#the jessi editing class is growing by the day | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

madsdefencesquad · 3 years

Text

Okay I got boooored so here’s a Kevison magazine fic I wrote for Kevison nation coz I love yous and we deserve to see Kevin talk about his fam magazine-stylez coz you know he’ll be gushing all the time about them, like you just KNOW IT.

Kevin Pearson on life, fatherhood and what’s next for him by x March 2028, Spring edition

It’s been twelve years since the impassioned The Manny star Kevin Pearson announced to the world that he will be quitting the role that had started it all for him. Pearson’s public meltdown was excruciating, to say the least, but it was this very act of defiance that led the actor towards the path of the actor-crusader that he is now known for—a revolutionary who defied the odds and ultimately defined him as one of the greatest actors of his generation.

After a slew of tabloid-worthy dalliances with famous co-stars including the soap operatic love triangle with Tony award-winner Olivia Maine and his Back of an Egg co-producer and playwright Sloane Sandburg, to the court-ordered rehab stint after a DUI arrest, Kevin Pearson has done nothing but illicit the kind of stories that tabloids are desperate to display and monetise from in full view. All of these seemed the perfect pivot points for the actor, basking in the affordances of all this fame and fortune albeit in a trajectory of a complete career-destruction, but the actor was by no means deterred in proving that he can and should be taken seriously in his acting craft.

Pearson came through with striking, emboldened performances: a soldier with an inability to confront his demons in the Ron Howard-helmed World War II flick opposite Sylvester Stallone, and an embittered cop in the M Night Shyamalan action flick Stairs to Nowhere. But it wasn’t until his role as a disingenuous trial lawyer in the 2020 Jordan Martin Foster film Glass Eye that earned him his first ever Academy Award nomination and eventual win that proved to the world that when he puts his mind to it, Kevin Pearson can truly achieve the kind of acting greatness worth the lauded applause.

Pearson, who was born and raised in Pittsburgh before moving to New York and eventually Los Angeles, has spent a good amount of his life in the public eye. Though his sunny, easy-going persona and physicality have been compared to the likes of Chris Hemsworth and (supposed rival) Chris Evans, the Pittsburgh-bred Pearson doesn’t feel the need now to prove that he is anything but a conscientious actor and a dedicated family man.

It’s a warm, spring afternoon when I ring the buzzer of a sprawling floor-to-ceiling glass residence tucked away in a town in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The little lady of the house, barefoot in a floral-print dress, greets me with an encouraged wave from her father, who is cradling her against him upon opening the front door. “She’s not normally this shy,” Kevin says with an affectionate grin as he leads the way to the sitting room, his little girl curiously taking peeks at me with what I garner is her mother’s soft blue eyes given Kevin’s famous warm browns.

The newly built residence is a remarkably private house perched on a dramatic hillside overlooking a panoramic view of the verdant surrounds, which Kevin says, “keeps the family very safe from prying eyes.” This feature, of course, was at the forefront of his mind prior to laying its foundations there.

“There’s one main reason as to why I chose to build here specifically,” he says. “But I’m not gonna bore you with the details. Let’s just say, I’m honoring a memory. Makes me sound real poetic, doesn’t it?”

Throughout Kevin’s career, he’s been known to talk quite candidly about his love and appreciation for his mother, Rebecca Pearson, with his Oscars acceptance speech having heavily featured his immense gratitude to her as would a loving son. But, as we move along the elegantly furnished corridors with him pointing and elaborating at the various artworks decorating the walls and the spaces, it is obvious that Kevin has an unrivalled affection for his wife that is quite notably special.

We make our way to a sitting area outside where we are entreated to the sounds and sights of a naturally filtered swimming billabong with cascading falls—a modern feature incorporated with the Japanese Zen garden landscaping that is just breathtaking to behold in person. “I wanted to make it feel as authentic as the ones you find in Japan,” he says, sitting on one of the cushioned recliners. He pours me a glass of red wine while he settles for chilled tonic, his little girl now helping herself to some olives and crackers.

There is an air of rare contentment around Kevin as he laughingly recalls his twins’ daily shenanigans. “Nothing really compares to coming home to them,” he says. “And I’m not trying to sound ungrateful or anything, but I’ve been [working my whole life] and I’ve only had my wife and kids just short of a decade, and that’s nothing! So, I do what I can to be home in as most days of the year as I can.”

When asked whether he’s perhaps heading into the territory of acting retirement in favour of other pursuits like directing or producing, Kevin thinks it can go either way.

“The other night in bed my wife suggested I do voice acting,” he says, to which his little girl unintentionally responds to in glee as she, her feet now strapped in light-up sandals, runs the width of the garden (within sight of her dad, of course) with her Jessie and Bullseye dolls held high. “She knows me too well,” he says fondly of Madison, his wife of eight years now. “I’d love to have my kids watch a movie that dad’s in without having to wait till they’re teenagers. And I hate thinking of my babies as teenagers! God, it’s just the worst age!”

Kevin recalls his teenage years with the kind of accepted embarrassment fit for a 48-year-old, but he laughs saying, “But I see a little more of their mom in them than me so that gives me hope. I’d hate to think I passed on angsty teen Kevin to either one of them. Just serious kudos to my parents for putting up with me all those years. I must’ve been a nightmare.”

From endorsing the des Resistance popular eau de parfum for men to his Armani-clad behind splashed on every billboard in the country (much to his chagrin and to his wife’s entertainment), Kevin Pearson has always been quite the go-getter, and though his “yes man” days in the industry are over, he’s always open to other ways in which he can challenge himself in his craft without compromising the time spent with his family.

“They’re my first priority, no questions asked,” he says. For a kid, who grew up in a middle-class family with parents whom had high hopes for their future, Kevin says that now, as a father himself, his perspective has shifted as to what’s really important and what’s not.

“I think a lot of the time there’s an expectation for your kids to meet the standard their parents have set or even go beyond it,” he says. “But that’s just toxic, you know? And it puts a lot of pressure on them to be someone that they’re not and not meant to be.”

Kevin is candid about his insecurities as an actor and as a father and as a husband, but there is a masterful acceptance there that he gives full credit to his wife. “We’re not perfect people, perfect parents,” he says. “And we’ll never be. That’s just a fact of life. But getting to do this with your person, the love of your life makes the biggest difference. I used to think that my parents had the greatest love story ever, and I used to really idolise it, you know, but honestly I think Madison and I can probably rival that.” And he thinks that if he’ll ever write, direct or produce a script, it’ll be about him and his wife’s sweeping and unconventional love story that will be the “tear-jerker of the century. Like, A Walk to Remember or The Notebook level but like better!”

I ask him what Madison would think of his plans to unleash their love story to the world, and as if on cue, he fishes his phone from his pocket and utters a “just a sec” before leaving to grab his daughter and take the call.

Following his game-changing Academy Award win in 2021, Kevin had let himself free fall in the industry as a kind of versatile actor in roles where he sweeps you away with gut-punching monologue deliveries coupled with an intensity that comes in through the eyes. He hasn’t delved into comedy since his Manny days though, but there is a certain cajoling ease in his demeanour that could easily challenge his funny bone.

“It’s Madison,” he returns not long after and settles himself down again, his daughter handing me a pizza-shaped play-dough I pretend to munch on. “She’ll be home soon. You should meet her. You’d love her! Everyone does not that it’s surprising.”

And who could deny that offer?

Kevin shows me a photograph of the twins on his phone at their cousin’s birthday whom they celebrated with in California last week and qualms that they’re growing up way too fast—yet another reiteration that he is as doting of a father as he is a consummate actor. He thinks that though Hollywood is a lot less ageist in terms of film and TV roles, there is still that pressure not to succumb to filling a role just because you’re the right age for it.

“Ever since my kids were born, I’ve been approached to do a lot of dad roles. Like my agent would send me about five scripts a week where my character is supposed to be this stereotypical dad. I’ve rarely taken any of them because I feel like it’s like they’re just trying to fit me in to a role just because I can say, ‘Oh hey, yeah I’m a dad now, I know what that means or what that looks like’, and not that that isn’t a good thing per se, but there’s a difference between the director wanting me to put my own spin to it as Kevin Pearson the actor versus them just wanting Kevin Pearson the dad. The way I approach parenting my kids, the way my wife and I do it, would be different to the way my character in this film would parent his kids. Sure, there may be certain overlaps, but it’s not going to be full Kevin Pearson the dad, you know? So, it’s hard with that kind of expectation.”

As the sun dips a little lower and it gets a little cooler, Kevin takes us back to the house just in time to finally meet Madison and their little boy, who looks strikingly like his father though, upon closer inspection, actually looks a little more like his mother. But there is one undeniable feature of the twins that definitely comes from both parents: the adorable identical dimples adorning their little chins.

Madison Pearson is as beautiful in person as she looks in photographs standing beside her husband in premieres and events. With her light-blue eyes and warm, soothing voice that sounds both delicate and excited at the same time, Madison is nothing but the embodiment of all things lovely.

“She grounds me,” he says adoringly, watching Madison and their kids flit about in the kitchen arranging dinner. “There isn’t much I can say that’s good about me if it hadn’t been for her. I can be ambitious and sometimes there’s always that pull towards something bigger but not necessarily better and she tells me honestly. She calls me out. And everyone needs that, you know? A frank person who won’t sugar coat anything, but they do it because they love you.”

It’s easy to imagine Kevin in gritty noir films playing bad cop, good cop or even as an intimidating trial lawyer, but Kevin as a family man is the role that is perfectly suited for him, almost like it’s created especially for him. As a father, he thrives on the affections of his kids, and as an actor, he finds pleasure in what’s he’s good at. And as a husband, his smile is the widest. “Not gonna lie, her not even being slightly jealous of that one time I did a love scene still gets to me,” he jokes. But it’s obvious that it bothers him not one bit. He enjoys being Madison Pearson’s more than anything.

“It’s crazy to think that people are inspired by what I do and who I am when for most of my life, it was 100% the other way around. It’s a huge responsibility, really, but I take it as it goes. I have my kids on the back of my mind now every time I make any decision, and I have a wife to love and support too, so it’s easier to not feel trapped by people’s opinions and expectations of you when you’re too focused on them and being the best person you can be for you and for them. So, it’s about growing every day, and enjoying all that life has to offer, and making every moment count.” x

Particular shoutout to my GC gals coz like ILY 5EVS @wallofweird @betweensunflowersanddaffodils @thisiskevison @thesocietalmisfit @tryalittlejoytomorrow @lullabiesandgoodbyes @flythesail @ourfinehouse @elephantsneedwater @holding-up-the-universe @smoakingpinklipstick @purpleinthesky

#kevison #kadison #seriously let's get rid of this tag @ sterling better not be annoying af next ep aye!!#hope you enjoyed kevin gushing about his family lol #i'll probs make another one but less formal and more kevison-centric #but I just love love loveeeee imagining dad! and husband!kevin sah much #so don't mind meee #anywhooo #kevin and madison #kevin pearson #this is us madison #kevison fanfic #kevison fic #i have not written in 5eva but boyyyyyy this was sah much fun #Kevin Pearson #TIU #tiu spoilers

55 notes · View notes

suspiriu-m · 4 years

Text

About Me

Hello! My name is Sal and welcome to my blog, Suspirium! Suspirium is a word that originates from one of my favorite movies, Luca Guadagnino’s 2019 remake of Dario Argento’s classic italian horror movie Suspiria. According to World of Dictionary, Suspirium is a Latin word meaning “Deep breath, sigh”. It’s also the title of one of my favorite songs from the soundtrack to the movie produced by Thom Yorke of Radiohead. I’m a huge horror movie buff so expect to see a lot of that sort of content on my blog if I can incorporate it into any of my work. I chose this as the title of my blog because of how well the word fits into the movie, and I just love the way it sounds. Anybody who’s watched the movie will understand, but I won’t go into detail as to not spoil it for anybody who hasn’t yet seen it.

Throughout my highschool years I technically went to two schools. My main and home school was Middletown High School, and my secondary school was Orange Ulster Boces in Florida New York. In high school I was always in media production and art classes. For example, photography, video editing, drawing & painting classes and my favorite was an Elements of Horror class I took my senior year. Horror being my favorite genre, I absolutely had to take a class that’s dove into the origins of classic horror novels, films and short stories. Leading to me finding my favorite classic horror story Dracula by Bram Stoker, and a multitude of stories by H.P. Lovecraft. Continuing on now to college i’m now majoring in Media Production while also still taking some classes in Marketing and Design! I really enjoy both a lot so it’s hard to kind of pick exactly which I want to do, but it’s nice knowing that no matter what path I finally choose I'll still have some experience in the other!

Aside from my education, I love to watch horror movies and read stories in my own free time. Movies in general are a huge hobby of mine and I watch at least 3-4 a week given I have the time. Some of my favaroties of all time concerning classics have got to be the Halloween series, The Evil Dead series and all four of the Scream movies. Other hobbies of mine that take up a huge part of my life and time are video games and music. I have a pretty big record collection that’s continuously growing with at least 80-90 albums and counting. I just recently purchased a few more to add being Sade’s Diamond Life, Whitney Houston’s Whitney and Whitney Houston albums, Lazaretto by Jack White, Texas Sun by Khruangbin & Leon Bridges and Petals for Armor by Hayley Williams. Hopefully my next additions will be What’s Your Pleasure? by Jessie Ware and The Baby by Samia. I’ve been collecting them for years, but especially now since even CD’s are starting to go out of style. I’m the kind of person who still likes to have physical copies of all my music and movies and games so having such big collection is super special to me.

In terms of video games, I try and play as wide of a variety that I can because I believe I can find something I like in any genre. Strategy, shooters, brawlers, online competitive games etc, but I think my favorite style of game is single-player, narrative driven experiences. Most recently I played The Last of Us Part II and was absolutely enthralled with it. I loved the first game so much so getting a sequel was something I was extremely grateful for. I don’t think video games get enough credit for what they do for storytelling. TLOU 1 and 2 are some of my favorite stories that I have experienced in any form of media. The heartbreak, pain, love, fear and excitement those games have succeeded in giving me while just sitting in front of my TV is something no other form of entertainment has brought me. Some of the most touching moments, but also the most excruciating. They also had a queer women front and center throughout the games which is something that isn’t very common in video games so seeing that was really nice to me. Other than The Last of Us, some other solid narrative driven games I’ve played are God of War, Uncharted 1-4, Marvel’s Spider-Man, The Tomb Raider Reboots, Ghost of Tsushima, the Batman Arkham series and Control.

Although story based games are my favorites that doesn’t mean I don’t have a place in my heart for some good old fashioned fun as well! I also really enjoy a lot of the Super Mario and Legend of Zelda games as well. My biggest pet peeve that I have with the gaming industry right now though is Fortnite. I think it’s literally the most annoying game ever created. People spend hundreds and thousands of dollars just to buy skins and weapon packs and I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. The fact that I work at a major video game retailer and constantly have kids running through my store screaming about the damn game at least once a day could also contribute to my hatred. Either way, I want no part and absolutely nothing to do with it.

Going back to queer representation though. I recently watched Pose over the summer. Not only was the show heavily based during the AIDS epidemic in New York City, almost the entirety of the main cast was comprised of Transgender Black women. On prime time television! This is the first show to ever achieve such a feat. Not only was the cast extremely talented, I thought the writing and production of the show as a whole was brilliant. It definitely has its flaws and I could point out a few of them, but I believe all of the good of the show far outweighs the bad. It’s not afraid to tackle extremely real and difficult subjects the Transgender and Black communities have faced in this country and all over the world. It’s so important to see content like this on television as well because EVERYBODY deserves representation. Not only was the cast Trans, but one of the lead writers of the series Janet Mock is also a Black Trans woman! Pose was filled with heartfelt moments that truly had me sobbing in my bed as I watched. I think I actually cried at pretty much every single episode for both seasons. The cast is brilliant, the realism and talent and star power they bring to the show is like nothing that I’ve ever seen before and I’m so glad to be able to see them up on my television. I so badly one day hope that I can be behind the scenes of producing a show of this caliber some day.

While I have yet to help in the production of a show like this, I have had my fair share of of making short films, music videos and even assisting on a friend of mine’s first full length movie that he submitted to festivals. Last year, I had the opportunity to shoot a short horror film with my classmates for our final project. The film was based around a young woman getting trapped at her school in the middle of a blizzard, and slowly beginning to realize that she may not be alone. In a fight for her life, she has to survive till morning while going up against a mysterious killer who lurks the halls of her small town college. Sadly, we didn’t have enough time to produce a full and finalized cut of the film but coming together and working with a few other classmates was still a really fun experience. Not only was I able to play the role of the killer, I aided in audio, music selection, location scouting, props department, shot planning and writing the movie and it was a great time. I also had the pleasure of helping out my friend Matt Vincini in shooting his short film The Cattle Farmer. A horror/thriller film about a boy who is adopted into a family, only to realize that his life might have been planned from the start. It featured a mysterious woodland family who may or may not have had cannibalistic tendencies that included their adopted children. It was a super cool experience to be on a set with a bunch of actors and seeing my friend in action in the role of director. Collaborating on projects like this with friends is always a fun time, even it does get stressful at some points. At one point in the film, one of the characters realizes that the dinner he is currently eating could quite possible be his last meal ever. Which kinda let me to thinking what my last meal would be. After some thinking, I think i’d definitely have to choose my families homemade pasta and meatballs. I know, pretty stereotypical for an Italian family but it’s just so good. We make our own sauce every september and it’s a huge family event. Everybody comes together and one of our houses and it’s literally a whole days worth of work. The best part? At the end of the night, we all have a huge feast and make pasta and meatballs with all of the sauce we just made. It’s one of my favorite things to do with my family and always one of my favorite meals. Not only is it delicious, but also sentimental.

This is all for now! Thanks for stopping by my blog and reading a little bit about me. I could probably keep rambling on for hours but I don’t think that’s the smartest idea. I can’t wait to fill this blog with more content this year and hope to hear from you guys as well! Until then, i’ll be watching more movies and DEFINITELY playing some more games. At this point i’ve been playing the new Marvel’s Avengers video game so, let me get back to kicking some AIM ass!

5 notes · View notes

psychodollyuniverse · 4 years

Photo

D.H.Lawrence

Playwright, Poet, Author, Journalist (1885–1930)

D.H. Lawrence is best known for his infamous novel 'Lady Chatterley's Lover,' which was banned in the United States until 1959. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century.

Born in England in 1885, D.H. Lawrence is regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He published many novels and poetry volumes during his lifetime, including Sons and Lovers and Women in Love, but is best known for his infamous Lady Chatterley's Lover. The graphic and highly sexual novel was published in Italy in 1928, but was banned in the United States until 1959, and in England until 1960. Garnering fame for his novels and short stories early on in his career, Lawrence later received acclaim for his personal letters, in which he detailed a range of emotions, from exhilaration to depression to prophetic brooding. He died in France in 1930.

Early Life

Author D.H. Lawrence, regarded today as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, was born David Herbert Lawrence on September 11, 1885, in the small mining town of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England. His father, Arthur John Lawrence, was a coal miner, and his mother, Lydia Lawrence, worked in the lace-making industry to supplement the family income. Lawrence's mother was from a middle-class family that had fallen into financial ruin, but not before she had become well-educated and a great lover of literature. She instilled in young D.H. a love of books and a strong desire to rise above his blue-collar beginnings.

Lawrence's hardscrabble, working-class upbringing made a strong impression on him, and he later wrote extensively about the experience of growing up in a poor mining town. "Whatever I forget," he later said, "I shall not forget the Haggs, a tiny red brick farm on the edge of the wood, where I got my first incentive to write."

As a child, Lawrence often struggled to fit in with other boys. He was physically frail and frequently susceptible to illness, a condition exacerbated by the dirty air of a town surrounded by coal pits. He was poor at sports and, unlike nearly every other boy in town, had no desire to follow in his father's footsteps and become a miner. However, he was an excellent student, and in 1897, at the age of 12, he became the first boy in Eastwood's history to win a scholarship to Nottingham High School. But at Nottingham, Lawrence once again struggled to make friends. He often fell ill and grew depressed and lethargic in his studies, graduating in 1901 having made little academic impression. Reflecting back on his childhood, Lawrence said, "If I think of my childhood it is always as if there was a sort of inner darkness, like the gloss of coal in which we moved and had our being."

In the summer of 1901, Lawrence took a job as a factory clerk for a Nottingham surgical appliances manufacturer called Haywoods. However, that autumn, his older brother William suddenly fell ill and died, and in his grief, Lawrence also came down with a bad case of pneumonia. After recovering, he began working as a student teacher at the British School in Eastwood, where he met a young woman named Jessie Chambers, who became his close friend and intellectual companion. At her encouragement, he began writing poetry and also started drafting his first novel, which would eventually become The White Peacock.

'The White Peacock' & 'The Trespasser'

In the fall of 1906, Lawrence left Eastwood to attend the University College of Nottingham to obtain his teacher's certificate. While there, he won a short-story competition for "An Enjoyable Christmas: A Prelude," which was published in the Nottingham Guardian in 1907. In order to enter multiple stories in the competition, he entered "An Enjoyable Christmas: A Prelude" under Jessie Chambers's name, and although it was published as such, people soon discovered that Lawrence was its true author.

In 1908, having received his teaching certificate, Lawrence took a teaching post at an elementary school in the London suburb of Croydon. He also continued to write, and in 1909 he received his big break when Jessie Chambers managed to get some of his poems published in the English Review. The publishers at the English Review took a great interest in Lawrence's work, recommending his draft of The White Peacock to another publisher, William Heinemann, who printed it in 1911. Set in his childhood hometown of Eastwood, the novel foreshadowed many of the themes that would pervade his later work, such as mismatched marriages and class divides.

A year later, Lawrence published his second novel, The Trespasser, a story based on the experiences of a fellow teacher who had an affair with a married man who then committed suicide. Around the same time, Lawrence became engaged to an old friend from college named Louie Burrows.

'Sons and Lovers'

However, in the spring of 1912, Lawrence's life changed suddenly and irrevocably when he went to visit an old Nottingham professor, Ernest Weekley, to solicit advice about his future and his writing. During his visit, Lawrence fell desperately in love with Weekley's wife, Frieda von Richthofen. Lawrence immediately resolved to break off his engagement, quit teaching, and try to make a living as a writer, and, by May of that year, he had persuaded Frieda to leave her family. The couple ran off to Germany, later traveling to Italy. While traveling with his new love, Lawrence continued to write at a furious pace. He published his first play, The Daughter-in-Law, in 1912. A year later, he published his first volume of poetry: Love Poems and Others.

Later in 1913, Lawrence published his third novel, Sons and Lovers, a highly autobiographical story of a young man and aspiring artist named Paul Morel, who struggles to transcend his upbringing in a poor mining town. The novel is widely considered Lawrence's first masterpiece, as well as one of the greatest English novels of the 20th century.

'The Rainbow' & 'Women in Love'

Lawrence and Frieda von Richtofen soon returned to England, where they married on July 13, 1914. That same year, Lawrence published a highly regarded short-story collection, The Prussian Officer, and in 1915 he published another novel, The Rainbow, which was quite sexually explicit for the time. Critics harshly condemned The Rainbow for its sexual content, and the book was soon banned for obscenity.

Feeling betrayed by his country but unable to travel abroad because of World War I, Lawrence retreated to Cornwall at the far southwestern edge of Great Britain. However, the local government considered the presence of a controversial writer and his German wife so near the coast to be a wartime security threat, and it banished him from Cornwall in 1917. Lawrence spent the next two years moving among friends' apartments. However, despite the tumult of the period, Lawrence managed to publish four volumes of poetry between 1916 and 1919: Amores (1916), Look! We Have Come Through! (1919), New Poems (1918) and Bay: A Book of Poems (1919).

In 1919, with the First World War finally ended, Lawrence once again departed England for Italy. There, he spent two highly enjoyable years traveling and writing. In 1920, he revised and published Women in Love, which he considered the second half of The Rainbow. He also edited a series of short stories that he had written during the war, which were published under the title My England and Other Stories in 1922.

Determined to fulfill a lifelong dream of traveling to America, in February 1922, Lawrence left Europe and traveled east. By the end of the year—after stays in both Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka) and Australia—he landed in the United States, settling in Taos, New Mexico. While in New Mexico, Lawrence completed Studies in Classic American Literature, a book of highly regarded and influential literary criticism of great American authors such as Benjamin Franklin, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville.

Over the next several years, Lawrence split his time between a ranch in New Mexico and travels to New York, Mexico and England. His works during this period includes a novel, Boy in the Bush (1924); a story collection about the American continent, St. Mawr (1925); and another novel, The Plumed Serpent (1926).

'Lady Chatterley's Lover' & Final Works

Having fallen ill with tuberculosis, Lawrence returned to Italy in 1927. There, in his last great creative burst, he wrote Lady Chatterley's Lover, his best-known and most infamous novel. Published in Italy in 1928, Lady Chatterley's Lover explores in graphic detail the sexual relationship between an aristocratic lady and a working-class man. Due to its graphic content, the book was banned in the United States until 1959, and in England until 1960, when a jury found Penguin Books not guilty of violating Britain's Obscene Publications Act and allowed the company to publish the book.

At the highly publicized British obscenity trial, the prosecuting attorney infamously asked the jurors, "Is it a book that you would have lying around the house? Is it a book you would wish your wife or servants to read?" The jury's decision to allow publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover is considered a turning point in the history of freedom of expression and the open discussion of sex in popular culture. As British poet Philip Larkin quipped in one of his poems, "Sexual intercourse began/In 1963/Between the end of the 'Chatterley' ban/And the Beatles' first LP."

Increasingly hobbled by his tuberculosis, Lawrence wrote very little near the end of his life. His final works were a critique of Western religion titled Apocalypse and Last Poems, both of which were published in 1930.

Death and Legacy

D.H. Lawrence died in Vence, France, on March 2, 1930, at the age of 44.

Reviled as a crude and pornographic writer for much of the latter part of his life, Lawrence is now widely considered—alongside James Joyce and Virginia Woolf—as one of the great modernist English-language writers. His linguistic precision, mastery of a wide range of subject matters and genres, psychological complexity and exploration of female sexuality distinguish him as one of the most refined and revolutionary English writers of the early 20th century.

Lawrence himself considered his writings an attempt to challenge and expose what he saw as the constrictive and oppressive cultural norms of modern Western culture. He once said, "If there weren't so many lies in the world . . . I wouldn't write at all."

from https://www.biography.com/writer/dh-lawrence

#d.h.lawrence

2 notes · View notes

ancientbrit · 3 years

Text

Natter # 12 12/06/2020

Subject: Re: MI MG Natter # 12 12/25/20 - The Christmas edition

On Wed, Dec 9, 2020 at 11:28 PM Gordon Polson <

[email protected]

> wrote:

Today, (Sunday 12/06/20) - I was reminded of the course we ran at Shoreline a couple of years ago on 'Latin for Gardeners'. If you didn't see it, the Seattle Times ran a great article on the selfsame topic in their "At home in the NW" Sunday supplement and it too makes great reading. It rather simplifies the subject and makes it very digestible, which is probably why our class went down so well. If you have never given much thought to horticultural Latin you should check this article out, it is very refreshing and understandable.Let's face it, the use and understanding of it is vital to really knowing what you are growing, and if you have any intent to raise plants from cuttings or divisions to be sold at the Plant Sales, it is essential. With positive ID you will have access to correct soil treatments, pruning, if it is poisonous or fragrant, has spines or flowers and so on. The article was based on a new book entitled "The Gardeners Botanical: An encyclopedia of Latin Plant Names" written by Ross Blayton who comes via the University of Reading (UK), Kew Gardens (UK) and Heronswood. The writer of the article proposes that a little botanical Latin self-study might make better use of some of your gardening off-season hours than re-watching that TV series that you already watched umpteen times already. 'Sounds reasonable. The book costs $30 - $40 or so at Amazon and I have ordered my copy already locally. Our veggies have not done quite so well this year and the outlook is not exactly encouraging either. Jean has a double row of 3 foot high pots along our southern exposure. Well, not exactly an exposure anymore. When we first lived here, we were able to grow a mass of all different veggies, fruit and flowers. Then after a few years another couple built a house next door to the south and erected a close-together row of evergreen trees right on the property line. I complained at the time to the husband that they would grow to be too big and he agreed that he would top the trees when they had knitted together. I wasn't going to tell him that topping was a bad idea - I wanted the trees gone. Two years or so on, they divorced and now the trees are higher than our roof and totally block any sun from reaching the pots until high noon on the longest day of the year. They have also bushed out into our garden, further reducing usable space. In addition, my Banana grove has now reached around 12 trees which effectively blank the western end so that the setting sun, which used to help out, is now totally blocked and it looks like this will be the last year we will be able to grow there. I can and will reduce the bananas but that will only allow a minimal amount of light in, unfortunately. In addition to this, the borrowed raised beds in which I used to grow tomatoes, onions. leeks, lettuce etc, have now been removed as the house has been sold. Right now I am trying to find out if the PeaPatch program will still be operating in 2021 at Luther Burbank and if so, will there be any going spare, 'Not having a deal of luck just yet, but we shall see. Now with Christmas just around the corner, I get a bit maudlin and my thoughts tend to dwell on the past a lot. All the wonderful Christmasses we had during the war, which somehow seems a contradiction in terms. My Dad was one of eight children and my Mum one of four sisters and thus our Christmasses were crowded, exuberant, noisy and memorable. Uncles, Aunts and cousins wherever you looked and the food was to die for. I frequently threw up! Christmas Eve was always lovely. Walter next door would always take his daughter Mary, my sister Joan and me to the Watch Night Service at St Dunstan's church in the village, right at the top of the hill. Just across the road is ' Whitehall' - a large wooden house from Henry VIII time and still standing and in use today, It always seemed to be freezing cold on these nights and the footpath would sparkle with frost and would ring as you walked on it. It was about a mile and a half to the church I suppose, but we talked constantly on the way and it seemed to take no time at all to get there. These sort of night walks were pure magic during this early part of the war when nothing much was happening, The Blackout was total. No streetlights, not a trace of a chink of light from houses or pubs and only the occasional glow from a bus or commercial vehicle driving slowly behind headlamps that were about 90% covered over. The night was like black velvet studded with millions of stars. There were so many to be seen, all twinkling away, from horizon to horizon. The number of shooting stars were legion - they would pop into view every few seconds. As I said, it was a magical time. This was before my Dad joined the Navy in 1942 and was sent to India, never to be seen again until 1947. Before he left we would frequently visit his sister Jessie and family. They lived about 45 minutes away by 213 bus down by the Beverly Brook. Uncle Jimmy had a large aviary in his back garden which I loved and of course, there was always my cousin Janet, for whom I always had a crush. Our visits always seemed to last for ages, which meant that when we left it would usually be in darkness. Leaving their house we would walk about half a mile to the bus stop and catch the 213 again which would drop us near the end of our road about 45 minutes later. Halfway along our road there was an intersecting alleyway that sort of crossed the road. It provided rear access to people's gardens and was okay during the day - everything could be seen. But this was now, and now was as black as the ace of spades with nothing in either alleyway visible - just a deep black void.

I was seven, my sister ten. The only illumination would be by small penlight torch, supplied by a #8 battery - which were always in short supply, so you rarely switched it on so as to save the juice - not that the light was ever more than a sort of sickly, flickering, yellow light! My Dad would take our hands, one on each side and as we walked down the road, with Mum trailing, he would start telling a made-up story that we loved, even though it terrified. And so, in a very low, slow and deep voice, he would start talking, timing the tale to culminate at the alleyway. "In a dark, dark town, there was a dark, dark road. And in that dark, dark road there was a dark, dark alley. And in that dark, dark alley - THERE WAS A GHOST! This last bit almost yelled loudly and quickly and we would both jump - every time. It was great! At the top of the hill in Cheam Village proper was St Dunstan's - my church and was intimately connected with the school I attended from 8 till 11 years old. All the Saints days were kept and the whole school would walk to the church in a crocodile. It wasn't a very 'high' church but it was special to me at any rate - I love it still. It is totally built of stone and although old it is not the ancient sort of building to be found in many other places. St Dunstans itself has been serving the community for over 1000 years, although this current building has only been there since 1864. Turning left off the main Malden Road up to the Lych Gate, through the graveyard, and through the main heavy oaken doors, deeply studded with large, square-headed iron nails, you would catch that delicious scent of pine and cedar, overlaid with an occasional whiff of incense as you walked to your pew, surrounded by candles, hundreds of candles, to the low muttering of the organ, as people talked in hushed tones. I love the feeling that these churches propagate in me. I always feel that my voice has to be low, quiet and reverent, as the history all around soaks in by osmosis. For this service, it always seemed warmer than on other occasions, although I doubt that it would have kept people away if it had been as cool as it normally seemed. The Reverend Dr Hayman, was our resident vicar - a very softly spoken, nice man whose large Vicarage is built next to the Whitehall, which was on the corner of Anne Boleyn's Walk. He preached great sermons and on these special occasions, it was a delight to hear him. There was always a Creche a little behind the.lecturn with bunches of chrysanthemums and greenery spread about. The service was liberally sprinkled with hymns and carols which I loved. My friend Ken Coleman was in the choir and he always looked out of character wearing his choirboy's surplice with it's high white collar. He was never able to convince me that he was as angelic as he appeared!I loved to sing but I could never summon the courage to apply to the choir, but I did sing descant to many of the carols and hymns for my own pleasure. The service always seemed to be over almost before it had started and then it was back down the hill to home. Goodnight to Walter and Mary, a mug of cocoa and so to bed, making sure that stockings were appropriately hung at the mantelpiece.

Four of my good friends were married at St Dunstan's, but Jean and I were married at St Lawrence's (built in 1636) as this was Jean's parish church in Morden, but somehow I always felt a bit cheated that I hadn't been married at St Dunstan's.

My sister and I always managed to wake early on Christmas morning, just to make sure that the stockings had been filled. The house would be quite cold at this time as there was no insulation - I don't think the technology existed at this level then. Some heating was provided by a coke-fired boiler in the kitchen which supplied domestic hot water via a hot water tank inside an airing cupboard in the bathroom above, making the bathroom a favorite place to start the day. To even the temperatures throughout the house meant lighting coal fires in the individual rooms each day so that the morning took a little time to reach comfort level. My Dad also had a great habit of preparing Sunday breakfast, frying tomatoes in pork or bacon fat in a tart pan on top of the boiler. They would simmer for ages and reduce to a jam-like consistency which was wonderful spread warm over bread and butter. The windows were all single glazed and a glass of water left overnight on the bedside table would be solid ice come the morning. It all had the benefit of making one move with alacrity first thing. There were no turkeys - I don't think anybody had even heard of them, I certainly hadn't, but there would be a chicken, a leg of roast Pork with the skin still on, which had been slashed through in parallel strips, - which went crispy when roasted and were delicious (Crackling) Plus the usual and expected, brussels sprouts, roast parsnips, pork chipolatas (thinnish delicious pork sausages) roast and mashed potatoes, stuffing, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Dessert was a flaming Christmas Pudding served hot with custard or Brandy Butter and containing lucky silver threepenny bits, so you had to watch out for your teeth This was served around 1- 2 pm, following which the adults would collapse about the place after the dishes had been washed and put away and the children were expected to go for a walk in the park taking Jock, our dog.Taking an extended walk through Cheam Park and into Nonsuch Park we would return a bit muddy and Jock would be carrying his usual gift of a tree branch or quite frequently a lump or two of horse manure in his mouth! He was something of a gourmet! Coming through the door we would find everybody sitting around drinking tea or other brown liquids from glasses, the men smoking cigars whilst they reminisced about Christmasses past, with frequent and not understood (by us) references to past indiscretions - always good for a laugh from them. After a while, there would be a slightly uncomfortable movement towards getting tea ready, which meal was usually served around 7 pm. The table would be set with the usual stiff white linen table cloth on which were placed all manner of great dishes, almost all of which were served cold. There was cold, sliced pork and ham, celery sticks in a special crystal vase. This was a wonderful, slightly pink celery which would be eaten out of hand, dipping one end into a pile of salt on the edge on the plate and eaten with bread & butter. Unfortunately, this variety of celery seems to have disappeared ever since the easier to grow 'Pascal' green celery was introduced. I have never been able to find it in seed catalogues either here or back home, but the flavor was far superior to the self-blanching types extant. Under EU rules if you wanted to keep a variety growing you had to pay some exorbitant fee to the EU government and since the Pascal variety was easier to grow and thus cheaper to produce, this is the one that was sold and so it was too expensive to maintain the pink line I suppose and it is probably lost to cultivation now. So short sighted and sad - just one victim of hundreds. Then there were fruit jellies (Jello here) containing little bits of the appropriate fruit, blancmanges in strawberry and lemon flavors - all of these would be made in fancy-shaped jelly moulds and then turned out upside down on a plate and served from there. And trifle, always trifle! There would also be a bowl of Libby's fruit salad, plus hot Mince pies, sausage rolls and maybe slices of cold Christmas Pud and finally - 'The Cake'.This is a very traditional cake with minor variations served at Christmasses, Weddings and sometimes Christenings. It is based on a Dundee fruit cake which is NOT, I hasten to add, anything like the much-maligned, so-called fruit cakes I have seen here thank goodness. The ones that I have seen look like a pile of dried fruit, bound together somehow into a block, which then seems as if it was varnished all over to a high gloss. No wonder they have a foul reputation.

The Dundee top has a pattern of almonds on it and the whole outside is given a layer of marzipan, which is then coated in Royal Icing. It is superb. Well made, it is capable of lasting in edible condition for years if stored correctly. At weddings, where there are tiered cakes, any that remains is cut into slices, packed in special little boxes and sent to those friends and relatives who were unable to make the event. My brother-in-law Denis used to take prizes for this cake when he entered it in the local Summer fair. One tradition in eating this cake is to accompany it with slices of a strong, nutty cheese. it cuts the richness and seems to enhance the flavor the same way it does if eaten with apple pie! When once we get back to some semblance of normality, I will have to make one for our traditional 'Bun Fight.' This isn't an empty threat - I made my sister's wedding cake and it went over very well - a real labor of love. Do not imagine for one moment that I will take NO for an answer either! Along with delicious food, there of course, have to be Christmas Crackers and these are handed around, pulled and their contents worn, laughed over or played with. All this largesse was obviously not a daily event. Rationing was severe and continued long after the war was over, right into 1952 and became even more severe than it had been during the war. Ration coupons had to be saved for months just for this one special event. The Christmas puds were made a couple of months in advance and the whole family was expected to take a stir of the mixture (very stiff) as you made a silent wish. To get a true Christmas Pudding takes an awful lot of fruit and other goodies. It also takes about eight hours of steaming in a china basin. After it has cooled, the cloth covering needs to be changed for a clean one and the whole thing stored until needed. When that time arrives, it then has yet another cloth tied over the top of the basin and it is steamed for another four or five hours and served hot as I mentioned. I think it is a wonderful thing to eat, hot or cold but I cannot persuade our daughter in law to even try it. I have to admit that it is very rich but the flavor and mouthfeel are superb. I should also mention that the recipe was formulated when people actually worked physically most days, even if it was just walking to and from shops or whatever - nobody owned a car except our local MD Dr Kerr and so you could work the extra pounds off without even knowing that you were doing so. Then of course comes Boxing Day, a wonderful and most sensible institution. Christmas Day is so hectic and filled with - food, that you really need another day to recover. When you consider that in the States, people travel hundreds of miles to get home for just the one day and then struggle back, frequently battling snow and lousy weather to return the following day, it is positively savage. Boxing Day is all about relaxing. You wake up late-ish - if you want. Have a leisurely breakfast, maybe read the paper, then get dressed and walk around to visit friends. You are invited in and partake of maybe a glass of wine, sherry, beer or just tea/coffee, along with a few comestibles to nibble on as you talk about whatever. After an hour or so, you move on to another favorite friend's house, or not and repeat the process. This can go on all day, or you can return home and be visited in turn. Frequently a long bracing walk is called for after the previous day's excesses and so you are gradually allowed to return to normal.Of course one of the joys of the aftermath of Christmas is that there is always lots remaining, leading to cold meat sandwiches, eggs and bread fried in pork or chicken fat - absolutely delicious, toasted bread spread with both of those fats including the dark jelly at the bottom of the bowl. And one of my personal delights - 'stealing' strips of cold meat from the leavings.This all has to carry you through until Springtime as New Year isn't celebrated the way it is here.

As I reached my teens New Year was celebrated by my friends and me by trooping up to Trafalgar Square in London, but that is a tale for another time, so I will say goodnight for now. Your fearless leader. Gordon

0 notes

tabloidtoc · 4 years

Text

OK, October 12

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Meg Ryan’s new life revealed

Page 1: Big Pic -- Katie Holmes and Emilio Vitolo Jr. holding hands and wearing masks in NYC

Page 2: Contents

Page 3: Contents

Page 4: Halle Berry happiness at last -- after years of heartbreak Halle has finally found true love with Van Hunt

Page 6: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s private world -- they’ve got successful careers and a solid marriage but the thing they’re most proud of is the beautiful life they’ve built together and family is everything to them

Page 7: Jessica Simpson swore off reality TV after her show Newlyweds led to her split from ex-husband Nick Lachey in 2005 but she finds she misses working in front of the camera and after multiple offers to do a reality show with husband Eric Johnson and kids Maxwell and Ace and Birdie including one from Ryan Seacrest she’s seriously considering it except Eric thinks it’s the worst idea, Taylor Swift is itching to get her girl gang back together after taking a break from throwing A-list bashes and while she has been loving life in Nashville with fiance Joe Alwyn she feels like she’s neglected other important people in her life and to make amends she’s already making plans to gather girl squad members Gigi Hadid and Blake Lively and Martha Hunt and Katy Perry at her Rhode Island beachfront mansion, Madonna is ready to spill all and her exes better watch out because she is gearing up to direct a movie which she’s cowriting based on her storied life including her romances with Warren Beatty and ex-husbands Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie and baby daddy Carlos Leon who are all reportedly unnerved by the project and she’s getting a savage pleasure knowing her famous exes are nervous

Page 8: Nikki and Brie Bella were known for their sculpted physiques in the WWE ring and since welcoming baby boys this summer they’re eager to get back into fighting shape by doing Zoom workouts together including Pilates and yoga and giving each other daily pep talks, Kourtney Kardashian has a new crush and has been hanging non-stop with 19-year-old TikTok sensation Addison Rae because she finds Addison incredibly refreshing and fun but Kourt’s obsession with Addison who is 22 years her junior has been raising eyebrows -- Kim Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian are trying to be cool about it but they find it a little creepy how Kourt hangs on this girl’s every word, Lori Loughlin was sentenced to two months in federal prison for paying bribes to get her two daughters into college and she wants a seriously cushy stay behind bars because she figures that with her fame level and wealth and influence there’s no reason why she can’t have many of the perks she’s used to including an air-conditioned cell and cable TV and gourmet food and yoga and Pilates classes and even her own private security guard but especially time off for good behavior

Page 10: Red Hot on the Red Carpet -- stars look dreamy in Oscar de la Renta -- Evan Rachel Wood, Kiki Layne, Scarlett Johansson

Page 11: Regina King, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Daisy Ridley

Page 12: Who Wore It Better? Rachel Zoe vs. Molly Sims, Jamie Chung vs. Skyler Samuels

Page 13: Cara Santana vs. Kristen Taekman

Page 14: News in Photos -- Johnny Depp looked relaxed and happy at the 68th San Sebastian International Film Festival for his new documentary Crock of Gold

Page 16: The cast of Schitt’s Creek Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara and Daniel Levy and Annie Murphy, Olivia Culpo was joined by her dog Oliver during a day of shopping in West Hollywood, Miley Cyrus closing out the iHeartRadio Music Festival

Page 17: Jessie James Decker running errands in Nashville, John Leguizamo playing chess in Washington Square Park, Eva Longoria urged Latinos to get out and vote at a campaign event for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

Page 18: Kaley Cuoco filming a scene for her show The Flight Attendant, Ian Somerhalder kissed the grass at the premiere of his new documentary Kiss the Ground

Page 20: Drew Barrymore lit up the Empire State Building yellow to celebrate the premiere of her daytime talk show, Olivia Wilde and fiance Jason Sudeikis play soccer at the beach in Malibu

Page 21: Tiger Woods ahead of the U.S. Open

Page 22: David Harbor grabbed a bite to eat solo in New York City, Jesse Metcalfe on his motorcycle, Paris Jackson showed support for longtime family friend Paris Hilton during a screening of her documentary

Page 23: Hailey Bieber on a pool floatie, Josephine Skriver filming a Maybelline commercial in New York City

Page 24: Janelle Monae at the premiere of her new film Antebellum, John Legend made a grocery run in Los Angeles

Page 25: Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and former football pro Troy Polamalu shoot a Head & Shoulders commercial, Duchess Kate Middleton and Prince William made their first joint engagement after their summer break visiting a job center, Jennifer Garner picked up a bouquet of flowers while out and about in L.A.

Page 26: Inside My Home -- Mariah Carey spent lockdown in a luxury estate in Bedford Corners, N.Y.

Page 28: Drew Barrymore swore off men after her third divorce in 2016 but she’s had a change of heart because she’s been talking to Tom Cruise a lot during lockdown and now they’re on the verge of a full-blown romance

Page 30: It’s been a little over a month since Scott Disick and Sofia Richie pulled the plug on their romance but the pair are still hooking up on the DL which suits them both because Sofia is still attracted to Scott but she wanted freedom to date other people and the two of them have this warped attraction that they can’t find elsewhere, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have spent 37 blissful years together but after six months of quarantining together they’ve hit a serious rough patch bickering nonstop since lockdown started because they’re both independent spirits and being cooped up together day in and day out is just too close for comfort, Robert Pattinson and Suki Waterhouse are planning to tie the knot in a top-secret wedding this winter in the U.K. -- they want to have a small ceremony in London around Christmas with just family and a few close friends to toast with -- the two feel they are soulmates and feel it’s time to get married and settle down and maybe even start a family in the next couple of years

Page 32: Cover Story -- Meg Ryan back and better than ever -- after taking a breather from Hollywood the new and improved actress is ready for her big comeback

Page 36: Priscilla Presley putting family first -- how she is helping her daughter Lisa Marie Presley and grandchildren pick up the pieces after a tragic loss

Page 38: Coming Clean -- stars open up about living booze-free -- Lucy Hale, Joe Manganiello, Bradley Cooper

Page 39: Brad Pitt, Miley Cyrus, Jada Pinkett Smith, Daniel Radcliffe

Page 40: Interview -- Keith Urban digs deep -- the country crooner talks about his eclectic new album and life at home with his favorite girls

Page 42: Olivia Munn 40 and fabulous -- how the stunning star stays in such great shape

Page 46: Style Week -- Kate Hudson is adding Inbloom a plant-based powdered supplement brand to her growing empire

Page 48: What’s Hot Right Now -- makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury’s new Walk of No Shame collection offers five new universally flattering ways to get a glow up -- Miranda Kerr

Page 49: Steal Her Style -- Cate Blanchett reigned supreme at the Venice Film Festival -- here’s how to wear her look for less

Page 50: Getting Organized 101 -- freshen up your space for fall with the Home Edit founders and Netflix stars Joanna Teplin and Clea Shearer sharing their top tips for how to conquer clutter

Page 52: Beauty -- Scent-sational -- time to add one of these new fragrances to your vanity

Page 54: Entertainment

Page 55: Q&A with Troy

Page 58: Buzz -- Crikey, it’s a girl! Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell share their baby joy in a zoo-themed gender reveal

Page 60: Sound Bites --Chrissy Metz on getting ready to release her debut album at age 40, Ryan Reynolds on getting tested for COVID-19, Keke Palmer on staying true to herself, Carrie Underwood on forgetting to thank her family during an ACM Awards acceptance speech, Chrishell Stause on getting bad pick-up lines in her Instagram DMs

Page 62: Horoscope -- Libra Kate Winslet turned 45 on October 5

Page 64: By the Numbers -- Machine Gun Kelly

0 notes

finn-nelson-for-the-win · 7 years

Text

Changing Priority- Chapter 14

So I meant to post this yesterday, that way I would spread posting 3 new chapters over the span of 3 days…but after work and whatnot yesterday, I was way too tired to edit and post this. So yeah…I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always, thanks for reading/reblogging/liking/following/etc. and just basically boosting my ego and inspiring me to keep writing and posting for you all.

Chapters 1-13 can all be found right here!

Unfamiliar Territory

Rae had spent all of Friday after she got off work trying to recover from her hangover and catch up on sleep, cleaning, and Netflix binge watching that she had been neglecting for the past week; however, this left Saturday as Rae’s only free day to run some necessary errands prior to the new semester of Uni beginning on Monday.

After spending a couple hours tending to the plants in her garden on campus, Rae walked to the Campus Bookstore to purchase all of the necessary textbooks that she needed for the upcoming semester, at least according to her professors.

Nine books…nine FUCKING BOOKS!?! ALL FOR ONE CLASS?

“Ugh, you have to be shitting me…” Rae mumbled, earning a chuckle from one of the student workers at the bookstore that was restocking the books on a shelf a short distance from Rae.

“Do you need help finding any of your books? I see you’ve amassed quite a collection already…” asked the short, lanky boy as he took a short break from placing books on the nearby shelf.

“Uhm, yes, actually! This book right here, ‘Art Across Time: Volume B’…I know you guys have it brand new to purchase or rent, but do you have any used copies to purchase or rent? This one book costs more than I was planning to spend an all my books this semester, combined!” Rae replied incredulously.

“Yikes, yeah, that book is a pricey one…unfortunately, if it isn’t on the shelves, we don’t have it. If you don’t wanna pay this much you might be able to find it online for cheaper, but I wouldn’t bet on it…”

“Ah, I see…well, thank you anyways.” Rae said politely as she debated purchasing the book now or taking the risk of being unable to find it online.

“Sorry I couldn’t really help, but let me know if you need any further help…”

“Don’t worry about it and yeah, okay. Thank you!” Rae added, giving the worker a friendly smile, before deciding it best to get the textbook now regardless of the price.

Rae walked out of the aisle of alphabetized books sorted by course titles AIS through ART and found an unattended counter to set down the growing pile of books she had been carrying to give her arms a rest before pulling her cell phone from her purse.

Rae opened up her mobile banking app to ensure that she had enough money in her account to purchase all the textbooks she would be needing and gasped audibly when she noticed her account balance.

Holy shit! It looks like the direct deposit from my tuition refund finally hit my account!

Rae breathed a sigh of relief because her hard work the previous semester had paid off and she had not only received a high enough GPA to maintain her academic scholarship, but also to qualify for the tuition assistance her job offered. Between the two scholarships, Rae had more than enough money to cover all her expenses for this semester while still having a decent amount of money left over.

Rae knew that it was already getting late and the bookstore would be closing soon, so she sighed and picked up the stack of books she was going to be purchasing before walking to the opposite side of the store.

Well…so much for that tuition refund I got…

Rae waited in line for the next available cashier to ring up her purchase and tried to mentally prepare herself to spend roughly three paychecks worth of money on a total of twelve textbooks.

***

Rae had been putting off thinking about the current situation between her and Finn with some success over the past day and a half, but as she began the nearly hour long walk back to her apartment with her recently purchased textbooks, her thoughts began to wander.

In a much more sober state of mind, Rae was not nearly as affected by what she had discovered while browsing Finn’s Instagram as she had been Thursday evening on the floor of Izzie’s kitchen, but she was still confused.

As much as I love Izz and Archie, they’re too emotionally invested in Finn and me becoming a thing to give me a straight answer about all of the questions holding me back from making the first move with Finn.

I need an unbiased opinion in the matter…

As the sun continued setting, the chilly January evening air began to set in and Rae found that she was less than halfway to her apartment and her fingertips and the tip of her nose had nearly lost all feeling.

I suppose I have nowhere else to be tonight, so I have some time to spare…

Rae crossed the street a short distance up the road and walked towards the café that she had been frequenting for the past couple months. When she walked inside, she skipped the line that she would normally stand in and decided to grab a table and warm up a bit more before putting in her order.

Shit! What if I see Eric the Barista today…will it be awkward?

Rae pushed the thought to the back of her mind after a quick look toward the counter where the only employees she could see were a number of girls around Rae’s age and the man in his mid-forties that Rae has always assumed to be the owner or manager of the café.

The warmth was slowly returning to Rae’s fingertips and rosy cheeks as she skimmed through the various required readings she had purchased or rented for all her classes. When Rae began to feel bad about loitering at the small table in the far corner of the café as she people-watched and took advantage of the coffee-scented warm atmosphere that had a vague familiarity to Rae, she decided that if she wanted to stay any longer, she needed to order something.

Rae stood from the table and left all of her belongings behind to save her spot as she walked up to the counter with her credit card and cellphone in-hand.

“Hello! Can I have a hot chai latte with soy milk?” Rae said to one of the female baristas behind the counter that she often saw when she came in before work most days.

“Sure thing! For here, I’m assuming, since you have all your stuff over there, huh?” Rae chuckled and nodded as the barista entered Rae’s order into the machine in front of her, “And your name is…wait, I know it…don’t tell me…”

“Rae!”

“Seriously, Eric? I was just about to guess that!” the Barista jokingly complained as she wrote Rae’s name on the order.

“Hey, Jessie, this drink is on me today…” Eric said to the barista that had taken Rae’s order as he walked up to the counter and gave Rae a toothy smile that made his simple steel lip ring stand out against his impossibly perfect, white teeth.

“Ah, you’re too late, buddy!” Jessie replied as she handed Rae the receipt and her credit card back, “You’re all set, Rae. We’ll call your name at the other counter when your order is ready!”

Rae thanked Jessie and gave Eric a small smile before walking back to her table in the far corner of the café.

Almost as soon as Rae had sat back down and put her card back into her purse, she heard her phone buzz a few times against the table where she had set it down and she pressed the home button to unlock her phone.

Chloe: So guess who I just finished FaceTiming that is apparently much more up-to-date on the situation with your sexy coworker than me, your best friend for nearly a decade…

Chloe: No guesses?

Chloe: Abbie! I feel so out of the loop…is this punishment because my family went to Italy for Christmas and I couldn’t come visit you like we had considered back in August?

Rae: No, that’s not it at all. It’s just a lot to tell you about via text and I’ve been really busy with work lately. Plus, last I heard, you didn’t have internet access, so I didn’t know that FaceTiming or video chatting was an option for you.

Chloe: I was dying without internet and I felt so dead to the world, so I caved and paid a fucking insane amount of money to get wi-fi at our hotel for the rest of the week.

Chloe: We leave tomorrow, but maybe we can FaceTime tomorrow? Or once I’m back home if there’s a day we are both free? I want to know everything!

Rae: Yeah, I don’t know when I’ll be free since my classes start on Monday, but I’ll let you know.

Rae locked her phone and dropped it into her purse before sighing and covering her face with her hands.

Chloe is probably the last person I want to discuss the whole situation with Finn with until I figure a few more things out.

Rae was brought back from her thoughts by the sound of someone politely clearing their throat to get Rae’s attention. She lifted her head from where she had been resting on her hands to see Eric the Barista standing behind the chair opposite of her with her latte on a small plate in one hand and a small platter of various pastries in the other.

“Oh! Were you calling my name? I didn’t even hear you, I’m so sorry…” Rae replied with an embarrassed smile as she removed her elbows from the small table to allow Eric to set down her drink.

“Don’t worry about it! When I finished making your drink I saw that you were busy on your phone and I had a spare moment, so I decided to just bring your drink directly to you and greet you properly,” he replied with a shrug after setting her latte down before continuing, “I also wanted to drop these off for you…”

Eric placed the small rectangular platter down on the table as well and Rae soon realized that the platter had a small slice of coffee cake, banana nut bread, and lemon poppy seed cake.

“Oh, I didn’t order those…” Rae mumbled.

Though they DO look really good…

“I know, but I thought you seemed a little out of it today and thought you might like a little snack if you plan to stick around here sipping your latte for a while. I didn’t know what you liked, hence the variety, but they’re all fresh and I can assure you that they’re halfway decent!”

“Thank you, Eric. That was really nice of you…completely unnecessary, but still nice,” Rae replied as she turned the plate to examine the different pastries, earning a chuckle and smile from Eric.

“Eric, wait…” Rae found herself calling as Eric slowly turned to walk away from her table.

What the fuck are you about to do, Rae…?

Is this a good idea? Probably not. Will it make things any worse than they already are? Probably not…

“Yes, Rae? Do you need anything else?” Eric asked, slipping back into customer service mode so fluidly it was clear to Rae that he had a lot of practice with this.

“You mentioned that you had a spare moment…I don’t know if you had something else you needed to do or whatever, but uh…I could use the company, if you want to that is…these pastries are best when shared with a friend, right?”

“I suppose I could stay and chat for a few minutes…” Eric said with a wide grin as he untied his apron and hung it over the back of the chair opposite Rae before taking a seat.

“So Rae…if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were keeping tabs on me to ‘accidentally’ cross paths with me while I’m at work, since Saturday evenings aren’t your usual time for coffee…”

“My ‘usual time’? Who is keeping tabs on who, now?” Eric laughed at how Rae had turned the tables on him, but she quickly continued, “I honestly didn’t even see you when I came in and then you just show up out of nowhere…”

“Yeah, I actually spend most of my shifts in the back where the kitchen is. All these fresh baked pastries don’t bake themselves, you know!” Eric replied as he tore off a small piece of banana nut bread that Rae offered him on the plate and popped it into his mouth.

“Huh, I never would have taken you for the baking type…they’re quite good though, so my compliments to the chef,” Rae added as she used a fork to cut off a small piece of the coffee cake and brought it into her mouth.

“So how are you, Rae? Like I said earlier, you seem a little off…unless you frequently visit small coffee shops at night and sit with your head in your hands like you’re in the middle of a mental breakdown or an existential crisis..? Which if you do, that’s fine…I’ll only judge you a little bit…” Rae chuckled dryly because Eric was not far off from the truth, but his friendly tone seemed to be all the encouragement Rae needed to open up a bit more about what was on her mind.

“Well I was walking past here and was really cold, so I came in to warm up. But you’re kind of right, I am a bit off, I suppose. I just have a lot on my mind and I’m trying to process everything but I’m not really making any progress.”

“Would you care to elaborate at all, Rae? I’m a great listener, or so I’ve been told…”

Rae looked up from her latte that she had been staring at for some time and saw Eric turned around slightly in his chair and having a silent conversation with Jessie from where she stood behind the counter.

Less than a minute later, Jessie approached their shared table with a smug smile and placed a cup down in front of Eric before walking away.

“I could feel a story coming on and I thought a cup of tea would pair nicely with whatever story you were about to tell me…” Eric relied when he noticed Rae’s look of confusion as he dropped the teabag into the cup of hot water to steep.

“Ah, I see…well almost immediately before coming here I spent nearly a month’s rent on textbooks for the semester that starts on Monday at my Uni’s campus bookstore …which I’m not too thrilled about…”

Eric nodded to show that he was still paying attention as he removed the teabag from his cup and took a cautious sip to avoid burning himself.

“But mostly I’m just sort of…confused and maybe a bit…uhm, conflicted about something…”

“About what?”

“Uh, about a boy…that I work with…”

“Ah, I see,” Eric replied as he took another sip of tea and tore off another small piece of banana nut break, “what is there to be confused or conflicted about?”

“Well I’ve been working with this guy for a few months now and I thought he was a total jerk at first, but slowly we became friends and I got to know him a bit…well long story short, I had a few friends insisting that he was flirting with me for a while before I even grew to like him and see him as more than just a coworker, but now I do like him…a lot…and I don’t know what to make of his feelings, since his actions have more or less remained unchanged and I am always getting mixed signals from this guy…”

Rae had not intended to go into this much detail when telling Eric about everything that was on her mind, but as she sipped her chai latte and he drank his tea and they both nibbled on the pastries he had brought, the words kept coming and she told him almost every minute detail about the situation as Eric sat listening and reacting quietly when appropriate.

“And so now there’s my childhood best mate, Chloe, the one I mentioned earlier…well, she wants to chat with me so I can fill her in on everything that is going on with my coworker and I don’t know what to say, you know? I obviously can’t say ‘oh he still flirts with me at work, but after I got shitfaced the other night I found him and his ex on Instagram and gave myself a panic attack because it seems like if he really liked me he would have made a move by now, since he’s had like two months to move on from his ex-girlfriend’ but I mean, that’s the truth…”

Rae had run out of things to say and she sat in silence for a moment and took another sip of her drink that had cooled down a bit too much and was barely even warm at this point, but Rae was too distracted to notice or care.

Eric sat in silence, nodding slightly as he drank the last bit of tea in his cup, processing everything that Rae had said and trying to gather his thoughts to say something.

“Hmm…that’s quite a predicament you’re in, Rae…do you know what you’re planning to do or to tell her? Because it seems to me that before you can tell her what’s going on, it may be best for you to figure it out with yourself.”

“I have no fucking clue what I should do at this point. This is all unfamiliar territory for me, Eric. I don’t really find myself being the object of men’s affections very often—if that’s even what this whole situation really is—so I’m still struggling to navigate my way through what everyone is telling me and how I feel.”

“I find that very hard to believe, Rae, but okay…do you mind if I give you my input? A little bit of insight into the mind of a guy from the perspective of a guy…”

“Not at all! Please, I’d greatly appreciate it actually, since I already know what everyone else I would talk to has to say about this whole thing.”

“Well, I can’t speak for all guys, of course, but it seems to me like if he is stalling to avoid making the first move, it’s because he’s nervous that he’s going to screw it up. Based on everything you told me, I don’t doubt that this bloke is interested in you. But if he has been interested in you for a couple months now and it has mostly just been flirting, he’s probably in a similar position as you are and he’s trying to decide the best way to go about this that won’t backfire on him if you do not reciprocate his feelings…This coworker of yours seems kind of shy, so as a shy guy myself, I can tell you that it’s fucking nerve wracking when you finally decide to be more obvious with your flirting if you aren’t even sure that the person you’re flirting with will react well…” Eric looked away from Rae and began nervously examining his fingernails as he gently bit the inside of his bottom lip which made his lip ring wiggle in place slightly.

“I suppose you could be right…it’s kind of reassuring to hear that someone like you who has never met my coworker and is not particularly biased is coming to the same conclusions as all my closest mates and coworkers. So clearly I’m not reading too much into things with him, right?”

“Right! So if that is the case, he might need a little bit more confirmation from you that you are interested in him…I’m not saying that you need to make the first move or let him, uh, ‘whack it in you’ or, uhm, ‘explore your secret garden’ as some of your friends have suggested,” Eric began with an embarrassed chuckled before continuing, “but I think it could do both of you some good if you can both be more forward with your flirting just so you are both confident that the feelings are mutual.”

“I think you’re right, Eric. Thank you for letting me vent and complain about the woes of my pathetic excuse of a love life to you.”

“It’s been my pleasure, really. I really hope all this works out for you, Rae! I know it’s not my place to say this, but I just don’t want you to rush into anything you’re not ready for and I don’t want you to regret not doing anything, so I’d say just take your time figuring things out but let the pieces fall as they will and try not to force anything…If it’s meant to be, then it will be.” Eric gave Rae a smile and stood from his chair before putting his apron back on.

Rae suddenly realized how long they had been talking for when she saw that the majority of the patrons who had filled the café before had left and they were down to a very small crew of employees who were mostly just talking behind the counter, since there were no new to customers to attend to at the moment.

“I’m so sorry for keeping you so long! I hope you don’t get in trouble for taking such a long break instead of working!” Rae said with concern as Eric stacked the plates and cups they were now finished with for him to take away from the table.

“In all honesty, I wasn’t even scheduled to work today, so I can’t imagine I’ll be in any trouble.”

“If you aren’t supposed to be working, why are you here then?” Rae asked in confusion.

“It’s kind of hard to say ‘no’ when your family owns the café…” Eric replied with a dramatic eye roll as he started walking away.

Eric was a short distance from Rae’s table when he slowed to a stop and turned around, a look of hesitation and inner conflict obvious on his face before it was replaced with the toothy smile Rae was used to seeing on his face when he was taking customers’ orders.

“I’m really glad I got to see you today, Rae. I hope everything works out how you want it to with your coworker, because I could tell how heavily the stress of all of that was weighing on you when you first got here. Be sure to come in and see me again sometime soon, okay Rae?” Eric gave Rae a quick wave with one hand before continuing his path towards the kitchen and disappearing behind a door.

***

Sunday morning Rae had woken up in an unexpectedly good mood that she decided had to be attributed to her conversation with Eric the Barista the prior evening. Their discussion had given Rae a lot to consider, but more than anything, it had given her a new sense of clarity that certainly did not go unnoticed by her coworkers during her shift at work.

“You certainly seem excited today, Rae. You do realize that the semester starts tomorrow, so what reason do you possibly have to be as happy as you are?” Archie asked with a joking scoff as he took a seat at the table Rae was sitting at in the break room.

“Ugh, don’t remind me about classes starting. As it is, my bank account is still trying to recover from buying all the textbooks I’m going to need,” Rae said with a cringe.

“If you truly must know, Archie, I am quite happy today I suppose…I just feel so at-ease with, well, everything.”

Archie furrowed his eyebrows and gestured with his hand for Rae to continue, so she took a deep breath before continuing the conversation that she had known would be brought up at some point today.

“So do you remember what I told you Friday at work about me drunk crying on Izzie’s kitchen floor on Thursday evening? Well, I basically gave myself a panic attack because I was overthinking the whole situation with…‘Alphonzo’…after I sort of stalked him and his ex-girlfriends’ Instagram pages…” Rae replied, trying to ignore Archie’s noticeable surprise as she casually told him more about her recent drunken antics.

“So there’s that…and do you remember the guy from the café across the street that I mentioned had paid for my coffee and was flirting with me a bit…?”

“Yes, I remember that too. I also remember the look of jealousy on Fi—Alphonzo’s face when you were talking about that, so if your goal was to make him jealous: mission accomplished! Seriously, he did not stop glancing over his shoulder at you for the rest of his shift on Friday and then—ugh, I really shouldn’t be telling you this, so you have to swear that you never heard it from me, okay?—and then yesterday he was asking me a bunch of questions about you and the barista you were talking about…”

“Are you serious, right now? How did the even come up in conversation!? What kind of questions was he asking?” Rae asked slightly embarrassed that she had been a topic of conversation when she was not even at work.

“Well someone else came in with a cup from the café and Peter and Melissa were chatting about what you had said and were wondering if ‘Rae’s not-so-secret admirer’ had been working or not and so he was asking me if I had ever seen the barista you were talking about, if I had ever gone to the café with you and seen you interact with this barista…If I thought you were interested in this barista more than you were letting on when you told the story…and he was asking me about whether or not I thought you liked how forward the barista was in terms of giving you free coffee and leaving a note on your coffee…stuff like that mostly. He was trying to be casual about it all, but I know him too well.” Archie replied with a self-satisfied smirk.

“Wow…that’s kind of a great and crazy coincidence because yesterday evening I went to the café and I ended up talking to that barista, his name is Eric by the way, for like two hours…about Finn…”

“Wait, so let me get this straight, Rae. You spent two hours last night talking and getting relationship advice about the bloke you like from a guy who two days prior gave you free coffee and flirted with you and professed his love for you in the form of a note on the side of your coffee cup…?”

“Well, uh, sort of? I mean, he didn’t profess his love to me on my cup on Thursday! He just complimented me and told me how much his day is improved when he sees me come into the café…and…holy shit, I fucking friend-zoned this poor lad, didn’t I!?!”

“It sort of seems like it, Rae. I mean this guy, Eric, clearly likes you enough that he wanted to give you free coffee and make sure that you knew how much he appreciates you coming into the café when he’s working…and then you pour your heart out to him about another guy…”

“Aw, now I just feel like a terrible person, Arch! Eric was so supportive and he seemed happy for me because I was happy after talking it all through with him, but like, I’m pretty sure I would react the same way if I just got hardcore friend-zoned and wanted to play it cool…” Archie reached out a hand to pat Rae on the back to help soothe her as she continued, “Eric is like…really attractive, too! And he was so nice about everything and he didn’t even make the situation too weird or anything!”

“That’s a good thing though, right? That Eric was able to put aside whatever feelings he may or may not have for you and give you genuine advice because he wants the best for you…”

“Yeah, it was so nice getting the opinion of a guy on the whole situation with Finn…”

“Uhm, excuse me? What am I if not a guy? A potato!”

“That’s not what I meant, Arch, and you know it. I just meant a guy that wasn’t wrapped up in the whole situation and a close mutual friend of both people involved…”

“I guess you have a fair point…” Archie said with a chuckle before realizing how much their conversation had veered off-topic, “Oh, so the reason you’re so happy today is…because you talked to your Barista Buddy and…?”

“Oh, yeah! I talked to him about the whole situation and I feel like I have a good idea of what I need to do and how I can show ‘Alphonzo’ that I’m interested without putting myself out there too much and then at some point one of us will have to take the chance and make the first move, but I’m not as freaked out about all of this as I was up to that point.”

By this point, Rae and Archie’s break had already ended, but they had simply continued their conversation back at their desks in hushed whispers to avoid being overheard.

“So what now?”

“Well, I guess I just sit back, relax, and wait for—“

“Finn! Hi, how’s it going?” Archie called in greeting before sharing a nervous smile with Rae.

“Hey, Archie. How are you this morning, Rae? You look really nice…are you dressed up today for something, or someone, special?” Finn asked as he took a seat at the empty desk on Rae’s left side, opposite of Archie.

“Hiya Finn! And thank you, but do I really seem like the kind of girl that would dress up and alter my appearance for the benefit of another person?” Rae scoffed, feigning that she was offended at his implications but smiled as she continued, “I’m just giving you a hard time, Finn…I dressed up for myself today, mostly. It just feels nice to get dressed up and look pretty from time to time, I guess!”

Rae looked down at her outfit as she adjusted the sleeves of her cardigan and plucked off imaginary bits of fluff and debris. Rae had paired one of her favorite dresses that had a very short multi-toned blue flowy skirt and a pale denim bustier top with navy blue tights, a long gray cardigan that was nearly longer than the dress itself, and neutral taupe ankle boots with a small, chunky heel. Rae’s hair, which she had straightened earlier that morning, was beginning to re-curl itself because of the humidity of the chilly January air, but it appeared to be done intentionally leaving Rae’s hair in bouncy, gentle purple waves opposed to her usual mess of ringlets and spiraling waves. She completed her look with very simple makeup, focusing mainly on drawing attention to her eyes and naturally long eyelashes and completing the look with subtle berry-toned lipstick.

Rae seldom looked in the mirror and felt completely happy with the image staring back; however, Rae felt happy and she could see a uniquely happy glow in her appearance that made her feel truly beautiful today and it felt nice to know that others were beginning to take notice of the change as well.

***

Monday morning Rae awoke earlier than she would have liked and began reluctantly getting ready before beginning her hour-long walk from her apartment to campus.

After taking her first Computer Programming course last semester, Rae’s interest in programming and design had been piqued; however, after sitting through an hour long class this morning in which the professor introduced the Programming for Media Arts course Rae was enrolled in this semester, she had a sinking suspicion that she would likely grow to love or hate this course, but it was entirely too early to tell which.

Rae walked out of the building and had to stop to allow her eyes to adjust to the bright gray light of this overcast January morning after sitting in almost complete darkness during her programming class.

When the brightness was more bearable, Rae pulled her phone from her pocket and began to check the time when she could vaguely hear someone calling her name.

“Rae! Rae-Rae!”

She looked up to see someone on a bicycle riding towards her that was waving with both hands to get her attention from some ways away. It was not until this person on their bike got much closer and Rae could make out the tattoos on their arms that were peeking out from the sleeves of their jacket and the messy brown hair tousled by the wind that she realized who had been trying to get her attention.

“Good morning, Finn!” She called when he was only a short distance away from her.

“Hey Rae! I’m running late but I’ll talk to you later…” Finn replied without slowing his speed, calling over his shoulder and trailing off as he rode his bike further out of earshot of Rae.

What time is it? 10:09 AM…

This is great…Finn is already nearly 10 minutes late for his shift to work and yet he still makes a point to say “hi” when he sees me.

Rae did not even try to wipe the smile off her face as she walked to grab a chai latte from a coffee shop on campus before walking to work.

Since it was Monday, Rae’s scheduled shift did not begin until noon, but as she walked into the office building that she worked on and it was still a quarter to eleven, Rae decided that it was better for her to be early to work and take the extra time to work on assignments for one of her online courses using the Wi-Fi at work rather than risk being late to work if she went back to her apartment or remained on campus.

As Rae sat in the break room at work, scrolling through social media on her phone after figuring out which of her online classes would require more immediate attention, Rae began regretting her decision not to grab something to eat before walking to work. Between work and the three hour long Business Marketing class Rae had later that afternoon, she quickly realized that she likely would not have a chance to eat until after she was done with her class that evening.

Rae was debating buying a snack from the vending machine in the break room when she heard the quiet scraping of a chair next to her being pulled out from under the table where she sat.

“Hey there, Chop!”

“How’s it going, Raemundo?” Chop replied as he used a fork he had grabbed from the drawer in the break room to stir the Cup of Noodles he had just pulled from the microwave.

“It’s going,” Rae said, chuckling as a rogue noodle dangled from Chop’s mouth as he took the first bite of his noodle soup, “how are you today? Did you have any classes yet?”

“I’m good, thanks!” Chops said before stopping to get another mouthful of noodles, “And nope, no classes today, but I’ve been at work since 8am! Do you have classes today?”

“Yeah, I had class earlier this morning. And I have a two hour shift at work starting at noon and then class again after that…This semester has me constantly running back and forth between classes and work,” Rae explained with an annoyed eye roll.

“That’s awful, Rae! I’m so sorry!”

“It is what it is…”

“It looks pretty cloudy outside today, I wonder if it’s going to rain,” Chop mused when there was a lull in the conversation as he looked out the window to the parking lot for their office.

“I hope not! I’m walking back to campus after work,” Rae replied with a small frown after she looked outside the window as well and was fairly certain that it would begin raining within the hour.

“Well, I can give you a ride! You said you’re working a two hour shift? We get off work at the same time!”

“Thank you, Chop, but no thank you. You’re done for the day after this and I’d hate to put you out and make you go out of your way just to give me a ride to campus. I don’t think it’ll rain, or if it does, I’m sure it won’t be so much that I can’t walk the twenty minutes or so back to campus.”

As if right on cue, mere moments after Rae decline Chop’s offer, a sudden boom of thunder followed by a downpour of rain began, making both Rae and Chop jump slightly out of surprise before chuckling at the irony of it all.

“Uh, I’m sure the rain will stop soon…” Rae mumbled, not even fully believing her own words.

“It’s no trouble, really. Finn and I live less than a mile from campus, so it’s not even going out of my way, honestly! Just let me know, okay? But if it is still raining after work, I will not take ‘no’ for an answer, Rae! I will be driving you to your next class because I simply cannot have my Raemundo walking in the rain!” Chop said as he pointed a finger at Rae, adding emphasis to the point he was trying to make.

“Fine, but I’ll let you know if anything changes.” Rae replied as Chop threw away the empty Cup of Noodles container and waved goodbye to Rae before exiting the break room to get back to work.

Rae was still looking out the window at the rain pouring down and collecting in puddles that would undoubtedly flood the parking lot by the time the rain began to let up—if it let up—when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind in a surprise hug.

“Guess who…” Rae heard this person sing-song and Rae instantly smiled when she realized who it was.

“Hmm…whoever could it be?” Rae replied with a chuckle as she turned her torso slightly to return the hug Rebecca was giving her.

“Are you on break or are you just coming in at noon?” Rebecca asked as she pulled out the chair Chop previous occupied and took a seat beside Rae.

“I start at noon, but I’m only working for a couple hours”

“Yay, we get off work at the same time! That’s perfect!” Rebecca exclaimed, nearly bouncing out of her chair with excitement.

“Uh, what’s perfect?” Rae asked as she quirked an eye brow up in confusion.

“I was just realizing how hungry I am and I don’t know if you have class immediately after work or not, but if you don’t…Will you do me the honor of being my lunch date today?”

“I’d love to!” Rae said with a smile.

“Splendid! I have to get back to work right now, but I’ll be waiting for you out here in the break room after work and we can go from here!”

Rae waved goodbye to Rebecca and continued scrolling through social media on her phone until it was close enough to noon that she could justify logging into her computer and getting to work.

Rae switched her cell phone to silent and walked into the main office area. After scanning her badge at the small machine on the wall, Rae began walking towards the closest open desk when she was very nearly knocked to the ground by someone who had hurriedly stood from their chair and began walking without watching where they were going.

“Oh shit, my bad, girl! Are you alright?” Finn asked as he placed a hand on each of Rae’s shoulders to steady her after he had inadvertently collided with her.

“Yeah, all good, Finn!” Rae replied with an embarrassed chuckle.

“Phew, that’s a relief…I saw you today when I was riding my bike through the middle of campus on my way to work!”

“I know. I saw you too,” Rae began with a small chuckle, “and said I ‘hi’…and then you said ‘hi’ and that you were running late and would talk to me later”

“Yeah, you didn’t seem to recognize me when I was first trying to catch your attention, so I was almost afraid that you weren’t really you or something!”

“Nope, it was me, I was just distracted and when you were riding you bike I didn’t recognize you until you got a bit closer,” Rae chuckled nervously as Finn dropped his hands—which she just realized had been resting on her shoulders during their entire conversation—and gave her a quick smile before side-stepping to walk past her.

Rae noticed that the desk beside Chop was empty, so she set her badge down on the desk and pulled out the chair to take a seat.

“Long time no see, baby girl!” Chop called, giving Rae a wink as she began logging into her computer and Finn returned to his desk on the opposite side of Chop.

“I know! I haven’t seen you in so long…how are you?” Rae replied catching on to the joke immediately.

“I’m good thanks…not much has changed in the last, oh, twenty minutes,” Chop replied with a laugh.

During this short exchange, Finn kept looking from Chop to Rae in confusion as he waited for them to explain what inside joke he was being left out of before finally Chop clarified.

“Our Raemundo here was sitting in the break room before her shift and so I sat with her during my break and we were chatting a bit,”

“Ah, I see.” Finn replied with a nod as he returned to work, only slightly averting his attention away from Chop and Rae’s conversation.

“Which reminds me! While I appreciate the offer, Chop,” Rae began after quickly glancing over at Chop as she continued checking her email, “I made plans for lunch as soon as I get off work and they can give me a ride back to campus when we’re done. So I won’t be needing a ride after work. Thank you for offering though, Chop. That was really considerate of you!”

“You, uh, you offered to give Rae a ride home from work today?” Finn asked unable to hide that he had been tuned into their conversation.

“Well not home, because she has a class after her shift, but yeah! It started to rain really hard during my break and she and I get off work at the same so I just figured…”

“Oh, no, that makes sense. That was nice of you Chop…The offer stands for me too, Girl. If you ever want me to give you a ride somewhere after work, just let me know!” Finn replied after quickly regaining his composure and shooting her a crooked grin.

“Uhm, a ride on your bicycle?” Rae asked, raising her eye brows and unsuccessfully containing a smile.

“No, of course not,” Finn mumbled as a blush spread across his cheeks, “I do have a car…I just didn’t want to drive my car and have to find parking if I only worked for a couple hours today…”

“No need to justify yourself to me, Finn. I was just having a little fun with you,” Rae replied with a smirk which only caused Finn to blush a deeper shade of red and seem more embarrassed as he nervously bit his lower lip, “I appreciate the offer nonetheless and I’ll be sure to keep it in mind, thanks!”

The clocks on the wall chimed, signaling that it was officially noon, and Finn stood from his desk chair and began walking toward the exit, turning back to give Chop a nod and Rae a wave and small smile before walking out of the building.

@eveerez @tinakegg @hey1tskat1e @bitchesbecrazy89 @kneekeyta @milllott @protectfinnnelson @arathewallflower @jackiewalsh2013 @pink-royaute @i-dream-of-emus @lurkernolonger @bitchy-broken @nutinanutshell @mallyallyandra @borntosik

A/N: Hello, my darlings! Okay, forreal though: what did you all think of how savagely Rae *accidentally* friend-zoned Eric the Barista by venting about all her boy troubles? (This was certainly not my proudest moment, I must admit...) 😅😬😅 Do you still think Eric poses any threat to Finn's chances with Rae after reading this chapter? 🤔 I know some of you were probably worried about that possibility after I introduced him into the story in Chapter 12...

The end is nigh (just kidding...sort of...) and there's only one more chapter to be posted this week, probably late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Big things are in the works and there's a lot of stuff happening both in this story line and in my real life, but yeah...this should be fun. 😅

I look forward to hearing what you all think of this chapter and the next one to come...14 chapters down, and 1 more to go (for now)...let's do this shit! 😁

#mmfd #my mad fat diary #mmfd fanfic #my mad fat diary fanfiction #Changing Priority #chapter 14

17 notes · View notes

theartinstitute · 7 years

Photo

What art book are you reading?

Here are some ideas for fiction and non-fiction. We love to hear what you are reading?

The get further enjoyment from these fabulous books, enrol in the Art Appreciation Course. Find out more: www.theartinstitute.co.uk/landing

The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World by Anthony M. Amore

Art scams are today so numerous that the specter of a lawsuit arising from a mistaken attribution has scared a number of experts away from the business of authentication and forgery, and with good reason. Art scams are increasingly convincing and involve incredible sums of money. The cons perpetrated by unscrupulous art dealers and their accomplices are proportionately elaborate.

Anthony M. Amore's The Art of the Con tells the stories of some of history's most notorious yet untold cons. They involve stolen art hidden for decades; elaborate ruses that involve the Nazis and allegedly plundered art; the theft of a conceptual prototype from a well-known artist by his assistant to be used later to create copies; the use of online and television auction sites to scam buyers out of millions; and other confidence scams incredible not only for their boldness but more so because they actually worked. Using interviews and newly released court documents, The Art of the Con will also take the reader into the investigations that led to the capture of the con men, who oftentimes return back to the world of crime. For some, it's an irresistible urge because their innocent dupes all share something in common: they want to believe.

The Muse: A Novel Hardcover – July 26, 2016 by Jessie Burton

The story of two young women, a Caribbean immigrant in 1960s London, a bohemian woman in 1930s Spain and the powerful mystery that ties them together.

England, 1967: Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London. When she starts working at the prestigious Skelton Institute of Art, she discovers a painting rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles, a young artist of immense talent and vision whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. The excitement over the painting is matched by the intrigue around the conflicting stories of its discovery. Drawn into a complex web of secrets and deceptions, Odelle does not know what to believe or who she can trust, including her mesmerizing colleague, Marjorie Quick.

Spain, 1936. Olive Schloss, the daughter of a Viennese Jewish art dealer and an English heiress, follows her parents to Arazuelo, a poor, restless village on the southern coast. She grows close to Teresa, a young housekeeper, and Teresa’s half-brother, Isaac Robles, an idealistic and ambitious painter newly returned from the Barcelona salons. A dilettante buoyed by the revolutionary fervor that will soon erupt into civil war, Isaac dreams of being a painter as famous as his countryman Picasso.

Raised in poverty, these illegitimate children of the local landowner revel in exploiting the wealthy Anglo-Austrians. Insinuating themselves into the Schloss family’s lives, Teresa and Isaac help Olive conceal her artistic talents with devastating consequences that will echo into the decades to come.

The Antiques Roadshow by Fiona Malcolm , Edited by David Battie , Foreword by Michael Aspel , Contributions by Paul Atterbury and Hilary Kay

An on-the-page celebration of Antiques Roadshow’s continuing success! The series remains one of the most popular on television, with its enduring appeal based on a winning combination of top-class antiques experts and enthusiastic collectors. Fiona Malcolm uncovers the show’s origins, lists all the locations visited over the years, introduces the current team with illustrated biographies, and meets some of the experts at home to view the best-loved pieces in their own collections. Then, she takes readers on a behind-the-scenes tour to see the show’s team of more than 60 people work to make each program happen. You’ll get to follow all the finely tuned planning and technical stages that lead up to filming, the action on the shooting day itself, and the process of editing the program for broadcast.

The heart of the book recalls over 50 of the most fascinating and valuable finds discovered on Roadshow—including a Ming vase, Faberge animals, and exceptional watercolor and oil paintings—with information on the piece and the story behind its discovery.

Art: The Whole Story by Richard Cork (Author), Stephen Farthing (Editor)

If you've ever found yourself transfixed by a Renaissance painting, fascinated by an Inca textile, or filled with wonder by an exquisite piece of Ming porcelain, this is the book for you. Venture inside its pages and discover exactly what the great artistic periods and movements of the world were all about. Written by an experienced international team of artists, art historians and curators, this absorbing and beautiful book gives you priceless insights into the worlds most iconic images. Organized chronologically, this book traces the evolution of artistic development period by period, with the illustrated, in-depth text covering every genre of art, from painting and sculpture to conceptual art and performance.

#online art appreciation #online art course #art books #love reading #love art #art novel #onlineart

1 note · View note

newyorktheater · 4 years

Text

Coriolanus starring Tom Hiddleston, see June 4

Carousel with Nathan Gunn Kelli O’Hara. See June 5

Jonny Orsini and Nathan Lane in The Nance, See June 12

Heroes of the Fourth Turning see June 13

Aenid Moloney in “Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom” see June 16 (Bloom’s Day of course)

Click here for June 1 openings

Below is the calendar of “theater openings”* for June, 2020, with many online shows, series and festivals showcasing LGBTQ Pride Month, and the entire list demonstrating the perseverance and resilience of an art form that is adjusting to the shut-down of physical stages.

Among the one-time only star-studded spectacles in June: We Are One Public at the Public Theater (see June 1), two different Tony Awards celebrations (see June 7, the date that the Tony Awards would have taken place) and the New York Times’ “Offstage: Opening Night” (see June 11.) This last show launches a series that will feature performances from shows that opened (or should have opened) in the 2019-2020 season.

Pride Plays festival director Nick Mayo with producers Michael Urie and Doug Nevin

Among the other exciting new online series in June: Lincoln Center’s Dance Week (which continues every day through June 4th) and its Broadway Fridays (Carousel on June 5th, The Nance on June 12, Act One on June 19), and Pride Plays, a partnership between Playbill and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, which will present “a live streamed theatrical event from the LGBTQIA+ theatrical canon” every Friday in June (including Mort Crowley’s sequel to The Boys in the Band. See June 26) — plus 11 new LGBT plays by emerging writers at dates yet to be announced.

Also take note of The Civilians’ ninth annual Findings series, which for the first time is going online. The five offerings in this year’s groundbreaking documentary theater series share “a common thread of how humanity perseveres and seeks out joy through adversity.”

Since so many shows are being put together at the last minute — sometimes not announced until the very day of their launch — I will be updating/filling in this preview guide every day, and highlighting the offerings each new day with the link up top. This calendar as of this moment offers a glimpse of what’s in store. Come back day by day for a better look.

Here are some ongoing series that have proven to be reliable sources of art and entertainment.

Four offer live performances (often called readings) of original plays: The Homebound Project Livelabs: One Acts from MCC Play-PerView Viral Monologues from 24 Hour Plays

(Play-PerView makes an exception to its original plays with what counts as a coup — the live reading of the Pulitzer finalist play Heroes of the Fourth Turning. see June 13)

A fifth offers live readings of classics and recent favorites: Plays in the House, Stars in the House’s twice weekly matinees and now Plays in the House Teen Edition.

Three offer recordings of previous (glorious) stage productions.

Metropolitan Opera National Theatre at Home The Shows Must Go On from Andrew Lloyd Webber

For details about these and other ongoing series, check out my post Where To Get Your Theater Fix Online (which lists, for example, the many long-running online sites such as BraadwayHD and Marquee TV that offer video-capture recordings of shows that were on stage)

All performances are free unless otherwise noted, although almost all hope for a donation (either to themselves or to a designated charity.)

*My definition of theater for the purposes of this calendar generally does not extend to variety shows, cast reunions, galas, panel discussions, documentaries, classes, interviews — all of which are in abundance this month, many worth checking out, but it would be too Herculean a task to list them all in a monthly calendar. My focus here is on creative storytelling in performance. (I make an occasional exception for a high-profile Netathon,involving many theater artists.)

June 1

We Are One Public The Public Theater Live beginning at 8 p.m. A 90-minute Netathon (my term for the starry online fundraising concerts of the pandemic era) featuring “cameo appearances” by Jane Fonda, Alicia Keys, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Meryl Streep, and “stories and songs” by Antonio Banderas, Laura Benanti, Kim Blanck, Ally Bonino, Danielle Brooks, Glenn Close, Jenn Colella, Elvis Costello, Claire Danes, Holly Gould, Danai Gurira, Anne Hathaway, Stephanie Hsu, Oscar Isaac, Nikki M. James, John Leguizamo, Audra McDonald, Grace McLean, Sandra Oh, Mia Pak, David Hyde Pierce, Phillipa Soo, Trudie Styler & Sting, Will Swenson, Shaina Taub, Kuhoo Verma, Ada Westfall, Kate Wetherhead.

The Revenger’s Tragedy Red Bull Theater Launches 7:30 p.m. Jesse Berger’s adaptation of Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean thriller, written a few years after Hamlet, is a searing examination of humankind’s social need for justice and our animal desire for vengeance. Vindice, the “Revenger,” sets off a chain reaction of havoc in a corrupt and decadent Venice.

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey 92nd Y Recording launches at 8 p.m, available through June 30 Donation to 92nd Street Y required A recording of the one-man show written and performed by James Lecesne, whose short film “Trevor” spawned The Trevor Project, a national suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQ youth. I liked this show when I saw it Off-Broadway in 2015. From my review: “A 14-year-old boy is reported missing, and eventually found dead. Chuck DeSantis, who worked the case as a tough-talking detective “in a half-ass town down the Jersey shore,” begins to tell us the story as if it’s a murder mystery, a film noir on stage (“The dark side is my beat.”) But “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey”…is not really a murder mystery. It is, above all, a showcase for the impressive theatrical talents of James Lecesne, who portrays the detective and eight other characters, male and female, young and old. He does this without props or a change of costumes — just precise, spot-on gestures; a shift in accent and manner of speech.”

Ten Stories: A Decameron The Builders Association https://www.buildersdecameron.com/

Throughout the month of May, The Buildings Association theater company presented five live half-hour episodes inspired by the Decameron, Boccaccio’s 14th-century plague-story. Starting today, all will be released for viewing

Burst Playground Zoomfest Launches 5 p.m. ET As part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the San Francisco Playground Festival of New Works (this year completely digital), this play by Rachel Bublitz focuses on Sarah Boyd, the head of one of the fastest growing tech companies in history, at a moment before everything bursts.

June 2

Coppélia Lincoln Center Part of Dance Week, the New York City Ballet presents the 19th century comic ballet of a mad inventor and the life-like doll he creates.

June 3

Pues Nada MCC Launches at 5:30 This latest play in the LiveLabs One Acts series is written by Aziza Barnes, and features Karen Pittman as St. Francis and Samira Wiley as Sunny

The Homebound Project #3 Launches at 7 p.m. Available through June 7 $10 donation to No Kid Hungry required (free to frontline and essential workers) This third edition of original plays fundraising for No Kid Hungry, on the theme of “champions,” features: Jennifer Carpenter and Thomas Sadoski in a work by John Guare, directed by Jerry Zaks; Ralph Brown in a work by Donnetta Lavinia Grays, directed by Jenna Worsham; Diane Lane in a work by Michael R. Jackson; Paola Lázaro in a work by Gina Femia, directed by Taylor Reynolds; Joshua Leonard in a work by Mara Nelson-Greenberg; Eve Lindley in a work by Daniel Talbott, directed by Kevin Laibson; Arian Moayed in a work by Xavier Galva; Ashley Park in a work by Bess Wohl, directed by Leigh Silverman; Will Pullen in a work by Samuel D. Hunter, directed by Jenna Worsham; Phillipa Soo in a work by Clare Barron, directed by Steven Pasquale; and Blair Underwood in a work by Korde Arrington Tuttle.

June 4

Coriolanus National Theatre Available through June 11 Tom Hiddleston (Betrayal, The Avengers, The Night Manager) plays the title role in Shakespeare’s searing tragedy of political manipulation and revenge.

AAADT_Revelations

Alvin Ailey Lincoln Center This last show in Dance Week is a 2015 broadcast featuring Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performing Chroma, Grace, Takademe, and its signature dance, Revelations

June 5

Carousel Lincoln Center Launches at 8 p.m. The first of Lincoln Center’s Broadway Fridays features a free digital stream of its concert production of this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical featuring the New York Philharmonic and starring Kelli O’Hara, Nathan Gunn, Stephanie Blythe, Shuler Hensley, Jason Danieley,Jessie Mueller, Kate Burton, Tony winner John Cullum, and New York City Ballet dancers Robert Fairchild and Tiler Peck.

Brave Smiles…Another Lesbian Tragedy Pride Plays Launches at 7 p.m. The Five Lesbian Brothers (Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey, and Lisa Kron) directed by Leigh Silverman.

Julius Caesar Irondale The second of four installments of a revised version of its 2016 show “1599” nspired by the book “A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599” by James Shapiro.

Candidate X The Civilians Launches at 3 p.m. Part of the Civilians “Findings” series, the show is “a dynamic cross between testimonial-based theatre and dance theatre,” celebrating “the risk-takers who challenge and defy the gendered expectations our country has of those who lead.”

The Nesting Instinct Playground Zoomfest Launches 5 p.m. E.T. Part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the San Francisco Playground Festival of New Works (this year completely digital): Two siblings in a house in a Florida flood zone, a pair of blue-footed boobies (those are birds) on a shrinking island are the characters in two of the intertwined stories in this play by Tom Bruett that explores parenthood, identity and the steadfast power of home in a world that is changing drastically.

June 6

The Rendering Cycle Playground Zoomfest Launches 5 p.m. ET As part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the San Francisco Playground Festival of New Works (this year completely digital), Genevieve Jessee’s ten interwoven short plays present a theatrical journey through 400 years of the African Diaspora. Directed by Margo Hall

June 7

Tony Awards Celebration Broadway on Demand and TonyAwards.com Launches 6 p.m. A Netathon for American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League, co-producers of The Tony Awards (which would have taken place tonight), the hour-long even will celebrate “the Broadway community, the Tony Awards®, and the global impact that Broadway has as a cultural touchstone around the world.”

Show of Shows: Broadway.com Salutes the Tonys Broadway.com Launches 7 p.m. Also a benefit for the Wing and the League, this one is produced by Paul Wontorek, who produced the 90th Sondheim celebration

June 9

Criminal Queerness Festival Dixon Place The first day of a festival that runs through June 29th, showcasing queer and trans artists from countries that criminalize or censor LGBTQ+ communities.

June 10

Black Feminist Video Game, African.Isch The Civilians Launches at 7 p.m. Part of the Civilians “Findings” series, the show presents a tapestry of theatrical narratives created from ethnographic interviews within the black community of Berlin, Germany.

June 11

Offstage: Opening Night Patti LuPone and Katrina Lenk and the cast of Company performing the show’s opening number; Tony winner Mary-Louise Parkerperforming a monologue from The Sound Inside; a chat with Slave Play scribe Jeremy O. Harris and a sing-along with Elizabeth Stanley from Jagged Little Pill. Times writers will also discuss some of their favorite moments from the truncated season. 7 p.m. Free, but need to register in advance

As You Like It Irondale The third of four installments of a revised version of its 2016 show “1599” nspired by the book “A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599” by James Shapiro.

June 12

The Nance Lincoln Center Launches at 8 p.m. A free digital stream of Lincoln Center Theater’s 2013 Broadway production of Douglas Carter Beane’s dark comedy starring Nathan Lane as a gay burlesque entertainer in the 1930s. ( My review)

One in two Pride Plays Donja R. Love’s portrait of what it means to be black and queer in America today.

June 13

Heroes of the Fourth Turning Play-Perview Launches at 8 p.m. Required $5 minimum donation A live one-time Zoom reading of this much-praised (and 2020 Pulitzer finalist) play by Will Arbery “It’s nearing midnight in Wyoming, where four young conservatives have gathered at a backyard after-party. They’ve returned home to toast their mentor Gina, newly inducted as president of a tiny Catholic college. But as their reunion spirals into spiritual chaos and clashing generational politics, it becomes less a celebration than a vicious fight to be understood.” My review when it was a Playwrights Horizons

In These Uncertain Times Source Material Launches 7:30 p.m. A digital performance piece that uses drinking competitions, sad Chekhov monologues, and corona-virus meme collages to contemplate the impossibility of theater as we’ve known it, and forge a new path in the art form, while grieving for the past.

Best of Playground 24 Playground Zoomfest the top 10-minute plays from the 2019-20 season of the Playground Festival.

June 15

This Show Is Money The Civilians Launches at 8 p.m. A musical about the 1 and 99 percent, exploring how our choices with this fictional creation called money affect people around us in ways we find difficult to see.

June 16

Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom Irish Rep The solo show excerpting the last chapter of “Ulysses” offered online on Bloom’s Day.

Looking for Leroy New Federal Theatre featuring AUDELCO Award winning actors Tyler Fauntleroy and Kim Sullivan, directed by Petronia Paley

June 18

Hamlet Irondale The third of four installments of a revised version of its 2016 show “1599” nspired by the book “A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599” by James Shapiro.

June 19

Act One Lincoln Center Broadway Fridays brings James Lapine stage adaptation of Moss Hart’s memoir for the stage, starring Tony Shalhoub, Andrea Martin and an especially winning Santino Fontana. My review from 2014

Masculinity Max Pride Plays A play by MJ Kaufman, directed by Will Davis

June 22

Against Women and Music The Civilians Launches at 3 p.m. Part of the Civilians’ Findings series, an anachronistic chamber musical that explores the notions of privilege, ambition and morality through the eyes of a female piano tuner in the 1800s. At that time, music was considered dangerous for women to play or even hear.

June 24

The Homebound Project #4

June 26

The Men from the Boys Pride Plays Mort Crowley’s sequel to The Boys in the Band, showing what happens to the characters

June 28

Pride Spectacular Concert Playbill

June 30

Two Can Play New Federal Theatere Written by Trevor Rhone featuring Ron Bobb-Semple and Joyce Sylvester, directed by Clinton Turner Davis.

June 2020 Online Theater Openings: Pride and Perseverance. What’s Streaming Day by Day Click here for June 1 openings Below is the calendar of “theater openings”* for June, 2020, with many online shows, series and festivals showcasing LGBTQ Pride Month, and the entire list demonstrating the perseverance and resilience of an art form that is adjusting to the shut-down of physical stages.

0 notes

ecmjoanne · 4 years

Text

What to do during virus lockdown

So we’re all in coronavirus lockdown, for an undefined period of time. What can we do, to keep from going crazy? What can we do, that soothes the nerves? What can we do to keep our minds occupied?

What can we do, to help us imagine the times that lie ahead, after we get out? What can we do about the devastated economy? What can we do to build the world we dream of?

Here are some ideas:

News sources:

Go on a news-diet. Quit checking the news. Just do it. Now. No matter what news source or social media platform is your go-to, quit checking it so often. It isn’t good for your mental health, your physical stress level, nor your outlook on how to build a new world in the aftermath. I use (free) app blockers on my phone and laptop that only allow me to see those sites for a scant few hours per day. That’s enough time to know what’s going on, what the latest advisories are, and you really don’t need more. Instead, get on with your real life …

Reading:

Permaculture titles such as: Gardening for the Future of the Earth, by Howard Yana-Shapiro; The Permaculture Home Garden, by Linda Woodrow.

Upbeat climate solutions such as: The Soil will Save Us, by Kristin Ohlson. Drawdown, edited by Paul Hawken.

Gardening books such as: Fresh Food from Small Spaces, By R J Ruppenthal. How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible, by John Jeavons. The Herbalist’s Garden, by Shatoiya de la Tour. Creating Sanctuary, by Jessi Bloom. The California Wildlife Habitat Garden, by Nancy Bauer.

Other Resilience-building books: Join me in reading Rob Hopkins’ From What Is to What If. the Toolbox for Sustainable City Living by Scott Kellogg and Stacy Pettigrew has plenty of ideas for low-impact and no-cost ways of meeting basic needs. The LATimes suggests we read about hygge. You can also work your way through the titles on the old Resilience Library that ECM used to maintain (while the physical library is now distributed elsewhere, the list of great books still remains).

Note that although LA Public Library is closed, they have a huge collection of ebooks that is still available for checkout.

If you are going to buy: Buy ebooks direct from small publishers, or buy physical books from those independent booksellers who are still shipping books. It’s so important to support small business in these times!

Culture, Film, and Entertainment:

Take a Permaculture course (list of free online Permaculture courses)

Environmental films available online: Awakening the Dreamer from Pachamama Alliance. (more coming soon)

Virtual tours of major museums

Virtual concerts and shows: Berlin Philharmonic. Various concerts and Broadway shows (summary list in article)

Old movies, and some audiobooks, are available for free via Hoopla — log in with your LA Public Library card.

Gardening:

There is no better time to start gardening, particularly growing food and herbs that you will use. Nurseries are considered “essential businesses,” so many are open during the lockdown. Nearly all the wonderful tiny seed companies that produce the good stuff (signers of the Safe Seed Pledge) are still open and shipping.

If you are living in an apartment or condo, see all the ideas in Fresh Food from Small Spaces, by R J Ruppenthal and The Edible Container Garden by Michael Guerra. Plus, I will soon make excerpts of my book When You Don’t Have Any Land available online.

Gardening gets you exercise and fresh air, and it feels productive. Correct that: it really is productive — at the end, you gain something you can eat. You have nurtured it, you have helped it grow. That sense of accomplishment is huge right now.

Gardened-goods can become “currency.” Many of the things I’ve been growing are useful for barter with people who can access things I can’t access right now.

Handcrafts and kitchen crafts:

Knitting, sewing, carpentry, physical projects that grow your resilience are a great thing to be doing right now. I’m knitting socks (we always need socks). And my husband is planning to build a Little Free Library out of scrap lumber he has around. If you need to buy supplies, for small mail-able items seek independent producers and small businesses online.

Fermentation: Live fermented foods are a probiotic and prebiotic, which builds the immune system. I’m working with sauerkraut recipes from Sandor Katz (we hosted him at ECM years back) — many recipes from his books have been copied all over the internet. I’m also going to try making a fruit “shrub,” which is an old fashioned way of preserving fruit in vinegar

Herbal tinctures: During the grocery frenzy, when some goods could not be found to purchase, I put up some nettles tincture. Now is a great time to learn this easy skill.

Exercise:

Get outdoors. This is a great time to explore natural spaces around us, walk on the beach, or simply walk in your neighborhood — all while keeping our 6foot spacing. You may actually see other humans you can exchange smiles with!

Bicycling. Go for a bike ride. The streets of LA are dreamland-empty right now, so it is a perfect time to do it! The bike itself helps preserve your 6foot spacing.

Yoga: LiveYogaWellness, located in Westchester next to the Community Garden at Holy Nativity, is offering most of their regular schedule online, including their super-low-cost community classes. Many other yoga studios are offering online content, plus there is plenty on YouTube

Many martial arts studios are putting classes online.

Suggestions from other change-makers:

Jeri is “going through belongings to ‘lighten up’…Spring cleaning sort of thing.” She also says “walking the neighborhood daily is a great respite from the indoors.”

Elizabeth is sewing face masks to donate to the medical profession. With supplies shortages, they’re greatly needed. Here are instructions. Here’s the pattern. Here are the fabric recommendations — cotton tshirts or pillowcases are recommended. Where to donate them? Phone non-emergency numbers at local hospitals, nursing homes, local police, fire, and ambulance companies. If they can’t take them, they probably know who needs them.

Linda recommends Insight Timer app (free on iphone and android) which has 24,000 meditations, many of them free.

Julian suggests organizing your recipes electronically using RecipeSage, a free recipe-storage app he created.

Hannah is participating in martial arts classes online.

I will continue to update this list as I discover more, so check back often. If you want to add your positive suggestions to the list, contact me. And, share this! Tell your friends to check https://ift.tt/3beSSc3

from What to do during virus lockdown

#Economic Resilience #Teaching powerdown #Well-being #climate action #Coronavirus #permaculture

0 notes

instantdeerlover · 4 years

Text

Don’t Miss Center Stage at the International Restaurant Show added to Google Docs

Don’t Miss Center Stage at the International Restaurant Show

Influential names in the restaurant industry will take Center Stage at next month’s International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York and Healthy Food Expo. A wide range of chefs and culinary professionals, including Alex Guarnaschelli, Executive Chef, Butter Restaurant; Max Cavaleri, Executive Chef, New York Times; and Marc Forgione, chef and owner, Restaurant Marc Forgione and co-owner/partner of Khe-Yo are among some of the talent that will present demonstrations. Mareya Ibrahim, an award-winning entrepreneur, chef and author will emcee the action-packed Center Stage during the three-day, co-located events taking place March 8-10, 2020 at the Javits Center in New York City.

“One of the most dynamic featured areas at the International Restaurant Show is Center Stage, offering three days of culinary demonstrations by celebrity chefs, insightful panel discussions and culinary and beverage competitions,” said Tom Loughran, Vice President for the Clarion Events Food & Beverage Portfolio. “We have put together a stellar line up of chefs as well as industry leaders and invite all attendees to make plans to visit the Center Stage during the Show to watch fantastic demonstrations and taste delicious food and drinks.” The full Center Stage schedule is available on the Show website.”

Sunday, March 8

* Chef Chris Jaeckle Culinary Demonstration – Jaeckle is Executive Chef of All’onda and President/Executive Chef of Kitchen Connect Consulting. He has worked at such renowned New York Restaurants as Tabla, Eleven Madison Park and others through Union Square Hospitality Group and Altamarea Group. (11 am – 12 pm)

* Presentation of the Torch Award to Jeffrey LaPadula, Co-General Manager; April Tam Smith, Co-Founder; and Timothy Carberry, Co-General Manager of P.S. Kitchen. The team is committed to donating 100% of profits to sustainable charitable work locally and overseas, creating jobs for those marginalized, and providing New Yorkers with delicious food options that are kind to the body and the earth. (12:00 pm – 1:00 pm)

* Chef Alex Guarnaschelli Culinary Demonstration – Guarnaschelli is recognized as one of America’s most accomplished top chefs, acclaimed for her work in the kitchen, as an author, and as a popular television personality. Guarnaschelli was recently named the Head of Twitter’s Food Council, a group of leading culinary figures who regularly join the Twitter conversation on all thing’s food and food culture. (1:00 pm – 2:30 pm)

* Hip Sip: Battle of the Modern Bartender Competition – Cocktails & Coffee, sponsored by Professional Bartenders Association and Bar Business Magazine will feature seven bartenders who will compete to win $1,000 for the most creative and inventive mix of cocktail and coffee. Judges include:

o Tom Fischer, BourbonBlog.com

o Mia Mastrioianni, Celebrity Mixologist, Consultant as seen on Bar Rescue

o Phil Wills, Owner/Partner, The Spirits in Motion, Consultant as seen on Bar Rescue

Monday, March 9

* Chef Mareya Ibrahim Culinary Demonstration, an award-winning entrepreneur, chef, and author of the new book, “Eat Like You Give a Fork: The Real Dish on Eating to Thrive” and host of the “Recipes for Your Best Life” Podcast. She is also the co-inventor of the patented Eatcleaner line of products. (10:30 am – 11:30 am)

* Chef Max Cavaleri & Thomas McQuillan Culinary Demonstration – Max Cavaleri, Executive Chef, New York Times and Thomas McQuillan, Vice President, Strategy, Culture and Sustainability at Baldor Specialty Foods will present a live cooking demonstration and discussion entitled The Food Asset Potential. Chef Cavaleri will demonstrate how to prepare a delicious dish using food products that might otherwise be wasted while Thomas McQuillan takes us on a zero food waste journey. Walk away with sustainable ideas and education that you can implement into your organization immediately (11:30 am – 12:30 pm)

* Foodservice Council for Women Panel followed by the presentation of the Beacon Award (12:30 pm – 2:00 pm)

o Moderator: Kathleen Wood, Founder, Kathleen Wood Partners

o Allison Kave, Baker, Bartender, Co-Founder, Butter & Scotch (2020 Beacon Award Recipient)

o Keavy Landreth, Co-Owner, Butter & Scotch (2020 Beach Award Recipient)

o Maiko Kyogoku, Owner, Bessou

o Barbara Sibley, Restaurateur, Co-director and Founder, San Miguel Poetry Week, Author, Owner, La Palapa Cocina

* Chef Marc Forgione Culinary Demonstration – Forgione is the chef/owner of Restaurant Marc Forgione and the co-owner/partner of Khe-Yo. Marc founded the steakhouse American Cut, he opened with LDV Hospitality in New York City and Atlanta and as well as a Laotian restaurant, Khe-Yo with Executive Chef Soulayphet Schwader. Khe-Yo features cuisine from Laos, where Chef Schwader was born, and uses both local and authentic ingredients. (2:00 pm – 3:30 pm)

* Rapid Fire Challenge: Dessert Edition sponsored and moderated by Total Foodservice and co-sponsored by Boldric will feature finalists Brian Yurko, Executive Pastry Chef, Queensyard; Richard Leonardo, Chef De Patrie, Daniel Restaurant, and Heidi Liv Tompkins, Product Development Manager, Heidi’s Health Kitchen who will present their most delicious and creative desserts for a chance to win $1,000. (3:30 pm – 5:00 pm). Judges include:

o Gennaro Pecchia, Partner, @aosbysosa/co-host @rolandsfoodcourt @siriusxm

o Jansen Chan, Director of Pastry Operations, International Culinary Center

o Dara Bliss Davenport, Corporate Chef, Special Events Director, Private Dining/Catering Manager Loi Estiatorio

o Moderator: Fred Klashman, Co-Publisher, Total Food Service

Tuesday, March 10

* Jackie Topol MS, RD, integrative dietitian and culinary nutritionist will discuss Plant-Based Diets For Optimal Blood Sugar Control. Join Jackie foran enlightening discussion and culinary demo on the most important changes to make to manage blood sugar and reverse prediabetes using a plant-forward diet. (11:00 am – 12:00 pm)

* The Coaches “Hot Seat” – Join David Scott Peters, Restaurant Coach & Expert of David Scott Peters Restaurant Prosperity Formula and Darren Denington, Founder & President of Service with Style and learn about hidden operational flaws that are choking your profits. (12:00 pm – 1:00 pm)

* Chef Jonathan Scinto Culinary Demonstration – Chef Jonathan is Bold Flavors, Spiked Hair and yes, “Cheftainment”! Influenced by Emeril Lagasse, Gordon Ramsay and Julia Child, Chef Jonathan Scinto is pure Fire, that lights up the TV. His image is best described as Uncle Jessie from Full House meets Goodfella’s, with a touch of class. Don’t miss get’n saucy with Scinto as he demonstrates his techniques to a quick Sunday sauce! (1:00 pm – 2:00 pm)

The 2020 International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of New York will be held Sunday, March 8 – Tuesday, March 10 at the Javits Center in New York. The tradeshow and conference will provide thousands of industry professionals with access to the hottest menu trends, state of the art design and decor, a renowned education program, special events, as well as, hundreds of leading vendors and purveyors dedicated to serving the restaurant & foodservice community. For more information, visit www.internationalrestaurantny.com.

The International Restaurant & Foodservice Show is produced and managed by Clarion Events, and sponsored by the New York State Restaurant Association. The event will be co-located with Coffee Fest and the Healthy Food Expo New York and all attendees have access to all three events. Clarion Events produces 37 events across 13 sectors of both trade and consumer events. Clarion Events, which is the U.S. division of Clarion Events, UK, and backed by The Blackstone Group has become one of the fastest growing event companies in the U.S. with aggressive growth through both acquisition and launch. Clarion acquired PennWell in early 2018, bringing 4 Tradeshow 200 events into the U.S. portfolio and super-charging the already rapid growth. Clarion Events has offices in Trumbull, CT; Kennesaw, GA; Boca Raton, FL; Tulsa, OK; Tacoma, WA, and Fairlawn, NJ.

The post Don’t Miss Center Stage at the International Restaurant Show appeared first on Food & Beverage Magazine.

Don’t Miss Center Stage at the International Restaurant Show was first posted on February 27, 2020 at 6:55 am.

©2019 " Food & Beverage Magazine". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at [email protected]

via Food & Beverage Magazine https://www.fb101.com/2020/02/dont-miss-center-stage-at-the-international-restaurant-show/ Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://trello.com/userhuongsen

Created February 27, 2020 at 10:06PM /huong sen View Google Doc Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xa6sRugRZk4MDSyctcqusGYBv1lXYkrF

0 notes

kennethherrerablog · 5 years

Text

Quench Your Wanderlust (And Save Some Money) by Teaching English Abroad

Maybe youâre stuck in traffic on the commute home from a job you donât like. Or maybe youâre a fresh-out-of-college grad who is hesitant to jump into the corporate world.

Whatever your situation, youâve probably said this at some point: Somethingâs got to change.

Blowing your savings on an international trip isnât the smartest move. Taking a gap year doesnât sound like a good fit, either. But you know you want to see the world.

If you are a native English speaker, thereâs a really practical solution to this dilemma: teaching English abroad. You wonât have to forego a full year of job experience or drain your bank account to do it. In fact, youâll boost your resume and very likely save hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars while traveling.

I personally saved up to a thousand dollars a month teaching in South Korea, and my case isnât unique, either. Jessie Smith, an expert in teaching English abroad for the International TEFL Academy (ITA), saved a similar amount each month when she taught overseas.

It all depends on what your goals are, Raneem Taleb-Agha said. She taught English in Spain shortly after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, and said the experience jump-started her career in writing and editing.

âThis is your chance to go and see the world and experience life in another country,â she said.

How to Teach English Abroad

If you were born in an English-speaking country, consider yourself lucky. English is the worldâs business language, and many countries are scrambling to learn it. That means jobs teaching English are in high demand.

There are a plethora of teaching programs, countries, certifications and jobs to choose from. Below are some of the biggest considerations and steps you can take before booking those plane tickets.

Standard Requirements to Teach English Overseas

When you think of teaching, you might think it requires a bachelorâs or even a masterâs degree in the field. Thatâs because degrees are needed for typical grade school teaching jobs inside the U.S. But because the demand is so high for English teachers abroad, a degree isnât always needed.

Of course, the requirements vary for each individual job listing, but itâs fairly easy for most U.S. citizens to get into the industry.

To meet basic requirements for international teaching jobs, you must:

Be a native English speaker.

Be at least 18 years old.

Have a high school diploma.

If you prefer to teach in Western Europe, chances are you will need a bachelorâs degree. (Two notable exceptions are Spain and Italy.)

âIf you donât have a four-year degree,â Taleb-Agha said, âI would recommend looking particularly at Southeast Asia or Latin America.â

Even though several countries donât require a related degree or previous teaching experience, itâs very important to make sure you have the necessary teaching skills for the job.

âBe someone who is going to put in the work, time and effort to give the children a good experience,â Taleb-Agha said. âAt the end of the day, their education is most important.â

Thatâs where certifications come in. And there are a ton of them.

Find the Right TEFL Certification Program

When searching for English teaching programs, you will come across a lot of acronyms, namely TEFL and TESOL. TEFL stands for âTeaching English as a Foreign Language.â TESOL means âTeaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.â

The terms are often interchangeable, but youâre more likely to see TEFL associated with certifications.This certification is all about practical English-teaching and classroom-management skills.

You can find certification programs, completed mostly online, at universities or through providers like ITA, who offer certification courses and job assistance in the destination country.

The University of Cambridgeâs English teaching certification is referred to as the CELTA, short for Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults.

Though it costs more than most TEFL certifications, the CELTA is widely recognized internationally.

âCELTA is the global gold standard,â said Peter Novak, country manager for the U.S. and Canada at Cambridge Assessment English, a nonprofit English-language certification department at the University of Cambridge. âYou can hop into any language school and start teaching the next day â and start teaching confidently.â

Not all situations require a certificate from the University of Cambridge, but it certainly wonât hurt. In many cases, it will boost your salary. At the very least, make sure the TEFL program includes a practicum component where you are in a classroom teaching real students.

Both Novak and Smith noted that there are a lot of less-than-reputable, bargain-bin programs, which arenât accredited.

According to Smith, legitimate TEFL certifications should consist of:

100 hours of coursework.

In-person teaching practicum with a non-English speaker, up to 20 hours.

Curriculum accredited by Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training, College of Teachers or Training Qualifications UK, or through a university.

Courses taught by a credentialed professor or instructor of TESOL.

Smith said to be wary of Groupo TEFL certifications taught by âTEFL coachesâ instead of professors. Any too-good-to-be-true pricing is also a red flag.

âA true university-level TEFL class could not possibly run under $1,000â or so, Smith said. Sometimes, âyouâll see the words âself-accredited,â which â needless to say â means just about nothing.â

Choose the Country Thatâs Best for You

Ask yourself what type of experience you want.

Do you want to save a lot of money? Break even financially? Travel to a particular region? Learn a certain language?

âItâs important to keep an open mind,â Taleb-Agha said. âConsider destinations that you never thought you were interested in. Go somewhere even if you donât speak the language.â

Itâs also important to consider the requirements of most jobs in the country. Your qualifications are important to determine which country to teach in.

Smith broke it down into a few categories:

For experienced teachers or masterâs degree holders, try the United Arab Emirates. She said the pay is high and they really âroll out the red carpet for teachers.â

Fresh out of college? Taiwan, Vietnam or South Korea are great Asian options. Germany and the Czech Republic are top European destinations as well.

For less experienced teachers, there are plenty of options in Latin America and a couple in Western Europe, like Spain and Italy.

Novak said it may be a little harder to break into the English teaching industry in Northern European countries.

âEnglish is so highly integrated in their societies,â he said, noting that they still require English teachers, just at a very advanced level.

And as with all international travel, make sure to check out the U.S. State Departmentâs travel advisory scale. Countries are rated on a scale of one to four â the higher the worse. A four rating simply reads, âDo not travel.â Pretty self-explanatory there.

Start Your Job Hunt

Youâve done your research and picked a country. You maybe even got a TEFL or CELTA certification. Now you have to find a job.

Some TEFL providers like ITA and Teach Adventures Asia help or even guarantee you employment after youâve completed the program. Some countries have government-run English teaching programs, like Japanâs JET program or South Koreaâs EPIK program, that place you in a public school.

But most of the time, the job hunt is up to you. Forums, Facebook groups, blogs and travel websites are all fairly good ways to find work overseas.

Taleb-Agha found her teaching job in Spain on her own.

âUsing Google, I found a lot of helpful blogs,â she said.

If youâre doing the research yourself, she recommends using Young Adventuress and Go Overseas, which offers program and job reviews. She also writes several helpful articles on teaching abroad for Go Overseas as a topic expert.

And once youâve found a school, make sure to vet it properly. After all, youâre about to move across the globe to work there.

âRequest to speak to another teacher on staff,â Smith advises. âThat is standard operating procedure.â

If they say no, thatâs your cue to keep hunting.

Adam Hardy is an editorial assistant on the Jobs Team at The Penny Hoarder. He previously worked in international education at the University of South Florida and taught English in South Korea to grade-schoolers and North Korean refugees. Read his full bio here, or say hi on Twitter @hardyjournalism.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

Quench Your Wanderlust (And Save Some Money) by Teaching English Abroad published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/

0 notes

stellacarrierscriptstories · 7 years

Text

Stella Carrier Script Stories Law of Attraction Edition Script Two Monday June 26, 2017

Due to Spiritual and Karmic Reasons I am going to follow both my intuition and logic and keep all entries from the Stella Carrier Script Stories Law of Attraction Edition away from my facebook, twitter, and linkedin accounts. However, what I do feel comfortable saying is that these entries are going to be on my googleplus, tumblr, and wordpress. Affirmations

I Call Upon What I Imagine To Be The Influence of Benevolent Spirits From the Heavenly Realms, my higher self, and my celestial spirit ally team for creativity in both my writings and all other areas of my life both present and future

https://www.orindaben.com/pages/rooms/affirmations_room/#null

I honor my connection to my guide with my words and actions.

I remember my dreams. They show me answers and solutions.

Divine Will flows through me. I know when to take action and when to surrender.

I believe in myself and my path.

I believe I can grow instantly, and I do.

My psychic abilities and intuition expand each day.

I am creating heaven on earth

I’m aware of when to create opportunities for myself and that when one door closes many more doors open.

I contribute to the best of my ability regardless of the reception I receive for doing so.

Start time 157 pm

End time 235pm

I Stella Carrier look through my Directing My Destiny book by Jennifer Grace. The time period is now December 2018 and I am finally at my weight loss goal of weighing 120 pounds. Fortunately, I have accomplished much of what I wrote on page 152 regarding my six intentions. Two of the intentions that I set out to do (returning to 120 pounds or less by May 1, 2018 or sooner and saving up at least 1800 dollars or more by December 12, 2017 happened in the timeframe that I set out to do them). I was actually able to achieve the weight loss goal of 120 pounds or less by February 1, 2018 and my 1800 dollars savings goals by December 1, 2017. Fortunately, I succeeded in some business opportunities that helped me to attract over 500 dollars in taxes in within a ten day span after I had a dream the July 4th weekend 2017 that gave me a money idea to act on which helped to generate great prosperity for my husband and I.

This fortunately came about shortly after I concentrated on an image of the Hay Adams Hotel in Washington D.C. that I had seen online. For whatever reason, focusing on certain images help in my own creativity and prosperity. Within 3 months of this success, my husband Rusty and I finally got the chance to vacation in different parts of Virginia. By October 2018, I am driving around in a paid for car inside of what looks to be a good part of College Park Maryland and seeing other places while driving around in my paid for mazda 3 car with my husband Rusty such as the Norfolk Naval Base in Norfolk Virginia. Also in November 2018, for my birthday during this time I have the privilege of being able to look at homes in both Virginia Beach Virginia. I ultimately decide on a nice place in Norfolk Virginia because it is close enough to the Norfolk Naval base in Norfolk Virginia and a close enough drive to Old Dominion University and MacArthur Center Mall. I am amazed by the number of friends that I have made in the short time that I have been here. I am blessed to have a vast number of over 18 friends who either work in the military (U.S. Navy, Airforce), for the federal government, the private sector, and some from even the colleges in the area (Tidewater, Old Dominion etc.). Some of my friends have even relocated from the Washington D.C. area as I have and came from different parts.

I get settled into my new paid for home in the Norfolk Virginia area and look into my closet of size 2 clothes. As I look at my bank account and see over 15,000 dollars after taxes in both my Bank of America and Sun Trust accounts I am so elated to be flush with an abundance of money. I easily call my federal student loan providers and Sallie Mae shame free as I now fortunately have both year round employment and the money to at least make the minimum student loan payments to them. Even the online classes I am now taking are helping my creativity and abundance consciousness. For instance just 3 weeks ago (November 2018), I successfully made the connection between an online event course I was enrolled in during the summer of 2018 and an online public relations course that I was enrolled in by January 2018. I was somehow able to connect these two classes with a udemy course that I blogged about online by July 2017 and turn these ideas into a published story that I published by December 2017. By December 23, 2017 I received good news that this story netted me over 8800 dollars after taxes. Yesterday, I received an additional 3800 dollars after taxes because of this book that I wrote gaining in popularity both online and offline (I was approached last week about turning the book into a published book and an idea for a television series). With the exception of my amazing husband Rusty, very few people know about how popular this Amazon kindlebook has become as I wrote under a pen name that is completely different from the name of Stella Carrier. However, it feels great to know that by December 2018, I accomplish returning to a body weight of 120 pounds, I now have over 25,000 dollars saved in my checking account in addition to the 1500 dollars a month after taxes that I bring in for my writing and other business ideas and the 3000 dollars a month after taxes that I bring in from my job. This is important as this increased abundance allows me to visit my husband Rusty at least weekly in the Washington D.C. area (fortunately, the majority of my coworkers on the job and shift I work are married to being able to have the same two days off each week back to back and being able to have the rest of the Friday to myself after 230 pm is a gift that I am able to fully appreciate guiltfree. I easily have the money to fly from the Norfolk Virginia airport to the Regan National Airport in Washington D.C. each week. It also feels great to have my own paid for mazda 3 car, a completely paid for home in Norfolk Virginia that my husband and I can call our home, and a healthy and fit 120 pound body that makes shopping at the Macarthur Center mall in Norfolk Virginia and online pretty fun. I also feel blessed to say that my money investments are helping me to yield at least 18,000 dollars or more every 6 months after taxes and I am able to buy ingredients from various grocery stores of my choice to get items such as parmesan zucchini chips and wedge salad burgers easily with plenty of money left afterwards. Most of all, I feel blessed to now have over 38,000 dollars saved in both my Bank of America and Sun trust accounts.

Songs for me to keep in mind today; Meet Virginia by Train, Ghost by Ella Henderson, Glow by Ella Henderson, Domino by Jessie J, Dangerous feat. Joywave by Big Data (the advertising and gruesome themed music video to this song definitely gives the song a completely different meaning but it is good to watch if you like good indie rock music andor are interested in public relations/advertising/marketing trends), Fancy by Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX,The Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga, Crazy In Love by Beyonce feat. JayZ, Evacuate the Dancefloor by Cascada, Timber by Pitbull and Kesha,

I Stella Carrier follow my intuition regardless of any judgement I risk to follow my bliss and intuition to include some of my goals and dreams in my law of attraction scripts

Setting the Washington D.C. area and Norfolk Virginia area

My intuition is unlimited and expanding each day.

My creativity is expanding each day

I allow myself to try new ways of doing regardless of what others think

I transform uncertainty into greater fuel and plans for my fitness goals, my online education goals, and my goals for both the present and future regardless of how I may be judged for doing so.

My ability to connect to the celestial forces of the heavenly realms are increasing daily. I use the blessing of this connection for greater creativity and wisdom in all areas of my life both present and future

Vogue by Madonna

A Sky Full of Stars Coldplay

I allow myself to pursue creative and artistic endeavors in all areas of my life today for both present and future. This helps me to channel all challenges of my life into art.

It is possible to both manifest more money and live life on my own terms.

What I am going through is developing my mental strength and teaching me that I do deserve greater financial and other forms of prosperity in all areas of my life both present and future.

I give spiritual thanks for the blessing of my superb physical health.

I discover that the power of my imagination increases/develops when I act out what seems like a fantasy dream sequence that proves to actually be realistic. My power grows upon realizing that the power of my beliefs and self-confidence as well as intuition help my creations.

I move up the chain of command in all areas of my life today with little concern as to whether my actions reveal my intentions in my pursuit of advancement both present and future.

I proceed wisely flying underneath the radar with little concern as to whether others are underestimating my skill at taking advantage of a situation.

I perform my job duties as professionally as possible regardless of how long it takes for my golden opportunities to increase/manifest.

I maximize what is the secret of success by being ready to take a calculated risk at the right time in all areas of my life both present and future. I allow myself to feel courageous and proud when it comes to wisely and intuitively knowing what to publicly admit in all areas of my life both present and future.

I am a warrior and mystically blessed with the ability to manifest my dreams.

I share what is on my mind but do it in the most diplomatic way possible especially when it comes to my gift of intuitively emphasizing with others. I keep in mind that diplomacy as well as engaging both my intuition and logic transforms an iron door into multiple doors to a more golden and blessed reality both for myself and others who surround me in all areas of my life-personally, professionally, spiritually etc.

I trust that my celestial muses and the blessing of my best andor unique ideas are going to come to me through my imagination as well as other benevolent channels. I take into account my passions, channel them into greater creativity and imagination development when it come to pursuing various plans and goals in all areas of my life with balanced concern as to whether they are realistic or fantasy.

I wisely put a moderation on the number of commitments I pursue in order to ensure a greater chance of success (keeping in mind my fitness and udemy course andor other online class commitments year round, planning volunteer activities a max of 3 days out of the week, going to church, and my job search goals applying for college admission for a 2nd bachelors degree program in public relations market andor advertising by october 1, 2017 or sooner)). Smart focused work (what others consider hard work) and consistent effort make a wide difference especially when it comes to my walking fitness goals.

I am wisely and intuitively learning what pieces of information to filter out via discernment and which pieces of information to keep in mind in all areas of my life both present and future.

I pay attention to what I feel beneath the surface. I understand that I have much at stake but I wisely channel these feelings into artistic endeavors and my walking fitness goals. My instincts serve me very well in all areas of my life both present and future.

I creatively experiment with different methods in various areas of my life having faith and increased belief that this is helping me to forge a deeper connection to my higher self as well as grow my imagination and increase my intuition even when other people may question if I stick to what I know best andor if I am reaching beyond my capacity.

Songs for me to keep in mind; Shook Me all night long by AcDC

Take it off billboard remix by Kesha

Lightning by the wanted

You and Me by Lifehouse

My House by Flo Rida

Magic by Robin Thicke

Swalla by Jason Derulo and Nicki Minaj

Some other songs for me to keep in mind; Simply Irresistible by Robert Palmer, Wild Thoughts by DJ Khaled feat. Rihanna and Bryson Tiller, Sunny Days by Armin Van Buuren feat. Josh Cumbee, Raindrops (Encore Une Fois) by Sash! Feat. Stunt

I fortunately now have a digital online subscription with the Los Angeles Times so naturally there are an abundance of articles to choose and look from. Yes, Yahoo is ok and Msn even better. However, I am the type of person who wants more open-minded options to choose from as well. Even with my intent for having my eyes set on living long term in an East Coast area for my husband and I,this article from Los Angeles Times happens to catch my attention because it pertains to affordable housing, an important issue even in the Washington D.C. area. Obviously from my point of view, affordable housing is important even on the East Coast of the U.S. where I reside. Even with the shocking title, I understand that it is important to be happy for other people who are wealthy as they got their through their own efforts and abundance consciousness so that is not a point that I am going to elaborate on. Rather the point I am making is the public dialogue around affordable housing needs to be more frequent and grow for at least the probability of discussing how affordable housing areas can increase and be more readily available across all parts of the United States as time goes by.

What housing crisis? Last-minute bill would let wealthy Marin County limit home building

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-marin-county-housing-cut-20170621-story.html

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Feist, Fleet Foxes, a talking wolf named Nick Offerman,

http://www.dinnerpartydownload.org/lookup/

My husband Rusty and I use to live in Norfolk Virginia from part of 2008 until part of 2009 (as I was stationed on the USS Eisenhower) so naturally this article on Naval Station Norfolk’s First 100 Years by Courtney Mabeus is going to catch my attention. I remember being on the Eisenhower and working alongside multiple civilian workers who had various jobs dealing with the Eisenhower (even during moments of various people hauling food stores onto the ship). During my time living in Norfolk Virginia, I remember the base being huge and the city itself expanding to accommodate a growing population. I am sure that this is still the case today ( of the city itself expanding and probably the Norfolk Naval Base as well). Yes, I also have a digital online subscription with the Virginian Pilot. I originally started to subscribe to them around March 2016 and renewed my online digital subscription with the Virginian Pilot less than 8 weeks ago.

Naval Station Norfolk's first 100 years: World's largest navy base anchored to community

· By Courtney Mabeus The Virginian-Pilot

· Jun 24, 2017

https://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/naval-station-norfolk-s-first-years-world-s-largest-navy/article_f0fbc138-f60f-5ec8-b138-a00928b18f0b.html

An Insider’s Guide to Far Southwest Virginia

https://blog.virginia.org/2017/06/insiders-guide-southwest-virginia/?utm_campaign=FB0617&utm_content=swvaguide

Six Sensational Destination Restaurants for the Whole Family

by Patrick Evans-Hylton | Posted: Jul 2, 2015 | Updated: Jun 22, 2017

https://blog.virginia.org/2015/07/family-dining/?utm_campaign=FB0617&utm_content=famdiningpt1

DOVE + RYAN JUST EXPOSED WHAT THEIR NEW SONG REALLY MEANS!

http://popmania.com/dove-cameron-and-ryan-mccartan-songs/

Public Relations Student Society of America

http://prssa.prsa.org/scholarships-and-awards/

The George Washington University Washington D.C.

Professional Certificate in Event Management - Online Courses

http://www.cvent.com/events/professional-certificate-in-event-management-online-courses/event-summary-6c447a7b1ea440fa82e7e5a4056d1b98.aspx?upid=10271261&ebid=13821283&ebslid=891505&eblid=157

http://www.odu.edu/academics/programs#program_type=.bachelors

Old Dominion University Norfolk Virginia online bachelor’s degree programs

Ragan's Business Writing Webinar

https://store.ragan.com/ProductDetails.asp?product=Y17TR03&listshow=Webinars&catid=FB9AE2D34AB9403EAEFAFD67FBA5530B&promo=130380153776&grfr=Yes

I was born a month early and actually had to be forced out of my biological mother’s body with forceps when I too was born with jaundice (as from what my late adoptive mother told me). I understand that it is laughable what I am about to say, but I truthfully did not stop to realize until I came across the TMZ story that this condition can affect babies from wealthier parents as well until I came across this story of Beyonce and JayZ’s twins.

BEYONCE, JAY-Z TWINS ARE HOME In Lavish Malibu Rental

http://www.tmz.com/2017/06/26/beyonce-jay-z-bring-twins-home-malibu-house/

EXCLUSIVE: Beyoncé's baby love nest: Set on a bluff overlooking the Pacific this is the lavish 10-bedroom, $400,000 a month Malibu hideaway where the megastar new mom of TWINS, hubby Jay Z and five-year-old Blue Ivy are bonding

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4630658/Beyonce-s-400-000-month-baby-love-nest-Malibu.html

How to Get the Most Out of Your Interior Designer

http://goop.com/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-interior-designer/?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=All+Dynamic+Links&utm_content=All+Dynamic+Links&utm_campaign=2017_06_26+-+tune-up+-+READERS&_bta_tid=04586622645476420826798031425473628627535472525692770195721299449829009620845898983723427879514998750985

Wedge Salad Burgers

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/wedge-salad-burgers-3362755

Zucchini Parmesan Crisps

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/zucchini-parmesan-crisps-recipe-1939866

9 Hotels with Incredible Views of July 4th Fireworks

From sea to shining sea, these luxury hotels offer front-row views of the nation’s best pyrotechnics.

By Amanda Millin

The Hay-Adams, Washington, D.C.

http://robbreport.com/travel/hotels/slideshow/9-hotels-july-4th-fireworks/the-hay-adams-washington-d-c-/

from the book Directing Your Destiny by Jennifer Grace

page 81

I have opened the floodgates of abundance and prosperity

I am a magnet for opportunity and success

The universe is always conspiring with me and often suprises me with blessings

I am surrounded by people who need what I have to offer.

My intuition leads me to create opportunity

Money flows to me effortlessly

I exude power, purpose, and prosperity everywhere I go

https://www.aldi.us/en/grocery-home/healthy-living/

Aldi’s Grocery Store link

For Wednesday November 1, 2017 Script 2

To Manifest by November 1 2017 to December 18 2017 andor sooner

I Stella Carrier feel blessed to have a loving, passionate, and close marriage with my sweet and handsome husband Rusty Ridler. Additionally, my sweet husband Rusty Ridler and I Stella Carrier are enjoying the essence of love and happiness in all areas of our lives together for both present and future. My Sweet husband Rusty Ridler is enjoying success beyond his wildest dreams at his University of Maryland College Park job for both present and future as many of his customers and coworkers love him. I Stella Carrier am fortunately also enjoying success, professional growth, and professional and spiritual evolution beyond my wildest dreams at my University of Maryland College Park food services job. Additionally, I Stella Carrier am fortunate/lucky and enjoy the blessing of contributing to my highest and greatest good for both myself and others who surround me in all areas of my life both present and future. I Stella Carrier joyfully exceed the professional expectations that my managers Rob Fahey, George Gomez, Cindy Bolden, and Kevin Williams expect of me both present and future. I Stella Carrier am happy to also report that my success and focused commitment to superb job performance and innovate customer service have more than satisfied both many of my customers, coworkers, and all managers who comes into contact with me for both present and future. I Stella Carrier become a woman of unlimited intuition power, unlimited imagination power, and unlimited genius powers in all areas of my life both present and future. I Stella Carrier also enjoy the blessing of creating heaven on earth and in my afterlife in all areas of my life both present and future. I Stella Carrier also enjoy the blessing of reaping happy results from 12 of the programs that I have selected for joyfully changing all areas of my life both present and future. I Stella Carrier succeed in saving over 1200 dollars after taxes for both my bank of America and Sun Trust checking accounts. I Stella Carrier also enjoy the blessing of connection to my heaven higher self and my heaven higher spirit ally team of the heaven worlds of divine love and divine happiness for both present and future. I Stella Carrier also enjoy the blessing of being gifted by the heaven worlds of divine love and divine happiness in collaboration with my heaven higher self and my heaven spirit ally team to become an even wiser writer/author daily who writes creative, magical, unique, and powerful inspired by the celestial/heaven energy of the heaven worlds of the most radiant/happiest spiritual/benevolent light.

How to be valuable at work

How to Make Yourself (More) Valuable to Your Boss by Art Petty

https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-make-yourself-more-valuable-to-your-boss-4027557

35 Habits That Make Employees Extremely Valuable

By Kevin Daum

From the website

10. They cross-train themselves and others.

A company with specified individualists is in constant danger of losing expertise or capability. Employees create value when they increase redundancy of process and talent.

https://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/35-habits-that-make-employees-extremely-valuable.html

The Secret to a Fulfilling Career Is Meaningful Work. Here's How to Find It by Michael Schneider

From the website

Don't let others' accomplishments determine your definition of a successful career.

Shell describes meaningful work as finding the intersection of three very important factors:

1. The work that others will reward you for doing

This could include promotions and a sense of status, increased compensation to live a carefree lifestyle, or the ability to hone your skills and build upon your experiences through additional opportunities.

1. Personal growth and development -- Work that challenges you to step outside your comfort zone and learn new skills necessary for progress.

2. Entrepreneurial independence -- Opportunities to work autonomously and control your own future.

Expressing yourself through ideas, invention, or the arts -- Opportunities to create and build something new while exercising your freedom of expression.

1. Talent-based striving for excellence -- The ability to aspire to the highest level of distinction in a particular area of study. (To become a subject-matter expert.)

https://www.inc.com/michael-schneider/what-one-wharton-professor-says-about-secret-to-meaningful-work-and-how-to-find-it.html?cid=mustread3

These Are the 8 Best Pieces of Leadership Advice You'll Read This Week by Kevin J Ryan

https://www.inc.com/kevin-j-ryan/ss/fast-company-innovation-festival-leadership-advice.html?cid=mustread1

11 Signs That You're an Incredibly Valuable Employee

By Aine Cain

https://www.inc.com/business-insider/11-unexpected-signs-youre-valuable-employee-work.html

How to Become the MVE (Most Valuable Employee) for Your Organization

By CM Smith

Get up and get moving

One of the plagues of early morning work hours is the dreaded “dead hour”. This is the phenomena of the first hour of the work day is spent waking up, drinking a bunch of coffee, and lazily doing something. Some people love the early mornings because it is a great time to get stuff done, but it’s tough to do when you are slathering around with your eyes barely open.

To fix this, try to get up about 30 minutes earlier everyday and go for a short walk outside, do some jumping jacks, squats, or stretches to get your blood flowing. Any exercising will do. This will ensure that the first hour at the office will be a productive one.

Have a backlog of ideas

If you are a knowledge worker, then your company is paying you for your ideas. Rather than rely on one or two played out ideas that got you into the company, you need to ensure that you have a backlog of them to keep yourself relevant as the company and the company’s goals may change.

One of the best resources for helping you identify and develop ideas is Mark Levy’s (the man behind Accidental Genius) List-Making as a Tool of Thought Leadership ebook. Mark goes through the process and the reasoning on why we need to create ideas and have them at our disposal. This will not only make you more valuable, but will make your company more valuable in the process.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/work/how-to-become-the-mve-most-valuable-employee-for-your-organization.html

Share my story and trust that I can get even better

Metro Cooking DC link

http://www.metrocookingdc.com/

https://www.navy.com/

from local Washington DC area; Something Like This by Chainsmokers and Coldplay, Happy by Pharrell Williams Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, Heaven by Brian Adams, Cake by the Ocean by DNCE, So Emotional by Whitney Houston, Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield, Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga

sources I prefer to keep secret; Believer by Imagine Dragons, Cinema by Benny Benassi feat. Gary Go (Skrillex Remix), What Lovers Do by Maroon 5 feat. SZA, Magic by the Cars, Heaven by DJ Sammy feat. Do, Heaven by Jes,Ectasy by ATB, Roc Me Out by Rihanna, Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran

Pandora; Hall of Fame by the Script feat. William of the Black Eyed Peas, Timber by Pitbull feat. Kesha, Shake it off by Taylor Swift, In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel

0 notes

corneliussteinbeck · 7 years

Text

#GGSFlawless

On New Year’s Day I posted a very raw and vulnerable picture of myself in just a tank top and underwear on my professional Facebook page with a message that is very close to my heart.

I felt compelled to post this photo because as women, starting at a very early age we are taught that our bodies are riddled with flaws and that we must be beautiful before we can be anything else. Feeling ashamed of their bodies keeps young girls and women from going out for sports, participating in class, speaking up with their ideas at work, and applying for schools and jobs that they really want.

Our preoccupation with what is “wrong” with our bodies silences our voices and prevents us from being fully engaged in the world and our own lives.

The Proof Is in The Pudding

As my photo spread around the internet, it garnered all kinds of reactions ranging from extremely positive to extremely negative, including of course, the ever-classic discounting of a woman’s experience we are all-too-familiar with:

“She couldn’t possibly feel this way/have experienced this because [insert their personal opinion about my body here].”

Yet, in the very same thread of comments, I had people telling me that I couldn’t possibly have ever been ashamed of my body because it’s too perfect, and one guy offered me diet advice to get rid of my “bumps and lumpy bits,” while a woman made rude comments about the texture of my skin.

And therein lies the crux of the issue.

When you let other people define your standards and ideals for you, you hand your power over to them. You are riding high when they tell you that you’re beautiful and you’ve “made the cut” and you come crashing down the moment they tell you that you’re fat.

As Girls Gone Strong advisory board member Erin Brown says “The trouble isn’t in valuing beauty, but in defining it so narrowly that we cannot possibly achieve it. We value women in parts and pieces, striving for this celebrity’s glutes or that celebrity’s lips. It’s impossible and exhausting, and every time we achieve a level of beauty we believe we will be happy with, we are presented with a new set of rules and standards to try to live up to. The solution isn’t ‘not valuing beauty’ but rather, expanding its definition to include us.”

So many of you have joined us in revolutionizing your resolutions, and we know you understand how important this conversation is—now we ask you to help us spread the #GGSFlawless message.

The women below have shared a photo of themselves telling their stories and letting the world know why they will no longer let others tell them that their bodies are wrong, and why they are “flawless.”

To be clear, #GGSFlawless

…is not about thinking you’re “perfect.” …is not about “settling.” …is not about believing you have no room for growth or change.

It’s about no longer subscribing to other people’s ideals and standards for your body.

Join Us!

To join these incredible women and help us spread the #GGSFlawless message:

Share a picture of yourself on social media letting the world know that your body is your business and that you will no longer let other people’s definition of “flaws” define you. Remember to use the hashtag #GGSFlawless.

By participating, you will not only help us reach exponentially more women with an empowering, body-positive message, you’ll also be entered to win amazing prizes! (Make sure your post is set to “public” so we can see it and notify you if you’re a winner!)

Prizes include:

Modern Woman’s Guide To Strength Training Platinum Edition — $199 value each

Strongest You Coaching Scholarships — $500 value

GGS Apparel — $50 value each

HUGE discounts on tickets to the Women’s Strength and Empowerment Weekend

30-minute coaching calls with GGS advisory board members Jen Comas, Erin Brown, and Jessie Mundell

Remember to use the hashtag #GGSFlawless when you share your picture and statement so that we can find it and enter you in the giveaway!

Jen Comas

I refuse to accept the term “embracing my flaws” when it comes to my body.

When I look in the mirror, I see a powerful, helpful, emotional, adventurous, deeply passionate, hard-loving, creatively-gifted woman. I see a woman that knows her worth is rooted so much more deeply than to a number on the scale, or to a certain dress size.

The only reason that certain things on one’s body would be viewed as “flaws” are because that person chooses to accept that descriptor from the media or other people. I actively choose not to accept that, or participate in that kind of language.

The media and other people don’t get the right to dictate what our bodies are supposed to look like, and they also don’t have the right to determine what is considered a “flaw”.

What some choose to deem as a “flaw” is their problem; not mine, and certainly not yours. I refuse to feel any sort of obligation to meet other people’s expectations about something as personal and precious as my body.

No, I do not need the quick-fix detox, diet pills, or tightening creams that are constantly pushed upon women, thank you very little. Those things won’t help me a bit when it comes to the most important things, such as living a bigger, bolder, or more fulfilling and loving life.

My opinion is the only one that matters, and my body is flawless because I say it is.

Learn more about Jen: Website – Facebook – Instagram

Karen Smith

Before my hysterectomy, I never showed my abs, never trained in just sports bras, I would always cover because I feared what people would think since I was a trainer without a six-pack. Now with my scars I am more confident to show them because my scars show an inner strength that helped me make the tough decision to have a preventative hysterectomy to limit my chances of ovarian cancer.

Learn more about Karen: Website – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

Alison Chen

My body is flawless because it allows me to move, be agile, live life to the fullest and grow a living being. My body changes and with each change it is still flawless. I can be lean, round, bloated, pregnant, older and still beautiful. I am flawless and that doesn’t mean there are aspects that can’t change, get stronger or more flexible. Being flawless means loving myself and what my body allows me to do in this moment. When I love myself I treat my body with respect and nourish it with healthy foods, water, clean air, exercise, endurance and positive thoughts. My body is unique. My body is beautiful. My body allows me to live an adventurous life. My body allows me to bring life into this world. When you honor your body, nobody can take that away from you. Live your life, live your body. And be flawless in it.

Learn more about Alison: Website – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

Amber Mikaelsson

I don’t subscribe to the idea that my flaws are beautiful, because I don’t agree that any part of my body is flawed. It has been abused, shamed, and tormented for being “flawed” for too many years, I refuse to mistreat it any longer.

Self-acceptance in the face of cultural norms that constantly tell us we don’t measure up is the ultimate act of rebellion, but it’s also the ultimate act of compassion.

You deserve that compassion. More than anyone else in your life, you deserve compassion. But it has to start with you. You must change your mind.

Your body is glorious exactly as it is today, no matter its size, proximity of your limbs to each other, or texture of your skin. Your body is a badass impressive mighty machine that carries you through your life. Your body deserves a bit of worship. And if you could agree that it is a pretty incredible tool, you could change the way you feel about it without putting a caveat of “when it looks different” onto it.

The other way? The one where you pick apart your “flaws” in the hopes that it will eventually lead to your happiness? It will always be there. It will be there tomorrow, next week, next month. You can always go back. But standing on the other side you may choose to stay right where you are. Loving what you’ve got and taking care of it the way you deserve to be taken care of. Flawless, as always.

Learn more about Amber: Website – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

Amna Al Haddad

I am often told, “Amna, fix your teeth, you’re a public figure now.”

I love my teeth. I love the space that is in between. In fact, it makes cleaning them a lot easier and a lot smoother. They’re 100 percent healthy. Why should I fix what’s already great? I will not alter my teeth – as long as they’re well and healthy – to make someone else comfortable. They’re me.

Once at university, some nine years ago, a professor saw me and my smile and he said, “People with gaps in their teeth are successful. Remember that.”

Look at me now… my teeth prominently featured on Girls Gone Strong!

Learn more about Amna: Website – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

Chrissy King

I’m 5’11” and weigh 185 pounds—and my body is flawless.

I grew up bigger than everyone else standing at 5’8” in the third grade (yes, you read that right). I spent years of my life trying to be smaller, and the more I shrunk, the smaller I thought I needed to be. Until I finally said enough is enough… eff that.

I’m perfect the way I am. I’m not here to spend my life focusing on being a smaller version of myself.

Society constantly barrages women with messages of what our bodies are “supposed” to look like and attempts to convince us that we are inadequate if we don’t meet those standards of beauty. They want us to believe that we need to “fix” ourselves.

But I don’t need “fixing.”

I can take up as much space as I want to, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I’m not the leanest woman you’ll meet. I don’t have six-pack abs. I have cellulite. I have stretch marks. I have a muscular back and shoulders. I have very large legs. But you know what? These babies can deadlift and squat hundreds of pounds, and they are strong AF. And even if they couldn’t, they would still be perfect.

My self-worth is not derived from my body fat percentage and neither is yours.

I’m strong. I’m healthy. I’m happy. I’m unapologetically me. Most importantly, I’m flawless.

Learn more about Chrissy: Website – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

Concita Thomas

Oh my goodness. Look at her… yep. My name is Concita, and I have a big bottom—and for as long as I can remember, I believed that it should be covered, camouflaged, and kept out of sight. But, I have rejected that narrative.

The size of my backside (or lack thereof) does not determine my worth. I am frankly not interested in five steps to a smaller bottom. As long as I can run fast, jump high, and rock my favorite jeans, my bottom is alright with me.

Bring on the red yoga pants because it doesn’t need to hide. My bottom is my business and quite frankly, I think it’s flawless.

Learn more about Concita: Website – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

Jill McLean

Once, when I was 15 years old, as I was walking into a grocery store with my best friend and her grandpa, my friend’s grandpa looked at me and said, “Why is it that you’re wearing pants on a such a hot day?” “Because I don’t like my legs,” I replied. “Well, you better start because they’re the only ones you’ve got.” And man, was he right.

You don’t have to look very far to see American beauty standards splashed in our faces.

Television. Internet. Magazines in grocery store checkout lines. Billboards. Malls. Even the sides of buses are plastered with 3 foot posters of women lounging around in the their underwear longingly looking at a bottle of perfume as if it were her lover (because I do this all the time, right?).

What we see in media and what we’re internalizing as the real standard of beauty isn’t real at all. It’s fake. It’s a fantasy. It’s a profit-driven industry exploiting women’s (and men’s) insecurities. Millions of women will chase these unrealistic ideals for the rest of their lives, and until we recognize these messages as toxic and harmful and reject them… we lose. I choose not to lose any more of my self esteem or time chasing after ways to get rid of my stretch marks, cellulite and soft belly that housed my son. Because these aren’t flaws. They’re a part of my story. And I choose to love the story that is my body. All of it.

Learn more about Jill: Website – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

Kellie Davis

Since I was a young girl I began receiving hurtful comments about my skin. Until recent years it’s been something I’ve felt shame about. I’m prone to moles and freckles and my back is covered in them. In my teen years I suffered from embarrassing acne and as I age my acne scars become more prominent on my cheeks.

When I was little I was often teased about a few moles on my face. I remember trying to think of ways to cut them off when I was in upper elementary school. I would sit in my mirror with scissors wanting to ‘make the ugly go away.’ I had them removed in high school, but that didn’t make the shame go away.

Up until recent years I would still edit out the moles on my back and abdomen when I sent photos to my trainers. Now I embrace them, realizing they are what make me uniquely me. My body is a whole, not a make up of individual parts. I spent years feeling so embarrassed about my skin that I neglected to love all of me. And all of me deserves to feel love.

Last summer while at a rugby match with my son and drunken older man behind me commented that I had an entire universe on my back. He was just being obnoxious, but that was actually a pretty cool thing to think about. The universe always has my back. How amazing is that?

Learn more about Kellie: Website – Facebook – Instagram

Nardia Norman

For the majority of my fitness career I have felt “less-than” or not good enough to be a great Personal Trainer. How could I be when I have always carried a roll-y, soft tummy and stretch marks on my hips? No matter how lean I got, even when I competed, I always had a soft, fat belly. The stretch marks have a mind of their own. I was in a constant state of comparison to the Oxygen cover girls and forever focused on these “flaws.”

Surprisingly, in 2014 I was awarded the title of Australian Personal Trainer of The Year. I was awarded on my talent, not my body. As a result I woke up. I was also pissed off. For years I had let someone else’s definition of a “perfect body” convince me that I was not good enough.

Yes I bought into the notion but it was the norm. Everyone around me, my peers, my mentors, my clients were all on the same agenda. It saddens me that I contributed to it.

Today the woman in these photos is starkly different. Finally, at nearly 40 years of age, I am in love with my body – the muscles, curves, bumps, everything. I refuse to allow anyone tell me what is beautiful or not. I am not defined by my body, and my body cannot be defined. It is not flawed. It never has been, it has always been perfect in many ways.

The truth is this — no one has the right to pass any sort of body judgment or agenda on anyone’s body. Period.

Learn more about Nardia: Website – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

Remember! All you have to do is share a picture of yourself on social media letting the world know that your body is your business and that you will no longer let other people’s definition of “flaws” define you — and be sure to use the hashtag #GGSFlawless!

The post #GGSFlawless appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.

from Blogger http://corneliussteinbeck.blogspot.com/2017/01/ggsflawless.html

0 notes