Curated Collection — Nostalgia Series
Mike’s Favorite Stories on ILLUMINATION Publications — #64
Featuring engaging stories that you may enjoy as well
G’day, dear avid readers and fellow Friends of Medium! My publishing and curation goal is to find valuable stories buried under the dust for your enjoyment. So far, I compiled 64 nostalgic collections, giving you many reading options.
Unfortunately, from my observations, the reading and engagement rate is very low. My goal in creating these collections is to increase the engagement rate. Therefore, recently, I have been featuring older stories.
But my good friend Aiden, who serves as both an editor and boost nominator, suggested that I feature boosted stories I have read and enjoyed from our publications in a special collection. So I agreed.
As an editor of ILLUMINATION-Curated, I read through all the stories during the editing process and after publishing to support Aiden and Dr. Yildiz when they are nominating and promoting for more views.
Based on Aiden’s clever request, I agreed to make this piece special to offer my readers different stories to enjoy. Please consider engaging with and sharing the stories you read. Collaboration is a key factor in the success of this platform.
Aiden’s Collections
Here is his latest one with my friend’s link for anyone to read it. He has already created 90 collections, always finding gems from hidden corners.
Aiden’s Boost Education Featuring Successful Writers
Update on Boosting and Answering Frequently Asked Questions
If you are into boosting, recently, Dr Yildiz answered frequently asked questions from writers and readers about the boost program on Medium, which gave me a few surprises as a writer and editor. I wish I had read something like this a year ago. No wonder none of my stories got boosted, causing me to pause writing, but he shows us hope.
Aiden compiled our boosted stories last month.
New Interview
Today Dr Mehmet Yildiz interviewed another famous writer Genius Turner. He is a gem, and you might enjoy this story as much as I did. I am now following Genius to learn from his wisdom. He was born in a leap year :-)
I love reading interview stories and found interesting ones and added them to a post so that you may find them easily. They are captivating and full of life lessons.
Newsletter
Our new newsletter is now ready on Medium. It was also posted on Substack for our subscribers. It includes important updates and plans for out pubs. This month Dr Yildiz authored it from his tech account.
Influencing Non-Members to Become Members
Cosidering the stats in our stories, I believe number of members are are lower than nonmembers. Still, thousands of our writers are non-members. It does not make sense to me. Writers need to be avid readers. You may check this open letter from Dr Mehmet Yildiz to non-members. He observed that a large number of readers and writers are non-members who do not contribute to the platform’s growth. I believe you will find his points valuable and relatable. Please share this post on your socials.
Another Curator to Amplify Great Stories
Now another hardworking and supportive editor of ILLUMINATION publications, The Sturg joined the curation team and he posted his first well-designed collection. He put lots of effort into creating this. I know how challenging and time-consuming it is to make these collections. So please engage in his collection and share it on your socials.
Boosted Stories I Enjoyed from ILLUMINATION Pubs
Overcoming Post-COVID-19 Long-Lasting Olfactory Issues Antonio Segovia, MD.
The Artistic Meaning of Images Within Images Lorwen Harris Nagle, PhD
Why Do We Love to Believe Wacky and Weird Stuff? James Alexander, MATheol, MA, PhD
Who Is in Charge Here?–How Our Minds Control the Body Dr Emmanuel Ogamdi
Can We Lose Fat and Gain Muscle At the Same Time? Matt Williams-Spooner, Ph.D.
Should Doctors Be Less or More Empathetic? Dr. Julian Barkan
How Cholesterol Levels Impact Your Heart Health Dr. K P Vasudeva Rao
Does Your Academic Performance Determine the Rest of Your Life? Clarissa Ai Ling Lee, PhD
Common Medical Myths That Many People Continue to Believe Despite Proof to the Contrary David Mokotoff, MD
Can Companion Robots Solve the Loneliness Epidemic Among Elders? Mark Sanford, Ph.D.
Is It Possible to Completely Heal from Covert Narcissistic Abuse? Melissa Kalt, MD
I’ll Never Forget the Lesson I Learned on My First Day of teaching Dr. Daniel H. Shapiro
Insider Insights: 10 Guidelines for Excelling as a Patient From an ER Doctor Joan Naidorf MD
I Stumped Google’s Gemini — But Not ChatGPT Wayne Stelk, PhD
We need a materialist approach to fighting racism Rebecca Ruth Gould
Finding Comfort in Blocks: How Minecraft Eased My First Time Loneliness and Intense Grief at 17 Aiden (Illumination Gaming)
How to Deal with Painful Emotions from Our Past: Mickey Singer’s Tough Love Teaching David Gerken
My Daughter’s Transgender Identity Didn’t Make Sense Tony Leo
How I managed to be productive at every level in the company. Lisa Bage
25 Years After Starting a First-Aid Business With a 6-Month-Old Baby, We’re Still Thriving Gill McCulloch
The Power of Placebo To Boost High Performance and Self-Belief Sean Kernan
I Harvested 10 Lessons When I Weeded My Portfolio Garden Mark Armstrong
My Perspectives on the Ukraine Invasion Two Years Later as a Ukrainian Descendant Oksana Kukurudza’s Sunflowers Rarely Break
How the Election of Barack Obama Changed Race Relations in America William Spivey
The Most Interesting Thing About Being a Scuba Diving Instructor Happened After I Quit Andy Murphy
It Took Two Divorces for Me to Learn What Destroys a Marriage Holly Paige
If You Don’t Believe in Angels, This Could Change Your Mind Bebe Nicholson
Navigating the Maze of Modern Loneliness with Observations and Interactions Jussi Luukkonen — your curiosity guide
Our New Hearing Aids — Startling Surprises in the Family Bill Myers
What I Think About Wedding Photography After 12 Years Silviu-Florin Salomia
Defining Spiritual Faith in a Life of Distraction Pernoste & Dahl
Enjoying and Making Sense of My Life Beyond Deaf Silence Joellyn Rose Keener, Author of Deaf and Determined
Working Hard and Doing the Right Thing Will No Longer Get You the American Dream Toni Crowe
Design-Wise Clues: The Twentieth Century and Beyond Matthew Bamberg
I Wrote a Novel: Here Are 5 Laws of Creativity I Learned in the Process Kyle Chastain
What Car Shows Mean to Me and How They Enriched My Life Aiden (Illumination Gaming)
Timing Will Never Be Perfect; Do What You’re Meant to Do Now Vincent Van Patten
What Happened When I Pushed My Body Past the Breaking Point Joshua Mason 🔱
This Teacher’s Act Made Me Look For Him After 43 Years. Am I Too Late? Wendy King
The Good Clime Retrieves The Sunken Heart — One Mild Allusion To Settle The Harmed Mind — Goodness… The Doctor — Joanie Adams
Surprising Life Lessons I Learned from Army Reserve Officer Training Danielle Spinks Earl
Come Take a Peek Into the Minds, Lives, and Fears … of Queers Brian Feutz
Things I Miss About the U.S. As an American Living in Paris Jolie Porter
Let’s Talk about Atheists and Firm Believers in the God of Abraham Marcus aka Gregory Maidman
Gaming, Fun, and Humor: The Lifelines That Rescued Me From Social Media’s Grip on My Life Aiden (Illumination Gaming)
Why Ban “Divisive” Teachings While Protecting Divisive Confederate Monuments? Guy Nave
When Helping Is Hurting: AI is Hurting Our Students Denise P King
Why Women in Pakistan Are Not Oppressed, But They Thrive Ammara Hassan
How I Learned to Meditate Again After a 40-Year Lapse, and What I Get From It Martin D. Hirsch
Thinking Back on an Unsustainable Diet in a 12-Step Program and a Dramatic Weight Loss The Sturg
If You Want to Lose Weight, You Must Lose the Heavy Thinking First Elaine Hilides
Beyond Blind Spots: A Multi-Perspective Journey Toward Greater Understanding George M Pantazis
Why Business Organizations Must Implement the Zero Trust Security Strategy and Execute It… David Pui | Digital Transformation Architect
How Survivorship Bias Colors Our World: Impact and How to Overcome It Sridhar Pai Tonse — Leadgen Coach- Tech Startups
How I Mastered 4 Essential Requirements to Become a Better Leader and Served My Clients Jozsef Kovacs
AI Can Now Create Photorealistic Videos From Just a Text Prompt Aiden (Illumination Gaming)
Seeing a Cop In Line At Starbucks Gave Me The Jitters G Correia
5 Surprising Links Between Fitness and Photography Zacc Rowlands
Synaesthesia I: A Life of Colors, The Early Years Donn K. Harris
How My Grandmother’s Legacy Goes Beyond the Wrinkles Gabriela Trofin-Tatár
Lessons from the Grave Sara Fellers from a partner pub
Four Ways to Balance Your Content Creation Obsession by Clayton Moulynox
When The Great Himalayas Went Grey on Us, Literally Somil Gupta
Facing the Judge and Jury of Your Inner Critic jules — Miz Mindful
Neuroscience Behind Why I Read 1000 Books With My Son Before He Turned 5 Prashansa Gadgil
Thank you for reading these wonderful stories 🙏
Links to My Previous Collections
Please share these so that more people can find these valuable pieces.
Introduction to New Writers
Now, let’s welcome the new writers who joined us recently. Please explore their stories, and they resonate with you may connect with them. This is a great opportunity for writers and readers to meet and connect.
New writers, please read the onboarding pack in the attached intro before sending your stories. Photos are very important, so please check out the image handling policy to prevent returns.
Writer applications can be made via our registration portal. Please remember to add your Medium account ID.
If you want to explore more from my life lessons? I compiled the links in a list to make it easy to find for you. Your feedback is important to me.