Reflection: Stories about our sense of self
The Story Collider
Story Collider, Inc.
4.4 • 824 Ratings
🗓️ 17 November 2017
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, we present two stories about the things that make up our sense of self, from our appearance to our memories.
Part 1: On the verge of losing her teeth, Jean Le Bec travels abroad to find a solution.
Part 2: Science writer Michael Lemonick interviews an old friend who lost the ability to form memories after an injury.
Born and bred in Brooklyn New York, Jean Le Bec is a Moth StorySlam champion who has been featured on Risk, Yum's The Word, Surprise Stories, Take Two, NY Story Exchange, Two Truths And A Lie, Tell It Brooklyn, City Stories, Word Up, Look Who's Talking, and City Stories, as well as podcasts Risk, Singleling, Unhireable, and Tall Tales In The Big City and a week-long artist residency on Governor's Island 2016. She's presently working on a Solo Show.
Michael D. Lemonick is chief opinion editor at Scientific American; previously, he was a senior science writer at Time magazine. He is also the author of seven books, including, most recently, “The Perpetual Now: A Story of Amnesia, Memory, and Love.” He also teaches at Princeton University, and lives in Princeton, New Jersey, where he grew up.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A science story, huh? |
| 0:04.0 | Is NYU scientist the... |
| 0:06.0 | It felt... |
| 0:07.0 | It was so... |
| 0:09.0 | And I just thought, well... |
| 0:10.0 | It was that golden moment. |
| 0:12.0 | Because science was on my side. |
| 0:19.0 | Hi everyone, I'm Ben Lilly. |
| 0:24.3 | Welcome to the Story Collider, where we bring you true personal stories about science. |
| 0:28.6 | This week, we'll bring you two stories about what makes us who we are from our appearance to our memories. |
| 0:34.0 | Her first story this week is from Jean LeBeck. |
| 0:36.0 | It was recorded in July 2017 at the Crane Theater in New York City. |
| 0:40.2 | The theme of that night was pain. |
| 0:48.9 | I'm dreaming. My teeth are flying out of my mouth. They saw high above my head, twirling and swirling. |
| 0:57.1 | I try to grab them. |
| 0:58.6 | I try to reach them. |
| 0:59.6 | I jump, but I can't. |
| 1:02.4 | They dangle in front of me, taunting me, and finally, finally I grab one, but it melts in my hand. |
| 1:10.1 | I wake up sweating. Something is wrong. My tongue is pushing against |
| 1:15.4 | a tooth on my lower right jaw. It's loose. It is so loose that I reach in and easily pull it out. |
| 1:23.8 | I slip out of bed, careful not to wake my husband, Marcel, and I run into the bathroom. |
| 1:30.0 | I grin in the mirror and damn, you can see it, a big gaping hole. |
... |
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