Who knew a conversation over a cup of coffee could percolate new ideas for a podcast? Stranger still, that the podcast would focus on fairy tales and short stories as sources for lessons in human nature, values, and virtues…

In this episode, we explore the importance of virtues in our lives and how cultivating them can lead to greater happiness and fulfillment. The discussion delves into the differences between virtues and values, and why the significance of virtues has diminished over time. We take a look back at the short stories and fairy tales we’ve discussed through the lens of virtuous (and not so virtuous) behavior. By revisiting short stories like The Gift of the Magi, Goldilocks, The Ugly Duckling, and others, we can recognize and discuss virtues such as compassion, courage, perseverance, and resilience, and their impact on personal growth and well-being.

Discussion Points:

• A chat with a friend at the Toasted and Roasted coffee shop
• Virtues vs. values
• Ruminations on “virtues”….
• Looking back at short stories in previous episodes for important virtues
• Check out earlier episodes of Thinking Curious to hear in-depth discussions of the short stories and fairy tales I mentioned in this episode
• Subscribe or Follow the podcast, and use the links below to access the Thinking Curious Project and The Thinking Curious Review for additional content

Resources:

Thinking Curious Project

Thinking Curious Review

Cognitive Development Coaching with Jessica

Toasted & Roasted

Quote from Virtues and Psychology

Book: Virtue and Psychology: Pursuing Excellence in Ordinary Practices

Description of Virtues and Psychology

Virtues For Life

The Book of Virtues 30th Anniversary Edition

Resilience from a Virtue Perspective

Perseverance

What are virtuous people like?

"... my fairy-tales were just as much for adults as for children, who only understood the ornamental trappings, but only as mature adults can they see and perceive the contents. That the naive was only one part of my fairy-tales, that humour was the actual zest in them" - Hans Christian Andersen’s journal entry from June 4, 1875

The Ugly Duckling is not a simple fairytale. It appeals to children through animal characters, an exciting plot, and beautiful language, yet it also appeals to adults who can perceive the illuminating concepts and abstractions. In this episode, I dig deep into three distinct story elements that weave together to illustrate the complete transformation of our hero: Resilience, Self-Concept, and the Hero’s Journey - ending in peace and happiness for the Ugly Duckling.

Discussion Points:

• Hans Christian Andersen and his work
• Three story strands that weave together - Resilience, Self-Concept, and a Hero’s Journey
• Resilience - how is it illustrated?
• Self-concept in the duck yard - rejection and abuse
• The 3 stages of the ‘Hero’s Journey’
• Andersen’s quote about the fairy tale
• Rising above discouraging words and becoming himself
• Encouraged by joy and hope
• Rescued from the ice by a kind farmer
• The ‘hero’s return’ and metamorphosis
• A quote from the author
• Subscribe or Follow the podcast, and use the links below to access the Thinking Curious Project and The Thinking Curious Review for additional content

Resources:

Thinking Curious Project

Thinking Curious Review

Cognitive Development Coaching with Jessica

Hans Christian Andersen's Biography

Read The Ugly Duckling

The Resilient Brain

Resilience - Circle of Courage

What is Self-concept?

The Little Red Hen is a fable with a moral that is helpful. However, the character of the Little Red Hen has been maligned and her story demoralized. In this episode, we are going to take a look at the author and her life, along with the moral and theme of this little fable, to see if we can set the record straight.

The Little Red Hen is an American fable first published by Mary Mapes Dodge in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1874. St. Nicholas was a popular monthly American children's magazine, founded by Scribner's in 1873. Dodge was the first editor of the magazine, and she continued her association with the magazine until her death in 1905.

The characters and structure of the story are meant to teach children that hard work and personal initiative are the foundation of success. The tale is based on a story Dodge was often told by her mother. Originally the other animals besides the hen consist of a rat, a cow, a cat, a dog, a duck, and a pig. Later adaptations, like the illustrated version by Florence White Henderson, often reduce the number of other animals to three- the cat, the rat, and the pig.

Discussion Points:

• The Little Red Hen
• Author Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge - her era and her life
• Fables, morals, themes, and animal characters
• Florence White Williams version of the story
• An excerpt from The Little Red Hen
• John Locke, personal property, and civil law
• The hen had a natural right to the bread she baked
• Similarities between the author’s life and the hen’s characteristics
• Subscribe or follow the podcast and use the link below to The Thinking Curious Review

Resources:

Thinking Curious Project

Thinking Curious Review

Cognitive Development Coaching with Jessica at Purposed Pathways

The Little Red Hen Origin and Background

A Negative View of the Fable

Mary Mapes Dodge Profile

Mary Mapes Dodge Bio

St. Nicholas Children’s Magazine

Peek Inside An Issue of St. Nicholas

Welcome to episode five of our short story series, continuing our analysis of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” In Part I, we focused on internal and external characteristics and the contrast of expected behaviors attributed to the little girl and the bears. Today, we’ll take a look at “nature vs. nurture” in humankind, through the lens of Goldilocks’ behavior.

The Story: It was first published anonymously as "The Story of the Three Bears" in an 1837 volume of Robert Southey’s writings called The Doctor. The story’s characters and plot morphed through the years, from an unpleasant old woman to a sweet little girl, and from three ‘bachelor bears’ or siblings, into Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear, but the dates of these changes are disputed. Goldilocks and the Three Bears is just an old English fairytale, short and simple. Or is it?

Discussion Points:

• Digging into nature vs. nurture
• Kenan Malik and concepts of human consciousness and uniqueness
• Harvard scientists and biologists and nature/nurture
• Being “well brought up”
• Purpose and Agency in humankind
• Looking for “just right” is a statement of purpose
• Security and love are critical for nurture
• Neuroscience now sanctions “common sense”
• Helping children learn skills that are “just right”
• Subscribe or follow the Thinking Curious Review

Resources:

Read the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Listen to Part I - Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Kenan Malik Article

Harvard Medical Article: Nature, Meet Nurture

APA’s Definition of Human Nature

Article: What Are Human Beings? Perspectives from Science and Scripture

Thinking Curious Project

Thinking Curious Review

Cognitive Coaching with Jessica at Purposed Pathways

Welcome to episode four of our short story series. In this episode, we begin Part I of our look at the seemingly simple story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” The story was first published anonymously as "The Story of the Three Bears" in an 1837 volume of Robert Southey’s writings called The Doctor. The story’s characters and plot morphed through the years, from an unpleasant old woman to a sweet little girl, and from three ‘bachelor bears’ or siblings, into Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear, but the dates of these changes are disputed. Goldilocks and the Three Bears is just an old English fairytale, short and simple. Or is it? You can’t judge a book, or story, by its cover.

Discussion Points:

• Judging people by their external qualities- age, skin color, etc.
• Childhood views of the story vs. today’s
• Irony is employed by flipping expectations of behaviors of bears vs. girls
• Re-read the story yourself with the link below and tune in for Part II

Resources:

Read the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Cognitive Development Coaching with Jessica

Welcome to episode three of our short story series. In this episode, we take a trip through the intense, gothic short story “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” by Edgar Allan Poe. Published posthumously in 1856, the story prompts us to ask, “have we given away our responsibility to think for ourselves?” Poe’s protagonist, an unnamed “young man” traveling through France, experiences a confusing scenario in a private insane asylum seemingly headed up by a “Dr. Maillard.” Decades before the term gaslighting was ever used, Poe’s short story illustrated how someone could be manipulated into questioning their own senses, beliefs, and reality.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was best known for macabre and mysterious short stories and poems. He was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic, widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in U.S. literature.

Discussion Points:

• Jessica was not a big fan of Poe previously
• Gaslighting – the word’s origins and meanings today
• Poe’s gothic story setting – a private asylum in France in the 1800s
• Treating ‘mania’ - Dr. Maillard’s protocol
• Questioning Maillard and his gaslighting response
• The increasingly alarming behaviors of the ‘staff’ at dinner
• We should heed Poe’s message - judge for ourselves what’s going on in the world
• Re-read the story yourself with the link below

Resources:

Read the Story ‘The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether

Gaslight - Story of the 1938 Play and subsequent productions

“Madding Crowd” Reference: Tréguer, Pascal. “Meaning and Origin of ‘Far From the Madding Crowd.’” Word Histories, 12 Sept. 2016, wordhistories.net/2016/09/12/far-from-the-madding-crowd

Cognitive Development Coaching with Jessica

“Have you read a story when you were younger, and later, read it again, and discovered something more profound than what you had understood at first?” In this episode of Thinking Curious, I discuss my reflections after re-reading the 1837 Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” I’ll share my thoughts on Andersen’s clever use of immaterial human qualities such as free will, consciousness, and agency, and ponder the concepts of ‘willful blindness’ and ‘turning a blind eye.’

Hans Christian Andersen (1805 – 1875) was a Danish author and prolific writer, best remembered for his literary fairy tales. His stories are now culturally embedded in our collective consciousness, accessible to children but also presenting lessons for mature readers as well. You may recognize some of his other famous fairy tales - "The Little Mermaid", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Ugly Duckling", and "Thumbelina".

Discussion Points:

• A re-reading of the story yields new insights
• From the mouths of babes - the child in the story speaks the truth
• How can this happen? The characters made a choice
• Free will, consciousness, and agency
• Material vs. immaterial human qualities
• “Turning a blind eye” first appeared in literature in 1698
• Margaret Heffernan’s book on Willful Blindness
• Re-read the story yourself or to your kids with the link below

Resources:

Cognitive Development Coaching with Jessica

The Emperor’s New Clothes

History of the Phrase “Turn a blind eye”

Book: Wilful Blindness by Margaret Heffernan

Welcome to episode 1 of Thinking Curious. The Feast of Epiphany when we remember the gifts the Magi or Wisemen brought to the child Jesus marks the beginning of the season of Epiphanes. In the spirit of the season, our first episode features a discussion of the classic short story, “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry. First published in 1905, this treasured tale hides an often-overlooked gem in its theme. We’ll discuss the story’s elements, the biblical allusions that run throughout, and delve into their deeper meaning and influence on the theme.

Discussion points:

• O. Henry’s real name and some fascinating facts about his life
• An overview of the short story and its characters
• The allusion to bible stories in The Gift of the Magi
• Analyzing the biblical allusions
• Similar themes in the song “O, Holy Night”
• Stay tuned for our next episode and sign up to receive the Thinking Curious Review!

Resources:

The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry

O, Holy Night Lyrics

Henry Biography

Henry Author Profile

Purposed Pathways Website

Bible references are from the New American Standard Bible:

• King Solomon & the Queen of Sheba. 2 Chronicles, chapter 9:1-12
• Jesus teaches people are valued by God. Matthew 10:29-31
• The Magi bring gifts to the child, Jesus. Matt. 2:1-12
• People are loved and valued by God. (John 3:16-17, John 14:9, 1 John 4:9-11)