Authentically Teresa Funke – Never AI
Channeling Teddy
I was just offered an amazing opportunity! It was actually on my bucket list, but I had assumed I’d need to be much further along before I was invited. In fact, I’m a bit nervous. I wish I had more pieces and parts in place in my business to support this, but that’s how it...
Founding Fathers Speak on Living Creatively
As you know, I’m an historian by training, and the American Revolution has always been one of my favorite eras to study. It continues to fascinate me that great leaps forward (and backward) in our world cultures seem to take place when a particular group of like-minded, ambitious people come together, and never was there...
Life Can Only Be What You Make It To Be
When I was growing up in Boise, Idaho, there was a local singer named Steve Harmon. He sang at our church, and he also recorded a record called Stand By Him back in 1974. I grew up listening to that album. My mom played it often. You’ve never heard of it? I’m not surprised. I’m...
Under Pressure
What are the rest of the words to that song? Oh, never mind. Those are the only two words that matter, and they seem to be popping into my head more often these days. Is it just me, or are we all feeling increased pressure? If I read one more article, for example, that tells...
It’s Only True if You Believe It
I was working with some of the kids at our local Boys & Girls Clubs one day as part of a program I was running, when I started to talk about college. One of the kids said, “My dad says I can’t go to college because I’m not smart enough.” “Do you believe that?” I...
Art Cafes – Great Ideas Giveaway
Think of Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald hanging out in Parisian cafes in the 1920s. Think of all those writers and critics and actors exchanging barbs at the Algonquin Round Table in New York City. Think of the many movie stars, singers, and musicians who waited on servicemen during World War II at the Hollywood...
Why Bad Art Matters
Most of the music enthusiasts I know would admit that Achy Breaky Heart is one of the dumbest songs ever recorded. Why is it, then, that whenever someone mentions that song, it gets stuck in my head for days?! And all of my writer friends agree that Bridges of Madison County is one of the...
Chasing Perfection
Anthony Doerr recently won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his World War II novel All the Light We Cannot See. And his book is not only noteworthy, it’s popular. It seems as if everyone I know has read or is reading that story, including one of my relatives, who is one of the sharpest...