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hopefulstarfire · 3 years

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Mini Character Profile; Ari

So as every one of the main characters get their art pieces done, I'm gonna be posting some mini profiles to kind of give a proper introduction to everyone! So, we're going to start off with our main protagonist, Ari.

art credit: @cowboytai.

Name: Artemis. Alias(es)/Nicknames: Ari, Ari Drake, Starlight (by Arabella), Lassie (by Pete). Species: Human. Gender: Cis female (she/her). Sexuality: Pansexual. Age: 16 (beginning of the series). Birthday: July 23rd. Realm: Unknown, raised on Dragons Keep.

Personality: Artemis has always tried to be a person that focuses on the present and the future. She wants to have a life full of adventure and new experiences, and pushes hard to focus on those. But she also has a hard time letting go of past pain, no matter how hard she tries to bury it down. This can also lead her to having a hard time forgiving people who have wronged her, and she can hold a grudge for a long time. She does, however, also get attached very easily and forms very deep attachments to the people in her life and loves with every part of her heart.

This also is partially why she wants to prove herself so much in the eyes of the Dragons. She has always struggled with fitting in amongst them and feels like she is still looked down on by them for being human, or that they judge her for her strange magic. The hurt of her childhood still lingers with her and acts as a major motivator in wanting to succeed and be the best Watcher to ever have taken that role.

Ari, through her experiences and through being raised by her mother, has also gained a very big heart and has a lot of compassion towards others. The fact that she has made friends in the other Realms, true friends, makes her overjoyed and she would do anything for those she cares about.

She also has a strong sense of wanting to do whatever she believes is right and takes that as a big responsibility for herself. This can, however, begin to challenge her perspective on many things as she starts to navigate things that don't align in a black and white mentality.

Ari is typically also just a goofy, fun loving and adventurous individual. She has an appetite as big as her heart and a willingness to try everything. MBTI Type: ESFP. Alignment: Chaotic Good. Goal(s): To become the Best Watcher; experience as many new and exciting things as she can throughout the seven Realms; prove herself in the eyes of the High Council; make lasting, meaningful friendships on every Realm; try every dish she can find on every Realm.

Family: Arabella (adopted mother), Killick (adopted uncle), Libelle (adopted cousin).

Abilities and Equipment: Star Magic: With this magic she is able to create and manipulate stars and stellar energy. Her abilities manifest mainly in what looks like bright lights and star dusts or giving her a glowing aura. Attacks come in forms of star bolts/blasts, beam emissions, slashes of light, and more. She can manipulate their shape and size depending on what she can think of. She can also use it to make constructs such as barriers and she can also use it to propel herself in speed, and eventually learn to use it to give off the appearance of flying. Weapon Training: Ari is trained in sword fighting (specialty being a falchion), guns, and other multitudes of weapons during her time amongst the 7 other Realms. Bracelets: Ari was given a set of thick bracelet cuffs to go around her wrist to navigate the Realms. She's able to make a portal to and from every Realm for herself, or back to Dragons Keep. These bracelets also give her access to an array of basic wardrobes and glamours to help her better blend in with the Realms she visits. It also has a function that allows her to contact those back on Dragons Keep, and, most importantly, it has a function to make "save points" for herself on every Realm, so she can go back to roughly right where she was when she last left.

Trivia:

Ari's favorite food is beef stew, though it's closely tied with chocolate chips

She's a character I made back either junior or senior year of high school, and she's gone through quite a bit of development. It's been really refreshing writing her for her own story!

She's got a deep fascination with crystals.

She's easily motivated with food. Like just promise her food and she'll do anything you ask essentially.

If you want to see the textbook definition of a herbo, it's Ari.

If I could pick a voice actor for her, currently the main pick is Erica Lindbeck.

#ari #ari drake #artemis #astrarium #astrarium: the adventures between realms #my oc #my ocs #ocs #original character #original works #original story #original writing #i have.....so much to actually say with her. i love her #shes also specifically supposed to be based around a blue warbler

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lovehaswonangelnumbers · 4 years

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New Post has been published on https://lovehaswonangelnumbers.org/full-moon-lunar-eclipse-in-sagittarius-june-5th-2020/

FULL MOON Lunar ECLIPSE in Sagittarius June 5th 2020

By Mystic Mamma

*FULL MOON* Lunar ECLIPSE in SAGITTARIUS

June 5th 2020 12:12 pm PDT | 7:12 pm GMT

June 6th 2020 6:12 am AEDT

★

With things in the state that they are right now, it should come as no surprise that we are headed into Eclipse season beginning with this FULL MOON Lunar ECLIPSE in Sagittarius on June 5th 2020.

Eclipses usually come sets of 2, but this year they come in sets of 3, so this is the first of these 3 consecutive Eclipses which continue to precipitate life-changing shifts.

Current Gemini energies continue to reflect and communicate the reality that we all experience life through different fractals.

Our collective lens has focalized the experience of our black brothers, sisters and relatives that continue to be subjected to racism rooted in white supremacy and abuse that has been systematically allowed to perpetuate.

Our expanding realizations are transforming into bridges of solidarity and action calls to the ways we can each proactively participate in the active dismantling of the oppressive systems that we consciously or unconsciously maintain.

We are in a time of collective and personal awakening to what has been in the shadows, oppressive and imbalanced across our implemented systems as well as our personal myopic realities.

The process of awakening can be painful, because new realities precipitate trajectory shifts.

In the process of things dismantling, disassembling, and crumbling, we can feel unstable and this is why change is often so dreaded.

But we are the changemakers of this time, and we are here at this time for a reason.

We each carry our own truth, but a universal truth is that we’re all here ultimately to learn to love.

All those who have had crossed over and come back through near-death experiences, and those who are mediums between worlds echo this truth: Life is a school of learning, and we are here to learn to love.

At this time, like Rumi said, that is our task, and not only to love but to seek to dissolve “all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

It is also a time to have courage and not be afraid to communicate, even as it makes us feel increasingly more vulnerable.

Vulnerability is the straight path of the heart, the direct access point.

Gemini continues to teach us that through communication we can heal our separateness and isolation.

As we’ve heard it said, the more difficult the subject, the more healing is to be gained from talking about it.

In what ways can we speak from our experience like elders, like our grandmothers and grandfathers, with compassion but with strength that illuminates another facet to be taken into account?

Like Einsten said “we cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” Let’s expand our thinking and let’s get massively creative with new ways to implement change.

Let’s use that surge of Sagittarius creative power to launch new Life affirming ways to support our existence and everyone’s right to Liberty. Because we’re in this together.

We are lovers, We are love. That’s what we are here to remember, here to learn, here to BE.

Here are the MYSTIC MAMMA Astral Insights from our beloved featured astrologers:

PAM YOUNGHANS from her NorthPoint Astrology says:

“Our Milky Way galaxy is part of a great river of galaxies that flows through space, being magnetically pulled in the direction of a massive galactic anomaly called Abell 3627, more commonly known as the Great Attractor (GA)…

“Our Lunar Eclipse this Friday is… aligned with the GA… (and) will be activating its influence in our awareness.

“Since the GA continuously draws us toward itself, it represents the inexorable pull of our Higher Destiny.

“When it is activated in our collective awareness through events such as an eclipse, new insights and unexpected viewpoints become possible.

“We can experience a major shift in our perceptions and beliefs, which in turn alters our trajectory.

“Astrologer Philip Sedgwick, who has studied the GA in great depth, explains:

‘The enormous gravity of the GA actually bends light around it.

“It bends the light so much, that a glimpse of what is behind it can be taken.

‘This provides clear behind-the-scenes insights, while simultaneously offering other refractive illusions.’

“Friday’s Eclipse, being conjunct the GA, represents a profound juncture in our evolution.

“As we stand at that crossroads, we must expand our understanding of reality, while also accepting that each person may rightly have their own version of truth.

“Another quote from Sedgwick:

‘A narrow view (or opinionated nature) does not fit with the Great Attractor.

‘There is not one simple answer.

‘Perhaps each point of focus is only a fragment of the hologram of understanding.’

“Sedgwick advises that in order to find our own truth, our own ‘fragment of the hologram,’ each of us must ‘Center the source of your light within the matter of your life. What matters clearly focuses your truth.’

“The last time we had a Lunar Eclipse that aligned with the Great Attractor was on June 4, 1993.

“Events that occurred around that time, and subsequent changes in our perspective, pulled us into a new future, perhaps a different destiny than the one we had thought we were building toward.

“We may have gone willingly toward that new future, but maybe not. And yet, looking back, we can see how essential that trajectory shift was, and how it forever changed the course of our life.

“We are at a similar time now. This Lunar Eclipse conjunct the Great Attractor alters the landscape, requiring us to reroute.

“In time, we will find that our new road is more aligned with that greater destiny we came here to fulfill.”

SARAH VARCAS from Astro-Awakenings.co.uk her says:

“An alliance between Chiron, Uranus and Mercury at the time of this eclipse unlocks fresh perspectives.

“But to benefit from them we must reclaim the fundamental right to honor our own experience and not have it dismissed, ridiculed or silenced if it runs contrary to the received wisdom of the time.

“This takes courage in a world where people are being demonized and discredited for daring to question… and reflect more deeply on the narrative they’re being fed.

“But if ever there was a time for courage it is now!

“Courageous thought, courageous speech, courageous hearts open to a new world in which we’re not told how things are but instead discern, through digesting many perspectives and listening, perhaps most importantly, to the voice within that knows truth..

“As we stand at this juncture in human history there are weighty choices to be made and we must each make them as best we can.

“This eclipse season will both reveal the shadow side of readily accepted sources of information – hidden interests, inaccurate assumptions, covert agendas – as well as illuminate in their wake new sources of knowledge previously eclipsed by the might of received wisdom and unquestioned ‘truths’.

“The path ahead remains scattered with obstacles and the battle for dominion over the collective mind continues unabated.

“This lunar eclipse is just the beginning and there is much to be revealed and digested before we can decide, collectively, the quality of our future.

“Saturn is now retrograding through Aquarius before returning to Capricorn in July. (You can read more about what this means for us in terms of freedom of thought and speech in full here.)

“..Saturn is a key player in the unfolding of events this year. As signifier of the establishment and authorities, its alignment with Pluto speaks to the extension of government powers and the reduction of civil liberties.

“It illuminates who gets to shape a dominant narrative, how they do it, and the use of fear to suppress and control.

“Indeed, the Saturn / Pluto conjunction of January speaks far more deeply to issues of power and control than of health and disease, signifying the imposition of authoritarian power over the masses in ways never before seen on such a vast scale.

“As Saturn completes its shift from Capricorn to its new home in Aquarius during the course of 2020, it illuminates the suppression of free-thought and open debate.

“The silencing of free speech and what happens when those silenced refuse to be so…

“Initially, Saturn in Aquarius can continue to manifest as the metaphorical boot that kicks dissenters back into line, stifles independence and acts contrary to collective well-being.

“It’s the fear of having to think for yourself in a confusing and paradoxical world.

“It wants to be told what to think and believe, who to love, who to hate, how to keep yourself safe…

“As Saturn tiptoes from the familiarity of conventional perception (Capricorn) to the uncharted terrain of independent thought (Aquarius) this year, fear arises: What if I’m wrong? They’re the experts. What would I know? How do I justify gut instinct when what it tells me goes against the grain of accepted belief? What if I’m left standing alone in my beliefs, ridiculed for daring to think differently? What if I’m roundly rejected, left in a group of one?

“But Saturn is nothing if not steadfast!

“Its presence in Aquarius empowers us to think for ourselves whatever it takes.

“To take responsibility for our own well-being. To enjoy maturity of thought and behaviour, not surrender our sovereign view to a surrogate ‘parent’ who tells us what to believe.

“Saturn in Aquarius reminds us that even the oft-uttered refrain ‘everything is happening as it should’ doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be done but let it all unfold.

“We don’t download awakening, we cultivate it, nurture it, question those aspects of self that mitigate against it.

“And in doing so we discover that wise action in this moment can change the next.

“That by being present to the full triumph and catastrophe of the human experience we can recalibrate it and shape the course of history rather than simply be shaped by it.

“And we’re currently living at a historical crossroads of monumental proportions.

“To choose well we need to harness the power of Saturn’s journey into Aquarius to engage courageous thought and nurture fresh perspectives.

“Not to stifle debate and feed the fear of dissent.

“Black Moon Lilith and Chiron were conjunct the Sun when Saturn first entered Aquarius in March 2020, highlighting the influence its Aquarian journey would have over our individual and collective sense of self.

“They affirm the healing radiance of the human spirit and the unadulterated power unleashed when we remember who we really are – divine through and through, and equally human. Of this world and all others everywhere.

“This power cannot be diminished by tyranny or lies, by manipulation or fear.

“It is unassailable. Always. And it knows the truth. We know the truth. This is the message of Saturn in Aquarius…

“It’s a long road ahead. Courage will be needed.

“As will a sense of humor and the ability to know when to speak up and when to keep one’s counsel for a more propitious time. No outcome is assured so complacency is best avoided.

“That said we need to know our own limits and take care of ourselves first and foremost.

“Saturn in Aquarius can be a game changer if we let it, opening up debate, revealing hidden truths and endowing each and every one of us with a deep sense of responsibility for what we believe, such that simply accepting what we’re told by anyone will be anathema to our finely tuned moral compass.

“Let the prevailing narrative place its evidence alongside that of alternative views. Let us debate and explore, question and analyze. Let us be convinced of an argument, not receive our beliefs by dictate.

“But most of all, let Saturn in Aquarius cement the sovereignty of our mind and our right to form our own opinion from external evidence and our internal knowing about it…

“For whatever’s going on in this world today, it is we the people, not the privileged elite with vested interests in our obedience to their cause, who can – and must – decide the shape our lives take from here.”

DIVINE HARMONY says:

“The North Node in Gemini is about coming back to beginner’s mind. This is about cultivating the mind of a child- full of openness, curiosity and generosity.

“This is about saying ‘show me where I am wrong’ and ‘hmm I don’t know- what is the Truth here? Show me the Truth Universe.’

“The Highest expression of Gemini is open mindedness.

“The karmic South Node in Sagittarius highlights where we do the opposite of this. This is where we have hubris, self righteousness and dogma.

“This is where we think MY beliefs are the right ones and yours are the wrong ones- you just need to listen to me, I will teach you the RIGHT way of doing things/seeing things/believing.

“In any conflict if anyone is coming from this position I can guarantee you it is a no win situation.

“But cultivating an open mind and willingness to see other perspectives and work to understand other positions WILL open doors in communication rather than close them.

“The thing to remember here is when we listen to another’s perspective it’s not about right or wrong. It’s about understanding where another comes from.

“Understanding another person’s world view and lived experience…

“Vesta is conjunct the North Node – drawing us forward to our Sacred Focus and Greatest Devotion.

“The North Node is in Gemini but Vesta is in Cancer- the sign of the Great Mother.

“One of the great necessities of this time is to honor and reinstate the Divine Feminine…

“The denial of the Mother has had horrific ramifications on our planet.

“The Feminine elements are Earth and Water- body and soul, physical reality and emotion…

“We need to heal our disassociation from our emotions and (Water) and our detachment from and abuse of the body (Earth).

“If we were fully connected to these elements we could NEVER harm another person, dump toxic poison in the water or air, abuse a child, kill, murder or go to war.

“If everyone’s heart chakra was fully open we would FEEL what we do to another and we would never be able to do the horrific things happening on the planet right now.

“Reclaiming and restoring the Divine Feminine to her rightful place is NECESSARY… (and to be clear- this is not about men vs women- as men and masculine identified beings have an inner feminine just as women and feminine identified beings have an inner masculine)

“Use this sacred Eclipse portal to question your assumptions, beliefs, attitudes and ways of perceiving the world around you.

“Use this time to anchor more deeply into your heart, compassion, empathy and love for all beings- human, animal and non-human- everywhere.

“Use this portal to open up to Higher Truths that go beyond ego-mind perspectives. See beyond the veil of delusion/illusion/manipulation so you can get to the Truth.

“Start with yourself (do your shadow work) and then extend that inner work out into the world around you.”

And ELLIAS LONSDALE interpretation of the Chandra symbol for this Full Moon Eclipse is:

SAGITTARIUS 16:A man shearing sheep.

“Practical fortitude. Resiliency to keep finding a way to do it, to keep discovering how to get through the deepest quandaries, the greatest karmic traps. Ingenious and resourceful. Paying attention to the cues, going to get it right.

“You’re involved within a path which requires discipleship or apprenticeship, learning the ropes. Building up fresh capacity in this lifetime to scale the heights. But you remain preoccupied and absorbed within honest tasks.

“A pervasive conviction grows and forms, of how it really is.

“You’re willing to take every step to reach a far goal, and attentive to what is really there. A throwback to the old ways of a rural past.

“Oddly comfortable in adopting forms and moving through phases and taking on the worlds.

“The journeyman learns the ways of the journey and gathers Earth wisdom in small bundles.

“Knowing how to be there when it counts.“

This has been a very tough week. For me personally, I lost one my very best friends and allies on this physical plane. This last line, “Knowing how to be there when it counts,” is what she embodied and reason we all continue to do what we must.

Sending so much love to each of our hearts during this trying passage,

With all my heart~

MM ☾☾☾

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astral-obscura · 7 years

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Intercepted Planets

Note: this is the basic, natural manifestation of intercepted planets, but it isn’t permanent. You’re able to heal and move forward from these issues.

Sun: The ego is misplaced, and drives the native inconsistently -- personal or impersonal reactions & decisions don’t arise in the appropriate contexts. Identity will be poorly defined and the native will feel lost in their sense of self, not having direction or an accurate perception of what makes them unique. They can be indecisive and easily confused, lacking solid framework of personality to build their lives upon. Experiences can be wasted, as not everything will be filtered through their “being” properly. They won’t understand their role or place in the world and will often feel alienated. Extreme self-esteem issues will arise as a result of poor self-image, absent self-awareness, and an inability to self-express. They don’t give themselves room to grow, and may stagnate in a pattern of reflection of others, isolation and limitation, causing decontexualized perception of self to separate them from their past and their potential; they float in hazy misunderstanding of what it means to be themselves, and can’t progress.

Moon: The emotions will not have a safe resting place within the native, and there will constantly be a sense of “looking in” on how they feel from a detached outside perspective. They won’t understand the source of their emotions, will have little positive experience of sharing them, and will not have a close connection to their own inner self, so expression will seem impossible. Blank, directionless, or vapid thoughts typically fill their mind without external stimulation because interior richness is stifled. May have trouble with memories and imagination. A painful lack of self-nurturance permeates their life. Intimacy and empathy are heavy, uncomfortable, perhaps even distressing. They filter their feelings through a “normalcy standard” that they fabricated through observation, and it limits their self-understanding because they feel a constant inner discomfort which alienates them from themselves. They handle themselves impersonally, and that lack of self-compassion is damaging.

Mercury: Rational intellectual activity is blocked by splintered thinking & inconsistent logic (due to the vitality and style of the mind being suppressed). Original thoughts and ideas are dismissed out of a lack of a sense of mental uniqueness. Logical complexities take considerable attention, time, and careful conscious energy to comprehend. Learning may be stunted. Communication is highly difficult because the native struggles to find their personal voice, and ideas must be sorted out before spoken (making writing easier than speech). Often feels misunderstood, may need to find unconventional ways to communicate with others in order to feel heard. They may also misunderstand others and lack the social sophistication to understand complex use of language, although they have their own complex use of it. There’s a barrier between what is natural for them and what is natural for everyone else. They are enclosed within their own mind, scrambling to build a bridge between it & others’.

Venus: Values and personal taste are inconsistent, ill-defined, or based in external influences; individuality can’t be expressed through style, so the native feels poorly represented in the world. They may doubt their positive qualities or physical attractiveness and feel highly insecure about their appearance, status, material possessions, or wealth. Their priorities won’t be well organized and this will negatively impact relationships. The native won’t have an accurate perception of where they stand with others, nor how they behave when in love. They will have trouble expressing love and committing, as their desires tend not to be very stable (due to lack of self-awareness and self-acceptance). Creativity is blocked, so they will have many good ideas but no way to execute them, which can cause a feeling of being ‘trapped’ in an inability to express. They will feel disconnected from others, and their love will likely be conditional because purity of emotion is difficult to access due to their tendency to over-analyze and misconstrue social contexts & dynamics. They may lack solid ideals.

Mars: Self-assertion will be severely limited, and the native’s personal power will be tightly reined with extreme effort (consciously or not). Strong emotions and ambitions are repressed. The native spends much time convincing themselves not to take action, carefully suppressing impulses. Overt passion or anger are embarrassing for the native; they’ve been taught that intensity in expression is unwelcome, for whatever reason. Bottling it increases its strength, so emotional responses typically have a hostile edge. Passivity can become a habit, reducing the native’s reactivity, direction, defense mechanisms, and ability to cope with confrontation to an unhealthy extent. They mute & slow themselves. They feel as if they were not born with the innate ability to protect themselves, so they may have an anxious, defensive disposition due to inflated survival drive. Instincts and intuition confuse the native, and they shy away from risks. More inclined toward flight rather than fight. They may be scared of or uninterested in sex.

Jupiter: Expansion turns inward; the native may feel as if they have a hard time keeping up with themselves. They will feel like the world is harsh on them specifically and their luck is absent, weak, or selective -- a general sense of being underprivileged will arise. They grow rapidly, but much of it feels inconsequential (& may be discarded) due to not having an adequate way to express their personal wisdom; what they learn is held inside, and they will resent their inability to share their insight. They may feel like they possess a wealth of knowledge or truth but that they cannot access it, which negatively affects their confidence and enjoyment of life. Their perception of what they deserve is warped, so they may be extremely selfish or selfless. Trust is difficult for them, and they may be skeptics or become arrogantly opposed to things they disagree with because they can’t grasp relative morality or the concept of personal journeys; they are terrified of universal truths not existing.

Saturn: Self-restriction and personal limitations take place without the native understanding their source or necessity. The lessons within difficult life experiences will be lost on them because they don’t maturely analyze their shortcomings or wounds. Their flaws could be their downfall because they easily become complacent; it’s unlikely for them to fully heal from pain because they don’t learn from it first. Ambitions seem too far away to achieve, so they are often unwilling to try. It’s difficult for them to find their inner strength, but they can’t build healthy structures in their life until they do. They may lack dignity, humility, or responsibility, which is ultimately a form of self-sabotage. Self-control is warped as well, leaving them either under self-tyranny or self-anarchy, never feeling secure in their “personal code” & regulation of themselves, not knowing what they should allow into their lives or what they should not. This affects their identity and they may adapt to a circumstance or pattern that is unhealthy, just to try to feel comfortable in who they are and “pick a life to lead.” They rush, and often make the wrong choice because of it.

Uranus: The native will be disconnected from a drive for moral action; it is difficult for them to maintain strong beliefs, values, and principles, and even when they manage to do so, they lack the courage to validate or integrate them. A lack of courage is the overarching theme -- they are afraid to rebel, afraid to stand out, afraid to go against the current. This is because original thinking and unapologetic individuality was not encouraged in early life, but rather they were punished for being “different” or more so rewarded for aligning with authority to the point where it was painfully futile to protest or even disagree. Conformity becomes a weakness because the native doesn’t understand that it isn’t required, and can’t access or discover a way to openly be themselves.

Neptune: The subconscious realm is ignored and never explored, leaving the native with a self-unawareness that can’t be eradicated. They rely too heavily on logic or conscious rational thought; they often become the “see it to believe it” type of people and completely disregard their intuition & higher mind, which can cause great despair and a feeling of being lost or alone in their lives. They don’t trust themselves, they neglect their spiritual needs, and scramble to satisfy a deep inner longing that they don’t understand. Feeding the starved soul with oblivious superficial pleasures only makes the hunger worse, but they don’t see this. They may also lack the ability to be genuinely empathetic, and can be socially inept due to not being open to powerful spiritual connections with others.

Pluto: Transformation ravages the ego & “rattles the chain” of the native’s anchor in their own personal world. Intense depth -- whatever its nature -- can be unbelievably damaging to their whole psyche (especially their subconscious) because they resist it and refuse to understand its power and truth. They will be rather fragile and helpless during difficult times, and they won’t have the backbone to confront their wounds or problems. Circumstances and other people (especially hostile manipulators) get the best of them. By being unwilling to develop the courage or take action to defend and improve, they relinquish all their power to forces that wish to harm them, and then in their self-ignorance cannot fathom why they’re so often hurt by the world.

#mypost #astrology #zodiac #horoscope #interceptions #interception #intercepted #intercepted planet #planets #sun #moon #mercury #venus #mars #jupiter #saturn #uranus #neptune #pluto

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spirit-science-blog · 3 years

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The Real Frozen 2 Easter Eggs

If you've seen the reviews of Frozen 2, generally, it's well-received, praised for its heart and story. Still, there is this deep undercurrent of spiritual wisdom, and as far as I can see, it has not yet been dissected. Frozen 2 takes us deep into the unknown, but much do we take for granted just how unknown the deep truly goes.

Let's start with this. Have you ever heard of a thing called The Last Airbender? Specifically, the show, not the movie. Frozen 2 mainly develops on that narrative, reimagining the idea of the avatar and the four elements into this enchanted world.

The Four Elemental Spirits

The four elements are not found as “benders”, however, but are still reflected by beings or spirits made up of their respective elements. Elsa, the last Icebender, primarily experiences her own personal transformation into the avatar by the end. In a nod to both Airbender AND the Legend of Korra, she is not only the bridge between the elements but the human and spirit world as well. I swear, the only thing missing in this movie is pro-bending!

Now, of course, I'm not trying to say that Airbender was the originator of the four elements. Indeed that concept is found rooted in ancient philosophy and religion of the Greek and Ancient Egyptian cultures. If we really want to get into their philosophies, they didn't invent the elements, that's God's handiwork. Frozen does a beautiful job of bringing those ideas that avatar captured so well, and putting them into a frame of reference that is unique unto itself, and carries the familiar magic of the bending world that just feels familiar as we progress throughout this story.

As mentioned, we see the elements themselves come to life in their own unique way. Most notable and true-to-form would be our friend, the fire salamander. For those unfamiliar with ancient Greek alchemy, the Salamander was actually the symbol of the fire elementals. Someone at Disney has done their homework…

Along with this adorable critter, we also see a water horse, which they entirely borrowed from the King of Cups in Patch Tarot, the Wind from the game Flower by ThatGameCompany, and of course, the rock biters from never-ending story returning for the role as the earth spirits.

Water Has Memory

Another curious decision to build into the fundamentals of the movie was to incorporate the work of Dr. Emoto. I mean leaning into it hard, nay, body slamming the audience with a continuous stream of lines mostly from Olaf about how water has memory, and it remembers everything.

And honestly, I'm not at all upset about that. Actually, if there's one way to get human consciousness to wake up to a new idea, it's to get that idea in front of billions of people and then tell it to them over and over, and that's precisely what Disney does here. Now, I know there are probably some people who are going to get very upset about this because some people believe Dr. Emoto was a quackerdoodle! So it's worth noting that the science here is more than a little legit. And I'm not just talking about Emoto.

Recent discoveries by a German group of scientists demonstrated that water was able to carry a microscopic pattern based on the surrounding environment, carrying the pattern and integrating with future patterns it received it over time. We won't get into the specifics here, but I'll put a link in the comments if you want to learn more.

Ultimately, this study shows that water has memory, and that water can pick up and store information from all of the places it has traveled through, connecting people and places through time by the memories it carries. Ahhh… How beautiful.

And we can take it deeper if we consider this through the lens of Greek Alchemy, and the relationship of the element water to our emotional bodies, then we can see that it is our EMOTIONS through which memories are stored. Think about it - if you are emotionally invested in some big event in your life, it means a lot to you, and you have no problem recalling it. But try and remember what you had for lunch 7 weeks ago. Unless it was a particularly memorable lunch, maybe you just happened to sit down for a meal with… I dunno, the Avengers? Things like this generally get faded out in favor of the things that mean more to us.

And this brings us to where Frozen 2 gets interesting.

Colonialism

One of the main themes of Frozen 2, if not the most main theme, is that of a social commentary on the relationship between the indigenous cultures of the world, and… well… non-natives. And they released the movie just in time for Thanksgiving, too!

Of course, they've done it in a way that is tasteful and accessible, considering the root subject matter here is the mass suppression of an entire civilization that gave us the world we have today. It's understandable that most people don't like talking about stuff like that, but sometimes those conversations are the most needed in the world!

Now, this aspect of the movie is discussed in the mainstream, but here's where the unknown lights up with spiritual sparkles. Traditionally, in many ye olde symbolic languages, such as the Tarot, for example, the four elements are many times represented by special items. In the instance of the Tarot, we have cups, wands, swords, and pentacles or disks. These are water, fire, air, and earth, which of course, are metaphors for our emotions, our spiritual will, our minds, and our Physical bodies.

Fear of Magic

Towards the finale of Frozen 2, we see how the war between the two cultures broke out in the first place, we see it was .... well, malicious intent and a power struggle on behalf of the white guy leader. He was terrified of the indigenous ways because he saw things he did not understand, and believing their mystic arts would threaten his rulership, he decided to take them out of the picture. Yikes...

But at the moment of this big reveal, we see the way it all goes down. The general with a sword standing over the Indigenous leader while he holds a cup of tea. I don't think we can get a screenshot of this scene in particular just yet, so here's a pitchman version instead for now.

As we just explored, in the elements, swords reflect the element of air, which is the mind and thoughts, and the cups are emotions and feelings. When you really dive into the Tarot, it also explains how, when the mind is not tempered with peace, it can become an instrument of suffering, confusion, and cruelty.

Now, they could have given the tribe leader anything to hold. He could have been smoking a peace pipe, playing the drum, just meditating or something... But the Frozen team gave him a cup, why? The scene and story are spiritually describing a cutting off from one's feelings and looking at the world through a limited perspective, and this action is rooted in fear.

This subtle yet powerful imagery shows us what happens when we create from a place devoid of feeling, without empathy or an emotional connection to ourselves or others. We lose our compassion, and then our humanity. This is doubly made powerful by knowing that the Ace of Cups, the root of Emotion, is labeled as compassion. Jee whiz, Tarot is so cool!

Emotional Dams And Teleportation

And finally, much of the plot is based around a large dam that was built by the general as a false gift, weakening the magical forest and the people who dwell there. The dam itself is a reflection of the barrier that society has installed, which limits us from truly being free to express ourselves, keeping the magic within us trapped inside.

I say that "society has installed" specifically because it was not the current generation who built the dam, but several generations prior in the movie, indicating that all of us are born today into a world that conditions us to think a certain way about life, and it's up to us to go back into history, discover the truth about who we are, where we came from *cough* Atlantis *cough*, and change our future with new information.

In addition to that, the movie also explains how to solve this problem in another way, through the character Kristoff. Sure, he spent the majority of the movie trying to get hitched, which, at least it's the man swooning as opposed to the woman, which let's face it, is overdone. But there was one part when he was singing with Sven, the reindeer, and the song ends with very simply "Let down your guaaarrdd:" THIS is how we break our own inner emotional dams. Stop being so uptight and defensive, just open your heart to love.

With that, we find ourselves at the end of the film, and the first episode of Hidden Spirituality! Thanks for checking out our new series, and stay tuned for more!

#spirituality #science #ascenscion #mystery school #spirit science

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connorrenwick · 4 years

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Designing for Good with Design for America

We highlighted organizations that are working to design a better world. One of those was Design for America (DFA). DFA is a national network of students, alumni, mentors and partners focused on using design to make a positive difference and tackle social changes. The network uses tools and coaching to encourage and support students in innovation and community building.

DFA 2019 Summit

To learn more about DFA and the work it’s doing, we spoke with Glory Dang, a designer and design educator at DFA, and Maheen Khizar, a recent graduate of Rice University, where they studied philosophy, human-centered design and served as the Studio Lead for the DFA Rice studio.

Design for America Summit In Ford in 2019 in Evanston, IL \\\ Photo: Rob Hart

What do you see as design’s role in improving the world?

Glory Dang: PEOPLE improve the world — and design is an excellent tool for people to practice listening, being empathetic, thinking critically about systems, and addressing issues with full creativity in context. When we use a collaborative approach to design — including diverse perspectives and disciplines in conjunction with community-based practices — we can build sustainable systems that elevate quality of life for all. This includes minimizing the negative outcomes of structural inequity and creating innovative interventions that empower communities of need. Design is also a toolkit and methodology for bringing people together: whether to bridge disparate communities, create a consensus, or to unite movements.

Maheen Khizar: Design is a complex discipline and often poorly defined. Some folks use design as a way to learn about the world as a means to improve it, others think the design process only works if a code of ethics has been specified, and a growing community of folks feel design’s place is in bringing about incremental change. I’m still learning about this, so I keep a broad definition of design as a tool that people use to plan and create. This helps me think about how design fits into a bigger picture, and in some places doesn’t fit at all. As someone that learned about design in a classroom, I do see design as a useful educational tool for encouraging students’ creativity in their work and accountability in their communities. That encouragement can happen without design, too.

DFA UIUC Recruitment Table

What’s been one of your most rewarding experiences with the organization?

Glory Dang: Design for America gave me three things as a student: (1) The hope and belief in young people — that we absolutely have the capacity to make an impact on the world; (2) A fresh take on the design practice, one that was not tied to traditional white male academic heritage, but instead reframed as a method to work with communities and create positive social impact; (3) I found a wonderful community of people, from all different backgrounds and practices, that shared a common value of solving problems for social good. Through the DFA community, I’ve been inspired over and over by both my peers and the alumni trailblazers that muddled through the same tensions that I’ve had about social impact in career and found a unique path that works for them.

Maheen Khizar: At this point, I’ve had several years of learning alongside DFA alumni, students, advisors, staff and community partners. As a student, DFA meant a sense of social belonging at my PWI (predominantly white institution) alma mater. It also meant being around folks that saw and thought about design differently from me — the community guideline of respect meant that we could enter a space and try to figure out which of those perspectives could be instructive. I’m glad it was early on in my development as a young adult because it gave me a reference point for the respect and reciprocity I desire within any workplace, academic, or social setting.

DFA also expanded how I understand my strengths as a designer, thinker, and organizer. At Rice, I’d often run into people who thought I was unemployable as a philosophy major. But in 2019 I presented the DFA Rice and Compass project on food insecurity for the National Association of College Auxiliary Services (NACAS). When I presented to the large crowd of professionals about the project’s goal of making an on-campus food pantry better known amongst students dealing with food insecurity, I walked away with a dozen job offers in hand. That helped me recognize that others took me seriously and helped me develop an attitude that I now find necessary to direct my own life and career.

DFA members in a design sprint

What type of impact do you hope your work has?

Glory Dang: I hope to inspire students to deeply consider how their work relates to community and impact. By sharing diverse perspectives through the people in the DFA community, opportunities arise for a plethora of new ways, even unimagined ways, for young students to shape their life and career around social impact. You don’t need to be a designer to use design tools for social good.

Before I joined DFA in my junior year at RISD, I had little direction on how to use my academic work to contribute to society in a way that really resonated with me. I had a lot of volunteering experience with food banks and clothing charities, but that work felt so separate from my creative interests. I’d always liked the idea of helping people and solving problems, but the simulated scenarios in which my Industrial Design coursework had us play with were similarly unrelated to the pressing needs of society. It wasn’t until I worked on a DFA project, where we collaborated directly with nurses and elders living with dementia in care homes to reimagine a better experience, that I was able to connect the dots between my academic expertise, the human-centered design training through DFA, and my desire for purpose in my work. The DFA experience opened those doors for me to explore design education and design for social impact in a tangible way, and I want to share that opportunity with other students as well.

DFA teams and mentors having a discussion.

George Eye at DFA Summit 2019

What have been some of the most successful or most important design projects you’ve seen?

Glory Dang: The projects that are most successful are the ones that create community impact. Take a look at any student-led DFA project and you’ll see young designers embedding themselves in local communities, listening thoughtfully to peoples’ needs, and analyzing their design research to find underlying root causes. The ideas and concepts that follow directly respond to those community voices fielded from research and those voices are folded into the rest of the design process through ideation, prototyping, and testing.

One example of a student-led DFA project that accomplished meaningful engagement with their community was the Act on Access team from the RISD|Brown Studio. This team, led by Malaika Franks and Cyvian Chen, spent over a year investigating the barriers that the built world presents to people of varying abilities. Through their intimate research process with 7+ diverse community partners, including the RI Governor’s Commission on Disabilities, the Perkins School for the Blind, InSight, Brown University’s Student and Employee Accessibility Services, Institute for Human Centered Design, and RAMP (Real Access Makes Progress), they conducted field observations, interviewed restaurant staff, and learned about the experiences of people with low-vision/blindness. Their first outcome was a three-part Awareness Campaign): an accessibility checklist for restaurant owners to better serve their elderly and differently abled customers; a sticker campaign to tackle accessibility stigmas; and a student-facilitated panel in partnership with DesignxRI’s Design Week centered in the RISD community and involving disability rights leaders, inclusive design practitioners, design educators, and students to have an active discussion about how to design an inclusive and accessible community for all. Through the process of empathizing and collaborating with partners, the team became fully invested in their impact work and are continuing the project this year to develop an app to facilitates efficient communication between the grocery store assistants and shoppers with visual impairment, in addition to finalizing the restaurant checklist in PDF and booklet format to share with RAMP and other partners.

Another student-led design initiative that sprung out of DFA’s community-based design principles is Atutu. Co-founded by DFA UCSD Alumni Eric Richards while he was a student, Atutu is an international non-profit organization that brings community-based design innovation across the world to build equitable and sustainable communities. They’ve started a Grassroots Design approach to help youth in developing countries design and implement change in their own communities. Their work has already touched communities in India, Mexico, and Myanmar, connecting people together with tools and platforms to support envisioning, enacting, and sustaining equitable local development. As a first-generation Chinese-American whose parents are from Hainan and Vietnam, I would have loved to reconnect with my heritage and empower my parents’ communities through Atutu.

The community impact of DFA projects is multi-faceted; students are inspired to see each others’ work, community members feel heard and welcomed through student efforts, and every conversation sparked from showcasing these projects to universities contribute to a complex and nuanced shift toward the effort of building up communities and creating positive social impact.

Maheen Khizar: I pay attention to learning from the work done in the field of accessibility design. The 30-year anniversary of the enactment of the ADA has been celebrated with recognition of the relative recency of rights-based, enforceable, legal acknowledgment of accessibility. I think of a line from a tenants rights’ handbook by the San Francisco Tenants Union – “Until relatively recently, if a house burned down, the tenant was required to continue paying rent…it was not until 1974 that the California courts finally recognized that a tenant had an obligation to pay rent only if the…landlords provide certain basic housing standards, such as plumbing, heating, and electricity.” I see this as useful for understanding what the context is for asking designers to be accountable and take a proactive approach to accessibility and usability in their work. Developing that context can even happen through a design project. This happened at DFA Rice with a project on increasing the usability of campus cafeterias for students that use motorized scooters to move around campus. The campus cafeterias were ADA compliant, as it was built to be accessible to wheelchair users. Rice is a large campus in hot and sunny Texas, so not many people with a meal plan on-campus use wheelchairs. The DFA Rice team on this project had to be imaginative to think and build for accessibility beyond the bare minimum of existing regulations. I’d have to write a whole essay to write about this stuff, so I’ll just say that the field of accessibility design is where I see a lot more examples of design being helpful.

DFA members working on a prototype.

Is there any particular direction you’d like to see the field move in?

Glory Dang: Design needs to be more accessible to groups that are not traditionally represented in the design space, as well as fully encapsulate ethical and community-based practices with the goal of building communities and creating holistic positive impact. Not just human-centered design, but ALL design disciplines—graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and more.

We already have a history of people and organizations who have established practices that further this mission: Greater Good Studio is a strategic design firm focused on advancing equity; Beytna Design was founded by DFA Stanford Alumni Tania Anaissie and helps socially minded organizations actualize their commitment to equity; Creative Reaction Lab was founded in support of the Uprising in Ferguson, and today with DFA Alumni Isabelle Yisak, is building a youth-led, community-centered movement for new civic leaders. All of these organizations and many others fold in humility, acknowledge history and culture, share power, embrace complexity, and welcome healing processes to serve the communities that have been affected by inequity the most.

New organizations have sprung up recently with Black Lives Matter uprising as well, continuing the hard work to further this mission: The Design Justice Network, Where Are The Black Designers?, and the Design as Protest Collective are just a few that are actively bringing design communities together to work toward equity, justice, and liberation.

I mentioned earlier my desire to find deeper meaning and purpose in my design work. Thanks to DFA, I met incredible alumni like Isabelle Yisak, who introduced me to principles of Power Dynamics in design research; Lulu Mickelson who inspired me with her incredible civic engagement and design work for NYC; and Alex Chen who is a usability and accessibility UX designer and leader in Chicago. These are only a handful of the unique folks in DFA that have taken social impact to heart, and I look up to them as I’m discovering my own role as a designer and educator working toward impact.

Maheen Khizar: To mirror the above point, there is a long history of folks who have supported the work being done today to promote the practice of design in an accountable, ethical way. I think about Tania Anaisse at Beytna Design and the work they are doing on liberatory design, grounded in the belief that “Oppression and racism were designed. Therefore they can be redesigned.” Also, the work happening at Greater Good Studio, led by George Aye and Sara Cantor Aye, to shift power imbalances and create power through good design. I also look to Sasha Costanza Chock’s work and am particularly struck by a chapter in their recent book, Design Justice, “Introduction: #TravelingWhileTrans, Design Justice, and Escape from the Matrix of Domination.” I highly recommend reading the open-access chapter as it draws out the design decisions that lead TSA security screening processes to disproportionately pat down non-gender conforming people. I want to see the design field move more in the direction of this work.

Jerry the Bear prototyping

Jerry the Bear

If you want a way to support Design for America today, you can donate here to help fund the organization and its important work.

Glory Dang is a designer and design educator at DFA. She is fascinated by big-picture thinking, complex systems, and tools that drive positive social impact. Her undergraduate years were spent at RISD and Brown, where she studied Industrial Design and Experience Design and led the DFA RISD|Brown studio. In her free time, you can find her reading non-fiction or making hand-bound journals.

Maheen Khizar is a recent graduate of Rice University, where they studied philosophy, human-centered design, and served as the Studio Lead for the DFA Rice studio. Maheen is currently part of the operations team at MassChallenge, the world’s most startup-friendly accelerator, and is incoming at Accenture as a Strategy Analyst. They’re using quarantine time, which feels more nonlinear by the day, to process their position as an educationally privileged South Asian in the Southern United States.

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2020/09/08/designing-for-good-with-design-for-america/

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her-culture · 5 years

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Finding Common Ground on the Battlefield: Veganism in the Capitalist Game

Veganism, a multi-tiered battle, is itself a tier in the fight against Capitalism, a system perpetuated by those with power exploiting those with less. With the keystone argument behind veganism being the pathos support, it is easy to see the similarities between the exploitation of animals and the use-abuse relationship that Capitalist America has with its consumer populations.These abuses include, but are not limited to the peasant class laborers in South America that the US has funded wars to keep in servitude, the trans folks that must participate in sex work to make a living, the people of color that were all too recently second class citizens in legislature, and the women that must fight the inherited sexist measures of their value. Through this lens, going vegan is an explicit statement to not endorse a system that uses cold-blooded oppression and abuse to support its elite.

Capitalism exploits us all.

Animals are just the last to move towards inclusion within humanity’s moral barriers. Not the first to draw this comparison, Alexander Cockburn summarizes Jeremy Bentham’s criticism of society’s conceptualization of animal rights, drawing “comparisons between the rights of animals and the rights of slaves”. Women, once viewed as the property of their husband, went through the same process of being deemed human enough to be of moral concern and awarded the freedom of autonomy. The most recent to be fully included as complete beings, African Americans, have endured centuries of propaganda claiming they are too ethically numb to comprehend mistreatment, and countless other denigrations to justify their enslavement. LGBTQ+ individuals are currently being included within the boundaries of both political and social acceptance, and are still being subjected to dehumanizing treatment by others. When it comes down to it, the common ground all of these human animals share with non-human animals is an ability to suffer. Genitalia, skin color, and other identity markers will never obscure that fact; animals are no different and the world is just beginning to wake up to the holocaust that has been occurring under its nose.

Susie Coston, the National Shelter Director of Farm Sanctuary, comments “all social justice movements over arch…they’re fighting because there’s a group, no matter how large, that is superior over another group…and because that being is being exploited, or injured, or treated horribly or not allowed to have a life …and those are the things that we’re all fighting for”. Whereas the identity politics front is mainly battling for recognition by Congress and straight white people, animals are dying at the hands of an economy that everyone participates in — oftentimes by necessity. Millions of Americans below the poverty line live in food deserts where access to vegan options is too restricted to ever be a possibility, much less a consideration for a struggling family. Big businesses concerned only with profit don’t speak in compassion, which is probably why the American economy relies on overseas slave labor for its hard materials, produce, and resources. These corporations operate on stereotypical consumer demographics that perpetuate discrimination in our societal hierarchy. From the enslaved four-footed to the abused bipedal, “the biggest connection is the exploiters.” (Coston)

The Multi-Tiered Approach

Essentially, we’re all battling the big businesses that profit off of oppression; because Vegans and Plant Based proponents are working directly against big-business corporations, they constitute a tine amongst the identity politics fighters. According to Coston, “the big dairy farms are untouchable,” legally speaking. Currently, tax payer money (approx. $20 million) goes to subsidies that buy excesses of dairy products - “we subsidize the dairy industry… to dump their product, like when they’re not making enough money, they can dump millions of gallons of milk” to keep the costs of dairy products as they are, rather than mirror the surplus supply by lowering costs. In translation, even if the consumer basis for dairy products dramatically decreases, these conglomerates will continue to survive on taxpayer dollars, because they are backed up by the government. Coston elaborates, “there has to be groups that focus on the legal end, because if you don’t change those subsidies, the rest of the movement doesn’t matter. If you get a strong backing of people that stop consuming meat/eggs/dairy for environmental, ethical and health reasons, but the government still bails out these big corporations for their excesses, the industries still survive.” This is why a multi-tiered approach is required. There needs to be allies on the legal side, as well as on the many concerns of animal consumption: what’s best for the environment and for human health, as well as what’s ethically responsible for the animals.

Within the vegan movement, however, there is dissent — just as there is within the identity politics movement and the feminist movement — which holds back progress towards mutual goals. “We have a tendency in the movement to say ‘that’s a compromise, f*** that’,” comments Coston, on the tensions that arise between different approaches. As the director of a sanctuary for animals rescued from factory farms and backyard butchers, to endorse a team of lawyers fighting for legislative baby steps towards cage-free animals that will still be exploited for their bodies is a major compromise. Yet, on the flip side of the coin, Coston mentions that these legal teams are the first to retort that “sanctuaries are a waste of money.” Farm Sanctuary, for example, has a connection-oriented approach to the collective goal of shutting down factory farms, in which visitors can interact with the residents — “‘get to know the animal, tell their story, meet them, see them as sentient’,” in Coston’s words. From the Farm Sanctuary perspective, because they have this specific pathos approach, its easy to displace the anger associated with the meat industry on the people championing cage-free rather than a corporation, like Tyson. “Even if you don’t agree with one of those tiers…and it is a compromise. Somebody else in another group can do that [push only consumption of cage-free meat & eggs, for example] and it might be very effective,” says Coston, “we need to be multi tiered and just really need to stop obsessing over each other”.

Time for Reflection

Wherever you fit into this ongoing battle, it’s worth taking into account those that you are fighting among. How do you refer to those around you who are oppressed differently? Do you support them, or grapple for the spotlight? Identifying similarities between oppressed groups has been shown to promote cohesion, and when it comes down to it, whether you’re a vegan or a carnist, your ultimate goals may look very similar to that of your neighbor. Marginalized groups, facing internal intersectional struggles, are all fighting the boundaries of capitalism and the exploitation of the powerless. Every injured voice that can be heard is shouting for inclusion; open your ears and see the bleating.

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zipgrowth · 5 years

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Empathy Isn’t Enough: Power Imbalances In Edtech Must Shift

As agencies like UNESCO call for global citizen education, in an aim to create peaceful and sustainable societies, online education is being increasingly used to boost cross-cultural dialogues and promote shared values through empathy and compassion-building.

However, education has never been value-neutral. We cannot overlook the fact that education is a politically, socially and culturally mediated project. So as education becomes globalized through access to online learning, this becomes even more contentious because the internet is dominated by Western narratives and discourse.

We cannot overlook the fact that education is a politically, socially and culturally mediated project.

As a result, the sources of knowledge production, especially digitally, lie in the West, and often promote dominant Euro-American epistemologies. This backdrop is essential in considering the role of technology in education for building peaceful and sustainable societies. And while empathy and compassion-building are essential for creating peaceful societies, I argue it is not enough. Past and present day injustices, and power imbalances, need to be acknowledged and addressed to constructively move forward.

In striving for peaceful and sustainable society, we first need to evaluate what peaceful and sustainable societies are, especially in the age of globalization. More importantly, who decides what peaceful and sustainable societies are? Will such societies embody communitarian notions of Ubuntu from South Africa, or Buen Vivir from South America? If we continue in the current trajectory, this is unlikely to happen. This is because a big factor in building peaceful and sustainable societies is building a value system. However, different groups of people have different, sometimes conflicting, values.

We live in the age of globalization and neoliberalism, which means dominant discourses in support of privatization, marketization and deregulation overpower other perspectives. This is further perpetuated through technological determinism; the idea that the technologies implemented in a society, shape the social norms, values and functions of that society. Marshall Mcluhan aptly describes this when he says, “the medium is the message.” Technological determinism, globalization and neoliberalism cannot be separated.

As technology penetrates communities globally, particularly education models, so do neoliberal values around secularism, commodification, free-market capitalism and individualism. As these values take off on the global stage, local, cultural or religious values that differ are given second place, if they fit in at all. We must be weary of who decides the universal tenets of peaceful and sustainable societies, and who they marginalize.

Efforts around “development” and “progress” through online learning can reinforce systemic barriers and structural racism.

If we want to create sustainable societies, we must realize that educational technology is not a panacea, and that efforts around “development” and “progress” through online learning can reinforce systemic barriers and structural racism. Instead, we should be striving to work equitably with marginalized communities that were and are exploited.

In the pursuit of global knowledge and development to “catch up” with the West, we fail to realize that the entire globe cannot live like the “technologically advanced” West. Attempts at this are unfeasible and such high levels of technological growth are unsustainable. We also cannot forget that the West reached this point of “progress” through exploiting global resources and populations. We should not merely envision more sustainable pathways to development, but actually question and re-envision what we are striving towards in the first place.

So, how can we use technology in education to help rather than hinder such societies? One answer I hear is that technology must be “adapted to local context.” I have come to strongly dislike this phrase, however, because it still assumes that the solution lies in a Western version technology in the first place that can be tweaked superficially to suit the non-Western context. It assumes that Western knowledge and technology is superior, and the rest of the world is uncivilized, inferior, and in need of advancement.

Instead, I encourage models of transformation from within, where technology is built ground-up, with and by the community in question, rather than being trickled down from the West. Two promising models highlighting this are the Design Justice Framework from Sasha Costanza-Chock, an associate Professor of Civic Media at MIT, and Cheryl Ann Hodgkinson-Williams and Henry Trotter’s ‘Social Justice Framework for Understanding Open Educational Resources and Practices in the Global South.’ With such models of inclusive design, and many more emerging, I see hope for technology and edtech being used equitably to build sustainable societies.

Education for sustainable societies needs to have justice at its core. Such a society should strive for equity within itself and between other societies. It needs to recognize and overcome the power and dominance exercised by some over others. It needs to give room for previously marginalized and subjugated societies to grow, allowing for equal opportunity.

Sustainable societies need to embrace difference—not enforce homogeneity and assimilation that often comes hand in hand with the embracing of “global” value systems. With these principles of justice at the core of education, whether online or face-to-face, we can strive towards genuinely building peace.

Empathy Isn’t Enough: Power Imbalances In Edtech Must Shift published first on https://medium.com/@GetNewDLBusiness

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lindyhunt · 6 years

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5 Indigenous Entrepreneurs Creating Social Change in Their Communities

In commemoration of National Indigenous Peoples Day, we’re taking a look at how five entrepreneurs across different industries are implementing Indigenous values. Inspiring the next generation, creating social awareness, and giving back to their community lies at the core of their business strategy. “Entrepreneurship is a big part of Indigenous heritage,” says Sunshine Tenasco, founder of Her Braids. “We used to call it trade—we have already done so many trades, we are just reawakening to entrepreneurship.”

Birch Bark Coffee Co.

Mark Marsolais-Nahwegahbow, Founder, Birch Bark Coffee Co.

What was the inspiration for your business? We as First Nations are storytellers and visionaries and I knew that we had major water problems for decades on some reserves. As a First Nations entrepreneur, I decided to create a First Nations coffee company that would not only bring certified organic, fair trade coffee to people, but would also add value and raise money to purchase certified water purifiers for every home on every reserve and community for free. Water is a fundamental right and without water, there is no life.

How is your business making a difference in the community? It’s creating a better way of life through clean drinking water. We’re socially responsible and use washable and biodegradable cartridges that are eco-friendly and will reduce the need for shipping in plastic water bottles, reducing the overflow of plastic in landfill sites. As a First Nations entrepreneur, my communities will see my passion and understand my vision to instill a regained faith to tackle ongoing concerns in the community. I want young people to believe in themselves and understand that when they set goals and have a purpose, they can achieve anything they want and challenge any roadblocks in front of them.

How is your culture reflected in your business strategy? Why is this important? My business is 100% First Nations lead and owned, and I believe in dealing with real Indigenous issues. The story behind my company is for my people and my sharing of our third world-like conditions in Canada from an Indigenous lens. The names of my coffee blends are reflective of all Indigenous people, First Nations, Metis and Inuit people and their stories. Each blend tells a story of our traditions and things that are meaningful to our people.

Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics INC

Jenn Harper, Founder, Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics INC

What was the inspiration for your business? Over the last ten years, I knew I wanted to do something to support my Indigenous community. In 2014, I got sober after years of alcohol abuse and the next year I had a dream and woke up at 2 AM with a plan. I knew I wanted to make lip gloss and sell my product to create scholarships for First Nations youth. Fast forward to January 2016 and after many business advisory boards and thousands of hours of work, Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics INC was born! We donate 10% of all profits to FNCFS (First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada), more specifically, Shannen’s Dream. To take our contributions one step further, this year we decided to sell a ‘Lip Kit’ with 100% of the profits going to FNCFS to empower Indigenous youth.

How is your business making a difference in the community? Aside from the funds we’ve donated, we want to make a positive impact on Indigenous youth any way we can. We support our local school board by sharing our story about resilience with them, and how social enterprise is an important business model. Indigenous and non-Indigenous people throughout North America have embraced our brand. At one of my first speaking opportunities, a young lady with long blonde hair and blue eyes came up to me with tears streaming down her cheeks. She said “I am Metis, I have never told anyone. Your story has inspired me to connect to my roots and do something to help.” I realized at that moment the power of Cheekbone Beauty. My years of shame will help others to release their shame and together we can change the narrative about Indigenous people.

How is your culture reflected in your business strategy? Why is this important? After my recovery, I had to rebuild my life. I needed a new foundation. I truly believe every business succeeds when it is built with a solid set of principles. That way any future decisions can be made easily. Because Cheekbone Beauty was built to empower Indigenous youth, every decision is based on that, as well as integrity, compassion, empathy, and love. I like to call these Indigenous values. My people historically have done everything based on our love for the land, we have always nurtured and cared for everything and everyone. Cheekbone Beauty uses this value system. We need to teach our next generations how to bring this back.

Her Braids

Sunshine Tenasco, Founder, Her Braids

What was the inspiration for your business? Her Braids was created out of frustration with the inequality First Nations communities face with regards to clean water. Two and a half years ago, I started to do beadwork and taught others how to create tiny beaded pendants, which is how I came up with the idea for my business, now my full-time career. Her Braids is committed to bringing awareness and helping make clean drinking water in First Nations communities a reality, one pendant at a time.

How is your business making a difference in the community? Her Braids runs workshops to discuss the need for clean water in First Nations communities and some of the realities First Nations face in Canada. As well, 10% of our profits from our e-commerce store, powered by Shopify, go directly towards the David Suzuki Foundation’s Blue Dot Movement. I hope that this shows Indigenous youth that they can create positive change doing something they love.

How is your culture reflected in your business strategy? Why is this important? My culture is reflected in everything I do. It is part of who I am. It is part of my core values. To me, entrepreneurship is a big part of Indigenous heritage. We just called it trade – we have already done so many trades, we are just reawakening to entrepreneurship. So much of my business is re-education for our communities and to show them the opportunities as entrepreneurs and letting them know about the technology that helps lower the barriers to entry.

Hinaani Design

Paula Ikuutaq Rumbolt, Nooks (Keenan) Lindell and Emma Kreuger, Co-founders, Hinaani Design

What was the inspiration for your business? We are all creatively minded and motivated to make a positive impact in our communities, so when we came together with the idea of starting a business it seemed like the perfect fit. Inuit have always taken pride in clothing and fashion as it was more than just a ‘look’, it was a means of survival in the Arctic and we see our modern take on Inuit clothing design as a way to survive the cultural shift of today’s Arctic.

How is your business making a difference in the community? We aim for our designs to offer a sense of pride in self, language, culture, community, and tradition while acknowledging the modern present. It gives Inuit and northerners a positive way to show their pride on their sleeve, literally, and that can be important especially in a world that is at times overwhelmingly bombarded with images of Euro-centric notions of design, beauty, and style. We want to show that the Inuit and the Arctic have a perspective on design that is also beautiful and worthy of acknowledgment.

How is your culture reflected in your business strategy? Why is this important? From the beginning, our business strategy was never based on the highest profit margin. Inuit culture believes in sharing what you have, working together, minimizing harm; these are values we have placed on ourselves and as a business to live up to. We feel it is important to embody these and other traditional values in each action we take as a business because it reflects who we are and what we promote through our designs.

Kenniwaa

Sydney Jacobs, Founder, Ken’niwá:’a

What was the inspiration for your business? The inspiration for my business comes from the onkwehonwe perspective, which is multidimensional and holistic, and a life philosophy. Growing up on the Mohawk reservation of Akwesasne and spending my childhood dreaming of a world where Pocahontas wasn’t the only representation of my culture really impacted me to start a business that was about providing children access to their culture and language.

How is your business making a difference in the community? Everything we do today has an effect on the 7th generation. So, you have to ask yourself, what kind of world do you want them to live in and what can you do today to make that happen?

Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something. Ken’niwá:’a was created to bring kaniénkehaka culture to the next generation of akwesasronon, as well as other nations. Proceeds from the purchase of any kenniwaa product go towards education and revitalizing Kanienkehaka culture.

How is your culture reflected in your business strategy? Why is this important? Generations past fought for everything I had. It’s my turn to use the gifts I was given to give back and for me that’s through art and storytelling. Traditional philosophy is woven into Ken’niwá:’a and is a driving force in everything we do. This includes picking sustainable materials, providing fair wages, keeping toxic elements away from our children’s clothes, and making sure manufacturing keeps it out of their water and air.

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chelsourpuss · 6 years

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http://www.liesjournal.net/volume2.pdf

"There have been countless other opportunities missed in linking sex worker issues with other movements. That prostitutes are not seen as obvious and valuable allies in the anti-trafficking movement or as part of the migrant workers movement is only to the detriment of these movements and their efforts to build in inclusive and sustainable ways. We as prostitutes understand this because many of us come in direct contact with women who have purposely left their countries to come here and work in “houses.” And we hear about and witness the injustices that are done to them, the exploitation they are vulnerable to because as migrant workers and as sex workers, the law does not protect them; because as sex workers they live with the fear of being arrested; because, as with all migrant workers, there is the additional fear of being deported; and because they live with the stigma of prostitution and the isolation that comes along with it. That we cannot hold complexity in the experiences of sex workers prevents us from seeing this different perspective. It prevents us from understanding the many reasons why women would want to come to this country to work as sex workers. It prevents us from understanding how they could then feel exploited when they are asked to work in unreasonable conditions for very little pay. It justifies our paternalistic tendency to want to save “these women.” It prevents us from understanding how our own beliefs about prostitutes make us complicit in these forms of exploitation. In short, it prevents us from seeing immigrant women who trade sex for money as fully human.

When we speak for experiences that are not our own, that we do not fully understand, and when we engage in a rescue-savior mentality towards prostitutes, we assume disempowerment in women and therefore perpetuate violence towards women, however unintentionally. Rather than empower we disempower, we become complicit in violence, we participate in erasure. When we isolate prostitution as problematic relative to other jobs and other forms of sexual contact, we miss an opportunity to understand all forms of wage labor as exploitative and minimize the extent to which all women have been confronted (at one time or another) with the choice to leverage their sexuality in order to gain access to resources. When we enthusiastically support physical safety and labor rights for “all women,” only to the exclusion of prostitutes, we assert that our compassion and their humanity is conditional. There is a tendency to simplify the motivations behind entering the sex industry, insisting upon a strong distinction between people who enter consensually by “choice” and those who are “forced.” While it is true that working in the sex industry is a choice that many women have made for themselves, it is equally one that (like most other economic choices) is largely circumstantial. When we fail to see the complexity behind this choice we run the risk of denying, neglecting and erasing the inequalities many women of color continue to experience after they have made the empowered decision to survive.

Personally, I could never bring myself to buy into the rhetoric of empowerment through normalization that the mostly white middle- class sex worker rights movement was selling. To create a language around and an image of a “Sex Worker” that is normalized and free of stigma did not seem very revolutionary to me. To me it said, “accept us because we are just like you.” Well, what if we’re not like you? What then will you do to us? The campaign to push forward the picture of the fully autonomous and sovereign woman in prostitution contributes to the polarization of ‘The Prostitute’ into two cartoon figures — one of total empowerment and one of total degradation. In reality, women’s experience in the sex industry and their motivations for entering it are vastly complex. This polarization is an oversimplification of both privilege and oppression and of people. There is a disgrace reserved for prostitutes with limited alternatives that women of color know first hand cannot be easily escaped.

Don’t get me wrong, there were many times when I wanted to (and even aspired to) be this image of an independent woman who makes her own income, who is self-respecting and educated. But growing up poor, being Latina, uneducated and a survivor of various traumas, I realized the physical, emotional and psychological barriers that could not be erased by simply claiming a term and believing I had made an empowered decision. The decision to hustle, to take my income into my own hands was empowering but it did not erase the trauma I had endured because of poverty; it did not erase the dysfunctional dynamics around money I had to continue to navigate, nor did it fully alleviate the fear of being financially unstable. Similarly, when I called myself a Sex Worker as opposed to a Prostitute it did nothing to change the fact that men had put their hands on my lips, their mouths on my nipples, their fingers inside of me. It only made this experience invisible and therefore impossible to talk about. The truth is I had done something with my body in order to acquire resources and to not have this acknowledged made me feel as though my body was being disregarded.

In many ways, the term “sex work” presents me with a marketable and homogenized depiction of something that I have never experienced as such. In fact, out of the countless prostitution exchanges I have engaged in, sex work is the last term I would use to describe any handful of them. Today, I use the word prostitute liberally (and interchangeably with sex worker) hoping that when people hear this word they will challenge themselves to see a bigger picture. Sometimes, in conversation, I want the stigma to be there because it is there, because I want real revolution. I want a revolution of true awareness rather than one of denial and elevated status for only some. I want people to acknowledge that there is a stigma in exchanging your sexuality for cash, housing, food, safety, drugs, desires, and resources. I want it to be known that it is not as easy for some to walk away from this stigma. I want it to be clear that the weight of that stigma, oppression and violence in prostitution gets heavier the darker your skin, the less heteronormative you are, the less educated you are and the less value society places on how you are being compensated. I want society to acknowledge a complete picture as complex as a collage of class, race, gender and acts of sex.

Much of the white feminist discourse around prostitution asks us to stop focusing on the sexual nature of sex work and instead consider the labor and human rights implications. There is no doubt that we should be doing this, always considering worker rights, human rights and our humanity within a dominant culture that relentlessly demands that we repress our needs. But considering the sexual nature of prostitution is part of situating it politically and socially. It is part of holding prostitution as a layered endeavor involving many parts, one of which is undeniably sex. Without accepting sex and sexuality within prostitution as something that cannot be pulled apart from race, class, gender, economics, industry and survival, our acceptance of prostitutes is contingent upon the idea that sex will be left out of the equation. But prostitutes are actually having sex and this is what makes people uncomfortable, so to deny this prevents us from acknowledging the full range of experience of women and men in prostitution.

Looking at the sexual nature of prostitution is essential to understanding prostitution. How could it not be? We need to look at it, not in order to scrutinize particular sexual acts that women do in prostitution, but rather to explore the crucial question of why it makes us so uncomfortable. As it turns out, intimacy, sex and sexuality not only one activate some of our deepest fears, but also some of our deepest woundings. The immense silence surrounding the sex industry is symptomatic of our society’s phobia of sexuality, the taboo of women as sexually powerful, a fear of intimacy stemming from violence and trauma, and the circulation of misinformation. Our homophobia, transphobia, femmephobia, erotophobia, and fear of prostitutes ensures that we remain silent, pushing these issues to the bottom so that we cannot resolve them, so that we cannot heal from them. The fear of prostitutes is so loaded because it drags with it the chains of desire, disgust, judgment, morality, guilt and shame. It is loaded with things we are too hurt and too wounded to recognize; we only recognize it as something to fear and therefore something to stay away from. Never does it occur to many of us to take a closer look because there is no hiding from it, because only by taking a look at an impossible bridge can we ever imagine we will cross it. The crime of prostitution is that we would rather not look deeply at our own pain. Prostitution presents us with a reality that is sometimes too emotionally painful to unravel because as we attempt to do so, we begin to realize that it is our reality too. Sex and intimacy are personally also our own struggle. This illuminates our personal and societal shame around sex and our deep internalization of a misogyny-driven capitalist world.

There is something very vile about being a woman in this world. To choose to be a woman, then, is unacceptable. To choose to be a prostitute is unforgivable. We are fearful and violent against women.

We vilify trans women. We crucify prostitutes. And the feminine concept of change and fluidity is under constant attack. In a capitalist world, to be a woman is to be sexually exploited and subordinated, dis- empowered and oppressed, to the benefit of men. The wealthy profit from, and industries are built with, the exploited sexuality and labor (whether sexual or not) of women and the poor. When women do not default into this scripted form of disempowerment, they are in danger of retribution. Any choice a woman makes, any coercion a woman experiences, happens within the context of a world that is violent towards her. Prostitution, then, oftentimes becomes an logical choice in the context of a violent world. That a woman enters prostitution by choice, however, does not erase the oppressive context she must continue to live in, and neither does it make her liable for it. And it certainly does not give any of us a pass to deny, excuse or ignore this as violence. We live in a rape culture that asks women repeatedly to be accountable for their own oppression.

However complex, layered or illusory the decision, I did choose to enter prostitution. What has been oppressive has sometimes been the nature of my work, but most often it has been the social isolation, the lack of emotional support, the violent jokes about sexual assault and murder, as well as the fear of being arrested, attacked, raped or killed, that has felt the most difficult, impactful and traumatizing to navigate. For women of color in prostitution, our very choice to enter prostitution makes us criminals, and our only salvation from this is our victimhood. That we are neither victims in need of rescue or criminals deserving of punishment is never fully held. For many it is hard to accept that women struggling within an industry that is thought of as the most demeaning act for a woman are not necessarily looking to be rescued but are instead in need of resources. Our inability to hold this complexity prevents us from fully accepting women who trade sex for resources. But I am no longer willing to dismember or disembody myself for the sake of salvation. I am not pure and I am still sacred. And I am certainly not available to assimilate into an impossible system in order to be given the liberation that should already belong to me.

Prostitution is loaded with the battle for power and the audacity of fallen women to claim empowerment. Prostitution raises questions about what power is for us, and challenges the faulty equilibrium we’ve created about being empowered in a world designed for our exploitation. Prostitution is the convergence of many forces in our society— the economic hierarchy created by capitalism, the struggle for resources, the sexism stemming from patriarchy, the objectification of women, the impressive ability of women to survive within impossible systems, the ingenuity of people who hustle and make something where there previously was nothing, who reveal entire worlds amidst rubble. Prostitution not only reflects the coming together of all these pieces but it is in actuality a physical manifestation of them.”

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legalseat · 6 years

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Reviewing "Women and the Law" panel: Equality does not happen on women’s backs alone (a 1L student perspective)

Gender is an inescapable influence on our own perceptions of the world and how the world perceives us. Turning our minds to our peers’ challenges promotes diversity in the legal community. The panel on Women and the Law(held at noon on January 11, 2018 at Robson Hall) was an insightful discussion that men would benefit from considering and internalizing. As a man, I think that sharing some of the key moments that I took away from the panel may be beneficial for other men looking for ways to foster a more inclusive legal system. Personally, I value diversity at the bar because not only, in my view, is exclusivity reprehensible, but society loses the potential unleashed by refusing to give serious considerations to perspectives of people situated in different socio-political and cultural roles than oneself.

The first question the panelists responded to was about sexism, subtle and blatant, that they have experienced at work. All four panelists were largely in agreement that instances of sexism in their workplaces were rare.

At first, only a couple of specific examples were given. However, over the next hour and a half, many examples of gendered treatment were brought up. Age, experience, and context were also factors identified as impacting their work. This generation of lawyers who are women experience less overt sexism than past generations. While attitudes have changed and mistreatment has become less visible, discriminatory conduct may have, to a degree, become normalized. It is up to a new generation of lawyers to work with their colleagues by identifying actions that disproportionately negatively affect one group over another.

“Women’s issues” is the umbrella misnomer for a range of challenges that are deemed to predominantly impact women. Structural workplace issues, for example around parental leave or childcare, have only become women’s issues by virtue of men largely abdicating parental responsibility. As one panelist pointed out, she is judged when her child is the last one picked up from daycare, but no thought is given to why her partner (regardless of gender) did not complete the task.

Pregnancy and motherhood are choices that many lawyers embrace. Especially when the pregnant partner is the family’s breadwinner, economic policies can have a large impact on quality of life. Until recently, few if any private firms topped up Employment Insurance payments to lawyers who became mothers and chose to take time after from work. Flexible return options are seldom available. One panelist described that at her small firm (that was run by a woman) the option of working part-time to suit her schedule would not have been available in a large firm, where her assistant would be there full-time regardless of her work commitments. Government benefits, not surprisingly, are significantly better funded than in the private sector.

Examples of women experiencing less respect than their male counterparts are all too common. For example, when Judges direct their questions toward junior male colleagues in the presence of more senior and established woman practitioners. In other situations, clients shake the hands of a male but not their female peer. Women having to repeat their point multiple times to get it across, is also a recurring phenomenon. Sadly, none of these are unique to women as lawyers (other groups experience this, particularly lawyers with disabilities, for instance), but the phenomena illustrate the general pattern of lack of equal respect that women receive in most, if not all, walks of life.

One story that illustrated deep inequality involved counsel asking for a break during court. Initially the judge said no. She asked again and The Judge said only for a minute, assuming the lawyer had to use the washroom. She asked again, explaining that she had to pump her breasts to alleviate the painful swelling and collect food to later feed her baby. The Judge and the opposing attorney were caught off guard, with blushing embarrassment she was granted her break. Making law more accessible to women can take the form of understanding a breastfeeding mother needs to take longer breaks than normal. Accommodating her does not to be an exception nor does it need to be a moment of embarrassment and shame. Inclusivity absolutely requires people not to become flustered by natural bodily functions.

Gender also impacts client behaviour and responses to lawyer’s work. In criminal matters, a defense attorney described a trend for men facing allegations of sexual violence to hire female counsel. She then explained that women who defend men facing charges related to sexual violence are frequently vilified by other women, and labeled anti-feminists. In both cases, the reaction to the lawyer’s actions were coloured by gendered expectations. A nauseating Catch-22. The panelist faced public backlash for her practise and then emphasized the distinction between propagating rape myths to gain an advantage at trial versus protecting the presumption of innocence, while performing a function within the legal system with integrity. She believes that protecting the presumption of innocence is her primary role. Assumptions about how women should behave undegird the complex challenges women face in legal practise.

Possibly the most important take away from the panel was that women's experiences are not monolithic - their experiences are multivalent, complex and often, distinct. Women have different careers goals, ideas about what their work-life balance should look like, plans to have a family, or not, and public policy beliefs. Imagining that generalizations about women can be made strikes at the core of the challenges women face as lawyers. The days of firms asking female applicants about their plans to start a family are hopefully over, but the underlying attitude remains. There is no doubt in my mind that these are all, without question, men’s problems too.

Ultimately, the panel confirmed my opinion that unfortunately patriarchy is pervasive in our society. Its ideals and norms are deeply embedded in our thoughts and actions. Complete and total escape from its influence is seemingly insurmountable. In my view, the best way to counteract these norms is to reflect on assumptions, listen to the experiences of other people, and show compassion when it is called for. Engaging in legal practise with this in mind will not just be beneficial for women but also for all people from underrepresented backgrounds. In turn, this will enhance collective welfare in the practise of law with a more varied range of alternatives for a diverse clientele. Breaking down barriers, making room for all humans, is simply good legal practise.

Reviewing "Women and the Law" panel: Equality does not happen on women’s backs alone (a 1L student perspective) published first on http://ift.tt/2vSFQ3P

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loud-snoring-os · 7 years

Photo

The social sciences and the field of psychology need more books like this one. The social sciences and the field of psychology need more books like this one. The book is an extremely engaging story, a personal memoir, of what we can learn from the author's experiences that shed light on many themes of concern to psychologists, sociologists, helping professionals and therapists, as well as everyday people. The author has a knack for writing a memoir that reads like a novel where the tangible images, and the inner thoughts and feelings from decades ago, leap off the page. And, at the same time, Steve Hinshaw knows how to make extremely relevant side comments about what he has learned, and what we can learn, from these experiences. Sometimes, the lessons are very personal--getting in touch with our emotions and the emotions of our family members and loved ones. Sometimes the insights are for expert therapists and academic psychologists about the complexities of psychopathology, diagnosis and treatment; sometimes we learn about the dynamics of social stigma and how people learn to be ashamed or go into hiding, when there are healthier, more loving and personally fulfilling options to pursue. For those of us who aspire to be engaging and instructive writers, there is much to learn in thinking about the style and methods used in writing this book. I'd give it six stars if Amazon allowed me to do so. I will be recommending this book, not only to my graduate students in psychology, but to those in other fields of education and social sciences, because the author has written a book that shows how memoir writing can be both compelling and worthwhile in its own right, and how we can use individual stories to improve our understanding of "bigger picture" ideas and issues. Go to Amazon

A must read for anyone whose family is affected by mental illness There is literally only one person on this planet who can achieve this kind of book, and that is Stephen Hinshaw. He is a nationally recognized psychologist with deep and extensive knowledge of neuroscience, clinical psychology, and social psychology, and public health. At the same time, he is the child, adolescent, and grown-up son within a family impacted by the stigma of mental illness. The two perspectives and narratives flow and interweave in this moving and profound account that personalizes the academic, while also analyzing the personal. If you or your family are affected by mental illness, this book not only helps you understand: it also helps you understand that you are not alone. The writing is open and easily accessible, and the scenes and images from this book will stay with you long after you finish it. Above all, the book is a call to end the silence of shame around mental illness, which, as Hinshaw argues, is one of the most significant barriers towards progress in mental health. Go to Amazon

Many psychologists write eloquently about mental health, but few ... Many psychologists write eloquently about mental health, but few do with the same degree of clarity and insight as Stephen Hinshaw does here. Pulling from his personal experiences with mental illness in his family, Hinshaw gives the reader a rare glimpse into the numerous ways in which mental illness affects peoples' personal and family lives. Unlike many other memoirs, though, Hinshaw explores this topic with the background knowledge of an expert psychologist who has been studying mental health and stigma for several decades. The book is clear, revealing, and insightful, and is a must-read for anyone who studies or cares about mental health, or who has been touched by mental illness in their family. Go to Amazon

A brilliant, must read I cannot think of a more courageous psychologist than Dr. Steve Hinshaw who so vividly and candidly shares his experiences growing up with a father coping with severe mental illness. Dr. Hinshaw and his brilliantly written memoir serves as a call to us all-- no matter what our professional or personal context-- to confront the intense stigma related to mental health so that we can break down the barriers that prevent those in dire need of care from accessing it. This book breathes authenticity, bravery and advocacy. Bravo. Go to Amazon

Drawing Back the Curtain Stephen Hinshaw opens up not only the embattled psychology of his brilliant, tortured father but also his own psychology as he faces his life struggles in its wake. Hinshaw helps us understand the people behind the symptoms, and in so doing encourages us to face our own demons with compassion and insight. He powerfully leads by example in helping us overcome the stigma of mental illness. Go to Amazon

An inspiring and heartfelt memoir A must-read for all who are in the field of psychology or anyone who knows someone affected by mental disorder. Prof. Hinshaw tells his family's story with such sensitivity and transparency, and this book is full of valuable insights regarding the truth about mental illness. Go to Amazon

Compelling Read If you have ever loved someone with a mental illness, read this book Excellent blend of family history I can’t say I liked the writing itself A brilliantly written memoir of the author's life growing up deeply ... Another Kind of Brilliance Highly personal yet very informative. An important work! A powerful and personal account of mental illness A must read. A must read that will open your eyes

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retrorosierj-blog · 7 years

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Confetti Music Performance and Songwriting, Logbook. Qs17-3

Monday Session 1 Week 1

Discuss the meaning of ‘Fusion Music’ and how music relating to worldly events and subjective matter, has an over all impact on the listener, regardless of their preferred genre.

Within this session, we as a group, once we had become acquainted with one and other, had been given the opportunity to explore the concept/idea of how a certain song in the music industry can involve an underlying message of government triumph or even world poverty, and how the message relates in turn, back to the melody and or lyrics. These not necessarily having to be crisis occurrences or stories specifically portrayed by a news anchor from the press, but simply a song that conveys a cultural vibrancy that is perhaps based on, or takes influences from an internationally known event, and how it effected the world, or an individual listener.

My group and I firstly chose songs to experiment with that had very specific genres, to begin to understand their placement in the charts and if they have worldly relations. We had these ‘jams’ filmed, to show the progression of rehearsal as a group who had only just become acquainted.

Lego House by Ed Sheeran cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7mm0H5dvtA&list=PLUVE63QR_Bu5jZFtm6a0N7MLJfq_EAp1D&index=2

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9TmONf_59I&index=4&list=PLUVE63QR_Bu5jZFtm6a0N7MLJfq_EAp1D

I feel that these two separate songs, one being pop and the other being indie/alternative, made it easy for us to access quick practice with the given task. ‘Lego House’ was moderately a standard pop song however guitar wise, it had influences of country, very subtle under-toned notes in the plucking pattern. I could not personally identify its world relation, however, it was still a poetically written song that bounded an emotion that is often felt in everyday life, being love and triumph.

Musically, I would have liked to have worked more on transposing the original version to suit my vocals, but this was just to experiment with the group first hand. I felt that I could have been less dominant on the vocals and softened my vocals, as the song is very delicate.

The second song that we performed, ‘Chasing Cars’ took a male lead and again simple guitar chord progressions throughout, with minor guitar solo played by myself. It was defininatly a more heart-felt song in my eyes, and could tie into a world event, as it uses the lyrics, ‘If i just lay here, would you lye with me and just forget the world’- which signifies that you want to be with someone whom you care about and be able to forget about the mishaps in todays society and tragic events that occur.

We were also allowed the option to create our own lyrics or beat/accompaniment, that could be seen as an, ‘impact statement’, to add on to how a simple lyric or melody can change your initial perspective of a song.

I had various ideas as to how a song can be identified as, ‘indifferent’, to allow the listener to form there own opinion on how the song impacted them as well as their everyday life. My group and I discussed that a song is rarely perceived the way that the original artist would have liked, however, this does not mean that the song is subjected to one meaning. It could incorporate a melody that can change the feeling of the lyrics and become political or emotional.

For instance, we have the 1969 Jimi Hendrix performance at Woodstock, in which he played his unique rendition of the United States, national anthem, ‘The Star Spangled Banner’, soloing in stylistic way on his iconic stratocaster. The performance itself is remembered as a legendary treasure to art, because of its undoubtedly self professed cultural impact, especially for its time. It channelled the counter cultural rebellion and anger towards the Vietnam War, whilst presenting Hendrix’s compassion for America.

Friday Session 1

Discuss the meaning of Fusion music to be able to explore different genres and define a specific song.

Through this session, we discussed the in depth meaning behind fusion music. It is a musical genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined aspects of Jazz and Blues harmony and improvisation with styles such as funk, rhythm and latin jazz to create a new era for music to develop and for musicians to explore. The nature of blues music came from slave trade, and how people marketed their way into make peace with the situation with emotive music. It is now the most commonly used technical genre that appears in some way shape or form, in almost every song, even in the modern charts.

We had also been given the task of identifying what genre of music certain songs were classed as, ‘Shape of You’, by Ed Sheeran, in my opinion this song in particular, is a generalised commercial pop song and uses underlying simple chord progressions of bluesy, funk slides and percussion on guitar when looping, this originating from the adaptation of the 3/2 Clave from West Africa. It then accumulates layers of overall different genre influences and music techniques. We had to use this information to then gather an understanding for how a song can be influenced by many genres and how their history could relate to worldly occurrences.

All the songs that we know from modern day society music charts, have all been influenced in some way or another, by the infectious percussions of African tribal rebellion music which later evolved into revolutionary blues and soul for emotive content that had not yet been shown within diverse music, due to language barriers.

Fusion music itself, has created some of the most memorable artists sounds today. It represents the influence of, ‘world’ music styles in modern western music. The term and act of fusing different genres of music together has helped session musicians become more diverse and musically inclined by being able to play in a variety of genres/styles.

The traditions in the ways of the comparative genres such as Pop culture and Jazz, are that, although they are wildly separate in features and characteristics, being that Pop uses simple strumming patterns as well as instinctively, only using a 4 chord progression throughout the entirety of a single song, whereas Jazz uses intricate finger-stylings and bopping notes, as well as intermediate chord progression, not always being consistent, making them almost complete opposites in terms of genre, yet when fused together, they can make an undoubtedly recognisable tune, Amy Winehouse’s, ‘Back to Black’.

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