Melissa Malzkuhn was born deaf, and into a deaf family of gifted storytellers. In her brief but spectacular take, Malzkuhn describes how early access to sign language allowed her to connect with humanity. She's now the creative director of the Motion Light Lab at Gallaudet University.

Journalist and women’s advocate Cindi Leive was “Glamour” magazine’s editor in chief for 16 years. She reflects on the well-known phenomenon of men interrupting women and engaging in other dismissive treatment, at everyday places of work all the way to the Supreme Court. This is her brief but spectacular take on female power.

When Alabama closed a regional hospital, the warden of Metro Jail says that the population of people with mental illness doubled at their facility. Trey Oliver says they often see the same people over and over again, people who should have a different kind of around-the-clock care. Oliver gives his Brief But Spectacular take on why incarceration can’t solve mental illness and life at his jail.

Jason Johnson, a reporter for Lagniappe in Mobile, Alabama, gives his Brief But Spectacular take on how local reporting helped tell the story of mental health care in Alabama, and why journalism matters in educating the public on this story.