The Story Economy Blog

My closest friends know that I’m obsessed with writer Ann Patchett, mostly because I talk about her, you know, constantly. I could write a whole newsletter about my obsession with her (I might at some point—you’ve been warned), but for today, I’m…

Last week was tough, weather-wise. If you live anywhere that’s not the desert or the deep south, you are probably right there with me. Snow upon snow upon snow. And then a little more snow. And lots of subzero temperatures. All of this added up to…

My youth was filled with crappy cars. Or, more accurately: stories about crappy cars. By the early 1960s (a good 10 years before I came along), my parents had four kids crammed into that very Volkswagen Beetle you see pictured here. My oldest brother…

Have you ever taken something you are certain you know how to do—something that is integral to who you are—and thrown it all out the window to start completely over, relearning it from the ground up? It’s not an endeavor to take lightly. I know…

It may or may not be a surprise to you that Katy Perry didn’t get paid a dime to play the Super Bowl this past weekend. Neither did performers in recent years like Bruno Mars or Beyonc√©. It’s not a surprise to me at all. There was a rumor that…