While I listen to medical professionals and practice self-quarantine at home, I’m making an effort to create and release free audio book shorts every few days. It’s a good way for me to stay connected to my creative self, when my everything else self is so anxious and scared, all it wants to do is hide under the blankets and play video games.
I’m doing what I can, to do use the skills I have during this pandemic in a way that is helpful. At first blush, creating entertainment seems kind of silly and pointless right now. People are dying, people are unemployed, and we’re all doing our best to not freak out, right? We need masks and PPE and ventilators, and a president who isn’t a fucking incompetent liar, who puts his personal accumulation of wealth and power ahead of the lives of the people he is supposed to lead.
Everyone does what they can in times of crisis. For someone who is a first responder, they know exactly what to do right now. It’s what they’ve dedicated their lives to. Same for medical professionals. Then we have the heroic efforts of the supermarket employees, package delivery employees, and local restaurants, who all know precisely what their call to public service is going to be during this crisis.
But what about entertainers? I mean, can you think of anything more useless? People are dying and you’re going to read me a story? Really?
…well, yeah. Because that’s all I can do. My skill set is limited to performing and entertaining. It’s not the path I would have chosen for myself, but it’s what I know how to do, and it’s something that I’m not terrible at. In fact, I’m pretty good at it (he says, knowing he would make different performance choices if he did this one again), and it seems like a waste to just crawl into a blanket fort right now, while everyone else is doing what they can to help.
So I’m going to entertain, the best that I can, because that’s what I know how to do. I mean, I still want to be entertained and distracted right now, maybe more than ever. There is nothing I look forward to these days as much as I look forward to Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune every night, because for an hour I get to forget that the world is on fire.
What if I could be to someone else what Jeopardy is to me? What if I used these skills I have to make some entertainment for anyone who wants it? It’s not the worst idea! I am by far not the worst!
I’m having fun doing this, and I’ll keep doing it as long as people are listening and want me to continue.
Today’s reading is The Ghost of Harrowby Hall. It’s a 19th century satirical ghost story with some great dialog.
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Thank you for everything you do Wil. Keep fighting the good fight.
THANK YOU for being an entertainer (and a wonderful one). As an “essential” worker, I can’t tell you how much solace I’m taking in the explosion of art that is coming out of this crisis. It’s the closest thing to a silver lining we’re going to get, and it’s part of what gets me out the door in the morning. So thank you again. It’s more important than I can say.
Thanks Wil. Don’t sell yourself short. Entertainment is still needed now. These are helpful distractions even for a short while. Thank you for doing this.
I love that you’re doing this. You’re one of my favorite narrators.
Thank you, good sir!
Wil, you as a storyteller saved my life saved me from killing myself. I was in Omaha, NE and I was a first responder ⛑ as a Certified Peer Support and Wellness Specialist answering suicide calls sometimes for 16 hours during double shifts! Fulltime I sat there listening to everybody calling in wanting to die. My small team worked everyday even holidays taking 15,000 crisis & suicide calls a year. I spent holidays listening to a guy in prison say he just got out of prison after 25 years and say he had no friends… then he paused and said … would you be my friend? In a weak shakeup voice and I broke down crying! How is this poor man supposed to make friends with that horrible experience? Or how about the Asian girl who was beaten by her father who was forcing her in an arranged marriage to some guy 40 years older. All this girl wanted was to be believed and see a psychiatrist and be admitted in the hospital. But I was the only who believed her so I fought my Supervisor and risked my job fighting for her right to see a Dr! The nurses and the police didn’t believe her and GAVE HER BACK TO HER ABUSIVE FATHER! My heart broke and I could not work the rest of my shift because the court gave me back to my father who raped and sexually assaulted me more for 14 fourteen years! But what destroyed me and caused me to quit my job was when a girl called in and said she overdosed and refused to tell me where she was so I could send her an ambulance 🚑 to save her. Wil I HEARD HER DIE ON THE PHONE! She called not to live , but so she would not die alone! I was shattered! I can not do it anymore to be a first responder! I nearly committed suicide and you know what stopped me? YOU! You the actor on TNG and Stand by me I would come home after a 16 hour shift I would watch you all night to try to drown out the horrors of calls I heard through each and every fucking day! I wanted to die after listening the girl take her last breath on the phone! You are Wakan You are Sacred! You are the Storyteller Archetype the healer! Do not ever downgrade the power of you as a Storyteller! Do not make me scream 😱 at you you saved my fucking life! You kept me from taking my own life in my shattered mind, heart and soul! You Wil!
Please.. you are more than an entertainer …. you are a Holy Healer , sacred! In native culture my Medicine Woman Mom Wambli Wasu Winyan Hail Eagle 🦅 Woman showed me the healing power of Storytellers!
You better stop putting yourself down! Now!
I love you! I owe you my life! I love you!💕
Storytellers are sacred! First responders like me NEED you!
Thank you, it is much appreciated and enjoyed! ❤️❤️
Thank you, Wil! It helps, it helps, it helps. And yes, you are good at it!
Entertainment is NOT useless and does compare to all those other important things people are doing!! We’re leaning on you right now.
Thank you Will. I have always enjoyed all that you have done over the years and we need it these days more than most times.
Entertainment is than simple distraction. How many great minds were inspired by great characters like Luke Skywalker, Spock, and I know lots of folks inspired to greatness by Wesley Crusher. Entertainment is so important, I value it so much. I value what you do, Wil. You always give 100%, you try your best in everything. I respect that do very much.
Thank you for shining sunlight, bringing beauty into this trainwreck of a time. You make the world better with each creation.
So, I work in special ed with behaviorally challenged kids. I use art therapy and storytelling and music all the dang time, and it drives me nuts when people think the power of art and entertainment isn’t real. It is. It is extremely fucking real, and it helps people be better human beings.
Many people are dealing with isolation and panic right now. We aren’t robots who can just hit an internal off switch. What we can do is can put on some good music, or talk to a friend online about a show we love, or listen to a soothing audiobook.
You’re helping by keeping people sane enough to stick with this scary, frustrating quarantine thing. You are good at this, and you do matter.
I love you for everything you do Wil. Don’t you dare continue to sell yourself or your contribution to people during this crisis. We need entertainment now more than at other times. We need to laugh, we need to smile and we need distractions. When the world is going to Hell around us we need a respite from the stress.
Remember Wil, we have always sent our entertainers into warzones to remind the soldiers we haven’t forgot them. We want to bring relief to their stress and worry for a brief time. We want to help refresh them and recharge them so they can continue the fight. You are doing exactly what we need you to do, what you do well, entertain us and help keep us from an emotional breakdown.
Amen
I desperately need entertainment. I’m having a sad. Thank you.
And this is why we love you. Thank you for any and all attempts to give the world just a few minutes away from what is happening outside our door and outside of our control.
thank you, wil. thank you so very much. my brain is just Not Working right now, and this is exactly what i needed. you’re my Geek Dad for a reason. even if you are younger than me.
When Winston Churchill was asked to cut arts funding to support the war effort, he replied: “Then what are we fighting for?”
Okay, I understand that this quote may be fake but the sentiment is still valid. Keep creating. It makes you happy. It makes others happy. Art is still needed in this world.
Read me a story. I never got past that stage, and it’s such a comfort. And I haven’t even listened to this one yet. It’s my bedtime story tonight.
“At first blush, creating entertainment seems kind of silly and pointless right now.” What? No! You’re what helps keep us sane. Me running my D&D game helps me and my friends.
“The anthropologists got it wrong when they named our species Homo sapiens (‘wise man’). In any case it’s an arrogant and bigheaded thing to say, wisdom being one of our least evident features. In reality, we are Pan narrans, the storytelling chimpanzee.”
― Terry Pratchett, The Globe
Thank you for doing what you can!
Thank you for doing this Wil, I appreciate it. As someone who also grew up with less than stellar parents, you are a part of MY family. I saw that kid in space and thought, “that could be me!” You’ve helped many people in your life, in ways you probably didn’t realize. Keep being awesome, artsy safe.
Wil, others have commented here how important entertainment is and how gifted an entertainer you are, and I can’t say it any better.
I have major depression, so feeling worthless is a daily event, especially right now, unless I can sleep through it or distract myself or use mindfulness or other CBT or DBT resources to help me through it. I also have therapy and medication that offer limited benefit, but I know I need to be my own best healer. From past posts you’ve shown yourself to be a champion at that. And by using what you are great at, you take it to a new level to help others. When I can muster the energy, I work on my novel, and that helps me feel better. I like to think that far down the road it will entertain readers. Maybe sometimes each of us has to measure our capabilities or capacities against ourselves, and not against others.
Thanks, Will! We appreciate your efforts! Realize I am repeating everyone else here…..Everyone is stuck at home, streaming movies, reading/listening to books, etc. Without the entertainment industry, we would all be pretty darn bored right now! I am thankful for your ‘no holds barred’ blog to read as well. Hoping your new project, you mentioned prior to all of this happening, still happens for you (and secretly hoping it has something to do with Picard!).;)
Hi Wil, Thank you for your contributions for keeping the world sane and calm. It may not seem much to you, but I’m sure many people, including myself, appreciate what you do. Do you ever do any Twitch broadcasts? I’d love to see you live stream a video game or even board game. I’ve seen many tabletop episodes. Hope you and your family are staying safe and doing well. Thanks again.
Patrick
Can you add these to the Radio Free Burrito RSS, or make an RSS? I would love these to just show up on my device so I can listen while out on my walks/hikes!
There’s an RSS feed at Soundcloud that you can use. I’m keeping these separate from the main RFB feed, at least for now.
Thank you! That was fun! I look forward to the next one!
Thanks for doing these, Wil. I’m one of the ‘essential workers’ you reference, a call center employee for a bank. I’ve been taking advantage of a lot of distractions myself to forget that the world is one big dumpster fire right now. These stories are my Jeopardy, and I’m looking forward to listening to this one on my commute tomorrow.
Art IS essential! Please keep doing it!! Believe me and many others who don’t post- we need you!
It may be my cultural background – I’m from Maine and that lovely, dry, old Maine humorist The humble Farmer was a close friend of my father – but I thought the very serious tone you took reading “Harrowby Hall” worked absolutely perfectly.
Keep on keeping on, as they say.
In times of extreme stress, society seeks art- be it literature, music, or visual. And you are contributing. Thank you, Wil.
Entertainment IS important, and you do it SO well! You offer and provide hope, and that’s a very special thing in these days of anxiety and stress. By the way, I just watched all the Ready Room episodes for ST Picard then I went on Amazon and bought your action figure! THANK YOU, Wil!
I’m in the middle of listening to you read this story, and it is SOOO WONDERFUL. I love the little mistakes and specialness. It’s like having you as a prized visitor!!! I don’t have to be alone or afraid! Thanks again!
You outdid yourself with the voices on this one, Wil. Loved the story, loved your narration. Thanks!!! Stay safe and healthy.
“Because that’s all I can do.”
I don’t know. Telling stories at a time like this helps take people’s minds off of other matters. The fact that some people are going on doing what they do provides a sense of normalcy in these very abnormal times. Telling stories has been a part of all human cultures since the very beginning. If we stop telling stories, our culture will die.
Keep telling stories.
This was a fun story Wil, thanks for sharing! I finished the story as I was going into work the other day, and while I won’t spoil the ending for others, I will say I had a good laugh early in the morning because of Oglethorpe’s solution.
This is my favorite story from when I was a child. I’ll definitely give it a listen when I get home. I love it so much that a couple of years ago I wrote a story for a water-themed anthology on what happened to the ghost after the end of the story where she shows up in the modern US. It didn’t make the cut, and I bring it out every once in a while to tweak it and show it some love.