#(as in. socially. creatively. educationally when i was still at school)

[daz4i]

oh my god earlier this week i was talking to my mom abt how i used to constantly feel bad even at elementary school despite having good grades and not having social issues or mental illnesses yet (undiagnosed autism aside). and she really helped me crack the code by saying "yes you always came home angry about (kid in my class) getting better grades than you in math or (friend) being better than you in english even though you knew she is american" and then it clicked. i was simply always a jealous competitive annoying little bitch who has to be the best and most specialest at everything or i may as well die

[the-pink-baphomet1861]

any alfred ashford headcanons?

Wow, ok omg someone finally asked. Buckle up time for the insane ramblings of a mad creature with absolutely too much time on their hands. (Sorry it took so long, you know how it can be sometimes.)

Even though he and Alexia had their education start as soon as possible for them, there was a rather short time where they were on about the same level, and Alfred delighted in talking to her about what they were learning. 

Despite not being as smart as Alexia, he still did quite well educationally and managed to graduate university at 21. He did study a lot about biology and chemistry to emulate Alexia, but his favorite classes were actually history, specifically warfare, and social studies. He even did a little creative writing on the side

He’s just as useless as Alexia in the kitchen, however, due to being equally reliant on servants to do it for him. Although he might be slightly better as he’s had more time growing up and living instead of being stuck in a pod for his teenage years

When Alexia was busy studying and Alfred was left with nothing to do, he took to wandering the halls and looking at all the artwork and decorations in the base. He especially liked to stare at the paintings of his ancestors and hearing about their accomplishments, although he eventually grew to resent Veronica specifically due to his father heaping praise on her.

Alfred is a deeply repressed gay man. Ever since he was a child he was told than even feeling heterosexual feelings were a disgusting and immoral thing that only the lower classes fell victim to, so he’s buried his “abnormal” desires deep, to the point where any slight suggestion of these feelings would send him into a frothing rage.

His relationship with Alexander was always tumultuous. At best Alexander was cold and distant, and at worst he was downright hostile towards Alfred, Alexander was just too focused on his goals to ever view him as anything more than a byproduct of the experiment. Eventually Alfred gave up on trying to have a relationship with him and focused solely on Alexia 

Speaking of which, his relationship with her was always something important to him, even when he was just a baby, and it only got more intense as he grew older, to the point that his entire self perception in wrapped up with her. I’m not a huge fan of incest, so I see it more as incredibly bad codependency than anything romantic or sexual.

After Alexia graduated from high school and moved on to university, Alexander thought that it would be a good idea to send Alfred to a boarding school to improve his education. This was a terrible idea. Alfred was incredibly bratty and disobedient towards the teachers and quite antisocial and rude towards the other students. He believed that this was a waste of his time and resented that he was being kept from Alexia. This culminated in his second term where he beat another student bloody for insulting Alexia, Alexander wisely decided to have him privately tutored after that.

When Alexia was working at the Antarctic base as head researcher, Alfred liked to accompany her and help wherever he could, although it really wasn’t all that much help most of the time.

The discovery of their origins caused Alfred to have a huge identity crisis about who he was, why he’d been the failure and if he was even really human. Eventually he settled into the mindset that he was an inferior version of Alexia, and that the only purpose he would have was serving her and her desires. Any hope of Alfred finding a place among others and building other relationships died that day.

After Alexia froze herself, Alfred was appointed as the head of Umbrella’s newest base on Rockfort island, mostly to get him out of the way (real smart, putting a grieving twelve year old in charge of a large military complex). The palace and private residence were both built under his orders using the prisoners as a workforce, and most of his money was spent on his decorations and collections.

His whole situation with the false Alexia was born from his deep feelings of isolation and loneliness, the only person who ever cared about him as a person was gone and he couldn’t form relationships with the other people on Rockfort, so his mind created another version of Alexia to serve as a companion.

This other Alexia is a lot colder towards him personality wise, reflecting his insecurities about not being able to uphold the family name and make Alexia proud of him, and constantly criticizes him for any perceived failures. She is physically represented by a wooden mannequin Alfred keeps in the residence, with Alfred only dressing as her when she needs to get up and do stuff. (I’m not a mental health expert, this is just a dumb headcanon. So take it with a grain of salt.)

Alfred was also in charge of the Antarctic facility, but just because it was his family estate and he inherited it after Alexander’s death.

His mental state slowly deteriorated further and further as the fifteen years went by, to the point that he even forgot about his role to wake up Alexia, believing that she was still with him. So ironically, the attack on Rockfort and Steve and Claire’s escape was the thing that got him back on track.

After falling down the pit, his only thoughts were about Alexia. He believed that she would save him and make everything better, but by the time he had arrived, his body was too damaged to keep going. Both of his legs were completely broken after the fall, he had several puncture wounds in his abdomen and a piece of his ribs had pierced his heart. So the only thing Alexia could do was put him in the cryostasis tube to prepare him for infection with the T-Veronica virus. (This is also once again a request to go look at my art blog.)

Alfred owned a bedazzler gun as a child and once covered half the mansion in tiny plastic gemstones. Alexia was somewhat amused by this incident (and still brings it up from time to time). Alexander was not.

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

I agree with your point about a more creative idea needing to be thought up, and yeah getting people out of these conditions in the first place should be a priority. Obviously poverty shouldn't exist. (there's really no reason for people to go homeless or live in bad housing in the UK, we have so much space and empty houses) However that point doesn't suddenly mean poor housing isn't a problem. Yeah kids shouldn't be in the situation where they have shit living conditions, but they are, which means we need to consider the impact of school lockdown on them. I get that you don't want people who don't actually care defending these kids rights, but at the end of the day someone needs to represent them. Personally I'd rather have a person do good things for selfish reasons then have nothing happen at all.

I get the sense you’re not super familiar with my blog, because I’ve made the point about empty houses on a fairly regular basis. I don’t normally mind people sending me asks when they don’t know the blog well, but I have talked about my ideas for school opening in depth in the past- so it’s a bit annoying to be jumped on for things I don’t actually think...

I think all the points I’m going to make now, I’ve made previously, but probably not in one place, and hopefully this will coherently explain my current position on schools.

The problem with your argument is that schools haven’t been open as normal throughout the autumn term. Levels of absence have been really high (even in the school where I work, which was in tier one, let alone in more severely affected areas). Every time you’re in contact with a positive case, you have to self isolate (it was for 2 weeks, now for 10 days). The majority of students in English schools have had to self isolate at least once in the autumn term. Lots have had to self isolate more than once, some three times!

Six weeks of not being able to leave the house is shit for anyone- it’s exponentially shitter when you live in inadequate housing, or your parents are abusive or neglectful. Unplanned self isolation is also rubbish for students who don’t cope with sudden change well for whatever reason (e.g. mental health issues, SEN, past trauma etc).

You also have to take into account the fact that a lot of students were very nervous/anxious about being in school, because of their own health, or because of the health of family members, or just because we are in a global pandemic!

It’s also bloody difficult for parents of primary aged children, because if your child is self isolating, you’re not meant to use anyone outside the household to care for them- so you have to take the time off work if you can’t work from home. This can sometimes be as unpaid leave- which is an absolute disaster if you’re already struggling for money.

In areas with high levels of self isolation, it was also starting to impact essential services. At one stage, Hull asked to shut schools for a “circuit breaker” because school cases were causing too many NHS staff to need to self isolate or need time off work to care for self isolating kids.

And eventually, you get schools closing anyway due to lack of staff. And it’s worth bearing in mind that teachers do have a right to a safe working environment.

“Open as normal” wasn’t working.

So what’s better? In my opinion, the thing to try would have been a planned rota system- sort of similar to how schools partly reopened in the summer, but with all year groups getting some “face to face” time. We could prioritise students who struggle to get work done at home for whatever reason in getting more time in school.

By reducing the number of students in school at any one time, we enable social distancing and a proper bubble system. This reduces the risk of outbreaks, and also means if there is a positive case, then a smaller number of students and staff have to isolate.

We could find a balance between having students in school, and having lots of cases/outbreaks in school.

I don’t think it’s a perfect answer, but I think it’s a decent compromise. And I truly believe if we’d done this from September, we wouldn’t be where we are now.

What we’re possibly getting is a load of 50% accurate tests- with no real plan of how to administer them. We’re supposed to test all students in a week, which will be genuinely impossible, and then reopen as normal.

Instead of self isolation, students (or their parents) can opt to be tested daily in school for the 10 days they would isolate. Obviously if they test positive at any time, they have to go home. If the tests had a higher accuracy rate, this would be a good thing- but because of their low accuracy in detecting positives, it means you’ll have more positive cases walking around school, and infecting other people.

The knock on effect is likely to be more school closures when too many staff get ill- and sudden, unplanned closures are way worse than a planned closure would be, educationally and from a mental health point of view.

There’s a complete lack of clarity about who should be doing this testing, or where it should be done. I also reckon it’s very likely that most schools won’t be provided with enough tests, so self isolation will still have to happen.

And that doesn’t take into account the new strain- which does seem to spread more effectively in young people.

It’s a horrible thing to consider, but one of the things that really messes up a child’s life chances/educational attainment is the death of a parent. And if we allow things to continue as they are, lots more children will unfortunately end up facing that.

[radreactions]

Dream Daddy/Mummy

Written by @saintlyguy who was inspired by a dating sim called “Dream Daddy.”

*Warning - Imminent cuteness ahead!*

Ada: The bumbling mom who’s first priority is to protect her child. Although Ada is fully capable of looking after her child and teach them common sense, she’s not the best cook or cleaner. When she’s not extinguishing the oven fire she started, she’d ask help from her neighbor Codsworth, even for babysitting while she works as an arithmetic (probably for NASA to uncover some hidden figures). Although her house isn’t the most organized place, Ada provides a safe environment for her child despite her doubts and flaws.

Cait: At first, she’d have cold feet; to think she of all people could raise a child on her own. She would need to gradually warm up to the idea, at first being frustrated with providing food and bed for two. Despite her callous personality, Cait would refrain from yelling at her child and forbid herself from laying a hand on them. Coming from abusive parents, Cait would want to be the caring mother she never had. She would need PLENTY of help from Nate/Nora, considering they’re much more experienced in parenting as well as etiquette. That means less drinking (few shots a week don’t hurt), stop getting into (as much) fights and to cut back on swearing. Overtime with assistance of her friends and a swear jar, you could see Cait walking through Sanctuary Hills with her kid in hand. Eventually she would begin to teach them how to fight. She would kinda be like Black Canary in the Injustice series.

Curie: The apex mother; plenty of love, hugs, kisses, cuddles and snuggles. Her child would be pampered emotionally and prepared educationally. Curie would homeschool her child, so well that they will most likely study abroad on scholarships. Mama Curie will always ensure that her child eats healthy, properly maintains hygiene and above all feel as if they can always turn to her for anything. She would do the “Get Out” challenge across a playground in order to kiss her child’s boo-boo. Whenever her child accomplished a feat, no matter how small (especially during potty-training) they would be met with a small applause and a kiss on the forehead. Mama shines especially when taking care of her sick child. “Rest mon cher, Mama will nurse you back to health.” No doubt her child will grow up into a reflection of her selflessness.

Danse: Military dad. Disciplining his child so that they could be much better and stronger than he is. Also the dad to walk around in buttoned shirts with rolled up sleeves. He’d be especially involved in his child’s health and well-being. Willing to spend any expense for his child’s pursuits, so long as he finds them practical and morally sound. An example would be when he closed the door on a recruiter from CIT. “Damn Institute.” Despite his mildly overprotectiveness, Danse’s child will always have a shoulder to cry on; arms to hold them; a rock to lean on. As a baby his child would always be willing to sleep on his broad chest or be carried in a baby harness. Many admirers of him would envy the child for being the apple of his eye.

Deacon: The cool yet irresponsible dad. Always looking for creative ways to have fun with his child; taking them out to conventions, festivals, arcades and amusement parks. He would even go so far as to design his child’s room to their liking; if they love Batman, his child would be sleeping in their own Batcave. How does he afford all this? “Don’t you worry your little head, nothing’s too much when it comes to my little one.” However the father and child would always be covered in bandages, since safety isn’t always taken into account; like that time he dressed up as Bane so that his child could defeat him as Batman/woman, which ended with Deacon having a broken nose and a missing tooth.

Dogmeat: No one, NO ONE will ever harm his puppy. You looking to harm Pupmeat? You will hear the most intimidating snarls and barks in your life. Here’s a translation: “Motherfucker you lay a hand on my pup, I will bite your genitals and ass off. Afterwards my pup and I will tear up your skin. Afterwards, I’m gonna shit in your mouth and leave your corpse to the maggots.”

Gage: Similar to Cait, Gage would have no idea how to handle fatherhood. At first his only concern would be providing basic needs. After seeing how fussy his child can be without any attention, he began to take into account their wants. This would be annoying to Gage as he began to carry his child wherever he went. Soon he became a much more responsible father; telling bedtime stories and teaching his child what he knew. He would however know to give them space here and there so that “They don’t grow up to be a pussy.” As much as he loves his child, if they were to go do something stupid, he wouldn’t be afraid to throw his slipper at them.

Hancock: The ghoul would want to pass on his ideals of freedom onto his child in order to help improve the world, but first he would need to change the man in the mirror first. No more chems. For real. He’d ensure that the vices of Goodneighbor would not corrupt his child; they would be the diamond in the rough. His child would have much freedom in how they express themself; clothing, identity and interests. Anyone would dare bully his child would feel a knife poke into their back as they’re dragged back into an alleyway for a discussion. “‘Boys can’t wear dresses/ Girls can’t wear suits?’ You and I need to have a talk.”

Longfellow: The outdoor dad; type to shop at North Face or Bass Co. Wears fishing vests and hiking boots wherever, whenever. Not shy about drinking in front of his child, although he would hold off on sharing a drink until they’re 21. Takes his kid camping/hunting/fishing once a year. Takes a cross-country trip with an RV to see wonders of nature. He would want to raise his child out of a metropolitan area, probably somewhere like the frontier.

MacCready: Duncan would have someone to share his interests, be it Grognak comics or mutfruit. The lucky kid would always have someone to watch the latest Marvel movie with, sometimes even going in cosplay; their favorite by far is Guardians of the Galaxy Vo. 2 (for obvious reasons for those who have seen it). MacCready is always willing to roleplay and even larp with Duncan, having plenty of cardboard to cut into whatever they need. Whenever he isn’t playing with Duncan, MacCready is out working his tail at two jobs; despite medical bills for Duncan, the father and son are able to live happily.

Nick Valentine (story time; Lego Batman reference!): After chasing a lead regarding the Mysterious Stranger, Nick returns to the agency for a new case in Far Harbor. Heading to the terminal, Nick researches a disappearance and how he’ll get there. “Fastest route to Far Harbor.” The terminal isn’t responding. “FASTEST ROUTE! Why isn’t this thing working?”

Dun dun duh! “Hello Mister Valentine. I’ve just taken away your terminal privilege.” GASP

“Lucky for me, I got a master password.”

“You mean “ellie_sucks.” Crap. “Nick, it’s time you start taking responsibility of your life and it starts by raising your daughter.”

“I’m sorry, I’m completely lost.”

“The young orphan you let in with you, she’s been living here for a while and I’m quite fond of her.”

“Well I don’t have time to watch a kid. Send her back to wherever she came. Or the orphanage if they still have any.”

“Mr. Valentine this will be great for you. Start getting you back with us socializing people. Let her into your life as you let me in.”

“As someone who doesn’t know how it feels to have a surrogate father, you shouldn’t be telling me how I should run my life, now lift the terminal lock.” Slyly, Ellie opens the door to allow the young girl in. “Ellie, what are you doing?!”

“Letting Piper into your life.”

“Don’t forget Nat!” a squeaky voice announced as the door closes behind Valentine’s new daughter. Wait. Daughters. Ellie may have let that detail slide.

Piper: Having an appropriate job to support her plus one family, she would live in a condo with her child and auntie Nat. Given her punctuality for news, Piper told the best bedtime stories; not ever needing to read from a storybook. Her child’s imagination would soar while their grammar and writing surpasses their classmates’. Nat would be competitive regarding who’s a better caretaker; Piper won this when she brought in Grandpa Valentine dressed up as Santa for Christmas. Eventually Nat will settle for second best; what child could resist Piper showering them with kisses and cooing “Who’s my little pearl? You are!”

Preston: A parent whose care almost rivals that of Curie, maybe even Nora/Nate. Preston would raise his child close to school, the park and their favorite restaurant. He’s the dad who would wear a funny apron while baking brookies for his child and their friends. He may not understand some of the songs his child enjoys, but he’ll put up with them so long as the songs aren’t derogatory; he was on the fence when his child would listen to The Fuxedos. Preston’s concern grew as his child grew. As much as his child understands, hearing “Another college needs your application” daily gets old.

Strong: The dad who wears the shirts that say stuff like “guns don’t kill, dads do.” Everybody wonders how the hell did anyone decide to have a kid with that guy. But they quickly change their minds when they see how Strong scared off some hoodlums with a single stare. He would always be the chaperone for his child’s school trips. Although he may not be that smart and has to use a flip phone, Strong makes up for it by providing safety for his child and their friends. Although no one dares to invite him to their barbeque, he’ll probably eat everything (but ensures to keep two whole steaks for his child.)

X6-88: Being cold on the outside and seemingly apathetic makes it hard to see X6 as a parent. None of his neighbors know his past, or where he gets his income, but this dad is able to provide organic meals for his child as well as get them pretty pricey outfits. Ever since they were a baby, X6’s child would wear gold Rayban aviators, similar to their father. X6 would ensure that his child’s posture and strut just exhausts power and regality. But what most people don’t realize, is that he doesn’t shy away from staycations in pajamas and having lightsaber fights with his kid once and awhile.

Nora/Nate: Fresh cookies baked in the afternoon, homemade costumes/cosplay, a robot butler and faithful dog. This household just gives off family vibes. Nora/Nate would ensure that Shaun would grow up into a person more grand than they are. They would be on top of everything Shaun is interested in. Their family would be the envy of Sanctuary Hills. If only.

Conrad Kellogg: Although this he scares most people, his wife and daughter, Sarah and Mary would feel safe in their bungalow near San Francisco. Although prefers to keep to himself and his family, Kellogg would always take his family out so that they may enjoy themselves and each other. But what’s secret to everyone, even to his family is a secret room where does some pretty shady business.

[angelicashankle-blog]

Artist Paper - Petra Collins

Young, dreamy and feminine are just a few simple words to describe the body of Petra Collins’ work. However, if you look beyond her pastel-tinged photographs you will find Collin’s attempt to capture the realism of society’s obsession with the sexuality of the young female, the natural state of bodily fluid during puberty and the empowerment of the female form. Growing up, Petra had a hard time in school and was often placed in a special development class; which is when creating art became an outlet for her. She started taking photographs at the puberty age of 15 years old, which in then became a medium of her choice to express that vulnerable time in her life. The time where girls often struggle with changes in their body from girlhood to womanhood. Despite failing at school, struggling with body identity and battling societal definitions of feminism, Petra Collins captured and curated her experiences, and those of the pubescence age, through the lenses of her camera.

           She was born on December 21st, 1992 in Toronto, Canada. Her father was British-Canadian and her mother was a refugee from Budapest, Hungary. Because she was dyslexic, reading and writing was very difficult for her, so she had a hard time learning in school. Often, her teacher would take her out of the classroom and place her in a class for special needs. Eventually resulting in Petra skipping classes and then dropping out. Her parents decided to put her in an alternative school called Rosedale Heights School of the Arts. This is where her art teacher understood her condition and encouraged her to just go out and shoot instead of just sitting in class (Bauck, Fashionista).  After high school Petra continued her education at Ontario Collage of Art and Design (OCAD) to study Criticism and Curatorial Practice, but not photography. Her reason was because she believed that, “curating specifically as a woman is great because working in groups make us more powerful than if we do it alone…It’s important to try and raise everyone around you up rather than being competitive” (Bauck, Fashionista).  Sadly, she ended up withdrawing from OCAD after two years due to financial reasons. But that never stopped her from creating and booking gigs. After leaving college, she moved to New York with only a suitcase and a couple hundred dollars.

           There are multiple images, films, books and exhibitions that Petra Collins is praised for, but there are only three that I specifically can relate and be inspired by. The first being the online collective called The Ardorous. A website that she created when she was just 17 years old out of a need for a place to show her type of work. She started this online collective where female creative professionals can collaborate and show case their art. I am drawn to this because women are often underrepresented in the art community. Let alone we tend to be competitive as oppose to supportive with each other and what Collins did and is still doing is changing that narrative. The second piece of work that I am inspired by, is her first book titled Discharge. I love not only the interior subject matter of self-discovery and femininity, but also her unique perspective on documenting such a critical time in a girl’s life. Something so intimate, but so exposed and oversaturated by societal pressure. In my own creative process, I am often thinking about such loaded subjects as beauty standards, women’s body and how my own experiences can uniquely influence my work like Petra so confidently does. Wrapping up to the third piece of work is her short film that she made for Tate Modern’s exhibition on the retrospect of Georgia O’Keeffe. The short film was Collins’ interpretation of O’Keeffe’s work, particularly the desert landscapes. In the video, you hear the repeat of different women saying, “they could tell me how they painted their landscape, but they couldn’t tell me how to paint mine.” I felt like this was the underlining quote of Petra’s life. The way she goes about her work is in her own way. No one could tell her how to photograph her own life experiences. Only she could do it in a way that was authentic to her. This rang so loud for me, because I can be inspired by so many artists and be influenced by so many people all day long, but at the end of the day, only I can create in my own unique way.

           All in all, Petra Collin’s might have had a rough start educationally, but that never stopped her. It propelled her into her a career of photography, short film and curatorial practice.  Her work opened much needed conversation surrounding the female body and feminism. She capitalized on her generation’s upbringing on social media, by creating a creative, collective space for sisterhood among other female artists. One day I pray that my work too can pave ways for women like Petra and myself. Women that can be inspired by each other and authentically share, relate and breakdown norms that had our mothers and their mothers in mental bondage for generations.

[deathghost8]

Battle shout definitions Preface

Here it is. massive post combining thought that happened as the battle shout fully emerged as my brand of all disciplines. Fragment - battle shout chapter - Combined story telling segments (Curated from the different WIP posts) EDIT NOTES - these are fragments from my social pages where I am in the battle shout and adventure basics thought. It’s incomplete as it only goes back to a gengar picture in my feed. There is more I still need to add. — Newer to older (will create a 2nd one that is in a final decided order for a reader, may jump between different moments in the time line, kept to a minimum for helping comprehension ——— Whoever offers human growth / wellness at either no cost or a much lower cost than previously widely available is winning in capitalism. I hope to invent the No Cost solution, following the footsteps of tech brands and passionate innovators of our time. Games and medicines altering my state of mind provided me a space within which to BECOME me. They offered me the lesson of re sociating, once I started practice a desire to learn it. Here are some of the problems I inhabited and the solutions I learned after using medicines - ---calorie /nutrition deprivation : solution - making eating easier with hacks like prep, (paper dishes/cutlery), getting timing right, the decision to Breakfast and eat it slowly - replacements like the Soylent drink - medicines that fix appetite IE cbd ----hypervigilance - maybe haven’t fully escaped this one yet. It’s an ongoing conflict - using Medicines that reduce my physical anxiety cortisol which comes through as wheezing escalation attacks and very bad sleep - sleeping correctly makes me feel calmer, breathe/think clearly Medicine examples - coffee, reishi mushroom, cannabinoids, magnesium, L theanine, Lemon balm, Sleep specific - L tryptophan, Zinc, valerian root, doxylamine (unisom) -----Escapism - learning how to use mindfulness and writing to transform my self avoiding into Self Actualization ------Counterdependence - Realizing that sharing/affection and giving affirmation would make me feel good, letting me treat ppl like I deserved their attention (as a provider) not gonna stand by saying nothing while they try to trash gaming and say we are giving kids screen / media addictions, when the only things I even really know I learned from gaming, mostly online blizzard and/or adventure gaming. I’m gonna teach what I learned. It’s battle shout. how we are failing worst as a so called civilized population: Educating the youngest. We are not doing it. We are not prioritizing growth and wellness for the children here. We are breaking their families, parents and guardians instead of supporting. Dehumanism is institution. *witnessing your smiling face is the deepest privilege I will experience in living* We are not gonna save anyone until we recognize that growth is about including everyone, recognizing their individual passions and curiosity, recognizing that they themselves will be the only ones to decide how to be that self, Monetary Value will only every Destroy us all. EVERY one is struggling and i care about EVERYONE, humanity needs a bigger solution than a Lifeline reaction to the symptoms rather than the cause. {If you or someone you care about is struggling, please know you are not alone. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available at 1-800-273-8255 in the U.S. or find support worldwide at ‪https://www.befrienders.org/ }‬ —schools where all gamers, creatives, learners are accepted so that human wellness growth can be placed above the falseness of Monetary Value -- available at nowhere because no innovator yet has cared with their entire life's mission to save those we currently discard. The school I'm trying to invent has a simple Main Value - School is Lunch. The target priority is non monetary. *Monetary Value will not measure our success* Human growth measures it. Human currency. what I would do with the elusive Lottery / Genie situation is create the Ultra Library whose only mission was to include as many human beings in growth wellness as possible, to offer them the place, resources, nutrition, and community safety to build the life they want to create IN essence I am trying to invent a school. I have a seething hatred for the failure of Public sector school, dealing with both neurodiversity concerns and non child centered curriculum design. Self educating is superior. Curation can only help existing curiosity and passion. my huge dream is to innovate the third place concept in fusion with educationalism, gaming cafe, the concept of Feeding every learner because it's more educational- the ultimate capitalism winner is the one whose Patrons flock simply because it is Better. =high contrast videos with songs of numbers, counting, vehicles/ramps, and piles of balls=The young children find these things very amusing. - the wise old teachers find the fact very important to distribute, although they themselves do not find it amusing they find the fact that the tiniest students are amused very important for distribution.== []2[] Operating vehicles or consuming alcohol are the most dangerous and pointlessly risky activities done by anyone (who doesn’t do employment that is specifically danger facing). Most are not qualified for these activities. It’s not safe, please leave it to the professionals few. Giving, the act of providing because I want to see human growth and learning. That’s my freedom to practice. Dehumanism makes it into a crime, after valuing it zero. Dehumanism Institution perpetuates the idea that giving, feeding, teaching, expressing can be penalized as crimes. These are the pillars of MY free speech. Giving, the act of providing because I want to see human growth and learning. That’s my freedom to practice. (Scott Warren who faces up to 20 years in prison for giving food & water to 2 men who needed help in the Arizona desert.) What I’m talkin about is this anti educationalism. Shocked ? That we aren’t already Veterans for standing rock +500K decent human beings SWARMING the sites where this has happened to tell them we won’t stand by as bystanders to Deadly Dehumanism. We are complicit in these deaths. I am not gonna be quiet about this, my brand is built upon radical educating, lifeguarding, human growth. That also means opposing bully bigotry. []3[] There is a bullying situation regarding the spectrum. Happening to one of my closest humans. It is making her suicidal (no one can handle endless mistreatment, then mental health slides) - I learned how to fight off the suicide ideas because I was in a kind of rock bottom near that for 10 years - ultimately, I defeated the boss, and I learned the strategy. learn to Tank at the front of it for the people I’m trying to educate, and keep them here on our Alive team. This is the real deal why I am the tank. The battle shout is to Shine the truth and save your life, you the most brutally dehumanized by the institutions of this economic-dystopia She has to be given the feeling she does have the power and the choice whether to stay here with us, alive. Educationalism is the desire to be surrounded by growth allies, and free from anyone who thinks a decision that reduces or infringes your growth and learning is either ok or even debatable with you Can we get Birth insurance ? I want it to function like life insurance, in the event you are born, the insurance policy covers some assurances. Wait, no, that’s not an insurance plan, that’s what School is meant to be I’ll be over hear spamming battle shout and taunt if you come at me debating seriously over contexts whose choices are outcomes that don’t abuse and compromise a child’s school environment, or hurting the child’s emotional and basic wellbeing. My Aggro will not be exceeded! Let us consult YouTube, young one. Where’s the one about the baby Shark? I will find it for u most easily. If u ever get mad at someone u got road rage or someone is gank camping. Just tell them Yo dude please go hug urself! The time has come To Learn Bout Eating breakfast! If u don’t eat it, ur brain won’t think right, ya Dingus!! Wake up and eat this health, that’s your grade. Welcome to school. Favorite offline activities - social prompt - Activities that take place on beds, furniture or desk. Followed by wandering whether by land, air, or foot. Followed by culinary making. I identify toward the feeling that being burly means being kind - a defender, a watcher, a lifeguard. So it’s cool to see brands grounding themselves in this type of thought. burly man coffee promoted by a podcast i watch Brands that literally hold up kindness and human growth as a piece of their identity are the brands with sanity to shine light in the darkness of economic institutional dehumanization No game except maybe the sims had a soap item, demonstrated a buff benefit for soap. Soap knowledge is something that legitimately is part of human excellence - mind efficiency - educationalism ^^highlight$$ What I am concepting is the fact that valuable education is about human cognitive expansion, making this brain run the way its optimized to run, repetition, medicines/enhancers, the basic sensory reboots. Thinking better, clearer, bigger, quicker, learning ABOUT thinking. {schools get blamed for inability to solve the inequality economics} Entirety of the problem: the loss of investment into human growth and wellbeing. Capitalism forgot human currency value, then got surprised when everything turns shit? School IS lunch. We don’t need schools/tests/graduation. Kids will unschool just fine for the rest, if they are fed, safe, and able to have rest and resources and tech so they can iterate Failure during Curiosity. We need to care about human wellbeing, within our economics. Parents can and will educate. Most of the educating that needs to happen can only really be done by them. Gaming zen works for human growth bolstering because it follows the pattern our brains already know - repetition, the core block of neuroplasticity. This the overarching purpose of my Adventure Basics educational learning plan. As a creative first it’s my quest to harness games, adaptogens, and shamanism/lucidity/psychadelics to find transcendence. We can pair ego repletion with deeper Re-ssociation as an ultimate healing / neurogenesis. This will allow us to grasp mental wellness and human creative excellence. ** [intent statement as disciplines] From the multi disciplinarian standpoint- •Nintendo console 8 - 64 bit thought •Logic puzzles / riddles •classic adventure / role playing •classic FPS •classic dungeon crawl •Modern Adventure (games less about puzzle solving and more about finding all paths in a very large and breathtaking expanse) •Attention + Sensory rich interactive experiences •Primal Rage - the use of violence and intensity in musical and gameplay aesthetics •Cave human Dominance and roles thought deriving from gameplay, aspects of being Front edge protector of the tiniest most important Clan members •Economics Core freedom ideal - the belief that all interaction must be voluntary and the belief in a Best unity of gathered Wills ||||||Final crusade - educating to be correctly seen as: self evident truth about human growth, spanning nutrition, medicines, tools/games/challenges and driven by self voluntary []4[] School is Breakfast Lunch and Dinner plus freedom to explore one’s own sparks to ideas This is what I am teaching with my Wow Classic Adventure Basics educational Learning plans! ~~ One of my most important lessons about video game wellness is a thought from Mike ‪@MikeLICSW‬ Langois, that taking command of a powerful or attractive identity gives us strong boosts of mental ability and cognitive balance ultimately, for small attention cost. Ego repletion. It’s proven fact generosity makes u happier person. Why is this - the act of giving sparks gratitude to come forth. Gratitude literally saves, while angry kills u. This is the difference between troll griefing and community support

[reveltumbles]

3 Educational and Fun Playdates with Your Kid

A few weeks back, I had a conversation with my parents and their parent-friends. They were really worried about the fact that their young son found it difficult to sit still and focus in school; more than being worried about the rat race that schools tend to entail, they were more concerned about the fact that their son wasn’t actually learning anything in school. My parents have the same concern regarding my younger brother. Contrary to him, I was a hard-working, conscientious kid — I went to school, did my work, asked for tuition classes when needed, and genuinely enjoyed learning, be it in a classroom setting or elsewhere. Now, as a schooling adult, my parents obviously don’t need to worry about me. My brother, though? Not the same. He is nowhere similar to the child I was, and this has my parents absolutely worried sick, because this was not what they had expected.

Here’s what I told them: if there’s anything 18 years of schooling has taught me, it’s the fact that kids don’t learn in the same way. And I know it absolutely stresses Singaporean parents when their child doesn’t concentrate in school, but trust me when I say each kid will find their way. It may be early, or it may be late, but educationally, there will be a spark for a certain subject in your child. Once that spark appears, all you have to do is let that spark grow and let your child ride the flame.

On the other hand, many parents aren’t focusing on the education that is essential. Teaching your kids to be curious, to be kind-hearted, to be gentle and respectful. These are important things that parents have to be conscientious about. Because children will grow up to be adults who are passionate about one thing or the other, and schools will do their best to help your child develop academically, but if your child lacks the curiosity and drive, or respect for teachers and education, there’s where the issue will lie.

“You need to create a drive for knowledge in them, and develop them into socially-acceptable adults,” is what I told them. “If you can figure that out, you really don’t need to worry anymore. I see you guys and other parents get absolutely burdened by the academic progress of your child, but as adults yourselves, you need to give both your child and yourself some space. Remember, all you’re doing is helping you child become an adult.”

“What do you suggest, then?” The two pairs of parents asked me, which was valid. There was no legitimacy to my advice if I didn’t have solutions to their very pressing query. And this is what I think: leave the rote learning and competitive schooling to their actual schools. Instead, make them excited about learning and socialising with their environment. How can you do that? With super-fun, educational playdates, of course!

Singapore has extensive resources to let your child do some hands-on learning while having a blast, and it’s time I bring these to light so that you can exploit all the resources you have.

1. Explore their curiosity at the Science Centre.

In schools, many children give up on sciences when they find they don’t have an affinity for it. However, academic scientific explorations hardly escape the realm of textbooks and YouTube videos. Venues like the Science Centre, though, provide so many avenues for your child to be immersed in the interactive world of science, and have fun while doing so! The Science Centre consistently puts up various exhibitions, so you can always cater your outings to what you think might interest your child. Initiatives likes KidSTOP activities from the organisation are especially catered to interest and attend to your child, so you can sign them up for those too! Let your child experiment and discover a world beyond, and be entertained at the same time.

2. Bond and enjoy over Art-Jamming sessions.

We’re not oblivious to the fact that art is beneficial for children: fostering creativity in your child gives way to mental, social, and emotional development. By letting them run wild and free in art sessions, a child’s ability to analyse and problem-solve has high chances of being more honed. There are numerous places that offer art-jamming sessions in Singapore, so don’t hesitate to bring your child down to one! Refrain for interrupting their process or keeping an eye on the mess they make. Let them release all their creative vibes so that they learn development and projection of creativity without having to stifle it.

3. Expose them to multiple fields through various museums.

Other than science, there are so many more avenues that you could delve into with your child! From the interactive and hands-on exhibitions in ArtScience Museum to the Natural History Museum and the Air Force Museum, there are so many areas for you to discover with your child! There is an abundance of available, hands-on knowledge that will bring learning to another level for your child.

So, as school winds up, remember to take the occasional break with your child and teach them the joy of learning! Before you and your child start getting too worried and frenzied under the formal education system, don’t forget that there are many ways for your child to learn and develop!

source https://revel.sg/apt84/3-educational-and-fun-playdates-with-your-kid

[jayne-hecate-writer]

The Ocean of Self Hatred

Times have been hard and I was forced to step away from my writing for my own sanity. 

There are a number of reasons for my sudden departure from creativity and after several months, I am now back to a small degree and I can explain what small events caused this flight into fear. 

The first thing that happened was that I was given some very serious negative feedback about my writing, it ridiculed my sentence structure, made fun of my character development and was harshly critical of my cover design. I am aware of my own limitations so I could concede many of the points made, but not to the severity of them. It went beyond critical reviewing and stepped into mockery of my art form which as a new writer, took me right back to my childhood and the mockery I received for my poor spelling and grammar. 

As a child, I went to around thirteen different schools and I moved so often that I did not spend more than a couple of years in one place. The result of this was that I had huge gaps in my education and was missing some of the fundamental skills required to write and spell correctly. These missing sections of my education gave me some rather mediocre exam results on leaving school and a school report that wrote me off as educationally underwhelming. So on leaving school I jumped ship, right into college, topping up the missing sections and ended up going to two universities to get a degree and then a post graduate certificate. 

The same kind of thing can be applied to my writing. I have had no formal training as a writer, my degree was actually science, which is an entirely different form of creativity. Self editing long form stories takes a huge amount of effort and after reading the novel for the sixth time in a month, even simple mistakes made while editing are easily missed. I am also not a designer and I have not a single qualification in any form of artistic endeavour, so cover design was a real challenge for me. It would be very easy to take these things and add a negative spin, turning them from real reasons into bitter excuses. But I am going to stop that right now. They are not excuses. My first book was a great adventure for me. I had not the first clue on book design, despite reading so many books for my own pleasure. I did all of the work myself, which I then placed on Amazon Kindle to the complete indifference of the publishing world. My partner and I spent an entire year sending off the required details to agents and publishers, receiving well over three hundred rejections until we had one single bite of interest. (Technically, this is not true, we had several bites, but most of them were from vanity publishers who would take my work and simply print it, at great cost so that I could then sell them myself.) 

The one good bite came from a publisher who stated that they were greatly interested in the first two chapters that the submission required and they wanted to read the rest of the book. The book was supplied and we were told that after six months, they would be back in touch. Sadly we never heard from them again and that was why the book got put on Kindle. I moved on because I had other stories to tell. I also joined a writers group and began spending time with other writers, honing my skills. 

So my first full length book is amateurish and it has have many flaws, maybe even several spelling mistakes that I have not spotted and yet it stands as a real achievement. Some of my friends have been very kind with their comments, they understood what the book meant, where it came from and what I had achieved. 

The criticism I received for the book rocked me from my rowing boat of self belief, or maybe self deceit. It told me that I had not done very well, that my attempts were worthless and that I should not have bothered. Actually, that is not what the criticism told me at all, that is what I told myself afterwards. The criticism told me what I already knew, that the book had some flaws and some bits of it could have been done better. But my own lack of self love took a long negative dive into self disgust for having even tried. I punished me for being a beginner, for not being like Penguin Books, for not being good enough and in so many ways I am still doing this, acting out this brutal regime of self sabotage and it is fucking crippling me.

The second attack on my creativity came when I was set to be reassessed for my disability by the agencies that we have in the UK. There is currently a feeling here that disability is somehow shameful, that disabled people should be thankful for what little handouts the state gives us and we should shut up our moaning. Opinion on what makes disability has in some ways been handed to the common man in the street and the results of this are that there is a growing trend for hatred towards disabled people on social media and all of the other places where the angry hate filled slack jawed mouth breathers can find easy targets to attack with their bile. When I saw a sign on the door of a disabled toilet in a supermarket, that was clearly produced on the office printer and read “Not all disabilities are visible, please be kind to disabled people”, I knew that things had got nasty. 

The self sabotage set in once more and my guilt and shame for having mental and physical health problems went into overdrive. The assessment by the benefits team is far from over and right now I am living in dread of the report that will be written on me. Reports from several disability charities in the UK show that I am not alone in living with these fears though. Disability assessments are so stressful that disabled people would rather live in poverty and suffering, than go through the system that is supposed to support them. For me, it got so bad that in desperation I contacted my local politician and asked for them to step in and put a stop to one of the things I was facing. The bitter irony of this is that this politician is the same man who voted in parliament to reduce benefits available to disabled people, because disabled people should be out earning for themselves! The levels of selfishness and inhumanity shown by this Government disgust me and yet I was forced to ask them for help. 

The anxiety that grew within me, leading up to my assessment, got so out of hand that I was barely able to function. I stopped going outside, I certainly stopped driving and I stopped interacting as I withdrew into the shadows putting a stop to almost all of my artistic efforts. This was not a safe place for me to be because this was where my inner demons berated me and beat me down for my weakness. It seems that I truly love punishing myself, often far more brutally and to greater depth than any judicial system would consider sinking to. 

I may possibly say that I am now swimming in the bleak ocean waters of self hate rather than drowning in them, but I am not yet ready to walk across the beach of self sabotage or even step into the quiet cafe of self doubt to have a cup of safe, mildly chilled anxiety. I think that this analogy is starting to leak now, but I still have some way to go before we can let it flow away. Despite all of the dark waters of misery I am swimming in, stood on the distant seawall of happiness is a group of good friends who are waving at me and even holding the warm soft beach towel of comfort. These are the people who tell me that my creativity is good enough to play with, that I should try my best to do what I once loved and most importantly of all that my self sabotage is not needed. 

The last review I wrote for a piece of theatre (is this another analogy, like a slice of creamy mime or a side salad of death metal?) was praised by several people who mean a great deal to me or that I even admire. It was even commented on by the theatre themselves who were very pleased with it, because it was fair and it was balanced. Criticism has to be balanced. Some one once told me that there are no bad writers, just books that don’t interest us (I would dispute this, but then my Kindle recommendations were recently filled up with awful rubbish written by Holocaust deniers, after I looked at one such book because I did not believe that such things could exist!). So if my book fails to interest someone, so be it. I wrote that book because I had a story to tell, the people living in my head wanted to get out. At the moment, the sequel is stalled, like a broken down Morris Marina on a mudflat (what is it with the fucking ocean references?!) waiting for the tide to go out so that it can be recovered. I am not yet ready to continue my writing, but the voices of the characters in my unfinished story want me to continue. 

I don’t know when I will start working on my writing again, but it will happen. There are a few things I need to work on first (my obsession with miserable oceans for a start!) such as my self sabotage and self doubt. Trying to feel worthwhile as an artist takes effort. Anxiety and depression are exhausting and make such efforts almost impossible. Doing it without medication is harder still, but living on medication is even less desirable because although they make me level (like a flat ocean that is freezing over by any chance?), that level is lower than it should be and I lose all of my creativity all together.

So do I have any words of wisdom worth sharing? Maybe, maybe not. I can tell you that self doubt and anxiety are crippling. Good friends tell you the truth, but do so positively. I can also tell you that creating anything is a great achievement. Self publishing is bloody hard, to do it well requires a huge amount of effort or a bloody deep purse (full of doubloons from a pirate ship no doubt!), so if you are also working hard on making or creating, bloody good for you. You inspire me because you are a shining example of what it means to be an artist. Well done you, have a hug. 

If you want to see some excellent examples of creativity in action, buy the last book released by my writing club. You could also get yourself on Youtube and check out Adam Savage’s Tested because that is always inspiring. There is also Sariel’s Technic Lego channel which is amazing. Also, go and give some of your time to the awesome Bucket Head Props and their friend Ace Cosplay who frankly are both amazing. There is no end to the adventures that can be had in creativity of any type and all of these people prove that beautifully. 

[ambitrary3]

The Relationship Between Creativity and Mental Illness. The science behind the “tortured genius” myth and what it reveals about how the creative mind actually works.

By: Maria Popova

Source: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/07/21/creativity-and-mental-illness/

“I think I’ve only spent about ten percent of my energies on writing,” Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Katherine Anne Porter confessed in a 1963 interview. “The other ninety percent went to keeping my head above water.” While art may be a form of therapy for the rest of us, Porter’s is a sentiment far from uncommon among the creatively gifted who make that art. Why?

When Nancy Andreasen took a standard IQ test in kindergarten, she was declared a “genius.” But she was born in the late 1930s, an era when her own mother admonished that no one would marry a woman with a Ph.D. Still, she became a psychiatrist and a neuroscientist, and made understanding the brain’s creative capacity her life’s work. Having grown up steeped in ambivalence about her “diagnosis” of extraordinary intellectual and creative ability, Andreasen wondered about the social forces at work in the nature-nurture osmosis of genius, about how many people of natural genius were born throughout history whose genius was never manifested, suppressed by lack of nurture. “Half of the human beings in history are women,” she noted, “but we have had so few women recognized for their genius. How many were held back by societal influences, similar to the ones I encountered and dared to ignore?” (One need only look at the case of Benjamin Franklin and his sister to see Andreasen’s point.)

Andreasen didn’t heed her mother’s warning and went on to become a pioneer of the neuroimaging revolution, setting out to understand how “genius” came to be and whether its manifestation could be actively nurtured — how we, as individuals and as a society, could put an end to wasting human gifts. She did get a Ph.D., too, but in Renaissance English literature rather than biochemistry — a multidisciplinary angle that lends her approach a unique lens at that fertile intersection of science and the humanities.

In The Creating Brain: The Neuroscience of Genius (public library), Andreasen — whom Vonnegut once called “our leading authority on creativity” — crystallizes more than three decades of her work at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and cultural history.

One of the most interesting chapters in the book deals with the correlation between creativity and mental illness, bringing scientific rigor to such classic anecdotal examples as those evidenced in Van Gogh’s letters or Sylvia Plath’s journals or Leo Tolstoy’s diary of depression or Virginia Woolf’s suicide note. Having long opposedthe toxic “tortured genius” myth of creativity, I was instantly intrigued by Andreasen’s inquiry, the backdrop of which she paints elegantly:

Did mental illness facilitate [these creators’] unique abilities, whether it be to play a concerto or to perceive a novel mathematical relationship? Or did mental illness impair their creativity after its initial meteoric burst in their twenties? Or is the relationship more complex than a simple one of cause and effect, in either direction?

She cites the work of Havelock Ellis, one of the earliest scholars of creativity, a Victorian physician, writer and social reformer ahead of his time. In 1926, in his late sixties, he published A Study of British Genius, an effort to provide a scientific assessment of the link between genius and psychopathology by studying a sample of people found in the British Dictionary of National Biography — a compendium of about 30,000 eminent public figures, whom he sifted through a set of criteria to identify 1,030 displaying “any very transcendent degree of native ability.” Andreasen recounts his findings:

The rate of “insanity” noted by Ellis is certainly higher than is usually recorded for the general population, for which the current base rate is 1 percent for schizophrenia and 1 percent for mania. These are the two most common psychotic illnesses. The rate of melancholia — or what we currently call depression — is similar to current lifetime population rates of approximately 10 to 20 percent.

Once she became a psychiatrist, having come from a literary world “well populated with people who had vividly described symptoms of mental illness,” Andreasen decided to apply everything science had uncovered in the decades since Ellis’s work and design a rigorous study on the relationship between creativity and mental illness. Andreasen had attended the University of Iowa Medical School and had completed her residency in psychiatry there — a somewhat fortuitous circumstance that presented her with the perfect, quite convenient sample pool for her study: the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, one of the most prestigious creative-writing programs in the world, which has included such distinguished faculty as Kurt Vonnegut and Annie Dillard since its inception in 1936.

Andreasen’s study had a couple of crucial points of differentiation over Ellis’s work and other previous efforts: Rather than anecdotal accounts in biographies of her subjects, she employed structured, first-person interviews; she then applied rigorous diagnostic criteria to the responses based on The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the bible of modern psychiatry. Andreasen writes:

In addition to incorporating diagnostic criteria, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop Study also improved on its predecessors by including a group of educationally matched controls. The Writers’ Workshop has a limited number of permanent faculty members (typically two poets and two prose writers). The remainder of the faculty in any given year consists of visiting writers who come to Iowa, drawn by its pastoral tranquility and an opportunity to be “far from the madding crowd” for a time of introspection, incubation, and isolation.

[…]

I began the study with a perfectly reasonable working hypothesis. I anticipated that the writers would be, in general, psychologically healthy, but that they would have an increased rate of schizophrenia in their family members. This hunch made good sense, based on the information that I had at that time. I was influenced by my knowledge about people such as James Joyce, Bertrand Russell, and Albert Einstein, all of whom had family members with schizophrenia.

But as she began administering the interviews and applying to them the diagnostic criteria, her working hypothesis quickly crumbled: To her bewilderment, the majority of the writers “described significant histories of mood disorder that met diagnostic criteria for either bipolar illness or unipolar depression.” Most had received treatment for it — some with hospitalization, some with outpatient therapy and medication. Perhaps the most startling contrast with her initial hunch was the fact that not a single writer displayed any symptoms of schizophrenia.

And this is where the monumental importance of her study shines: What Andreasen found wasn’t confirmation for the “tortured genius” myth — the idea that a great artist must have some dark, tragic pathology in order to create — but quite the opposite: these women and men had become successful writers not because of their tortuous mental health but despite it.

Andreasen reflects on the findings:

Although many writers had had periods of significant depression, mania, or hypomania, they were consistently appealing, entertaining, and interesting people. They had led interesting lives, and they enjoyed telling me about them as much as I enjoyed hearing about them. Mood disorders tend to be episodic, characterized by relatively brief periods of low or high mood lasting weeks to months, interspersed with long periods of normal mood (known as euthymia to us psychiatrists). All the writers were euthymic at the time that I interviewed them, and so they could look back on their periods of depression or mania with considerable detachment. They were also able to describe how abnormalities in mood state affected their creativity. Consistently, they indicated that they were unable to be creative when either depressed or manic.

More than that, her study confirmed two pervasive yet conflicting ideas about the relationship between creativity and mental illness:

One point of view … is that gifted people are in fact supernormal or superior in many ways. My writers certainly were. They were charming, fun, articulate, and disciplined. They typically followed very similar schedules, getting up in the morning and allocating a large chunk of time to writing during the earlier part of the day. They would rarely let a day go by without writing. In general, they had a close relationship with friends and family. They manifested the Freudian definition of health: lieben und arbeiten, “to love and to work.” On the other hand, they also manifested the alternative common point of view about the nature of genius: that it is “to madness near allied.” Many definitely had experienced periods of significant mood disorder. Importantly, though handicapping creativity when they occurred, these periods of mood disorder were not permanent or long-lived. In some instances, they may even have provided powerful material upon which the writer could later draw, as a Wordsworthian “emotion recollected in tranquility.”

Andreasen’s seminal study inspired a series of related research, most notably a project by British psychologist Kay Jamison, who examined 47 prominent poets, playwrights, novelists, biographers, and artists to find that a significant portion of them had mood disorders. Harvard psychiatrist Joseph Schildkraut found even starker evidence of the same tendency in a study of 15 mid-century abstract expressionists — about half had “some form of psychopathology, which was predominantly mood disorder.”

Andreasen returns to the question of why mood disorders are so common among writers, but schizophrenia — which she initially expected to find — is not:

The evidence supporting an association between artistic creativity and mood disorder is quite solid, as is the absence of an association with schizophrenia. The nature of artistic creativity, particularly literary creativity, is probably not compatible with the presence of an illness like schizophrenia, which causes many of its victims to be socially withdrawn and cognitively disorganized. An activity such as writing a novel or a play requires sustained attention for long periods of time and an ability to hold a complex group of characters and a plot line “in the brain” for as long as one or two years while the novel or play is being designed, written, and rewritten. This type of sustained concentration is extremely difficult for people suffering from schizophrenia.

Creativity in other fields may, however, be compatible with an illness like schizophrenia, particularly those fields in which the creative moment is achieved by flashes of insight about complex relationships or by exploring hunches and intuitions that ordinary folk might find strange or even bizarre.

(The famed Russian composer Tchaikovsky, who some scholars have speculated had symptoms of schizophrenia, articulated those “flashes of insight” spectacularly in his 1876 letter on the “immeasurable bliss” of creativity.)

Andreasen considers the unique psychoemotional constitution of the highly creative person, both its blessing and its curse:

Many personality characteristics of creative people … make them more vulnerable, including openness to new experiences, a tolerance for ambiguity, and an approach to life and the world that is relatively free of preconceptions. This flexibility permits them to perceive things in a fresh and novel way, which is an important basis for creativity. But it also means that their inner world is complex, ambiguous, and filled with shades of gray rather than black and white. It is a world filled with many questions and few easy answers. While less creative people can quickly respond to situations based on what they have been told by people in authority — parents, teachers, pastors, rabbis, or priests — the creative person lives in a more fluid and nebulous world. He or she may have to confront criticism or rejection for being too questioning, or too unconventional. Such traits can lead to feelings of depression or social alienation. A highly original person may seem odd or strange to others. Too much openness means living on the edge. Sometimes the person may drop over the edge… into depression, mania, or perhaps schizophrenia.

She considers the cognitive machinery common to both creative thinking and mental turmoil:

Creative ideas probably occur as part of a potentially dangerous mental process, when associations in the brain are flying freely during unconscious mental states — how thoughts must become momentarily disorganized prior to organizing. Such a process is very similar to that which occurs during psychotic states of mania, depression, or schizophrenia. In fact, the great Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, who gave schizophrenia its name, described a “loosening of associations” as its most characteristic feature: “Of the thousands of associative threads that guide our thinking, this disease seems to interrupt, quite haphazardly, sometimes single threads, sometimes a whole group, and sometimes whole segments of them.”

Of course, we now know that this crossing of the wires that combines seemingly unrelated concepts is also the essence of creativity — or what Einstein once described as the “combinatory play” at the heart of ideation — and why dot-connecting is vital for great art. Andreasen writes:

When the associations flying through the brain self-organize to form a new idea, the result is creativity. But if they either fail to self-organize, or if they self-organize to create an erroneous idea, the result is psychosis. Sometimes both occur in the same person, and the result is a creative person who is also psychotic. As [schizophrenic mathematician John] Nash [who inspired the film A Beautiful Mind] once said: “the ideas I have about supernatural beings came to me the same way that my mathematical ideas did, so I took them seriously.”

This failure to self-organize stems from what cognitive scientists call input dysfunction— a glitch in the filtering system we use to tune out the vast majority of what is going on around us. Andreasen explains:

All human beings (and their brains) have to cope with the fact that their five senses gather more information than even the magnificent human brain is able to process. To put this another way: we need to be able to ignore a lot of what is happening around us — the smell of pizza baking, the sound of the cat meowing, or the sight of birds flying outside the window — if we are going to focus our attention and concentrate on what we are doing (in your case, for example, reading this book). Our ability to filter out unnecessary stimuli and focus our attention is mediated by brain mechanisms in regions known as the thalamus and the reticular activating system.

Creative people, Andreasen notes, can be more easily overwhelmed by stimuli and become distracted. Some of the writers in her study, upon realizing they had a tendency to be too sociable, employed various strategies for keeping themselves isolated from human contact for sizable stretches of time in order to create. (Victor Hugo famously locked away all his clothes to avoid the temptation of going out while completing The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1830, which he wrote at his desk wearing nothing but a large gray shawl.) And yet for all its capacity to overwhelm, the creative mind remains above all a spectacular blessing:

Our ability to use our brains to get “outside” our relatively limited personal perspectives and circumstances, and to see something other than the “objective” world, is a powerful gift. Many people fail to realize that they even have this gift, and most who do rarely use it.

The Creating Brain is a fascinating read in its entirety. Complement it with a brief cultural history of “genius,” Bob Dylan on creativity and the unconscious mind, the psychology of how mind-wandering and “positive constructive daydreaming” boost creativity, and Carole King on overcoming creative block.

[mrsulaimankhan]

“Revolution Riders”

International Women's Day 2017: My Feminist Manifesto

Yesterday, 8th March 2017, was International Women's Day (IWD). I wanted to do more to mark this event, but I have been very unwell since last Monday (27th February) and yesterday my bad health of the last few days relapsed, so I wasn't up to doing much. Nevertheless, this is imperative to me and below is what I wanted to say yesterday but sadly wasn't able. Women are a huge part of my life, and I am wholeheartedly a feminist. Women have always cared for me. I am humbled to declare (as someone who happens to have a disability and raised by my incredible mum, my lovely sisters and my late grandmothers) to have women in my past, present and future who have created (and will create) positive disruption in my life and the world. A few women that have touched my life for the better include:

My family (my mum, my sisters, and my late, grandmothers) who raised me and gave me the belief in myself to do anything I want and for supporting me every single day no matter what or how I'm feeling. 

The women of NHS (doctors, consultants, nurses, ambulance crew, and specialists) who always care for me as someone with a rare disease with kindness and dignity. 

Penny van Berkel and Sue Childs (Specialist Physiotherapist - Seating team and Admin, respectively, at 3C Wheelchair & Seating Service) who always provide me with the best holistic solutions for my entire wheelchair and seating that no one in the UK can provide (trust me, I’ve tried) through their ongoing care, humour and creativity; as someone who happens to have a complex disability (with Muscular Dystrophy and severe Scoliosis), they teach me there are good people to help you when no one else is willing (or able) to do so and the importance of helping the absolute vulnerable with all the energy you can muster.

The women of Muscular Dystrophy UK (MDUK) who tirelessly work every day to provide the best research, care and advocacy for those affected by neuromuscular conditions like myself, and always support me to have the best quality of life.

Laura Jordan-Bambach (Chief Creative Officer and Partner at creative agency Mr President) who teaches me to be brave and driven by purpose as a "Nice Ninja" in the creative industries, as well as how not to be a dick. 

The women whom I met at university who helped get through it and made it into one of the most memorable experience in my life (and who are still good friends). 

Cindy Gallop who shows me how to be a fearless feminist and a good, badass leader. 

Hayley Mills who highlights challenges BAEMs face and opens my eyes to injustices of the diaspora and beyond. 

Caroline Pay (Co-CCO at Valenstein & Fatt, Grey Re-Established 2017) – who was my mentor of my team (and lead us to win the Third Place Prize) for The Great British Diversity Experience last year, and who teaches me to be a good mentor and how to fight for what you love in your career.

Sharon Nelson (President of Sensei Enterprises Inc.) who took a chance on me and gave my first work experience in High School while I was living in America when no one else would. 

The women at my Secondary School while I was residing in America who not only supported to continue to help me read and write (as I was made to attend a special school where all I learnt was nursery rhymes union I was 10 when we moved to America), but pushed me without breaking to find my own fierce and sassy voice (and confidence). 

Michaela Hollywood and Rosemary Frazer who teach me every day that disability is a positive and guide me to create a more inclusive society for everyone. 

Rianne Dragt (Founder of Moxi.Biz), Nadya Powell (Co-Founder of Innovation Social), and Alexandra Goat (Managing Director at Livity) who teach me about the benefits of diversity and innovation, and the positive effect it has in the workplace. 

Marianne Waite (Founder of ThinkDesignable) who is teaching me how to put disability on the global agenda in a creative and engaging way.

The women of D&AD, and Dara Lynch, Vivian Galinari and Michelle Fischer (Chief Operating Officer, Membership Manager and Senior Events Manager, respectively, of D&AD) who show me how to run a business, support patrons and create (and manage) events superbly, as well as inspire, educate and nurture me to always strive for creative excellence. 

The women of The Muscle Help Foundation who in 2012 invited me to be a part of their “Games Inspired Muscle Dreams” Programme that created a fantastic personalised experience and showed so much love to me (in a time when I had just gone through a horrible loss) with their family-run charity. They continue to make me a part of their tribe and show me the power of love in times of need. 

The women I've met at events or through experiences and I've stayed friends with who inspire me with all the amazing things they're doing to work harder. 

Maya Angelou who despite no longer being with us still teaches me about being a "Phenomenal  Woman" and the beauty (and struggles) of women through her inspirational writing and voice.

Andreya Triana, Szjerdene, Lianne La Havas, and Frida Touray (of Native Dancer) who are all breathtaking musicians and stunning vocalists (whom I'm humbled to have met), and who help me get through tough days with their wonderful music and spirit. 

The women whom I'm yet to meet who will ignite me to push outside of my comfort zone continually and who will always challenge me to do better every day. 

By no means is this a definitive list of women who've touched my life, rather a select few women that I can think of at this time. You each have a very special place in my heart.

You have given me my sense of love, intellect, empathy, creativity, leadership, resourcefulness, resilience, adaptability, innovation, wisdom, determination, hard work, curiosity, adventure, passion, professionalism, compassion, generosity, humanity, etiquettes, humbleness, humour, and of course style. So, thank you for your ongoing support and kindness.

Also, the IWD 2017 campaign theme is #BeBoldForChange.

In today’s environment where women are under attack like never before—whether politically as the women trying to maintain their rights in the U.S.A., sexually as the Yazidi women trying to keep their dignity seized by the pure evil that is ISIS in Iraq, educationally as activist Malala Yousafzai trying to campaign for female education across the world, socially as the women trying to survive with their families in patriarchal society in Africa, or economically as the women trying to abolish the gender pay gap in the UK—this theme has never been so important. It's why I continuously defend women's rights through being bold, being wild, and being fearless, as well as by having adventures.

With a background in advertising and currently working with the creative industries for many years, I further actively support female-led organisation too such as the remarkable SheSays, Creative Equals, The GirlHood, and MakeLoveNotPorn. As such, here is my manifesto to you (all approximately 49.6 percent + of you in the world):

I will always be an ardent feminist.

I will always respect every single one of you in my life for as long as I live.

I will always fight with you until I am mentally unable.

I will always work hard every day to make the world a better place, working together with you and through your guidance.

And I will always fight for women's rights and equality by being bold, being wild, and being fearless until there is justice (and peace) for all of us.

I love each of and every one of you always and forever. You all make me a better man: YOU make me a better human.  ONWARDS and UPWARDS. With bravery and purpose: ONE) Stay energised. TWO) Stay positive. THREE) Stay strong. FOUR) Stay powerful. And FIVE) Stay awesome. Much love, Sulaiman Khan Xx

— Listening to  “Revolution Riders” by Iris Gold