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Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Southport Torchlight 5K Returns!
NEW SERIES STARTS Nov 30th 7pm
Bigger and better than ever before, don't miss the excitement!
Read about the first event HERE
Great link to Runners Head Torches
Check it out HERE
The event starts at the stone circle
Highest central point of the park Bentham's way, new woodlands park.
Are you bored? fed up? Been watching to many repeats on TV?
Want to get out and have some real FUN ?
Then get ready for a brand New exciting challenge!
Course based on The Rubbish 5K [Glow sticks will mark the route]
For more details contact Andy on 07909980153
Some spare head-torches available on the night!
Check out this podcast from Marathon Talk HERE [note starts at 18 mins 20 sec into podcast]
Also check out this; Top Tips For Running In The dark
Recommended headtorch MagicShine Super High Power
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Daycare is proving to be a great experience. No matter how hard it is for Kelli to drop her off each day! Mel, our daycare provider just loves Charly, and she's not the only one. Everyday, adorable Kiera (4 years old) meets Kelli at the door after school and gives her an update on Charly's day. She even gets Charly's carseat ready. On most days when Kelli arrives after school, Charly can be found in the arms of Mel's junior high daughter Haley, navigating Facebook, helping with Haley's homework, or being shown off to friends. And best of all, Charly's first friend Violet. Each morning, Violet squeals and squeals and crawls as fast as she can to Charly's carseat, as if to say "Get outta there! We got playin' to do!" Charly's little face lights up as soon as she gets over the shock of Violet's squeals and becomes equally as excited. Violet is the daughter of a fellow teacher at my school. She is one year old. As the two get older, Mel may have her hands full!
Two things happened this month, causing us to see Charly in a new light. Sadly, she no longer feels like a baby. First, she's gone mobile! She speed crawls everywhere. She follows us into every room, including the bathroom, she chases Elliot, and she pulls herself up to a standing position near our couch, entertainment center, chairs, laundry baskets, inside her crib, and up our legs. She doesn't stand on her own quite yet (although we have seen glimpses of it), but any day, we swear, she's gonna take off walking. We had to lower her crib for the first time because of this!
Second, her baby cousin Cruz was born. Charly is only 8 months old, but it feels like forever ago that she was Cruz's size. He seems so tiny comparatively. Our little girl is no longer the littlest of the family. While visiting Cruz in the hospital we also discovered that Charly can be a little territorial. Kelli was holding the little guy while Ashley played with Charly. Charly appeared to be in good spirits until she spotted the tiny creature in her mommy's arms. She stared at the people in the room and stared dumbfounded at Cruz. Then she started whining and grunting and holding out her arms and kicking away from Ashley. We all laughed hysterically while Kelli handed Cruz off to Beau and took Charly. Charly immediately whipped herself around in Kelli's lap, found Cruz, and grinned triumphantly. What can we say? She knows her mommy and daddy and loves us very much!
Last Wednesday, Charly was scheduled for 8-month photos. We were to meet our photographer at 4:30. Kelli and I don't get out of school until 4:05 so Grandpa Merle and Grandma Dolores were going to help out and pick up Charly from daycare (for the third time). They were going to have her changed and ready to go for us when we got home. Instead, we had to cancel pictures. Charly had an uncharacteristically whiny day at daycare and never really settled for my grandparents. Opened their eyes to a whole new Charly! Charly is rarely fussy so we knew something was amiss. Her bottom gums looked swollen and white so we chalked it up to teething. It wasn't until Friday, when Kelli was tipping Charly upside down tickling her that we noticed not one, not two, but THREE teeth poking through in her upper gums! No wonder the poor thing was out of sorts. Since then, we've even spotted a FOURTH up there!
Other 8 month highlights include:
- Traveling to her third state.
- Witnessing the Twins collapse vs. the Yankees in her first ever MLB Playoff experience.
- Experiencing the best October in recent memory and playing in the leaves. (Although she was more interested in eating the leaves!)
- Waving "bye-bye" to Kelli. Just once.
- Eating breakfast at Great Grandma Gail's.
- Staying overnight at her counsin's in Des Moines and cheering on her mommy while she raced a 5k.
- Shotguning juice out of a sippy cup.
- Beginning to turn pages in books and even gave herself her first papercut!
- Perfecting the art of making fish lips!
- Changing her hairstyle. Her hair is too long and hangs in her eyes so we're now forced to tie it up in a long ponytail on top of her head. It's actually pretty cute!


text:
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Cool Caribbean
Trying to use paper that I have a bunch of lately. I have a good amount of cool caribbean but even more marigold morning! I should never buy whole packs of one color, but sometimes it's the only way. Sooo since this is a retired color and I do not have the ink that goes with it, I am going to be doing a lot of my Survivor cards with it! I used to love it but now I seem to be having a hard time matching it. I used it with black and white on one card (my old favorite) and chocolate and white on another, the last card I used it with certainly celery and almost amethyst. These cards are all for my Survivor who got voted off last week, Joel. I have 8 of them this time! What was I thinking? That means I have to potentially make 24 cards! But I have 6 left and we are down to 13 left so things are looking better. Oh, the prize is, what else but cards! The winner gets a whole bunch but several more places get cards, last time I received 5 cards. That was fun.
The first card is a CASE (of the layout). The second card is the sketch challenge this week and the third card is just kind of fun using the new Merci set and some purple eyelets, that iridescent ribbon again and a celery green colored crystal brad in the center of the flower. No sentiments so that they can be used for anything.
5 comments:
- Cheryl said...
Hey, nice! I like the last one the best.
Take care, Lori.
- March 14, 2008 at 8:16 AM
I like the colors of the cards. Hey, you should look at the HSN website, they are having a scrapbook page contest. You need to enter :)
- March 14, 2008 at 3:16 PM
- papersunshine said...
Thank you Cheryl, me too :)
Oh! I will go to HSN, thanks Jan!
- March 14, 2008 at 7:25 PM
really cute shells!!!!!! Can't wait until our summer trip!! :)
- March 16, 2008 at 12:30 AM
Great cards...colour combos look great! Can't say I'm sad to see Joel go though. LOL
- March 23, 2008 at 12:52 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Air weekdate:Sunday Cast:Dan Milano, Matthew Senreich, Mike Henry, Dax Shepard, Seth Green, Michelle Trachtenberg Genre:Animation, Comedy Channel:Adult Swim Status:Continuing
Robot Chicken season 8 episodes list:
Godzilla fights Jason; Bob the Builder gets competition from Handy Manny; Dinosaur Train proves improbable; and the Little Match girl finds a new, more dangerous use for her matches.
Fonzie takes coolness too far; the girl from "The Ring" finds out videotapes are old technology; the Robot ChickenNerd gets lost in the CW.
Pluto tries to break away from the dwarf planet crowd, an "American Girl" doll shortage causes chaos and "The Wild Thornberrys" realise they need to get "really wild" to stay on air.
Pigeons wreak havoc; Naked Captain Picard hits it big; the Paw Patrol face the ultimate terror; and the Animaniacs take a course in sex education.
The Magic School Bus goes on its last ride; the circle of life confuses the Wonder Pets; and teenage Archie Andrews pursues a girl.
The "Robot Chicken" writers wonder whose job it was to walk King Kong; Michael Bay reveals the secrets to "Transformers Five."
The purge is on and unbreakable laws are broken; the battle of the Ex X's; and The Predator and The Bachelor.
Only the RC writers know the true history of the brown M&M. What happened after Charlie won the Chocolate Factory? Can a perverted unicorn make a kid's dream come true? Maybe he shouldn't...
Robot Chicken introduces the next animated mega-hit: The Cheese League! Oprah lands a hot guest: C'thulhu. Galactus needs a new herald. Family Double Dare breaks a few families apart, and Nickelodeon's Guts teaches a boy to score.
'The Green Mile' seems much longer; Optimus Prime tries to shirk jury duty
Everyone should butt out of the Power Rangers' business; Obi-Wan takes the low road to the high ground; The Terminator gets involved in the Garden of Eden.
Lex Luthor wants to buy some real estate. Inspector Gadget joins the US Army. Is being a My Little Pony just a phase? The story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears is revisited.
Daredevil wasn't the only person to lose his sense in an accident. Hogwarts students don't understand birth control. Solid Snake has an interesting visit to the bathroom. The Micronauts get a new public transport system.
Superman forgets to lock the door to the Fortress of Solitude. The Nerd dies or has sex or both. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles get their hands on some surplus military hardware.
Liam Neeson discovers his movie seat has been… taken. A veterinarian explains how 101 dalmatians reproduce. The Crypt Keeper's schtick is stolen.
Some outtakes from Seth Green's Burger King commercial. Krang tries his hand at online dating. A look at Huey Lewis' lost hit song from "Back to the Future".
Walter White Jr. raps about breakfast. The Exo-Squad have some jobs to do. Remy makes a new kind of ratatouille.
Darth Vader learns the meaning of "I'm Sorry". The Terminator alters the future a little too much. Edna Mode starts an incredible new job.
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Has Lois Lane been super-murdered? Batman wonders if Superman can bleed. The audience votes on the season 8 finale spectacular!


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The Chainletter Tapes
Mary Billyou
The slot in our front door rattled, and my sister received a letter. I read it, looking over her shoulder. Quickly, she folded it up and put it away, dismissing it: "It's just a chain letter." I was concerned—it looked important. It listed a number of handwritten signatures, including some of her friends. It was the year of the Bicentennial; to my child's eyes, it looked like a version of the United States Constitution. It read, "If the pattern is not broken, there is no way it can not work. Be sure to copy this letter entirely. OMIT NONE OF IT!" The envelope was addressed to my sister, but its message suggested the unknown power of an organized group. Filled with casual threats, but also the vague possibility of change, its language was strange and foreboding. It thrilled me. Like a stone dropped into a pool, its effect seemed to circle around our house in ever-widening echoes: its promise could only be fulfilled if the rules were followed. That is, if she was a good girl and did it correctly. I was not yet ten years old, and the directives of this kind of magical thinking appealed to me.
Years later, long after my sister had left for good, I remember Bill placing headphones on my ears during study hall. I felt like I was under a waterfall—it was the Minutemen. Their sound signaled something beyond my orderly, isolated, and circumscribed world. Punk as a sound, an idea, a style, a band of outsiders, helped focus my chaotic inner life. I liked its brainy, edgy, intricate apocalyptic vision.
In 1992, I crash-landed in Washington, DC; I was in freefall. Trained in assiduous self-presentation, my life was about surviving, which meant hiding and muffling my emotions. But what had been my false front finally began falling apart. Too much had happened to me for my body's surface to contain, and I was spinning out of control. With no words, no context, and no dialogue in which to express my experience, I had no way of finding an alternate path. I desperately needed something or somebody onto which I could hold, like a life preserver.
In August, as if following a trail of breadcrumbs, I attended the Riot Grrrl Convention. I went to Dupont Circle to see the free performances. Juliana Luecking, the spoken-word artist, opened the set. In drag, she presented a sophisticated man of the world, wearing a smoking jacket, slippers, and smoking a pipe. He made me smile reminding me of several familiar male figures combined: my father, Hugh Hefner, and Mr. Howell from Gilligan's Island. Accompanying him was a tall, lanky bassist with long scraggly hair named Bernie, also in drag, as a Playboy bunny. In fishnet stockings, her hairy legs looked gangly. Their first story was about spray-painting the word "F-U-C-K"—slowly, letter by letter—on a wall in capital letters. After they performed, the Shrieking Violets played, and then Cheesecake.
Around me was a crowd of people, mostly young women. On the edges of the group were curious passersby, mostly men, uncomprehending. Looking like camp counselors, organizers held clipboards and had tied their T-shirts underneath their breasts. On their stomachs they had scrawled "RAPE" and "SLUT" in black marker.
I was invited to go to a party the next afternoon at the Positive Force House. Taking the metro to the Clarendon stop, I walked the rest of the way. The girls were rowdy, and there were no boys. I had never experienced an environment like this before. Laughing in the doorway, Mary looked like a gangsta rapper, shoving her hand in her jeans and grabbing her crotch. For five bucks, I got a Shrinky Dinks necklace that said "Riot Grrrl DC." I wore the chain around my neck.
After that, I went to meetings, which were closed to boys. Huddled in our hard-won territory, we were like Darla and her friends from The Little Rascals (1922–44) with a sign on the door, askew: No Boys Allowed. Importantly, this space gave us time to speak and be heard. Unknowingly, I found myself participating in "the creation of safe havens for females to gather and express [our]selves in personal, political, and sexual ways."1 At the time, I didn't actually speak. I didn't know how to yet: I merely began to breathe.
Different from earlier iterations of feminism, Riot Grrrl explicitly intended to reclaim what it meant to be a girl. Sitting on the floor in face-to-face meetings, most of us had grown up too quickly to know what that meant. Most of us, like myself, had fled childhood. On those quiet afternoons in Arlington, healing began, and future plans took place. Sometimes one of us would arrive, having something urgent to talk about that made the outside threat real again. Other times we just talked about what interested us, what bothered us, and what we wanted to do. We planned fundraisers for battered women's shelters in which all-girl bands played: Lois, Slant Six, and Bikini Kill. We organized art shows. We spray-painted, dressed up, and had sleepovers. We responded to a fraction of the heart-filled letters pouring into the Riot Grrrl P.O. Box. We debated working in strip clubs, talked about the social status and healthcare of sex workers. We discussed the conservative feminist dialogues of Catherine McKinnon and Andrea Dworkin. We wanted to be united in our positions, but we were becoming many.
One organized activity was slipping DIY fliers into fashion magazines found in grocery checkout lines and in shops. Targeted as a site for direct communication with women and girls outside our group, we saw this messaging as a potentially liberating activity, in which our handmade material would become the rupturing conflict the glossy images never seemed to convey. Our actions set out tosabotage the rational production of ideologies we perceived as harmful lies. We were sick of being condescended to and not having our issues addressed by the media we consumed.
Our missives hailed a gendered consumer identity, both overproduced and overlooked by the media. Mary's flier appropriated a familiar advertisement of a docile, bikini-clad girl, which said in bold lettering, "Get the look that boys notice," and went on to sell a weight-loss program. Modification came about through a Sharpie's rant railing against anorexia, the everyday objectification of girls' bodies, and the furthering of repressive messages about body size and "attractiveness." Another flier addressed a predator, calling him out: "I just wanted to let you know that I am not going to *smile *act dumb *hide my body *pretend *lie *be silent for you…" Others relayed statistical information about rape in our society, detailed the emotional effects of slutshaming, and promoted crying in public.
Disconnected from our mothers, it seemed to us as if the Women's Liberation Movement had never occurred. At least, we never experienced the jubilance that liberation suggests. We never witnessed anybody burning bras, making demands, or had the expectation of being paid equal wages. Further, we didn't define ourselves as positivist heroes leading the world to a progressive future. We never expected to be granted access to representative government. We weren't interested in gaining permission; we circumnavigated it. To us, discretion was no longer a viable response to the daily tragedy of consent and the reality of rape.2
Understanding that our bodies were contested territory,3 not just in our parents' houses but also on Capitol Hill, we believed in the anarchist assertion of autonomy and self-determination. Labels and categories were suspect, as were the paternal concerns of whether or not pornographic imagery was a positive or negative influence upon innocent minds. We knew all too well that censorship and the moralist, patriarchal leadership it supports can easily create environments in which experience becomes unspeakable. When hate crimes and hate speech go unrecognized, communication shuts down. Sexual identity, if denied, plays itself out in contradictory ways, on the punk stage, in the strip bar, on the street, and elsewhere. Hardcore, the DC style, combines "jazz-like precision with rock showmanship."4 Oppositional music, punk's terrain, is shock and senselessness, responding to an inner disconnect with an overwhelming sensational reality. Good performers can convey and lead audiences to altered states of intense physical and emotional experience. Dancing, if collective, can become more like fighting— if solo, it is more like an epileptic fit.
Straight edge, another hallmark of DC punk, developed as an attempt at self-care and sustainable social relations within a marginal existence. (The DC punk scene was not free from predators.) Like the two X's marked on the backs of hands of underage kids at shows, straight edge describes not only someone underage (e.g., a person who could not legally be served alcohol), but is also a sign of solidarity with youth in a world in which adults are missing or out of control. As mainstream society's strident "No" repeats through electronic feedback, the possibility of another world appears: "Yes." A distinctly negative subject position turns through consciousness, experience,and self-definition into one of relevant and valuable prescience. Under these conditions, limitations are viewed as helpful, ultimately revealing what is important.
We found expression in our voices, aided by microphones and amplifiers. At shows, performers would relate stories of harassment while they had been on tour. Mia Zapata, the lead singer of the Gits, had recently been sexually assaulted and murdered in a parking lot after her band had performed. Our awkward, innocent girlhoods, delayed and unnatural, were displayed in performances of anger. This way, we released suppressed traumas from rape culture, like steam from a teakettle.
Creating a carnival-like cacophony of shared expression across a space, live shows are intense and exhilarating experiences. The distinctions between listeners and performers can become blurred, especially in "the moat," the area between the stage and audience. Engaging this notoriously macho arena, sometimes riot grrrls would entwine elbows, facing outward, forming a circle, shouting and challenging those they faced. Inside, other grrrls were protected, able to be present front and center. In this situation, space-making took place in public, not behind closed doors. A series of orchestrated group actions, these performances shifted territory within the scene. The action drew attention to the scene's interior complexity. It also pointed to its structural similarity to the dominant outside world. What remained was the problem of difference and of being multiple. What could make girls want to fight?
Part of an underground scene, alternative spaces like punk houses provide both a haven and a network for escapees from the "real" world. Because of the inflexible top-down structures of dominant society, punk houses create utopian imaginaries in relief, while providing forms of self-care through agency. Collective moves toward separatism recognize that sometimes attention is not wanted. Informing our activities were other self-organized groups like the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP), the Women's Health Action Mobilization (WHAM), and the Guerrilla Girls. We were conscious participants in complex counterpublics that "[continue] to be theorized as [places] of active resistance to patriarchy, misogyny, and homophobia."5 Under certain circumstances, separatism is necessary; not only does it create a safer world, it can create rich worlds in the midst of poverty.
In this environment, in the spring of 1994, Women's Punk Art Making Party came about. Hosted at the Beehive Collective at 925 U Street NW, the party was like any other party. Workshopped at riot grrrl meetings, the event was to be more "open" than closed meetings, explicitly inviting "women," not just self-identified grrrls. Participants were asked to bring art supplies. Interested in filmmaking and photography, I had recently begun working as a camera assistant on commercial productions. Although I was treading a fine line, I brought my video camera. A year previously, in response to articles appearing in Newsweek, Spin, USA Today, the Washington Post, etc., Riot Grrrl had called for a national "media blackout." A public refusal, a media blackout disrupts the flow of information and interrupts business as usual. In this case, it was employed as a signal flare to those within the counterculture. The blackout indicated an enemy: mass media.
As Raymond Williams points out, "Anything can be said, provided that you can afford to say it and that you can say it profitably."6. Those who can afford the large corporate media systems are those with big wallets, calling their ideological regime the "majority." Addressing a generalized audience, mass media doesn't distinguish unique characteristics among its listeners, readers, or viewers. The culture industry positions its audience similarly, as a mass: in this system, we are just a heap of raw material.
In Lucy Thane's documentary It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill in the UK (1993), Bikini Kill drummer and singer Tobi Vail casually remarks: "Everybody's talking about what kind of girl. Nobody's starting a riot."7 Living in late capitalism, we were well aware of the accepted symbolic paradigm that employs women as commodities, trading images of female bodies like dollar bills. Self-conscious performers, we understood we were political subjects in a world in which rampant commercialism pushed our concerns to the periphery, i.e., that we were "nobody." Something polished or appealing was not the point. That was for pop culture. We needed something difficult to translate.
Communication is a two-way street that requires cooperation. Listening, and asking "What does she want me to know?" are integral to the exchange of information. Meaning, produced through a chain of signifiers, cannot shape reality unless it is interpreted by a community of speakers.8 At the party, Sherry said, "Ugh. I don't like the camera. It's bugging me. It's making me feel uncomfortable." I turned it off. Cameras change atmospheres, are phallic signifiers, and are invasive. Part of a larger apparatus, their presence always suggests other unknown, possibly hostile contexts in which captured material will be reviewed and played back. Still, when things got interesting again, I turned the camera back on. I thought things might be different for me, maybe. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, my mother's casually cruel remark haunted me: "Why do you think you're so special?"
Later, in order to make the video I wanted to make, I realized I needed more footage. Frustrated, I called Sherry, hoping she might help me. I asked her if she would be interested in making a separate video with parameters she set. Sounding surprised, she declined. A few days later she telephoned, telling me that Angela might be into it. Encouraged, I quickly made a list of all the people I knew at the party and their phone numbers. Calling each one directly, I proposed the same plan. If they hesitated, I suggested they show the artwork they had made at the party. If they were still unsure, I said they could talk about someone or a song they loved.
My first meeting, with Angela, was short and direct. She described her mixed feelings about the party, and how the presence of other people affected her sense of self and her ability to create. The presence of the camera seemed to transform her activity into something "other" than what she had planned. My ignorance of how her energy was appropriated made her feel out of control. Looking directly into the lens, she said, "and that's why I didn't want to be filmed either." Still, she presented the work she made that day: a lampshade painted black and blue with the faces of the blonde sisters from The Brady Bunch (1969–74) emerging from the darkness. After that, I met with five other young women. Some of these collaborations were done in an afternoon, like Angela's. Others took weeks to produce, after elaborate and detailed preparation.
Around this time, Cynthia handed me a flier saying, "You might be interested in this." It announced Big Miss Moviola. Conceived by independent filmmaker Miranda July, the distribution project was structured like the punk scene, by word of mouth and fliers passed from hand to hand. This flier had been brought to DC from Portland, Oregon, by way of a touring band. Xeroxed, the Big Miss Moviola flier signaled the punk style. It promised unheard-of magic for five dollars, reminding me of the hard sell in the final pages of comic books. Like punk's embodied gesture of the pogo—shoulder patches emblazoned with paired arrows pointing up and down—and riot grrrl's use of the number "69," this message directly addressed me. Once I finished editing the video, I duly sent in a VHS tape, a statement, and five dollars. Before the internet, YouTube, and Vimeo, this exchange between audience and producers was generated through another overlooked infrastructure: USPS media mail. I waited. What would happen?
This new "network for women filmmakers"9 seemed to answer my developing concern that there might be some control over where and how my video would be received. The risk of being vulnerable in public is a frightening prospect, especially when "the public" has always already been marked as male.10 I understood the possibility that Big Miss Moviola presented: by generating an audience, a feminist counter-cinema could be created. Ideally this audience would develop alongside imagemakers "so that the filmmakers and spectators [would] share a common framework of concerns and the audience [could] thus immediately relate to the film's intervention in a specific area."11 Engaging directly with a group's process, media in this sense could be a tool, supporting a community and expanding it further.
Contextualizing submissions into groups of ten, the compilations were organized in the order they were received. Far flung, there were filmmakers from Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington, and elsewhere. They also hailed from Germany and the United Kingdom. Comprising a virtual nation,12 most filmmakers were and still are unknown to each other. A zine accompanied each Chainletter Tape, comprised of the individual statements and contact information of the filmmakers. By its completion in 2007, the project had gathered over two hundred short films by women filmmakers.
Pleasure is found in play, somewhere beyond the rational, the accepted, the norm. Expanding group identity and process, imagining an alternate audience, can be like conjuring. In gestures of luxurious defiance, Girl Culture and Girl Power said, This is not for you, it's for us. Creating the back-and-forth needed for exchange and development, a generative scene recognizes the value of connections and interactions. When it comes to relationships, word of mouth is still the most reliable. Otherwise, how are we able to trust each other?
If modes of production correspond to social reproduction, the Chainletter filmmakers' lo-fi existence relied upon the domesticated media of the home VCR. With no editing capabilities, there was only STOP and RECORD. The replicating signal of bootlegs and its deteriorated imagery became the glue between cultural subjects. It didn't really matter what was playing, or how skilled the performers were. What was more important was the "horizontal comradeship"13 signaled by the transgressive techniques of weird developments within consumer culture—fan and pirate culture.
When does passivity turn into aggression? Further, how do we embody and experience being objects of desire in a culture that rationalizes and trivializes violence against women? Where and how does consent to hegemony occur? A topography emerges, mapping intersections and dynamic nodes, revealing reflexive ins and outs. Within systems of structural oppression, definition is always a compromise. Easy, binary thinking becomes brittle if lingering questions and subtleties are not addressed. Shuffling the order of things, we merely played on the edges of complicity and resistance.
MARY BILLYOU is a filmmaker whose work combines the amateur, punk, and feminism, consciously engaging film as a readerly text.
NOTES 1. Val C. Phoenix, "From Womyn to Grrrls: Finding Sisterhood in Girl Style Revolution," Deneuve (January/February 1994), 40–43. 2. Leah Perry, "I Can Sell My Body If I Wanna: Riot Grrrl Body Writing and Performing Shameless Feminist Resistance," Lateral 4 (2015), http://csalateral.org/issue/4/i-can-sell-my-body-if-i-wanna-riot-grrrl-body. 3. Sara Marcus, Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010), 147. 4. Matthew Trammel, "The Don of Hardcore Steps Up Again," New Yorker, January 2, 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/02/the-don-of hardcore-steps-up-again. 5. Mary Celeste Kearney, "Riot Grrrl: It's Not Just Music, It's Not Just Punk," Spectator 16, no. 1 (Fall/Winter 1995), 82–95. 6. Raymond Williams, Communications (London, UK: Penguin Random House, 2016), 81. 7. Tobi Vail, in It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill in the UK (1993, directed by Lucy Thane). 8. See Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966). 9. Big Miss Moviola flier, Miranda July, c. 1993. 10. Michael Warner, Publics and Counterpublics (New York: Zone Books, 2005), 30. 11. E. Ann Kaplan, Women & Film: Both Sides of the Camera (New York: Methuen, 1983), 199. 12. Lucas Hilderbrand, Inherent Vice: Bootleg Histories of Videotape and Copyright (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009), 310. 13. Ibid.
Visualizing Disposability: Photographing Neoliberal Conflict in the United States
Clorinde Peters
On July 6, 2016, millions of viewers watched Diamond "Lavish" Reynolds's live Facebook video of Philando Castile bleeding to death after having been shot by a Minnesota police officer during a traffic stop. She knew, even as her fiancée sat dying and the police officer continued to point his gun through the car window, how important it was to have proof of that violence and to make that proof public. The first thing she said as she began filming from the passenger seat is "stay with me"—and it is unclear whether she is speaking to Castile or to us, the viewers and complicit witnesses to yet another police shooting of a black man.
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Artworld Analog: A Conversation with Anne Doran
Taylor Dafoe
Anne Doran is best known as a second-wave Pictures Generation artist. Her large, wall-mounted photosculptures appropriate found images from sources such as ads, porn magazines, and military literature, juxtaposing them in formally playful ways that at once recall the pop collages of James Rosenquist or Richard Hamilton and the angular designs of the Constructivists. However, Doran's artworld footprint is much more expansive than her visual art. For nearly three decades now, she has split her time working as an artist, a critic, an editor, and a curator.
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Modeling the Psyche: Nene Humphrey's Multisensory Enactment of Empathetic Entanglement
Cristina Albu
Since 2005, Nene Humphrey has been artist-inresidence at Joseph LeDoux's laboratory at the Center for Neural Science at New York University (NYU). As neuroscientists at this lab have been trying to untangle the synaptic relations that underlie emotion, Humphrey has been hard at work entangling lines, wire threads, and wool fibers in order to render neural communication perceptible. Through her drawing and sculptural practice, she has sought to make sense of incommensurable experiences such as pain or loss. While engaging in interdisciplinary inquiries, Humphrey found observing neural connections under the microscope intriguing, yet insufficient for grasping the dynamic qualities of experience and its deep, longterm imprint on the psyche. Hence, she has transitioned from focusing primarily on drawing the dense texture of neural fibers to enacting multimedia performances that convey the transformations undergone by synaptic relations over the course of time.
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Exhibition Reviews
Angela Grauerholz: Écrins écrans Regarder
Centre Culturel Canadien
November 9, 2016–March 24, 2017
Musée D'orsay
November 9, 2016–February 5, 2017
Jill Glessing
It's often stated that with modernity came an increased visuality— our sense of vision now dominates all other perceptual modes. And we now look from a further remove: our rationalizing gaze extends across greater distances to anonymous urban others; we see more representations of things than things themselves. But that intimacy, drained from our personal exchanges, slips into other spaces. Desire is endless and mobile. Looking deeply into our images, we can trace the surfeit of displaced desire circulating through them.
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Person of the Crowd: The Contemporary Art of Flânerie
The Barnes Foundation
February 25–May 22, 2017
Kathryn Kramer
The Barnes Foundation's Person of the Crowd: The Contemporary Art of Flânerie is the third version of this exhibition curated by Thom Collins, currently executive director and president of the Barnes Foundation. While executive director of the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, Collins oversaw the first version, Crowd of the Person (on view October 21, 2005–January 14, 2006). A second iteration took place at SUNY Purchase's Neuberger Museum of Art (Person of the Crowd: The Contemporary Art of Flânerie; January 20–April 13, 2008) where Collins was then director. All of the exhibitions are intrinsically alike, yet also show intriguing signs of reworking based on Collins's playing with the notion of flânerie in a manner that speaks to an impressive dedication to pondering it as a viable artistic practice reemerging since the 1950s, and with a decisive vigor since the turn of the twenty-first century. The current exhibition benefits by its proximity to the Barnes's permanent collection (featuring so many works reflecting original flânerie), as well as through the commissioning of new works specific to the streets of Philadelphia. While I do not necessarily agree with Collins's definition of flânerie in all cases, I do commend his wrestling with the concept, all the more so because of his dedication to defining it through contemporary art. I appreciate how slippery the concept can be.
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José Maçãs de Carvalho: Archive and Democracy
MAAT (Museum Art Architecture Technology)
Lisbon, Portugal
February 8–April 24, 2017
K. Johnson Bowles
José Maçãs de Carvalho: Archive and Democracy juxtaposes four photographic and three videographic works by José Maçãs de Carvalho in Lisbon's recently renovated Central Tejo Power Station complex, which houses MAAT (Museum Art Architecture Technology). Curated by Ana Rito, Archive and Democracy is a richly layered contemplation of private lives existing in public spaces, specifically Philippine workers living in Hong Kong. As the title suggests, Maçãs de Carvalho memorializes facts of being while considering public space ownership and the nature of freedom and equality. He seems to apply the second wave feminist theory that "the personal is political" to cultural identity theory.
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Last Standing: Linn Underhill
Handwerker Gallery
Ithaca, New York
February 1–March 5, 2017
Alisa Chase
Recently, my teenage daughter, Nina, and I made the scenic drive that snakes along the Finger Lakes toward Ithaca to see Linn Underhill's latest exhibition, Last Standing. The nude self-portraits that comprise the show were inspired by Underhill's sister's death, which made the artist the "last standing" member in her family of origin. Awakening at three o'clock in the morning in tears, Underhill assuaged her grief by photographing herself standing naked as she cried. Her process was a means to healing, but it was the result that served as further impetus for this new body of work. As Underhill relates, "In one stroke [I realized] I had broken two bans on visibility—on grief and on the naked older female body—and I became curious to explore the ways that older body occupied the world. What does it look like, and what can it mean?"1
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Book Review
Laura U. Marks's Hanan al-Cinema: Affections for the Moving Image
By Laura U. Marks
MIT Press, 2015
400 pp./$32.00 (hb)
Jay Murphy
In his book Being Arab (2006), Samir Kassir argues that the Arab world enjoyed a twentieth-century cultural renaissance that surpassed the accomplishments of the nineteenth, especially in the cinema. That this claim is not more widely discussed might be due to any number of factors, but not to a dearth of criticism, debate, and startling work within the Arab world itself. There are the knotty issues of the infrastructures and political regimes influencing such discussions within the Middle East and North Africa that Marks delineates within her first chapter, quite apart from the geopolitical or disciplinary/cultural blindspots or blockages within the metropolises of the 'developed' world that, to date, may have retarded wider recognition for many of the artists detailed in Hanan al-Cinema. That such experimentation exists becomes an ensemble of much wider issues than that simply of recognition, such as breakthroughs into the United States or European film markets, despite successes ranging from Youssef Chahine to Elia Suleiman, or Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige's Je veux voir/I Want to See (2008). One of the virtues of Laura Marks's Hanan al-Cinema: Affections for the Moving Image is that it is based on explicating the manifest innovativeness of so much work in the moving image, from the maghreb to the mashriq. This is not a plea for the wider inclusion of certain national cinemas, but rather because, as Marks writes, they constitute "some of the most potent artistic achievements of our time. These emergent images are gifts to the entire world, for Arab artists are in a position to see what the rest of the world cannot see" (7).
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From the Issue
Media Received
Click here for our full Media Received Listings
Portfolio: Congratulations and Celebrations
Ellen Lesperance


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First of all I am tempting my fate...I am blogging from my job. We have an hour left and its a Friday.
I know I posted a blog talking about how I was going to get back in buisness, but there has been nothing really blogworthy. I was reading my best friend's blog catching up on all her post and I can relate to all that she wrote about. So today I am going to put my 2 cents in on her blogs:
1. Those were the days: She talks about her highschool car. A VW buggie. There are many memories in that car, and I too loved it very much. We also did love mustangs (and especially boys how drove them). She was kind of the first one in the group to have a car, we went everywhere in that car. We would spend hours, upon hour, in her drive way or mine sitting in that black bug until wee hours of the night. We tricked our one friend David that we had somehow locked the keys in the bug and he HAD to come help. We went to the beach and skim boarded, singing Likin Park at the top of our lungs with all windows open (and sunroof). We would flirt with boys and "race" them (and shockingly the bug won most times- dont know if it was because they wanted us to look cute and win, or because of the buggie's turbo engine).
We loved the bug, but would also talk about mustangs. Oh how we loved mustangs. My first car (and car still today) a MUSTANG.
When it came time for me to look at cars, my dad had me do research and find cars that I wanted to check out (none of which were 'stangs). We searched and searched and nothing seemed good enough. Daddy was about to get me a white saturen. I dislike (unlike my bestie) white cars. I told my dad if he gets me a white car it has to be a mustang. My mom and I went to the VW dealership and she was all ready to get me a Jetta (A-DOR-ABLE), but ofcourse had to talk with daddy. UG!
Good thing I didnt get that Jetta. Daddy had been talking to a guy he worked with that was selling a mustang, a white (of all colors) mustang. That baby came home. I was so excited when it was in the driveway that I HAD to wash it, clean it, make it mine!
My bestie was at my house when daddy pulled in. I was desperate to surprise her with my totally awesome new (to me) car! I told her we had a car to wash. Looking at me like I was crazy she followed. I open the garage door and there was my beauty, I swear my friend was more excited than me.
2. ...Er: Talks about having a blog written complely in your head and then when you sit to write...::poof:: its gone even the topic.
Yea... Happens to me more than I would like. Maybe thats why I have been on my blogging hiatus.
3. This may be why I drink: She talks about her addiction to coffee.
Before starting this wonderful new 40 hour job I would just drink coffee on the weekends usually. This week I decided to give coffee a go on the way to work. Tuesday I home brewed some coffee made it in my new to-go coffee thermos that has a "K" and off to work I went. I was jittery the whole rest of the day, off 1 cup. Coffee nevers does that to me. I can drink the strongest of the stuff and go right to sleep. Why this cup made me jittery I do not know. The next day I stopped at McDonalds for a yummy iced coffee, and let me tell you they did NOT skimp on the sugar. Coffee has gotten me wired lately (excpet on the weekends)-odd, no?
That is all that has been happening lately.
The only other small update is: My mom and I decided to paint the spare/tv room and in the process we did not want to have any furry 4-legged creatures in the room so all cats were banned to the porch or garage, and Whiskey to her(my) room. I block my door way with a slab of wood and she has learned how to move it. So we bocked that with a file box, yea... she figured that out too. My mom and I are in the process of moving a recliner out of the room (me inside the room) when she hears the pitter-patter of feet on the kitchen floor. How in the world??? "Katie come look at what your dog did!"
"Uh, mom, I'm stuck!!!"
Dying of laugter I climb over the recliner to the hallway then the kitchen to see that my dog has nosed the bored to the side and push the box out of her way.
She's too smart for her own good.
Six Months Old Already!
2 days ago


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The boys were interested, full of life and questions. The mother was calm, attentive and engaged. At one stage, one little fella said he was hungry. The mother said kindly, that he had a chance to eat his breakfast and that he had chosen not to do that. She explained that he would have to wait until he got to the zoo when they would have morning tea to have something to eat. The way the mother handled the situation was very impressive and the young boy did not 'carry on' so clearly knew his boundaries.
I enjoyed watching the mother with the boys and when I got off the train a stop before they were getting off, I commented on the way she interacted with her children and congratulated her. She was very engaging with me and we had a good interaction in those few moments. The father put his paper down slightly and smiled warmly at me as I said goodbye, then looked back at his paper. As I saw the train pull away from the platform, I waved at the little family; he was head down reading and she was pointing, waving and talking with the two excited boys who smiled and waved at me.
A couple of days later I was talking with a very proud new grand father. He was telling me how his son helped with the 'crap work'! This 'crap work' is with the one week old baby. I asked what the 'crap work' was with great interest. The grand father told me with great pride that his son bottle fed the baby while his partner caught up with sleep. I knew the woman was breastfeeding and must admit that I was shocked and the look on my face must have made my reaction obvious. I said I was surprised that feeding was considered 'crap work' and was told, in a defensive tone, that "it is when you are sleep deprived". I found that a very difficult conversation because there was no entry point to have a discussion about newborn needs and the importance of finding ways to protect, support and promote optimal breastfeeding.
After these two recent experiences, I find myself wondering about fathering and how and what we midwives can do to encourage optimal engagement of fathers. We know that men who are fully engaged during pregnancy and birth are more engaged as fathers. We also know that men who have skin to skin with their newborn children have oxytocin (the love hormone) surges and decreased testosterone (the war hormone) and are more attentive fathers who are less likely to spank or hurt their babies and children. Those of us who work one on one with childbearing women and their partners have seen that in action. These two experiences indicate to me that we still have a way to go. Finding creative ways to engage fathers and perhaps grand fathers too, more right from the start will help to unravel and rejig those unhelpful myths, negative attitudes and disabling practices that still abound in our society and disrupt men's ability to be the kind of fathers that is their potential.


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Hi Again!
Here I am again to eat more crow about saying I don't do many 1 picture/1 page layouts! These challenges have really inspired me to dig out the old pictures, many of which there are only 1 or 2 pictures of an event in our lives and so I have begun these 1 picture/page layouts and I love them!
This layout was for a 'recipe challenge' and the recipe was;
Use at least 3 Cricut Images - I cut the large scalloped square, the extra large tab and the doily from the Close To My Heart - Artphilosophy cartridge
Use at least 3 patterned papers - The large dot, brown flower, pink flourish and the striped papers were all from an older My Minds Eye collection called Bohemia
Use a butterfly, bird or bug on the layout - I used the ladybug from an older cartridge called Doodlecharms
Machine, pen or hand stitching - I used my white signo pen to draw stitching around the large scalloped square and also around the hearts on the doily
Use the color yellow - Well I love the color yellow on this layout from which I cut a small scallloped square to hold my journaling about my sweet baby daughter, Courtenay, who sadly only got to have her grandpa (my Dad) in her life for 1 year. He sure did love his 'Little Chick-a-dee' even if it was for just a short time.
Thanks so much for stopping by and checking it out!
Have a SCRAPtastic day!
Canadian Paper Shaper Blog


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|1,614 sq. ft.
|Property type
|Minimum Stay
|7 nights
Villa Serrano is positioned 10 minutes from the quiet village of Lliber, which has 2 general stores, bakery, chemist, doctors, hairdressers and 3 bars specialising in local tapas. It is 20 mins from Calpe, Javea and Denia beaches. 30 mins from Benidorm, Terra Mitica, Aqualandia, Terra Natura, Aqua Natura, Benidorm Palace and Alfaz d´pi medievil castle.There is a shopping centre within a 15 min drive
The villa itself is fully fenced in, with automatic gates, the master bedroom has air conditioning and a ceiling fan, but it is designed especially to keep out the heat in the summer and warm in the winter, with its high wooden ceiling. The other 2 bedrooms have ceiling rooms have mosquito nettings. The lounge/kitchen/sitting area have ample windows, and leave onto a lovely large roof terrace, which in the summer is always half in the shade and that is very much appreciated.
The villa itself is situated in a lovely quiet area with only a few residents passing by on the small concreted road at the bottom of the house. surrounded by pine trees and greenery, I invite you to come and share this little part of paradise that I have.
I am only a phone call away from you and any problems I will soon sort out. I want you to have that relaxing, stress free holiday that you have looked forward too..
.I have lived here for over 35 years, my children have grown up here. We all speak fluent Spanish, so any help we are a phonecall away
Nicola Jane Wilcox purchased this villa in 1989
This property is a small part of paradise. This is the reason I have it. We use it mainly in the winter, and in-between rentals. The BBQ, pool and the set up of the house is ideal for a family holiday. We do also have a sofa bed, which is in the master bedroom, so two families can enjoy this home. (available with a supplement charge) It is close to the hustle and bustle of the tourists on the costa, but far enough away to enjoy the real part of Spain.
A child's individual pool, which I have been told may times is a blessing..Huge BBQ and fantastic Outside dining and Star watching. Peace and Quiet.
When we arrived at the villa our little girl just wanted to run around and there was plenty of room inside and out for that to happen.
The garden, BBQ / Summer Kitchen area was just very spacious with everything we needed and we could sit there and watch our daughter paddle in the smaller child's pool. I must say that having a child's dip pool as well as a large pool, was a real bonus as she wanted to swim but the water was a still a bit chilly in March.
The house was well equipped and all the rooms large, spacious and bright with great views of the mountains.
A great location, lovely and quiet but yet a few mins drive or 15 mins walk to the village which is very Spanish. Within distance from plenty of other villages and 15 mins from the coast so you're short of nothing. Villa itself very spacious, massive pool with childs section at the end. What more can you want.
"Lovely Villa, Great Location, Helpful Owner!!!!!"
5 of 5 stars Reviewed July 30, 2013
First time in
The villa was clean and in a good condition. It had all the facilities you would want in a quiet location. The owner even took the trouble to look in the day after we arrived to see that everything was OK. She also gave us the lowdown on the local restaurants and places to go.
Villa Serrano is a 20 minute drive to Calpe, Javea or Denia beaches, where activities swimming, snorkling, water skiing, fishing etc take place.
Alicante Airport is approx 55 mins drive
Car hire is essential - recommended Caroline Car Hire no hidden charges.
We do supply a meet and greet service for 50 euros from Benissa.
10 min walk to Lliber village
20 mins walk to Jalon
20 min drive to Calpe
30 min drive to Benidorm
Further Details:
If you google map my property, the picture is over 10 yrs old..My pool is not that colour the house and the land are as my pictures now..
|Rental Period
|Minimum Price
|Additional Nights
|Weekend Night
|Event Price
April-June 2018
7 Apr 2018 - 30 Jun 2018
7 night minimum stay
for 7 nights
july -Sept 2018
1 Jul 2018 - 1 Sep 2018
7 night minimum stay
for 7 nights
Sept - Oct 2018
2 Sep 2018 - 20 Oct 2018
7 night minimum stay
for 7 nights
My Standard Rate
7 night minimum stay
for 7 nights
|No additional mandatory fees
|Refundable Damage Deposit
Booking Notes:
A 150 pound deposit is required to secure booking, which will be returned to you 2 weeks after your departure as long as no damages. Booking forms will be sent out to you, payment is required via owners direct.
Please book online.
Changeover Day:
Changeover date is flexible. July and August Saturdays.
10am departure and 4pm arrival. Confirm with Owner.
Notes on prices:
For rentals of 3 weeks and over a special price can be reach.
If the villa is not left in a reasonable condition, extra cleaning will be deducted out of your deposit. We understand you are on holiday, but request that you treat the house as if it were your own! I include 6 hours of cleaning before and after your stay, which is enough on a normal changeover, extra is at 15 euros/hour.


text:
Gearing up for some High Voltage happenings today!
06 May 2010
Happy Seis de Mayo
3 comments:
i saw the title to your post and snickered because Rick said he was going to celebrate this today. he was being obnoxious.ReplyDelete
Did he have the day off? I guess I'm not clear on his emotion, as I was not clear why I was so jazzed either.ReplyDelete
But Spring Fever hit today! YAY! Let's Dance!
He was being weird about how the holiday was for Mexico and not us so he was going to celebrate the next day. His daughters both came home and gave him a lesson about how it was not Mexican Independance day like the History buff was sure it was. It turned out they were right. :)ReplyDelete
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The feeling that I keep having that says to me "maybe you are not comfortable with a new you?" Is that the case? I mean, if I keep losing weight will I still be the same me? Why not keep losing? Am I afraid that I will have to keep buying new clothes that I will not be able to wear for very long - then what was the point of buying them? Am I really that comfortable with this weight? Why am I at a stand still? What is holding me back?
I know, all of the above might sound silly. Is there another reason? Am I afraid of all the positives and just waiting for the negative effect? Why would anyone be waiting for the negative when the positive is the best part!!! Like when a person says - "Wow - you look so good", but in my head I hear them say - "wonder when she will gain it back" or when a person says "How did you do it, what is your secret" and then you share it and the whole time I am wondering, am I really that motivational to others? Again - just my inner struggle I am dealing with at the moment.
I really have been thinking about this a lot. I really do believe there is that fear. Fear of success. Believe me - I don't think I am lazy, that I want to sleep past my alarm clock, that I don't want to sweat, that I am just finding other things to do with my time - I really do feel there is a fear inside me that is not giving me the chance to find a new thinner me. I just can't seem to scream and let it out. What is holding me back?
Am I afraid to be in a new me? Am I just too comfortable the way I am? (there is that sentence again) I ask myself that question many times and it is always NO!!! Why can't that NO give me the push I really need. Just doing the basics is not going to make it all happen for me. It is like Mer said the other day "where do you want to be" !! I just need to realize that there is a NEW me waiting to get out!!! Turn the key, open the door - what am I waiting for?
I decided that I need to make a list - kind of like a music conductor - a famous Maestro - looking to create an inspirational song - one that will keep me going each day. The 44th chapter of my life is just beginning - so much to see, do and experience - looking for that HUGE spark again!


text: Exceptionally well made, unique and great design for this elegant white Macrame plant holder. We guarantee this plant hanger will make you extremely happy and you will want to look at it over and over again, several times a day - It still does this to us :-) This well knotted macrame hanging planter will for sure complement your ceramic pots and add a touch of elegance to your interior or outdoor spaces. Macrame plant holders are timeless beauty coming down the ages. Before we had any other plant holders and you can't deny that they offer a great stylish accent whether your stylish preferences incline to modern, conventional or contemporary. You will be pleasantly surprised by being the proud owner of the Macrame plant holder - It's handmade from a mixture of para-cord and cotton a versatile and material which is biodegradable! - Perfect solution for hanging your plants indoors or outdoors as the season change. - If your pet has a tendency to destroy your plants, then this one will save you from lots of struggle! - You can even hand wash this Macrame plant holder without damaging it. - It has an incredibly stylish and awesome look that will enhance the feel of your kitchen windows, living room or garden! All in, all this macrame plant holder is the prefect combination of modern, unique design and timelessness! Hope to make you a happy customer and a proud owner of this Macrame Plant Holder.


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And That's Why I Love Running
I had a difficult week last week. An important friendship dissolved in a matter of days, and despite my best efforts, it looks like it's done for good. I've felt everything from confusion, anger, and disappointment, to disbelief and sadness. The anger is fairly easy to burn off, and with enough reflection I am able to understand why things didn't work.
But the sadness. I didn't know what to do with the moments of incredible sadness. Reminding myself of all the good things in my life did nothing to temper it. You can have the whole world and still mourn the loss of a friendship. I realized that every person occupies a unique place in one's life, and though I will make other friends, nobody will ever be exactly the same as the friend I lost.
I was in the midst of such a moment yesterday when I decided to go for a run. I haven't run for a couple of months, but it seemed like the perfect time to lace up.
And it was. I forgot what running does for me. Within five minutes I started to feel better. Life wasn't so sad, and I could see the good things all around me. Possibilities opened up before me as I ran, and my spirits lifted. As I passed a large, beautiful house I heard the sounds of classical piano drifting through the open windows, and it seemed a serenade just for me.
I've tried to explain to friends why I run, when sometimes it seems like so much more work than, say, going for a bike ride.
I run because it gives me hope.
I run to find solutions to my problems.
I run to feel alive.
I run because nothing else makes me feel this way.
It will take time to get over the loss of this friendship, but now I know that when I find myself in the midst of the sadness, slipping out the door for a run will help me get through the moment.


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Current WIPs:
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Stitch from Stash Update: March
Current WIPs:
7 comments:
- Sarah said...
Great progress and admirable non-spending!Hope the uni work is going well
- Wednesday, 26 March, 2014
- Anne said...
I'm looking forward to seeing how you progress with White Magic as I was given the kit last year for my birthday! It looks beautiful so far.
- Wednesday, 26 March, 2014
- Mii Stitch said...
Fantastic work on White Magic, it looks absolutely stunning! Congrats on keeping your money in your pocket too :)
- Wednesday, 26 March, 2014
- Justine said...
Noooooo...another crazy person! Am I the only one who buys stash any more?!
- Wednesday, 26 March, 2014
- Angela P said...
Hooray! Congrats on not spending anything for March :)
- Wednesday, 26 March, 2014
- Mrs. GraceWorks said...
You are doing so well on not spending anything and making good progress! Good for you!
- Thursday, 27 March, 2014
- Carol said...
How amazing your White Magic looks, Bekca--that will really be a spectacular finish when you're done! Hope these next few months go well for you--still can't believe you're graduating soon. Those university years really do pass by quickly...
- Thursday, 27 March, 2014


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iWidget Pack 8 by JunesiPhone
Yet another iWidget pack for your iPhone! If you purchase this pack you get iWidget Pack 1-7 for free! iWidget Pack 8 contains a fullscreen snowing widget, snow globe, static trees, and animated text. Each widget has its own customizations.
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Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Ebor Festival in the Pink for Ladies
As the fall out from this month's pockets of unrest continued, York Racecourse put all economic and social worries to one side and had a riot of its own - only this time it was a riot of colour and, suitably for Ladies Day at the Ebor Festival, it was pink.
Pink dresses mixed with pink hats underneath the giant pink branding of the headline sponsor as glasses of champagne (pink optional) chinked winner after winner. The historic old Knavesmire blushed with pride as 30,000 people came together in August sunshine to meet, eat, drink and get merry.
No need for Facebook or Twitter feeds to create a flash mob crowd here, this was social networking of the old fashioned kind. Orderly queues were formed for the Champagne Lawn as the brass band led the percussion of glasses. Knights of the realm cast careful eyes over their equine assets, A-level students so recently graded, celebrated, and thousands upon thousands of well-dressed racegoers squeezed into tailored suits and favourite frocks to embrace the spirit of the day's dressing up. Hats were a talking point, an edible horse made from Yorkshire produce another and the sight of a jovial Sir Alex Ferguson - despite having no winners - caused an afternoon stir amongst onlookers at the Parade Ring.
Behind the fashion and famous faces though, Ladies Day is big business. Without the festival – shifted to include a Saturday for the first time in the hope of attracting a new weekend audience – the city and the county would be a much poorer place. It is estimated that the racecourse contributes £58m to York businesses, benefitting everyone from taxi-drivers to hairdressers and, judging by the shoes on show, chemists for blister repair kits.
Nick Fazackerley, general manager of hospitality at the racecourse explained the demand his team has to cope with: "We have 30,000 bottles of champagne delivered for the festival and during Ladies Day we would expect to get through 8-10,000 bottles. We also have 100 kegs of Pimms delivered which contain 20,000 glasses and we're expecting over 4,000 of those glasses to be drunk today. "In terms of hospitality Ladies Day is the biggest of the Festival with about 5,000 covers, there is not a spare seat in the house, everyone wants to be here for Ladies Day."
As with all things horseracing, numbers are key and it looks like William Derby, the clerk of the course, is backing an odds on favourite. The Ebor Festival is definitely in the pink and with a new 93,000 attendance record this week, it looks like to could be blooming for years to come.
Posted by lewiskcooper at 09:41
Labels: Ebor, horseracing, yorkshire
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Sumo Champions Exhibition
This past Saturday Chris and I got to witness a sport we never thought we'd see in person – Sumo Wrestling! Earlier in the week Tori had IMed me with a link and it was so bizarre we had to go. The Sumo Champions Exhibition was a free event held in the middle of the Japantown Peace Plaza. The Japan Center Malls and the Japantown Merchants Association put on the event so that us San Franciscans could meet real Sumo Wrestlers, learn about life as a Sumo, and watch live matches. It was rad.
We walked over and ended up getting there just in time for the final round of live matches. There was a decent amount of people, but we found seats not too far from the mat.
The music came on, our charismatic announcer came out, and the show began. Similar to wrestling, each Sumo Wrestler waited behind stage and came out when introduced. Fortunately for us we were sitting "behind" the stage and got see them up close and personal before they entered the rink.
When we they were all on the mat, they de-robed. Everyone applauded.
They then began stretching by alternating lifting their legs really high to the side and squatting. We were informed they did this to work on their balance. You don't want to lose your footing in a Sumo Wrestling match.
While they were stretching the announcer took questions from the crowd. I ended up learning a great deal. A typical day for Sumo Wrestler is walking up extremely early and training for 5 hours. Then they eat as much of this particular, healthy Japanese stew they could. Took a nap, woke, and ate more stew. Every single day.
When the stretching commenced, they moved on to teaching us the game mechanics by acting them out. This was particularly hilarious because they got to do things they normally couldn't… and greatly enjoyed it. Here are a few things that I remember…
1. You can slap you opponent, but you can't punch.
2. You can grab the sides of the diaper as leverage, but never the groin or butt area (no wedgies).
3. No hair pulling.
Overall the goal of Sumo Wrestling is to get your opponent out of the circle or get them to touch the ground with anything besides the pads of their feet. Pushing, flipping, and lifting are all approved ways of accomplishing this goal.
Once everyone understood the rules of the game, the bouts started. 10 bouts in total and the wrestlers were in a bracketed system.
It bracketed down to Byamba vs Kelly. In the previous two tournaments of the day Byamba had faced Kelly in the end and won. But could he do it again?
The crowd chanted their favorite wrestler's name. They went back and forth for a few minutes, but in the end Byamba epically flipped Kelly. The ground shook.
Besides the fact that I learned pretty much everything I've ever known about Sumo this past Saturday, I was shocked to discover how strong and agile the wrestlers are. The stronger ones can literally lift their opponents out of the ring – that's crazy! Smaller ones can move quickly to throw their charging opponent off balance. It's a pretty fun sport to watch. Check out the rest of our photos on flickr: Chris's flickr set and my flickr set.


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I already have a reputation for being indecisive. I look at menus and
waver between two options, always encouraging the other diners to
order first. If I have a to do list, I am off like a crazy woman on
steriods. Don't stop! Don't slow down!
But lately, I'm finding myself caught between both of these extremes.
I think it's a factor of the unique age and development mixture that
we have going on in our house these days. Drew took off crawling and
seemingly, overnight, life has changed. He's not content for 10
minutes in the exersaucer, swing or boucey seat allowing me to squeeze
in a shower. He wants to, no, scratch that, HAS to, be on the move.
Try to hold him, and he will strain and pull to be down on the ground,
exploring and on the move. It is an incredible time to observe and
watch. A time for vigilance. Not helicopter parenting, per se, but
watchfulness. Mindfulness. My email baby feeds are all screaming
reminders of what can and does happen when you lose focus, or turn
your head for a moment.
Couple this with Alex. Mr. Intricate Block Builder. My friend
Jessica warned me about this stage while visiting 4 months ago. And
due to her advice, we moved almost all of Alex's toys into his room,
promising him a Drew free zone. A space where the only destruction
would be Alex created, not 9 month old curiosity induced.
So…..here I am on a free Tuesday…..stymied. I love that word.
Just the sound of it. The implications of it??? Not so much. On one
hand, the younger sibling learns flexibility, to go with the flow (the
flow and schedule and whims of the elder sibling). But many days, I
watch Drew's interrupted nap schedules and free play times and feel
guilt. Do we go on an adventure, hoping Drew will nap in the car???
(History has proven–aka, many screaming car rides–that that never
happens). Or….skip the nap and hope he sleeps later and doesn't get
too fussy? On the flip side, we can abandon plans, become PBS Kids
zombies all morning, allowing Drew to nap. But then, what adventure
do you embark on? Parks….great, free choice. However making sure
the two boys are safe, supervised and entertained in addition to
keeping the dog in line???? Well, let's just say I start to sweat
before I even get in the car.
I know, I know……the collosal problems which plague my life…..
But, really…..I give all this background to ask the question….do
you ever feel indecision? Stymied? Beach or mountains? Steak or
chicken? Netflix and pjs or movie theater and dinner out? It is my
I don't think I am alone in this. I know that many writers,
theologians and speakers have discussed their own moments of trying to
hear and discern God's voice. Especially when both options aren't
inherently horrible. Sheila, my former boss (TWICE!), used to advise
us to "love God and do what you want". This wasn't a callous
response to our young adult, 20 something angst. It was a reminder
that God is in the midst of our lives, no matter the decisions. And
sometimes God just wants us to do what we want to do. God isn't a God
who sits up in the clouds with a magic wand, forcing us all onto
painful and horrid paths.
But despite all this, I often still don't KNOW what I want. And then
I sit in indecision long enough that it's nap time.
Sometimes I enter into categorizing and label maker heaven, seeking to bring order to one small area of my life. Other times, we'll embark on an adventure (and by "adventure", I mean the library or the park….). But sometimes these moments of indecision are creating angst for fear that my kids will be bored. And maybe…..being bored just isn't so bad. Boredom surely is the foundation for discovery and creativity, when we let it do its work.
Sometimes doing nothing or having a blank day on the calendar produces great fear in my extroverted self. Other times, though, I find that pushing through the indecision, letting a lack of plans pervade the day, is ok. Being stymied can be so uncomfortable, physically and emotionally. But pushing through to the other side? Now that's when life starts REALLY being lived.
And the question remains…..
(or better yet…..nap AND macaron…..and ask instead, "olallieberry or mocha?"!)


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At the weekly group lesson, we were given the components of the Grade III MSR (March/Strasthspey/Reel) to learn. The march is Borthwick of Borthwick (sometimes I wonder at Their choices for tune names), the Strasthspey is Colin Something and the Reel is Colonel Somebody.
I've got the general idea for the march. The S and R need a little assistance, mainly because I have never heard them played.
I added a big flat net pocket to the inside of my pipe bag for flat things: flag, letters, tuner, etc. Had to do it by hand because the bag wouldn't fit under the presser foot on my sewing machine. So I sewed it while watching Miss Marple last night on Mystery Theatre.


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Cleansing specific internal organs at different times of the year is a regular practice for people who follow the principles of Ayurveda, from India, and also in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Cleansing is a way to remove toxins from internal organs. We are all exposed to toxins from environmental pollution. Cleanse the lungs with tulsi, from Ayurveda, and do yoga poses such as setubhandasana (bridge pose) to help. Last, do the lung cleanse during the fall when TCM says the lungs are emphasized and eat garlic frequently.
Make Tea From Tulsi (Holy Basil)
According to Niik Auistgard of Ayurveda Rasa, tulsi, or holy basil, is great for cleansing the lungs. Make a simple tea by taking several dried leaves (or a sprig of fresh leaves) of tulsi, also known as holy basil and pouring a cup of boiling water over it. Steep for several minutes. Drink throughout the day.
"Tulsi is especially effective in supporting the heart, blood vessels, liver and lungs and also regulates blood pressure and blood sugar," says Dr. Ralph Miller, former director of research for the Canadian Department of Health and Welfare.
Consume Garlic
Fall is the season when lungs and the large intestine are emphasized, writes Carrie L'Esperance in The Ancient Cookfire (1998, Bear & Co. Publishing, Santa Fe, New Mexico). She states that the Chinese consider fall the metal element and cleansing the lungs is appropriate for most healthy people.
L'Esperance recommends eating garlic to help cleanse the lungs. She recommends making a garlic oil by chopping a large clove of garlic and adding it to a cup of warm olive oil in a glass jar. Allow the oil to cure for about four days and add to vegetables, salads and other foods. Garlic is a well-documented antibacterial food.
Do Yoga
Hatha yoga is the sister science to Ayurveda and the thousands of yoga poses all have a therapeutic purpose. For the lungs, any back bend will help clear toxins.
Start with setubhandasana or bridge by lying on the floor with feet flat, knees bent. Stack your knees over the ankles and lift the hips off the floor and bring the hands underneath, drawing the hands toward the base of the heels. Lengthen the tailbone out of the low back and emphasize the backbend in the upper mid-thoracic. Remain for several breaths: lower the hips to the floor to rest.Tags: cleansing lungs, hips floor, internal organs, setubhandasana bridge, toxins from


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GOD is love, but you must be made to understand that GOD's love for humanity is conditional, and that condition demanded justice. Most people today do not have a correct understanding of GOD because far too many people in religious leadership themselves do not have a correct understanding of GOD. A price for your and my sins had to be paid. Christ died so that we could live, and only GOD could be the substitute in our place. GOD became sin so that we might be declared righteous. All false world religions are man's attainment to the god of their choosing. The Gospel of Jesus Christ alone is the account of GOD's redemption of man. The Gospel is foolishness to the sinner, but it is the power of GOD through the life-long work of salvation resulting in the transformation of one's life to those whom GOD has called. Those opposed to this message reject GOD's gift of love or have went out from Christian fellowship by choice into the world because you are not nor were you ever of us. Salvation is not something that you decide to begin one day. Salvation is the work of GOD. I pity you. It will be a terrible day when the unsaved of humanity stand before the one true GOD on their own merit to be judged, and are then subject to the eternal wrath of GOD.
The Christian Gospel is the greatest truth in all the world to consider. In all honesty, how could men have ever imagined and then written a story so unbelievable as what is presented in the Bible as GOD's self-revelation to humanity? This alone gives evidence that the Bible is the only true revelation of GOD… GOD cannot, GOD will not conform to what we want GOD to be. We must conform to what GOD demands we become. Do not be wrong, your eternal life depends on the decision you make!


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The other day, I rode my electric bike down the hill to meet Michael for an appointment we had in Menlo Park with a new Battery manufacturer named IMARA. I had a great ride down, the meeting went well and then we went back to our mother's house where we discovered that the motor bracket that is bolted to my frame was loose and bouncing around. Not good.
We did a quick fix and I rode home with the intent of doing a better fix. When I got home and was working with the bike I noticed that half a link on the drive train was broken. Also not good.
After talking with Michael, we decided to turn my aluminum framed bike into a regular bike and to convert the older recumbent I got to train with into the electric bike. So I spent the weekend switching parts around and on Teusday I went up to Michael's shop in San Geronimo and prepared my bike for surgery. Preparations included cleaning and removing the paint where brackets etc, need to be brazed. The brackets will hold the motor mount plate, the battery packs and the oversized disc brake. There will also be some smaller stuff done for routing brake cables etc.
We took a ride at lunch time on my sister's newly outfitted electric bike and on one of Michael's older bikes. I noticed a noise on the bike when it was under load and the following day, Michael discovered that one of the bearing supports that holds a sealed bearing was machined too large and caused the bearing to rattle around. An easy fix and the company has thankfully been very responsive in dealing with the problem.
With his extensive and talented resource pool of Marin County bicycle enthusiast he is putting together what promises to be very sturdy bicycles.
Friday, September 4, 2009
The bikes go to surgery
Posted by The Green Riders at 2:56 PM
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The past twelve months were amazing. I'd like to say that 2016 was one of the best years in my life. There were lot of life changed, which I've never imagined before, and of course lessons learned. Like the one that I made 3 years ago, I'd like to post this year's highlights. However, this year's post won't be the same as the previous one. I'd only share the highlights of the year, not each month's highlights. So, here we go!
January: Turning Point
I started this year by crying out loud overnight at Pondok Indah Mosque. Never in a million years I would have such an idea to celebrate New Year by doing i'tikaf at some mosque. The truth is, the idea was only a joke between me and my best friend, Fifi. Both of us were totally not that kind of religious persons, but the idea came just because we wanted to try something new and different, and of course in the right time: New Year's Eve.
What we really did at the mosque during i'tikaf were chatting, laughing, reading Qur'an for awhile, taking some wefies, and then giving a shot of laughter to whatever we saw in our smartphone screen. But then, when it came to Night Prayer or Tahajjud, I felt something so warm, touching, sad, all those feelings mixed up in my heart until my tears burst. Suddenly, all the sins I did in the past and those people who I hurt were recalling in my head and I needed God's mercy. So I beg for His forgiveness and pray for the best in the upcoming years.
After i'tikaf, I felt somehow extremely happy and relieved. I even forgot about my brokenhearted story I had in two-or-three months earlier. Three weeks later, I made a big decision to covering up my body and wearing hijab all of my life. It was a big, once again A BIG decision I've ever made in my life. Honestly, the idea never crossed my mind because I thought I don't deserve to wearing hijab while I don't act like a Muslim, at least act like a good girl. But then I have this willing to make a change, to be a better person, and hopefully I could act like the real Muslim properly.
February: Rendezvous
I met my husband on February. When I met him for the first time, I didn't have any feelings that the man who sat in front of me would be my husband for life. To having a relationship with this nerdy guy was never happened in my head.
But God had another plan. God planted a package of love in his mind and heart and made him goes lovestruck every time he sees me. LOL! Anyway, I've posted the story about how we met from the very beginning. Please take a look at this post to read the whole story.
March: The Proposal
It only took a month from the very first hello on WhatsApp to our commitment to getting married. I guess it's the instant gift from God for making such a big decision on January.
He asked me when we had a dinner—it wasn't a fancy one tho— right after we had finished our plate of ribs. He arranged three items on the table; an empty glass of mine, soy sauce, and salt saucer; as examples to explain the journey to the wedding day. Then we called it 'Glass, Soy Sauce, and Salt Phase', wished we could pass all the phases well, made a Salt Timeplan, and told our parents about the big plan.
May: Engagement Day
Glass phase had been passed so well, so we moved to the next phase: Soy Sauce. The event was held in my house. I was a bit nervous when I walked down the staircases, looked back at all people down there who starring at me, and gave a reception speech in front of about a sixty people. Read more here.
July: Europe Trip
The first nine days of July was unforgettable. I had a chance to visit 5 countries in Europe, they are: United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, and Belgium. It was my last family trip as a single and I enjoyed every seconds of it.
As usual, we hired a travel agent to guide us. The tour guide, named Alex, was very friendly, informative, and helpful. London was the first city we visited. Castles are the most visited point of attraction, then like the most tourist, we made a stop at Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, and London Bridge. We also visited Stamford Bridge, the home ground of Chelsea FC. Unfortunately, Bimo wasn't there, knowing that he's a big fan of Chelsea.
Next destination was Zurich, Switzerland. I'd just knew that they have the best fish and chip! Anyway, the highlight of the journey at Zurich wasn't that. We went uphill to Mount Titlis by taking cable car. All I could see just a wide spread of white snow on a mountain and it was freaking freezing. Then we went to Lucerne, a city in central Switzerland.
In the next morning, we moved to Paris, France. Unfortunately, there was a football event held in Paris, so we couldn't make it to garden area at Eiffel Tower. The snapshots we took were from the very very low angle right below the tower. Unlucky us. The moms were very happy while the bus we rode was heading to Galeries Lafayette and Marne-la-Vallée. The highlight of Paris trip was my short reunion with my long-time-no-see friends; Lia & Tesya.
The fourth city we visited was Brussels, Belgium. It was a short city-haul to Grand Place, Manneken Pis, and Atomium. Then we had to move to Amsterdam, our last destination of the trip. I fell in love in the first sight with Amsterdam city. Bicycles is everywhere. All people rode bicycles, no matter how stylish they are, how many the luggage they carry. Last but not least, we went to see Volendam city for couple hours, just to take some pictures on Netherlands traditional costumes.
Strolling around Europe on July was one of the best trips ever in my life.
September: The Wedding Day
The big day!
I will never forget 24th of September 2016, the first day of being someone's wife, having a lifetime partner . The day that changed my single status to married. Alhamdulillah everything went pretty well. I've made a post about my wedding day here, in case you're wondering how my nervous face look like.
December: Europe Trip Vol. 2
Thank God, I had another chance to come back to Europe. It was 8 days trip to 6 countries: Netherlands, Italy, Vatican, France, Monaco, and Spain. The weather was super freakin' cold since it was winter, but unfortunately the snow hadn't fallen down yet (somehow I'm grateful that it hadn't snowed yet). Actually, I'm not in the mood to tell you the whole story of my second Europe trip. Maybe in another post.
That's all. Thank you 2016. And I'm ready to welcome 2017. I hope 2017 will be filled with more love, healthiness, happiness, and of course lucky. Aamiin.


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"Another trip to the beach house? Do these people ever stay home?"
Ahem. Would you? We took long walks on the beach this trip.
And we had lots of movie watching and playing with cousins. (My brother-in-law also had his parents here from England -- on a side note you would not believe how much free stuff these guys get with their accents, or maybe their personalities! When we were at the caramel apple shop, someone in front of Maralyn paid for her lot of apples, then turned to her and said, "Enjoy your visit!")
We also went to the aquarium this trip! Love this place! The older the kids get the more they enjoy it!
The tot lot has been our saving grace at the beach house. Anytime the kids are getting a little too house bound whether it be from indecisiveness or nap schedules (the adults, of course), the kids all go to the tot lot. I think this trip John and I had 9 children at the tot lot. We're pretty amazing.
And what, pray tell, would a beach trip in Monterey be, without fleece jackets? Cold weather cannot keep this brood from the beach. Oh, and don't you worry. If you've forgotten your fleece, your much older girl cousin will let you borrow her beautiful and warm, pink fleece. (Although pink remains Ethan's favorite color -- so the jokes on you, people).
Uncle Nate came along for the ride as well and provided the best entertainment! After a long walk on the beach, we stopped along fisherman's wharf -- the REAL one, where the fisherman sell their catch of the day -- and Nate purchased a few pounds of their cheapest fish. Then we walked to the other side of the pier and fed the seals!
I remember a very long time ago, when I was a little girl, my family went to this pier where they would sell fish in small paper bowls that you could feed to the seals. All over the place there were signs that said, "do not feed the pelicans." Well my little brother and I were throwing our fish to the seals, and low and behold a pelican swooped down and grabbed a fish along with Justin's hand! That pelican got fed! Whoops! Some environmental conservationists likely got rid of this practice, but today we put it back into play for just a few minutes. Thankfully we didn't have any greedy pelicans looming by. Oh, and Justin was just fine, turns out a pelican bite is not that serious. It scared him more than anything.
Recognize this place? You KNOW it's Dennis the Menace park! I can't say enough great things about this place!
Apparently the kids did pretty well too because they also got a trip to Ghiradelli!
While we're talking about great places to go eat in Monterey, I also highly recommend Gianni's Pizza. Great garlic breadsticks! Just make sure if you have a ginormous party, you go during off times. That place can get crowded!
This little one got to celebrate his birthday a little early with cousins! This boy won't ever argue with a piece of chocolate cake!