Fact vs. fiction

This is a time when facts save lives and misinformation can kill. Here are some useful resources I’ve consulted in recent weeks:

A detail from my father’s paramedic uniform insignia. Photo by Martin Langfield.

Newsguard: Who are the misinformation super-spreaders?

Smithsonian Magazine: How to Avoid Misinformation About COVID-19

Ethical Journalism Network

News Literacy Project

Chartbeat

Stat

Reuters Fact Checking 

Soldier’s Heart (original version)

This is the original clean version of my soundscape “Soldier’s Heart,” recorded April 27, 2019.

“Soldier’s heart” is a 19th-century term, used during the American Civil War, for what was later called “shell shock” or “combat fatigue,” nowadays known as post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Alongside my writing, I’ve been experimenting with soundscapes based on time distortions of  improvised drum patterns. I am interested in possible connections between soundscapes, which I believe can slow the mind into contemplative states, and mental health. I firmly believe in the power of art of all kinds to transform negative experience into positive, to challenge preconceptions and to jolt the mind into a more open, healthier (if often initially disconcerting) place.