Category: Uncategorized (page 2 of 11)

trail markers

March 21, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Isn’t the beginning of spring lovely? To me, spring feels more like the beginning of a new year than January first does.

I have to say I’m happy to close the book on 2017. Not that it wasn’t great on the whole, but certain (ahem) factors made it feel like one big mess. I hope in 2018 there are fewer things to protest and more positive things on which to focus our attention. The year became a bit of a blur, so I consulted my calendar as a reminder of how great my year actually was. Here are the highlights:

  • Vended at three holiday craft fairs and my first Urban Hive Market
  • Saw “The King and I” at the Pantages
  • Saw comedians Chris Hardwick and Mike Birbiglia
  • Concerts: Sigur Ros (twice), Nick Cave, Eric Clapton, Gorillaz, and Ben Folds (with Tall Heights)
  • Did live painting at the Irvine Children’s Museum Pretend City
  • Had Dad over for the first time
  • Spent three days in San Diego with Mom
  • Got a logo/branding system professionally designed
  • Went to a conference in Austin
  • Went to Pittsburgh for a weekend to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary
  • Completed the first half of an educational coloring book
  • Started my first YA novel
  • Learned more about politics than I ever cared or intended to
  • Created a VLB Facebook page
  • Curated my Instagram (and started another one…and another one)
  • Published 21 blog posts
  • Had zero sick days from work
  • Joined Jeff Goins master class; completed the Intentional Blog course (but have yet to implement what I’ve learned…oops)
  • Was a student of Lauren Hom’s inaugural Passion to Paid course

I’m often so focused on where I need to go (metaphorically speaking) that I tend to forget where I’ve been.

Living by to-do lists can do a number on your memory of the trail you’ve blazed thus far. Looking back at the trail markers helps bring things into perspective when you feel like you’re always on the go but not really getting anywhere, to sit and appreciate the progress you’ve made and the times you’ve stopped to smell the roses.

I’ve been out of the habit of writing weekly blog posts, and it honestly makes me feel like a bit of a failure. I know I’m not providing value to hundreds of people eagerly anticipating a new post, but even if no one notices but myself, consistent output makes me feel like I’m getting somewhere.  The habit of leaving markers, even in the form of an inconsequential blog post, may have its value somewhere further down the road.

educational coloring, continued

October 25, 2017 / / 0 Comments

F is for Freud

“Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock.”

Austrian neurologist (1856–1939). Father of psychoanalysis, a method of uncovering internal conflicts based on the patient’s dreams and free associations. Considered himself as primarily a scientist more than a doctor, pursuing an understanding of human knowledge and experience. Worked with Josef Breuer, which led him to believe that neuroses stem from childhood traumas that could be cured by unburying them from the unconscious mind and dealing with them intellectually and emotionally.

G is for Goethe

“Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.”

German playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theater director, critic, & amateur artist (1749-1842). A central representative of the Romantic movement in Europe. Best known for his long poem/play Faust about a half-legendary figure who sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power. Prominent member of the Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) movement, which sought to overthrow the Enlightenment “cult of Rationalism” in favor of individualism, feeling, and nature.

educational coloring

October 4, 2017 / / 0 Comments

For those of you who have been so kind as to follow my “junior Great Books” project, I thank you! Here is what I have been working on lately, ramping up to my first book series. I want to first write some books for little ones, maybe ages 3-6, introducing key authors and concepts.

I may do characters to go along with my animal plushies in another iteration, but for now I thought it would be fun to do alphabet coloring pages. Instant gratification!

So I will be posting them here as they are completed so anyone can download and print them as they please. At the end of the series, I will compile them into a complete book (both PDF and print) at the end of the series.

I hope you enjoy! As always, feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions, comments, struggles, suggestions, requests, or just want to talk. 🙂

 

 

A is for Augustine

“Our hearts are restless until they rest in God.”

St. Augustine of Hippo, known best for writing City of God, was quite the ladies man in his youth. It wasn’t until he saw the wrong in habitually stealing pears off of someone’s tree (for kicks, he didn’t even eat the pears) that he recognized the nature of sin, which prompted him to turn his life around and write Confessions.

B is for Bronte

“Conventionality is not morality.” –Charlotte Brontë

“Honest people don’t hide their deeds.” –Emily Brontë

“But he that dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose.” –Anne Brontë

The Brontë sisters each wrote well-received works in their lifetimes under male pseudonyms, Emily for Wuthering Heights, Charlotte for Jane Eyre, and Anne for Agnes Grey. They employed “Byronic heroes” in their novels–arrogant, passionate, yet magnetic male figures with dark hearts (see Heathcliff and Mr. Rochester). As children, they had very vivid imaginations and created matchbook-sizes novels to bolster the morale of British soldiers.

C is for Cicero

Credite amori vera dicenti: “believe love speaking the truth.”
Docendo discitar: “by teaching one learns.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a politician during the decline and fall of the Roman Republic. He wrote to keep his mind sharp and drown his sorrows when he lost interest in serving the government under the rule of Caesar. He believed that greed is evil, and that repayment of debt is as important as national security. He believed that the only way to gain power is by mobilizing goodwill. “Freedom suppressed and then regained bites more sharply than if it had never been in peril.”
Gaining true friends and a good reputation requires goodwill (doing or willing to do one a service), confidence (intelligent and regarded as just/good), and respect of the kind that gets one promoted to high office. If a man is just, all three requirements are in the bag. You must genuinely be the kind of person you wish others to see you as. “Nothing counterfeit has any staying power.”
  • Wisdom: the ability to distinguish truth from falsity and to understand the relationships between them and the consequences of each.
  • Temperance: ability to restrain passions (pathe) and to make the appetites (hormai) amenable to reason.
  • Justice: capacity to behave considerately and understandingly in associations with other people.
Qualities of a just person include moderation, loyalty/devotion to family, eloquence, kindness and liberality (both money and services), lenient in demands of others, avoid offending anyone. True friendship is wanting the best for another with no motives other than that person attaining what is best (requires that both parties are just).

“Beauty awakens the soul to act.”

 Dante Alighieri was from Florence, Italy. He famously wrote the epic poem The Divine Comedy, an allegorical journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. It was released in Italian instead of the typical Latin or Greek, thus reaching a broader audience and enhancing global literacy. He is credited with inventing the poetry rhyme scheme known as terza rima.
He studied painting, music, and poetry, and was influenced by a contemporary group of Italian poets–who wrote about personal & political passions–as well as Homer, Dante, Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy and Cicero’s De Amicitia.
He worked as a pharmacist and was involved in public affairs before turning to philosophy. He fought with those who were wary of the Pope’s political influence in the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict in 1289 and was consequently exiled from Florence for life.

 

 

helping harvey

August 30, 2017 / / 0 Comments

In lieu of a post about creative resistance, here instead is a small list of ways to help people in Texas if you feel as helpless as I do. I’m on the west coast and can’t physically lend a hand or give food or shelter, but I know giving money is the fastest and most reliable way to make sure resources get where they need to go. Here are a few ways to help.

Other places to give:

  • Americares and Direct Relief provide emergency response, first aid, emergency kits, and more to people affected by poverty and disaster.
  • If you are in Texas, you can give to your local food bank.

 

 

There are many places and ways to give. The above are charities are verified and rated highly with the BBB for their efficiency and efficacy.

There may not be much we can do against a natural disaster such as this, but if we all do a little, the relief will be great.

 

*Update: Pantsuit Politics has increased the cap on their matching to $1000.

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