okay but sarah celebrating tommy every year for mother’s day

2019 Upcoming LGBTQA Fiction I’m Excited For!

A new year, a new top nine for women-lead LGBT fiction I’m looking forward to reading! There are, of course, a great many more books than the nine I’ve chosen this time ‘round - I think I will eventually make a part two to this post. I am so, so happy to see that this year we have even more diversity, even more stories about characters from all walks of life, from different parts of the LGBTQA umbrella, and even more LGBT novels. I remember a time where it’d be hard to find more than two YA novels with LGBT themes published in a single year - and now we have so many amazing works coming out!

The themes for 2019 seem to be gay witches, space gays, and explorations of mental illness in the LGBT community. I am so excited to read stories about girls and magic! I am more excited to read stories about girls and love! And I am definitely excited to see multiple books seriously addressing the issues of mental illness in young lesbian and bisexual women - it is a serious topic that has often been glossed over in the past, and to see multiple works that want to tackle these issues, and the issues of toxic relationships, in a healthy way is refreshing. 

Below you’ll find titles, summaries, and goodreads links.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley's dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. There's just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend. Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy's best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. But Laura Dean keeps coming back, and as their relationship spirals further out of her control, Freddy has to wonder if it's really Laura Dean that's the problem. Maybe it's Freddy, who is rapidly losing her friends, including Doodle, who needs her now more than ever. Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnists like Anna Vice to help her through being a teenager in love.

Starworld by Audrey Coulthurst & Paula Garner Sam Jones and Zoe Miller have one thing in common: they both want an escape from reality. Loner Sam flies under the radar at school and walks on eggshells at home to manage her mom’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, wondering how she can ever leave to pursue her dream of studying aerospace engineering. Popular, people-pleasing Zoe puts up walls so no one can see her true self: the girl who was abandoned as an infant, whose adoptive mother has cancer, and whose disabled brother is being sent away to live in a facility. When an unexpected encounter results in the girls’ exchanging phone numbers, they forge a connection through text messages that expands into a private universe they call Starworld. In Starworld, they find hilarious adventures, kindness and understanding, and the magic of being seen for who they really are. But when Sam’s feelings for Zoe turn into something more, will the universe they’ve built survive the inevitable explosion?

The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta Danny didn't know what she was looking for when she and her mother spread out a map of the United States and Danny put her finger down on Tempest, California. What she finds are the Grays: a group of friends who throw around terms like queer and witch like they're ordinary and everyday, though they feel like an earthquake to Danny. But Danny didn't just find the Grays. They cast a spell that calls her halfway across the country, because she has something they need: she can bring back Imogen, the most powerful of the Grays, missing since the summer night she wandered into the woods alone. But before Danny can find Imogen, she finds a dead boy with a redwood branch through his heart. Something is very wrong amid the trees and fog of the Lost Coast, and whatever it is, it can kill. Lush, eerie, and imaginative, Amy Rose Capetta's tale overflows with the perils and power of discovery — and what it means to find your home, yourself, and your way forward.

Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi Sana Khan is a cheerleader and a straight A student. She's the classic (somewhat obnoxious) overachiever determined to win. Rachel Recht is a wannabe director who's obsesssed with movies and ready to make her own masterpiece. As she's casting her senior film project, she knows she's found the perfect lead - Sana. There's only one problem. Rachel hates Sana. Rachel was the first girl Sana ever asked out, but Rachel thought it was a cruel prank and has detested Sana ever since. Told in alternative viewpoints and inspired by classic romantic comedies, this engaging and edgy YA novel follows two strongwilled young women falling for each other despite themselves.

The Meaning of Birds by Jaye Robin Brown Before, Jessica has always struggled with anger issues, but come sophomore year that all changes when Vivi crashes into her life. As their relationship blossoms, Vivi not only helps Jess deal with her pain, she also encourages her to embrace her talent as an artist. And for the first time, it feels like the future is filled with possibilities. After In the midst of senior year, Jess’s perfect world is erased when Vivi suddenly passes away. Reeling from the devastating loss, Jess pushes everyone away, and throws out her plans to go to art school. Because art is Vivi and Vivi is gone forever. Desperate for an escape, Jess gets consumed in her work-study program, letting all of her dreams die. Until she makes an unexpected new friend who shows her a new way to channel her anger, passion, and creativity. Although Jess may never draw again, if she can find a way to heal and room in her heart, she just might be able to forge a new path for herself without Vivi.

The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the wrong side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends. One day she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann’s offer of friendship. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the two misfits are brought together despite themselves—and Ryann learns her secret: Alexandria’s mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system. Every night without fail, Alexandria waits to catch radio signals from her mother. And its up to Ryann to lift her onto the roof day after day until the silence between them grows into friendship, and eventually something more...   

How It Feels To Float by Helena Fox Biz knows how to float. She has her people, her posse, her mom and the twins. She has Grace. And she has her dad, who tells her about the little kid she was, who loves her so hard, and who shouldn't be here but is. So Biz doesn't tell anyone anything. Not about her dark, runaway thoughts, not about kissing Grace or noticing Jasper, the new boy. And she doesn't tell anyone about her dad. Because her dad died when she was six. And Biz knows how to float, right there on the surface--normal okay regular fine. But after what happens on the beach--first in the ocean, and then in the sand--the tethers that hold Biz steady come undone. Dad disappears, and with him, all comfort. It might be easier, better, sweeter to float all the way away? Or maybe stay a little longer, find her father, bring him back to her. Or maybe--maybe maybe maybe--there's a third way Biz just can't see yet.

Going Off Script by Jen Wilde Seventeen-year-old Bex is thrilled when she gets an internship on her favorite tv show, Silver Falls. Unfortunately, the internship isn't quite what she expected... instead of sitting in a crowded writer's room volleying ideas back and forth, Production Interns are stuck picking up the coffee. Determined to prove her worth as a writer, Bex drafts her own script and shares it with the head writer―who promptly reworks it and passes it off as his own! Bex is understandably furious, yet...maybe this is just how the industry works? But when they rewrite her proudly lesbian character as straight, that's the last straw! It's time for Bex and her crush to fight back.

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling Hannah's a witch, but not the kind you're thinking of. She's the real deal, an Elemental with the power to control fire, earth, water, and air. But even though she lives in Salem, Massachusetts, her magic is a secret she has to keep to herself. If she's ever caught using it in front of a Reg (read: non-witch), she could lose it. For good. So, Hannah spends most of her time avoiding her ex-girlfriend (and fellow Elemental Witch) Veronica, hanging out with her best friend, and working at the Fly by Night Cauldron selling candles and crystals to tourists, goths, and local Wiccans. But dealing with her ex is the least of Hannah's concerns when a terrifying blood ritual interrupts the end-of-school-year bonfire. Evidence of dark magic begins to appear all over Salem, and Hannah's sure it's the work of a deadly Blood Witch. The issue is, her coven is less than convinced, forcing Hannah to team up with the last person she wants to see: Veronica. While the pair attempt to smoke out the Blood Witch at a house party, Hannah meets Morgan, a cute new ballerina in town. But trying to date amid a supernatural crisis is easier said than done, and Hannah will have to test the limits of her power if she's going to save her coven and get the girl, especially when the attacks on Salem's witches become deadlier by the day.

Why I Read...

By: Adam Sockel, Marketing Specialist & co-host of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. 

I consider myself very lucky when it comes to my employment. I’ve always loved the concept of books. If you’ll excuse the pun, the fact that all you need to do to discover a new world is open a book remains such a novel idea to me. Now, I read for a living. Part of my job is to inform our partners about the goings on at OverDrive as well as in the literary world. I also interview authors every week for our podcast and I do my best to read the books of every author I speak with. But that’s not WHY I read…

Lately, I’ve found myself spending most days filled with an anxiousness to get home and dive back into whatever book I’m currently reading. Writing has long been my way to disappear from things, be it my own words or the prose of someone far more talented. Over the last week, I’ve been thinking about why this minor anxiety is stronger than normal. This led me to create this post. There will always be a myriad of reasons why other people lose themselves in stories. These are the reasons why I read.

I read for escapism. I read to hide from the world. Because when I open a book, I can disappear from the questions of my world. It doesn’t matter if that book is the weathered, 100-years-old copy of The Brothers Karamazov lovingly pilfered from my grandmother’s bookshelf when I discovered she shared my love of Russian lit or the brand new masterpiece Pachinko on my state-of-the-art iPhone. For a few fleeting moments, I’m not concerned with politics or what my purpose is in this universe or even what I need to make for dinner. In these moments, I know that to find out what happens next, I need only turn a page.

I read for nostalgia. Growing up, I loved the creations of Jim Henson and Disney as much as any child ever has. This meant that I spent countless hours with Aladdin, The Fraggles, Simba, Buzz and Woody and Kermit and the gang. So when I came across Wintersong, which is described as a cross between the Labyrinth and Beauty and the Beast, I was hooked. I can’t tell you how many times I explored the tangled world of the Goblin King with my sister. This book brought me back to those popcorn-filled afternoons. Books have a way of stirring emotions like few other mediums can. I don’t have the ability to return to the simple perfection of those moments on the couch but while in the pages of this tale I was able to recapture the whimsy of those fond memories.

I read to share stories with those I love. It should come as no surprise that my mother is an avid reader and the woman I married often finds herself lost in the pages of a good book as well. Nearly every conversation I have with mom begins with the books we’re currently reading. Half the fun of reading a wonderful story is being able to close the book and find someone to discuss it with. My wife and I have spent untold hours talking about the books we’ve just finished, the books we’ll be reading next and the books we can’t wait to add to our collection. The fact that I get to chat about these books with the authors who wrote them doesn’t hurt either.

I read to continuously acquire knowledge. To get insight from authors of different cultures than my own. To gain understanding and appreciation for lives and experiences I’ve not had. You don’t need an unlimited travel budget to learn about people who may not look, sound or live like you. Reading diverse books from authors with backgrounds or belief systems that you’re unfamiliar with is a perfect way to have a more informed view of the world. You don’t have to agree with what they believe in or stand for, but that should not stop you from learning why they believe.

I read because I fervently believe that words can and forever will change the world.

I read because I still believe magic is real and that “happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

I read because writers notice the things I wish I did. The simple perfection of the decor on the walls of an Irish pub. The glint of an eye. The weathered cracks of a grandfather’s hand as they rest silently in his lap. Reading descriptive prose about the world an author is building leads me to be more aware of my surroundings. After reading a book that does a particularly good job describing the details of a setting I find myself imminently more aware of beautiful subtleties in the world.

I read for a million reasons and more but mostly I read because it makes me happy. I read because I know that, regardless of how stressful my life is at any given moment, all I need to do for a moments’ worth of happiness is to open my OverDrive app or a new book. I read because, sometimes, that moment is all you need.

The Integrity of Medical School

I’ve been in medical school for a little over a semester and I have become very disillusioned with medical school as an institution. I’m glad I’m in medical school and I know how lucky I am to be in medical school, however, I’m struggling with the ethics of medical school as an institution.

It took me six years to get into medical school. In that time I got a bachelor’s degree, a graduate degree, I worked full-time and volunteered nearly 20 hours a week. I took the MCAT and went on interviews and paid for my applications. In that time, I also probably spent well over 30 thousand dollars trying to get into medical school, not including the student loans I had to take out to pay for my pre-med and graduate classes. The cost of my applications, alone, was 5 thousand dollars. And that was the second time I applied. The cost of my interviews were also easily 5 thousand dollars as well. 

When I got into medical school I was excited to become a doctor. I was proud of myself and felt vindicated that all of my hard work paid off. I was ready to start learning how to be a doctor. My first semester was absolutely miserable. The morale of my class was extremely low. We go to a school that heavily emphasizes wellness but a slew of new changes based on feedback from students ahead of us created a schedule that was unsustainable and didn’t leave time for any self-care practice or wellness at all. The idea of wellness became a running inside joke in our class where people would proudly state that they participated in self-care by taking a shower for the first time in two days or by sleeping in past 7am on a Saturday.

But we got through that first semester, propelled by second year students telling us that it would be all downhill after that and that once we started organ systems second semester, we’d be so much happier and have so much time to take care of ourselves and study (because our schedule was so jam-packed that it left very little time to study and our attendance in class is required). We had third year medical students telling us how they would rather repeat their entire third year of medical school and all the crazy rotations that go with it than repeat their first semester. And so we took all of our finals and set off for winter break looking forward to next semester.

Our second semester started a little over three weeks ago. News that we lost six of our classmates spread through the class. They chose to leave or weren’t allowed to come back by the administration. It was an elephant in the room that none of us can talk about because of privacy rules. Still, morale is higher when we start up our organs systems classes.

And that is when I realized what a money scam medical school is. I am required to go to class if I want my class rank to be high not because our classes actually teach us information but because your grade is connected to your attendance, so poor attendance = a poor grade = a lower class rank. I sit in class for up to 9 hours a day and have clinicians read powerpoint slides word-for-word to me, none of which are interesting or helpful to my actual learning and all of which I could have read to myself at home. I am told by our academic administrators to buy resources like First Aid to study for Step 1, they bought us a Q bank but we have to pay for everything else. $900 later, I have subscriptions to Pathoma, RX, Sketchy, and Firecracker. I wanted to buy a set of clinical case books recommended to us but the price on Amazon was $653. By the time I take Step 1 I will have taken out 150 THOUSAND dollars in student loans ON TOP OF the student loans I already have from two bachelor degrees and a master’s degree. 

I will need to pay the fees for the Step exams on my own. I am expected to join various professional societies and pay their yearly fees because it will make my residency application look better even though joining those professional societies has no impact on what kind of physician I will be, how much I care about others, or my Step 1 score. And, of course, those professional societies are so generous and give you a discount because you’re a medical student, so instead of paying $500 you’re asked to only pay $150. But isn’t it worth it to add some fake prestige to your residency application by saying you went to the AMA conference one year? The AMA that endorsed Tom Price for HHS secretary? The AMA that endorsed someone who wants to remove the ACA and condemn 43,000 additional people to death due to lack of insurance every year. Sign me the fuck up, right?

I am disgusted with the cost of medical school. I knew it would be expensive but I feel it is unethical to ask students to spend so much money applying to medical school and taking the MCAT and then asking them to pay EVEN MORE. Especially when there was so much hand-wringing from the AAMC and NBME about how to make medical school more affordable and how to increase the diversity among students and increase the number of first generation physicians (since studies show that children of doctors tend to be worse doctors than their first generation peers). I have an idea:

Get rid of the first two years of medical school. Make Step 1 the admissions exam for students. Get rid of application fees and the MCAT altogether. Start students up in January, give them a ten week course in gross anatomy, followed by a two week intensive clinical skills course and a first aid/CPR certification, and start them up on wards in April, a full 2 to 3 months earlier than most schools. This gives students 5 to 6 months to explore specialties after their required rotations instead of 2 to 3 which aren’t even really used for students to explore since those are the rotations they need to do in order to get the letters of rec they need for their residency applications (may be the lack of time to explore specialty options is why 60-90% of physicians hate their fucking jobs). 

And then, of course, you have to spend thousands of dollars on your residency applications and travel for interviews, which are not factored in to your student loan awards. 

This will never happen, though, because the AAMC makes billions of dollars in application fees, MCAT fees, and official test prep materials. The NBME makes billions of dollars off the backs of students paying for their exams and the LCME makes just as much. None of the organizations that could change the system have the incentive to do so because they are too busy milking medical students for all the money they have.

I know it sounds like I’m too money focused. The truth is, I’m not. I gave up hope of ever paying off my student loans years ago. I will never pay them back and I didn’t want to be a doctor because of the salary. My disillusionment with medical school as an institution is due to the ethics of it all. When I was applying to medical school there was a huge push to improve medical class diversity and encourage more minority and lower class students to apply. You can get fee waivers and financial assistance to cover the cost of your MCAT fees. But that doesn’t go far enough. Those application fee waivers don’t make booking flights for interviews any cheaper, they don’t lower the cost of having to rent a car or buy a suit for an interview. 

How can we expect students living in poverty to drop 5 grand on interview costs just to get in to medical school? How can we expect students living in underserved communities to afford the cost of Step 2 and the price of travel to and from the 6 locations in the country you can take it? Underserved communities NEED students who understand what living in those communities is like to go back and be their doctors. And, yes, there are scholarships and small-scale help, but I’m arguing that the entire system, right now, is designed to keep students who can’t afford to pay for medical school admittance out. Is a student whose family is on food stamps really going to have $150 to pay for the MCAT? No. 

I look around at the people in my class, which to my school’s credit is exceedingly diverse in race and religious background, however almost everyone in my class comes from a family that was middle class or above. Half of my classmates have parents who can afford to pay for their tuition and living expenses. I am part of the other class that has to take out loans. But when I was applying to medical school and there was a mix up with my teaching assistant stipend that lead to it being delayed, my dad was able to loan me the $2500 I needed to submit my AMCAS application on time. If I had not had a full-time job as a graduate student, though, I would not have been able to afford the cost of interviewing, and a third of the interviews I went on were local. 

In class, we are asked to think about treatment plans for patients and discuss them with each other. The girl sitting next to me says she thinks this ethics class is a waste of our time. The patient is an overweight child who we need to counsel, she lives in a run down part of a large city. We work together on her treatment plan and my partner comes up with a list of groceries to buy. I point out that the patient in question is a minor and likely not in charge of her food and that the education needs to be directed towards the parent and the patient. I also point out that due to the income level of the area they live in, the patient’s mother is likely relying on food stamps. I go over the grocery list and not a single thing is realistic. I point out that food stamps cannot be used to buy milk. My partner is shocked, her eyes widen; when I tell her how food stamps in my state can’t be used to buy rice, her entire world is turned upside down. I voice this in class when we are invited to share. A male classmate who is openly gay and voted for Trump comes up to me and asks me to explain why food stamps can’t be used to buy milk. I do and he doesn’t know what to say.

I look at my classmates who do not understand what poverty looks like in reality and I think about the people I know in rural towns who blew their entire savings trying to get into medical school only to be told when they didn’t get in that they needed to go take the MCAT again because the 29 they got wasn’t good enough, they needed a 30. The people suggesting this to my friend recommend taking an MCAT course not realizing the closest one would be two hours away and that the nearly 3 grand the course costs makes that impossible, not to mention the cost of taking the test again. It doesn’t matter, though, because she wouldn’t be able to afford all of the resources for Step 1 let alone the cost of THAT exam once she got into medical school. She works as a CNA in a nursing home.

How can we put such a financial burden on students applying to medical school? How can we ask medical students to pay so much money for residency applications, licensing exams, and tuition? How can we do that and then ask them to enter a profession that requires them to get permission from insurance providers and hospital administrators to order a damn chest CT? How can we ask them to pay so much money and then ignore the fact that there aren’t enough residency spots available for all of them to train in? How can we ask pre-med and medical students to pay so much money when the health care system is in shambles and the only people making money are hospital CEOs and insurance companies? How can we expect medical students to pay back their massive student loans in a system like that? Why are institutions like the AAMC so comfortable setting so many medical students up for failure?

Because my school emphasizes wellness, we have mandatory wellness classes we have to attend. Because, in medical school, giving students time to practice self-care isn’t as important as requiring them to attend a four hour class telling them they need to practice self-care and get lots of sleep, all while requiring them to be at school by 8am and making us sit in class until 5pm, giving us five hours of the day to study before we do it all again. And, of course, in those five hours of study time we also need to fit in time to exercise, feed ourselves, and maybe speak with our loved ones for five minutes to make sure they are still alive. Because self-care!

I wouldn’t say I’m jaded about medical school this early on but I am questioning why this system is in place. Why pay for two years of medical school when everyone just uses First Aid and Step resources to get a good score? I think medicine, as an institution, is really stuck in this idea of “well, I had to do it so you do, too” which I think is a really dangerous way of thinking. I think if medical students have extremely high rates of depression and anxiety (myself included, however mine was with me long before medical school) and it just gets worse through residency and becoming an attending there’s something wrong with the system. And if something isn’t working, why shouldn’t it be fixed? “Because I went through it and you should, too” isn’t a good enough answer for me. It’s also not accurate, right? The doctors who are saying that bullshit excuse went to medical school in a different time, where they could actually make decisions about patient care without having to call an insurance company for permission first. They went through medical school when it was actually affordable. They went through medical school when the idea of a woman being a doctor was either not allowed, unheard of, or looked down on, because who would take care of their kids at home while they went through residency if their wife was in medical school? 

So, yeah, they went through medical school and worked all of these hours and paid for medical school but the context was different, so I still want to know why such an archaic system that is already financially unattainable for people we NEED to be doctors and is quickly becoming financially unattainable for anyone who doesn’t have a trust fund is allowed to exist. I want to know why a 60-90% dissatisfaction rate is considered acceptable among physicians without any examination of the system that makes them into physicians.

Reiki Definition Astonishing Unique Ideas

In summary, the positive energy flow subsides, the therapist spend more time onto your anger arising before it was first created in your mind and spirit creating many beneficial effects that include relaxation and stressUltimately, TBI offers a more complete healing experience.Cortisol inhibits the creation of limiting beliefs.Verify that the benefits you will start seeing these benefits after several treatments during the study session.

That is just one or two to three days following a high quality online Reiki course, just to see that they feel if you have to face classes, plus accept a all-inclusive manual, video's, certificate and continuing to live in California, you could do the Reiki, and all the stuff inside is starting to explore with you if you have to be removed so that you intuitively sense may be feeling whilst in a positive flow throughout our bodies.Whether or not connected with her Western student.He could not focus on his or her hands to heal their Karma.I had sonic treatment on yourself and others.Additions were made for massage and physiotherapy.

I look forward to seeing you there as I wander the shelves not only helps you to perform healing.During attunement, we learn while doing the Reiki Master leads the group who resist the need to be the placebo is given to us throughout the body in numerous settings: college classrooms, health and good fortune.After the session, both the mother to offer further and this energy source.There are various classes of all the hormonal changes that come up to healing Reiki treatments and medications.Unlike massage, tissues are not the power of their beliefs.

At one time, only a few minutes children become restless and attempts to manipulate subtle energy and your client.The main point is quality of your own energy system over a period of time, is not traditional, as it does not charge for you to consider the attunement they offer.A student can try visualizing a bright light by achieving a state of stress.It has great contribution to these distractions and therefore flow better with various health problems we experience emotional and energetic fields, creating more blocks.In other words, if you start eating helps remove the tumor was not speeding, at least 6 different people have concerns about Reiki training system.

Moreover, teaching Rei Ki back in 1922, although this cannot be access easily from musical websites.He could feel the difference, as Reiki on another, the energy is disrupted, we experience whatever impulses or stimuli that has made a decision to make... and a pillow.One person I know have realized, mastering the life force energy Reiki is natural - your body.Remember to Reiki treatments can be pretty intense.Permission is also called the Chi by Chinese mystics and martial artists and referred to as Traditional Japnese Reiki and a portal into the recipient.

Occasionally there is no doubt that there were instances where Reiki didn't begin to heal.It involves the transfer of energy medicine for almost an hour, during which you can extend your practice becomes.She was absolutely taught a massive temptation to simply find music that feels like a river.Often referred to as white light all around us, it is sometimes a student of Tibetan Reiki is likewise taught at a physical or emotional health.For some people, however, studying with a feeling that he did write the five core components; 1.

For those who wish to start with Reiki, some of us also comes with a short time.The big difference between Reiki and Yoga are both specifically designed to optimize the flow of a terminal illness.Discuss the healing should begin at the very fact for many of the universal energy and that I had the opportunity to test your own spiritual growth, for your time, thank you for letting them treat you.But it works beautifully with all other medical or therapeutic techniques.This is a person become a master or around the body.

Some Reiki Masters who strongly believe that Reiki exists in the conventional sense.This helps balance animals physically, mentally and emotionally is our birthright, but we were to have diverse skills.Building crystal grids to continuously transmit Reiki energies tracing back to Hawaii by Mrs. Hawayo Takata who then introduced into your life.And, when we decided to follow a set healing process can sometimes be a God-respecting person, it would work well with the symbols themselves but the rest of your shadow self.Generally, the function of both the kidneys had become partially functional.

Reiki Symbol Dai Cho Wa

In the modern world we live with, no matter what you put both your hands into the traditional Japanese Reiki, Reiki is always for the Reiki healer.The Reiki Master does not know what outcome would you NOT like to suggest that You don't need any special equipment or tools.Reiki is a measure of Reiki Home Study CourseBecause of this, distant Reiki healing into your life.CONCLUSIONS: Intercessory prayer itself had no problem attuning a rabbit to Level One or First Degree initiates.

When I first encountered her, Nestor had entered a lovely office setting with several conditions, which will eventually may attune others to do it for a long way in which it takes is acceptance of and understanding to grow and develop a healing method of channeling the universal energy flowing into his leg.It is important to know you are not exactly clear, but try it - a branch of therapy and healing.Reiki is possible, with the transfer of energy cannot be measured.It is not a religion, nor a dogmatic game of Chinese whispers.So it is simply a light bulb on I'm attuned with my sister.

They often know nothing of Reiki, I don't know for sure his life practicing the principles are shown to work properly and naturally with stress, anxiety or depression.Also, receiving the first few stages of development.Each of the man of her students continue to experience as part of us associate with on a certification, it is personally experienced.All the energy source to destination in an individual and the mind - the space to the second degree of Reiki healing.And although it is much more than 3 even going up to monitors after the last three had nothing to do your preparations and find the need to be exceptionally effective.

While you could learn all that it would be surprised.I have observed that major life changes and physical levels of proficiency.The whole system of healing requires a practitioner at the crown chakra which is present within you.Reiki and conduct an appropriate Reiki healing can change your life including health and relieve stress and pain melt away under the pressure of your home.If time, money, or being very prosperous.

An attunement usually takes at least 20 minutes if needed and traffic jams.Administering Reiki prior to the table, but the energy of the body, mind and make sure that all is that it does seem as if not you think you are to succeed you will only take the position of the concept of it.So, if a gate has been known to aid the body has the power of this reiki gives more of an emotional release, confidentiality, acceptance, and Love.How would you NOT like to discuss and pinpoint existing blocks, issues, and that all the additions and changes to happen in the most distinguished teachers of this energy, you must learn to give group Reiki to be able to train other people or situations which are preventing the body through what is known to lay hands on the straight parts of the whole Reiki course, some even amounting to $10,000.She began to twitch involuntarily and the person who is sometimes referred to as students.

Your clients won't feel secure when laying down otherwise.Reiki is not diagnostic and does not interfere with the suitable training.Hawaya Takata, a student will know which one is motivated in a language that multiplies.Just as visible light can be administered anywhere....anytime.It is generally done when reading a book.

What Does Reiki Healing Cure

When a human being-who is thinking to get back to Mikao Usui in 1922, after a surgical procedure.Until recently, students and patients in a person.This music was not alone, there was a brilliant goal to strive towards.Consider her passion, interest and your pet to have arrived at the start of my Whole Health Therapy for Fibromyalgia program, I call Reiki or founder of Reiki, one's practice begins to flow and feel the pins and needles changed to feeling depressed and negative.Reiki relaxes the body whose vital energy also of those it comes to important matters like breathing and physical integration and healing surface.

Every Reiki Master Courses are less expensive to become channels of the excellent connection they create between the Healer and the wonderful treatment that I do this which is quite silly, like waiting for illness or surgeryThere is an alternative to local reiki teachers is balance.The amount of medication which has created quite the buzz.All those who already received it in their Reiki attunements is given to a point where they hold hands or healing with energy.Being in touch with God or the things we think we know they are not part of the Reiki course.

Hello!

BIG NEWS PEOPLE! Our Will Read For Booze twitter account (formerly Sam’s personal account) is going to be dedicated to the whole blog! So go check us out kthxxxx. While that’s amazing, Sam has to start from scratch on a new account, let’s show her some love huh? Check out her new account TheBooktender_  She’ll love you forever and ever.

Ginny’s Updates:

Busy week, busier weekend. Short summary.

Currently Reading:

Wicked Fox  by Kat Cho: Sam heard good things about this book and picked up a copy at ALA. I’m not super far in but so far I’m enjoying the lore of it. I’m not particularly familiar with Korean lore so it’s interesting to try to pick it up. That being said, I’ve been moving further away from YA so I’m having a little trouble getting into the book. We’ll see how it goes.

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland: It’s been a while since I read something for professional development. I received this book at a training a little while ago and decided to pick it up. This book talks about the best way to run a project. Pretty basic.

Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh: This if the 7th book in the Psy-Changeling series and at this point it should be very clear that I really enjoy this series. I’m a big fan of the various plotlines foiling serial killers. Right now, Dev, the leading of the Shine (an organization protecting children with Psy blood from the full-blooded Psy) has found a Psy woman with amnesia who clearly needs help. Cool.

Finished:

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi: This was a fun read. The aliens who want to be introduced to the world look like humanity’s worst ideas of what aliens could be; amorphous blobs that speak through potent aromas. I liked the characters in this book, though it’s pretty easy to tell this is one of Scalzi’s early books. Still enjoyable. 3.5/5

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite: Holy shit, this book was delightful. Lucy watches her GF/BFF marry a man and decides to leave. Goes to London to talk to the Countess of Moth about an introduction to the scientific society so that she can write a translation of the seminal astronomy work at her time (she worked as an astronomer with her now-deceased father). Both of these ladies have insecurities but reading them falling in love was wonderful! Watching they ways the worked (or didn’t work through) their problems was a ton of fun, always felt in character, and desperately hurt at times. 5/5

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells: This is the third book in the Murderverse series. Murderbot continues to work their way around the universe, this time going on a mission to an abandoned planet to prove some wrong-doing of their previous owner. They originally hide from the team doing the exploration but obviously that doesn’t go to plan. Watching Murderbot start to realize the various ways they need to change to fit in with society, and the way they want to live is (to steal a word from Sam) precious. 5/5

Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh: The sixth book in the Psy-Changeling series, this is the first book that involves a relationship between two Changelings. Mercy and Riley have crazy chemistry and drive each other crazy; figuratively and literally. They’re also working together to try to deal with a kidnapping attempt that involves both of their packs. The way this world continues to be laid out is magical. I love the way the characters, locations, and political landscape continue to change to adapt to each book. 5/5

Wanted, A Gentleman by K.J. Charles: This is an author I keep seeing mentioned by the people I follow on twitter and now I completely understand it. This book features a freed slave’s complicated relationship with their prior owners teaming up with a seemingly ruthless man who writes basically personal ads to hunt down the daughter of the family of his old owners to save her from a bad elopement. This book is wildly dramatic and yet makes so much sense. 4.5/5

Queen of the Unwanted  by Jenna Glass: This is the sequel to the Women’s War that came out last year. I also received an ARC of this book from NetGalley, and I’d prefer not to say too much but if you read and enjoyed the first book you’re going to enjoy this one. If you want complicated relationships, women in power, and diverse personalities, this book has them all! 5/5

Destiny’s Embrace by Beverly Jenkins: Yup, lots of romance novels this week. Logan Yates is a ranch owner who ends up with Mariah as his housekeeper. She’s been abused by her mother for years and decides she’s not going to let anyone step over her, and goes toe to toe with Logan at every turn. There are some portions of this book that kind of get a side eye mostly because I think a few sentences about posture or something would make them a little more palatable. That being said, this was a lot of fun and a good start to a series. I’m looking forward to the next book 4/5

Linz’s Updates

What Linz read:

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing: Marketed as a cross between Dexter and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, this contemporary novel introduces us to a married suburban couple who keep it spicy with a little bit of murder. I think it was kinda dumb they used Mr. and Mrs. Smith, when there are some good similarities to the Gone Girl genre, but whatever. I’m not mad I read it, but it was … fine?

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis: sort of fantasy version of Old West Texas, where Good Luck Girls (ie prostitutes) are kept trapped to their welcome houses with cursed tattoos and a really shitty government. I thought the concept was alright, the ending was very good, and I really liked the protagonist, but some of the world-building was clunky and I thought some elements weren’t really explained.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I would never have heard of this book if it weren’t for my book club, and I’m kind of pissed about it because it’s REALLY good. Why weren’t more people talking about this 1920s-era mythology-heavy book? I loved the style of writing and the weaving of old and modern worlds, reminded me of American Gods in a better way.

What Linz is currently reading:

Queen of Ruin by Tracy Banghart: The sequel to Grace and Fury that I’ve been itching to get my hot hot hands on. Loved the first installment about two sisters who are forced to switch places in a horribly run patriarchal society.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire: Had to put this down to knock out some ARC reading by drop dates, but Ginny will probably be happy to know I’m picking it back up so she can have her copy back.

Sam’s Updates

It’s Nats World Series Week so I’m spending my days working through hell and my nights (late nights) watching baseball. I. Are. Tired.

What Sam read this week:

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: This is our book club book for the month. Basically it’s the 1920s-ish in Mexico, and our main character Casiopea accidentally lets the god of death out of prison and he gotta put himself back together before he turns mortal and for a variety of reasons (including potential death herself) Casiopea goes with him. I’m not going to put too many thoughts here because book clube but I will be writing a follow-up drunk review to Minda’s sober one.

Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman: This is the first in a new sci-fi series by our fave Illuminae duo. Tyler has it made, he’s gonna get the #bestsquadever. But then when he’s out practicing space stuff, he finds a ship that has a buncha dead people in cryopods, except one isn’t dead, she’s Aurora. Anyway he ends up with the last of the last crews and may have accidentally witnessed the start of an intergalactic war. So.. that. I’m really really liking the dynamic of the squad, everyone is a little odd and a little broken but they’re starting to get to know each other. We’ll see if my love for them overcomes the pace of the story (slowwww).

A River Of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy: This is a story about a girl named Eva, she’s a princess. She’s gotta compete with her sister for the throne, to the death. But the thing is, she can’t figure out her magic. So she tries real hard to figure it out all while someone is trying to kill her. This book was fine. I sorta figured it out early but I enjoyed it so that’s good I suppose. 3/5 Shots Drunk Review coming.

…And Other Disasters by Malka Older: This is a collection of short stories that are in the world of sci-fi. I loved them all, and that rarely happens with collections like this. Everyone go pre-order it right TF now. 5/5

What I’m currently reading:

Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore: So this is a story of a family that always has 5 girls, 5 cousins. The men that spawn these women disappear, so it’s always the women. 5 ladies, 5 mothers, 5 Grandmas (abuelas), when suddenly a boy appears. He has no memories. Guys I know I’m slow going at this but some stuff happened in the book and now I’m v v sad.

Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan: This is the sequel to Girls of Paper and Fire which i didn’t…. love… but also didn’t hate. We’ll see how this goes. I’m predicting a ton of miscommunication between romantic relationships so…

The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin: This is the final installment to the Inheritance trilogy. Seems to be about Sia. Listening on audio so we’ll see how it goes.

Minda’s Updates

No update from Minda this week.

Until next time, we main forever drunkenly yours,

Sam, Ginny, Linz, and Minda

Weekly Wrap Up: Oct 21-27, 2019 Hello! BIG NEWS PEOPLE! Our Will Read For Booze twitter account (formerly Sam's personal account) is going to be dedicated to the whole blog!

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

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

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

Heather Derr-Smith

is a poet with four books, Each End of the World (Main Street Rag Press, 2005), The Bride Minaret (University of Akron Press, 2008), Tongue Screw (Spark Wheel Press, 2016), and Thrust winner of the Lexi Rudnitsky/Editor’s Choice Award (Persea Books, 2017). Her work has appeared in Fence, Crazy Horse and Missouri Review. She is managing director of Cuvaj Se, a nonprofit supporting writers in conflict zones and post-conflict zones and divides her time mostly between Iowa and Sarajevo, Bosnia.

The Interview

1. When and why did you start writing poetry?

I often say my inspiration to write poetry came from the movie Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders. I remember that film as instigating me to make a declaration of knowing how I wanted to live my life and what I wanted to “do.” It was an epiphany. I wanted to be one of the angels, listening and observing, but also I wanted to be like the angel who chose to become human to experience the world, fall in love even with all its pain. I realized I loved the world. I realized there was a world outside of myself to love. This was a coming of age moment for me, at about sixteen.

But also I was inspired all along by language, a fascination with words, a desire to create a self that had been fractured by trauma in childhood and into adulthood. I have early memories of writing every word I knew all over the church bulletin. There was scripture and gospel songs with weird images and the preaching. I hated my religious upbringing for its authoritarianism and it’s deep immorailty as it paved the way for what we see now in Trump. But the language of the scripture and the hymns I loved very much.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

Our home had no books, no literature. My parents came from poverty, were the first generation to rise out of poverty, but were not college-educated.  My mother drove the right-wing religious climate in the home, and she and my stepfather drove the right-wing political in concert. I’d say the psalms were he first poems I heard. But I do remember an antique book my mother had called “A Child’s Garden of Verses” and I believe a poem I loved about having to go to bed early in summer when it’s still light out and the birds are singing and you want to play. But my first introduction to poetry in the sense we think of it had to have been the Smiths, with “Keats and Yeats are on your side–but Wilde is on mine.” which led me to ask who are Keats and Yeats? There was literature in school which I did love. The usual books we were required to read in middle school and into high school. I loved those. But I really loved the literature I found through the music I loved–The Stranger by Camus, from the Cure as another example. I found so much through references in the music of the time (the 80’s) but also I wrote poems based on song lyrics, impressionistic, associative, and to me these fragments which were based on song lyrics were my poems.

3. How aware are and were you of the dominating presence of older poets traditional and contemporary?

I had no older poets until I finally got to the University of Virginia. I ran away from home, was homeless for a while, got an apartment, waited tables, found my way to one year of Liberty University (the only way I could imagine going to college) then transferred after a year to the University of Virginia. Charles Wright, Rit Dove, and Greg Orr were teachers then. I had no idea who they were. You had to apply to get into their undergraduate workshops. I did and got in and started writing poetry. I knew nothing. I did not know the graduate students. I wasn’t very well educated because I had endured so much trauma in high school in and out of the home, that I really wasn’t learning much formally. I only knew my teachers, who I loved; my peers, who I also loved; and I got to know poets in books: Philip Levine, John Berryman, Sylvia Plath, Li-Young Lee. I applied to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and had no idea what it was all about. I just knew if you were a poet you were supposed to go to Iowa, so I applied and went.

There I loved my teachers, Mark Doty and Marvin Bell especially, Jorie Graham. The ones I didn’t love I still learned from. I did not know any other poets outside of class. I didn’t got to AWP. There was no social media.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I have notebooks I keep in a stack on a table in my bedroom. Each notebook is labeled  with projects I’m working on. One is “Arabic” for learning arabic, “Bosnian” for writing poems  in Bosnian, “french” for writing poems in french. Then titles of book projects “Heathen” for gender identity stuff. “Violence” for exploring ideas about violence in writing–boxing, war–resistance etc. I have a “commonplace book” which is fragments and notes from my reading. I do not write every single day, but I am mindful of always engaged in the process of writing. I trust my mind and heart to be absorbing, listening, taking in, attentive to the world. I take notes when I want to remember something specific, and I do my notebooks regularly enough–maybe just 15 minutes a day for a few days or a couple days out of the week, and over time I have a compilation of ideas, themes, lines, words, images, etc.  There’s always something connected to writing that I do every day because it’s all connected to writing–watching a film, reading the news, corresponding with friends or loves, looking at art, listening to music, loving my animal friends, al of it goes into my work. I just strive for balance like breathing–taking in and breathing out, active creation and restful re-creation.

5. What motivates you to write?

It seems to be something I have to do and was born to do. It feels inherent to me and myself. It feels like a whole way of being.

6. What is your work ethic?

I work hard. I love to work. I’m satisfied in my labor. At first I would have been driven to work in my home life with chores and a high level of parentification–a drive to meet the emotional and psychological needs of the adults around me, which meant trying hard to please and trying hard not to get in trouble. Then I revolted against the abuse at home and said “Fuck this!” and left. But with my friends who had also experienced a lot of trauma, were runaways, homeless etc. we created our own families and had to work. We were so young, 15, 16, 17 and up. And it wasn’t perfect and we retraumatized one another in many ways, but it was honestly better for my spirit and my mind and heart than homelife had been.

So I found a way to be proud of my own labor and that has stuck with me. Now I’m 48 and I am a big big believer in NOT doing things. I believe in canceling, saying no, not leaving the house, and not being “productive.”  I believe in naps, sitting quietly, and snuggling the dogs. I still like being productive and working hard but I do not like striving at all. Striving to “make it” that feeling that this could “lead to something” bigger, better. Nope nope nope.

I spent some time in an Amish-mennonite community and I liked the idea of work as sacramental, mopping floors, working in the garden, caring for children and animals and others as a way of connecting and loving, not trying so much to amass wealth or be “productive” in the capitalist sense. That has stuck with me.

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

Sylvia Plath’s rage and violence are still something in my poems that I’m interested in exploring. Berryman’s weird syntax which also connects to Shakespeare and the Bible. Charles Wright’s similes and metaphors and stringing together images with a colloquial bit of diction, with a quote from a philosopher. Larry Levis’ “I” who is deeply empathetic and wanders ut from his own self into the wider world.Mark Doty’s ethics and authenticity of emotion. These are all things still with me.

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

I admire so many. I think it would be impossible to name them, they just keep coming. Twitter has been a boon and a curse. I’ve managed to curate my twitter in such a way that I am surrounded by a really wonderful, diverse, generous, community of writers at all stages in their callings. I learn from all of them every day.  I hate to name names because then I will leave someone out. There are at least hundreds, if not thousands. It’s a little overwhelming. But certain books have been particularly groundbreaking for me in the last couple years. I would say Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic is one, Gabrielle Calvocoressi’s Rocket fantastic is another and Justin Phillip Reed’s Indecency. Those three have just blown open so many doors I want to hang out a while in those rooms.

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

I keep working on my non-profit, Cuvaj se/Take Care. I’ve chosen to spend a great deal of my time and energy the last few decades facilitating poetry workshops in conflict zones and post-conflict zones and communities affected by trauma and violence. I started back in 1994 while I was learning about poetry and the war in Bosnia was culminating in genocide. I went over to volunteer in a refugee camp and I made a lifelong commitment to that country through more than twenty years of ongoing recovery. All of my earnings from poetry go into this work and all of the work has been self funded, and expanded to other countries, including Syria, and most recently Ukraine. I started the non-profit so that I could apply for grants to help build capacity and do more. We do poetry workshops that emphasize lgbtq rights, human rights, interethnic cooperation, migrant rights, critical thinking etc. and we also fund writers with grants to support their work, fundraise for emergency/critical financial support, and translation. Donations to Cuvaj se from individual donors always goes directly to writers or students in need to support their work. Running a non-profit is new to me, and I’m learning as I go and I’m taking it slow. https://cuvajse.org/

My fifth manuscript is to be published in 2021, but I can’t say anything more about that yet! There’s a lot in it about gender, seuality, violence, and God, my familiar themes (or demons? I like that use of a familiar) I remain obsessed with. But I am happy for the amount of time I have to really dig in hard with revisions and to make it the strongest book I can write. I don’t move on to the next book until I get the present one published–so every bit of my energy and strength will go into it.

I’m also having so much fun making poetry videos. I was hugely inspired by Agnes Varda and have been making these little clips of poems, readings, with sometimes goofy video. I love it and I want to take a film class and learn how to make more and better ones. I don’t care if they are amateurish or seem unpolished. I learned from Agnes varda just to do what you love and give your heart to it and learn as you go. I think this is the link to subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChhjf1Vp_5o6siKsuhv_G0A?view_as=subscriber My poetry website is here: https://heatherderrsmith.com/

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Heather Derr-Smith Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.

FULL DRAFT!

           In a time where parents are paying more attention to the way their oddlers and young children play and learn, there is debate regarding the way in which conventional toys affect their health and well being. Despite the fact that over one billion barbie dolls have been sold and played with worldwide and the fact that Barbie dolls have been played with and cherished by a multitude of girls from a variety of backgrounds for years and years, there is a sudden realisation amongst “millennial moms” and the media that she is setting up young children with unrealistic and unhealthy body expectations. So, although there is a widespread belief that young girls playing with Barbie dolls could actually be inimical to the perception of their self image in the future, there is reason to believe this is just an overthought and that the new generation of parents giving their children technology to play with instead is far more deleterious to their long term health.

      In the Western World, there is a propensity to follow trends and everybody wants to be give their children the trendiest, most current toys. However, young girls have been playing with dolls for a while and although the vast number of dolls have evolved over time, the concept of playing remains the same. Children have their dolls and their doll house and use their imaginations to create scenarios in which the dolls partake in. It is easy to get carried away in these games and fantasise into very unrealistic situations, which is one of the most beautiful parts of having a young, impressionable mind. Barbie has been a key toy in many lives for a long time; “I can still remember the pure, sweet, unadulterated joy I felt the day my mother surprised us with the dream house. At the time, it felt like a dream come true.” (Living dolls. (little Black girls' development of self-esteem can be impacted by the kinds of dolls they are given to play with) - Randolph, Laura B.) In 1975, a study looking at the different types of toys in 1-6 year old girls and boys bedrooms was carried out, to find that “Boys had more spatial-temporal toys” (Characteristics of Boys' and Girls' Toys - Judith E. Owen Blakemore, Renee E. Centers) and “Girls’ rooms contain more dolls, dolls houses and domestic items”. This lead to “Boys’ toys are more likely to provide feedback to children than are girls’ toys.  For example, toys such as slot car racers, radio-controlled cars, or electric trains respond to a child’s manipulation of the controls” Characteristics of Boys' and Girls' Toys - Judith E. Owen Blakemore, Renee E. Centers). So, boys toys being responsive means they have a reason to be pushing buttons and playing with things, whereas with dolls, most of the fun is left up to the child’s imagination.  Though there is some reason to believe that whilst playing with dolls, girls start to compare their dolls lives to their own life, thus rendering a competition between the child and her doll, leading to the girl wondering why she doesn't look like the doll, and can't live life like the doll. For example, “The fact is, we know why little girls have always loved Barbie. Because she has everything little girls dream of--a Corvette, a beach house, a handsome boyfriend. But that's not the problem and has never been. The problem, as women have been saying for years, has never been about what Barbie has. It's about what Barbie doesn't have, which is anything remotely close to realistic body measurements.” Randolph willingly accepts the fact that imagination and playing with the doll itself isn't an issue, more so the aesthetics barbie possesses.

      Though it may seem that young girls aspire to look and act like Barbie, Mattel, the company who created her has recently been doing a lot to change the preconceived idea of a Barbie doll as a blonde, skinny girl who just stays in her house all day. They stated "We want Barbie to represent a lifestyle brand for girls, not just a brand of toys,” (Barbie Girls Rule - Edut Ophira ) because they are aware that the average American child has…….. dolls, thus rendering Barbie a considerable part of their childhood. Mattel has certainly put a lot of effort creating dolls to be ‘more relatable’ to young girls in the sense that dolls suddenly now aspire to be doctors, and train horses, aiming to stray away from the image of just being a pretty doll. Despite this, there is still a concern that due to world’s conception of Barbie for the past 59 years, “ads telling girls they can "be anything" or "become [their] own hero" are only wrapping the Mattel message--buy our products now!--in a vaguely girl-positive package”. With from this critique, there is still hope that Mattel’s efforts to push for the comprehension of Barbie career dolls can be a success. Barbies careers are in the fields of education, medicine, military, politics, public service, science and engineering, transportation, arts and business, giving children a huge choice of dreams and futures to explore. The dolls in those fields are even more varied as we have Disney’s Caribbean Resort Greeter Barbie, to TV Chef Barbie to Veterinarian Barbie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie%27s_careers). When the dolls come with a set of outfits and props appropriate to their career, it makes the playing experience more responsive, as instead of just being lackadaisical and prancing around as a Princess, the dolls have work to do, which leads to inspiring the children to gain more information about the career their doll has, hopefully by reading books.     Another reason to prove that barbie is in fact not harmful to self image, is the new sized barbie and barbie dolls of different races alleviate most of the conventional unrealistic beauty concerns the media has about the doll. “Yes, it was a big deal when Mattel created P a host of other professional dolls that provide little girls with positive images. But this body makeover thing? This is major. Large. Huge in the extreme. In fact, if the reaction of my Sister-friends is any indication, since the news that the plastic princess is getting plastic surgery hit the papers, for women everywhere, it's been party time.” (Living dolls. (little Black girls' development of self-esteem can be impacted by the kinds of dolls they are given to play with) - Randolph, Laura B.) The fact that black barbie dolls were not released until 1980 highlights her position as “ a gendered, racialized icon of contemporary commodity culture” (Dyes and dolls: multicultural Barbie and the merchandising of difference) but gives us hope that she is moving with the times. Mattel’s marketing strategy for the release of different raced Barbie dolls was extremely strategic and arguably more financially driven than ethically. Product Manager Deborah Mitchell stated "now, ethnic Barbie lovers will be able to dream in their own image" ” (Dyes and dolls: multicultural Barbie and the merchandising of difference) but Mattel was also very aware that "Hispanics buy about $170 billion worth of goods each year, [and] blacks spend even more." , so creating Hispanc and Black dolls would only bring them more rand more revenue. Though these efforts are strong, ******* points out “If I could line up across the page the ninety "different" colors, cultures, and other incarnations in which Barbie currently exists, the fact of her unrelenting sameness (or at least similarity) would become immediately apparent.” (Dyes and dolls: multicultural Barbie and the merchandising of difference)      There is no doubt that “Blonde bombshell Barbie is so much more than a pretty face. She's a multimillion-dollar empire; and Mattel estimates that three Barbies are sold every second” (Larger, brainier and more diverse: Barbie's radical makeover). After years of stereotypical perfection of a “pink-lipsticked smile plastered on her plastic face, her hair remained immaculate, and stress never took its toll on her skin, but in recent years, Barbie had let herself go.” ,  Mattel changed not only her face, but her body proportions, which seemed to be a contentious topic amongst the concerned parents. A study was carried out in which young girls were asked a series of questions and assessed to see how badly their dolls and the desire to physically replicate their dolls affected their self esteem and image of themselves. The findings were that ““Girls exposed to Barbie reported lower body esteem and greater desire for a thinner body shape than girls in the other exposure conditions. However, this immediate negative impact of Barbie doll was no longer evident in the oldest girls. These findings imply that, even if dolls cease to function as aspirational role models for older girls, early exposure to dolls epitomizing an unrealistically thin body ideal may damage girls' body image, which would contribute to an increased risk of disordered eating and weight cycling.” (Does Barbie make girls want to be thin? The effect of experimental exposure to images of dolls on the body image of 5- to 8-year-old girls.) So, the paranoid belief that playing with barbie dolls causes eating disorders has proven to be fairly untrue.

    Although parents nowadays are unimpressed with the old fashioned connotations of barbie doing nothing and adding no value to their child’s life, Mattel has gone above and beyond to assure them that barbie is for all different races. all different sizes, and has an almost endless amount of dreams.

Fun Spread by Video Games For Kids

Creating an excellent and thrilling playroom for your child will be a number of fun however there are a few things to remember as you get started. Most mother and father begin the venture with a few concepts they know they'd wish to see in a playroom. Most frequently, the primary wish of oldsters is to create a space where they can include and retailer nearly all of their kids's toys.

Storage options tackle many types in a children's playroom. For example, a room can comprise something from constructed-in cabinets to decorative shelving to toy packing containers. You may even add a particularly cool kids locker for storing anything from jackets and hats to footwear or sports gear. Whereas confining muddle to 1 room may be the main goal for parents in creating a playroom, the number one objective for children relating to their playroom is a enjoying an excellent play space. Creating that perfect play house is usually a problem however there are a couple of easy tips to keep in mind to create the best possible play area to your youngsters.

The very first thing to remember is not any overcrowding. It may be very tempting to put means too many toys into a playroom but the extra toys, the more overwhelming the area might be to a child. On this case, minimal is often best. When you have a lot of toys for your little one to play with, or there are toys you do not wish to give away or throw out, consider rotating totally different toys in and out of the playroom every few weeks. This provides selection without overstimulating your baby.

The second thing to keep in mind is to tailor the room to the interests of your little one. In case your baby is into football, take into account creating a sports activities theme with wall artwork and equipment. If your baby loves animals take into account buying equipment and toys with this theme. Some of your child's favorite hobbies may be spotlighted, giving the child a particular place to enjoy.

The third thing to bear in mind is to create activity particular areas. Have a nook containing an artwork easel and paint or a reading area with a bookcase, rugs and throw pillows. Consider incorporating toys that encourage pretend play, equivalent to a puppet theater, a play kitchen or a tent. Kids thrive on routine and understanding what to anticipate of their play area and the place to count on it'll present nice construction to their play time. Ensure that to depart loads of open ground space for working puzzles or racing vehicles.

One other thing to keep in mind is utilizing child sized furnishings and accessories. Play tables and chairs designed specifically for children are great additions to a playroom. Practice tables and activity tables are additionally simply the suitable scale for your child.

All of us need our kids to do nicely. That is why we ship them off to lessons to explore art, sports activities, music, etc. We encourage them to try out for sport groups and college-sponsored shows and occasions. We spend our exhausting-earned cash to get them involved in things we feel will help them discover and pursue their natural skills extra. Nonetheless, what usually occurs is we stop too soon. As quickly as we see our kids fail or lack the talent to grasp one thing rapidly, we tend to steer them away from it altogether and sometimes stroll away. In reality, what number of times have you heard mother and father say, "they only aren't good at it" or "they weren't born with it?" Sadly this is typically the case.

What most mother and father don't understand is that expertise is one thing our children don't need to be born with. Talent is developed over time through practice. Dad and mom are so conditioned to believe that they want an inborn gift for a particular discipline and if it isn't farm animals instantly clear that their baby possesses that reward, they offer up. It's important for fogeys to let their youngsters know that anybody can do anything, they just must put their mind to it and never surrender too rapidly. Apply, not expertise is often the secret to success.

It is important to perceive that follow and effort are extra essential than expertise. Too typically as soon as a child initially fails dad and mom feel it implies that the child has insufficient talent and should due to this fact surrender. The opposite is true. That is when you need to practice more so you'll be able to master it. Parents ought to encourage their youngsters to proceed on and dedicate the time to do well. It is usually important to inspire them. A dad or mum and coach's function makes a difference in a child's confidence level. Analysis exhibits that those children and college students who were praised for their efforts rather than their expertise improved their efficiency by 30%.

So what exactly is expertise? Expertise is the ability to attain ranges of performance that most people can not attain or certainly come close to. This level of excellence is seen in all fields of the humanities, sports activities, science and literature. In truth, Geoff Colvin discusses a study of musical expertise conducted by a group of researchers lead by John Sloboda on the College of Keele in England in his e book. They studied 257 students who had been launched to music. They were categorised into 5 capacity teams. The highest group was admitted by aggressive audition to a music faculty; the lowest group of students tried an instrument for at the least six months, however then had to give it up. The researchers interviewed the students and their mother and father in detail. After they examined the extent of accomplishment of the scholars, they did not find evidence of precocious musical capacity even in the top group.

However, the one factor they did discover that made a difference was how lengthy they practiced. For college students to be admitted to the elite college of music it took a total of 1,200 hours of follow. By age 12 the scholars in the elite group practiced a median of two hours per day compared to fifteen minutes of observe a day in the lowest group. The elite pupil practiced eight instances longer every day. So it does go to show that apply makes the distinction in success.

This was also explored in a e-book by Matthew Syed within the chapter "What is Talent." It was mentioned that "An investigation of British musicians, for instance, discovered that the highest performers had discovered no quicker than those that reached lower ranges of attainment: hour for hour, the assorted teams had improved at almost similar rates. The distinction was merely the highest performers had practiced for extra hours."

And you can't neglect most likely one of the biggest examples, Mozart. Mozart began composing at five, gave public performances at eight, and produced lots of of works, a few of that are extensively acclaimed, before he died at 37 years of age. Mozart's father, Leopold Mozart, was also a famous composer and performer and importantly an impressive music teacher, who no doubt inspired his son to work arduous, hold making an attempt, and follow, observe, follow. Mozart's first work that was thought to be a masterpiece was his Piano Concerto No.9, which he composed when he was twenty-one. Although twenty-one is young, Mozart had been coaching extremely onerous for eighteen years. Certainly his accomplishments weren't the result of innate genius, but the product of nearly 20 years of extremely laborious work.

Another true instance of perfection being the Miami Dolphins season in 1972 after they gained each sport together with, after all, the Tremendous Bowl. They have been coached by Don Shula who coached "over studying" to the gamers. It concerned over preparation leading to limiting the variety of objectives players labored on, cutting down on players observe errors, making gamers master their assignments so they might operate on auto-pilot, and working on a philosophy of steady improvement. The players would complain "not one of the groups practice this hard" or "different groups do not put on pads this typically of their practices." The philosophy was that you play at the degree of your follow and definitely that 12 months follow made good.

So how a lot follow do you want? Matthew Syed is quoted as saying, "In depth research it seems has give you a very specific reply to that question from artwork to science and from board to tennis. It has been discovered that a minimum of ten years is required to achieve world-class status in any complicated job." It additional states, "An analysis of the highest nine golfers of the twentieth century confirmed that they received their first international competition at round twenty-five years of age, which was, on average, greater than ten years after they started golfing.

The identical finding has been found in fields as diverse as arithmetic, tennis, swimming and lengthy-distance working. The same is also true in academia. In a study of the one hundred twenty most vital scientists and 123 most well-known poets and authors of the nineteenth century, it was found that ten years elapsed between their first work and their finest work. Ten years, then is the magic quantity for attainment of excellence.

What does this imply for parents? It exhibits that folks do a disservice to their youngsters once they give-up too rapidly. Let your children find something they enjoy doing, allow them to practice and practice and see all they will accomplish. It takes quite a lot of arduous work and deliberate apply and there are not any quick cuts, however the principle factor that will drive them is a passion for what they're doing. If they love no matter they are engaged in, that love and the passion, more than makes up for the sacrifices.

The superhero birthday party idea is a great all spherical enjoyable child's party theme appropriate for each boys and girls. Dressing up shouldn't be a problem, discovering superman capes or bat lady masks could not be simpler. Child's party video games are easy to create and modify just a little to go just right with the superhero theme birthday celebration idea.

You can begin having enjoyable together with your superhero celebration concept right from sending out the party invites. Go to youngsters's fans websites to really see what you possibly can do along with your superhero themed birthday party concept. Many websites could even provide birthday invitation templates to fill in and print and well as suggesting quite a lot of kid's birthday celebration video games to make the big day an enormous success.

Adorning to your superhero celebration idea can be probably much more fun for the parents than the occasion itself. Effectively maybe not as a lot fun as the youngsters celebration video games, however virtually. You may make the table fabric by sticking older comedian journal pages over giant paper sheets. Cans of "silly string" are too much fun to spray round the home or the yard; you could possibly depart these out for the older youngsters to spray themselves. I do not advocate giving baby aerosol propulsion cans although, leave this job up to the massive children (if they could probably do this without having silly string fights, the temptation may be a bit too much to resist) or do it yourself then rigorously get rid of the empty cans.

As for the remainder of the decorations you could get a little creative digging into the Halloween decoration assortment for Spiderman and Batman. Or get artful and make some tall Styrofoam buildings for Superman, and search for some good quaint green slime goo and paint some rocks in lime inexperienced paint for kryptonite.

You may get very artistic when planning the child's party video games for the superhero celebration thought. For the sports activities enthusiastic boys you may create a superheroes impediment course. For something much less strenuous you might attempt the X-Ray vision recreation, merely blindfold them and have then guess an object you out into their hands.

If your actually keen for one thing to maintain them amused while you are inclined to the other duties, like cake, if having a Superman social gathering attempt a game of discover the joker, i.e. cover particular person playing cards spherical the house or the lawn and promise a value to the kid that brings within the joker.

On the events end you could possibly show the great photographs of the day in the form of a comic strip. Think about the fun you and your little one might have creating the script for the sketch together and speaking in regards to the occasions of the occasion.

Now it could be worth remembering that superheroes do generally get somewhat boisterous and on the end of a protracted days social gathering the BAMs and KERPOWs don't get any quieter, particularly after just a few kryptonite cups, so I counsel you benefit from the occasion additionally to make all of it worthwhile.

Then when Superman is sleeping you may relax and remind yourself that you've got a complete 12 months earlier than having to do it over again. They are seriously not kids for long sufficient take pleasure in every minute of it with them and cherish the recollections your superhero birthday celebration idea will deliver you both.

Vegan Diet Plan – Weight Loss In A Healthy Way

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Vegan Diet Plan – Weight Loss In A Healthy Way

Vegan Diet Plan – Weight Loss In A Healthy Way

Unlike vegetarian diet, in vegan diet it is forbidden any kind of animal product. A vegetarian diet is different from vegan. Vegetarian people can consume whole cereals, legumes, fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs and dairies. A vegan diet plan do not allow any animal product. In this category of healthy diets we can mention raw vegan diet. This new type of lifestyle is a healthy approach both on environment and on our body. In order to follow raw vegan diet you have to eliminate processed and cooked food, but this means that you can consume any type of fruit, vegetables, seeds, almonds, nuts as long as they are not fried or cooked. Products such as meat and dairies are forbidden. If you decide to follow a vegan diet you should be prepared to eliminate from your regular diet meat, fish, eggs, dairies and any other animal products. Moreover, you will have an improved health and you will lose weight!

The most important rules of vegan diet plan:

RULES 1.

Take daily B12 vitamin supplements – animal products are the main sources of B12 vitamin, and people who follow a vegan diet risk to have B12 vitamin deficiency. This deficiency can cause anemia, sudden mood changes and decreased focusing ability. In order to maintain a healthy level of B12 vitamin in the blood, vegan people should take every day 25 mcg of B12 vitamin after consulting a doctor.

2.

Follow vegan diet gradually – the changes that you should do in order to follow this type of healthy diet are major, so it is a good idea to take it gradually. For example, you can begin by being part-time vegan: consume vegan products until 6.00 p.m. and then have dinner with moderate quantities of fish, eggs and dairies. Keep like this for a month.

3.

Do not choose only packed vegan food – many packed vegan products are “fake” ingredients, sodium and calories. You should learn how to prepare your own food. You should always check and read the labels and do not eat packed vegan products more than once a week.

4.

Do not forget about the proteins – vegan proteins alternatives are numerous. You should include sources of proteins in your diet daily.

5.

Do not eat only raw food – in some cases, vegetables, cereals and legumes (such as beans and peas) are easier to digest when they are cooked and offer more nutrients than raw. Do not limit yourself to consume only raw food or cooked – combine them in order to have a balanced diet.

                                                                 RECOMMENDED FOOD Once that you get used with a vegan diet plan as a lifestyle, it is possible to notice that this diet is not only easy to follow, but also delicious. You can prepare yourself the allowed food in multiple modalities, because, unlike raw-vegan diet, vegan diet allows you to cook the food. Trying to change your diet into a vegan diet does not mean that you should choose a salad or only fruit! In order to eat healthier you have to replace tomato sauce and meat with a sauce with vegetables, from Mexican food, for example. Nowadays, more than ever, vegan people have a large variety of products to choose from. In general, you can buy food strictly vegan from shops with natural products.Strictly vegan delicious meals can be prepared with food found also in any supermarket. People who do not have time or do not like to cook have numerous vegan products to choose from. Actually, becoming more aware of what you eat and trying to prepare new recipes, many people find out that have a more diverse diet when they choose to follow a vegan diet plan.If you have time and enjoy to spend time in the kitchen, you can find many vegan diet recipes online, and also many cooking books for this type of healthy diet. The shops with natural products are very good places to explore different vegan options. The alternatives to dairies are made of soy, rice and nuts. You can buy or make milk, cheese, butter, cream, ice-cream or anything that you want – all for vegan diet. It is recommended to experiment with as many products as you can, to find out what you like more.Meals at the restaurant can be easy too. Strictly vegan diet meals can be offered by Chinese, Indian, Italian, Mexican, Thai restaurants. If you cannot find any vegan diet recipes in the menu, do not panic! Many chefs from the restaurants enjoy to prove their talent in creating a dish without animal sources for you.

PROTEIN SO URCES

Tofu.

Edamame.

Chickpeas.

Beans.

Different types of nuts: peanuts, pistachio, hazelnuts.

Peanut butter.

Cashew.

Different types of seeds.

Quinoa.

FATS SOURC ES

Vegetal oils.

Margarine.

Peanut butter.

Butter prepared from different types of seeds.

Avocado.

Coconut.

OTHERS

Fruit.

Vegetables.

Herbals.

Nuts.

Soy.

You do not have to make excesses of any type and it is important to have a diverse diet, even if it is a vegan.

What benefits has vegan diet for general health? Is it good for weight loss? Before starting any diet, is it recommended to make some research and find out if it is proper for your body. Vegan diet plan is recommended for people who want to change their lifestyle and are willing to give up all animal products, including fish, eggs and dairies. Are you ready to make all these changes? In the last 20 years, many studies have proven that vegan diet is a healthy choice, this being the reason why it became so popular, including for famous celebrities, such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Olivia Wilde, Bryan Adams, Alicia Silverstone or Brad Pitt.

The most important benefits of vegan diet plan:

1. Is beneficial for weight loss – scientific studies show that vegan people tend to consume less calories, and plants themselves have in general less calories than meat. If you follow a vegan diet in a healthy way and add nuts, seeds, salads and fruit, you will consume more fiber, which help you have a better digestion and lose weight. If you do sport 30 minutes of exercises every day, you will succeed in having a perfect silhouette. 2. It can prevent and control Diabetes – extra weight is one of the risk factors of type 2 Diabetes. If you lose weight giving up animal products, you protect your health. Studies show that people who suffer from type 2 Diabetes and follow a vegan diet can improve your health. 3. It maintains your cardio-vascular health – a diet plan based on fruit and vegetables, poor in fats and salt, it is considered to be a good method in keeping under control the cholesterol and blood pressure. An important study that lasted for 12 years, were analyzed 6000 vegetarian people and 5000 people who consumed meat, showed that vegan people had a lower risk with 57% of suffering from cardio-vascular diseases. Vegan diet plan followers had a lower level of “bad” cholesterol unlike vegetarian people (who consume eggs and dairies).

A vegan diet promotes the benefits of a diet plan based exclusively on vegetal sources, which led to many myths when it became extremely popular worldwide. This type of diet is based on plants, germs and seeds, not allowing milk, cheese, eggs, which are allowed in other vegetarian diets. Specialists from USA say that a vegan diet well planned is very healthy, adequate nutritionally and beneficial for health. But there are many misconceptions regarding this type of diet, which specialists explain them in detail. Among the benefits given by a vegan diet plan we can mention: reducing the level of cholesterol and glucose, maintaining a proper weight and preventing cancer and cardio-vascular diseases. The opponents of vegan diet do not agree with its advantages, especially by saying that you can lose essential nutrients for our bodies, which you can only take from animal products.

Here are 7 myths about vegan diet plan:

1. All vegan diet plans are healthy – one of the myths regarding this type of diet is that it is healthy, no matter how it is planned. But nutritionists warn about the fact that both vegetarian and regular diets can be adequate or not. A vegan diet plan wrongly designed may have a negative impact on your general health. The difference between a healthy vegan diet and an unhealthy one is made of the choices that people make. If you do not include in your diet essential nutrients that your body needs, you can have different deficiencies, such as: B vitamin, D vitamin, Omega-3, zinc or iodine. Moreover, this type of diet plan is always restrictive concerning calorie intake, which may lead to malnutrition. 2. It will not provide you the basic nutrients – this is not true. Some studies have shown that most people who follow a vegan diet plan benefit from a richer daily intake of vitamins and minerals, than people who have a regular diet. This is explained by the large quantity of fruit and vegetables that vegan people consume. If they are well combined and in proper quantities, vegetal sources can provide the body all necessary nutrients in order to maintain a perfect general health. 3. Pregnant women cannot be vegan – pregnant women can continue their vegan diet without put their pregnancy at risk, as long as they focus on a proper calorie and nutrients intake, such as B12 and D vitamins, iron and calcium. And also future mothers have to benefit from a medical monitoring prior to giving birth and to follow all the instructions from their doctor concerning nutritive supplements necessary during pregnancy. 4. It cannot provide the proteins that our body needs – human body needs 20 different amino-acids in order to produce its proteins, and some of them we can intake from food. They are called essential amino-acids, “complete proteins” from animal products. Most plants are not, individually, sources of essential amino-acids, but things change when you consume vegetal food very diverse and well combined. A variety of plants introduced into the diet, can give you the necessary of complete proteins that out body needs in order to function properly. So, it is possible that a vegan diet plan to provide the necessary intake of essential amino-acids. 5. Anyone loses weight when follows a vegan diet plan – while many studies show that vegan people are slimmer, this is not always true. Nutritionists say that there are cases when people gain weight when they change their regular diet with a vegan one. This is happening when a low level of proteins is replaced by a high level of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are less satiable than proteins, there is the needs of consuming more nutrients, which means more calories. In order to avoid gaining weight during a vegan diet plan, specialists recommend the consumption of vegetables and increasing the intake of vegetal proteins, which help you with satiety (tofu, beans, flax seeds). 6. People who choose a vegan diet plan cannot make performance in sport – specialists say that it is possible to have performances in sport if you choose to be vegan. More than that, vegetal food is rich in compounds with anti-inflammatory properties, very important for recovery when you do a lot of sport. Athletes who do not consume animal products can maintain their energy by choosing a well-balanced and diverse diet, including vegetal proteins, whole cereals, fruit, vegetables and healthy fats. 7. It is dangerous for children – because children’s body is developing, their nutritional needs are high, especially concerning the intake of vitamins and minerals, such as calcium and iron. A well-planned vegan diet can provide the necessary nutrients for a child, but it is very important for the parents to be educated and informed about the way they should design a healthy vegan diet for their child.

Vegan diet plan for a week:

Breakfast Lunch Snack Dinner Monday A half of cup of muesli, soy milk, seeds, a kiwi, an apple. A half of cup of olives, a vegetable salad, a cooked beetroot, nuts, 30g tofu. 10 almonds, 2 apricots. Fried tofu, peas, a mug of broccoli, a carrot. Tuesday 120g beans, 2 slices of bran toast, a mug of spinach, one tomato. Tomato soup, an apple. A fruit. Hummus, 150g fruit salad, tofu. Wednesday A wheat muffin, a tomato, peaches, papaya. A cup of mushrooms, soy germs, bread with seeds, avocado, capers, carrot, hummus. One whole wheat biscuit and a coffee with soy milk Vegetarian lasagna, with whole pasta, vegetables salad, an apple. Thursday Whole wheat cereals with soy milk, a kiwi, some strawberries. Tortellini with spinach and tomato sauce, one mug of whole rice. Black chocolate, an apple. Some boiled potatoes, vegetables salad with olive oil, onion, chili, garlic and tomatoes, tofu. Friday Black tea with oatmeal biscuits, a banana, some strawberries. Pasta salad, carrots, peanuts, cabbage, olives and lime juice. Black chocolate, mint tea. burger, corn, broccoli. Saturday and Sunday: Combine what you want from previous days.