Welcome to the PD Narrative Project!

Greetings, all ye who enter . . . Welcome to The PD Narrative Project!
We're a motley crew of people based in Athens, a small college town in southeast Ohio (aka Appalachia), who have nothing better to do than to sit around and think up creative ways to deal with Parkinson's Disease.

There are currently 9 of us actively working this summer:  me (Jenny Nelson, benevolent overlord), the one whom PD decided to reach out and touch a few years ago (and it has been dogging me ever since).  It's like that stupid Abilify blanket in the commercials--an ad we will soon be parodying, along with anything else that crosses our path.

We're all about the stories of people living with PD: real stories, made-up stories, poems, drawings, you name it.  Really.
                                  <<  YOU NAME IT  >>

The PD Gang at Work

Whether you're a PWP (person with Parkinson's), or know someone who is, or just a curious bystander, we're asking you to share your stories with us!  What has PD done for you lately? (thank you, Janet Jackson song)  Trip you up, take you down, push you around?  I've been getting weird internal tremors that feel like something from Alien is going to burst out (even though you can't see it), so I'm gonna have someone draw that for me because I can't draw for shit.  That would be Tyler Ayres, our resident animator, and his apprentice Connor Gartland,  Sam Kreps can draw, too, so I can ask him (and so can you).  Stephen Toropov knows a good story when he sees one, and can spruce it up to make it more vivid.  Madison Koenig can do that, too, and she just returned from Feminist Summer Camp (really!), so she can spin it like the Bechdel Test for Women in Movies.  Watch it; maybe we can turn that into The [Your Name here] Test for PD in Movies.  Jennifer Bell is our social media maven, along with Ali Ziyati.   Yan Zheng keeps track of everything.  You can learn more about the PD Narrative Gang by clicking on The Research Team at the top of the page.

There he goes again!

Louis CK

Speaking of movies, we're also asking you to troll the mediaverse looking for things that deserve to be shared.  Compelling PD stories, definitely, but random media references as well.  I was watching a new episode of Louis CK a couple of months ago, and out of the blue, he makes a reference to PD.  Was not expecting that.  I was listening to NPR on Saturday, and wham!  A reference to The Parkinson's Voice Initiative!  You know how your head snaps around when you see/hear something about PD?  We want those stories, too.  We want you! -- to be a part of our research team.  No hassle, no deadlines,  and I don't take attendance.

So take a look at our videos (we'll be putting up new ones every other week or so, and describing what happens in between), and make some comments if you want, and send us your stories.  There's a button for that at the top of the page, too.