Did you know that there was a Mind-Alert Award presented by The American Society on Aging (ASA) and the MetLife Foundation?

According to Aging Today, the program “recognizes replicable research-based programs, products or tools that promote cognitive fitness in later life in three categories: educational programs that enhance mental fitness for older adults in the general population, programs designed for cognitively impaired elders and lifelong learning programs with an implicit element of mental fitness.”

One winner was TimeSlips, “a creative storytelling method that helps people with dementia reaffirm their humanity and connect with staff, family and friends.” TimeSlips encourages people to cultivate their imaginations and it has been found to improve verbal skills.  The stories that emerge ”are rich in humor and poetic images, and provide a window into the experience of living with dementia.”

Lifehacker lists the Top Ten Tricks and Tools to Exercise and Better Your Brain and number five is Tell Yourself Stories.

First of all, it makes things easier to remember because it puts what you want to remember in a more compelling framework. It gives you a chance to focus on important details and associate emotion with what you’re trying to remember. Even if you’re not telling yourself a story to help retain the information, you’ll still improve your memory just by telling stories in general.

About.com even has a long list of tips for telling stories To Strengthen Relationships and Exercise Your Brain (see details at their website):

I was googling “telling stories” (doesn’t everyone google themselves?) when I found two music groups very different from each other. Telling Stories: Music and Essays is a troupe of professional classical musicians and writers who are working to make music and literature a little more fun.

The other Telling Stories is an Austin, Texas band that is a collaboration between songwriters Julie Nolen and Terry Dossey and a changing roster of musicians. I listened to a few songs on their Myspace page and liked what I heard so I contacted Julie Nolen to ask a few questions.

The lyrics to the songs seem like personal stories. Julie said that her songs are about whatevers going on in her life and at the same time she tries to keep it general so the listener can relate. Her songs are about emotions and she said “writing music on guitar is therapy.”

I asked where she gets her inspiration and she said, “Inspiration is a magical fairy that comes to you and you don’t know why.” At this point her songs are mostly personal but she’s “looking for the perfect political song.”

She enjoys writings short stories in her songs and said she “don’t have patience to write a novel” but nevertheless is working on a memoir.

When asked what comes first the words or music, Julie said it depends on the song. The collaborative process usually begins when Julie gets and idea for a song and writes verses (how you want to tell the story) with chord progressions and then Terry will write the “hooks” or choruses.

Austin is a great music town being host to Austin City Limits Outdoor Festival and South by Southwest. You can catch Telling Stories at various venues around town or in an online show in Second Life where they stream live concerts from their home studio. Julie said it’s a great way to generate fans for the band.

Telling Stories has two albums out and they are starting work on an acoustic album. They record and produce their music under the 13th House Records label.  You can hear some songs from their long-awaited second album, “Dirty Little Secrets,” on their website. The album is available on CD or as a MP3 download.

And don’t forget to listen to the stories being told.

According to Human Library.org,

The Human Library is an innovative method designed to promote dialogue, reduce prejudices and encourage understanding. The main characteristics of the project are to be found in its simplicity and positive approach.

In it’s initial form the Human Library is a mobile library set up as a space for dialogue and interaction. Visitors to the Human Library are given the opportunity to speak informally with “people on loan”; this latter group being extremely varied in age, sex and cultural background.

The Human Library enables groups to break stereotypes by challenging the most common prejudices in a positive and humorous manner. It is a concrete, easily transferable and affordable way of promoting tolerance and understanding.

It is a “keep it simple”, “no-nonsense” contribution to social cohesion in multicultural societies.

Founded in Copenhagen, Denmark, the project has gone global to 27 countries Including Mexico and the US.  The Tucson Pima Library has been the host to Living Library events in the past through the City of Tucson Diversity Team and they have information on the website about how it works:

The Books are people willing to share their expertise; engage in dialogue about their life and/or life experience; and/or dialogue about their “stories”.

The Readers are people, visitors to the Living Library (an individual or a small group) who come to “checkout or borrow” a Book from the library.

The Dictionaries are people who serve as interpreters – i.e., sign language; foreign language; other forms of interpretation.

Books and Reader(s) will sit together in a comfortable spot to engage in a wonderful, often difficult, and sometimes humorous informal dialogue that breaks down stereotypes and some of the most common prejudices. A Dictionary may be required at times.

The Living Library is simply a means of promoting understanding and inclusion.