As filmmaker Damon Davis tells it, being black in America comes with anxiety. To survive, he says, you’re constantly walking on eggshells because the way you talk and the clothes on your back can be used as a weapon against you. Davis, co-director of the documentary “Whose Streets,” gives his Brief but Spectacular take on finding courage after the death of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

As a longtime writer for The New Yorker, Calvin Trillin was less interested in directly explaining why what he was writing was important than in just telling a good story. Trillin offers his Brief but Spectacular take on some of the best lessons he learned on writing and why he always shared his rough drafts with his wife, Alice.

Artist and poet G Yamazawa grew up Asian-American and Buddhist in the southern Bible Belt, where he often felt as though he didn't belong. But insecurity transformed into a love for the stage and performance. G Yamazawa gives his Brief but Spectacular take on art and creating a safe space for young people to cultivate their own voices.

Christopher Ategeka grew up with the devastating effects of not having health care access, having been orphaned by HIV/AIDS and losing his brother to malaria. But he got the chance to go to school and become an entrepreneur, and now he's using his influence to recruit health professionals to work in underserved parts of Africa. Ategeka gives his Brief but Spectacular take on health care for all.