#i think i first learned about it from an essay in an oliver sacks book and was like omg other people don't have this :00

[honeybee-island]

Back on Tumblr after a 7-year break

I’ve recently started to make an effort to come back to using Tumblr. I haven’t used Tumblr in 7 years, and by the end of our relationship in 2016 It was already very damaged. But recently I came back to Tumblr and I felt like it still had that spark I felt when I was a teenager, that inspired me to write this text about my relationship with Tumblr as a user who has been here for 13 years.

Context

I was a 15 year-old black girl, late bloomer, nerdy girl who had unlimited access to a computer and lived very far from most of her friends.

Started a Tumblr account as a recommendation from a friend who had found some interesting “fuckyeah[topic]” blog (yeah it was the fuckyeah[anything] era). My first thought when I look back at my experience using Tumblr is “I had FUN”. I remember laughing so much, participating in so many discussions.

Back then, Tumblr had an immense community dedicated to Mean Girls and Harry Potter, that produced lots os content that was hilarious to my unsophisticated 15 year-old taste.

Development

I’ve made friends through Tumblr. Me and Reem have been friends since circa 2010, and we have plans to meet IRL soon. We started our friendship my exchanging essay-long updates about our lives through Tumblr’s “ask” feature for months.

We shared interests in music, cinema and, literature, specially a passion for the band Arctic Monkeys. We lived with 10.000 kilometres of distance within each other.

Through Tumblr I learned about books that impacted by coming-of-age years. I was introduced to writers who were references for me for years like Oliver Sacks and Kurt Vonnegut. (I was also introduced to John Green so… maybe it wasn’t always so worthy of my time).

I started to learn about cinema on Tumblr. Through the little GIF-making culture it was possible to admire scenes from movies and get curious about watching them. I remember finding about genres, and aesthetically interesting scenes.

Tumblr was the first digital platform where I started to produce a curatorial practice through the things I posted and retweeted. Since I had a personal blog, I loved to scroll through it and try to imagine of sense of who I was would people get from those publications. Would they be able to get a sense of my humorous side? My interests? (But never questioned if I was overstating my interest on the Arctic Monkeys, lol)

Tumblr was the last platform I used where I had a sense that the context I was scrolling through actually mattered. That’s why I couldn’t get adapted to using it on the phone. On the phone you just scroll to get distracted, not to focus on something.

When I started using Tumblr, smartphones were not yet ubiquitous. When I logged on Tumblr I used to read all of the posts until the last one from the last evening because it was worth it to catch up with the conversation.

In October 2010 Tumblr changed its color to purple in support for the LGBT+ community. And that was before the performative ally ship turned pride month into a meme about how disingenuous these types of manifestations by corporations have become after they gained the status of a profitable marketing strategy.

I went to a Tumblr meet in my city. It was terribly badly organised by a guy who thought it was a good idea to meet a STARBUCKS!!!, but I had an awkward blast! I’ve made a friend who then I went to college with and we’re still connected and we always have a laugh when we think about the Starbucks Tumblr Meet.

Taking some distance

Around 2010 I decided to delete everything I considered mildly embarrassing from my posts because I was scared of it being dug one day for some reason. I really regret that, I deleted over 8.000 posts.

After that I spent a few months using the platform only to see some funny memes and share them with my roommate. We used to go to bed every night and exchange tumblr memes through our fonts for around one hour before bed every night.

I think by those years the “endless scroll” mentality was catching up with Tumblr users. Interactions were rarer, lots of self-deprecative content, ironic meme, and I eventually just stopped using the platform altogether.

But I never really abandoned Tumblr, I kept coming every couple of months to do some specific research on a topic (Tumblr still has the best results for certain fandom content and discussions. For example I found the Tumblr discussion about Severance (2022) to be much more insightful and fruitful than the one taking place on Reddit).

The comeback

Today I’m 29 years-old and I came back to Tumblr. My life has drastically changed since the first time I really used this platform. I’m married, I live in a different continent, I don’t listen to the Arctic Monkeys anymore, and most of all: I’m exhausted of social media platforms.

The world is also not the same since I started using Tumblr… and, obviously, Tumblr isn’t the same! There arelot’s of bots, there’s paid content on the feed. It has this experimental feature called Tumblr Labs which looks like a project to implement things that look like they envision creating a platform for people to invest in becoming influencers in.

But, despite feeling uncertain about the righteous future of the platform, I still felt a bit nostalgic coming to Tumblr, because it still works at a slower pace than, say, Instagram, or Twitter. Many of the posts on my timeline requires me to take the time to read them, sometimes I feel inclined to contribute to the conversation.

This feeling of scrolling slower actually feels more relaxing. On Tumblr I don’t follow celebrities, or influencers, or brands. I follow people who will say things I care about. I don’t follow for numbers, for social pressure, or “engagement”, I follow them because I want to get more of the narrative they’re talking about.

Tumblr is a place that instigates people to invest in their interest, go deep into the things they find interesting, and it would be sad to see that lost to anxiety-inducing social media culture.

Anyway, I think I don’t really have a conclusion on what I want to say. I’m happy to be back, I’ll try to be around here more often. I hope to find some people to connect with.

#personal #tumblog #millennials

[guillemelgat]

What is synesthesia and do you have it ?

Hi anon, thanks for asking lol (I'm guessing this is about this post, I definitely didn't explain anything there so good catch)

Here's the Wikipedia definition, to start:

Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

Basically, what that means is that when you see, hear, smell, etc. a certain thing, it brings up another feeling/sound/sight in your head. That's a very vague definition because it's a very broad-reaching phenomenon, but here are some examples of different kinds of synesthesia:

Grapheme-color synesthesia, where when you see different written characters (letters, numbers, etc), you get the sensation of a specific color as well (usually each character has a color)

Chromesthesia, where when you hear a certain sound, you get the sensation of a color (often with people with perfect pitch, they see different keys as different colors)

Spatial sequence synesthesia, where you visualize numbers as points in space/as a map (I'd never heard of this one before so I have less of an idea of how it works)

Auditory-tactile synesthesia, where hearing a certain sound might give your skin the sensation of being touched by something

Ordinal linguistic personification, where different numbers and letters give the sensation of different personalities, similar to grapheme-color synesthesia

Mirror-touch synesthesia, where if you sees someone else be touched somewhere, you feel the same sensation in their body

Lexical-gustatory synesthesia, where different words give you the sensation of different tastes

Basically, synesthesia is just your brain making random but consistent connections between two sensations, and it's pretty much only a useful thing, not usually a problematic one. For example, I have grapheme-color synesthesia and ordinal linguistic personification, both for letters and numbers but it's much stronger for numbers. It makes it kind of fun to do things like sudoku because I can look at a box and pretty quickly figure out what number is missing if there's no green, or to remember dates and years because I have the very strong color association. The reason why I brought up the question is because I'm not sure how it transfers over to learning other alphabets, and from the one person who replied to that post it seems like the only way forward is just frustration and tears, but if anyone else has opinions lmk! Maybe over time it'll reform for a new alphabet and I can go back to reading normally.

#don't think that you were looking for such a long answer but i love synesthesia and i'm always excited to talk about it #i think i first learned about it from an essay in an oliver sacks book and was like omg other people don't have this :00 #it's not too uncommon though especially grapheme-color synesthesia #actually til that there's a name for the numbers having personalities lol so that's cool #elisabet casanovas from merlí (tània) also has it but i think hers is auditory?? but for different letters #idk though i'm not sure #anyways if anyone has anymore questions i'd be happy to answer them ^-^ #this is very much not on the topic of this blog but w/e #parlem de tonteries #asks

[ryuutchi]

I am prepared to accept that my background limits my atheism. Do you have any good references I can learn from, by ex-Jews who have rejected Judaism from a Jewish perspective? I want to further develop my atheism, and be able to properly disbelieve in more Gods (or G-ds) than I do now. (Yes I know Jews don't think that ex-Jews are a thing, [unless they willingly convert to Christianity, of course]. I'm talking about self-identified apostates.)

I look guys, "apostasy" in the way you’re thinking is rare and p much only a thing in really super religious communities. Like, my mother left Judaism for decades and afaik still doesn't really believe in G-d. I don't think my father has ever believed in G-d. But they don't identify as anything besides Jews because orthodoxy-- right thought-- doesn't matter to the vast majority of Jews. I'm sure many Orthodox Jews would consider me apikoros or at least off the derech-- I don't keep kosher, Shabbat, or most of the rules, all of which is way more important than my not-terribly-certain faith in the existence of the direct will of a godhead.

There's an old Jewish joke:

Two men, Goldberg and Schwartz, who are walking to synagogue. They are stopped along the way by someone who asks them where they are going. They casually tell the man that they are both on their way to synagogue.  The man responds, “Goldberg, I know why you go to synagogue. You believe in God, and you’re an observant Jew.” Then he adds, “But Schwartz, you don’t believe in God, why are you going?” Schwartz responds, “Goldberg goes to synagogue to talk to God, and I go to synagogue to talk to Goldberg.”

This judgment, this argument to apostasy, it's just so bizarrely puritanical and Christian considering the broad community of Jews who just... don't believe in G-d and don't feel the need to write a book about it because it's not remarkable.

Anyway, I'm a librarian, so I still wrote a list of books from or about Jewish atheists in the vain hope that Christian atheists will learn how much their antisemitism is a part of the cycle of violence against Jews, and that most "apostate" Jews still consider themselves Jewish atheists not “apostates”. You’re not going to find anything with “self-identified apostates” in Jewish texts because “apostate” comes from Latin and is not something Jews call themselves.

"All Who Go Do Not Return", by Shulem Deen, and "Cut Me Loose" by Leah Vincent, both of whom left ultra-Orthodox communities. (I also like "Becoming Eve" by Abby Stein, but she left ultra-Orthodoxy because she's trans and is still practicing)

Oliver Sacks has written about his experiences with Judaism (and everything else) in "On the Move"-- although he's best known for writing on psychiatry, he called himself an "old Jewish atheist" and touches on the way his relationship with his homophobic mother affected his relationship with religion.

I've heard good things about "Candidate Without a Prayer" by Herb Silverman although I haven't read it.

"Waiting for God" by Lawrence Bush is about grappling with a god-less spirituality as a "reluctant atheist" in the Jewish tradition.

"Believ­er, Beware: First-Per­son Dis­patch­es from the Mar­gins of Faith", an anthology edited by Jeff Sharlet and Peter Manseau of KillingTheBuddha.com, is a book of essays covering a broad range of people from different religions, including Judaism, grappling with their identities.

On more academic levels, "Betraying Spinoza" by Rebecca Goldstein is an interesting but slightly dense text about the way the experience and suffering of Jews affected Spinoza's rationalist work (he's the most famous Jewish atheist, there is a LOT of discussion about him). And "Hid­den Heretics: Jew­ish Doubt in The Dig­i­tal Age", by Ayala Fad­er is an anthropological analysis of contemporary Orthodox Jews who have rejected or are questioning belief but have not left the physical communities.

I'll note, most of these writers have left religious Judaism but generally still consider themselves "Jews", not "apostates", so

#book recs 2022 #jewish #atheism #book recommendations #I'm gonna go on good faith here #because I like books

[firstdraftpod]

Amanda Montell

First Draft Episode #223: Amanda Montell

Amanda Montell, debut author of Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language, joins Sarah to talk about socio-linguistics, and her upcoming book Mindfuck: The Secret Language of Cults (Spoiler: You’re Already Using It).

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

Amanda loved reading memoirs growing up, including David Sedaris (author of Calypso, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim), Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, Dry: A Memoir and Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs, and Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants: Based on a True Story by Jill Soloway, writer on Six Feet Under and creator of Transparent. When she was very young, she read the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, including Chicken Soup for the Teenaged Soul

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Gulp: Adventures Down the Elementary Canal, both by Mary Roach, whom Amanda admires greatly

Joan Didion (author of The Year of Magical Thinking and Slouching Toward Bethlehem: Essays) and Nora Ephron (author of Heartburn and I Feel Bad About My Neck, and writer and director of Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail)

She took a few classes at Writing Pad in Los Angeles to keep up her nonfiction writing chops

Amanda desperately wanted to be published in The Rumpus, like one of her role models, Julie Buntin, who wrote Marlena: A Novel. Julie also wrote “How Queen Became the Ultimate Compliment” for Cosmopolitan. And she was! Read her article, “Baltimore, Offline.”

With Rebecca Odes, creator of Wifey.tv with co-founder Jill Soloway, Amanda developed the web series The Dirty Word

Amanda was edited by Karen Rinaldi, publisher of HarperWave, an imprint of HarperCollins

Rose Wong illustrated pieces of art for the book

The New York Times wrote a glowing review of Wordslut, though it did take issue with the number of times Amanda used the word “dude”

There are lots of stories of men super geniuses --  like House, Psych, The Mentalist, Mr. Robot. But Amanda is writing a female language genius for FX, with whom she struck a deal for the TV rights to Wordslut.

Pamela Adlon, creator of Better Things, is working with Amanda on her proposed TV show

If you’re interested in Scientology, definitely check out Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright, or Wright’s New Yorker piece, Apostate: Paul Haggis vs. The Church of Scientology which the book was based on, or the HBO documentary, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.

Amanda has a personal connection to cults through her father’s experience of being forced to live in the Synanon cult in the Bay Area. Learn more about Synanon in, “The Story of This Drug Rehab-Turned Violent Cult is Wild, Wild Country-level Bizarre,” by Hillel Aron for Los Angeles Magazine

The Daily podcast episode that featured WeWork made me insane

Lindy West’s The Witches are Coming discusses how utterly unconvincing these cult leader men can be

Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos is another fascination of mine - I recommend listening to The Dropout podcast series about her, and Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in Silicon Valley by John Carreyrou is amazing

30 For 30’s podcast series about Bikram Yoga

I refer to “The President’s Speech,” one of the many case studies included in Oliver Sack’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat

  I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call [phone].

Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni

Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender; John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their careers and creative works.

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#Join host Sarah Enni every Tuesday for a quality hang with your favorite authors.

[limejuicer1862]

Wombwell Rainbow Interview

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Amy Shimshon-Santo

a writer, educator, and urbanist, believes the arts are “a powerful tool for transformation,” both socially and personally. She connects the arts, education, and urban planning in her work. Holding a PhD and MA in urban planning from UC Los Angeles, an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and a BA in Latin American studies from UC Santa Cruz. Amy is an associate professor at Claremont Graduate University where she heads the Master of Arts Management program. She has been recognized on the National Honor Roll for Service Learning. Amy lead the ArtsBridge program for UCLA Arts and her efforts provided the foundation for the University of California’s first visual and performing arts education degree in the state. Amy represented the State of California at the National Endowment of the Art’s Education Leadership Institute, where she was a founding member of Create CA. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in creative nonfiction and Best of the Net in poetry. Amy’s essays have appeared in Entropy, and have been published by SAGE. Her work has also been published by University of California Press and State University of New York Press, and can be found in Rose Quartz Magazine, Public, Teaching Artist Journal, Tiferet Journal, Critical Planning, Entropy, Yes, Poetry, Zócalo Public Square, and Lady/Liberty/Lit, and more. Her book of poems, Even the Milky Way is Undocumented, is forthcoming with Unsolicited Press in 2020. Amy is found on www.amyshimshon.com

[email protected] Twitter: @amyshimshon IG: @shimshona http://www.amyshimshon.com/

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

Poetry was my first (written) language. I intuitively wrote with line breaks since I was a girl. I didn’t call it poetry, but it was how I wrote. A kind of birth mark.

What has changed in my relationship to poetry is how I read, and my entanglement with editing. Writing is natural. Editing is more like design, or how I imagine carpentry. My brother is a carpenter. My grandfather was too. I just build things with different materials and tools. Words instead of wood. Punctuation marks instead of nails. When I edit, I want the poems to look me in the eye, sound good on the tongue, and tell some kind of story.

Essays are another matter. I know precisely when that started. I had to write an essay to apply to college. It felt like ice skating in outer space. Complicated, maybe even impossible. Now, I’ve grown to appreciate the process of writing essays, and am almost always tinkering with one. They help me observe and think. Essays are architectural, 2D dwellings for bigger ideas and worlds. I see a light and run into them without a plan, get lost in the chaos of the experience, and finally figure out what wants to be said. I feel a sense of wonder and satisfaction when they are done.

I write poems every morning, and whether they are “good” or not, they’re my medicine for living. They are my thermometer for authentic living. They help me know myself, and seek freedom despite whatever may be limiting me in the material world.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

The first poet I remember hearing was Maya Angelou. Listening to her wasn’t just witnessing a vocalist and spoken word master, it was witnessing a woman being phenomenal herself. That’s what I remember first and foremost — “Oh! Look, a woman! Maybe I can be one too!” Hearing her made me feel like it was a good thing to be a woman. She was tall, with a wide arm span, and a voice that commanded attention. She took up space, but trampled no one. She wrapped her hair in stamped cloth, and wore canvas cargo pants. Her poetry was music, a polyrhythmic bumpa-dee-bump-dance of living. She baked Quiche Lorraine. I went home and found a pair of canvas cargo pants my own size. She’s been a lifelong inspiration.

I studied in Nicaragua and Mexico in my twenties, and dove into works of César Vallejo, Nicolás Guillen, Pablo Neruda, Roque Dalton, Ernesto Cardenal, Claribel Alegria, and Giaconda Belli. I read their poetry aloud to myself. That was how I developed an intimate relationship with Spanish, and, later, Portuguese via capoeira music. I was raised in California, and heard Spanish on the yard in school. Eventually, I picked it up, and poetry helped. The poet Francisco X. Alarcon welcomed me into his Spanish for Spanish Speakers class, and poetry came flooding in. Reading aloud, I loved the sound on my lips. Learning a language is a kind of love relationship. This happened to me in three languages (English, Spanish, and Portuguese).

My mother’s first language was Hebrew, but my dad was monolingual English. He lost his mother’s native Russian, and I lost my mother’s Hebrew and Yiddish. I wish I’d learned the languages of my own origins (Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian), but I picked up the ones that loved me back, the ones I lived with.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

I don’t want to feel dominated by anything, even great poets. If anything, poetry is about freeing myself from all kind of domination. I don’t seek to dominate or be dominated. I seek equilibrium and honesty. I seek wonder and gratitude for living.I am grateful for the presence of older poets. Since I am getting older every day, even my silver hair is a flag to the aging process. Thich Nhat Hanh said, “I am of the nature to die.” I watch older poets to see how they navigate living, and, also, aging. How can we live and write well at every stage of life? How can we be creative at every stage? I read and listen to ancestral poets, and I embrace my relationship to the archive. I feel them as extended family — people who were whispered into, just like me. Adrienne Rich. Mary Oliver. Toni Morrison. Zora Neale Hurston. I don’t compare myself, I just feel related. Living well is not a competition. I’m not trying to achieve or prove anything, just take advantage of being alive.

Unlike Bob Kaufman, I don’t want to disappear when I die. That is not because of ego, it’s because I want to remain in relationship with other writers always, whether I am living or not. The archive has unfathomable dimensions.

Intersectional women deserve to be in there along with everybody else. I want to be a part of that, even if I am just one tiny blue-green thread, or a strand of red-tangerine.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

My knee jerk reaction to that question is, “If I told you I’d have to kill you.” I guess I’m protective of the creative process. It’s a mysterious thing, not something you can just pick up in a supermarket by the dishwashing liquid. Although, maybe that could make a good grocery shopping poem.

I have daily and seasonal writing routines. As a working person, and head of household, I start my day early with writing and ashtanga before work. With limited time, I accumulate small pieces of writing throughout the academic year and rely on the slower summer months to piece mosaics together. I value my job, but my writing life needs time too. So, when other folks dream of summer vacations, I long for stretches of quiet time off the grid. Nine months a year belong to my students. The summers are mine, and I am loyal to them because writing is a necessity.

5. What motivates you to write?

I have a writing self that wants to be expressed. It is my duty to care for her by letting her write whatever she wants. I write to fumble around in the dark and pull out stories. I write to face these times, and shine some light on living in the 21st century. Writing satisfies my adventurous spirit, and helps me feel less powerless as a woman, as a single mom, as someone from an immigrant family where many of us have gone unnoticed, injured, or completely erased. I write to be surprised. It’s the shake-shake-shake of a brown paper sack with something hidden inside. Once I was in Panama working on a popular education project. There was a carnival tradition that involved a pillow case. You fumbled your hand around inside, landed on an object, and pulled it out. Jumbled inside the sack were everyday items and things that were taboo (For example, an enormous blue dildo). Face the mystery. Take a risk. Laugh. Gasp. Weep. Feel something. Write.

6. What is your work ethic?

Fierce. I’ve been called a work horse, and I think that’s pretty accurate. Maybe a work centaur. I write every day, even if it’s just 20 minutes of jottings, so that I know how I am, and what I am thinking about on a deeper level. If I did not need a job-job, I would wake up, do yoga, write all day, and take a walking meditation at night. My idea of a good time. Throw in some dancing and we’re set. Because of writing, even if one “job” ends, I’ll just return to my real-forever-job which is stringing words together. Writing gave me my life back. Wouldn’t you work hard for something that gave you such a gift?

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

The books that I read to my children when they were young influenced me as much as those I read when I was a child. They gave me a second childhood, perhaps one I never had. I collect books and try to adopt their courage. The stacks are to get lost in. Find a stool and pull out a book. This also applies to music and dancing. This applies to visual art and film. This applies to ferris wheels and lagoons. It applies to public libraries and the internet.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

I spent months this year in the clutch of Toni Morrison’s On Self Regard, before she passed. Her intellect is expansive. Just. Expansive. Among the living, I am enriched by the enthusiasm of local writers Adrian Ernesto Cepeda, Genevieve Kaplan, and Ikia Noel because they are great practitioners, advocates, and instigators of writing. Gayle Brandeis, Deena Metzger, and Dan Bellm are guides for me toward how to write and be an upstanding human. I delight in the work of Gloria Carrera, Natalia Toledo, Aracelis Girmay, Ross Gay, Tiana Clark, Natalie Diaz, Nikky Finney, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Yusef Komunyakaa. They crisscross different cultures and languages. Their sentences break things open. They inspire me.

9. Why do you write, as opposed to doing anything else?

I used to be a dancer and choreographer. Dancing required having a big open space, limber bodies, music, costumes, lighting, gels, sound equipment, a van, crates of costumes props and instruments. I needed 30 minutes to an hour just to warm up, and then hours for rehearsal.

Writing is a creative practice that is accessible to me at this stage of my life. All I need is a pen and notebook. With those two things, I can go anywhere.

10. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

Write. Read. Observe. Express. Welcome the sound of your voice. Listen attentively to the world. Truth is a good pair of shoes. Don’t be afraid to put your work out there. Leap.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

My debut poetry collection EVEN THE MILKYWAY IS UNDOCUMENTED will be coming out in 2020 with Unsolicited Press. My son and I just recorded an audio book version and I’m excited about that. Recording that was memorable. I sat down at the microphone with him at the console. Yikes. Then I realized what I was about to do and what he was about to hear. “I am sorry. Some of this is hard,” I said. “I am honored,” he said. Just wow. Spoken word is a very particular kind of conjuring that I enjoy. Not enjoy. Adore. I don’t sing, but I will seduce the fuck out of the world with a sentence. It’s good fun. Serious magic.

I completed a collection of essays that is under review, have a new essay in the brain-que-que, and a collaborative poetry book on the horizon. I don’t want to say more until they are fully formed, but I’m really glad that writing keeps coming. That’s the whole point of completing things — make space for what wants to come next.

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Amy Shimson-Santo Wombwell Rainbow Interview I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.

[igotopinions]

Books I read in 2018

* = Re-read Check out past years: 2012, 2013 (skipped), 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. Follow me on Goodreads to get these reviews as they happen. 1) You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier 2) Binti by Nnedi Okorafor 3) Veins of the Earth by Patrick Stewart 4) McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh  The ending is clear almost from the first page, but you keep reading anyway*. Great stuff. *It's almost as if there is MORE to enjoying a story than being surprised by the ending???? 5) They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy  Ah yes, the violent and bloody underbelly of....the marathon dance craze??? Marathons that last upward of a MONTH??? Incredulity, if nothing else, keeps you reading right to the end. 6) What Editors Do: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing by Peter Ginna I've no interest in becoming an editor, but as an author I figured there'd be some useful stuff in here. From that perspective I'll say this - writers, even ones who only want to self-publish, would do well to breeze through this to get a better understanding of a process they've been through or want to go through, but also a better understanding of the editors themselves. 7) Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander 8) The High King by Lloyd Alexander 9) The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander 10) The Largesse of the Sea Maiden: Stories by Denis Johnson 11) Landmarks by Robert MacFarlane Beautiful stuff, and a great reminder of all sorts of precious sensations to be found out in the world or in your childhood memories. 12) Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches by John Hodgeman I like John Hodgeman in general, but honestly haven't dug any of his books of false facts or the stand-up routines centered around such things. That stuff just feels like someone scatting nonsense (Blood tornado! Deranged millionaire! DOG STORM! Yeah!) to the tune of a particular vibe (the doodles in the margins of your high school notebooks). But it's clear the guy can be a consummate storyteller and so I happily picked up this book of his ostensibly true tales. It's charming, funny, and sincere. Huzzah! I look forward to whatever comes next from Hodge Man. 13) The World of Late Antiquity 150-750 by Peter R.L. Brown  14) The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch 15) The Luzhin Defense by Vladimir Nabokov, Michael Scammell (Translator) 16) The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander  17) Blindsight by Peter Watts 18) Killing Gravity by Corey J. White  19) How to Thrive in the Next Economy: Designing Tomorrow's World Today by John Thackara 20) Echopraxia by Peter Watts 21) The Colonel by Peter Watts 22) The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God! by Joe Eszterhas It’s a big book of quotable notables intermixed with a guy who really wants you to know he slept with Sharon Stone. There’s some chuckles to be had, especially if you’re irritated by Robert McKee, but let’s just say I’m glad I got this half-off from a used book store. 23) The River of Consciousness by Oliver Sacks   Writers of fiction would do well to read this. 24) Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture and What We Can Do about It  by Kate Harding *25) The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut 26) Red Clocks by Leni Zumas A reminder that dystopian tales don’t have to be cranked to eleven, and are often much more effective that way. 27) Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG by Goodman Games I don’t normally include RPG books in this list, but at about 450 pages I reckon this one earns a spot. I had a lot of thoughts about it, which you can read here. 28) Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria by Lin Carter   Look man, either you want to read a Conan rip-off where a convenient flying ship pulls our hero out of trouble at Just. The. Right. Time. or you don't. Nothing I say here will change that. I dipped into this soon after discovering the infamous Appendix N reading list. 29) Dear Life by Alice Munro 30) A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from History's Most Orthodox Empire by Anthony Kaldellis 31) Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future by Joel Wainwright and Geoff Mann 32) Writing the Pilot: Creating the Series by William Rabkin 33) Ways of Seeing by John Berger If you've already done some university level art studies you may find most of this old hat.But if you haven't? It's a great primer, and I strongly recommend it. Heck, I wish I'd had it put in front of me in high school. 34) Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado 35) A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah 36) Polyamorous Love Song by Jacob Wren This book came out a few years ago. Just a few days ago I found it on the dollar shelf at a great used book and record shop in Montreal (Cheap Thrills). I never bother with stuff from the dollar shelf because it's usually about as good as the price suggests. But. The title & cover grabbed my eye. Then I stood and read the entire first chapter, not because I needed that much to erode any skepticism but because it gripped me. Your mileage may - nay, will - vary, of course. For me, the contents of this book were exactly what I needed. It might be what you need too, especially if you are someone who creates any kind of art and is struggling with it in the face of an increasingly rabid world. 37) Feel Free: Essays by Zadie Smith 38) Revenge Fantasies of the Politically Dispossessed by Jacob Wren 39) Rich and Poor by Jacob Wren 40) Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh   41) Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh 42) Room to Dream by David Lynch,  Kristine McKenna A great book whose format of a conversation between biography and autobiography really works! Both halves strangle the "lone genius" bullshit almost right out of the gate and, especially in Lynch's chapters, there's some kind of amusing punchline at the end of every other paragraph. An excellent read that is enjoyable even if you haven't seen every minute of his creative output. 43) Warrior of World's End by Lin Carter  This book contains a sentient metal bird called a "Bazonga" and a chapter called "Flight of the Bazonga", to give you an idea. It's fun and dumb and yes. 44) Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler 45) Twelve Tomorrows by Wade Roush (Editor) *46) A Burglar's Guide to the City by Geoff Manaugh   47) The Dying Earth by Jack Vance I was going to write my own review but then I saw BIll's here and it's just so much better than what I was going to say, as well as echoing much of my own thinking. 48) Dune by Frank Herbert It is Dune. 49) Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison This book does not in fact contain the famous twist from the film. That changes a lot, an awful lot. Frankly it evokes, read now, climate change at least as much if not more than overpopulation. I'm not sure if I'd recommend reading it, frankly, though not for any lack of talent on Harry Harrison's part. 50) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell  51) Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film by Patton Oswalt 52) The Chapo Guide to Revolution: A Manifesto Against Logic, Facts, and Reason by Chapo Trap House *53) Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut   Though it gifts us a few of his best quotes, such as “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”, I feel like Mother Night is only necessary reading for completionists. It often feels like a short story filled out to novel length, and lacks any of the fantastic or meta-textual elements of his other works. 54) Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History by Kyle Newman,  Jon Peterson, Michael Witwer, Sam Witwer STATS Non-Fiction: 20 Fiction: 34 Poetry Collections:0 Comic Trades: 0 Wrote Myself: 0

#Birty #Records #2018 #Lists #Writeblr #Reading #Writing #Books

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Parallax: Perspectives in Astronomy and Photography

An article on art & science collaborations for Interalia Magazine, November 2017. Over the past decade, I have been exploring the links between science, photography and philosophy. This body of research has involved collaborations between myself and a number of scientific institutions, such as UCL and Imperial College London.

I am currently undertaking a practice-based MPhil at the Royal College of Art which specifically focuses on the relationship between photography, visual language and astronomy. What can photographic practice and theory contribute to the field of astronomy, and vice versa? The definitions of parallax help us to understand that viewing one object from a number of different perspectives can offer a more accurate reading. I posit that obtaining a deeper knowledge of the links between astronomy and photography can help us to understand more about both fields.

In this article, I will share a number of collaborations with scientific institutions that have led to developments in my own research, and further afield.

Preservation of Memory

Preservation of Memory, Silver Gelatin Emulsion on Paper, 2012. In 2012, I took part in a residency with the MRC Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit at Oxford University, initiated by Dr Megan Dowie. My project at the laboratory explored the relationship between photography and memory, focusing on the extensive practice of preservation methods used to store a piece of biological tissue in formaldehyde for future reference. These processes reminded me of the photographic processes I use to preserve an image when printing an analogue photograph in a darkroom.

In the laboratory, I was interested in how the scientists were hoping to capture an exact picture of the brain activity of a specimen. However, when the specimen is killed there is a small amount of time before death where the brain activity alters, aware that it is dying. This means that although the specimen is aware of its’ own death, thus slightly changing the result, the data is still useful for the scientists to build up a picture of how memory works. At the MRC Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit, I became strongly aware of how perception and memory are made up of fragments, composites and imagination. “Remembering is not the re-excitation of innumerable fixed, lifeless and fragmentary traces. It is an imaginative reconstruction, or construction, built out of the relation of our attitude towards a whole active mass of organized past reactions or experience... It is thus hardly ever exact.” Oliver Sacks, Hallucinations

The photograph is akin to memory in this way, both a photograph, a ledger and a memory can often be trusted as a reliable source of evidence. Our understanding of the universe as a whole is entirely dependent on our interpretation of the past through records; photographs, ledgers, memories and traces (fossils, skeletons etc), but the research project at the MRC Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit made me challenge the authenticity of these fragments.

Overall the collaboration changed my perspective on the concept of objectivity in scientific imaging, and deepened my interest in photography. I also saw the potential benefits of challenging the field of objectivity in scientific imaging, as I realised that this is something scientists also think about.

For the resultant exhibition “A Nervous Encouter” at Oxford Fire Station Gallery, I used electron microscope ‘electrographs’ of neurons to create analogue negatives. These negatives were projected onto silver gelatin emulsion, that I had roughly applied to the paper surface. The images were then presented in such a way to highlight the fragility of the photographic surface, only partially fixed and subject to fading.

First Light

Following the residency at the MRC Neuropharmacology Unit, I was inspired to learn more about the role of photography in relation to the history of astronomy. I undertook a residency at Four Corners Film in Bethnal Green, and used this opportunity to explore my ideas in relation to the history and visual language of photography and astronomy. After reading his book “Capturing The Light”, I visited Roger Watson at Lacock Museum of Photography who pointed out that though William Henry Fox Talbot invented the salt printing process, he was also an official observer of the solar eclipse in 1851. Similarly, John Herschel, the inventor of the cyanotype process and of photographic fixer, was also responsible for naming several moons of Saturn. James Clerk Maxwell presented the first durable colour photograph in 1861, yet he also made a contribution to our understanding of electromagnetism and discovered that the rings of Saturn are made of small particles. Roger also mentioned that Louis Daguerre, inventor of the daguerreotype, was in contact with Francois Arago, director of the Observatoire de Paris. Further exploration of these intertwined narratives lead me to understand that the fields of astronomy and photography are intrinsically connected.

I subsequently visited the UCL Space History Archive which holds artefacts from elements of space exploration, such as the Lunar Orbiter Probe which went to the Moon in 1966. The most intriguing NASA photographs in the UCL Space History Archive collection were the composite images taken on strips of photographic film and placed in such a way to make the joins of the prints quite evident.

Earthrise, Lunar Orbiter Probe 1966, UCL Space History Archive.

In the essay “Dark Frame / Deep Field” Marek Kukula and Melanie Vandenbrouck discuss “Sensor Flaws and Dead Pixels” by Wolfgang Tillmans. This image is what is called a ‘blank’, which means to say that it is not exposed to light. This is an astrophotography technique which is used to find faults with the digital camera’s sensor so that they cannot be confused with stars.

Sensor Flaws and Dead Pixels, Wolfgang Tillmans, 2012

“It reminds us that there is no such thing as absolute objectivity, even in the ultra-technical field of scientific photography. Every act of looking, or of the recording of light, involves the imprinting of aspects of the observer onto the thing which is being observed, or at least onto its image.” Marek Kukula and Melanie Vandenbrouck, Dark Frame, Deep Field essay for Breese Little.

Astronomical photographs in all of their manifestations have issues with what Marek and Melanie call “absolute objectivity”, the telescope, camera and sensors each make their presence known within the image. In a recent project for the “Altered Realities” exhibition at Central Saint Martins, I created a lenticular print of the “Pillars of Creation” which highlighted the difference between the black and white raw mechanical image and the full colour mediated image which we are used to seeing. Zolt Levay from the Space Science Telescope Institute allowed me to use these images, and let me know a little about how each image was produced. Both images tell us something useful: the full colour image is digitally “painted” to signify the chemical composition of the gas clouds, yet the raw image shows artefacts from the process of capture and gives us signs which help us to understand how the image is produced. From both of these images we can make meaningful observations of distant celestial objects, but neither are truly objective.

Both Images: Pillars of Creation, Zolt Levay, Space Science Telescope Institute.

An important symposium for my research was the “Envisioning the Universe” seminar at the National Media Museum, convened by Dr Marek Kukula at the National Maritime Museum. At this seminar Elizabeth Kessler spoke about her book “Picturing The Cosmos: The Hubble Telescope and The Astronomical Sublime”. Kessler specifically focused on the highly saturated, high contrast images that NASA produces using the Hubble telescope. Here, Kessler asserts that astronomers have developed representational conventions, suggesting that in the field of astronomical imaging, astronomers can be distinguished by their own aesthetic choices when constructing an image for a publication. Kessler believes that these visual traditions have been adopted from painters such as Thomas Moran and William Henry Jackson, who depicted the American west. Kessler specifically compares the Cliffs of the Upper Colorado River and Tower of Tower Falls by Thomas Moran to The Cone Nebula.

The Cone Nebula, Hubble

The Tower of Tower Falls, Thomas Moran.

Kessler suggests that there are similarities between the two sets of images, these features include isolated landscapes, which are punctuated by immense towers, dramatic light which shines behind an object and theatrical uses of colour.

Kessler’s research demonstrates the subjective choices that are used by astronomers when creating an image for public consumption. This seminar highlighted to me the importance of the role that visual language and photography have to play in the field of astronomy. It is clear from Kessler’s text that the history of art has had an impact on how astronomers use colour, framing and contrast to affect how we might read an image.

Having learned that presentation methods and materiality can affect our experience of an image, I began to experiment with contemporary NASA images, printing them using a nineteenth century technique of photogravure. The photogravure is created by making an etching plate with a negative and the application of ultraviolet light—which then, after processing the plate—can be inked up and fed through an etching press. I used carbon black ink where materials have been burned to produce the ink. When pressed onto fine Hahnemuhle paper, the black ink takes on a dense but sultry texture which feels appropriate to represent the cold and dark void of space.

67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko Comet, Photogravure, 2015

In the exhibition at Four Corners Gallery, I exhibited these photogravure prints alongside a stereoscopic photograph of the Moon which allowed visitors to consider how our perception can fool us into thinking a 2-Dimensional image is 3-Dimensional.

Credit: Henry Draper, from the archive at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford.

The production of these works ultimately led to my current research question, which enquires into how photographic practice and theory can contribute to the field of astronomy, and vice versa. Following the Four Corners residency in 2015, I began my practice based MPhil at the Royal College of Art to explore these questions in more depth.

Celestographs - Explorations in Materiality & Astronomy

During the first year of my practice-based research degree, I stumbled across the work of August Strindberg, a nineteenth century playwright. One day, Strindberg left an unexposed photographic plate under the night sky, hoping to capture some images of the night sky. Without the lens of a camera, Strindberg failed to capture images of stars and planets but did create nebulous images which occurred when elements of the weather interfered with the surface of the photograph. Strindberg called the resultant images “celestograph” which, when compared to the word “photograph” (light writing), could mean “writing caused by the heavens”. As I learned of Strindberg, it occurred to me that I had been creating what he would call “celestographs” for quite a while. I began to think about different ways of exploring the idea of celestography through my practice. For a long time I have been working with the cyanotype process, a nineteenth century printmaking process which uses iron based salts When these are mixed together, they become sensitive to ultraviolet light from the Sun, our closest star. In early 2015, I attended The Story of Light festival in Goa with my colleagues Jaden Hastings and Nachiket Guttikar, with the aim of highlighting the relationship between the Sun and Earth-based matter. We did this by creating a world record sized cyanotype, 10 x 6 metres across. Participants were able to see the cyanotype mixture change colour before their eyes, and were able to create shadows on the print itself with their bodies, Goan Christmas decorations in the shape of stars and a Sun-shape made of palm leaves.  

World Record Cyanotype, Jaden Hastings, Nachiket Guttikar, Melanie King, The Story of Light Festival Goa, 2015.

I had also been experimenting with solargraph pinhole cameras which can be set up to track the passage of the Sun with extremely long exposures of up to a year. The resultant images show the orbit and tilt of the Earth around the Sun, as the Sun appears to move through the sky. Both the cyanotype and the solargraph could be described as “celestographs” as with both processes photons from the Sun affect photosensitive material.

Meteotypes

Following my experiments with celestial light, I then began to think about materiality of objects that originate from beyond the Earths’ atmosphere, such as meteorites and lunar dust. In 2016, I worked with the Royal School of Mines at Imperial College London to create what I call “Meteotypes”.

Meteotypes, Meteorite-Imbued Etching Ink, 2016.

I sourced some meteorites online and took them to be milled into fine dust in the Earth Science and Engineering department in the Royal School of Mines, with the permission of Katharina Kreissig and Barry J Coles. The fine dust was then mixed with extender and carbon black to create meteorite-imbued etching ink. Photographs of the meteorites were printed with their-own ink, meaning that the meteorite print is imbued with the very same material that it represents. As the viewer observes the print, they see the photographic record of the meteorite and the traces of the physical material itself.

To conclude this section, these “celestograph” experiments have led to my own deeper understanding in astronomy and photography. These material print-based experiments help myself, and others who are introduced to the processes, to understand astronomy in a very tangible way. Using these processes we are physically handling materials that are affected by or come from outside of the Earths’ atmosphere, we can see the materials alter before our own eyes. This experience is directly in contrast with digital astrophotography, where everything happens within the camera or on a computer screen.

This paper does not discount the field of digital astrophotography, as without digital technology astronomical discoveries would not be happening at such an astounding rate. Additionally,  the field of astronomy also opens the door to new possibilities in photography and art-making. In the field of photography, we are often content with using digital cameras that utilise the visible spectrum of light, but what happens when we begin to use infrared filters and films, for example?

Telescopes and Dark Skies

I am the co-director of Lumen Studios and super/collider, where both organisations actively encourage astronomical observation within a wide range of communities. Lumen particularly focuses on how a range of different cultures have responded to the Sun, Moon and stars throughout time, taking into account Paganism, Christianity, Islam and beliefs of ancient civilisations such as the Aztecs, Maya, Aboriginals and Egyptians.

Both Lumen and super/collider organise trips to dark sky areas to encourage participants to view the night sky without light pollution. A recent study “The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness” by Fabio Falchi, suggests that only a third of people living on Earth have seen the Milky Way, because our view of the stars is increasingly obscured by manmade light.

Stars in Atina, Italy, 2017

Every year, Lumen organizes a residency to Atina in Italy for twenty artists from all over the world. During this residency, artists are taken to Campo Catino observatory for deep sky observation up in the mountains where it is dark enough for the Milky Way to be seen. The artists’ accommodation and studio is also situated within a small rural town, where it is easy to find a dark spot for viewing the stars and there is a telescope on site for artists to view the Moon and planets at any time during the fortnight. Often, artists comment that they have never seen through a telescope before or seen the Milky Way, which can make for an unforgettable experience. At the end of the residency, there are two exhibitions in Italy and London where the artists can present artworks responding to the residency.

Similarly, super/collider organised an inspiration trip to Kielder Observatory, situated close to the Scottish border. The observatory established the Northumberland Dark Sky Park, now the third biggest dark sky park in Europe – specifically focused on protecting the skies from light pollution. The observatory offered us a number of workshops on our trip, including deep sky observations where we saw the Hercules Globular Cluster and the Ring nebulae. We were also able to see the planets Saturn and Jupiter close up, and had the chance to look at the Sun through a number of different telescopes.

Both Lumen and super/collider are passionate about bringing an engagement with astronomy to the urban environment. We often collaborate with Paul Hill of Sirius Astronomy, who brings his collection of telescopes to London, speaks to visitors in an accessible and informative way and helps a range of communities view the Moon, planets and stars. Most participants are shocked that it is possible to see such exotic objects from London, currently the largest city in Europe.

In both scenarios, participants are given the opportunity to view their world with a new perspective. When participants view planet Saturn through a telescope, or the Milky Way galaxy from the Earth for the first time, shock and awe is a common response. And no wonder, as the more we look at the universe in the field of astronomy, the more we realise that conscious life has only inhabited a tiny portion of the entirety of time and space, and is therefore incredibly precious. One perspective when faced with the brief existence of human conscious life would be to feel utterly insignificant, but I believe that we are profoundly lucky to be alive given the circumstances. Not only this, but as humans we are able to ponder the existence of the universe, and express these ideas through the collaborative endeavours of art and science.

Founder and CEO of super/collider, Chris Hatherill adds “In this age of information and free astronomy Apps, it always amazes me how many people at our evening events don’t even realise you can plainly see various planets on most nights, even from an urban setting. The night sky is such a fundamental part of our shared history and culture, so getting as many people as possible to look up and take an interest is really important for us. Melanie’s work with Lumen and other photography-based projects is really inspiring, as it encourages people who might not otherwise see astronomy and photography in the same way to reconsider."

Ancient Light

Moon, UCLO Observatory, In Collaboration with Thomas Schlichter.

As I continue my research I have been continually inspired by the relationship between the complexly intertwined fields of astronomy, photography and philosophy. Keeping in mind the idea of the “celestograph” which can be defined as “writing caused by the heavens”, I have embarked on a new series of photographs. “Ancient Light” aims to capture light that has been travelling for thousands, if not millions of years, directly onto photosensitive film.

Since May 2017, I have been collaborating with Thomas Schlichter, Technical Staff Member at UCLO Observatory to photograph stars, moons and planets on film, instead of using digital capture techiques. Using the digital option, the photon is translated to electrical signals, which can be arranged to make pixels on a screen. In contrast, the stellar photon is physically absorbed by the silver halide crystals, causing the silver to turn black when processed through developer and fixer. As an artist, the use of film is exciting in this context because I am able to physically handle material that has been altered by ancient light. I can use this in a darkroom by shining light through the film negative, and creating a direct print.

The index as defined by CS Pierce as “a sign or representation is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity.” To clarify, an index could be the footprint which stands in for the shoe, or a bullet hole which refers to the bullet. Put simply, the analogue negative can not help but to refer to the light it receives. Though attractive, digital astro-photographs do not excite me in the same way because they are stored within the memory of a camera, and can be mediated easily with stacking software and photoshop.

Many of the astronomers at the observatory remember the days when there was no option but to use analogue photographic processes, and have no desire to return to those days. For the astronomers at the observatory, digital CCD cameras can produce quick results that are very precise, whereas the analogue photographs required the production of specialized highly sensitive photographic emulsions which needed to be processed in the darkroom very quickly.

The practice of taking a photograph of an astronomical object in any format can be quite laborious, as it requires staying up late, standing in the cold, making exposures that can be as long as 30 minutes. Added to this, the process of developing and fixing the photograph makes the night even longer

I have now visited the observatory on five occasions, and each time both myself and Thomas learned something about how to use analogue film cameras on the telescopes and how to adjust to the specific challenges of astrophotography.

Thomas Schlichter adds;

“Creating astronomical photographs on film 'the old fashioned way' lacks immediate feedback. The delay until one knows if the imaging worked out as intended needs some getting used to and can be frustrating but makes one appreciate the skill, patience and stamina of previous generations of astronomers. When done successfully, the reward is a unique and tangible result of immense satisfaction. The renewed interest in analogue photography of astronomical objects helps to preserve and regain working knowledge of old techniques and might even inspire future teaching workshops.”

Arcturus, 2017. A collaboration between myself and  Thomas Schlichter, Technical Staff Member at UCLO Observatory.

Dark Matter

Cosmic Ray Oscillograph Installation. Laboratory of Dark Matters, Guest Projects, April 2017. Credit: Sara Lynd

In 2016, I visited the Boulby laboratory in North Yorkshire with a group of artists who took a journey 1100m beneath the surface of the Earth to visit Boulby Underground Laboratory. There we met scientists working on the detection of dark matter and were introduced to the Boulby Underground Laboratory by Dr Cham Ghag. After the visit we embarked on a series of exhibitions and events entitled the “Laboratory of Dark Matters”. This project was initiated by artist Susan Eyre, and funded by Arts Council England Grants For The Arts, Science and Technology Facilities Council and The Institute of Physics.

In Boulby Laboratory, Credit: Chris Toth

Inspired by the idea of “celestography”, I set myself the challenge of considering how it would be possible to make a “celestograph” using non-visual data. From my research into astronomy and physics, I have discovered that astronomical imaging makes use of a number of different forms of electromagnetism. Earlier on in this article, I have mentioned using an optical telescope to capture visible light from stars. However, astronomy tells us that our view into the universe is limited because some stars and galaxies are too far away or too dim to be observed by visible light alone. Over the past two centuries, the field of astronomical imaging has now allowed us to “see” more than ever before, with other forms of electromagnetism (such as x rays, infrared and ultraviolet. In this way, science has extended our visual powers to visualise objects that cannot be seen with the eye alone.

For the Laboratory of Dark Matters project, I was inspired to use photographic processes to visualize “invisible” cosmic ray data which is sensed by the dark matter detector. After working on a room-sized deconstructed oscillograph installation to visualize pulsar stars beyond the visible light spectrum, I decided to create a Cosmic Ray Oscillograph. Physicists Sally Shaw and Dr Cham Ghag arranged for me to work with wave form data from the LUX (Large Underground Xenon) Detector. The wave form data showed wave form height and duration, so it seemed sensible to “map” these wave forms to sound. Artist and former astro-physics major Steve Aishman was able to help me do this.

For the Guest Projects exhibition, I installed a phosphorescent spinning disc in a darkened room. The cosmic ray data ‘sounds’ controlled a laser connected to a solenoid, which then projected light onto the phosphorescence to create emergent drawings. As the phosphorescent disc spun on its’ axis, interesting lines emerged and overlapped, before fading away. Inspired by the history of photo-acoustics, I then used the installation to create camera-less photographs, where photosensitive paper took the place of the phosphorescence.

The collaboration allowed for the wave form data to be experienced in a tangible, physical way. Visitors were able to hear the data translated to sound, and see this sound translated to visual movement. Before this experiment, the data could only be experienced in number form.

Sally Shaw explains how the photo-acoustic installation reminded her that she is working with physical phenomena.

“As an experimental particle physicist, I find analysing data does not always involve looking at the waveforms from our detector; I spend most of my time writing computer code and staring at numbers on a screen. To be able to hear and visualise our data in an entirely new and unique way was a stark reminder of the fact that we are dealing with real, fascinating physical phenomenon. I have done a lot of public outreach but there is nothing quite like having something tangible for members of the public to see, hear, and interact with - this can help open up a very technical field to everyone else to learn from and enjoy. I think this was very worthwhile and it reminded me that what we do is more than crunch numbers with our computers.”

As cosmic rays are invisible to human eyes, projects such as this help us to visualise phenomena that could not be seen otherwise. This means that technical information that could usually only be interpreted by scientists, can be made accessible for practitioners in other fields.

Shaw also suggests that by visualising the data, the data becomes more tangible to scientists. This is a comment that I would not have forseen, but is highly important.

Following this experiment, I am keen to consider how it might be possible to visualize other forms of data using photo-acoustics and full room oscillograph installations.

Collaborations in Art and Science. What can photographic practice and theory contribute to the field of astronomy, and vice versa?

I am still at the beginning of my research journey, but here are some conclusions from my collaborations so far. 

One of the most important cultural messages that we have obtained from the field of astronomy, is that looking into space teaches us to understand our place in the universe.  Photographs such as the “Pale Blue Dot” show us that conscious life inhabits a tiny portion of the entirety of both time and space, and is therefore incredibly precious. I believe that astronomical images such as the Pale Blue Dot encourage us to think critically about how we treat our planet, live our lives and how we work as artists.

Pale Blue Dot, Voyager 1 Space Probe, 1990.

Scientific imaging also requires the use of a variety of instruments that can detect a wide range of electromagnetic frequencies such as visible light, infrared and ultraviolet. These detection methods offer new ways of seeing the world, simultaneously offering new range of creative possibilities for artists. I demonstrated this during my collaboration with Dr Cham Ghag and Dr Sally Shaw on the “Cosmic Ray Oscillograph”, we used wave form data and photo-acoustic techniques that had not been combined together before.

On the flipside, photographic practice enables us to understand the phenomena of light in a tangible way. As an artist interested in analogue photography, I have learned more about how light works through my artistic practice. The simplicity of a process such as cyanotype means that I am able to share this knowledge easily to a wide range of audiences, from eminent physicists with a background in light-based technologies to small children who can learn about light intuitively. Both Thomas Schlichter and Sally Shaw commented on the “tangibility” of the collaborations, allowing them to see their own work in a new way.

Another important point is that artists and photographers are used to being critical about the production of images, in a way that astronomers are not. Elizabeth Kessler’s “Picturing the Cosmos” demonstrates how astronomers have taken their visual language from the field of art.

These Hubble images are incredibly prevalent, however they somewhat lack imagination. From my collaborations so far, it is clear to me that both art and scientists should collaborate to find new and experimental ways to represent astronomical phenomena. My ongoing research explores how artists and scientists have approached astronomical imaging, in many different ways. For example, I am very interested to see how scientists working on the Event Horizon Telescope will use their data to visualise the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy.

I posit that astronomical technologies are advancing at an ever-increasing pace, but conceptually we are lagging behind. In other words, we find it hard to understand how developments such as the discovery of gravitational waves can affect our perception of the universe at large. I believe that artistic and photographic theory is well versed in the field of philosophy, and can offer a way of making sense of wild discoveries and new technologies. I posit that more research can be done on the philosophical implications of new technologies, with the same rigour that has been applied to the “straight” photograph.

[melindarowens]

Weekend Reads: When in Rome . . .

“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again — to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.” — Pico Iyer, “Why We Travel“

Feeling somewhat wistful this week, I found myself drawn — yet again — to the opening sentences of Pico Iyer’s beautiful essay. No matter how many times I have read those lines, they remain as timeless and relevant as when I first read them. Iyer’s words remind me why it’s important not to lose one’s sense of adventure.

In a new podcast, Carl Richards, also known as the “Sketch Guy,” tells Robin Powell what drove him and his family to move from Utah to New Zealand for a year. “We as a family, we really value adventure, and by adventure I mean navigating wild landscapes, if you will, whether those are cultural, or emotional, or environmental, or physical,” he says. After Carl’s wife nearly died in a climbing accident, he wrote a column about regret: “On your deathbed, it’s too late to make wish lists,” he tells readers, before challenging them to consider, “What’s on your wish list? What might you regret if you don’t do it soon?”

I’ve been thinking a lot about travel and adventure these past few weeks as I recently returned from a two-week holiday in Italy. This trip marked a first for me in one key respect: I decided not to check work email, Twitter, or to read the news media, for the duration. It was tough at first, but I was resolute and returned with a few insights:

You’ve got to stick with your out-of-office message. If you say you’re not checking email but respond as soon as you receive one, nobody will believe what you say and you’ll be expected to reply throughout your so-called time off. And guess what? When I returned after two weeks, the building was still standing, the team was still working, and the world was still turning.

Garbage in, garbage out. In tech, this is known as GIGO and refers to the idea that a computer is “only as good as the data it receives and the instructions it is given.” For me, GIGO refers to my psychological state. The more negative news I consume, the more jaded and negative I feel. I usually say “junk in, junk out,” when applying the phrase to my mental temperament. A good example is when I’m pushing myself during a hard workout. The moment I succumb to “junk,” or negativity, my willpower shrivels and I give in. Old habits die hard. I’ve been a reporter for most of my career, so checking the news is baked into my DNA. But freeing myself from my compulsion made me feel happier and allowed me to focus on reading.

Less social media, more bibliotherapy. As Ceridwen Dovey put it in her essay, “Can Reading Make You Happier?” “Bibliotherapy is a very broad term for the ancient practice of encouraging reading for therapeutic effect.” Reading remains one of my greatest pleasures, but over the past few years, I’ve struggled to stay focused on the page. I can barely make it through one or two pages before flicking through my smartphone to check email, Twitter, and Facebook. There is more than a hint of irony that one of the books on my nightstand — that I have yet to open — is The Distracted Mind. So when I headed to Italy, I had to make a conscious choice to rid myself of distractions. As Shane Parrish writes, “As simple as it sounds, finding time to read boils down to choices about how you allocate your time.” I’m happy to report I made it through Christopher McDougall’s best-selling tome about running, Born to Run, (no doubt distinguishing myself as close-to-the-last runner on the planet to read it), and David Grann’s fascinating true-crime narrative, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.

I have a gaping hole in my education when it comes to the history of ancient Rome and want to learn more. Have any good suggestions for what I should read? Leave a comment below.

It’s the simple things in life that count: lashings of extra virgin olive oil; a Bialetti stovetop espresso maker; quality coffee beans; fresh, seasonal local produce; freshly baked bread; a fine bottle of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (after all, In Vino Veritas, “There is truth in wine”); rest; and books.

And now, on to some articles and multimedia I have enjoyed in recent weeks, in case you missed them:

“Adventurers are being sought for the first attempt by an all-woman team to walk to the North Pole. . . . Applications are invited from women of any age, background, and occupation, but they will have to prove fitness and commitment. They will have to put up with real pain and discomfort. They will wonder every ten steps what they are doing but they have the opportunity to take part in an epic endeavor.” So read a notice that appeared in the classified ads of The Telegraph that ultimately led to “The Amazing Story of the First All-Women North Pole Expedition.” (Smithsonian)

After spending time walking around the Colosseum and Roman Forum, I had a desire to learn more. One of the first things I found is this video simulation, “Visualizing Imperial Rome” around the year 320 AD. (Khan Academy)

When in Rome, eat amatriciana, one of the city’s staple pasta dishes. But never, ever make it with garlic. For if you do, you risk shame. According to officials in Amatrice, real amatriciana contains only six ingredients: pecorino cheese, white wine, guanciale (pork jowl), tomatoes from San Marzano, pepper, and chili. (The Guardian)

“Nowhere in Italy, where calamity comes embellished with rococo gestures and embroidered in exclamation points, is there a crisis more beautifully framed than Venice. Neither land nor water, but shimmering somewhere in between, the city lifts like a mirage from a lagoon at the head of the Adriatic. For centuries it has threatened to vanish beneath the waves of the acqua alta, relentlessly regular flooding caused by the complicity of rising tides and sinking foundations, but that is the least of its problems.” See “Vanishing Venice.” (National Geographic)

A look at Venice, Italy, during a flood and a short video about how La Serenissima, Bride of the Sea, works with its intricate web of canals, bridges, and wooden polls. (Boston Globe, Venice Backstage)

“A Brief History of the World’s Most Influential Art Exhibition” (The Atlantic)

If you are a regular reader, you will recall that I’ve included Oliver Sacks’s essay “Speak, Memory” in at least one roundup. It’s a fascinating piece about Sacks’s surreal discovery about this own memories: “I accepted that I must have forgotten or lost a great deal, but assumed that the memories I did have — especially those that were very vivid, concrete, and circumstantial — were essentially valid and reliable; and it was a shock to me when I found that some of them were not.” Even though I’ve read about how notoriously unreliable our memories are, it was still shocking to read “Remembering the Murder You Didn’t Commit“: “DNA evidence exonerated six convicted killers. So why do some of them recall the crime so clearly?” (The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker)

In a recent blog post, Ben Carlson, CFA, outlines the reasons why he believes simple beats complex in the investment world. (A Wealth of Common Sense)

Thinking about penning a book? Jason Zweig offers “Ten Tips for Writing a Book Without Making Your Head Explode.” (Jason Zweig)

Speaking of writing, Barry Ritholtz makes an excellent point about the art of curating content: “Curate viciously,” he says. “What you choose to omit is crucial to making any list special.” (Bloomberg View)

I enjoyed Patrick O’Shaughnessy’s recent post on lessons learned from a year of podcasting. Two of those lessons apply beyond podcasts: Conversation is an underused method of learning, and “preparation and careful listening are everything.” (The Investor’s Field Guide)

“Exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Put them together, and you have a kingdom.” Nice quote from Jack LaLanne in “How Aging Research is Changing Our Lives.” (Nautilus)

Chief Justice John Roberts of the US Supreme Court gave an unconventional speech to his son’s graduating class that has been doing the rounds on social media. If you missed it, it’s worth a read. (Time)

For something completely different, a beautifully written essay: “The Fish: A Story of Love and Letting Go.” (On Being)

This week marked Henry David Thoreau’s 200th birthday and so it seems appropriate to close with this quote from Walden: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” (Washington Post)

If you liked this post, don’t forget to subscribe to the Enterprising Investor.

All posts are the opinion of the author. As such, they should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute or the author’s employer.

Image credit: ©Getty Images/Filippo Maria Bianchi

Lauren Foster

Lauren Foster is managing editor of Enterprising Investor and co-lead of CFA Institute’s Women in Investment Management initiative. Previously, she worked as a freelance writer for Barron’s and the Financial Times. Prior to her freelance work, Foster spent nearly a decade on staff at the FT as a reporter and editor based in the New York bureau. Foster holds a BA in political science from the University of Cape Town, and an MS in journalism from Columbia University.

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[everettwilkinson]

Weekend Reads: When in Rome . . .

“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again — to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.” — Pico Iyer, “Why We Travel“

Feeling somewhat wistful this week, I found myself drawn — yet again — to the opening sentences of Pico Iyer’s beautiful essay. No matter how many times I have read those lines, they remain as timeless and relevant as when I first read them. Iyer’s words remind me why it’s important not to lose one’s sense of adventure.

In a new podcast, Carl Richards, also known as the “Sketch Guy,” tells Robin Powell what drove him and his family to move from Utah to New Zealand for a year. “We as a family, we really value adventure, and by adventure I mean navigating wild landscapes, if you will, whether those are cultural, or emotional, or environmental, or physical,” he says. After Carl’s wife nearly died in a climbing accident, he wrote a column about regret: “On your deathbed, it’s too late to make wish lists,” he tells readers, before challenging them to consider, “What’s on your wish list? What might you regret if you don’t do it soon?”

I’ve been thinking a lot about travel and adventure these past few weeks as I recently returned from a two-week holiday in Italy. This trip marked a first for me in one key respect: I decided not to check work email, Twitter, or to read the news media, for the duration. It was tough at first, but I was resolute and returned with a few insights:

You’ve got to stick with your out-of-office message. If you say you’re not checking email but respond as soon as you receive one, nobody will believe what you say and you’ll be expected to reply throughout your so-called time off. And guess what? When I returned after two weeks, the building was still standing, the team was still working, and the world was still turning.

Garbage in, garbage out. In tech, this is known as GIGO and refers to the idea that a computer is “only as good as the data it receives and the instructions it is given.” For me, GIGO refers to my psychological state. The more negative news I consume, the more jaded and negative I feel. I usually say “junk in, junk out,” when applying the phrase to my mental temperament. A good example is when I’m pushing myself during a hard workout. The moment I succumb to “junk,” or negativity, my willpower shrivels and I give in. Old habits die hard. I’ve been a reporter for most of my career, so checking the news is baked into my DNA. But freeing myself from my compulsion made me feel happier and allowed me to focus on reading.

Less social media, more bibliotherapy. As Ceridwen Dovey put it in her essay, “Can Reading Make You Happier?” “Bibliotherapy is a very broad term for the ancient practice of encouraging reading for therapeutic effect.” Reading remains one of my greatest pleasures, but over the past few years, I’ve struggled to stay focused on the page. I can barely make it through one or two pages before flicking through my smartphone to check email, Twitter, and Facebook. There is more than a hint of irony that one of the books on my nightstand — that I have yet to open — is The Distracted Mind. So when I headed to Italy, I had to make a conscious choice to rid myself of distractions. As Shane Parrish writes, “As simple as it sounds, finding time to read boils down to choices about how you allocate your time.” I’m happy to report I made it through Christopher McDougall’s best-selling tome about running, Born to Run, (no doubt distinguishing myself as close-to-the-last runner on the planet to read it), and David Grann’s fascinating true-crime narrative, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.

I have a gaping hole in my education when it comes to the history of ancient Rome and want to learn more. Have any good suggestions for what I should read? Leave a comment below.

It’s the simple things in life that count: lashings of extra virgin olive oil; a Bialetti stovetop espresso maker; quality coffee beans; fresh, seasonal local produce; freshly baked bread; a fine bottle of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (after all, In Vino Veritas, “There is truth in wine”); rest; and books.

And now, on to some articles and multimedia I have enjoyed in recent weeks, in case you missed them:

“Adventurers are being sought for the first attempt by an all-woman team to walk to the North Pole. . . . Applications are invited from women of any age, background, and occupation, but they will have to prove fitness and commitment. They will have to put up with real pain and discomfort. They will wonder every ten steps what they are doing but they have the opportunity to take part in an epic endeavor.” So read a notice that appeared in the classified ads of The Telegraph that ultimately led to “The Amazing Story of the First All-Women North Pole Expedition.” (Smithsonian)

After spending time walking around the Colosseum and Roman Forum, I had a desire to learn more. One of the first things I found is this video simulation, “Visualizing Imperial Rome” around the year 320 AD. (Khan Academy)

When in Rome, eat amatriciana, one of the city’s staple pasta dishes. But never, ever make it with garlic. For if you do, you risk shame. According to officials in Amatrice, real amatriciana contains only six ingredients: pecorino cheese, white wine, guanciale (pork jowl), tomatoes from San Marzano, pepper, and chili. (The Guardian)

“Nowhere in Italy, where calamity comes embellished with rococo gestures and embroidered in exclamation points, is there a crisis more beautifully framed than Venice. Neither land nor water, but shimmering somewhere in between, the city lifts like a mirage from a lagoon at the head of the Adriatic. For centuries it has threatened to vanish beneath the waves of the acqua alta, relentlessly regular flooding caused by the complicity of rising tides and sinking foundations, but that is the least of its problems.” See “Vanishing Venice.” (National Geographic)

A look at Venice, Italy, during a flood and a short video about how La Serenissima, Bride of the Sea, works with its intricate web of canals, bridges, and wooden polls. (Boston Globe, Venice Backstage)

“A Brief History of the World’s Most Influential Art Exhibition” (The Atlantic)

If you are a regular reader, you will recall that I’ve included Oliver Sacks’s essay “Speak, Memory” in at least one roundup. It’s a fascinating piece about Sacks’s surreal discovery about this own memories: “I accepted that I must have forgotten or lost a great deal, but assumed that the memories I did have — especially those that were very vivid, concrete, and circumstantial — were essentially valid and reliable; and it was a shock to me when I found that some of them were not.” Even though I’ve read about how notoriously unreliable our memories are, it was still shocking to read “Remembering the Murder You Didn’t Commit“: “DNA evidence exonerated six convicted killers. So why do some of them recall the crime so clearly?” (The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker)

In a recent blog post, Ben Carlson, CFA, outlines the reasons why he believes simple beats complex in the investment world. (A Wealth of Common Sense)

Thinking about penning a book? Jason Zweig offers “Ten Tips for Writing a Book Without Making Your Head Explode.” (Jason Zweig)

Speaking of writing, Barry Ritholtz makes an excellent point about the art of curating content: “Curate viciously,” he says. “What you choose to omit is crucial to making any list special.” (Bloomberg View)

I enjoyed Patrick O’Shaughnessy’s recent post on lessons learned from a year of podcasting. Two of those lessons apply beyond podcasts: Conversation is an underused method of learning, and “preparation and careful listening are everything.” (The Investor’s Field Guide)

“Exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Put them together, and you have a kingdom.” Nice quote from Jack LaLanne in “How Aging Research is Changing Our Lives.” (Nautilus)

Chief Justice John Roberts of the US Supreme Court gave an unconventional speech to his son’s graduating class that has been doing the rounds on social media. If you missed it, it’s worth a read. (Time)

For something completely different, a beautifully written essay: “The Fish: A Story of Love and Letting Go.” (On Being)

This week marked Henry David Thoreau’s 200th birthday and so it seems appropriate to close with this quote from Walden: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” (Washington Post)

If you liked this post, don’t forget to subscribe to the Enterprising Investor.

All posts are the opinion of the author. As such, they should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute or the author’s employer.

Image credit: ©Getty Images/Filippo Maria Bianchi

Lauren Foster

Lauren Foster is managing editor of Enterprising Investor and co-lead of CFA Institute’s Women in Investment Management initiative. Previously, she worked as a freelance writer for Barron’s and the Financial Times. Prior to her freelance work, Foster spent nearly a decade on staff at the FT as a reporter and editor based in the New York bureau. Foster holds a BA in political science from the University of Cape Town, and an MS in journalism from Columbia University.

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