Arthur Clark M.D.'s Humainologie Creative Dialogue Group Prepares To Discuss "Reasons To Laugh"

 

Dear Arthur,

Lily Tomlin is priceless.

Thanks for reminding me of her great quips.

I thought I had sent you the following Vonnegut link, but I can't find reference to it in my "sent mail." So, in case you have not heard my rendering of Kurt's "Harrison Bergeron," here it is. It captures my most uncontrollable fit of laughter ever. 

https://soundcloud.com/alan-archibald/harrison-bergeron

Now, if I can only transfer this same sense of hilarity to my view of "conservative" politics in the States, I'll be golden.

Wishing you all the best.

Alan

PS Here is a great image from Thich Nhat Hanh that seems appropriate. (Have you read anything by Thich's brother "Thich Me Off"?)

Have you heard about the Buddhist who refused novocaine for his root canal?

He wanted to transcend dental medication.

A receptionist says to the psychiatrist: "There's a man here who says he's invisible."

The psychiatrist replies: "Tell him I can't see him right now."

Did you hear about the priest, the minister and the rabbit who walk into a blood donation clinic?

The nurse asks the rabbit for his blood type.

The rabbit answers, "Type O."

And, finally, this time-honored classic:

What did the Buddha say to the hotdog vendor?

"Make me one with everything."

On Fri, Oct 8, 2021 at 9:36 PM AC wrote:

 “I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.”  - Lily Tomlin   

  “If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?”  - Lily Tomlin 

    “Sometimes I feel like a figment of my own imagination.” – Lily Tomlin 

 

Hello Family and Friends worldwide!

A good sense of humor is one tool that should be in your survival kit.   Of the “32 Reasons to Laugh” (a poster I have on the wall at my house), each has a study providing evidence of a beneficial effect on health, for example number 19, “Propensity to laugh may contribute to cardio protection,” cites A Clark, A Seidler, M Miller, Inverse association between sense of humor and coronary artery disease, Int. J. Cardiol. 2001; 80: 87-88.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11575268/   

However, it is possible to die laughing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_from_laughter so don’t overdo it.

With the deadline for our short story submissions just three weeks away http://www.humainologie.com/short-story-submissions/ this is the perfect time for laughter and imagination.  More than twenty stories have already been submitted, so the Story Festival events in December http://www.humainologie.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Short-Story-Festival-Program.pdf should be marvelous.  At the community reading on December 3, I hope one of our stories can reduce the risk of coronary artery disease in the audience. 

Accordingly, I’ve chosen Lifelong Laughter as our topic for creative dialogue next Wednesday October 13.   To start your creative engines, I’ll suggest this:  Write one paragraph of a short story comedy.  It need not be the opening paragraph, just a paragraph that could appear somewhere in your short story for the Humainologie Story Festival.  Remember:  You are a preventive medicine humorist.      

You already have Kurt Vonnegut’s presentation on “the shape of stories” and other resources for getting your story started.  Tears and laughter go well together in a good story, so for next Wednesday I will add a few more resources including this link to suicide stories with incredibly happy endings    https://thefriendshipbench.org/10-suicide-stories-with-an-incredible-happy-ending/ and this link to nine top regrets of the dying https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-23024/the-9-most-common-regrets-people-have-at-the-end-of-life.html  

Below this email I have provided links to scenes from movies that illustrate different types of comedy including romantic comedy, apocalyptic comedy, and tragicomedy.   You could use any one of those scenes as the basis for your comedy paragraph, which might sound like lines from a stand-up comedian.  In fact, Lily Tomlin’s wit and wisdom itself could be the springboard for jumping into your paragraph.  Woody Allen and others can help with swimming through your story.

Here is the Zoom link provided by Shinobu:

Topic: Humainologie creative dialogue
Time: October 13, 2021 06:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
        Every week on Wed, until Oct 27, 2021, 8 occurrence(s)   
Join Zoom Meeting

Heil, Hilarious!

Arthur

Laughter can be found in romantic comedy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8rQPZHCvuw 

or apocalyptic comedy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3zN4-n8ZWg 

or tragicomedy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX-nsljV70I    

 Imagination and laughter will make you unstoppable.  Start your engines!