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Tricia Rose Burt

Speaker. Storyteller. Coach.

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storytelling

Sandra Bullock Gets Her Space Underwear Right

October 11, 2013 by Tricia Rose Burt

He can’t believe her underwear either

One summer night back in 1979, I went to see the movie “Alien” with my brother and some of his friends. More than 30 years later, I am still recovering. For me, there are three enduring images from the film: 1) the space critter bursting out of John Hurt’s chest; 2) the android with his head chopped off; and 3) Sigourney Weaver’s underwear in the final scene.

If you saw the movie, you may remember the scene. Sigourney Weaver’s character, Ripley, is the sole survivor of her crew. She has made it safely aboard the shuttle, although we all know she is anything but safe. As she prepares for her journey home, she takes off her flight suit, only to reveal skimpy little underwear. I distinctly remember saying out loud in the movie theater, “No one wears underwear like that in space.”

I said it again this summer when I saw “Star Trek Into Darkness.” For reasons that are anything but plot related, in one scene Alice Eve’s character Carol, a science officer, stands scantily clad in a black bra and matching panties. Now don’t get me wrong. There is a time and place for a black bra and matching panties, but I don’t think they’re necessary for the final frontier.

Appropriately dressed for space

I didn’t know what to expect when watching “Gravity” this week, the new space thriller starring Sandra Bullock. After surviving harrowing experiences outside the space craft, Bullock’s character Ryan makes her way onto a space shuttle for safety. She takes off her flight suit. I prepare myself.  Ryan reveals she not only has a brilliant mind and a broken heart but also sensible underwear — black briefs and an olive green tank top. Thank goodness.

Smart, yes; fashionable, no

But Sandra Bullock aside, women scientists depicted in entertainment — and most importantly, in REAL LIFE — still struggle to get a break. I just read an interesting article about the lack of women who pursue science. The author suggests that TV’s top comedy “The Big Bang Theory” does nothing to encourage women to pursue that field — the show’s brilliant neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler dresses like a grandmother and is socially inept, while the ditsy waitress Penny always looks adorable and gets all the guys. Personally, I love the character Amy Farrah Fowler as played by Mayim Bialik, who actually holds a PhD in neuroscience. But I have to admit, the author has a point.

 While Hollywood tries to get it right, I offer two antidotes from the worlds of theater and storytelling. First is The Story Collider, a storytelling collective based in NYC, founded by Ben Lillie. Ben is a former high energy particle physicist with a Phd from Stanford. At some point in his career, he decided that while he loved science, he didn’t much care for research and actually loved storytelling and theater. So he headed to NYC and started The Story Collider, where scientists and non-scientists alike come and tell stories about their everyday experiences with science. Lucky for me, I’ll be performing with them on Dec. 12 in Cambridge, MA.

Second, there’s The Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project — I attended a theater lab this summer with their amazing associate director, Linsay Firman. This is an initiative “designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling work exploring the worlds of science and technology and to challenge the existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in the popular imagination.”

So, as always, there’s hope for change. Check these groups out and please give them — and budding women scientists — your support.

*****

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Filed Under: General Thoughts Tagged With: Alien, EST/Sloan Foundation Technology Project, Gravity, Hollywood, Sandra Bullock, Sigourney Weaver, storytelling, The Story Collider, theater

A Life Story Told In Four Minutes With No Words

July 12, 2013 by Tricia Rose Burt

A beautiful love story told in 4 minutes

To date, I’ve written about 15, 000 words in my memoir. In the end, the book will probably contain  60,000+ words, cover my three years at art school, and include several flashbacks. My one-woman show, which covers the same time period, takes 82-minutes to perform. This is why I marvel at the beauty, efficiency and master craftsmanship of the 4-minute montage scene in Pixar’s movie “Up,” which for some reason has been on my mind all week.

[Read more…] about A Life Story Told In Four Minutes With No Words

Filed Under: General Thoughts Tagged With: creativity, inspiration, storytelling, writing

To Tell the Truth

June 28, 2013 by Tricia Rose Burt

Exploding on the Boston scene

Last week, my husband and I traveled down to Boston, met some friends, and headed over  to The Moth StorySLAM. The theme was Fathers, and happily, I got to tell my story about the Tricia Ball, a Christmas ornament Daddy made for me when I was very little and years later still brings great joy. Out of the 10 stories told that night, some were heart wrenching and some were hysterical, but most importantly, all of them were true.

[Read more…] about To Tell the Truth

Filed Under: General Thoughts Tagged With: humor, inspiration, storytelling, women's issues

Using the Tools at Hand

May 22, 2013 by Tricia Rose Burt

I know only one way to drive to NYC — I-91 to exit 17 in Connecticut to Route 15. I stay on Route 15 for about 2 hours until I get to Manhattan and then I take a left.  If that route’s not available, I’m in trouble. When driving to NYC last week, traffic stopped at Exit 23, with a blinking highway sign saying exits 17 and 18 were closed. Clearly, I had a problem, not the least of which was an important meeting at 2 p.m. that I was now in danger of missing.

[Read more…] about Using the Tools at Hand

Filed Under: General Thoughts Tagged With: humor, storytelling

Quote of the Week for March 4

March 8, 2013 by Tricia Rose Burt

“There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you.” – Maya Angelou.

Filed Under: Creative Liberation, Quotes Tagged With: inspiration, storytelling, writing

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