphor are more powerful than we think.  The newest Star Wars movie to be released is as fitting a myth for our time as The Force Awakens.  Rogue One is powerful and unexpected.  Myths and story bring to our consience the possible and the inspiration.

Some roots go so deep that they're unexplainable.  Ties that bind.  This song is posted in honor of those - they are our anchors.

Quality programming from CBS' Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.  2:08 min.

Craig and company sync to "I Will Melt With You," by Modern English, on CBS' Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Theme song from The Lego Movie.  Intro lyrics from Google Play:  "Everything is awesome / Everything is cool when you're part of a team / Everything is awesome when we're living our dream / Everything is better when we stick together / Side by side, you and I gonna win forever, let's party forever / We're the same, I'm like you, you're like me, we're all working in harmony..."

Video of "Feel Good Inc.," by Gorillaz.  Not censored.

"Feel so close" - Calvin Harris.  "I feel so close to you right now."  If you are looking for a video of community and neighbors and fun and people taking care of each other, this is hard to beat.  Fantastic.  I learned of this video when I friend I was rooming with at an amazing convention woke up with the lyrics in her head from a dream.  We Googled it, and this came up.  We should have expected nothing less.

Gangsta's Paradise, with closed-captioning.  Lyrics included on the YouTube page.

Official Lyrics Minions Version of Pharrell Williams' "Happy," from the Despicable Me 2 movie soundtrack.  From the YouTube:  "check out http://24hoursofhappy.com to experience the world's first 24 hour music video!"

From The Walking Dead collection.  With lyrics.  A good anchor for going through a tough time... like a big move, or a leg break, or a career change, or a bunch of stuff like that all at once.  Here is the original scene, although it makes more sense if you've been watching the show.

Added 8/26/16.  Lyrics here.  "So I, I bet my life, I bet my life, I bet my life on you..."

"Tubthumping," by Chumbawamba.  It's no secret that this song is about drinking, but the chorus is fantastic for thinking resilience:  "I get knocked down... but I get up again... you are never gonna keep me down...."

"Changes" Lyric Video, by Longhorne Slim & The Law.

You can't beat this if you need an inspirational-leaping-or-fighter-type song... "Livin' on a Prayer," by Bon Jovi.  A sparkly diamond from the world of 1986.

My gypsy road couldn't take me home either, so I finally switched roads.  A little something for the GenX crowd; an homage to roots & home... and the road.

"Start livin', that's the next thing on my list..."

"Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses.

Fantastic music & community/neighbor/people video.  Michael Franti & Spearhead - "Say Hey (I Love You)."  Try dancing around to this one for a while.  If you need an extra laugh on top of all this happiness, try "Craig Ferguson Says Hey! I Love you!"  There may be puppets.  Just saying.

State of Mind song, by Clint Black.  Lyrics here.  Excerpt:  "It can make a right from a wrong, it can make you fall in love, It can get you singin' along, Chase the clouds away and make the sun shine above.  A melody can bring back a memory, Take you to another place in time, Completely change your state of mind."

Thrift Shop (featuring Wanz) by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.  UNCENSORED.

The "Top Gun" movie anthem, by Harold Faltermeyer and Steve Stevens.

From the Walking Dead collection.  Posted 9/11/2017.  Lyrics here.  "I'm going to get myself in fighting trim; Scope out every angle of unfair advantage..."

Katrina & The Waves (not the hurricane) - "Walking on Sunshine."  One of the best-ever quick-pick-me-ups - 

"We Are Young," by Fun, featuring Janelle Monae.  Disturbing opening lyrics in what sounds like domestic violence, which is not okay.  The chorus resonates: "Tonight... we are young... so let's set the world on fire... we can burn brighter... than the sun..."

This here is the version of "Wonderful Night" by Fatboy Slim, as shown on CBS' Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.  Hilarious.  Maybe not for kiddos.

Pivot TV is a cable channel I found by accident after moving to the Midwest.  After watching a few shows, I started to notice that some of their commercials appeared to be about taking some action in the world.  Here's a bit of info from the Pivot TV link above: "Pivot is a network where what you watch does make a difference. With award-winning orginal programming, groundbreaking documentaries and exceptional films, you won't just be entertained – you’ll be inspired to become a part of the story. When you watch Pivot, we’ll give you the opportunity to take action on the issues raised in our content right from your screen or during the next commercial break."  They appear to have some fantastic shows as well that I will now need to watch - and at least one show's website has information for building your own business.  #thisisamplifying  #counterfear

Cable network Pivot TV's launched a series called "Resilient Cities" in 2016.  The first episode aired Friday, February 26th at 10:30p ET.  Information is available here, and here.

The AMC TV Series "The Walking Dead" may not fit the inspirational/uplifting genre of some Counterfear tools, but it is a fantastic series.  It is entirely about fear, countering fear, resilience, problem-solving, connection, community... and vision.  It is also very much about creating and holding space... often quite literally.  Also, disaster preparedness, security itself, emergency management, devolution, and is in the dystopian/post-apocalypse genre.  Well worth the watch.  Well, if you have a strong stomach.

Having "Community Conversations" is one of the core of the 15 civic engagement tools that can help Shift the Country. These conversations can be online or in-person or both, & single events or a series. They can help us with solving problems & building resilience where we are - like for the pandemic - and also things like re-imagining public safety and racial justice. 9/3/2020. This video is tied to several Shift the Country tools because it relates to several of them - and it is a key tool for doing civic engagement, if not made more challenging by the pandemic.  Still, there are ways to make it work, to solve community problems, to drive community agendas, and to help people help each other through.

This is on how to deliberately create tipping points - or how to deliberately make something "go viral" either online or in the real world. Creating tipping points & leveraging social networks to do it is one of the 15 Civic Engagement Tools that help us make shift happen. It's also one of the 5 parts of our strategy to Shift the Country.  Our "tipping points" tool online is here.  This video is on the founder's wall on Facebook here. August 6, 2020.

We've got some heavy crisis going on in the US. Kids are facing it too. How can we help them be more resilient? And why would we want to? We can all navigate the unfolding disasters and crises the more resilient we *all* are. Helping kids get there can help them "bounce back" better. It's more flexible; less brittle. Adaptability helps us succeed in crisis, and we're going to keep having crisis for the next year or several. If we can learn to roll with adversity and move through it, we'll navigate it better. Plus, nationwide kids everywhere are having to deal with massive life changes and uncertainty as schools are reopening in unprecedented and sometimes dangerous ways. Or, kids are learning virtually. Or in a combination. And it may not stay in whatever formation it's starting in. Also, some families start out with less resilience to handle all of this uncertainty, risk, and challenge than others. Are there ways to help kids be more resilient, even in more intensely challenging situations? For more on resilience, go to https://counterfear.com/build-resilience/. Kit Ward-Crixell has created and run out-of-school-time programs for kids and teens since 2007 as a youth services librarian. Vanessa Burnett is a disaster management professional since 2000, working actively on increasing disaster, community, and economic resilience in the US since 2006. She is the founder of this nonprofit, called Shift the Country. 9/4/2020.

Holocaust survivor Marion Blumenthal Lazan lecture based on her book "Four Perfect Pebbles" - at Bradley University, Michel Student Center, Marty Theater, Peoria, IL.

So the US President isn't willing to commit to a peaceful transition of power. Now what? We have options for everyday actions. It's more than voting, and it's more than protesting. Check this out to find out more (also we do know how to spell - major typo in the video chyron though). 9/24/20. This video was livestreamed to our Shift the Country FB Page as well.

We can counter the individualism damaging the health and well-being of this country by looking after each other. Caring about people. Celebrating community. Having compassion. Embracing humanity. Anchoring in connection and community. Doing that can help make shift happen, too. This was originally broadcast on the Shift the Country Facebook page on August 15, 2020.

A quick look at the very practical principles at work in some of the biggest emergencies in the US that you can use for action & in every day life for getting through chaos. (Addendum: the video kind of blows through a key part about making a plan & executing it, and then iterating/evolving the plan and the execution of that plan regularly as the situation, resources, & risk change. Insert all that in the middle & it's a pretty decent quick overview.) This was broadcast originally on our Shift the Country Facebook Page on August 15, 2020.

Episode 001 of FB Live and other broadcasts to come.  8/1/2020.  Executive Director Vanessa Burnett and Gary Monti from the Board of Directors kick off the series with a 60-minute overview of the work planned by the new Shift the Country nonprofit.  In the spirit of adaptability, the first 3 minutes is dead air as we were working out the broadcast bumps.  It's a work in progress. Broadcast covers the mission, 5 principles, 5-part strategy, 15 civic engagement tools, 10 structural change areas, and context and structure behind the work - such as countering tyranny, nationalist oligarchy, and addressing a massive pandemic catastrophe.

Originally titled "Disappeared Government Disaster Docs." Original broadcast August 29, 2020. UPDATE SEPTEMBER 27, 2020: FEMA HAS RE-POSTED THESE DOCUMENTS, OR FIXED THE LINKS. Although the documents have been replaced, this video still helps explain the "big picture" for how these pieces work together for US disaster response. ORIGINAL BROADCAST: The US is in a great disruption. We've got a pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, a derecho, and governments failing citizens at every level. What were they supposed to be doing? This looks at the national framework for all of that - and at the documents that have gone missing from the FEMA website. Plus, we'll show you where the actual operational pandemic plan is - not the one disappeared by the Trump Administration at the National Security Council level, but the one in place for executive branch and national (state/local/tribal, too) action. UPDATE: a FEMA website check on 9/27/2020 indicated the documents have now been correctly linked, albeit with later versions from those posted this spring. FIOPs are now appropriately posted here: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/national-preparedness/frameworks/federal-interagency-operational-plans, with links to the Incident Annexes including the pandemic one on the same page. NOTE: The currently active operational federal level "pandemic plan" is called the Biological Incident Annex to the Response and Recovery FIOPs. The direct PDF link is here: https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/fema_incident-annex_biological.pdf. NOTE: This is the official US government "pandemic plan" - it is different than the National Security Council pandemic plan that was reportedly thrown out by the Trump Administration. This video is part of the work to Shift the Country. It's part of understanding the risk landscape, and what government is supposed to be doing - which we can advocate for.  For example, like advocating for attention and analysis on the "Biological Incident Annex to the Response and Recovery FIOPs."

Reaction to reporting that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has stopped in-person election interference intelligence briefings to Congress (see MSNBC story on this subject also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQjMkrolv8o). August 30, 2020. Also discusses certain areas for civic engagement related to this news and what it means for the US.

We talk a lot about trying not to get dead. This is on some of the tough decisions that can help with the staying alive. Awkward though. Also more emotional than expected. People are good, though. It sucks that we have to consider this kind of stuff. 24 minutes. Originally published on Facebook on August 7, 2020.

The world between now & the inauguration in the US is going to be like nothing we've ever seen. It's going to take everything we've got to get through it. This is a bit of how to do that. 9/25/20.

Is the chaos & disaster in the US getting to you? What's on your mind? What info are you looking for for getting through all of this? The founder here answers questions sent from Facebook. September 3, 2020. Discussion is mostly about how to get through February 2021.

"Quad4: Realm of Your Highest Impact and Highest Risk:" Chris McGoff at TEDxRockCreekPark.  This is a Counterfear Anchorpoint, because it is a rare, short look at what we need to do to solve wicked problems.  Also check out Chris McGoff's website and book "The PRIMES," another posted Counterfear resource.  The website has videos and a summary of each of the PRIMES.

Shift the Country is a new nonprofit founded in this moment of great disruption to help people help each other through several simultaneous crises, to hold civil society and institutions together, to get voters engaged in doing all of that, and to make transformation along the way. This video is about that mission & why we're doing it. Original broadcast on our Shift the Country Facebook Page on August 6, 2020.

TED Talks are a great source for video inspiration, and many have gone viral.  Check out TED.com or a smaller, local TEDx near you for more.  From the site:  "TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less).  TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics - from science to business to global issues."

Video on "The Big Pivot - Whiteboard Animation," 3:12 min.  Based on book by the same name, by Andrew Winston:  http://www.andrewwinston.com/books/.

Excellent video summary of the book, posted 3/2011: "Author and leading security expert Stephen Flynn discusses The Edge of Disaster Rebuilding a Resilient Nation with Patricia Gras on a HoustonPBS the Connection Special. Are we vulnerable to disaster, terrorism or acts of God? Is America living on borrowed time? His book is a wake up call demanding that we shake off our denial and sense of helplessness and start preparing immediately for a safer future."  See Counterfear Toolbox book resource link for book reviews.

"The Resilient Enterprise: Overcoming Vulnerability for Competitive Advantage," with Yossi Sheffi, recorded 11/2005.  Sound is a little wonky partway through but improves through end.  See Yossi Sheffi blog at MIT here.  From the video post summary:  "Yossi Sheffi fires a shot across the bow of business owners who, even after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, still have not assessed their organizations’ vulnerability to catastrophe. Sheffi piles on examples of organizations that simply did not have the appropriate mechanisms in place when disaster struck or evolved undetected."  Also see book by the same name.

This TED talk by Seth Godin is one of the classics.  From the video summary:  In The Tribes We Lead, "Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so."  Check out Seth's Godin's blog here; it's the only blog I read daily (also posted as a resource).

We're in some stuff. This one is on the 5 main parts of the risk landscape in front of us between now and February - through the election and transition of administrations. Plus - how do we survive? August 30, 2020.  The 5 main parts of the risk landscape include 1) the out of control coronavirus pandemic (and complex system interruptions and related cascading effects); 2) emerging authoritarianism in the US; 3) the influence of a growing nationalist oligarchy on destabilization in the US; 4) an information war with many fronts; 5) the election and transition of power. This also gets into the 5-part Shift the Country strategy to help us get through these next months.

We're pushing massive civic engagement in the US to help us through all the crisis and chaos in front of us. What the heck is that, anyway? This video gets into that. Here's our list of 15 civic engagement tools. It's a list for now as we're writing the tools - but if something jumps out, you can start doing it now. These are for us to make shift happen where we live. This video is also on the Shift the Country FB page. September 3, 2020.

The mission here at Shift the Country is to help people help each other through several simultaneous crises, to hold civil society and its institutions together, to get voters engaged in doing all of that, and to make transformation along the way. This video is on why civic engagement is such an enormous piece of all of that. This was originally published on August 15, 2020 on the Shift the Country Facebook page.

From the TED blurb:  "Why do societies fail? With lessons from the Norse of Iron Age Greenland, deforested Easter Island and present-day Montana, Jared Diamond talks about the signs that collapse is near, and how - if we see it in time - we can prevent it."

The initiative to Shift the Country was built in the summer of 2020 for this highly unique & unprecedented moment in time. It's a whole set of wicked problems, & some were understood to be huge risks prior to this year. Our framework is set up to help people navigate the complex landscape of multiple disasters combined with active erosion of government institutions and active obstruction of response efforts. The first 48 minutes get into how magical thinking works & why it isn't helpful now. The second half gets into complex systems, a great disruption, and catastrophe and big disaster preparation in the US based on experience inside the federal systems that were supposed to be built to help with some of the current crises. This was originally broadcast on our Shift the Country Facebook Page on August 9, 2020.

There is always something viral and funny on the YouTube; it is a great counterfear tool.  If you need a laugh and you're new to The Internet, try searching YouTube for "hilarious" + "cat".  YouTube is a great source for a million other resources - from movies to training to inspiration.