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threewaysdivided · 4 years

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I appreciate the response. Yeah, among other adjustments, had the plot been handled a little differently, I feel like Sam’s relationship with her parents could have evolved into something like that of Danny and Jazz and their parents. And don’t get me wrong; I still like Sam, too.

(In reference to this post and follow-up ask.)

Good to hear from you again 😊

I think there were a lot of things across the board that could have been tweaked or edited to improve the integrity of the series. If I had to boil down the problem with DP to a single point I’d probably say it’s that the most interesting parts of the show are the characters/world/implications but the writers (or some of them anyway - I suspect there might have been some conflict between Hartman, the lead writers and the execs’) wanted certain plots, aesops and gags, and chose to brute-force them in regardless of whether they actually worked with what was already there. Basically, it lacks consistency and internal logic.

For Sam in particular I think there are a few things that could have been handled better:

First one’s more a general complaint at the show and might light a fire under my notes but heck lets go there anyway but the writing has kind of a sexist bent that really doesn’t fit the characters or need to be there. Considering how much Danny and Jack are shown to love and respect Maddie and Jazz there’s no way they’d call their involvement in Genius Magazine “the swimsuit edition”. Paulina might be traditionally feminine but “She surrendered her individuality for a boy! I’m so proud of her!” is not a line that any human girl in the history of human girls would say unironically. There’s also a few too many jokes that basically boil down to “male character is emasculated/ vulnerable/ likes feminine-coded things, hyuk hyuk hyuk”.

I’m bringing this up not just because they’re gross cheap gags but because for Sam specifically, this pervasive low-key contempt for women and femininity in the writing, especially the tendency to portray almost every non-sympathetic girl her age as one-note, brainless boy-crazy cliches that she can’t connect with, really does not help her character. I would have loved to see more genuine interaction between Sam and the other girls, even if it most of it was Kim Possible-Bonnie Rockwaller style antagonistic rapport. We could have seen her develop some kind of tenuous connection with one of the A-listers, or even just have a secondary-female-character to be cordial towards - kind of like Mikey is for Danny and Tucker. Hold up, outside of Valerie, Star and Paulina are there any named secondary girls at Casper High? Sam doesn’t seem to have a single female friend in the show and considering how vocally judgemental she is, it can almost read like she’s rejecting them outright for being girls, which really undercuts attempts to make her seem feminist. (I mentioned it in a past tag but this feels like an early-2000s-male-writer mistake of equating Female Empowerment™ with the ability to tear down other women and belittle traditional femininity - which isn’t so much Feminism as it is Internalised Misogyny.) Even just mixing up the pairings to put her with Star instead of Kwan in Lucky in Love would have helped.

I’d have also liked to see more awareness of and consistency in the conflict between her activism and her wealth. It kind of undercuts the significance of her activism when you realise that she’s wealthy enough to make these choices with little cost to herself; it’s much easier to go vegan or buy renewable/ recyclable /sustainable /fair-trade when price isn’t an issue, especially if you also have serving staff to offset the time cost. Once you notice this it makes her activism feel more tokenistic, and also like she doesn’t really understand her own privilege when she tries to push her agendas onto the school/ her classmates without considering why they mightn’t be able to do so as easily. It’s also weird because the source of her family’s wealth is a cellophane-toothpick-wrapper (i.e. something that basically produces litter) but she still seems very comfortable enjoying the material benefits despite her pro-eco anti-consumerism sentiments. It’s bizarre that she’s more concerned with the social consequence of ‘fake friends’ than the ethics of capitalism. It can come off a bit “do as I say, not as I do”.

It would have been nice for the show to give more screen time to reinforcing that Sam is aware of that conflict and is making an active effort to hold to her principles even at the cost of personal comfort; maybe showing some unease at the source of her wealth, trying to live below her means and only spend up on ethical/ eco-friendly/ sustainable products, op-shopping or hand-making her goth accessories, going out of her way to re-use or re-purpose things even if buying a new one would be ‘better’, actually showing or referencing her doing substantial hands-on activities (e.g. going off-screen or taking the boys to do tree-planting, litter pickups, soup kitchens, animal-shelter work etc). Just something to help make it clearer that she genuinely cares and isn’t just doing the low-mess lip-service activities because she enjoys indulging in the image of Wokeness™.

These things would have helped regardless of how her family was written but let’s hop back on topic and talk about them. I don’t have any prescriptive preference but let’s spitball a few different options and how they could have played:

#1 Sam’s parents don’t respect her interests and want her to fit a mold

In this case I’d make it that they don’t really pay attention or show much caring for who Sam really is as a person; their image of and interactions with her are more of a fantasised version of the ‘perfect’ daughter they want, they make very little effort to encourage her actual interests and are perhaps restrictive about what they let her do in the few moments when they do bother paying close attention (you might compare to some versions of Tim Drake’s Parents from DC Comics). Classist, overly image-conscious, snobby and superficial.

This would be the most sympathetic portrayal of her character without changing it very far from how it is in DP canon - helping contextualise why Sam is so fiercely defensive of her autonomy, why she pushes so hard when trying to get her opinions across and why she’s so judgemental of rich people and disdainful towards classic femininity - even possibly explaining her more hypocritical/ manipulative/ entitled traits as learned behaviours. It would also give her more legitimate reason to be less empathetic towards others - after all even if they have struggles and family troubles it’s still better than what she’s dealing with (Danny’s parents may not be attentive but hey, at least they love him for himself, right?)

For this version I’d probably put her arc around growing past the “suffering olympics” model of viewing other people’s pain, but also in her finding family in Danny/Tucker/her Grandmother’s circle of connections, learning how to have healthy power-balance and communication in her relationships with others (aka: getting over her hypocrisy and realising that assertiveness is about communicating that “I matter, and so do you”) and pulling away from her parents’ influence - maybe even living with Ida a lot of the time.

#2 Sam’s parents are well-intentioned but overbearing

For this one, Sam’s parents would genuinely want the best for her… only they have an overly old-fashioned and restrictive view of what “the best” is and are a bit set-in-their-ways. They’d probably view “hippies” and “goth” stuff as “dangerously rebellious hooligan-activities” and likely to be somewhat patronising about Sam’s passion for it being “just a phase”. They’d be worried about her hanging around “the Fenton Kid” and “the Foley Kid” both because Danny’s parents are kind of irresponsible screwballs about safety but also because they put a lot of value in image due to their belief in social connections being the way to get ahead. Them pushing Sam towards classic femininity and specific activities would be less about disrespecting her identity and more about their overly narrow view of “success” and worrying that she’s going to end up losing valuable opportunities and “wasting her life” if she keeps on down her current path.

This would still give Sam more sympathetic context for her views on femininity and pushiness about self-expression.

Personally I think the arc I’d like to see here is one themed around responsible/considerate assertiveness and valuing alternative perspectives. Sam coming to realise her own hypocrisy - that she can’t push her views onto others while complaining about her parents doing the same - developing more sympathy for Danny as she realises that he’s in a similar position with Jack’s insistence that he’ll inherent Fentonworks and his parents’ narrow-mindedness about ghosts, interacting with other girls and seeing their perspective, learning how to assert her opinion while making allowances for others’ (maybe an alternative version where she connects with Star in Lucky in Love and, after Aragon’s defeat in Beauty Marked, Sam still says she personally thinks it’s dumb but then steps down and lets Star win because she understands that Star values it), and getting her Grandma’s help in convincing her parents to widen their perspective while still responding to their concerns.

(This one has the overall kindest message and I think I like it best).

#3 Sam’s parents are trying and Sam’s actually the problem

This one is the one that’s the least sympathetic to Sam. Her parents still don’t get the Goth/Activist thing and they have some concerns about safety but they understand that it makes her happy and they’re okay with it so long as she’s not getting into trouble or mixing up with anyone that could hurt her. Them pushing her towards more feminine/optimistic things is less pushing and more trying to encourage some hobbies that offer a bit more common ground. They might have reservations, and they might not always have time, but they would like to be part of their daughter’s life… except for the problem that Sam has wrapped herself up in a teen-drama persecution complex and got it into her head that they “won’t accept her” are “pushing her to be someone else” and “don’t understand” so there’s no point even trying to explain or connect. In this one Ida isn’t taking sides on purpose but she ends up accidentally enabling Sam a little because Sam reminds her of her younger days and she likes spoiling her granddaughter (and doesn’t much care for her daughter-in-law).

In this case Sam’s flaws would be framed much more as flaws born of her making superficial snap judgements, thinking she knows better and being too proud to admit she’s wrong. There would definitely be moments of her coming across as an entitled, privileged holier-than-thou brat who invents problems because she likes feeling sorry for herself, especially early in her arc.

This version of the story would go the hardest on Sam with the general lesson being “you need to respect that other people are people who have their own problems, feelings and needs that are as real and valid as yours”. She’d still have good qualities and Danny and Tucker would still obviously like and value her but there’d also be times of strain where they don’t want to hurt her feelings but are clearly getting worn out with the nonsense. At its worst, maybe a “you’re like mustard. Great in small quantities, but a lot of you is…a lot” type confrontation.

I’d also give the secondary cast the most fleshing out, agency and sympathetic-ness here, and have beats where Sam has to realise that they’re lot more complex than her 2D stereotyped view of them and are dealing with actual serious problems to which hers are largely non-issues by comparison. I’d probably play Dash and Paulina similar to in the fic Alibi (go read it, it’s good) - Dash being gay and performing aggression because toxic masculinity, insecurity, and being terrified of anyone outside the A-listers finding out (still not okay that he’s a bully but at least more understandable), while Paulina is hiding high emotional perceptiveness behind her pretty face and deliberately bearding for him to keep bigoted parents/ teachers off his back. I’d also probably have a subplot in an alternate Life Lessons where Sam follows Valerie around because jealous/possessive and, like Danny, ends up realising that she’s working two jobs to help her Dad with their financial problems. Basically she’d be getting hit with the Reality Stick a lot.

There’d also be more instances of Sam getting directly called out by the other girls. Fleshing them out as people and showing that their dislike is less superficiality and more because she unfairly judges and antagonises them all the time. Giving them more agency in Beauty Marked and have them be direct about “we know you’re just here to be smug about how much ‘Better’ you are but have you considered that we’re doing this for ourselves and actually enjoy it?”. Having Paulina be less “tee hee I am indeed a Witch” in Parental Bonding and more “Ugh fine, fine, I don’t really like him that much but you were being so obviously Jealous and Judge-y and I figured if I played a little you might actually step up. But fine, if you’re sure. Here’s your necklace back, I’ll let your dorky ‘friend’ down tomorrow. But pro-tip? You like someone you gotta go for it - otherwise don’t complain when your boy-toy gets taken by someone who actually means it.” (Still petty, but emotionally intelligent pettiness, which… not really much better, but at least more interesting.) A lot more of Sam realising that she’s not a particularly good feminist and that she’s no more entitled to Danny’s affections than anyone else.

To be honest, while I could say the most about this version and there’s a lot of potential drama there it’s the one I like the least because it means canonising my least favourite proto-abusive bad-faith narcissistic reading of Sam, casting her as an almost-villain and essentially punishing her over and over until she character develops into a decent human being. Sure it’s an important message about how you treat others but it’s not a very nice or kind story and while there might be the odd fic that makes it cathartic I can’t say I’m a huge fan.

Again, if I had to pick, I’d probably go with something like #2.

But there we go. Another thrilling instalment in the “overly long posts about Sam Manson” saga.

Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for stopping by!

#Danny Phantom #Sam Manson #Character Analysis #Storytelling suggestions #the mustard quote is from John Green's Turtles All The Way Down BTW (haven't read but heard it and thought it was a good turn of phrase)#there was so much potential in this show #they were really not good at writing girls in particular #cw: mentions of abuse #cw: sexism discussed #anonymous #3WD Answers

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ticktickblog · 4 years

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Minimalism: How I Finally Found the True Beauty of Living with Less

A couple of months ago, I saw a TV series called Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, where a Japanese lady Konmari visited families to help them tidy their homes. The tiding process normally starts from clothes, books to sentimental items. A rule she’s given is only keeping what’s necessary and discarding those that don’t spark joy anymore. The basic concept embedded in the Konmari method is actually similar to minimalism.

Minimalism is about living with less. This not only means getting rid of extra material possessions, like what they did in that TV series, but also includes reducing mental burdens, and decluttering other aspects of life, e.g. digital life. It’s a less-is-more mindset that gets you to reflect on the current state of your life and identify what is truly valuable. With a minimalist lifestyle, people can sort their life well to enjoy more peace and freedom.

Getting rid of excessive material possessions

Among all aspects of minimal living, what we could easily start with is probably the personal belongings. I know this may still sound like a big project, but here’s what I did:

Observing

The first thing I did was to examine how much stuff I actually own, and I started with clothing. I pulled over all my clothes from several wardrobes and piled them together, which was really appalling, especially seeing hills and hills of clothes and some were years ago but still with the label on. I came to realize that I was kinda a semi shopaholic that I never thought I was.

Decluttering

Then it comes to the decluttering. I had to decide what to keep and what to toss. Considering some clothes are still quite new, I spare another choice for donation. It was quite a struggle to decide which item should go, but I asked myself two main questions:

Functionality: is it still functional/wearable?

Sentimental value: is it something meaningful/makes me happy?

It became easier with these two standards. For example,

Pieces bought out of pure impulse: donate.

Sweater my grandma knitted for me: stay.

T-shirts with holes: go.

Same type of dress: keep the best, ditch the rest.

Trousers I haven’t worn for the last year: go/donate.

Tip: One thing I learned from Konmari was the thank-you ritual. Thank the item for its sweet company before letting it go. This can help reduce your inner guilt when throwing things away.

Organizing

What was also suggested by Marie Kondo was organizing stuff by category instead of by location.This simply means storing the same type of items together, rather than letting them scatter in multiple places. For example, all towels go to one box, and all T-shirts should be collected in the same drawer, sorted by colors if you’d like. This helps when I need to quickly search for something, and also gives me a clear idea of the number of same items I own, which then can prevent me from buying more than I actually need.

Maintaining

To maintain the cleared-out momentum, regularly check if anything becomes excessive or nonfunctional. Also, always ask yourself the hard question — Do I really need it?/Do I already have it? — before you fall prey to consumerism that encourages you to buy excessively. Some minimalists stick strictly to the “one-in-one-out” principle, which means when they add something new, another stuff they already had should go. I haven’t tried this, it might be effective, but also be careful that it can lead to a simple replacement too.

Cleaning up digital clutters

Compared with visible substances in real life, what burdens us in the digital world is perhaps much harder to be noticed. A quick self-check can be: unlocking your phone and counting how many installed apps there are, or go to the photo album, and see the number of photos stored in it. In my case: 187 apps and 19220 photos. Amazing.

I decided to start the purge from those little cute apps. First I created different folders to sort them out by category. Interestingly, I realized I’ve downloaded 14 apps of a single type — photography and editing. Never knew I had a true passion for that. To downsize it, something particularly useful was: keeping the multi-functional apps because these are the ones I use most, just like TickTick, an all-in-one productivity app. Then the others are just a waste of storage. Also, let go of those barely used, for me the recipe apps, because I seldom cook, and also the recruitment apps, which were only used when I needed to look for a job. When finishing the decluttering process, the size of apps on my phone was shrunk largely to nearly ⅓ of the past.

The same process then went with my photo album, which was downsized to about 6k from 20k, after all the meaningless screenshots and repetitive selfies were deleted, and all trip photos were moved into cloud drive. This could further extend to messages or emails, if those are the severely-hit areas in your case. God bless.

I literally felt my phone was thinner after the whole process. Try it.

Reducing the amount of information I’m exposed to every day was what I did next. I’ve tried more radical way like cutting my phone completely out of daily life for 3 days in a row. It felt terrible honestly, and I used it for more hours as a payback once I got it back. A common misconception there of minimalism might be the elimination, but I think the difference is minimalism is not telling you to avoid something forever, it’s always about striking a balance between your desires and capacity.

Therefore, I’m enjoying my digital life, but I’m also trying to weighing it against my capacity of information that I can take in. Articles with exaggerated titles but cheesy contents needed to go first; numbers of newsletters subscribed should be restricted; time spent on TV series was limited; scrolling on social media posts was also reduced; notifications from apps were minimized… so on an so forth.

Reducing mental burdens

Lastly I’d like to talk a little about the effects of minimalism on mental world.

Also take myself as an example, I used to be addicted to expanding my social network, because I’ve long been educated: one more friend, one more road. Therefore, I took very good care of my social media accounts like they were just many MEs living on the internet. However, the larger my network size is, the more exhausted I feel. The more I care about how many likes I get for a new insta post, the more anxious I get.

Then I just realized putting so much effort into building social personas and expanding so-called friendships did nothing good, but added on my mental burdens. Why not spending more time for myself, and people I really love and care about? Understanding the truth of quality over quantity, I decided to:

Unfollow people I met on a party but never talked in life since then.

Delete those using me as a “problem-solving machine” but nothing else.

Delete those who barely contacted me unless they became sales.

Let go of those in close relationships but ghosted for whatever reasons.

Share what I’d really like to share instead of what my online friends like.

After doing that, I felt so much more relieved than before, because I finally understood that my time and energy is the very limited resources I have in life and thus not everyone around me is worth it. I truly get the meaning of living with less: spending less time on the unnecessary and what consumes you endlessly, but more on what you really need and what brings you joy.

Talking all above, you might feel inspired and would also like to try the minimalist lifestyle. But before you go, I’d like to kindly remind you of three gimmicks of minimalism I’ve spotted:

It’s not a disposal competition. Focusing only on the number of stuff you’ve tossed or people moved from your contact is not what really matters. And there isn’t a rule saying the less, the better.

It’s not a promotion of expensive brands with minimal designs. Some products brand themselves with minimalism, making it a new aesthetics standard with normally a not-so-affordable price. How ironic.

Make conscious decisions when ditching something, or else you may find yourself end up in a replacement cycle that causes extra expenditure.

In a nutshell, minimalism is a way of life and a way of thinking. It encourages us to focus more on what’s truly important in life and avoid other distractions; it becomes an antidote that saves us from drowning in numerous goods and boomed information; it helps reduce mental loads and spare some room for inner happiness.

So thank minimalism, go and enjoy life!

#minimalism #minimalist #minimalist lifestyle #living with less #less is more

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theleafpile · 5 years

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deep attention vs. hyper attention

did you look at the title and already anticipate this is going to be a long post? are you already itching to scroll past? or, like I tend to do, do you find the topic interesting but dont have enough brain space or time right now to dedicate to it, so you go to the bottom and click the heart with a promise to come back later?

this is because you might be in hyper-attention mode, which N. Katherine Hayles (postmodern literary critic and professor and director of graduate studies in the program of literature at Duke University) explains as "switching focus rapidly between different tasks, preferring multiple information streams, seeking a high level of stimulation, and having a low tolerance for boredom."*

This is in contrast to deep attention, a mode typically associated with studying or what may be called laser-focused work (I would also argue the concept of "flow" applies) which is characterized by "concentrating on a single object for long periods, ignoring outside stimuli while so engaged, preferring a single information stream, and having a high tolerance for long focus times."**

both modes are obviously necessary for functioning, but if you're like me and have found yourself lamenting your inability to focus, to sit and read without itching for your phone, and desirous for any moment of boredom to need to be immediately satiated (including the utterly droll concept of trying to go to sleep) then I would suggest undergoing a conscious effort to bring deep focus back into your life. here are a few imperfect suggestions, please feel free to add more!

- on the drive or commute to or from work, shut off your music or audio five minutes before you arrive at your destination. you will pay more attention to the road and/or things you usually don't notice. (you can always up the time as you go on.)

- set aside ten minutes of uninterrupted sustained silent reading (remember doing that in school?) and stick to it, slowly lengthening the time to one you have set for a goal (30 min? 1 hr?). this is especially good to wind down before bed.

- brush your teeth, do the dishes, shower, put away laundry, walk the dog, etc (complete maintenance and household chores) without music or the tv. work on the task and it alone.

- leave your phone in another room, your closet, or in a drawer when you go to bed. emergencies are unlikely, and everything else can wait until morning.

- enjoy breakfast without scrolling through your feed. (lunch is another matter, imo, since its good to mentally disconnect from your workday and reconnect with things that bring you enjoyment)

- don't read the comments if you know they will make you upset. there's no reason to do that to yourself.

- unfollow blogs or feeds that don't bring you pleasure. you suddenly have all the time you would've wasted on them back!

- while waiting - at a doctors office, for an oil change, etc - don't allow yourself to get sucked into whatever insane nonsense is playing on the TV. try to people watch or read instead.

as someone who went through high school and most of college without access to social media (or even a phone, hell), I readily admit I'm afraid of what it does to the psyche of young people to always feel the need to promote and present themselves as if they were constantly on display. as I said, both modes are necessary to function, but the great skinner box that is the internet increasingly drives us toward hyper-attention mode, because dissatisfaction promotes consumerism. it can only benefit you to learn how and to employ measures to fight back!

*quoted in The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction, Alan Jacobs 2011

**ibid

#media #reading #good advice #reminders #self care

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mountainsarecallingbabe · 5 years

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Environmental Rant.

I feel like lately I’m struggling a lot with burn out. Burn out in the sense that I don’t know what direction to go with my career but also because of the environmental field today. I think that in my mind I want some kind of end goal to work towards. Like how its more satisfying when you write a list and can complete those simple tasks in a day. For environmental work its not that simple. Its frustrating that we make all of these tiny accomplishments in the right direction (i.e. protecting and preserving our environment) but then at the end of the day there’s this black cloud looming over our heads. The black cloud is the inevitability that our environment isn’t going to be saved. Its the fact that in 50 years we will run out of fossil fuels. Its the fact that despite how much public outcry there is, we can’t get governments or corporations to ban together to actually cultivate impactful solutions to CO2 emissions, ocean acidification and plastic pollution. My realm is plastic pollution and that’s where my interest and activism lies but I’m starting to get burnt out from the lack of diversity in the conversation and dimensionality. The conversation as it exists today only is catered towards those that can afford to think about going zero waste and can dish out the money needed to participate in a green economy. The conversation placed responsibility of this greater issue entirely on the shoulders of the consumer. Its exhausting and as someone who is eco conscious it makes me want to ditch this work entirely. Because while we are all spinning our wheels asking questions about whether one granola is “greener” than another one our grocery shelf, the issue is getting worse. We’re not going to solve this issue with a consumer dollar alone. And to be frank I’m very tired of hearing the saying that the most powerful thing you can do is to vote with your dollar. Like fuck that. That is NOT true. Once again people are trying to make this issue black and white and it isn’t. Of course, if you can vote with your dollar and make an impact on the people and creatures within the production of a product then by all means vote with your dollar but it shouldn’t end there. That shouldn’t be the message we share with one another because who came up with that? Was it corporations? Is that how we vote and participate as citizens now? What about the majority of the world that can’t vote with their dollar? What choice in this green economy do they have? We aren’t going to turn the tide entirely by choosing refillables. This is tedious and the system is built around mass consumerism and convenience therefore it is quite literally inconvenient to be zero waste and expensive. Basically my point here is that things need to happen a lot FASTER than they are happening currently. If we all have to vote with our dollar to get any change to happen then this will take forever and we don’t have forever, we have about 12 years to actually bring greenhouse emissions down to a reasonable amount to save ourselves as a species. People don’t realize that this isn’t about the planet, this is about us as human beings because ultimately, earth will be hear long after we commit mass extinction, to other species and ourselves.

At the end of the day I want to share my 365 Days of Plastics project/experiment with the world and create an environmental blog but I don’t want to be preachy or depressing. I just want to share my love of nature with others and to mobilize people in a way that is DOABLE. This movement of trash-in-a-jar warriors doesn’t make sense on a global scale and isn’t catching on. Its environmental elitism.

End Rant.

#environmentalism #zerowaste #myposts

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dorysuperhappyfunearth · 5 years

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some nifty thrifting tips

hello world! i had a lil thrifting adventure today and i bought a beautiful embroidered romper for $3! hehe. i also wanted to share my experience and some tips and tricks for y’all out there, so let’s all celebrate the birth of this baby post! HERE WE GO.

WHY THRIFT?

thrifting is a great and more affordable + sustainable alternative to fast fashion (click to watch a really informative and interesting video on fast fashion made by a singaporean environmentalist that i follow and admire!). thrifting secondhand = not consuming new materials producing the new clothes that we get. prices can be as low as $1 and for some shops, the proceeds go to social causes (like the scwo new2u thrift shop).

so really, satisfying our ~unending need to consume~ AND doing a good deed? what could beat that?

BEFORE YOU GO

i’m not gonna lie - thrifting can definitely be rather time consuming. i can spend 1-2 hours at a place and leave with only 1 piece of clothing or even none! while this can be unavoidable at times, it’s good to be prepared so you can save some time and love your purchases.

have an idea of what you are looking for. for example, I love whites, lightweight fabrics and summery pieces. so i kept those preferences in mind and looked out for them while going through the racks - which helped narrow the pile and made it much easier to find something that suited my tastes. you can ask yourself a few questions: what colours am i looking for? what materials do i like? what flatters me and what doesn’t? what events/activities do i need clothes for?

know your size. i saw a few pieces that i liked but were not in my size and 1) i definitely couldn’t fake it till i made it and 2) i didn’t know how to alter to be a good fit. i used to just buy clothes that didn’t fit me and say “i’ll just try to alter them at home!” but it never really happened so... unless you are sure that you are going to do something about it, don’t buy it.

dress appropriately! wear something easy to get on and off so that it’s easier to change in the dressing room. maybe even something that you wear often or represents your wardrobe well, so you can see if something will match with the rest of your clothes. and definitely something comfy because you’re gonna sweat, especially in this singapore weather.

bring cash. some thrift shops accept cashless payments, some don’t - so to be on the safe side, just have cash on hand.

ask a friend along! it is so good to have a friend with you who can help you with your decisions and give you their opinion (if that’s what you need). PLUS, it’s a great activity to spend more time with your friends and bring them over to the *sustainable side*!

and don’t forget to bring your own bag to put your purchases, because we love a sustainable sister who doesn’t need plastic bags!

WHILE THRIFTING

“what do you think about this?” “EH it’s quite nice leh!”

it’s honestly pretty easy to get carried away by the low prices and the fact that there’s (usually) only one of any item. having been a victim of the “okay I’m just gonna get it” and regret combo, I’ll probably take some of my own advice.

ask yourself these questions before you decide to buy something: do i really need it? where/what would i wear it to? how often will i wear it? what would i wear it with? do i like it? how would i look in it? i think it’s really important to be sure of what you’re getting because *CONSCIOUS CONSUMERISM*! plus, don’t waste your money on something you’ll barely even wear/that will just be sitting around!

try the clothes on - especially the ones you’re unsure of! if you’re not sure of how it’ll fit, try it on. if you’ve never worn something like that before, try it on! i was about to buy a pair of shorts that i really liked the pattern of and it seemed like it would look nice - but after trying it on, i realised that it really wasn’t for me and that was that. back on the rack it went.

keep an open mind. thrifting is a great way to explore new styles because there are so many different and unique pieces! so don’t be afraid to switch it up a lil.

look out for parts that need fixing and ask yourself if you can fix them. for example, a missing button. a broken strap. stains or holes on the fabric. some things a simple thread and needle can fix, but some things may require more advanced skills (which i unfortunately lack). are you okay with them? and if you’re not, are you able to fix them?

practise patience and perseverance. hey look! another benefit: the qualities that thrifting instills in you! ok but seriously, you have to be prepared to flip through the racks. at one look, some racks may seem uninteresting but you really have to flip through them and you might find some hidden gems. you might not always find what you want that day but try again another day! another place! another time! thrift shops are constantly having their items updated so you never know what you’re gonna get.

AFTER

happy with your purchases? YOU GO GIRL. but don’t forget the following:

wash wash wash. remember to wash all the clothing that you’ve gotten! they can be rather dusty so get ‘em clean.

get fixing! get sewing, get washing. some items can be fixed up really easily, like I’ve sewn on a button (just google for a tutorial) or shortened some straps to make things good as new and fit me even better. and it’s perfect!

and that is all I have for y’all today! I hope it helped and happy thrifting! :)

#thrifting #fast fashion #singapore #sustainability

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jdenvs3000-2018-blog · 5 years

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My place in nature

I figured I’d start this post off by defining what ethics mean to me - ethics are principles that follow a specified assortment of morals. In all honesty, I’m not totally sure that my ethics have changed since I started this course. I’ve always been a big believer and practicer of the Leave No Trace ethics ever since I was trained in LNT when I was sixteen. I also feel that LNT incorporates the practice of sustainability, in terms of nature interpretation, which is a big part of my life. Trying to be as sustainable as possible can be very hard, and honestly, we all have days when we can’t avoid waste or consumerism. I try to be sustainable in every aspect of my life - I carpool/bus/walk whenever I can, I live a low-waste/minimalist lifestyle, I eat vegan (I recently just celebrated my one month veg-anniversary!), and I try to incorporate my passion for protecting and conserving Mother Nature into everything I do.

Following some friends backpacking the Highland trail 35km loop in Algonquin Park (2016).

The beliefs that I bring to my interpretations are that everything in nature matters, to respect Mother Nature at all costs, and to honour the land in the most respectful way possible. Now, you might think that I’m lying, but I’m really not - this is how much I care about nature and its future. Everything in nature matters. Simple as that. Everything has a purpose, and I try to emphasize this in my interpretation. I’m really interested in birds and plants (as I’m sure you’ve all gathered by now), but there are other things - the little things - that I also enjoy. Whenever I’m walking I tend to notice the fungi and lichen throughout the forest, and I’m constantly pointing them out and telling my friends all about them (walks take ten times longer when you bring me along). These fungi and lichen have their purpose in the ecosystem, and I am so appreciative of them that I can’t help but share them with others. Respecting Mother Nature is something that seems so elementary, yet so many people don’t do it. It can be as simple as picking up litter during a hike! And your actions speak to others - someone seeing you picking up some litter on a trail can inspire them to do the same or even be more conscious of their actions. Honouring the land is something that really resonates with me. I’ve been inspired by Indigenous practices and traditions for a long time now (my first powwow was in second grade), and I think we should be offering our respect to the Indigenous folks that were the first stewards of the land. This can be done in so many ways, but my favourite way is through land acknowledgement, which can be a simple or specific statement that acknowledges the territory that is being used, that the occupation of this territory is due to colonization, and offering respect to the Indigenous communities. Land is sacred and honouring the land helps acknowledge its history and significance.

Trumpet lichen (Cladonia fimbriata) in the hemlock grove of Thunder Cape, Ontario (2017).

As a nature interpreter, I believe there are many responsibilities, but I’ll highlight a few of my main ones. Keeping the audience safe is my utmost priority, and I think this is the most important responsibility. This can be done through risk assessment and mitigation, both before and during the interpretation. Keeping the topic and discussions relevant - I can be side-tracked quite easily, so I am constantly trying to stay on topic! Another big one for me is keeping the audience entertained. I’ve personally never enjoyed icebreakers or team-building activities, so I never think to include these in any of my presentations, but for certain audiences, this can be super useful! I really enjoy learning cool facts and how to identify things in nature, and I tend to focus my interpretations based on this, so I need to work on incorporating facts with activities to keep the audience engaged.

Upland sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda) on a fence post in the Carden Alvar, Ontario (2018).

For me personally, I find factual and practical approaches are the most suitable. I’m not comfortable with speaking to an audience (I’m working on it), but a lot of my default actions when I’m nervous are spewing out facts or talking in depth about something. I also find facts really stick with me, and I can remember them really well, which would be useful to add to my interpretations. Practical approaches like learning how to identify things work great for me, since I am very familiar and comfortable with identification. I find that my go-to combo is based on factual and practical approaches; my favourite is identifying something, talking about it: providing background information, its history, and how to identify it, then letting the audience go out and try to find it or another species they can identify, and then bringing everyone back in for a discussion about what they found and how they identified it. I think this is a great way to develop identification skills, since everyone can have a different perspective on the same object.

Me backpacking the Western Uplands 35km loop with some friends in Algonquin Park (2017).

As a whole, I think this course has helped me strengthen my interpretation skills and has pushed me to interpret nature in so many new ways. I would like to offer thanks to everyone for making this course so enjoyable and for offering so many new perspectives that I had not previously considered. Happy trails!

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positivlyfocused · 6 years

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Conspicuous Consumption Is A Spiritual Practice

There is no distinction between a spiritual practice and wantonly consuming material goods. Both produce the same result. Guaranteed.

So go ahead and consume all you want. Or live your life as an ascetic.

It doesn't matter too much really.

And don't worry about the planet. It is easily handling the demand. Though it seems like it's not.

We know, science isn't on our side.

That is, if we had a side, science wouldn't be there. Not yet anyway.

Whether you're determined to master meditation, go vegan, drive an electric car and recycle everything or generate enough wealth to buy an Airstream, a yacht, five houses and a G-5, you're eventually going to come to the same realizations.

Everyone arrives at the same realizations after death.

Some, again, on both paths, get there before that.

That's rare.

Those who do are venerated. Bill Gates–Deepak Chopra. Leonardo DiCaprio–Eckhart Tolle....there are endless examples of the venerable on either path.

· · ·

Some say you can not be spiritual let alone experience higher consciousness while pursuing material satisfaction. These people sometimes see consumerism itself as possibly the worst invention of modern civilization, and the most conspicuous consumers, a scourge.

^^Many people out there rail against material success.

But when you consider where all this material stuff comes from, how it is produced and why, you discover something interesting: the pursuit of material satisfaction is just as powerful a path to "enlightenment" as any spiritual one.

That's because, all things material, including the pursuit itself, is a spiritual process.

To explain:

^^This stuff we see has to come from somewhere! Photo: ohmky

Where do things come from?

Every invention starts with inspiration. Whether it's Facebook, Medium, A Tesla, or BlackKKlansman, creation starts with an idea. Where do ideas come from?

Science will tell you they come from associative processes in the brain which constantly fire in the background of conscious awareness. But there are many steps prior to that process that happen that science doesn't know about.

These steps take place nowhere "near" the brain. Let alone in the brain.

For example, we recently were designated a Medium Top Writer in the Racism tag. We had no idea there was even such a thing as a "Top Writer”.

One day three weeks ago, we got the impulse (a strong urge) to share our work on Medium. We had been sporadically doing so, but two weeks ago, that strong desire turned into a process where we gradually attained a three-story-a-day publishing regimen.

There was no problem in our mind needing a creative solution. We didn't even think about how to attain Top Writer status, let along in the Racism tag. We simply started including Medium as a publishing outlet of our work, enjoying the artistic process along the way.

We know the coordination of events in the physical world which had this result show up in our life experience occurred in a "place" we call The Moment Of Becoming. That place doesn't exist anywhere in physical reality, and is certainly outside the brain. Rather it is a conduit through which material reality emerges.

This is why we practice being more immediately responsive to our intuitions. We have seen so much evidence that intuition is not a random, unreliable source of knowledge, but a highly accurate, intelligent and reliable guide to getting everything we want.

Even things we don't realize we're wanting. Until we have them. Such as this Top Writer thing.

The inspiration to increase our publishing on Medium came from somewhere.

Where did it come from? From that no place we call The Moment Of Becoming.

It is the same place a desire for a car, or a bigger house or a better job comes from: an innate process all humans have and use as expressions of aware-ized life experience.

Aware-ized life experience, which is what you are, desires more of everything. As those desires are satisfied, satisfaction births new desires propelling aware-ized life experience "forward"....along the lines of specific desire focuses, or "channels" or, as Seth calls them: Value Fulfillment.

Inspiration is individual guidance from the larger part of who we all are. It indicates paths through which Value Fulfillment can ultimately be experienced, in a given moment of the collocation of time, space, events and participating expressions of aware-ized life experience.

· · ·

A person is born with a natural desire to create. She seemingly fumbles around for a bit in life until she gets her footing and tunes into her intuition –– her innate impulses "sounding" from "non physical" and received in The Moment Of Becoming.

All during the fumbling she is creating, but indeliberately. Indeliberate creation is valuable too. So it's not wasted energy. No more than the millions of seeds a tree produces, only a very few of which actually become trees.

Intuitive inspiration doesn't just come out of nowhere, it results from a long series of deliberate and focused attention resulting in a momentum of accretionaround a value fulfilment unique and inherent to the individual intuition receiver.

At some point our intrepid human follows that inspiration. It doesn't matter when, because, like all of us, she is eternal. As she gives more and more attention to the inspired idea, resources in the form of people, money, opportunities and events accrete around her.

This process is sometimes delayed by a person who is not naturally attuned to what is going on. A person might try to use the world of "doing" or "action", manipulating matter, people and events, in order to fulfill intention. Those naturally attuned to this process we're describing, use far less action, are much more effective and enjoy the journey far more than those who aren't.

Some time later our individual has a product or service or some kind of value or usefulness to offer. The gestation is perfectly culminated to coincide with the desire for said product or service. Or....due to one or many factors, there is a delay prior to the co-incidence of events wherein eager consumers are ready to consume said value.

This delay humans like to call "failure".

Which is a misnomer, because there really is no such thing. Just like seeds that don't grow into trees aren't "failures".

In the former instance, where everything comes together easily, consumers consume said invention and life moves on. In the latter, an infinite number of alternative events can result, depending on how the maker reacts to the gap between desire expression (wanting to create value for others) and actual desire realization (having someone consume said offer).

Both parties – consumers and producers – are collaborators in this process. Inventors invent based on input from those who want the invention. That communication happens in non-physical, then is "seeded" to many potential "inventors" simultaneously, which explains why multiple inventors will have the same idea at the same time.

It also explains why patent law is a joke.

But that's another story.

Collaboration includes aware-ized life experience expressed in the physical world as the material resources used to make the product or service. All matter is representative and contains within it aware-ized energy. Everything is alive, in other words.

The satisfaction gained by all parties in the consumption of the thing –– from the smallest particle to the largest instantiation...a planet perhaps –– and the value produced is the "more" that was only "potential" when the seed of inspiration got planted.

Thus, with the blooming of invention leading to the delight of consumption, the universe, All That Is and all participating parties become more.

^^Even graffiti taken to “more” becomes beautiful in itself. It is the same with life. Photo credit: anders nord

In an ideal world, humanity would work its wonders to create more and more efficient and useful (i.e. valuable) ideas which increase the capacity and efficiency of its productive capability as well as the productive enjoyment of humanity's physical environment, with no resource exhaustion.

Expanding desire would cause resource expansion and both would keep pace with each other in an ongoing expansion of everything.

We see this happening despite obvious signs to the contrary.

But the timing of "desire" and "fulfillment" is wonky because humans pay too much attention to What Is Happening, lose connection with their invincibility, experience fear and insecurity and act from those places.

This connection loss opens a can of worms too complex to go into here. Suffice it to say, we see the world today, where "waste", seeming resource depletion and environmental destruction are the order of the day instead of what we're describing.

And yet, underneath all this is what we're describing: everything working wonderfully in an elegant and consistent orientation towards more and better for everyone and everything.

The problems humanity faces are due to many factors, one of which being the belief that goes something like this:

"Everything has a cost and if you can't tell me how to pay for it, I'm not going to support it. And if I have to pay for it and I don't agree it should be done, forget about it, particularly if it benefits others, or makes them lazy. People should work for what they get."

Desire causes opportunity for desire satisfaction, leading to desire fulfillment, then more desire and thus more "more". Beliefs like the above just slow things down greatly delaying the process and leaving those who could enjoy satisfaction not enjoying it.

Until after the death moment.

Aware-ized life experience has an insatiable desire for more. It will always desire to experience more of itself. This positive feedback loop –– the desire to have more experiences is partially responsible for you (being an instance of aware-ized life experience) being eternal: it's just not possible for you to come to an end because you are constantly creating more life experience through experiencing your life experience.

How Consumption Equals Enlightenment.

As we said above, some achieve great prosperity allowing a level of material freedom that affords freedom of time and resource abundance. Sometimes in this state, a person begins to look inward or outward, or both. They want to do good. And they want to be able point to the good and say "see, that's because of me".

Of course everything aware-ized life experience does leaves an indelible, positive mark on physical reality. Most people don't understand that.

So they "try" to become more than they perceive themselves to be.

That is the same outcome some "spiritual" people can also arrive at. For every single spiritual guru we can think of has turned to do exactly what some very wealthy people do. They just do it in ways consistent with the path they are on.

Some spiritual "finders" tend to also become wealthy. Particularly those in the west. In those cases we see them trod both paths: spiritual and material, blessing the world and people as they go along.

But no matter the path, those who make it while still in a body is small. In fact, there are a lot more who don't make it than those who do.

The following is going to get heady....

What Is Happening and How The What Is Happening Is Happening

People get stuck in another feedback loop, where they don't understand the “How The What Is Happening” part of What Is Happening. Thus they get lost in the happening, instead of understanding the How The What Is Happening Is Happening.

Lost there, they see the world as random, uncaring dangerous and risky. Their only recourse is to try to take charge of the What Is Happening part. They are oblivious to the How The What Is Happening Is Happening part, even though the "How...." part is the funnest, most enjoyable part of the whole process making up the "What...".

Thus the challenges in the world.

Racism, sexism, Trump and his supporters, the alt right and the alt-left, Russia and the US, wars, poverty, disease, etc. All sides of any "issue” are oblivious to How What Is Happening Is Happening. Instead they are dazzled by What Is Happening.

So they take sides.

In their dazzlement, they stumble through life fighting against What Is Happening, where they have no power instead of focusing on the "How..." part, where all their power is.

Thus, they suffer.

With the right guidance a person can easily navigate their awareness from the What Is Happening, back to the How What Is Happening Is Happening, regain their power (and their invincibility) and therefore be a Conscious Creator Of Reality.

That understanding, and the deliberate creations which results from that, is enlightenment.

Few are doing that right now, but oh, boy how times are a changing!

· · ·

There is no difference between living "spiritually" and living immersed in a consumer lifestyle. Both create experiences which canbut usuallydo notproduce lasting fulfillment and unshakable happiness. Not until after death.

Which is why, when it doeshappen, we venerate such people for their rarity.

The ultimate path of humanity is to become a vast collection of super human individuals in a vast civilization of super humans. We're speaking both materially and spiritually since they're one in the same.

We're a long way from that. But we're happy with a civilization of ordinary humans, punctuated every now and then by individuals who are super human.

The venerable position of “invincible super human” is available to everyone. Both paths can lead there.

Everyone gets there eventually.

So don't sweat it. Consumer or Ascetic. You're on the right path. And eventually, you'll arrive.

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la-liga-zine · 6 years

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A Country Named Mother

I wasn’t very conscious of my ancestry until around middle school and I wasn’t really interested until college. While some kids wanted the new Samsung Sidekick, I wanted blue eyes and a French sounding name (and the Sidekick too, honestly). I can’t say it’s for lack of representation - no, there aren’t any Cuban Disney princesses - but I was raised in Miami where quinceñeras are a weekly event and that’s pretty damn close.

Every year I’d get the same question that only reinforced disinterest in my ancestry. Teachers asked “what makes you special?” and “where are you from?” In an age of misguided philosophies on confidence building, asking me to share my background was supposed to make me feel special; instead it felt like a popularity contest where I got front row seats to watch the interest fade from my classmates faces as I started to pronounce “Cuban.” My conflicted feelings over my ancestry created a blockade to self acceptance. While these issues might seem trivial now, as a middle schooler, they were a memorable source of shame over identity (or lack thereof).

Up to that point in my life, I never felt tied to my identity in any meaningful way, Cuban culture was practically an all-encompassing part of my daily life -- if scientists ever want to study the effect of daily cafecitos and pan Cubano, I’m the first volunteer. I could imagine the small homes, barely able to contain their inhabitants; the hot sun that you were told to hide from lest you grow too dark. It was through shared memories that I spent a small part of my own childhood in my mother’s past; sharing her childhood home, joining her walks to school, briefly inhabiting a different life than my own. I had never visited her birth country, but it was simultaneously as real and imaginary as any other fairy tale. The bedtime stories I grew up on were not only of sleepy Germanic princesses, but of kids growing up on an isolated isla communista.

There were people in my family stories that lived only in memories recalled. Family members that I knew existed, but had never seen nor spoken to I became curious about mis raíces. Reaching a level of security within myself gave me permission to dive into my own history. I wanted to know what my own personal link to my heritage was, something that couldn’t be measured and deemed common. With my upcoming trip to Cuba, suddenly all the stories my family had told me became possibilities. Where were they now? Could I meet them?

The day of my flight, I anxiously rushed into the airport, doing that belabored half jog, half crumble-under-the-weight-of-my-suitcase gait. All wasted energy as Havana Air left an hour and a half late. Nobody seemed to care though, we were on Cuban time now. I had taken many trips before to countries whose entire population is only a fraction of my city’s, countries that were 12-hours-in-the-same-chair away, yet the anxiety I felt about this trip wasn’t related to the traveling itself, but because I would be meeting family who until just a few weeks earlier, were cemented in my mind as historical figures of the past. I had only glimpsed a few pictures of the family members I’d be staying with; pixelated 300x300 Facebook photos, the type that makes you question the validity of a profile. This family and this country that existed only in my mother’s recollections of her youth were now real and they’d be picking me up when I landed.I walked out of the airport worried I wouldn’t recognize my relatives, but they were already in front of me. They’d picked me out of the crowd like they’d seen me every day for years.

Riding from the airport in one of the iconic vintage cars Cuba is known for, I noticed a little bump of emotion building up inside me. Every direction I looked in, Cuba looked back. Giant trees let a hot sun stream through their leaves and onto my face, buildings begged for my attention in blends of color that looked like ice cream, bright and summer-y. We headed for La Habana Vieja, where my family lived. A small 1 bedroom apartment shared between 3 people and sometimes 4 when abuela visited, now shared with 5 since the addition of myself. No A/C, just a rotating standing fan that became an alter I was more dedicated to worshipping than any religious deity prior.

Sitting in a humid living room while the heavy equatorial sun cooked the building, conversation floating in and out like the flies we mindlessly swatted at - just 5 strangers who were family. The idea of family evolved to me now, as I stood in the center of this radical experiment. I observed my new family, and tried to soak up years in the few days I had. My tía’s dark, gentle eyes brimmed with a power to calm through just her gaze. She resembled my mother, like the result of an alternate storyline where my she didn’t leave Cuba. A tired yet determined look marked her—the look of a woman playing the role of two parents. You could tell she depended on herself alone, and bore the weight of sustaining her entire family. Her daughter was melting candy; pure sugar and stuck to me at every chance. She had long, thick and wavy black hair, like Rapunzel da La Habana. All my family had much darker skin than me and my new abuela was the first to point it out, almost excited by our differences. Her own skin was a rich reddish brown, a tone that almost radiated back the hot sun it had soaked up.

Though my mother was born in the city of Guantanamo and my abuela is from the rural town of Mayari, I am Cuban-American and my primo (who was my age) showed me the weight that hyphen carries. He had been sitting on the couch, with a level of tension boiling in him that could be felt from every part of the tiny room we were in. Four people sharing a one-bedroom apartment with no air conditioner and no running water in the summer is a challenge by any standard and I could feel their shame in knowing what was normal for them was rough for me.(some countries lack A/C because they experience a mild climate, others are simply lacking; Cuba is the latter). I was about to take a shower and my tía asked if I wanted her to heat the water in the bucket I’d be using. I declined, partially out of politeness and partially out of being covered in sweat

My primo jumped up and went on a tirade. He angrily reminded the family that I was not like them. That I wasn’t used to this situation. I wanted to melt into the couch under the weight of this searing shame he must’ve been quietly carrying since I arrived. He continued, wondering aloud why the family wouldn’t get it through their heads, “where she’s from there’s air conditioning and the water comes out of the shower head.” He shouted a last time, “Somos animals aquí. Compared to what she’s used to, we’re animals.” The intense frustration and bitter resentment born out of a stagnant present and a stillborn future is sharp and current, like a wound in reverse. While my mother’s Cuba lacked TVs and even a magazine was a treasured luxury, Cuba today has TV, magazines and even WiFi access in certain places. Of course he felt this way. Cuba was an island, not a cell block, as some might have you believe.

On the living room TV, my primos were watching the same high materialism, low substance music videos that I try to forget exist in the US. No one flaunts wealth quite like someone who never had it so Cuban hip hop is an arms race of boasting. While I can brush the ugliness of consumerism off from the comfort of the US, it’s not so easy to identify the futility of materialism when your food is rationed and your mattress is sweat stained. Yet who is more vulnerable to the poisonous sense of emptiness that chasing happiness via consumerism infects you with than one who’s never even been allowed to participate?

Most of my time in Cuba was spent chasing and consuming every piece of familial history in any form it might take: stories, photos, standing in old buildings and plazas where my own mother and her mother had stood decades before me. I almost want to ask the buildings I saw if they remembered my mother. Did they remember my abuela, who walked on this cobbled path for decades? Silent pieces of concrete, soaking up bits of all the lives around them and selfishly locking these memories into themselves. It was never the buildings I wanted to see so much as the air I wanted to feel. What did it feel like 40 years ago at this exact moment as my mother walked through this plaza?

Traveling to a country when you’re part of its diaspora is more of a journey and less of a vacation. The souvenirs you bring back are in the form of emotional connections that weigh far heavier than any checked bag of keepsakes. Out of the stories of my tía Marta’s cigarette smoking and late night dancing, I found her best friend, who she was unable to contact for over 13 years. Out of the stories of my abuela taking two planes while smuggling a box stuffed with a live chicken meant to feed her hijas, I found her niece, who used to care for those daughters while my abuela struggled to support them. Out of the stories of my mother and her prima who entertained her as a child with an old guitar, I found my tia, who welcomed me into her (now guitar-less) home. I existed in the middle of this surreal web of family ties, aged and stretched almost slightly beyond recognition.

My trip to Cuba revealed a long line of women who were full of life, strong despite the harshest circumstances, deeply rooted trees sustaining all around them. My tía Marta (less formally known as Yaya), came from Cuba, with its slow pace and state of constant lacking, straight into New York City, as a political exile. She’s now one of the most independent women I know with a mouth of candela who maintains herself as a sought after tarot card reader. My grandmother left everything she owned, her friends and even her husband behind, to raise 3 successful daughters as a single mother who spoke no English in the US. My own mother, who had to leave behind her father and integrate herself in a foreign and often hostile country at the confusing age of 15, completed a master’s degree in her second language and now teaches that adopted language to kids born and raised in this country.

I’d uncovered a line of incredible women spanning across generations, recalling the matriarchal Taino societies buried under colonialism, but not quite buried deeply enough. These women and their relentless and determined personalities left me in awe. I’d found a new love for my Cuban heritage when I realized that the value in my identity was not in its uniqueness or in how other people viewed it. The love for my ancestry is born out of the incredible experiences of the family members who made me the person I am. They are my ancestry. My mother’s passion, my abuela’s independence, my tia’s boldness, my primo’s ambition; this is my heritage, something so much more personal and valuable than I could understand as a child. Something that flows from a much deeper place than any hollow nationalistic slogan could convey.

My trip ended like all my previous trips: a ride to the airport and lots of waiting. My new-found family stayed with me until the last minute. It turns out family is a kind of magic word - a word that can conjure a genuine love born of nothing more than shared genetic material. What I keep with me isn’t the effort my family made trying to provide the food and comfort they could barely secure for themselves, but rather what they expended no effort over at all. It was only when the time came to turn my back to them and walk away that I realized how final this moment was. As I lifted my arm to wave goodbye, the simple thought that I’d never experience this particular moment again wouldn’t leave my head. With the volatility of the American-Cuban political relationship, so much could change before I returned. Most goodbyes are not truly goodbye, but more of a see you later; it feels different. This was goodbye.

The difficult part about following the thread of your ancestry out of the diaspora and into the motherland are the ghosts you bring back, more detailed and louder than the sparse figments you had previously only dreamed up based on a patchwork of family stories. The weight of a history extended and imbued with real breathing life: something you would never wish to be without, but always carrying with it new complexities. Even now, as I sit writing in a city and state I’ve never seen, the most assumed parts of my identity are pulled out for display. There’s nothing like leaving home to make you realize how much of your home is twisted up, inseparable from the person you are.Through the acceptance and love my family showed me, I was finally able to pick up my ancestry and, like a missing button, sewed it back on my dress and felt whole after so many years.

Salomé Luna Gemme writes about life and how to live your best one at LunaGemme.com. A Cuban-American nacida y criada en Miami. Orgullosa as hell. She’s shy but you shouldn’t be; find her @salomegemme basically everywhere.

#Cuba #Travel

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thisistrash360 · 6 years

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These memes were inspired by an article titled “Narratives of ‘green’ consumers -- the antihero, the environmental hero and the anarchist”. If you have access to it I suggest you check it out! (full citation is in the pictures!) But I’ll summarize it here, and add a bit of my own thinking...

So the Antihero as you could have guessed is someone who thinks they are powerless in the fight against climate change. So they don’t do anything to change their behaviour. They buy from large, transnational companies and don’t care about litter or waste or slavery or animal testing because they don’t think they can do anything about it.

Then comes the Green/Environmental Hero (had to shorten it so it would fit). They try to do everything right: sort their recycling, eat organic, buy those “save the ocean” bracelets, and shop in the bulk isle with their cute mason jars. They make sure to buy the environmentally friendly products, but they don’t question the system that allows others to make environmentally unfriendly choices (capitalism).

That’s where the Anarchist comes in! They don’t necessarily “buy” the whole conscious consumerism thing. Of course, like anyone else they try to buy “green” but they know that it is next to impossible to buy something completely environmentally friendly. They question the system, capitalism, along with all the corporate players (like Shell). They’re freegans, searching through discarded “trash” for useful take aways. They dumpster dive. They take the stairs, boycotting escalators since they think they use unnecessary energy. They’re skeptical, and question everything.

(insert heart eyes emoji)

I wish I was the anarchist honestly, but I think I’m between it and the hero.

Anyways, this article drew me in because I found this such a great way to describe the problems with conscious/green consumerism. There will never really be a “perfect” product under capitalism. Except maybe buying entirely local (do you think there’s a perfect product(s)?). However, I don’t want to pressure anyone to be perfect. Focus on what’s within your means! But I think we should be questioning our system, and the conversation (or lack of) around. What I’m seeing from zero waste now is more of a “Green Hero” I think we should be striving for the “Anarchist”!

Have you ever had to deal with an “antihero”?

#zero waste #anarchist #green hero #zero waste lifestyle #this is trash #climate change #environment #environmetalists #meme

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bang7an · 7 years

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A list of BTS’ most socially-conscious, thoughtful, woke, non-love songs:

2 Cool 4 Skool (2013)

No More Dream * = about the pressure of the younger generation to follow the dreams of their parents/elders and give up the dreams of their own

길 (Road/Path) = about taking the untraditional path despite the uncertainty of the future

O!RUL8,2? (2013)

Intro: O!RUL8,2? = about pursuing your own dreams, taking chances, and living without regret

N.O * = about the machine-like nature of the current education system

팔도강산 (Satoori Rap) = about being proud of where you’re from and your dialect. acknowledges and unifies Korea’s vast linguistic/provincial diversity

Skool Luv Affair (2014)

Tomorrow = about making the future better by being the instigator for change and never forgetting who you really are

등골 브레이커 (Spine Breaker) * = comments on consumerism/materialism and respecting your elders

Jump = about remembering the hopeful dreams of one’s youth and growing up to become the hero of your own childhood

Dark & Wild (2014)

힙합성애자 (Hip Hop Lover) = about the power of music to change one’s life

Rain = comments on the repetition/monotony of life and that fact that one has to confront oneself in order to create change

BTS Cypher, Pt. 3: KILLER = haters? “i don’t give a fuck”

핸드폰 좀 꺼줄래 (Can You Turn Off Your Phone) = comments on society’s obsession with social media and the decline of face-to-face communication

2학년 (Second Grade) = about working hard and staying humble in order to reach the top

Wake Up (2014)

The Stars = about facing the ups and downs of life and never giving up no matter what

Wake Up = about continuing to work hard as others sleep & taking control of one’s life

The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Part 1 (2015)

Intro: 화양연화 * = comments on the uncertainty of the future, the search to find one’s purpose, and the dangers of comparing oneself to others

I NEED U * = going beyond a classic love song, the song comments on the insecurity of youth

쩔어 (DOPE) * = about waking up the sleeping youth and breaking the stereotypes placed upon the younger generation by working hard to reach the top. reject rejection!

흥탄소년단 (Boyz with Fun) = about ignoring the judgement of other’s and doing what makes you happy

이사 (Move/Moving On) = about remembering/learning from the past while reaching for a higher place

The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Part 2 (2015)

Intro: Never Mind * = about looking forward and working even harder if you feel like falling down

Run * = about not letting anything stop you from pursuing your passions

Butterfly = comments on the insecurities of youth & the fears of feeling dependent on someone

Whalien 52 = about loneliness & feeling like no one is listening/understanding

Ma City = comments on being aware/proud of your hometown’s history (& also calls out a Korean online terrorist group that targets minorities and leftists, especially people from Jeolla province, were J-Hope was born)

뱁새 (Baepsae/Silver Spoon) = comments on the concept of social status/privilege and the growing gap between the upper and lower class

고엽 (Dead Leaves) = comments on the difficulty of giving up something good for the better

The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever (2016)

불타오르네 (FIRE) * = about how one should live however one wants to without labels & that it’s okay to lose

Save ME * = comments on the duality of youth (happiness and sadness) through depending on others and thanks ARMYs for accepting who they (BTS) are and letting them be who they are

Epilogue: Young Forever * = comments on the difficulty, but importance, of facing reality, moving forward, and following one’s dreams

House of Cards = comments on how ignorance can be bliss but that reality will always catch up eventually

YOUTH (2016)

Good Day = comments on brotherhood and the importance of lifting each other up to create a brighter tomorrow

Wishing On A Star = about not being afraid to have big dreams because the more you hope, the more likely it will come true

Wings (2016)

Intro: Boy Meets Evil * = comments on the dangerous addiction of greed/ambition

피 땀 눈물 (Blood Sweat & Tears) * = comments on the danger/ease of succumbing to temptation & losing the innocence of youth

Begin * = about brotherhood & how the other members shaped him to become who he is today

Lie * = about feeling trapped under the lies he told himself & losing his identity in the process

Stigma * = about struggling with his self-identity & his guilt because he can’t always be there for the people he cares about

First Love * = about how the piano guided him to recover his passion for music

Reflection * = about insecurity, loneliness, self-hatred & learning to love himself

MAMA * = about thanking his mom for always supporting him & telling her she can lean on him now

Awake * = about acknowledging his limits and imperfections but trying hard anyway & putting the other members before himself

Lost = comments on the uncertainty of growing up and finding one’s own path

BTS Cypher Pt. 4 = about not listening to those trying to bring you down & to love yourself

Am I Wrong = comments on the corrupt government system that doesn’t care about the general public and only focuses on pleasing the top 1%

21 세기 소녀 (21st Century Girls) = comments on the unjust treatment of females in current society & a women-empowerment message of strength and self-love

둘! 셋! (그래도 좋은 날이 더 많기를) (2! 3!) = about enduring/overcoming hardship by sharing your burdens and finding strength from one’s loved ones

You Never Walk Alone (2017)

봄날 (Spring Day) * = comments on government corruption by referencing the Sewol Ferry Tragedy & is about missing a friend that you haven’t seen in a long time

Not Today * = about empowering the underdogs/minorities/women of the world

Outro: Wings = about believing in oneself and having trust in one’s decisions in order to choose one’s own path

A Supplementary Story: You Never Walk Alone = comments on the importance of teamwork in order to dream bigger and reach higher

Love Yourself: Her (2017)

Intro: Serendipity * = about whether an individual is special because he is fundamentally different from others, or because of the relationships he foster with others

Pied Piper = comments on the possible all-consuming nature of fan culture & advises individuals to stay self-aware and maintain their personal lives as priority

MIC Drop * = about the satisfaction of rising above one’s haters by not wasting time on their meaningless words and instead focusing on one’s successes

Go Go = addresses the “YOLO” culture that has pervaded our generation, where the youth use consumerism as a means to escape the hopeless/purposeless feeling that saturates the societal work force

Outro: Her = about sacrificing one’s true self for the happiness of others. more specifically, about BTS’ gratitude/dependence towards their fans, and therefore, how the members try to hide their vulnerabilities and strive for “perfection” in order to please the said fans

Sea = about how the two emotional states of happiness and sadness are really one and the same, because one inevitably leads to the expression of the other. also about how hope can be birthed from a source of trial

Face Yourself (2018)

Let Go = addresses the inevitability of ARMYs eventually leaving the fandom and accepts that we’ll eventually walk separate paths, so that in the future we can look back upon the past with fondness

Love Yourself: Tear (2018)

Intro: Singularity * = about facing the truth of one’s loneliness, but realizing that life is transient and that change is coming

FAKE LOVE * = about lying to yourself by hiding your weaknesses and living a life that is not true

The Truth Untold = about feeling inadequate to love others because you cannot love yourself first

134340 = about the feeling of resentment and loss of self-identity when dismissed from one’s previously held entity

Paradise = comments on how it’s okay to not have a dream nor fully understand your purpose in life; just don’t fall into the trap of adopting someone else’s expectations of yourself as your own “dreams”

Love Maze = about ignoring the opinions of others and living for yourself, even if the path may seem unclear

Magic Shop = thanks ARMYs for helping BTS become the best version of themselves and tells their fans that they trust you will take care of your own selves as well

Airplane pt.2 = about the satisfaction of observing their haters from the sky, as they fly to higher success. also about not forgetting where you come from and continuing to work hard with your initial intentions in mind.

Anpanman = about wanting to be a hero for others, even if it means sacrificing oneself

So What = about letting go of the worries one has built up in one’s head and running forward without regrets about things you can’t fix

Outro: Tear = about learning to deal with one’s self-hatred and self-destruction before being able to face one’s true self and reciprocate real love

Love Yourself: Answer (2018)

Euphoria * = about holding on to naive but painless dreams and refusing to wake up from the false comfort of “euphoria”

Trivia 起 : Just Dance = about turning even the negatives into positives by steadily pursuing your dreams and enjoying each moment as they come

Trivia 承 : Love = about the importance of balancing the relationship between live (살아) and love (사랑) to human (사람) existence

Trivia 轉 : Seesaw = about getting trapped on a metaphorical seesaw of manipulated emotions and urging himself to stop playing the game

Epiphany * = about the moment of realization that in order to truly love others, you must learn to love yourself first; the journey to self-love can feel lonely and endless, but the progression will leave you feeling powerful and free.

I’m Fine = about learning to not depend on others in order to feel self-worth and move on from downfalls

IDOL * = about accepting and loving yourself no matter the constrictive labels that others try to put on you

Answer : Love Myself = about the process of learning to forgive oneself and to live one’s life without the mask of conformity

Map of the Soul: Persona (2019)

Intro: Persona * = about the process of discovering one’s true self through questioning different versions of one’s identity, including the archetypes persona, shadow, and ego

Boy With Luv * = depicts the growth from ‘in love’ to ‘with love’ through discovering love and inspiration within oneself. also about how self-love is the greatest and most humbling power of all

Mikrokosmos = about finding the universe of potential that exists within every individual and uncovering strength from the pain

Make It Right = about leaving the haters in the endless desert and following one’s dreams towards the giving ocean

HOME = comments on the frivolity of wanting materialistic things and instead places importance of finding someone you can call “home”

Jamais Vu = about not having a do-over in life, but refusing to give up after trial & error and taking advantage of every second chance

Dionysus = about celebrating one’s successes and acknowledging that the only competition is the fight against oneself

name: video w/ lyrics

=: live performance/dance practice

*:official music videos/trailers

Enjoyed this list? Check out A list of BTS’ UNOFFICIALLY RELEASED socially-conscious, thoughtful, woke, non-love songs

Note: I have included some of BTS’ “love songs” whose meanings I found more artistically profound/expressive than the traditional pop love song. All descriptions are my own. The great thing about music is that every individual can interpret the same lyrics differently!

#bts #bangtan #WOKE #kpop #bighit #bangtan boys #I LOVE STANNING SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS KINGS !#keep doing you bts #m #the next time someone tries to shade bangtan's music show them THIS #text #masterlist

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paarreeddessss · 4 years

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ROADHAUS concepts

NAME OF CLIENT: ROADHAUS (fictional client)

TYPE OF ORGANIZATION:

ROADHAUS is a construction company that specialises in building tiny houses on wheels (THOW).

THOWs, unlike traditional houses, are built on trailers, partly for mobility and partly in an attempt to circumvent the high cost of building and resource consents, as some authorities treat them as caravans.

The company was founded by Tobias Hausmann in 2014 who, having 20 years of cumulative experience in cabinetmaking and residential-building construction, decided to switch to building THOWs in 2015 prompted by the growing problem of housing affordability across New Zealand. The company is a team of three: Tobias and two apprentices.

The building workshop is located in the Kapati Coast District and his custom-built THOWs, as shell-builds or full-builds, can be delivered anywhere in New Zealand.

BIG PICTURE:

What is happening in the particular market the brand is trying to enter?

The tiny house movement encompasses a variety of followers with differing values. Some followers believe in financial prudence (acquiring little or no debt), and some reject consumerism-driven lifestyles (small living spaces encourage material minimalism), some are eco-conscious choosing to live off-grid lifestyles. Some subscribe to all these values.

Additionally, for some, THOWs are thought of as 'stepping stones' into ownership of traditional houses, but increasingly, want-to-be homeowners are now seeing THOWs as 'forever-homes'. Because of this, tiny homes that were once humble in specifications are increasingly expected to accommodate for the modern amenities that rival traditional houses.

Demand for THOWs has been increasing steadily over the past 2 years due to the spreading of the housing crisis in urban centers into other regions across NZ. With the expectations of easing credit from low interest rates, property prices are expected to increase or stay level, and thus, demand for THOWs is expected to grow even further.

From increased demand, there has been a proliferation of tiny house builders across New Zealand and ROADHAUS requires a logotype that will stand out from other tiny house building companies.

UNIQUE PROPOSITION:

ROADHAUS is proud to be B corp-certified. It prioritizes the use of timber materials that have been sourced sustainability, and also provides the option for constructing with reclaimed NZ native timber upon customers' request. Additionally, the company balances social purpose and profit whereby all apprentices are paid a living wage. Tobias has actively seeked to employ apprentices from difficult or disadvantaged backgrounds. These are important company objectives as Tobias himself was once struggling and even homeless during the 1990s.

Despite the shifting demands of his tiny house builds to have increasingly high-spec fitouts, he reserves a quarter of his building projects for customers in the medium to low income quartile so that they are able to achieve a solution to long-term housing. The company believes that allowing people that have been pushed out of the housing market to live in secure, warm (double-glazed, properly insulated) and healthy homes for the fraction of the price of a traditional house is an important way of helping to alleviate the current housing crisis.

Craftsmanship is evident throughout all ROADHAUS projects. Under Tobias' supervision and expertise as a master builder, all builds are completed by him and his team on-time and within budget.

AUDIENCE:

As mentioned previously, customers/followers of the tiny house movement have been those that are environmentally-conscious and those that like to live simply with values that align neatly with values promoting minimalist and zero-waste lifestyles. But as the housing crisis worsens, the appeal of tiny houses is broadening into mainstream audiences. The brand identity will need to take into account this broadening of the customer base.

OBJECTIVE:

First and foremost, the logotype should transmit a feeling of sturdy assurance that THOWs are a good alternative housing solution for those that have considered this option but are still sitting on the fence.

Through its visual brand identity, the logotype should be able to encompass the range of subcultures that the tiny house movement encompasses and the broadening audience that the movement is continuing to capture.

The design should be able to stand the test of time; the brand should be able to age well (he is intending to pass on the business down to his son who is also a builder) so Tobias has expressed that trendy aesthetics should be avoided.

Additionally, the logotype will need to be applicable to a variety of collaterals such as the company website, social media platform, business card, work clothes and vehicle livery. Scalability of the logotype is therefore essential.

TONE:

The tone should be bold and dependable, while generating interest and curiosity. The given impressions should strike a balance between that of a bespoke company and one that is accessible.

TIME AND BUDGET:

Time: 30 hours in total

Budget: non-applicable

RISKS AND CHALLENGES:

The challenge lies in the logotype's design to balance the competing tones, objectives and its audiences to which it will target.

The design must recognize the company's roots in being borne out of a tiny house movement that valued a way for simple and environmentally-conscious living, while now taking on a larger brand identity of a broadening mainstream audience of middle-class households, retirees & downsizers.

Additionally, it is important for the design to promote the ethical values that drive the company forward such as environmental sustainability, its belief for lower-income households to have access to healthy, long-term housing.

TAKE AWAY:

In one word: 'Fun!'

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I’m very excited about the creative brief that I was assigned to. I love different forms of architecture as well as the sustainable approach that has become more popular when it comes to building materials, and tiny houses seem to fit that category. To start off my wordmark project, I’ve developed a couple of tiny sketches as a response to the brief. Because the brief requests a timeless, not-so-trendy vibe to the design, I decided to play with the concept of adapting subtle imagery of a house on wheels and a sans serif inspired typeface. Also judging by the company’s name and the owner, I’m assuming there’s some German-inspired design principles that could represent this too. I thought of incorporating Bauhaus elements to the look of the wordmark.

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triggerhippiemel · 4 years

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Happy New Year babes (officially to me), and happy Lunar New Moon! (If you’re in San Francisco check out Chinatown’s parade!) How y’all feeling? I can say for myself I’ve realized there is so much I put to the side on 2019 due to Life + work. These past couple months alone have been an eye opener. If you did your New Moon ritual this past Friday, let me say it was the perfect moon to do so. I wandered off to a small wooded area here in Metro Atlanta to do mine. There’s a lot that came up for me and I want to share that with you all because remember we are ALL ALIVE & LOVELY just wanting to live on this wild, cray cray world.

I want to live more consciously in all aspects, my actions and where I put my energy towards. I’m a huge eco-conscious nerd as many of you know, I am definitely encouraged to live a Zero Waste Free lifestyle. It’s a bit challenging when you live in a world of plastic, so here’s to trying! I’ll get into that in another post. I have gotten great feedback on my last post about Visual Merchandising 101, I have worked on composing more posts to help small businesses to excel in an eco friendly way! But this post is more on the personal level, list of resolutions I want to hold myself accountable for (worth a shot right?!) This blog has helped me connect to so many people around the country and I plan to meet more. 🙂

To be healthy, gotta stay healthy.

I started the New Year w/ visiting the dentist. I will admit I’ve neglected going to the doctors due to life, time, but mainly fear. I know silly for a 30 y/o to say but with all this Saturn’s Return, I am learning more and more about my health and issues I’ve ignored. I can now say I have a wildly new respect for my teeth lol! I say this because it’s been years without health insurance and then avoiding it because of fears of losing shit and now it’s like “girl take care of yourself!” So with that being said, to be healthy, you gotta stay healthy. Consistency is the key.

Healthy Boundaries

Physical health is important but is living a healthy lifestyle. Past decade I’ve gained some friends, lost some friends, some come back again to try to get back into my life but we’ve all grown up and moved on. It’s ok to not accept that person’s Friend Request if you truly feel they do not sit with your values anymore. Find your tribe who will truly take care of you. Learn to say “No” when it truly feels like it. Don’t be rude lol just set healthy boundaries. This includes Screen time as well. I’ve been pretty distant from IG and FB, Twitter is most likely where you’ll find me lol and the rest for business purposes only. I enjoyed the personal connection but lately it’s been too much and taking small breaks away from my phone has helped with time management as well into things I really need to get done.

Love those that love you back.

As I mentioned above, find your tribe. Your close friends and family WILL have your back if they truly care for you. Sometimes we think certain people in our lives do and maybe they once did but with Life is constantly changing, relationships of all kinds are also changing. I’ve been studying for my real estate exam (failed it couple times it’s fine going at it again!) and the ones that really want to see me succeed have taken their time to help me study. See? True pals will want to see you succeed.

Conscious Living + Shopping habits

With all this chaos happening in the world weather wise and natural disaster wise, I did feel this hit more home for me. As a retail expert being in the business for 16 years I’ve witnessed, we are very wasteful, myself included. I did visual merchandising for years and witness when something breaks that can be reused and repaired, instead we were told to trash it and get a new one…first off that left me super sour. I went against my belief in tossing repurposed items into the trash because corporations can and because they can afford more. But the problem is, when does it stop? I left big box world to stop contributing to it, I want to still continue learning ways we can use our consumerism power to shift gears to shop smart and conscious approach. It’s hard, I will admit I’m still learning how to manage what I’m buying and if I truly need it or will love it for more than a year.

Be open to newness.

I’m a little rigid in my old ways, I mean I got called out by close family member I’m still living in the 90s lol! Yes, I believe that may be true. I have my original Gameboy color still, I am an old Oakland Raiders fan and now they became Las Vegas Raiders????? Lol! I’m not going into sports but it’s the idea of just keeping an open mind to newness. I am learning to be open in new ways of being, how to run a business sustainably in a new way, also approaching things in life with a new perspective instead what we are/were told. Aquarius season you’ll see newness alright the weird and odd ways of being. Let’s think outside the box shall we ;).

These are just some little simple things I wanted to start the year off. I’ve regained highly new respect for the people I know in my life and for the new people that have come into my life who truly push me to do better. Here’s some nature noises for ya to enjoy with a little bit of moi lol!

https://d3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net/staging/2020-0-24/45016791-44100-2-879bf96a80b46.m4a

How’s your 2020 so far? Feel free to comment below!

2020 Kickoff Happy New Year babes (officially to me), and happy Lunar New Moon! (If you’re in San Francisco check out…

#Blogging #blogs #health #inspiration #life #lifestyle #Personal #writing

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themoneybuff-blog · 5 years

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Why financial literacy fails (and what to do about it)

April is Financial Literacy Month in the United States. This is a pure and noble thing. I think it's great that there's one month each year devoted to promoting smart money habits. That said, it has become increasingly apparent over the years that most financial literacy programs fail. They don't work. And this isn't just me speaking anecdotally. In a 2014 paper from Management Science, three researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 201 prior studies regarding the efficacy of financial literacy. Their conclusion? Interventions to improve financial literacy explain only 0.1% of the variance in financial behaviors studied, with weaker effects in low-income samples. Like other education, financial education decays over time; even large interventions with many hours of instruction have negligible effects on behavior 20 months or more from the time of intervention. To put it in plain English, financial literacy education makes no discernible difference in behavior. People who take personal-finance classes manage their money no better (and no worse) than the general population. We're pumping tons of money and time into a fruitless endeavor. All of this push to promote financial literacy accomplishes nothing. Zero. Nada. Why is that?

It probably won't surprise you to learn that I have some strong opinions on this subject. Today, let's talk about why financial literacy fails (and what to do about it). Note: This afternoon (April 24th) at 4 p.m. Pacific (7 p.m. Eastern), I'll be part of a Facebook Live interview about this very subject. If you're free at that time, you should join us! Update: Here's the entire interview. Why Financial Literacy Fails Financial literacy fails because it almost universally addresses only one part of the problem: math and mechanics. FinLit (as it's sometimes called) focuses on facts and figures while largely ignoring behavior. This is insane. This is like promoting sex education that talks about penises and vaginas while never discussing what it's like to be madly in love with somebody, so in love that your brain stops working. For sex education to be effective, it has to deal with real-world circumstances and behavior. It has to teach about psychology and emotions, not just body parts. The same is true with financial literacy. In fact, the same is true with actual literacy. The National Assessment of Adult Literacy says that working literacy has two components. The operational piece of literacy focuses solely on knowledge. It involves word-level reading skills such as recognizing words.The conceptual piece of literacy focuses on everyday tasks: Literacy is the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential. The first part of literacy is about mechanics. The second part is about practical application. Modern financial literacy efforts spend nearly all of their time on the knowledge piece. I've reviewed maybe a dozen FinLit programs over the years. Most pay no more than lip service to behavior, to the conceptual piece of financial literacy. Let me give you an example from my own life. When I was in high school (w-a-y back in the mid-1980s), every senior in our district was required to pass a class in personal finance. It covered topics like compound interest, the Federal Reserve, how to write a check, and the dangers of credit cards. I took that class. I aced every test. And five years later, I had the beginnings of a debt habit. I'd mastered the knowledge but not he behavior. The behavior was never taught. From what I can tell, the kids from my high school grew up to be no different than the rest of Americans. We learned the basics of financial literacy, but it had no perceivable impact on the way we saved and spent and earned. We still made stupid mistakes. We still spent more than we earned. Why? Because facts and figurs are only one-half of financial literacy. (And I'd argue they aren't even the most important half.) The solution to financial literacy isn't to feed people more facts and figures. It isn't to teach them how bonds work or to explain the sheer awesomeness of a Roth IRA. If we want to boost financial literacy in the United States, what we really need to promote is behavioral education. Behavioral Finance Personal finance is simple. Fundamentally, you need to know only one thing: To build wealth, you must spend less than you earn. The end. That's it. We can all go home now. Everything else simply builds on this. Why, then, is it so hard for everyone to get ahead? For some people, the problem is systemic. There's no doubt that some people are trapped in a cycle of poverty, and they truly need outside help to overcome the obstacles they face. But for most of us, the issue is internal: The problem is us. In other words, I am the reason that I can't get ahead. And you are the reason that you can't get ahead. It's not a lack of knowledge about compounding and credit cards that holds us back, but a chain of bad behavior. The math and mechanics of personal finance are easy. It's the psychological side of money that's hard. One of the key tenets of this site is that money is more about mind than it is about math. That is, our financial success isn't determined by how smart we are with numbers, but how well we're able to control our emotions our wants and desires. There's actually a branch of economics called behavioral finance devoted exclusively to this phenomenon, exploring the interplay between economic theory and psychological reality. There's a new wave of folks who are exploring the gamification of personal finance; they're trying to turn money management into a game. More and more, experts are seeing that our economic decisions aren't based on logic, but on emotion and desire. It's time that financial literacy programs incorporated these new(-ish) approaches into their curriculum. For years, I struggled with money. I knew the math, but I still couldnt seem to defeat debt. It wasnt until I started applying psychology to the situation that I was able to make changes. For instance, I used the debt snowball to pay down my debt in an illogical yet psychologically satisfying way. It worked. And Ive learned that by having financial goals such as travel Im much more inclined to save than if I have no goals at all. Behavioral Literacy

To me, the answer to our country's crazed consumerism and poor financial skills has nothing to do with traditional financial literacy. (Okay, maybe it has a little to do with traditional financial literacy.) Instead, I see two fundamental problems that need to be addressed. First, we soak in a bath of the mass media. We're constantly exposed to a barrage of programming in which we're given subtle messages about what people do (or should) consume. We cannot help but be influenced by the power of marketing. (I've talked to many people who think they're immune to marketing. I just shake my head and think, You, my friend, are the most influenced of all.)Secondly, we don't think about our spending. We spend on impulse. Or we spend to subconsciously keep up with our family and friends to keep up with the Joneses. We spend to make ourselves feel better when we're down and blue. We spend to show off. We spend on things we think we want instead of the things we actually use and do. We spend because spending is a habit. Instead of teaching Americans about credit cards and rates of return, we need to be teaching them about behavioral finance. We need to be showing them how to break free from the marketing messages that are all around. We need to be showing them how to set (and achieve) personal goals, especially financial goals. We need to teach skills like conscious spending. There's a reason that my core message doesn't start with math and mechanics. It starts by asking people to think about their goals and purpose. This is the piece of financial education that's missing in our society. This is what financial literacy education ought to be teaching. Note: For a clear demonstration of how I'd approach financial literacy if I were to design a program, check out my Money Boss Manifesto. It's a free ebook that outlines the financial philosophy I've developed after nearly fifteen years of reading and writing about money. The Bottom Line Sometimes people wonder why we don't spend more time on the nitty gritty of money around here. Why we don't cover more topics like where to find the best credit cards or how to create a budget? It's because deep inside, I believe these things are secondary. I believe behavior is more important. Building a better budget isn't going to change your attitude toward saving and spending; but changing you attitude toward saving and spending could very well lead you to building a better budget. Ultimately, if we want Americans to be smarter with their money, we need to encourage them to consume less media to avoid advertising and we need to teach them to master the emotional side of personal finance. We need to show them how to change their behavior. We need to appeal to their self-interest. We need to help them find intrinsic motivation to save. Each of us needs to dig deep inside to find what it is that's important to us, what it is that brings us joy, and we need to prioritize that instead of all the other garbage. I'm not suggesting that we abandon traditional financial literacy completely. But I think a constant push for more financial education is a waste of time if it's only going to focus on mechanics, to stick to facts and figures. To truly be successful, financial education has to address the behavioral side of money because that is absolutely the biggest piece of the puzzle.

Author: J.D. Roth In 2006, J.D. founded Get Rich Slowly to document his quest to get out of debt. Over time, he learned how to save and how to invest. Today, he's managed to reach early retirement! He wants to help you master your money and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you reach your goals. https://www.getrichslowly.org/why-financial-literacy-fails-and-what-to-do-about-it/

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mariapelletierblog-blog · 7 years

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Adventures in Minimalism

So you’ve probably heard of this new minimalistic trend - tiny houses, capsule wardrobes, less money on “stuff” and more money for adventures. For me, the “ah, ha” moment was the fact that I could never keep up with the clutter. I spent my entire weekends cleaning our house, and there is only two of us! I was reading an article on minimalism and she mentioned how less stuff, meant way less time cleaning and that was it, I was sold.

Consumerism is a bad habit, and it’s not easy to break. For years i’ve been going to Costco, Homegoods and Target every weekend. I’ve had to break up with scented candles, seasonal decor, and constant shopping. It’s not easy, I still have relapses, but i’m consciously trying. It’s probably been about 9 months of trying to break bad habits and slowly cleaning out the house.

As we prepare for a baby, the house is full, the kitchen, the closets... there’s no room for the mass amount of baby stuff we are about to acquire. We live in a 3 bed, 2 bath with a very large backyard storage shed... how did we accumulate so much stuff?!

Right now, there are two main things I am trying to achieve. 1) cleaning out the entire house before baby comes and 2) keeping the incoming baby stuff to the bare minimum.

Here are some tips I have if you are interested in minimalism:

If you have tons of energy and can spend a whole weekend clearing out all the clutter in your life, good for you! If you are like me, that is way too overwhelming. Instead, pick bite sized projects each week. This weekend, I went through my swimsuit drawer and makeup. For larger projects, like the pantry re-do and going through all my kitchen drawers, I waited until my mom and sister were visiting and could help. Also, it’s helpful having an outside opinion about whether to save something or not.

There are also some super easy first steps you can do:

- Unsubscribe to all consumer emails (retail stores, home decor, etc) so you aren’t constantly reminded and tempted. Before minimalism, with our babymoon coming up, I would have bought a whole new wardrobe and could have totally justified it with “I need maternity vacation clothes.” This time around, I’m trying on all the clothes I already have and putting outfits together. Because we live in LA, I already own plenty of warm weather sun dresses that still fit. Would it be fun to get some new outfits? Sure, but i’d rather spend that money on a spa day or sailing. I feel like I have to disclose I did end up buying some new swimsuits for the trip, but thats after trying on what I already owned and my swimsuit tops no longer fit.

- Stop buying beauty products, use up what you have - as you’re cleaning out you’ll be surprised what you find and didn’t realize you owned- 15 tubes of mascara, an entire shelf of shower products and face masks, 40 different colors of nail polish, 7 bottles of barely used body lotion... Whatever you have a surplus of, stop buying those items and use up what you have!

- Work on eliminating food waste - I’m still struggling with this. This is a big one for me. I want to eat healthy, so I load up on perishables - fruits, veggies, proteins, and then end up throwing out a significant amount. A few years ago I was shopping at Costco, Ralphs and TJs all on the weekend. I’ve really paired it back and now buy enough ingredients to make two dinner recipes (which, plus leftovers, lasts us for about 5-6 meals). Start being more conscious about how much you are actually eating. When i’m buying fruits and veggies, instead of buying a full bag of each item, i’m getting realistic with my eating habits, 1 to 2 bananas, 2 apples, 1 zucchini, 1 bell pepper, etc. If i have to go back to the grocery store mid week I can do that, but that actually hasn’t really happened.

Stop buying home decorations - This Christmas I didn’t but any new decor items. I was surprised how easy it was. I was also surprised we had 4 extremely large Christmas bins in the shed and i’d forgotten about 80% of the decor items we already had. I’ve been able to decorate for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and V-day so far with decorations I already found around the house. I’ve survived. Gasp.

Stop buying candles - If you are a candle addict like me, this needed to happen. I had about 30 half used scented candles hidden away throughout the house. For the past few months, I was using up what I had, I had about 7 half-used candles to use up this Christmas. Now that i’m pregnant, I don’t want to use scented candles in our home anymore because of chemicals so i’ve been diffusing essential oils instead. I’m really liking the “motivate” blend and peppermint & lemon. Both give me energy and help with nausea.

And 1 big step i’m taking in minimalism:

Working towards a capsule wardrobe- First step, going through what you already own. I did a first round purge a few months ago and pulled out clothes I still really liked that won’t fit me during pregnancy & put them in a bin.

I also pulled out clothes I didn’t like and put in 2 piles - giveaway, and for name brand/lightly worn clothes am selling on Poshmark. I’ve sold about $200 so far. I’ve been pricing my items cheap to sell, but it’s still more money than if I just donated. Whatever I still have left a month before the baby comes, I’ll donate.

I also threw out/donated SO MANY SHOES. It feels AMAZING! I’m throwing out all my cheep-o $20 pair of shoes that kill my feet and slowly investing in good quality shoes. I love the Walking Store.

Now I just have to get the guts to do that with my purses…. baby steps!

I think i’m due to do a second purge as it’s been about 4 months. I still have more clothes than I know what to do with, I wear about 20% of what I actually own and have clothes in drawers I haven’t opened since I did the first purge round and can’t remember what’s in there...

I’d love to hear any tips you have on minimalism if you’re also trying to live a consciously uncluttered lifestyle. If you try any of my tips, let me know how they work for you! It’s a process, i’m already almost a year into trying to implement this change and there is still so much clutter but I can’t imagine if I hadn’t started and i’m going to keep sticking with it.

#minimalism #minimal #blogger #pregnancy blog #clutter

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