Some favorite links of late

Poems for a pandemic, from Leonie Wise.

This article on the process of translating Harry Potter into Yiddish was fascinating and delightful, and I recommend it to anyone who likes Harry Potter and/or languages at all.

"Lavender Beringia" - I'm so glad Em is still blogging and making things like this five-paragraph little magic/imagining.

I have really been digging Not Buying Anything's thoughts in general on the lockdown life, and this post, "Will We Stop to Save Mother Earth?" particularly stirs me:

"Right now the world has stopped doing lots of 'extra but nice to have' things to save ourselves. I wonder - will we do the same to save Mother Earth, and ultimately ourselves?
...
"We will do it to save ourselves an loved ones from a virus, but will we do it to save the Earth? Will we stop to save ourselves in the long run?
...
"We will have regrets if we don't take advantage of this time in history when things are ripe for turning things toward simpler, slower, and more sustainable ways."

"How Dancers Maintain Their Well-Being in Quarantine" - Some things interesting about the economic and business realities of dance, and some things poignant about how dancers are persevering in making dance art. I really recommend the two SF Ballet videos.

I ran across such a nice, practical, useful answer to the question: "How can I read more?" It is especially for people who used to read more than they do now.

Three good things to read

• Kindness Sprouts — an e-anthology on self-care and self-kindness to which I contributed. (I wrote about being an introvert.) It's pay-what-you-can; all proceeds go to a wonderful charity that provides free yoga to eating disorder sufferers.

• The Personal Bill of Rights, courtesy of Sarah from Rooted in Being.

• "The Joy of Quiet." A New York Times op-ed. On digital noise, stillness, multitasking, etc.

Installations

My professor's definition of ritual: "a means of paying attention. physical acts that direct our attention to an idea, value, or concern. most need to be public to be meaningful."

I like it. And rituals. I like the small ones. E.g. putting on makeup (best of all: stage makeup), even though I don't generally wear any. Or braiding hair, or mixing ingredients for a recipe, or the way I clean my room, or preparing a letter to mail. To paraphrase my friend, if I didn't know that smoking is terrible for you (and if I could afford it, and tolerate the smell...), I'd be a smoker just out of enjoyment of the ritual of it.

*

What I kept thinking when I sat on the dock in Wisconsin in the stillness, watching across the lake:

and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters

*

"You think you live for a long time, cats can live until they are twenty-five. My cat died when she was eighteen. I miss her. She was all black; name was Merlin."
– a stranger, inexplicably addressing me

*

A few things before I forget:

• I put up the wrong version of Sui's portrait in this post...fixed now.

• I added a shuffle button at the top of the sidebar a while ago, if you haven't seen it yet. I'm not really sure what the point is, but I like it.

• Heather too wrote some thoughts about happiness in response to my post (about happiness not being the point).

• Odessa and I had a cupcake afternoon documented with her new Lomo camera.
• And Olivia did a sketch off one of my photos from the lake.

Eye candy and brain food

Melissa on being seen. "I’ve been sharing stuff I thought was unshareable and prioritising authenticity, even though it’s made me feel quite afraid. I’m not a hundred percent there yet but the barrier’s starting to crack..."

Mentioned once before in passing: free guided meditation audio tracks.

"The Dog Theory of Fatness" (kind of sounds offensive; is not).

Sonnets about zombies.

Photo usage guidelines for bloggers. Most comprehensive treatment of the subject I've read; written by a blogger with input from a photographer and a photography agent.

The Eowyn Challenge: nerdiest fitness site ever, ahh.

"4chan's Chaos Theory." This is about Anonymous, etc.

The Riot Grrrl Manifesto. I printed this big and put it on my wall. Even though I'm a Christian. Ha.

And: riot grrrls + Maoist ballet dancers = this Bikini Kill music video. Dig.

"High heels yay, headscarf nay? Double standards in fashion symbolism."

Seo Min-Jeong's art installations.

Photography by female prisoners in Romania, via English Holly.

A dressing room experiment: "Finding Clothes That Fit." I think I'm going to do this.

Eye candy and brain food

A live webcam on the Reykjavík City Pond. (I dunno if it was up two years ago, but if it was, I would have been on that feed for a minute or two, hah. Trudging along the eastern end of the pond, full of jetlag and wonder....No, I am not nostalgic AT ALL.)

Em has just gotten her Etsy shop up and running. Cutesy plastic jewelry, of course.

Random academic sentence generator. Funny 'cause it's true, um, yeah. Thanks, Q.

Snow crystals.

Mixtape: our hearts are shining.

"People with higher IQs (intelligence quotients) tend to be more active nocturnally, going to bed later, whereas those with lower IQs usually retire to bed sooner after nightfall." Read here. (Granted that IQ is of debatable significance. BUT STILL.)

A December court ruling you may not have caught: good news for email privacy.

On the growing field of cultural neuroscience:

"When an American thinks about whether he is honest, his brain activity looks very different than when he thinks about whether another person is honest, even a close relative. That’s not true for Chinese people..."

Recipe: Peppermint Patties.

Haiti one year after the earthquake (in photos).

Shokoofeh's done a film swap with a Danish photographer, and the results are lovely. (If you don't know, film swap means shooting over a roll of film exposed first by another photographer).

Winter is not white! These photos: exactly!

Neil Gaiman's photography.

Winter bodysurfing at my home beach.

Linkage

Stars in the Bahamas.

Antidepressants are tested on mice, but how on earth do you measure depression in a mouse? Aww...

A BBC introduction to street photography. some really interesting quotes.

"Between thin and fat: dichotomies, binaries, and the unacknowledged spectrum."

A blog of daily outfit posts, but! no photos, only drawings, and by a different artist each day.

Relax, it's not the real eighties.

Underwater art installations that become artifical reefs. So cool.

Part pep talk, part verbal hug, from the duchess of cupcake-lickers herself.

Have you ever heard of the pangolin? (Now you have! Hurrah new animals.)

A look at the new film adaptation of Jane Eyre. 

Two Firefox tools you should know about: Readability and Read Later.

Wayne Levin's underwater photography. A tranquil black-and-white otherworld. The rays are my favorite.

Copyright Embedding Tool for the Ultra-Paranoid Photographer (ha).

On winterizing yourself. Some ideas for staying sane and healthy in the coming season, for those of us in Places That Get Cold.

Confessions of an Introverted Traveler.

"Running is a privilege." A good reminder.

And on a more serious note...
Sofia's insurance won't pay for treatment for her eating disorder anymore (a common problem, unfortunately), so she's taken to the internets with her story and is raising money for her treatment through donations. Lots of small gifts are already making a big difference together. I gave $5 and was like, hey, it's meaningless on its own, but it helps nothing for individuals to think like that. If you're not able to give, won't you think about passing on the link on your own blog/Twitter/Facebook?

Unrelated snatches

"The ex-suicide opens his front door, sits down on the steps, and laughs. Since he has the option of being dead, he has nothing to lose by being alive. It is good to be alive. He goes to work because he doesn’t have to."
-Walker Percy
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Cholera outbreak in Haiti, if you haven't heard—I tell you on account of our girl being there. It's a disease of poverty, because if drinking water is clean it's not a problem. This outbreak has been related back to the January earthquake: being left homeless -> having to drink unclean water. So you see what a difference simple things like better construction practices and clean drinking water can make. So you see how easy it is to make a difference by caring about problems like these.
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Therapy does not often feel therapeutic, at least in the sense of meditation and bubble baths and soothing scented candles. Sometimes it feels like having your bones rebroken.
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Have you (ahem) "liked" this page yet? Do. It is an exciting organization to partner with, and worth even just keeping in touch with in that simple way.
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Disclosure that I promised someone a while ago to make: I'm twenty-one and have never had a boyfriend. This is one of those things that is, as a general rule, supposed to be a big deal/distressing, but guess what (and this is one of my favorite realizations of growing up)? I get to decide what does and doesn't matter to me. Yay.
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I celebrated Halloween by going on a nighttime shooting outing with my tripod. It was a good idea. I still have my exposure cheat sheet on the back of my left hand. It is nice that Sharpie comes off of skin so easily, because I also accidentally smeared it all over the left side of my face. This is an indirect result of becoming paranoid about getting zits from languishing my face all over my palms all the day long, and switching to using the backs of my hands since they don't get so oily.
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This playlist is increds, so maybe you should go download it and start enjoying it now.

Linkage

Fat Dinosty. body positivity + dinosaurs. so sweet and cheering.

"Beauty School for Lazy Hippies." e.g. me!

I just learned what zorbing is and it may warrant a spot on my bucket list.

a sociological perspective on Farmville. ACE.

"If You Think Quitting Booze Freaks People Out, Wait ‘Til You Quit Twitter." loved his observations, and heartily second them.

"Like a Japanese tourist compulsively photographing everything he sees, it was almost as if something didn’t really happen unless it was captured in 140 characters and shared with the world."

"How to Avert Cabin Fever This Winter."

Svalbard in photos. (it's an island at the top of Norway.) incredibly beautiful in that barren deep-north way.

"A Fool's Attempt to Describe Burning Man." linked by a veteran burner, so I trust it as accurate. I don't know if I'll ever want to go badly enough to do it, but I am fascinated by what I hear of it.

"Why I've 'Let Myself Go,'" by a former figure competitor. (figure competition is similar to female bodybuilding.)

An introduction to scanning for analogue-lovers.

mnmlist's "Addition by Subtraction," which jumps off from some very apt observations:

"We want to lose weight, we buy weight loss books, workout equipment, diet pills, nutritional supplements, a fitness program. We sign up for the gym or a class or a trainer.

"We want to travel, we buy a suitcase, a travel pillow, the perfect carry-on luggage, maybe even special clothes or equipment for traveling..."

An oldie but such a goodie, from the ever-lovely Sui Solitaire: "This is me. The cellulite on my thighs, the stretchmarks on my hips."

An important reminder for anyone trying to make any kind of positive change in their life.

A liveblog all the way through the September edition of Vogue. O social commentary, o intelligent snark, how I love thee.

Linkage

Beautiful photos of beautiful Greenland, including its capital city Nuuk.

"How to Take Better Photos: Leave Your Camera Behind."

Is it just mindless political correctness to criticize "Indian" headdresses as a fashion trend? Check out this blogger's excellent explanation of appropriation.

Members of a Christian foundation showed up at a gay pride parade wearing shirts that read "I'm Sorry."

A slide show of movie posters with the titles they should have been given.

Pie pops photo tutorial! Just what sound like, miniature pies on lollipop sticks. I want to make these.

Also on my must-make list: a chai mix to add to your black tea.

A thoughtful word for lovers of vintage fashion. The blog post she references and links to is also worth reading.

What if men had to follow beauty rules as stringent as those in place for women? (Rhetorical, but my answer: it would be ridiculous and sad, so why is it not ridiculous and sad that it's already like this for women?)

Adopt an endangered word HERE. I chose "eveniency", which I will from now on use in place of "coming to pass."

Some things that require whole phrases or sentences in English (the last person to laugh at a joke) can be expressed by a single beautiful word in another language. (FULERSTOV!) Better Than English posts a new one each day.

Guest Post at allegro

Maya Ganesan of allegro suggested I write my post about a bad travel experience.

Nothing truly bad has ever happened to me while traveling, but if you want to talk about sheer trauma...click on over and read about the Berlin Death March.

Answers

[see the ask/tell box here. for those of you who shared rather than asking...I am hearing you.]

Shopping: WhoWhatWhereWhenWhy?
Clothes shopping I do alone or with my little sister, mostly secondhand except for H&M or the occasional Etsy purchase. Usually only when I've been feeling a pinch in my wardrobe week, or when a staple has worn out or whatever.

I do like to do the produce shopping for our house sometimes, too. Haha. My neighborhood has the best produce stores.

If you could live out one fairytale, well-known or obscure, which would it be?
"The Little Mermaid" but in reverse. The Little Human who becomes a mermaid! And with the happy Disney ending, pls.

How did you make this nifty question box?
*points here*

Recommend a weirdly cool or coolly weird blog!
Well, spider is weird and cool. And Em's writing is weird and brilliant. Will that do?

Favorite color?
No favorites, just whatever I'm in the mood for. But I think a lot of my outfits are neutrals + a deep blue or purple.

What's a happy memory of yours?
Sitting on the terrace in the backyard of my German host family's house, in the late afternoon when the temperature was comfortable. It looked out onto the beginning of a forest; their house was at the edge of their little town. We'd drink cold tea and eat some sweet baked thing and just talk and relax. It's always what I think of when I read something about Europeans having a slower pace of life.

Linkage

These photos they got hiding in closets in Ikea, waiting for people to look inside, are too awesome.

Lol theory: utterly true.

Star Trek and Ke$ha combine shockingly well.

Diagram Prize for Oddest (Book) Title.

Feminist summer reading list. 

Scary chemicals are in American cosmetics.
 
I flipping love this music video! Coolest concept, and so pretty.

Steph sounds off on guys and body image. Thoughts?

We all know it's rampant in gymnastics, but...all of these famous Olympians suffered from eating disorders? Sobering.

"Wear Everything All The Time" from my new favorite fashion blog, Already Pretty.

Linkage

The BMI Project.

Swimming pool photography: here and here.

Inspired by Iceland

Listen. Emiliana Torrini-esque vocals plus harp.

The Ultimate Flickr Picture.

Let the record show, the Beatles are pro-pantsless. (You already know that's the team I'm on. Harhar.)

And a San Francisco story from Beth.

Storytime continued

Hallo hallo,

Second read-aloud mp3 to finish the story of Aino and Väinämöinen. Download here.

What do you think of this story? Is it odd that it's a favorite of mine?

Interviewed

I completely forgot that this interview was going up today, until I saw it come across my reader and went, "Oh, hey, that's me. Ack."

Sarah Von interviewed me for her True Story series. It was a bit scary for me to let someone else steer a conversation about something this personal and achey (I must have emailed her four or five times with small edits to my answers) and I REALLY didn't want to write the typical eating disorder confessional.

But judging by the comments so far, it was a good idea, and it was a good exercise for me to try to tell the thing from beginning to end. Or middle, or wherever this is.

It's not everything, but it's a lot of it.

Storytime bedtime

I made you a read-aloud mp3! A bedtime story from me to you.

It's my favorite one of the Finnish folk poems collectively known as the Kalevala. I picked it because it's tragical and pretty, and because it's meant to be recited/sung as opposed to read. So, a fair amount of repetition, and occasionally you can sense the rhythm even through the translation, and you don't have to listen intently, just sort of...absorb it.

It's Poem Four from Francis Peabody Magoun Jr.'s translation. Download here.

I used this free recorder. Quality's not magnificent, but it'll have to do for distance read-aloud for now.

And there's one more poem which finishes the episode of Aino and Väinämöinen, which I will put up sometime this week. It makes the story prettier and less tragical.

Assignment: Donate other people's money

All you do is click a button on each site, and a good cause gets revenues from the advertisers. I'm sure you know about these kinds of sites, but I thought a nice list to put them all in one place would not go amiss.

PLEASE hit me up with links to additional click-to-donate sites, and I will add them to the list.

I encourage you to make a habit of visiting these sites, and perhaps post a collection of links like this one on your own internet space. It's small money, of course, but it's not coming from your pocket and it really adds up, because there are a lot of us doing it.

• Bhookh.com
• care2
• A Click for the Forest
• Craig Research Labs
• EcologyFund.com
• die Waldseite [the Forest Site: click the STOP! button]
• The Environment Site
• FreeRice
• Hunger Fighters [will give you a safe pop-up]
• The Hunger Site et al. [tabs along the top for The Animal Rescue Site and others]
• Hungry Children
• Land Care Niagara
• Pajacyk [click the stomach]
• Por Los Chicos [click the blue "Doná" button]
• ripple 
• Semi-Arid Campaign
• Tarahumara Children's Hospital Fund
• YouthNoise

Good medicine

I thought I'd compile a list of my favorite places to find people who are talking about body image, eating disorder recovery, etc.

Internet fiend that I am, I could hardly ignore the interwebs as a potential source of good body-image medicine for myself, and having done the finding, why not share?

Also stuck a few favorite relevant books on at the end.

If you know of something that should be on this list but isn't, please drop me a comment!

Body image:

• Already Pretty
• Operation Beautiful
• REVOLUTION OF REAL WOMEN flickr pool
• rvxn
• Sociological Images 
• Weightless 
• You Are Remarkable

Eating disorder recovery:

• ED Bites
• Men Get Eating Disorders Too
• rvxn
• The Support Letter
• Voice in Recovery  
• Weightless

Recovery support: 

• MentorCONNECT: mentorship and moderated forums for eating disorder recovery
• We Bite Back: "post-pro-ana" site and forum

Blog posts:

• Empty Bellies Do Not Beget Genius 
• How Do You Embrace & Celebrate Your Body? 
• How To Practice Major Mega Supreme Body Love...Daily!
• It's All Good. No, Really. *All* of It. 
• How to Survive a Case of The Uglies 
• Another Reminder 

Books:

• 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food, by Susan Albers
• Intuitive Eating, by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch 
• North of Beautiful, by Justina Chen Headley
• Traveling Mercies, by Anne Lamott
• The Beauty Myth, by  Naomi Wolf
• The Good Body, by Eve Ensler 
• Life Inside the "Thin" Cage, by Constance Rhodes
• The Diet Survivor's Handbook, by Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel
• Shannon Cutts' list of nonfiction recovery books
• Sui's list of 8 books to transform your body image and eating

And on Twitter, my list of recovery/body image tweeters.

Things that are making me happy

rain

highways

driving with phampants

songs I know from Guitar Hero

baby carrots

realizing how much I've improved my study habits

music: Lisa Mitchell and Death Cab

a possible on-campus job

a flat-rate box from my parents packed full of tangerines from California

laughing at Plato

reading aloud from Jane Eyre at night with my friends

seeing The Princess and the Frog with my old roomie. New Orleans, twenties glam, Disney princess happiness. And at the $3 theater!

in church when you all say "Peace" to one another

Grooveshark

my hot water bottle

free on-campus yoga classes + the hilarity of a too-slippery yoga mat

Day after Christmas

My parents gave me a nice pair of noise-canceling headphones for Christmas. Now I don't have to worry about going deaf listening to music on planes and buses. One less thing, as Forrest Gump would say.

I got in a bit of a spat with another flickr user today. I left a comment on one of his pictures saying that the model looked either very unwell or extremely edited. [Her thighs were nearly  the same size as her calves.] I don't go around looking for photoshopped models to criticize, but it was the first thing I noticed about his photo, so I decided it was worth saying. He got very defensive and insinuated that because I'm an amateur and American [read: used to obesity], I can have nothing legitimate to say on the matter.

It's been a long time since I've had a bad interaction online, and I wasn't really prepared for it. I'm not about to embark on a new career as a flickr troll, but I must say...there are some people I don't particularly mind upsetting.

I made a resolution a while ago to make more trouble. More on that later?

Anyways, that reminded me of  Noel's post about the word "amateur." Read it, read it, read it.