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iplacedajar · 5 years ago

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2019

It seems impossible that I was offered a job eight months ago, that I moved in with Eddy four months ago, that the end of 2019 is already here. Post-college years continue to speed by at an alarming pace.

It was a good year, though, and I was especially grateful for all the unique opportunities I had to travel--to Switzerland and Italy, Saratoga Springs, Provincetown. I went up to New York for the last weekend in June, and spent two magical autumn weekends in the woods--Vermont in October, New Hampshire in November.

I made friends with a sweet fluffy homebody, and I took still more steps toward building a satisfying, adult life for myself. I was in Houston last week, and felt more peace there than I’ve been able to find in a long time. I think part of it is that I finally feel secure and stable in my life in Boston--I finished school, found a permanent job that I love--and so I’m able to “visit” without any underlying anxiety about my precarious position in life.

Books

It was a really good year for books--no pictures because many of them were library books but here’s the list of favorites:

Caroline by Sarah Miller

This is a retelling of Little House on the Prairie from the perspective of Laura’s Ma. The author was inspired to write it after realizing that, although Laura changes the timeline in her fictional retellings, Ma had actually been pregnant with Baby Carrie during their journey from Wisconsin to Kansas. It’s the kind of historical fiction I have always wanted, covering the unique hardships of pioneer life for women and including details like the oilcloth rags Caroline prepared to line her underwear after Carrie’s birth, and her swollen breasts bouncing painfully in the wagon after she leaves the top two hooks of her corset open.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

I’ve watched Hank’s videos for years, and I loved his debut novel about navigating unexpected fame and the responsibilities of having an audience through the perspective of a young woman in her 20s. Also, it’s really, really funny.

The Signature of All Things by Liz Gilbert

I . . . adored this book. And I’ve definitely recommended it the absolute most of any book I’ve read this year. It has the voice and the humor and the warmth and the wisdom I’d expect from Liz Gilbert, as well as an exhaustively researched and utterly immersive period setting (19th century Philadelphia). It truly feels epic in scope, and if I try to describe it for too long I sound like a lunatic but it’s about botany and about sexual longing and I think about it every single day.

City of Girls by Liz Gilbert

I was fortunate enough hear Liz talk about this book in person when she went on tour! See the above--this book is amazingly funny and wise and smart and just so fun to read. It’s about showgirls in New York in the 1940s. (On tour, Liz talked about interviewing a bunch of nonagenarian former showgirls for research and wondering beforehand, “Oh God, how am I going to get these grandmotherly old ladies to talk about sex?” and then wondering after, “Oh god, how am I going to get these ladies to talk about anything other than sex?”)

Circe by Madeline Miller

This book is so precious to me. Madeline Miller’s take on Circe is the best rendering of a divine/immortal character as narrator that I’ve ever read. And she does it in first-person. Also, if you ever have an opportunity to hear this author speak publicly, you should take it. She is so smart and well-read, and so steeped in this mythology, and strikes an amazing and refreshing balance between reverence and irreverence for the source material (when writing for the character of Medea, for example, she explained that she was having difficulty understanding her, “until I realized what a bozo Jason was”).

Dune by Frank Herbert

Haha. I read the first four books of this classic sci-fi series this year alongside Eddy. The weirdness chart for this series is an exponential curve and I found the fourth book so deeply weird as to be borderline unreadable, but all of them are special and the first one, in particular, sticks in your brain.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

I’ve been waiting for the author of The Night Circus to publish a new book for a long time, and this one was worth the wait. I love love love Erin Morgenstern’s eye for details and aesthetics, and the way she builds story around setting.

Television

I watched and enjoyed more TV shows in 2019 than any year in recent memory, but I think it's partly just the alignment of streaming service releases and my taste than any other factor. Eddy and I finished watching FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood at the beginning of this year. There was one weekend in May where all I did was watch Good Omens and bake a rhubarb cake (both very good). I binged all of Fleabag in two days and then I made Eddy watch it, and we're both completely captivated by it. July 5 was officially "Stranger Things Day", and Danielle, Eddy, and I woke up at 9 am, ate donuts, and watched the entire new season in one day (and then went to Veggie Galaxy for emotional recovery). The third season of The Crown dropped a few weeks ago and I spiraled even further into my Olivia Colman obsession, and Eddy and I finished the first season of The Good Place right before we left town for the holidays.

Movies

My movie-watching has declined significantly since I graduated and left behind my Film Boy pals, but I managed a short list of favorites: I adored BOOKSMART, and it immediately jumped to the special place in my heart where coming-of-age stories about smart young women live. I watched THE FAVORITE on a plane and it was fantastic. And then a few nights ago Danielle and I went to see the new Greta Gerwig-directed LITTLE WOMEN and predictably adored it, and it was basically the highlight of my trip home. But I didn't see much in theaters, and I don't feel like I missed out.

Games

Another surprise for me this year was how many games I played and enjoyed. I grew up playing video games and watching my siblings play, but when I moved to Boston for college all I had was a 3DS, and my consumption of games, with the noticeable exceptions of Stardew Valley and Pokémon Go, went into hibernation. That all changed this year, when Eddy bought me a Nintendo Switch for my birthday, and I spent January playing many blissful hours of Let’s Go Pikachu. Other favorites include:

OXENFREE - Branching storylines! Choose-your-own-adventure sans cutscenes so that it all feels totally immersive and high-stakes! And a creepy, existential, Arrival-esque mystery to boot.

THE FLAME IN THE FLOOD - All of my favorite books growing up were about kids who run away to live in the woods à la My Side of the Mountain, so this post-apocalypse survival adventure story featuring our hero, Scout, brewing dandelion tea to cure her snakebites, making snares out of saplings, and using cattail tubers to make braided cord was right in my wheelhouse.

UNTITLED GOOSE GAME - needs no introduction

In Conclusion

Happy new year, all--I hope 2020 brings us all joy and truth.

#shut up olivia

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zoestagg · 6 years ago

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Ironman Cairns 70.3: The Bike & Run...

He put his arm around me and leaned in, talking low.

“This isn’t me being mean, this is just what we need to do.” I couldn’t be sure, but I think I recognized him as the man who asked last year in the middle of a monsoon in Indonesia, if I had another lap left. He continued gently, raising his voice just slightly to compete with my sniffles, “You’ve missed the cut-off, we don’t make them to be mean I promise,” I nodded, miserably. “But look, love,” I’m 99 percent sure he said something like that, if not the actual quote — the sentiment. “You are welcome to continue. You will be an DNF, but the course is open. Get out there and give it a go!”

I nodded again and carried my squished, hotel-made onigiri to the Run Out.

He wasn’t the only angel in T2, but we need to struggle through 90 km of biking before we meet her.

Where were we? Ah yes, fresh from having our hopes dashed in the inky foam of the Coral Sea. I found out after that Ryan had dialed up my mom on FaceTime to let her watch me pedal out, and when he saw that I was in a full hysterical breakdown, realized that there is nothing about my performance in any given triathlon that is safe going live. In the weeks since the race, I’ve had a realization about my relationship with the sport.

Being pregnant and giving birth is like a universally horrific and painful experience, right? And yet, there’s all these people out there with more than one kid. I was told it’s because “It’s so worth it in the end, you forget how awful it is.”

GIRL.

I remember every last excruciating millisecond of those 257 days. For that experience, that old yarn does not add up. BUT. Apparently I can spend a whole race scared and crying, and FAIL in the strictest sense of the word and come home and immediately pick races on the two continents I’m missing. (Ecuador and Cape Town, I’m coming for you.)

ANYWAY. We’re on the bike. I’d heard in the little performance art piece about the course the day before, that there’s a dude who just travels the world doing every single IRONMAN event, and he’s declared that the Cairns bike course is the most beautiful.

Oh, you beautiful tropical fish.

You can look anywhere but at the pavement right in front of you while you’re riding? What is that even like?

Someday, I’m going to start a very important translation service: taking the official Course Description copy and making it REAL. Here’s how they described it:

The undulating, and winding course will take athletes past Thala Beach Resort and Hartley’s Croc Farm to the turnaround point, approximately 6km south of Wangetti, before heading back to Port Douglas.

Here’s what it is:

Undulating STRICTLY means up and down, but there’s an undertone of gentle that… let’s just say on an out-and-back loop, there is no rejoicing in racing a downhill, there is only knowing that it will soon be a grueling uphill. The constant hills were tough, but what really ripped me to shreds was the texture of the road and the headwind. In the course brief, we’d been warned that the roads were “county roads” and that we’d be best to try to ride in the left-hand wheel rut. Like the pioneers did. I did not know much about the types of pavement before this race, but I now know that peculiar specifically to asphalt, is a soul-crushing theft of effort. I could NOT get a leg up on it. I pedaled and pedaled and watched my speedometer and worried.

I managed one successful water bottle exchange while still moving and felt like a (slow and wobbly) boss. The road up the coast and back was closed, blessedly. It took 30 miles or so, but eventually I stopped cringing and remembering the awfulness of last year with every course monitor’s scooter that roared up behind me, and I pedaled.

On the way back, I crested a hill and saw a tent. By this point, I was already doing the complicated math as to whether I was going to make it to T2 in time, and a guy stepped out from the tent and motioned with his hand.

OH GOD. IS HE PULLING ME OFF THE COURSE? IS HE GOING TO MAKE ME GET IN A SWEEPER WAGON?

“I just need to let you know,” he started…

NO NO NO NO NO

“That this is the top of the last hill!” He looked triumphant and helpful.

I started crying. Again.

I don’t know, fam, but I’m probably going to need some kind of special warning vest for next race.

Eventually, I was out of the winding coastal road, and on back roads in to town. Then, the wind kicked up. Now of course I didn’t expect the race to be a glassy pool and a spin bike in an air-conditioned room, but DANG. When they say Australia basically just wants to kill you, you don’t imagine your death will be from all the effort needed to overcome inertia, but here we are.

I hit what had to be one of the last aid stations, and wanted water badly. I hadn’t done a great job of eating on the bike, because eating at 20 mph is freaking hard, but I’d been hydrating pretty good. I considered trying to exchange bottles and then just stopped.

“I’m not good at this usually, and I’m really not good at it tired.” I explained to the nice volunteer.

Those last five miles… were peak struggle. Everything was screaming, I was sick of the wind, and I just wanted off the bike. Eventually I started seeing people on the run course. Oh yeah, I feel like THIS, and I have a half marathon to run now.

Fun vacation.

Bike: 4:22:55

All I remember about getting to T2 is that it was full of bikes already. Suddenly, a lady in a volunteer shirt materialized next to me.

“You all right? Brilliant job, let’s get you to your spot.” She steered me through the racks as I walked my bike in a daze of tears.

“I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m just going to… I’m okay.”

I was trying to tell her my dismal scene needs I must act alone, but she wasn’t having it. She stayed next to my spot, chatting as I wobbled to get my bike shoes off. “Here’s the good news!” She continued. “While the cut-off has technically passed, you have loads of time!” There it was, the official proclamation that I’d busted. “One year,” she continued, “I only made it with ONE minute to spare. Another year, one of my friends took 12 whole hours to finish the Half, but he did it!”

Wait, I might be crying again…now.

“Why don’t you see what you can do? Start the run and see how it goes.” I got my running shoes and visor on, and slipped on my fuel belt. “You all right? Good luck, you’ve got this!”

I headed out, and got the official okay to keep going from the kindly course director at the beginning of this saga, and gingerly started to trot. This is where I finally felt like there was a part of me that could do this. All of the running off the bike all training cycle kicked in. I’d been WRECKED on the bike, and now I felt…okay?! What’s even happening?

I ran past Ryan and Frankie and told them I was going to give finishing a go, and trotted on. I WAS DOING THIS. The run course was flat as a pancake and packed with spectators. I started to catch up on the fuel I missed on the bike, and relished the full-fat Coke at each aid station. I wouldn’t touch the stuff if I wasn’t trying to kill myself physically in other ways, but when you are? It tastes like heaven. I had it on my Fuji climb last weekend, and can confirm — Gatorade, who?

There were still tons of 70.3 competitors out there when I started, but as they dwindled, I was VERY careful to make myself as invisible as possible. I stayed well out of anyone’s way racing the 140.6, hugging the shoulder of the path and waiting at the aid stations until they were totally clear before I approached. (The run course was on an esplanade with splash pools, which Frankie took full advantage of.)

Omg those aid stations when you’re not the last one on the course? STOCKED. The run was two laps of the same loop, so the second time through — finally feeling like I was going to very maybe finish this thing — I thanked the volunteers handing out watermelon, “This is my favorite restaurant in Cairns!” I had a lot of time to think on the course, and while I spent a lot of time feeling bad about taking so long, it occurred to me that if the race was only the fastest people, they would miss out on a heck of a lot of entry fees from us back-of-the-packers. While it’s weird to do a sport with professionals out there at the same time, I’d like to think by virtue of it being inclusionary, they can offer more amenities and support to everyone.

I don’t know exactly when I knew I would finish, maybe after the first loop, when my feet were still dry, there was no monsoon, and I was kind of feeling physically… fine? Fine-ish? I was IN THIS. No, I didn’t strictly run the entire way, but I kept moving forward, every single step that much closer to the finish line. Finally, I could hear the announcer and the bells and drums and cheering of the end.

Here’s where I put my finish in humiliating perspective: The woman who won the FULL had a faster time that me doing the HALF. I don’t know what to tell you guys, I’m slow AF. But I have a heck of a lot of Don’t Quit. I ran down the finish line shoot, with the guy on the microphone announcing my name. I got to the end, and he said, “It’s all right to stop now, you made it!”

And then I cried a little more.

Run: 3:30:24

Total: 9:11:22

I did all 70.3 miles of it this time, and THIS TIME, I got a daggone towel.

Triathlon takes a LOT of time. Not just racing one when you’re slow like me, but training. This was Ryan and Frankie’s race too. They let me disappear for half of every weekend day, they helped me get my bike on four different planes, they spent all day figuring out where I’d be when to cheer me on, and hung out on the esplanade for hours while I struggled away at the last 13 miles. And my coach, who kept me honest and on track and encouraged me the whole way, I couldn’t have done this without them.

Triathlon IS a team sport, if you do it right.

(So I think in the whole “you forget how bad giving birth is” is because babies are so delightful? I mean, talk to someone who has both given birth AND eaten their first meal the day after a long-course race — this is not a comparison that works out well for babies if that meal is artisanal avocado toast and a Bloody Mary, I’M JUST SAYING.)

Part 1: The Swim...

#try club #triathlon #swimming #bicycles #running #australia #fitness #cairns #70.3

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llycaons · 4 years ago

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finished silver spoon!!! pros and cons. because that’s who I am. this is very vague about spoilers

Pros

technically very well-made (easy to read, great paneling, consistent and appealing art style)

funny!

endearing characters. there were a lot of side characters I really came to love, like shingo and yoshino

I really liked how down-to-earth it was and how much I learned about agriculture. the particular perspective on animals and their role in the industry was really interesting

arakawa presents both sides to a lot of arguments in the agricultural/husbandry world which gives the series a lot of realism. I definitely feel like I’ve learned things about farming

the character arcs were satisfying and I really felt emotionally invested in characters like mikage and komaba

MIKAGE!!! initially I was disappointed because she seemed like a very shallow love interest character but she had a lot more depth than I thought and underwent her own arc, which was so rewarding to see. and her joy towards the end when she succeeded was so wonderful. arakawa visually portrays emotion so well

I always love a series where characters become friends and stay close after the series ends...connections....

I can relate to hachiken’s struggles with the pressure of studying. and then the second he gets arrogant and complacent he makes a massive ruinous mistake? I’ve done that so many times

the gentle bullying of the MC from people who like his love interest more than him will always be so funny

Cons

hachiken was a fine MC but I never really cared about him and the other characters hyped him up so much it was annoying. especially in the final chapter. after edward elric, it’s a disappointment

silver spoon is very much about how the farming industry works in capitalism so there were a lot of conversations and messages about making money and using opportunities that I either didn’t like or completely disagreed with

like, komaba dropping out of school at age 15 to work is awful! and moving to tokyo, losing most of his connection with people his age and spending his teenage years working himself into the ground really isn’t the inspiring tale of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and achieving your dreams that the narrative wants it to be. it’s a tragedy.

there’s actualy a lot of topics I think arakawa handles really poorly. her (I want to say very liberal and shallow?) portrayal of the japanese pioneers in hokkaido and how they interacted with the ainu people living there already won’t surprise anyone who wasn’t impressed with her handling of the ishvalans in fma

global warning was mentioned once as a positive because it’s opening up farmland? ma’am? you know there are concerns other than money and individual success? the permafrost melting is sending tons of methane gas into the atmosphere? there are definitely farmers who are concerned about climate change?

fatphobia, mostly background though

all the girls kind of looked the same and most of them had the same basic personality...

the humor around boys being perverts wow so original

I don’t like slapstick. I didn’t in fma and I don’t here

the romance sucked. I like mikage and hachiken as characters and I think it’s sweet that they were best friends, but their love story is very generic. the first kiss being ruined by their riding helmets WAS very funny but I can’t think of a single time I really cared about their romantic relationship.

the overprotective father bit was played out from the first page, the confession was awkwardly written and felt ooc, and we barely even saw them together after they started dating. arakawa treats her female characters relatively decently but there were so many bland (and overwhelming het) scenes that I started to dread when the MC’s crush would come up. and I liked ed and winry from fma! maybe because I was 14 when I saw it? idk. they’re not a bad couple, they’re good for each other, I just think the cliches and jokes around their relationship were annoying as hell. it’s all so, so straight

essentially, the ending supports this idea that happiness is connected to achieving your dreams, or making new ones if your dreams fall through (which is not necessarily a bad message). but for the MC it’s also so connected to the idea of being a successful businessman and being in a happy relationship with a girl he liked in high school, which is fine truly, but it’s all so traditional and conventional and cookie-cutter. which it’s not even supposed to be bc hachiken WAS the outlier and fresh thinker in his school and he did do a lot that nobody saw coming. so it’s a shame, I guess, that his nonconformity manifests as slightly unusual ways of making money (and being a pushover lmao)

seriously, every time the students started brainstorming on how to make money off whatever they were doing or how to maximize profits I just blanked out. I get it, it’s an industry, and I guess being an entrepreneur is exciting. but god, I got sick of it

and hachiken’s idea for a a cooperative where people cover each other’s weaknesses sounded really promising, but nothing ever came of it

and like. a 22 year old with slicked back hair wearing a suit and tie? that just makes me sad

also his relationship with his father was pretty boring

#and NOW I can read something gay and anti-government. no.6 I missed you so bad #I think I will read it alongside our dreams at dusk #something can be either painfully heterosexual OR set in a modern day with no magic OR boring about neurodivergence OR pro-establishment #OR only about white people tbh #but if it's all those at once it's a problem. for me #ideally it would be none of those (hxh and cql and rgu aren't) but those are outliers #cor.txt

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mymessytidylife · 8 years ago

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A tribute to the books I read in 2016

I’ve read 65 books last year and that’s probably the biggest thing I did so far. I’ve finished a few I didn’t think I would ever finish. Invisible Jest is one example another is A Dream of Red Mansions. I didn’t read any graphic novels last year, which was stupid because I’ve read three already this year and how delightful are they?

I started the year 2016 with reading Post-Democracy by Colin Crouch which is ironic if I think about how 2016 ended and how 2017 started (in this spirit I’ve been reading a lot about defiance since the first of January).

I continued with Crush by Richard Siken - a book that I owned since at least 2010, that I took with me to Prague when I drunkenly kissed my roommate and didn’t tell my boyfriend. I remember sitting in the bus taking me to Prague and skimming through the pages and everything felt too raw and real and I did not know what to think about myself now that I knew that somewhere inside me a cheating beast only waited to take power. It took me six years to read Siken again and while his words a still powerful they did not rip something apart inside of me any longer. After crush there came my first try with an English translation of 紅樓夢. I finished that book and didn’t understand a thing and kept wondering if I had suddenly lost the ability to read in English. I found out not soon after that I had bought one of the worst and incomplete versions out there and ordered another one and said goodbye to despairing about language.

After this first try with Dream of a Red Chamber, I read Anti-Politics Machine by James Ferguson. That book was an eye-opener and set the tone for the rest of the year during which I put a lot of emphasis in my academic life on studying development. It was also the last book my ex-boyfriend recommended to me.

At this point I was missing my Russian writers and read the Vagabond by Gorky. I’ve always loved Gorky and the Vagabond was no exception, but it did not strike a tone as deep inside of me as some others. There were some stories I loved and others that did not stir much interest.

After Gorky, I read We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families by Philip Gourevitch. That book is probably my book of 2016; the horrors of it stayed with me for weeks. There isn’t another one I’ve recommended this much since reading it and I had to stalk Gourevitch on all available platforms. Go read that book! If we talk about a human history of suffering and how we all need to understand our own histories of failure in protecting innocent lives this is one of the must-reads.

After Gourevitch my new edition of Dream of a Red Chamber finally arrived. I plunged into it and even though it has some 2500 odd pages I finished it under two months. Its story was captivating and I loved the style of the first books, even though the style of the last was somewhat disappointing (it is believed that the original writer did not finish the whole book and that parts of it were rewritten by others that remain anonymous).

Following this long book I needed something shorter and read some poems by Bukowski. I have a conflicted relationship with Bukowski (admiring his talent, loving his books but hating him as a person) and I did not enjoy those poems (Continental Edition, I think) as much as others, but there where still sentences that went straight into my heart.

When I finished Bukowski I was missing some Chinese authors again and read Grass Soup by Zhang Xianliang and then something more academic by Xin Liu (In One’s Own Shadow). Both were disturbing in their own ways (hunger for Zhang, marriage rituals for Xin) and I did not much like either. Next I wanted to read a novel again and kind of stumbled upon Confessions of Zeno by Italo Svevo. Zeno was beautifully written and explored a lot of the light and dark sides that make us human but I started to tolerate books writing discriminately against women a lot less in the last years and though Zeno is a product of its time, I could not enjoy it despite its brilliance. Following Svevo I realized I hadn’t read anything in German for some time and I read another book of one of my favorite authors, Heinrich Böll. Und sagte kein einziges Wort explored some of his usual themes, but for me it didn’t quite do what some of his other books did, even though it was fascinating as always to know what Germany looked liked straight after the war. Missing James Ferguson’s brilliance I read another one of this books next. Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order was another book that gave me a lot to think about and I jotted down some thesis ideas. The neoliberal script has been another big private and academic topic for me in 2016. After Ferguson I spent a Sunday browsing some flea markets and came home with a lot of books whose authors I had never heard of before. I started off with Dispatches by Michael Herr, which was a brutal portrait of men and war and which I kind of had to read in a one go night session. After Herr, university started again and gave me a lot of reading ideas. I read Lu Xun’s Diary of a Madman next, in the bilingual version and loved it, and then thanks to the feminist perspectives I followed throughout 2016, I continued with a German book about a series of talks between Judith Butler and Gayatri Spivak on language and power. The questions of power and language and discourses that shape my Western understanding of the world made me remember Orientalism by Edward Said, which was on my to read list for the longest time and I went and picked up a copy and finally read it. While some of it wasn’t exactly new I started to be a lot more critical and saw Orientalism everywhere and understood where some of the prejudices against Muslim immigrants were coming from. Said is brilliant. After Said, I read a book of a lot of African authors that was edited by a NGO (Africavenir) on Defiance, Revolution and Renaissance. I liked that one a lot (always an advocate for reading more texts by authors of color), but its focus was a bit too heavy on the Arab Spring for my liking. African Renaissance shouldn’t be broken down on North Africa, I think, and I wish the book would have been more specific about its own focus.

Next I had to read Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua for university, which hasn’t a hardship at all, because I always loved Yu Hua. The Chronicle was just as wonderful as most of his other books, though being a squirmish person, I did have some trouble with all the blood talking. I went book-shopping once more and bought some books by Cynthia Enloe, who was recommended during one of my feminist peace studies classes. I read Bananas, Beaches and Bases first with the promise, that it would change the way I viewed the world, and in a way it might just have done that, but I wish I would have known about the updated version that came out only a while back, because the examples kind of lacked actuality for me.

I read the Deer Park by Mailer next and was impressed by the language and the feeling of the book but similar to Svevo what impressed me a lot less and bothered me quite a lot was the portrayal of women. Again, a book of its time, but one that is still considered a masterpiece today and I am unsure where to draw the line between being impressed by talent and being disgusted by patriarchy.

I had to do some more reading for class after that one and read Northern Girls by Sheng Keyi next. I hated the coarse language at first, but surprisingly started loving the story (but the ending is weird). I am usually a stronger advocate for language than for plot but this book finished much stronger than I expected.

I returned to feminist literature next and first read Butler’s Krieg und Affekt, followed by another Enloe: the curious feminist. I liked both of them and started to incorporate a feminist perspective in my academic life after finishing them. Afterwards I finally finished a book I started reading at the beginning of 2014: Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy from 1453 to the Present by Brendam Simms. It was quite the fascinating read though in the spirit of anti-power discourses I was a bit bored with another great power view on the way our world works, but I learned a lot of new stuff (and was quite happy to put it aside after two years...). I went home next and re-read a book that I had not quite finished when I gave it to my Dad as a present back when we visited me in China: China 3.0 by Mark Leonard. It’s quite short and might not be up to date any longer, but the perspectives on China remain interesting. Next I stumbled upon a book that appears to be a classic in feminist literature: The yellow wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I read that book using a new app for my iphone that really changed my reading because you can read chapters of classical books in 5 to 15 minutes depending on length. The app is called Serial Reader and whoever invented it: a huge thank you, I doubt I would have read quite that much in 2016 otherwise. I read another Bukowski next, Ham on Rye which I liked better than the poems I read earlier this year. Still immensely impressed by this man’s talent, still immensely impressed by the personal ruin he followed through all his life.

I read Art of War by Sun Tzu next which was very anti-climatic given how much this book has been talked about in the last decades. Warfare strategy appears to bore me. After Sun Tzu I started reading Anton Chekhov and started off with the Bet and Other Stories. I love Russian authors and while I usually am not much of a fun of mind game stories I liked this one a lot. I immediately read The Darling right after and liked that one as well. Putting Chekhov aside I finished another of the books I started ages ago. China's Silent Army: The Pioneers, Traders, Fixers and Workers Who Are Remaking the World in Beijing's Image by Cardenal and Araujo. I had a hard time with this one, because while I was impressed by the scope of research, I despise the use of words like “Chinese tentacles” or “Chinese genes” and the book seriously lacked a comparative perspective. It would do us good if no fear-mongering would be used to sell books in times of post-factualism.

I returned to my theme of the year and read Civil Disobedience by Thoreau next. I have to be honest and admit that I kind of rushed through it and did not follow all arguments and should probably re-read that one.

Following Thoreau I finally read Time Machine by H.G. Wells which is one of those books everyone knows somehow but never read. I did too but I was glad I finally got around to it - just like with 1984 or Animal Farm I was much more impressed with the language and the story than I thought (though the mechanics of time travel are really quite funny).

I visited Chekhov once more before turning away from him for the rest of the year and read the Seagull which has to be my favorite book I read by him in 2016.

After Chekhov I had to make a stop in all my other reading because Here I am by Safran Foer came out and I read it within a few days. I will forever love Extremely loud and incredibly close and Here I am did not change that in a bit, but after being disappointed midway through the book did pick up some more steam towards the end.

I read Blue Hotel by Steven Crane next, though I am not much of a horror story person, but it was short and fit me schedule quite well. Next I discovered Oscar Wilde and loved the first book I ever read by him: the importance of being earnest. I have always loved word games and can’t wait to see that play on a stage somewhere, sometime.

Because I loved Wilde after that I read the Canterville Ghost straight after and liked that one as well, but not quite as much as Being Earnest.

I turned away from Wilde for a time after that and read the Crazed by Ha Jin. The book has a somewhat dreamlike atmosphere with a passive protagonist and nothing happening for page after page until a crescendo hits and I enjoyed reading it.

I had to read Factory Girls by Leslie Chang after the Crazed to finish a paper and really liked that one as well. It is something of a mix between literature and research and still holds value of migrant life in China today. I read A Room of One’s Own next and loved it. Woolf will always, forever be a bright-shining star on my very personal literature firmament and someone I will forever want to re-read.

Next, I discovered a new favorite and I wish she wouldn’t be gone already: Fatemna Mernissi. I read Scheherazade Goes West: Different Cultures, Different Harems and didn’t really like it until the very last chapters which were so bright and interesting that I couldn’t stop googling here for a week. Definitely someone I want to read more of in 2017.

Mernissi was followed by my own personal highlight: I finished Invisible Jest. What a long and dry ride it was; every year since 2010 I started this book to put it away some time later in the firm believe that no one anywhere would want to read those sentences and words and plots. I have grown over the years; understood the jokes and references better and when I picked it up again at the beginning of 2016 I realized quite early on that this was the first year I was ready for the book, that I would conquer it finally. I did and I miss picking it up every year in January, miss the frustration and the joy when I understood a reference. I will re-read it one day, when the story has settled and I stop thinking about it so much.

I finished Twelve Years a Slave by Northup afterwards. What a striking, terrible book. Remember modern slavery; there are still so many Solomons out there waiting to tell their stories. We need to listen to them.

I read my personal least favorite next: The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft. I know many people believe that book to be the start of the horror genre but in a year filled with as much populism and hatred as 2016 demonizing the other, the unknown (and, of course, linking them to darker skin and weird religions) did nothing but fill me with dread. Of course, this book was written in another time. But maybe we all need to think harder about how we want to portray the other. Time should not be an excuse.

I returned to Wilde after Lovecraft to be comforted, but the Picture of Dorian Grey turned out to be my least favorite book of Wilde. Once again, gender relations turned out to be the factor that took me away from the book, but it was also a bit boring and drawn-out. Can anyone be only evil? Are we not all creatures shaped by circumstances and life around us?

Close runner-up to my most disliked book is the Catastrophist by Ronan Bennett. The “exotic” Congo Conflict is used a backdrop for a (stupid) love story of with foreigners; Congolese are always only at the parameter of the story; the women gets moral bonus points because she is so invested in Congolese people themselves but at the same time she is a child for thinking she can change them. White savior syndrome and white exceptionalism at its best.

I read the very short “Modern Proposal” by Jonathan Swift next and loved it. Rationalizing poverty; blaming poor people for their poverty; pretending that poverty is a natural state achieved by laziness has been angering me endlessly this last year and Swift’s take on the matter was refreshing to read.

Afterwards I read another horror story - again, not my thing, and the Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs did not change that much. Just going to be even more suspicious of wishes coming true.

The next book as again a disappointment: Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation, edited by Barbara Findlen. I loved the idea and the introduction, but the essays themselves were mostly rubbish and poorly written. There were some exceptional ones, but they remained far and few between.

And again, I returned to horror - while I love the Serial Reader, the amount of horror stories I read because of it could be less. The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poe was well written and I liked it better than some others.

Next I read another personal favorite: The Vagrants by Yiyun Li. The book is well written, I loved the characters, I loved the complexity of the story and it is very far from a happy ending. A book that continued to haunt me for quite some time. Afterwards I read Youth by Isaac Asimov, of whom I had heard a lot in the last years. I liked Youth quite a lot, especially because I did not really foresee all twists and turns of the plot.

I decided to read another book that I only knew the movie version of next and read the Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Irving. Quite different than the movie, if I remember it correctly and quite boring as well.

I read a German book next, Rückspiel by Ulrich Woelk. Still unsure that to think of that one; there were parts that I disliked and a lot that I liked and it was another interesting take at German history. I am ambivalent.

Eduardo Galeano’s Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World was another favorite of mine. The book is a tour de force with lots of arguments I had not heard before. It fit very well in wanting to challenge the status quo in which we live.

I started the Circle by Dave Eggers next and no book freaked me out more than this one in the last year. Big data and social media remain parts of our world that I am not knowledgable about and my blind trust or better, not-caring about my personal data seems foolish after reading this book. Surveillance is definitely a topic I will read more on in 2017.

To calm myself I read some poetry by Emily Dickinson (Three Series Complete). I did like some of them but mostly they did not light that spark inside of me that poetry usually does.

Next, I started the Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri. Lahiri has been a favorite of mine for some years now and I loved the Lowland. The story stayed with me. The experience of the loneliness of leaving your home is something Lahiri can describe and take to further places like almost no one else; the only author I can think of is V.S. Naipaul who does it equally well (and maybe, Rushdie).

I started missing David Foster Wallace too much and read the very short This is Water. It’s impossible to compare this with Infinite Jest of course, and I am still unsure what to really make of it.

The last book of a Chinese writer I read in 2016 was Liao Yiwu’s The Corpse Walker. It’s a collection of heart-wrenching stories and Liao’s life journey is incredible. The people he talks to are not always people one can sympathize with but he presents them in a way that hurts and haunts.

After studying Chinese Studies in my B.A. I finally came around to reading the Communist Manifesto by Marx years after getting my degree. Would have definitely been more useful to read that book before talking about socialism with Chinese characteristics...

I finally fulfilled a dream and read Heimsuchungen by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It was a Christmas present and the first book I read that is written by her and I was not disappointed! Can’t wait to read more by her in 2017.

I thought I could give myself a boost by finishing 2016 with What I talk about when I talk about running by Murakami. I loved the insights into his mind but I also found out that I am no runner any longer. So much for finally rediscovering my running motivation in 2017...

What a wild year it’s been!

#books #books are important #booklr #haruki murakami #jhumpa lahiri #david foster wallace #dave eggers #reading goals #reading 2016 #cynthia enloe #defiance #feminism #read more

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writebadsongs-blog · 5 years ago

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An interview with Dutch Carson

What do you get when you mix indie rock with a dash of country & western, a pinch of classic rock, and a few dollops of soul? Dutch Carson’s musical stylings have all the ingredients for a recipe your ears will thank you for. Guitar. Mandolin. Powerful, yet soothing vocals. Emo. Indie. Country. Rock ’n Roll. All of this comes together to create a beautiful, tasty, and unique landscape of sound and story: Dutch Carson’s Story.

I’m excited to share Dutch’s thoughts with you:

Why do you write?

I write to to satisfy a need in myself. I can’t entirely explain it, but I’ve always had the strong desire to write - but never really started developing the skill itself until recently. I suppose I’ve always had strong emotions and feelings - ideas even - but just left it at that...never really trying to articulate them.

What are some unique practices or rituals you use in your writing? (For generating new ideas or finishing songs, etc.)

It’s hard to say whether or not my practices are unique or not. So far, most of the songs that I’ve written have just come to me in a burst of creativity. A thought that just popped into my head and being able to recognize the moment has been the biggest thing for me. Saying to myself “get some paper or get your phone and write this down” and then typically it all just kind of pours out. There have been maybe one or two songs that I’ve written that have been a conscious or deliberate attempt to write on a certain topic. This for me is definitely harder and definitely more dependent on my mood. Whenever I’ve written like that I just have to reach deep and really let the concept of the song consume me.

Have you written bad songs? Share some excerpts with me if you feel comfortable! How have you grown since?

I personally feel I’ve written some bad songs. Of course some might say that that is a subjective matter. I think when I picked up the guitar again after a long while away from it I’d written a song about going out and meeting girls that was pretty bad. Things like “finish my spliff and I get right into it” and “the boys” and “the crew” were mentioned. Yeah, it makes me laugh when I think about it in a really uncomfortable kind of way.

What is a lyric you’re proud of writing?

A lyric that I am proud of

“I’ve seen so many hearts that are shiny, but pyrite, well it shines just like gold...And oh, how I saw you sparkle, but when I took a bite I almost broke a tooth”

You’ve only recently started writing songs, but you’ve been playing with Minor Birds who has been involved in music for a long time. Do you see those perspectives clashing? What have you learned from that experience?

I’ve been writing stuff on guitar for awhile now but I’ve always just been too self conscious and in my head too much about writing lyrics that don’t sound basic and cliche. I’m finally starting to overcome that and it’s been an amazing and rewarding experience. Touring and having the opportunity to play with Chelsea from Minor Birds has been an amazing experience - she has been my mentor for close to 2 years now and I don’t think I’d be half as far as I’ve come in my development as a singer-songwriter without her. She is a brilliant singer and songwriter and musician all together. Touring and opening shows for her has given me a rocket boost in my career and allowed me to progress much faster. I’ve learned a great deal from her not only about writing but some of the ins and outs of the business. I suppose, in some situations where an experienced musician was working with a fairly inexperienced musician there could be some problems, however Chelsea is also a highly patient person and a natural mentor. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from Chelsea aside from songwriting is tour etiquette/ show etiquette. I think there are a lot of young musicians out there that go into a show or touring that are maybe unintentionally rude or do things unintentionally without knowing that it isn’t okay.

You have a very unique approach to your music. Some people might describe as folk or even alt-country. But I think it’s a little like taking a classic farmhouse full of history and placing it in the bustle of downtown New York City, it’s wonderful. Talk to me about how you’ve evolved to where you are: What has influenced your style? What draws you to the music you write?

Haha, thank you. I like the way you put it.

I do feel like a total mashed up ball of music, and although the music I write goes so many different directions, the style I am currently focusing on that does seem to be recurring right now are musical roots that take me back to my childhood...or when I was living abroad and homesick somehow became more fond to me and became evermore so. When I write it’s completely intuitive. I don’t spend a ton of time thinking about the next line or the best words. That comes later in the refining process to help clean up the message I am trying to get across or to support what I was feeling when I first wrote the song.

I’ve also started reading a book called “ Lost Highway” by Peter Guralnick that has further more fueled my passion for roots country and the amazing stories of the people who pioneered a whole genre. I don’t in anyway connect with the country music that’s been released in the last 25 years or so (apart from a hand full of artists that are trying to return to what country used to be).Like I said though, If you were to flip through the video catalogue of unfinished projects on my phone you might be shocked to find the diversity and eclectic mix of sounds that I tend to create - but for the sake of taking things one step at a time, I’m starting where it seems some mysterious force is directing me.

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mastcomm · 5 years ago

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At Under the Radar, Avant-Garde Shows Leap Outside Reality

At this year’s Under the Radar Festival, which continues at the Public Theater through Sunday, the survey of what’s new in the international avant-garde has included 12 featured offerings, four cabaret acts and six pieces of developmental work under the Incoming! rubric. Here’s a final report from the front line.

An electric affinity crackles between the man and the woman in line for the movies. They have never met before, but they both stand out in the crowd. The head of each has been subtly illuminated, as if framed by self-consciousness.

And you may wonder — because their faces are both disfigured beyond concealment — if such self-consciousness ever leaves them.

Thus begins the exquisite “Feos” (“The Ugly Ones” in English) from the Chilean troupe Teatro y Su Doble, conceived and directed by Aline Kuppenheim. This quiet, resonant production is a boy-meets-girl story of a singular stripe.

That’s partly because our leading, would-be lovers are portrayed by mannequin puppets. I initially thought these figures were life-size, until I was able to discern — in the gloaming of a sustained, velvety night (lighted by José Luis Cifuentes) — the larger human beings in black who manipulate them.

Such a disorienting perspective befits a work that asks us to think about how we see others. So does having its principal characters, in a long scene set in a cafe, seated so we see only their “good” side. We could almost forget here that they have very visible distinguishing traits that set them apart.

Or we could if these nameless characters weren’t engaged in concentrated talk about what it means to look the way they look. (The show is in Spanish, with supertitles.) They are fatalistically preoccupied, in particular, with how their appearances affect their prospects for an active sex life.

The Mario Benedetti story that inspired this production is very short and elliptical. This adaptation, by the uncompromising playwright Guillermo Calderón, fills in the conversational blanks.

These characters speak with the hesitations of any couple that has just met. Yet their similarities allow them an unusual frankness, and their discussion implicitly becomes a dialogue on physical appearance as an existentially defining force.

Neither of them has been invested with extraordinary charm or pluckiness. But we find ourselves deeply invested in the outcome of this evening. The play concludes with a wordless morning after that glows with aching ambivalence. BEN BRANTLEY

“If you get motion sick at any time just raise your hand.”

That’s the unusual advice delivered as an audience consisting of only four people enters a darkened classroom on the Public’s third floor to see the virtual reality work “To the Moon.”

After donning the requisite headset and taking hold of the manual controllers provided, I understood why: During the course of the 15-minute experience, the four of us, seated on far-spaced stools and isolated even further in discrete mindscapes, were launched from Earth and incorporated into a series of gravity-defying lunar vignettes.

There’s a lot of gorgeous psychedelia in the vignettes, created by the pioneering electronic avant-gardist Laurie Anderson and the new media artist Hsin-Chien Huang. A galactic debris storm pelts your spacesuit with rocks and moon mud. Extinct creatures made from DNA skeletons loom and lumber. A donkey takes you for a ride to the rim of a dizzying abyss.

If there is no explicit conflict, there is a quieter message about the smallness of human life in the universe and its outsize capacity for mischief. Flags trying to signify ownership pop up on the lunar surface. The earth rises very small in the distance, yet you keep looking around for it in hope or worry. Your shadow gets tinier and tinier.

“I love the stars because we cannot hurt them,” Anderson whispers through your headset in her best bedtime voice.

Her tinkly, thrumming music enhances the feeling that “To the Moon” is more of an illustrated soundtrack or a high-tech cartoon than a piece of theater. A display in the hallway outside the classroom says it was inspired by the tale of a Chinese painter who, upon finishing an enormous vertical landscape of unprecedented detail, walked into it and disappeared.

“To the Moon” wasn’t dramatic enough to make me do the same. Although I kept trying to pet my lovely donkey, I couldn’t shake the awareness that, ultimately, I was pawing in the dark at nothing. JESSE GREEN

It is a terrible pickup line, but Liu Mei uses it every time.

“Do you know why it’s impossible to lick the tips of your elbows?” she asks. “They hold the secret to immortality.”

The guy she has her eye on might edge away before she urges him to try it. But in Wang Chong’s cinematically intimate production of “Nick Payne’s Constellations,” for the Beijing company Théâtre du Rêve Expérimental, that guy is always Du Lei. And in some versions of their lives, they fall in love.

As Mei (Wang Xiaohuan), a Beijing physicist, tells Lei (Li Jialong), a beekeeper, “In the quantum multiverse, every choice, every decision you’ve ever and never made exists in an unimaginably vast ensemble of parallel universes.”

That is the conceit of Payne’s stop-and-start play, with brief scenes performed over and over, each in a universe with its own mood and circumstances, where tiny decisions alter a person’s path.

The actors, a married couple offstage, are captivating in their versatility, though their performances are calibrated for (and conveniently subtitled on) the video screen above the stage. Down below, angled toward the cameras, they often have their backs to us.

When Ruth Wilson and Jake Gyllenhaal starred in “Constellations” five years ago on Broadway, as characters called Marianne and Roland, balloons floated just above the stage. This Mandarin-language production, whose Under the Radar run at La MaMa ended on Jan. 12, has a more starkly elegant look.

The circular set (by Ji Linlin and Di Tianyi) is bare except for the cameras stationed along its periphery, and the live hamster in a transparent box at center stage. From the time the audience enters, it races on its wheel, getting nowhere.

Between scenes, where we see fragments of Mei and Lei’s future shadowed by loss, the screen shows the hamster in close-up — a reminder of the cyclical nature of life and the futility of trying to alter the immutable. Lick your elbow all you like, but even a multiverse won’t rescue you from mortality. LAURA COLLINS-HUGHES

Under the Radar Festival Through Sunday at various locations; 212-967-7555, publictheater.org.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/at-under-the-radar-avant-garde-shows-leap-outside-reality/

#Entertainment

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danithebookaholic-blog · 6 years ago

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REVIEW! - Historical Mystery, Musical Memoir & Women’s Satire

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Historical Mystery, Musical Memoir & Women’s Satire

A new year, a new year full of books!

I took some time off with the holidays to enjoy family and to take a breather, something that I need to do time-to-time so I don’t get burned out, which can - and does - happen. Since I took that time for myself, I have quite the TBR list for this upcoming year! Some ARCs (advance reader copies) and some older ones that have been sitting on my shelf, or on my virtual Audible shelf, that are in the wings waiting to be picked up!

So, for this first review session of the new year, I have quite a smattering of different genres, everything from a historical mystery to a musical memoir and a women’s fiction satire!

So, without further ado, here are my reviews - and their wine pairings - of: 📚 Diane Setterfield’s Once Upon a River (2018 Historical Mystery) 📚 Amanda Palmer’s The Art of Asking; Or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help (2014 Musical Memoir) 📚 Sylvia Mulholland’s A Nanny for Harry (2018 Women’s Fiction Satire)

From one bookaholic to another, I hope I’ve helped you find your next fix. —Dani

Once Upon a River

By Diane Setterfield

Publication Date: December 4, 2018 Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy

Synopsis:

A dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the Thames. The regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open on an injured stranger. In his arms is the drowned corpse of a little child.

Hours later the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life.

Is it a miracle?

Is it magic?

Or can it be explained by science?

Replete with folklore, suspense and romance, as well as with the urgent scientific curiosity of the Darwinian age, Once Upon a River is as richly atmospheric as Setterfield’s bestseller The Thirteenth Tale.

Purchase:

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / Google Play / IndieBound

Review:

Looking for a historical novel with a bit of mystery? Then Once Upon a River is a great place to start! While I did have a hard time getting into this novel, once I finally got into the groove of the time period, I quickly became enamored with the story, staying up late and waking early just to get a few extra chapters in.

This early 20th-century tale is focused on one very mysterious little girl, who--in reality--no one really knows who she is. The mystery continues throughout the story (and even beyond), as the silent little girl is passed from home-to-home of those who claim she is theirs, even though none of them are truly sure.

Once Upon a River is one for my ‘favorites’ shelf for sure! It was intriguing and captivating, and the presentation of how all of the claiming families’ lives are intertwined with one another all because of this beguiling little girl was absolutely fantastic!

I pondered a long time over my final score for this wonderful book, only to finally decide on a 4.5 rating due to the slow beginning. Once you get passed that slow start, you will not be disappointed!

Dani's Score out of 5: 📚📚📚📚🔖

Pair it with: Blank Stare Sauvignon Blanc

Pale yellow with a chartreuse tint, the wine opens with bright aromatics of lime zest, lemon, green apple and a touch of honey. The entry is refreshing with ripe pineapple and grapefruit, framed by a nervy backbone of satiating acidity. A mid-palate of white peach and a hint of pith melds seamlessly into a long, energetic finish of wet stone and key lime. Pair with a basil pizza.

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Audio Book Review

The Art of Asking; Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help

By Amanda Palmer

Publication Date: November 11, 2014 Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir, Music

Synopsis:

Rock star, crowdfunding pioneer, and TED speaker Amanda Palmer knows all about asking. Performing as a living statue in a wedding dress, she wordlessly asked thousands of passersby for their dollars. When she became a singer, songwriter, and musician, she was not afraid to ask her audience to support her as she surfed the crowd (and slept on their couches while touring). And when she left her record label to strike out on her own, she asked her fans to support her in making an album, leading to the world's most successful music Kickstarter.

Even while Amanda is both celebrated and attacked for her fearlessness in asking for help, she finds that there are important things she cannot ask for-as a musician, as a friend, and as a wife. She learns that she isn't alone in this, that so many people are afraid to ask for help, and it paralyzes their lives and relationships. In this groundbreaking book, she explores these barriers in her own life and in the lives of those around her, and discovers the emotional, philosophical, and practical aspects of The Art Of Asking.

Part manifesto, part revelation, this is the story of an artist struggling with the new rules of exchange in the twenty-first century, both on and off the Internet. The Art Of Asking will inspire readers to rethink their own ideas about asking, giving, art, and love.

Purchase:

Amazon / Audible / B&N / Kobo / Google Play

Review:

I usually do not care for books when read by the author. When books are read by their author, the author is usually unaccustomed to reading out loud and so one or more of the following ends up happening:

Emphasis is usually given in the wrong places.

Its read in a monotone.

The pace is grueling-ly S-L-O-W.

So, when I saw that Amanda Palmer, the author or The Art of Asking, was the one narrating her book I almost passed it over. And I did for a couple months, but something kept drawing me back to it, and so I finally caved, and bought it.

Thankfully, Amanda did none of the bullet points mentioned above, and turns out, whatever kept drawing my attention to The Art of Asking was completely right in doing so. I loved this book, and I’ve talked about it (and suggested it) multiple times to multiple people since listening to it.

This memoir of Amanda’s life pre and intra-music business, is a powerful and eye-opening one that not only shows the reader into Amanda’s life, but millions of others. And if the reader looks closely enough, they’ll see into their own as well. And while this is not necessarily a ‘self-help’ book, it definitely can be taken that way.

I have always been one to shy away from asking others for things: a project, housework, money, personal issues, etc. I grew up in a family where we didn’t display our dirty laundry for the world to see, and therefore we didn’t ask for help to wash it, so to speak. But after listening to The Art of Asking, I have already found me asking myself, “Why can’t I ask for help with that? The worst that can happen is they say, ‘No.’”

Amanda’s book has helped me to see my own life, and many others’, in a whole new light. The next time I see a street statue or performer, I will take the time to stop and really watch them perform. The next time I see a KickStarter or a GoFundMe, I’ll take the time to really think about helping them, instead of automatically saying no. And the next time I see someone in a bad place, needing essential items to live, I’ll think, “WWAD?” (What Would Amanda Do), and proceed from there.

If you’re looking for unique perspective on life, needing someone to help you see the light at the end of the long dark tunnel, or are in need of some courage to ask for help, then I cannot recommend Amanda Palmer’s The Art of Asking enough. And, if you listen to the audio version of it (which I also highly recommend), you’ll get some fun--and different!--music to listen to as well! (I especially like the one about the ukulele!)

Dani's Score out of 5: 📚📚📚📚📚

Pair it with: Bread & Butter Pinot Noir

This Pinot Noir boasts juicy red fruit. Think cherries and raspberries with a touch of cassis. Delicate hints of cedar and bay leaf balance the sweetness of the fruit, creating an enduring bouquet. That luscious fruit bouquet continues onto the palate, where it’s joined by soft flavors of oak and savory notes. The rich mouthfeel is complemented by a long and beautifully smooth finish. Pair with wood smoked bacon.

Website / Facebook / Instagram

A Nanny for Harry

By Sylvia Mulholland

Publication Date: August 19, 2018 Genre: Adult, Women’s Fiction, Humor

Synopsis:

Workaholic attorney Kali Miller has it all—perfect husband, perfect house and on her way to partnership at her firm. And she’s about to have the perfect baby, to complete the picture. But doing it all turns out to be a lot harder than having it all. Baby Harry needs a nanny, so Kali can get back to work, and stay on track. Britta is blonde, beguiling and Swedish enough to make any new mom insecure. She dotes on little Harry but leaves most of the unpleasant chores to Kali. Worse, she seems to have some sort of “past” with Kali’s husband, Matt. As Kali continues basically juggling on empty and trying to do it all, insecurity and paranoia grab hold of her brain. Just who is this Britta Edvardsson anyway? And what does she want with Matt? And little Harry? Hilarious, hair-raising and at times heart-breaking, A Nanny for Harry is a story for all new moms, babies and those who love them.

Purchase:

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / IndieBound

Review:

This quirky little tale was fun and witty, with a twist of mystery, but overall quickly became old and annoying. I enjoyed the overall end result of the story, but I did not enjoy the journey to get there. While most might find Kali Miller to be a funny, new-mother with all her worries and woes about her son’s well-being, I found her constant worry over her marriage to be annoying and to drag me down.

Kali never has a real reason to worry over her husband, Matt, and their nanny, Britta’s, relationship, and yet, because Britta is a beautiful young ex-model, she automatically thinks something is going on between them, and yet does nothing about it.I found this portion of the story to be annoying and tiring, Nothing good can come from a jealous woman, especially one as passive-aggressive as Kali.

Kali’s worry for her son, Harry’s, well-being is one I understand more, and slowly she begins to relinquish this. But her constant emotional roll-a-coaster from marital-worry to baby-worry to worry about losing her job--one she doesn’t seem too concerned about in the first place--makes me wonder if there is more than postpartum hormones going on.

One thing that I think A Nanny for Harry had going for it was the slight twist into a mystery at the end. Throughout the book you know there is something else there, something lurking just under the surface, but you don’t find out what that is until the end, and I’m happy it was there and finally addressed, no matter how quickly it was named and then excused.

In the end, I didn’t connect to the story, but I’m sure mothers--especially those with hot nannies--would connect to Kali’s woes quite easily. I, on the other hand, didn’t enjoy the journey to get to the end result. I did, however, like the taste of mystery waiting for me at the end; like a gift for suffering through all worry.

Dani's Score out of 5: 📚📚📚

**Sorry, no wine pairing for A Nanny for Harry.

Have a book you’d like to suggest or one you’d like me to review? Please feel free to leave your comments down below.

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goarticletec-blog · 6 years ago

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This Olympics, Gus Kenworthy Has Nothing to Hide

New Post has been published on https://www.articletec.com/this-olympics-gus-kenworthy-has-nothing-to-hide/

This Olympics, Gus Kenworthy Has Nothing to Hide

As soon as I ask Gus Kenworthy about being gay and being an Olympic freestyle skier, I want to crawl under a rock. A snow bank. Maybe a snow rock.

In preparing to speak to him, this was the one question I had decided against asking, because it’s reductive and shallow, but boom, it just came out. For the first time in our conversation, he seems a little bit annoyed, and it’s hard to blame him. Because there are so many better questions than “can you be what the world has come to expect of an Olympic athlete and be an opinionated gay man?”

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Dodging those questions is difficult though because it’s a big gay, snowy thing society likes to talk about. After all, he is the first action sport athlete to publicly come out. As the march for social justice moves forward though, it’s easy to forget that there’s actual people behind the headlines. Gus Kenworthy is a litany of things: a dog-lover, a boyfriend, a Halloween costume enthusiast, and for the context of this conversation, one of the first openly gay males who will be competing for the United States at the Winter Olympics. The last one is a big deal, but it’s not the whole deal.

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Addressing my question, Kenworthy charmingly says, with a slight scoff, “Totally. I think that is what I am. I think it’s so important to have visibility and to break down stereotypes and stigmas and everything that people are so attached to. I hate the weird pressure that people put on masculinity. I just think that there’s no correlation between anything.”

If anyone has the power to break down stereotypes and stigmas, it’s Kenworthy. He is a sort of Chosen Son of LGBTQ Winter Olympians, and certainly an assumed favorite to make it to 2018’s games in PyeongChang—that is hard to gloss over.

His first run at the Winter games was in Sochi in 2014, while he was still in the closet. There, he rose to Good Guy status through a viral story about him saving stray dogs (in reality, that was mostly the actions of his boyfriend at the time), and took second place in the Slopestyle event while he was at it. But the idea of being in Russia with the silver medal and the dogs and the boyfriend without being able to publicly be himself didn’t sit well with him. So Kenworthy came out to his friends and family, and then in the pages of ESPN The Magazine.

“It was a really big journey building up to that point and getting comfortable enough to come out, but then afterward, it was kind of like ‘OK, cool, like now I’m out.’ (laughs) I have been preparing myself for such a long time that it didn’t take much. And the following season for me, sports-wise, was my best season that I’ve ever had.”

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It all reads like a post-run interview. A little nervous to start, but he nailed all the landings and he’s ready to get onto the next part. From his perspective, that mentality comes in part from the time he spent in the closet.

“I can only speak for myself, but I can probably project this on other out athletes. Being in the closet, as horrible as it is, had some positive repercussions on competing. I don’t want to ever say that because coming out was the best thing I ever did for myself, but being in the closet helped me compartmentalize and to focus on whatever it was that and shut everything else out. For me that was an important skill.”

This article originally appeared on Esquire’s Snapchat Discover channel.

Esquire

Crazy, right? But of the 53 out, gay athletes at the Rio Summer games, 47% of them took home a medal. That’s higher than the average of most countries competing. That’s not to say there’s something in the water—they test for that kind of stuff. But maybe there is something to be said about the headspace of an LGBTQ athlete.

When I bring up that stat and ask if he thinks it’s by chance, he very dryly states, “No, gay people are better than everybody,” before waiting a second to burst out in laughter.

In a way, that seems to be Kenworthy’s M.O. The conversation continually bounces back and forth from the skiing and what life post-coming out is like to jokes and topics he’s excited to discuss. He has excellent taste in cupcakes, for the record, “There is a place in New York that has these tiny cupcakes, and I’m blanking on the name right now. It’s named after the girl who started it, but they have a peanut butter and jelly one that’s crazy good.” He’s the kind of guy who will make you laugh or find a way to disarm you for the sake of comfortability. (Editor’s note: the cupcake spot is Baked by Melissa, and the PB&J ones are crazy good.)

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“For me as a kid. I always felt like being gay was something that was going make people turn on me. I pushed myself incredibly hard in school and in sports and did all these extracurriculars. I did all these things to try and like, ‘make myself better’ because part of me felt like I was bad in a way? Of course I don’t think that at all anymore, but I imagine that a lot of other out athletes and closeted athletes feel the same way at some point or another and I’m sure that that just helps in terms of finding motivation and finding drive.”

The past few years have been about truly coming into his own. He didn’t know much about the gay community before coming out, and now, when he’s not practicing for Slopestyle or the half pipe, he’s watching a rerun of RuPaul’s Drag Race. “That shit’s my favorite show. I’m obsessed, and I love all the queens that come off of it, and I think it’s an important show that’s taught me so much about the community and different aspects I wouldn’t have known about.” That’s when he launches into talking about one drag queen, Peppermint, is actually a trans woman and how he’s learned that trans women are also able to do drag. This whole world, well, it’s a learning process.

When Kenworthy is passionate about something it shows. The skiing is obvious. The cupcakes and Drag Race are a bit more of surprises. The part about actually being gay? Well, it’s not that he’s not passionate about being gay—he absolutely is—it’s just that he thinks leading headlines with that detail makes as much sense as leading with someone’s right-handedness.

“I’m proud to be from a country where I can speak up.”

With every medal and TV appearance, athletes like Kenworthy are breaking down walls and stereotypes that surround gay athletes. He isn’t looking to stand on some kind of special podium for this one part of who he is, but he does hope that maybe through his own platform, coming out and being true to yourself will be easier for those looking up to him, particularly those who aren’t out.

“The fears are all kind of valid and they’re all kind of the same. When you’re able to be honest with yourself about who you are and finally can present your authentic true self to the world, you feel so much better about yourself and it makes it easier for everyone else to feel better about you.”

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On this year’s National Coming Out Day, he hit Twitter with a thoughtful message to any followers who might be listening and debating coming out. But in the same breath, he acknowledges the platform of being an advocate is a complicated one. “Sometimes getting on Twitter is like a chore because everything I see is upsetting. I don’t think I’m the most researched on every single thing, but I definitely try. I want to speak up. I’m proud to be from a country where I can speak up.” This is Kenworthy in his purest form: researched, well-meaning, and willing to learn.

And time is on his side. At 26-years-old, he’s still pioneering two skiing disciplines that were only introduced to Olympic competition in 2014. And while laying the groundwork for slopestyle and halfpipe competition, he’s also guiding the conversation for other out LGBTQ athletes in a way that celebrates the community without making it a breaking news headline.

For now, he’ll settle on headlines that focus on his incredible work on the slopes of Pyeongchang. After a series of qualifying events, his slot is solidified and he’ll be eyeing another medal, though this time he’d prefer it be a little more gold than silver. But the biggest prize this round has already been awarded. He’s skating as a fully-realized, gay Olympian—a title that needs no further explanation. And win or lose, it’ll all be fine as long as there’s peanut butter jelly cupcakes waiting at the finish line.

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hellofastestnewsfan · 6 years ago

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Jeff Johnson is 40 years old, and for all 40 of those years, he has been living with hemophilia. The genetic disorder prevents blood from properly clotting, which, if untreated, can cause uncontrollable bleeding. Yet, Johnson says, he does not want a cure. He grew up with hemophilia, went to summer camp with kids with hemophilia, and forged some of his closest relationships within the community.

I was interested in speaking to Johnson because new advances in gene therapy and gene editing are making the elusive cure seem closer than ever. At least five clinical trials are currently aiming to fix the faulty genes that underlie hemophilia. The New York Times recently interviewed patients from one gene-therapy trial who no longer had to worry about bruising and bleeding. “They Thought Hemophilia Was a ‘Lifelong Thing,’” read the headline. “They May Be Wrong.” It is unknown how long the effects of the therapy will last.

“I’ve been told the hemophilia cure is around the corner for literally the last 30 years,” Johnson told me with a laugh. “Which I know sounds a little cynical, but when you’ve been around the bend as many times as I have, you kind of start hedging your bets.” He does not speak for every hemophilia patient, of course, but at a time of increasing optimism about cures, his perspective is thought-provoking. Johnson lives in Washington State, and he is actively involved in the hemophilia-patient community. As is not uncommon for patients, he also works for a specialty pharmacy that dispenses hemophilia drugs.

In two conversations, we spoke about his experience growing up with hemophilia, his sense of identity, and his hopes for his newborn baby girl. The interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Sarah Zhang: Tell me about your experience living with hemophilia.

Jeff Johnson: As early as I remember, honestly, I was having to go in to the emergency room for regular injections. I was on a different medication at the time, cryoprecipitate [which is derived from blood plasma and contains clotting factors]. I remember some kind of foggy memories as a toddler. The cryo was frozen, so it would have to sit out on the counter and thaw, and then they would do the infusion, and it would drip in over the course of a couple of hours.

There were people who were on clotting factor [which could be stored at home] when I was a kid. The hematologist had told my dad that factor might not be safe. There were hemophiliacs getting sick from it, so my dad didn’t let them use factor on me. It turns out hemophiliacs were getting sick because they were contracting HIV from their factor, so I was on the older treatment, but it ended up saving my life.

Right now, I deal more with the aftereffects of bleeds that I had years ago than I do with bleeds today. I had arthritis in my knees since my early 20s. I have arthritis and damage in my spine from bleeds, so those things just, they kind of wear on you more and more. I did get hepatitis, but I didn’t get HIV.

Zhang: You’ve been talking about some of the challenges of living with hemophilia. So why are you personally not interested in a cure?

Johnson: The analogy I offer people, and I offer to you, is, as a woman, I’m sure you experience difficulties and challenges just being a woman in life. If someone came to you and said, “We’ve got a genetic cure for being a woman,” that would be really bizarre to you because being a woman is who you are.

I am hemophilia. I don’t have it. I am hemophilia. So when they come to me and say, “We’ve got a genetic cure for hemophilia,” to me, that’s just as weird as if you said you’ve got a genetic cure on the horizon for your left foot. This is really who I am. So I don’t necessarily see it as something that needs a cure. As far as genetic cures go, the whole principle of changing my DNA is something I’m not comfortable with. A lot of us that grew up with it, it’s part of our identity, so we don’t really see separating our identity from us.

A CRISPR pioneer on gene editing: “We shouldn’t screw it up”

Zhang: Not everyone in the hemophilia community feels the same way about gene therapy or gene editing, of course. One thing I’ve heard talking to people with hemophilia is that for older folks—who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s when treatment was not as good and then lived through the HIV epidemic—there is a really strong sense of identity and community. Do you sense a generational divide in attitudes about a cure that would fundamentally alter your DNA?

Johnson: There is very much a generational divide. I think it’s really more among parents.

Zhang: How so?

Johnson: The group I see most ardently wishing for a cure are new parents. They’re people who don’t have hemophilia, so it’s not part of their identity, so they still kind of see it as something that’s separate from us. To them, hemophilia is an invader—like for 20 years of their life where it wasn’t part of their existence and they had a kid, and that kid had hemophilia. They see hemophilia as this intruder that needs to be cured and taken away from their lives.

Zhang: But if you’re a kid with hemophilia, that’s been part of you your whole life ...

Johnson: As you see parents and their families grow, you’ll see a cure is all they talk about for the first four, five years. And then the kids get to like 5 to 10 and they’re going to summer camp for kids with hemophilia and managing their disorder; the parents talk less and less about a cure. And then when you get to the teenage years, unless they’ve got a really bad inhibitor or something [which prevents the use of clotting factors], the parents have kind of graduated on to, “It is what it is.” If there’s a cure, cool, but he’s doing fine. You really see that in young parents because that cure is the light at the end of the tunnel that they didn’t plan to be walking through.

Zhang: Do you have kids yourself?

Johnson: We have a two-month-old baby girl. My wife and I started talking about kids four years ago. I found out really late that I had contracted hepatitis from my cryo. Even though it’s pretty safe to still conceive when you have hepatitis, it just was too nerve-racking to me to risk passing that infection on to my wife. So I fought for my insurance for three years to get treatment for my hepatitis. I switched jobs to the one I currently have, got new insurance, finally got approved. I actually finished my treatment regimen [last year].

Zhang: Did you think about the possibility of passing hemophilia to your kids?

Johnson: So the way that the genetics work, if I have sons, they’ll inherit my Y chromosome. So if I only have sons, it wipes it out. If I have daughters, they’re going to inherit my X. That’s going to mean that either they carry it to their children, or it may present to the point where my daughter may actually have hemophilia.

Zhang: Does your daughter have symptoms of hemophilia?

Johnson: At two months, her body’s still forming itself. So if we tested her factor level now, that would be meaningless because that would change in a few days. It really won’t level out until she reaches puberty. We’ll check her levels every now and then and if she grows up and she decides she wants to play soccer or something like that, it’ll be something that we watch for, but we really won’t know until she’s a teenager if she’s a full-fledged hemophiliac or if her factor levels are high enough that she’s not going to be affected.

We’ve realized in the last 10 to 15 years that girls who we’ve traditionally called carriers, they’re still bleeding from a factor deficiency sometimes. Not quite as badly as I do, but they’re still bleeding. Treatment for girls with hemophilia is not as good as it is for boys with hemophilia.

The doctor doesn’t listen to her. But the media is starting to.

Zhang: How are girls treated differently?

Johnson: Hemophilia, growing up my entire life, because it’s on the X chromosome, we were taught that it only affects boys. Only boys have hemophilia. And the big problem we’re facing is that that is so entrenched in the medical establishment that hematologists will still tell women, “Well, you don’t have hemophilia. You’re a woman. You just bruise easily.” We still have those horror stories today of a woman going in and her menstrual flow lasts for like three weeks, and she has a child and she almost bleeds to death. She got joint damage in her 20s or 30s. She’s got all the hallmarks of having hemophilia, and even today, hematologists will tell women, “Well, hemophilia affects men. You’re just a carrier.”

As soon as a doctor says no, that starts to throw up roadblocks because that gives insurers an excuse to say, no, we’re not going to cover expensive treatment therapies. So a big portion of our community’s efforts now are about ensuring that our hemophilia sisters have the same quality and access to care that hemophilia brothers do. So we’ve got a bit of inequality even within our community, which is unfortunate.

Because I’m a community activist, I’m educated, I work in the community, I would feel confident handling my daughter’s hemophilia. It doesn’t bother me. Whether she does or she doesn’t, I know we can have a full, thriving life with hemophilia.

from The Atlantic https://ift.tt/2wqvXZs

#Blogger

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storiescanberewritten · 6 years ago

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#6 Cat's Cradle: Warhead

After a recent meeting with the lovely Andrew Cartmel (Script Editor for Doctor Who during the Seventh Doctor era of 1987-1989), I have been inspired to finally complete a full read-through of the Virgin New Adventures range of Doctor Who books that ran through the early to late 90s in the so called 'Wilderness Years' when Doctor Who was off TV. I'm starting here, having read the first five books in the range previously, with Cartmel's first contribution.

Cat's Cradle: Warhead stands as the middle chapter of the Cat's Cradle trilogy, a very loosely connected series of books. In the first, Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, the TARDIS becomes damaged after a collision with an Ancient Gallifreyan time ship piloted by the first time travelling pioneers in Gallifreyan history. I only vaguely know the intricacies of the over-arching plot threads of the New Adventures range, but I can assure you that details of Ancient Gallifrey and the Time Lords will be in abundance throughout. Stay tuned if that sounds of interest. For right now, all we need to know is that the TARDIS characterises its own damaged status with a silver cat (which we see Ace holding on the cover up there) and this cat appears precisely ONCE in this book. Elsewhere, Ace mentions precisely ONCE that the TARDIS is still damaged and...that's about it. As I say, it's loosely connected.

Warhead focuses on the Butler Institute, a company doing research into freeing humanity from the restraints of soft and weak fleshy bodies by taking the mind and transferring it into machines. Which sounds a lot like the Cybermen now that I actually write it down. The book introduces two characters in Vincent and Justine, whom I understand also appear in Cartmel's other two books in the New Adventures range. Vincent is possibly best described as being telekinetic, however his ability can only be triggered by contact with a person experiencing a fit of emotion, which in turn causes an explosive release of his power. The Doctor plans to take down the Butler Institute by bringing Vincent together with Justine, a girl who has experienced a lot of trauma in her life, stemming initially from a harrowing traffic accident when she was a child. Passages describing awful incidents in the early lives of both Vincent and Justine were the most effective scenes in the book for me, and you can easily understand the determination and drive of both characters. Quite why the Doctor wants to use two emotionally scarred kids to blow up the Institute rather than some other, less ethically meniacal method, isn't really explained.

The darker motivations and scheming of the Seventh Doctor are probably something that is going to be explored a lot more throughout these books, for better or worse. Andrew Cartmel's time as script editor for the show was driven by a desire to make the Doctor a much more mysterious character with ambiguous motivations. This resulted in some great TV stories and these books pick up on the general idea of making the Doctor a more omnipotent, controlling persona, spinning many plates at a time and nudging plans into action from behind the scenes. We'll see how far this goes in books to come but even here some of the Doctor's actions are very questionable. I don't think you're going to see the Doctor walking away from a gang of kids brutally killing a serial child murderer on TV any time soon.

Sticking with the theme of mystery, the Doctor and Ace take a backseat for much of the novel, the Doctor primarily flitting in and out of the other characters stories for the first half of the book. These seemingly disconnected scenes come together satisfyingly later on as you realise how they have all been contributing towards the Doctor's plan and playing into the larger story. But you couldn't really say that the book is focused on the Doctor's plan, it's more interested in the people affected by the Butler Institute. The Doctor is always there in the background, but seen from the perspective of those people around him. In this regard, I did find a problem in characters disappearing for large swathes of the book and reappearing intermittently. It's easy to lose track of who everyone is when they don't appear for over 100 pages of a 262 page story. Although admittedly part of the problem may be on my side here, spreading my reading over too long a time period and forgetting certain details. Nevertheless, once you remind yourself of who is doing what, the ultimate conclusion is satisfying, and I look forward to seeing what Cartmel does with Vincent and Justine in his sequel, Warlock, the 34th book in the range. We'll get there in time, I'm sure.

Join me again to finish the Cat's Cradle trilogy with Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark, which seems to promise Unicorns, demons, alien worlds and Wales. Hmmmmm.

#doctor who #dr who #seventh doctor #7th doctor #sylvester mccoy #ace #sophie aldred #virgin new adventures #andrew cartmel

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helen-taylor-blog1 · 7 years ago

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♫ Strike a pose (teen vogue, teen vogue, teen vogue) ♫ // Talking Back #8

I remember how excited I was to start eighth grade, because it meant that my mom had decided I was finally old enough to graduate from Girls’ Life magazine to a subscription of Teen Vogue. I loved everything about this new magazine: the way it had “Vogue” in the title, the perfume samples on every other page, the A-list celebrities who always graced the cover. This wasn’t a magazine for girls. It was a magazine for young women.

But ironically, for someone who considered a Teen Vogue subscription to be a marker of maturity, I read it like a picture book. I would flip through the pages just to admire the various fashion spreads, usually finishing an issue within fifteen minutes. If the celebrity on the cover was somebody I recognized and had an interest in, I’d skim their interview. And, of course, if there were any articles about boys (think “Ten Signs your Crush is into You”), I would devour them. My friends all did virtually the same thing.

I get the sense that Teen Vogue is no longer read in this way. Even accounting for the fact that most of the print magazines I read in middle and high school have now been replaced by Snapchat feeds and other online versions, it seems that Teen Vogue has given itself quite the makeover. As I write this, the top stories on the Teen Vogue Snapchat feed include headlines such as “How to accept your body as perfect,” “Why the world actually needs Black Girl Magic,” and “It’s time to deal with Donald Trumps’ [sic] alleged sexual misconduct.” Sure, some of the same old articles are recognizable—stories about Gossip Girl stars have been replaced with stories about Riverdale hotties, and coverage of the Justin Bieber/Selena Gomez breakup have moved aside for stories about, well, the Justin/Selena reunion—but these seem to be largely drowned out by the onslaught of progressive, feminist think pieces.

And I am here for it.

Just compare this Teen Vogue cover from February 2010:

Jessica Szohr Covers 'Teen Vogue' February 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2018, from http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/2404491/jessica-szohr-teen-vogue-february-2010-05.

To this one from December of 2017:

Bauck, W. (2017, November 8). Hillary Clinton Is the Guest Editor and Cover Star of the Latest Print Issue of 'Teen Vogue'. Retrieved February 18, 2018, from https://fashionista.com/2017/11/hillary-clinton-teen-vogue-guest-issue-editor.

Now I’m not saying that the “old” Teen Vogue never published articles to empower its readers, or that the “new” Teen Vogue is a perfect model for feminism. But I am loving the shift toward women’s empowerment that I am seeing in these articles.

So here’s my hangup: are the kids buying this magazine (or following its Insta/Snapchat/whatever) actually reading these articles? Or are they “reading” them in the same way that I did when I was 13? I find myself doubting whether we truly have a new generation of teens and preteens that are this woke.

But then again, it’s been the teenagers of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who—just within the past few days—have been pioneering an impassioned campaign for gun control reform after their school became the site of a terrorist attack on February 14, 2018. They have proven that it doesn’t take an “adult” perspective to understand the current political climate or to vocalize for change. So just maybe, in offering children and young adults a gateway to understanding, sharing, and debating political issues at an earlier age, Teen Vogue is on the right track.

#grinnellyouthculture

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daviddalley-blog · 8 years ago

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Final Mastery Journal Post:

1) How has each course contributed to your personal and professional development as an instructional designer?

1- Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership This course opened my eyes to mastery and what it means to be a master at something. I cam to believe through our studies that not only could I earn a master’s degree but I could become a master at something. It gave me the drive and desire to set goals and see myself in the near future as a master in instructional design. I also discovered the importance of the mentor-apprentice relationship and set the goal of finding me own mentor. Someday I will be someone else’s mentor.

2- Strategies for Learner Engagement This course was partly a wonderful refresher course on a lot of what I learned in my undergrad, music education degree. The other part was an eye opening experience in me coming to understand how important engagement is to instruction. I also discovered the importance of community of practice. The key to engagement for me is in being a part of a team or staying connected with others. The social aspect of learning, I have come to believe, is crucial.

3- Visual and Verbal Communication in Instructional Design I’ve always really enjoyed and been fascinated by the world of graphic design. Typography, color, layout, hierarchy, composition have always caught my interest as a viewer of design. I had spent time many years ago studying graphic design manuals on my own as I desired for a time to become a graphic designer. But this course helped me see through experience and study the importance of clean, simple and aesthetically pleasing design. I also discovered the importance of simplicity in imagery. Overload can cause the viewer to shut down their “learning” mode.

4- Corporate Training and Motivational Development This course was probably the biggest confidence builder of any course in the program for me. I came to realize that I have not only a knack for instructional videos but also a passion. Doing the research, writing the script, setting up the studio, designing graphics, lighting, sound, post-production, it was all a thrill every step along the way. This created in me a desire to work on my niche in ID being instructional videos. I learned the importance of simplicity, the power of a good music bed and how much more effective a human or character in the presentation is. Again, this reaffirmed how important the social aspect of learning is.

5- Instructional Design and Evaluation As if I haven’t said it enough, learning is social. But so is work. I remembered during this course how important working with a team is for me. I enjoy the time I work creatively, alone. But there’s great power in creating as a team, leaning on each other’s strengths and helping each other in weaknesses. The effectiveness of team built instructional experiences was later made even more clear when I discovered the importance of a diverse group of designers. The other discovery this course was how much I learned I love working on animations. My role in the team project was to create the animations. I kept them very simple and found not only that I could do it and that I enjoyed doing it but that it’s very engaging.

6- Digital Media and Learning Applications Interactivity is very engaging! This was a discovery this course and that I also enjoy very much making interactive, animated learning experiences. This course was a test of patience as we were required to use a software that is no longer being developed, Edge Animate. It’s a wonderful program that I thoroughly enjoyed using to make interactive animated modules, but it had so many problems. I have decided to go on and take Lynda courses on the software’s replacement, Animate.

7- Music and Audio for Instructional Design Of all the courses I looked forward to, this is one of the top two. My background is in audio and I have spent many years working in sound design. So at a technical level this course was easy. However, I discovered the joy of copy writing in this course. Creative storytelling writing, I have found, is enjoyable. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of researching a subject and then finding a way to make it engaging. For the project of adding audio to the pre-edited video my step-mom gave me the idea of writing a story from a young pioneer girl’s perspective. This turned out to be powerfully engaging for young people. I see now why Christ so frequently used stories to teach. It’s hard to forget them and there’s many layers to learn. By far, the most fun I had this course, and possibly all my courses, was working with my family on the dramatized Cinderella.

8- Filmmaking Principles for Instructional Design This was the course I most looked forward to. I have always loved the power of audio and visual working together. Film has always fascinated me and after course 4 I looked forward to learning more. As in the previous course I discovered the joy of copy writing and storytelling. It was enjoyable in both projects to work with some of my children. In video projects I’ve done in the past I have always just shot from the hip (not literally) and had a final product in mind but had never done storyboarding. How could I have missed one of the most important parts to the process?! Storyboarding is now a crucial step in video work for me. It’s such a huge waste of time not to use it.

9- Game Strategies and Motivation I have never been one that was much into games, especially video or high-tech. But I learned the importance of games in instruction. I had my own a-ha moment in realizing how teaching through games is inherently self-motivating. Duh! During one of our live classes the instructor asked if anyone played Pokemon Go. Of those who responded yes he asked how many were playing it at that moment. Three students admitted they were. That is powerful! As an ID I have decided I will look for any chance I can to incorporate games into instructional experiences.

10- Learning Management Systems and Organization The whole concept of Learning Management Systems intimidated me. Even more so the design the design of a full course seemed overwhelming. Of all my weaknesses in ID I believe this is my biggest. I am not organized by nature and putting together a whole program and writing the curriculum is hard for me to even conceptualize. It’s wonderful knowing IDs usually work in teams.

11- Media Asset Creation I chose to create my final projects around diversity in the workplace. Indirectly I learned the importance of diversity in a creative team. One of my classmates and I have been talking about seeking out freelance ID work together. It was a big A-HA moment for me when I suddenly realized that one of the reasons she and I would create such effective instructional experiences together is because we are so different - very different! It’s wonderful! We will reach so many more students by creating from two different approaches. One exciting discovery this course was some of the simple yet powerful animation services available online. I felt my video and game concept presentation turned out much better using GoAnimate than I ever could have made them shooting real video. Animation is so engaging and it’s so much easier to shoot virtual video than the real thing!

12- Instructional Design and Technology Final Project Resumes overwhelm me! Putting my portfolio together overwhelms me. I find it very difficult to write about myself, my accomplishments and describing to potential employers why and what I have done. I am feel there is some type of personal block there. It feels so uncomfortable to me to sell myself. But I understand if I want to sell my services, especially if I want to do freelance work, I need to explain myself and put myself out there as good at what I do. This is something I am going to really have to work hard at overcoming.

2) How well were you able to utilize the concepts and techniques you learned from the program (theories, systems design, interface styling, and the creation of multimedia content) as you designed, developed, and implemented your Final Project? I have a very difficult time describing, naming, explaining and quantifying instructional theory. I have always found it intimidating. But I feel, for the most part, I get it and that it comes second nature. This was deeply concerning to me for a time. Then I realized that this does not have to be a strength for me. I remembered that usually instructional design work is done in teams. I have other talents and skills that can far make up for what I lack in these areas. Other than this I felt comfortable and quite confident in utilizing the concepts and techniques I’ve learned this past year. Visual layout, color choices, animations, narration and music, sound design, copy writing, interface styling, all, for the most part turned out well. I feel confident in sharing what I’ve created with potential employers and clients. It’s actually quite interesting to see how much of it came out without much conscious effort. We’ve been layering each piece of instructional design on top of the previous layers, using them so much, that it is coming second nature. That’s exciting!

3) Describe your most outstanding personal triumph in each course. 1- Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership Deciding that I could become a master at instructional design. I overcame doubts and fears and set high goals.

2- Strategies for Learner Engagement This is big for me as it is a weakness, finishing the projects and discussion posts on time. This continued to be a battle for the remainder of the program, but I never gave up.

3- Visual and Verbal Communication in Instructional Design I created an interactive infographic with narration, music and my own personal designs!

4- Corporate Training and Motivational Development I created an engaging instructional video with graphics, narration, green screen shooting and music.

5- Instructional Design and Evaluation I created animated illustrations that are engaging. And I worked collaborated well with a team in a creative endeavor.

6- Digital Media and Learning Applications I created my first, well planned storyboard.

7- Music and Audio for Instructional Design Honestly? I passed this class AND helped organize and plan my daughter’s wedding. Beyond that I was able to gather family members enough to create a fun and entertaining dramatized audio story of Cinderella. I also wrote my first storytelling type copy.

8- Filmmaking Principles for Instructional Design I was able to house-hunt and purchase a house while working full-time and creating an instructional video. I also was able to dub the narration fairly well in post after onsite audio complications.

9- Game Strategies and Motivation I stretched very outside the box and thought like a gamer for a time. I also created animated imagery.

10- Learning Management Systems and Organization I pushed through one of the hardest projects in the program for me and created a while curriculum. This is NOT easy for me.

11- Media Asset Creation I learned a whole new software/service, GoAnimate. And I learned it well.

12- Instructional Design and Technology Final Project I finished my master’s degree! I did it! And I put together a resume and portfolio I feel proud of.

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reihussersblog · 8 years ago

Text

So, I’m lost?

For the past 15 years since I jump-started high school, things changed unexpectedly from daydreaming of what course to take in college to finishing it until pursuing the life of a bachelorette or bachelor’s degree when they grab opportunities on their way.

Looked like, a one-way street to cross while not having doubts to leave old things behind or bid farewell completely because you’d get into the finish line and there was another level to elevate your status in life.

To school boys and girls, they were elevated to young adults and became professionals.

Let me tell you my shiftings, late back in 2007 I forced myself to work in the Frenchbaker, Inc. to finance my studies when I’m still in 2nd year college. I thought I’m not gonna get my classcards in all of my subjects with grades in each of it that served as credentials until I decided to just go on and be a working student instead. At my age then, turning 18 when my birthday was lucky to fall on January 4, I understood how was it in the real world. In order for you to persevere, you have to be double-sided or double-purposed which meant dragging yourself off soft cushion from doing your homework to taking at hand hardwares and equipment at work to deliver a task made perfectly for customers. Thus, making my course Bachelor of Business Administration major in Management (BBA-MN) in Polytechnic University of the Philippines Sta. Mesa Branch to put into action.

Still a student, I inspired myself to gain knowledge from my subjects. It helped a lot especially when we acquired different positions and skills. Professions were likely to acquire through knowledge and skill. It was vital to hit the two so you won’t fall out of grace.

At times, you might feel unsatisfactorily and eventually fail. Failures happened when you don’t put your heart into your passion or career. Excellence was shown in a job well done. Jobs were any available positions in the market if there’ll be anything needs to be done. You have to be satisfied as well to consider it as a career.

It was how job and career were differentiated of how you perceived and treated your work. Work was essential to enhance your personality.

By 2008-2009, my uncle pushed me to apply at SM Supermarket Ermita, Manila. There, I experienced not to sleep for 3 consecutive days just to pass our feasibility studies. It supposed to be the darkest year of my life compared to compilation of thesis. I gone out 10:00 pm at the locker room then walked straight to my classmate’s (Vanessa Quinto) dormitory where we initialized the project.

In thesis, it was a study of normal occurences in the society. We chose the topic of the life of a working student. On how to manage their time right and how was it to be pleasurable still. Vanessa and me gave personally the survey sheets to different departments. I remembered how exciting it was to communicate your concerns to everyone and to be part of their undertakings through series of questions on the survey sheet we passed unto them. It boiled down details that had affected their attitudes and behaviors. Okay, I get intrigued on their personal affairs just to compare mine. Some stories of students were interesting and we needed to make a small circle in the classroom to elaborate scenarios and savor the life of a ‘college student’. We engaged ourselves to be ‘The Insiders’ with written permission in relation of our subject by talking about students’ profiles in the university.

When it came to finalizing the feasibility study, a defense was made and held in a mini conference to support our ideas and strategies. Every part of it undergone thorough evaluations because when neglected, soon it will show up as issues caused by a loss. So, we made it with a pattern to follow found in the library using the study of former senior business students who graduated from the same school. At first, it was enjoyable that you were going to build your own business and to choose trusted participants or contributors to all of it’s aspects whether financial, marketing, I.T, management, advertising, maintenance and utility, manufacturing, etc., It was up for the team to vote and delegate tasks accordingly.

The bad side of creating your own concept, it might pull you back to the basics: Why you chose a certain idea to push into business arena? Did it help you and your target market as well? How was the income? Until when it will be established? Were there stiff competitions? In what ways were opposing parties attended and entertained?

Those questions were inevitable raised beforehand. What remained the same from the time it started? Especially, when it was entry-level. Meaning, it was intruding the market for the first time.

A beginner’s guide for us aspirants. Business proposals were made to anticipate it’s future problems. In that way, analysts and economists would have something to tell if it gains or looses percentage of the income at large. For a newbie like me, it was overwhelming though to be given a big task at hand for a ladybug should be. Professionalism marked it’s ways when handled with enough preparation and offered solution to all of businesses downsides hereinafter.

Personal problems were even brought up but it didn’t lessen company’s or individuals credibility. Rather, it allowed it’s potential customers and investors to take into account as per issue and concern.

Somehow, a clear perspective directed it’s long term goals in local or global market. Making a way for a personal mission statement if you want something to achieve for yourself. Also, success can be achieved if all of the players were driven by enthusiasm. Eventually, desired results were met if not satisfactorily at least pass. Guard the truth that it supposed to be superior in quality to gain praises and honor.

Honestly, I graduated without honor or medals to brag about. Experience suggested to put into action to your dreams. We are not always stagnant water. Living creatures benefited from the system of the eco-world. Since you were still living and not dead. Prove and justify.

So, suppliers, distributors, manufacturers and other employers benefited from the system of the business world. Simply to say, it was very interactive to be of service.

Don’t be confused that I was already sitting like a CEO of an established company. I needed to tell the truth that after completion of my Alma Mater in PUP Sta. Mesa, I job-hunted in the lapse of 2009 and 2010 in Banco de Oro Greenhills Corporate Building, Teleperformance Mandaluyong Branch, Aficionado Perfumes in Retiro Main Office, Super 8 Grocery Stores at Tondo, Manila and Avon Cosmetics Asia Tondo Branch .

By 2010-2012, I took a regular job at The National Book Store Inc. as a cashier for 6 months. I quitted after 2 years while contemplating on my own to pursue my freelance job in Articles.at.work linked to elance.com as a Product/Article Writer.

Right now, what I really wanted was to be a novelist inspired by the Twilight Saga. I finally decided to pursue my truest and innate calling, my first love, Writing, I could say. It was one way to express my thoughts and emotions. It made my heart pound for the rest of the year of 2013-2014 even I already joined trainings for BPO Companies such as The Results Inc. and Serco Global Inc. in 2015.

Anyhow, I dropped by to a ‘tapsilogan’ to serve as a ‘tindera’ in a nearby city of Bulacan when war was still fierce down to micro-businesses and sidelines. I got 3K partially given for a double month of December and February.

During on-going period, it has been my stairway to heaven. They offered me a 3-day meal in coordinated with my agenda to not indulge myself of pricey meal yet a holding the title of a ‘jobless in town’ nd I had to replace ‘it’ with ‘lutong-bahay’ of my immediate ‘bosses’, my previous sources of income: the unknown viewers of other groups of the society and silent listeners of a concerned party. They were undeniably uprising.

Fast paced, it happened that I was heavenly ushered to active participants of identified businesses like Avon Cosmetics Asia in Cubao Branch and Globe Tatto Broadband in some locations of Quezon City. Hesitantly, I landed in a networking jobs setted up to hard-sell their specified products and services. Pioneers, successors and followers shared the proceeds of the mother company they operated with.

The proposed projects or businesses they all agreed on and supported all the way became their movement. To team-up with established organizations was a by-product of their success and offshoot of the collaboration.

It has been tied-up with passion and statements that it shook the marketplace locally and globally proven by a complete utterances of ownership and adoration. One’s belief inspired others to do the same and that was how networking continuously on-job.

I couldn’t imagine myself to delve deeper or to be driven passionately into something until I found it interesting. I was so curious that I stepped out of my comfort zone, the mouse potato in the office and who just sitted in the swivel chair. Shame on me.

To touched down many and unknown places were one of my challenges ever since I volunteered to be a journalist when asked by an English adviser, Placer D. Eduarte. Yes, I took pride in Grade 5 as a News Writer in Tagalog and English and I was thrown in a battery test specializing different categories.

While 2016 was intoxicating that I had to find another job elsewhere like a ‘carinderia’ and shifted to SME’s they formed on the street.

Christianity, on the same level, molded me to portray a character of a community or tribal leader who thrived for their living. Being a leader played a major role in the earliest civilizations as I had read in the bible contexts. You will be forever told even when you were long gone because of your character and how God used people on purpose. It was not about ‘me’ or ‘us’ but it was about God’s glory and power He displayed in His people, the Israelites. It was not about tactics of their enemies. Rather, their stratagem was known tremendously: to beguile.

So, I’m lost in the realm that I could maneuver my fate but I was just competing with myself and wrestling to the One who was omnipotent and omnipresent. I’m kidding me. In humility, I reflected my disposition in life. I cried hard.

God delivered Israelites out of bondage and oppression. It has been said. Then what kept me of bondage? What oppressed me the most? Maybe when I lost in my game. Endeavor that I solemnly chose for myself..the Business. It was very oppressing that someone had left you there behind and advised you to just be forgotten by accepting all the insults and downgrades helplessly.

Here and now, God didn’t want you to be forgotten but to be raised with Him. Do what He had said. Have faith. Your words and actions were your heavens treasures. Walk the talk.

Check your route. Were you lost in the game you played? The maze of the humanity’s race. Don’t! ASK and it will be given to you. KNOCK and the door will be opened. SEARCH and you will find.

Set your spirit free. Run! And don’t ever look back. Even in despair, I hoped for the best things yet to come.

In the present time, social networks played a crucial role in the communication of people across the globe. It acquired multilingual languages not only the Universal language which was the classic English I’ve known for quite some time for I still lived here in the Philippines.

This was my confession: To regard one’s self with dignity, pride and honor, you have to be there in a place where you will be in-use for I am an assertive player so time won’t be wasted, productivity arises, talents unfold, characters were built, personalities were enhanced, relationships blossomed, unnecessary activities were eliminated, career doors were opened and status in life elevated.

Employed people were happy people and above-mentioned advantages obviously their blessings.

Communication was so vital and we shouted it out to make an emphasis that this was what I’m thinking and feeling. What we shouted out loud called the attention to specified persons made in an email, text messages, phone calls, social websites and blogsites (friendster.com, yahoo.com, google.com, yahoo mail, google mail, yahoo messenger, facebook.com, chikka.com, tumblr.com, twitter.com etc.,)

Audiences or the chosen recipients were important people in any conversation. To whom did you address your ‘message’? What were their reactions? How was the ‘talk’ going? Did you get what you really wanted from them? If you were the speaker or sender, what were the reasons you delivered a ‘speech’ or started a ‘conversation’?

It simply showed intentions or motives of the toastmaster, the event organizer or the starter of the talk and a guest introducer.

Intentions or motives can be identified through Personal Affairs, Business, Family, Organizational Causes, Humanities Rights and Privileges or Governmental Issues nationwide and abroad.

Therefore, I intended to join the trending issues and topics if they were normal and healthy in the environment you were engaged in.

It was still me, Lorraine L. Macapagal signed up to be part of a VIRTUAL COMMUNITY whatever objectives I invited myself ‘IN’.

For my nom de plume was opted out, I took responsibility of all the petty attacks and concerns wherever it may lead.

HELLO 2017!!!!!

#Unfinished

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