text:
Single mothers enjoy the gift of love on Mother's Day
Eliza Hill
According Ginny Hunneke, Mother's day can be celebrated in different ways every day. Photo by Eliza Hill.
The courage and endurance of lone mothers deserves appreciation year-round and not just by way of gifts and brunches, according to single mother Ginny Hunneke.
"I'd much rather receive something out of the blue that's prompted by someone's genuine feelings and experience that's not on a prescribed day," Hunneke said.
She said raising children alone requires mothers to selflessly persevere through a unique set of obstacles. Hunneke said quandaries of a single mother have no certain answers because every child has different needs, forcing single moms to make a variety of decisions alone.
"There aren't a lot of books and who has time to read them when you're single parenting? When you're parenting with a partner, you have someone to bounce ideas off of and process things with. You've got someone who's going to give you feedback whether you want it or not," Hunneke said. "I was on the gerbil wheel in my mind, hearing what I think I'm supposed to be doing and not necessarily ever certain if it's the right thing or not."
Meredith Dillard, 49, said her daughter's father insisted they'd be better off without him and left Dillard to raise their daughter alone.
"When you're a single mom, you're scared all the time because if you don't do it all right, you're going to mess up your kid. You're the only one responsible to make sure your kid's not a screw-up. That's the tout I was carrying," Dillard said.
Pam Rivers, mother of four, said her journey of single motherhood began when she gave birth to her son with disabilities and her ex-husband left the picture. She said she feels proud of her family for overcoming odds.
"We survived," Rivers said. "We're good and that child has persevered and moved on and goes to school, we're good."
Single motherhood has humbled her, requiring her to support her family on a single income and sacrifice her time in order to make crucial decisions concerning her children.
"I'm proud to say I made it. I'm 56, I've got four kids," Rivers said. "I always tell everybody, once I became a mother, I had no pride. That pride was put aside to make sure my kids had everything they needed. If that meant going uptown and standing in line to get assistance to make sure my kids got everything they needed, that's what I did."
Despite the hurdles she overcame, Dillard said motherhood inspired heightened self-awareness as she realized her decisions and actions would greatly affect her daughter. Paying bills, providing food and covering other basic necessities are essential to children's development and she considered her daughter in every decision she made. She said the bond and dependency between herself and her daughter changed her perspective and helped her progress personally.
"Tori made me grow up. She made me realize there was something more important than myself," Dillard said.
Dillard said society hasn't historically commended the hard work of single mothers and used to consider divorce taboo. She said her peers were far less judgmental than her elders because prior generations saw single mothers as promiscuous or low-class.
"This was back in 1993 or 1994 and it wasn't popular to be a single mom. Society in general looked down upon it, because what kind of women would go out and get pregnant? Most single moms prior to me were divorced or their husbands died," Dillard said. "My mother and extended family kept it a secret and said that my husband died and that's why I wasn't married."
Dillard said she made the best of her situation instead of dwelling in shame because single parenting helped her realize the specialness of motherhood. She said her family celebrates Mother's Day by spending quality time together without buying gifts to show love.
"It's very commercialized and it's more obligatory to where you have to do something. Is that a bad thing? I don't know. Some people need a swift kick in the ass to do something for their parents," Dillard said. "There's no fixing it now, it's part of our culture."
Musician and single father Keith Harry said his relationship with his daughter's mother remains healthy and civil, but they choose not to celebrate Mother's Day.
"One day a year? I don't want to say it's insulting, but it's kind of insulting. Why pick that one day? Why don't you call your mom or see something nice in the store and get it for her? Why not get it for her today instead of wait for Mother's Day? It's silly," Harry said. "It shouldn't be an excuse not to do it year round."
Rivers said she considers gifts incomparable to her children helping her cook, making her smile, washing the dishes or spending time with her.
"It's nice that they have a day, but I'd love it if my kids did more every day," Rivers said. "I think we should be shown all the time, there should be an effort at all times."
Hunneke said the extravagant, marketable nature of Mother's Day reflects a society of consumerism, diminishing the beauty of genuine experiences.
"The idea of having to make everything special and a superlative, everything having to be the best," Hunneke said. "You see kid's birthday parties. Once upon a time, you had kids over, you had cake, you had candles, you had balloons and the kids played. Now it's like Chuck E. Cheese and a bouncy park in my backyard. It's not enough to have a cake, enjoy the day and be together."
She said she encourages her son to refrain from buying her Mother's Day gifts or spend his money to show his appreciation
"There's no price tag attached to love," Hunneke said.
Single Mother
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AGATE - a form of Chalcedony found in all varieties of colors.
AMAZONITE - a Feldspar mineral with a mottled green appearance. A green stone that can go from pale seafoam in color to dark teal.
AMBER - fossilized tree resin dating back 20 to 40 million years ago. Its color varies from golden yellow to orange and red.
AMETHYST - a quartz with manganese creating different shades of purple (from pale violet to a deep, intense purple) according to the iron presence during formation.
AVENTURINE – from the quartz family. Green Jade-like color and opaque. Quartzite composed of interlocking quartz particles and mica crystals. Used in ancientChina for the seal of the emperor.
BLUE LACE AGATE - light blue with soft white banding. Another form of chalcedony (quartz) gemstone known for its hardness and unusual appearance.
BLUE TOPAZ - transparent semi-precious gemstone ranging in color from pale baby blue to a brilliant deeplight blue color.
BOTSWANA AGATE - multi-colored with many bands and patterns. Each bead can be different ranging from a solid dark color to an almost translucent pale color to ones with many bands. See Agate.
CARNELIAN - an agate which is from the chalcedony family of minerals. Uniform deep translucent orange/red. The color comes from iron.
CITRINE - a from of quartz found in a vibrant yellow color ranging from yellow to golden yellow. It is a form of amethyst that has turned this color by being heated (which can happen naturally as well as being influenced by man).
FANCY JASPER - a multi colored jasper ranging in color from pale grey, to shades of lavender, mauves, greens, and browns.
FLUORITE - comes in almost every color. Purple, green, colorless, white, yellow, pink, red, blue and black. Transparent to translucent.
FRESH WATER PEARLS - are farmed in fresh water and grown in mussels. They are usually light in color and can be died to almost any permanent color.
GARNET - blood red, solid incolor. The name is derived from the Latin word granatum (pomegranate) alluding to the garnets color and seed-like crystal formation.
HEMATITE - Iron rich dark steel gray with metallic sheen. Crystallizes in tubular and rhombohedral masses columnar or granular shapes. It's trade names are black diamond, black pearl, and Alaskan black diamond. In Tahiti, some people try to pass it off as Black Pearls.
HOWLITE - Milky white, usually with a grey matrix. Found crystallized in white nodules and compact masses.
JADE - Green opaque and semi-opaque primarily, although, it comes in many other colors; red, brown, and blue. Formed in large masses, Nephrite jade comprises actinolite contributing to color which varies from olive grey, green-grey, spinach green, misty green, apple green, light green.
JASPER - Jasper is an opaque and fine grained variety of Chalcedony. It is found in many colors including: red, brown, pink, yellow, green, grey/white and shades of blue.
LABRADORITE - a form of feldspar. Labradorite is a very interesting mineral. Depending on the angle from which the specimen is viewed, it can appear to be a nondescript gray-green rock or it can display a grand range of colors(usually blue or green) known as labradorescence or schiller that flashes out at you at different angles as you turn it. This phenomenon can be seen in specimens which are uncut, but it is fantastically clear in cut and polished specimens.
LAPIS LAZULI - is a combination of minerals principally lazulite giving the deep blue color and a minimally calcite white color with inclusions of pyrite sometimes seen as flecks - brass yellow in color. It was prized by ancient Egyptians for use in jewelry, but also powdered for use in cosmetics, medicines, and ritualistic ceremonies.
LEOPARD SKIN JASPER - Leopard Skin Jasper is a strikingly beautiful member of the Quartz family. It is usually a tan stone covered with colored dots, like the skin of a leopard. Colors can include from tan, pink, red, grey and black.
with iridescent blue or white sheen.
MOSS AGATE - this stone gets its name from the green patches of color which resemble moss growing on a rock. Various shades of gray with streaks and flecks of dark green to black. Transparent to opaque has varying shades of green, brown, yellow and white.
MOTHER OF PEARL - in its natural state is usually a beautiful shimmery tan and often called Caramel Mother-of-Pearl. When Mother-of-Pearl is bleached, it turns a snowy, shimmery white. Mother-of-Pearl is also sometimes black. May be referred to as "Oyster Shell".
ONYX - a member of the chalcedony family which also includes carnelian, agate, bloodstone, etc. Occurring naturally in a variety of colors, black onyx is polished to enhance appearance, a member of the quartz family.
PERIDOT - is Silicate of Magnesium and Iron. Peridot is the gem form of the mineral olivine. Because the iron which creates the color is an integral part of its structure, it is found only in green, ranging from a summery light yellowish green to a 7-up bottle green.
PICASSO JASPER - was formed when magna covered limestone fields during prehistoric times. The pattern of color is from magma being forced through heat and pressure fractures in the limestone, painting the material with gray and tan colors streaked with black lines. This colorization appeared to be like a Picasso painting, hence the name.
QUARTZ CRYSTAL - is colorless and transparent. It is also known as "Rock Crystal". Other colors of quartz have special names such as: Rose Quartz, Citrine, and Amethyst. Brown quartz is often referred to as Smokey Quartz. Smokey Quartz is often irradiated clear quartz.
RHODOCHROSITE - the pink color of rhodochrosite is caused by the element manganese and it is formed when manganese is dissolved by ground water and combines with a carbonate material and then drips off the ceiling of caves and crevices deep underground. It is pink with white.
black manganese minerals which form attractive patterns in the piece.
RHYOLITE - consists mainly of feldspars and quartz. It includes a wide range of colors that form intricate patterns. These all have a green matrix.
RIVER JASPER - see Jasper. Off-white in color.
ROSE QUARTZ - Named for its pink color (from titanium), it's often crackled. It is translucent and can range in color from pale peach to pink.
SILVER LEAF JASPER - is a silvery semi-precious gemstone composed of Silicon Dioxide, reminiscent of silvery leaves in a forest, usually with very interesting patterns. The terms jasper, onyx, agate and chalcedony are largely interchangeable, however agates are usually more translucent and characteristically, have banding or patterns of some sort. Jaspers tend to be more colorful, more opaque and massive, lacking patterns.
SNOWFLAKE OBSIDIAN - Obsidian is natural glass formed by volcanic lava that cooled too quickly. It is usually black. When there are bubbles or crystal inclusions, it is often called snowflake obsidian. It is black with white markings.
SODALITE - is an opaque, navy blue stone usually with white streaks. Sodalite is named in reference to its sodium content.
TIGER EYE - is a variety of quartz. It is an opaque stone, with a silky sheen and natural iridescence, which gives the illusion of an eye; hence the name. The color usually consists of golden, brown and black shimmering bands, but examples are also found in a reddish brown color.
TURQUIOSE - an Opaque stone, which, as its name suggests is turquoise in color. This turquoise color can range from green to blue. The presence of copper gives turquoise a sky blue color with a dark matrix usually black veining due to inclusions. It also sometimes has inclusions of white Marble and Pyrites, much as Lapis Lazuli.
being quartz and feldspar, as well as greenish epidote, where the olive green color is mixed up with salmon pink sections.
YELLOW AVENTURINE - Yellow opaque and semi-opaque. Most jade is green primarily although it comes in many other colors; red, brown and blue.
YELLOW JADE - yellow translucent color. See Jade.
YELLOW TURQUISE - turquoise that has colors from yellow and green to brown. See Turquoise.
ZEBRA JASPER - a deep olive green stone with white banding. See Jasper.


Crafted from sumptuously fluffy mohair yarn, our new oversized longline cardigan is a delight to wear.
Useful patch pockets complete this simple style, available in four colours.
Mohair The fleece of the South African Angora goat is an incredible insulator.
It provides ultimate warmth without weight and responds to dyes beautifully, creating a collection of knitwear and accessories you will fall in love with.
Chest 102cm - 40" 110cm - 43.3" 118cm - 46.4" 126cm - 49.6" 134cm - 52.7"
Length 72cm - 28.3" 74cm - 29.1" 74cm - 29.1" 74cm - 29.1" 74cm - 29.1"
Under Arm 41cm - 16.1" 42cm - 16.5" 42cm - 16.5" 42cm - 16.5" 42cm - 16.5"


I want this game to have awesome gameplay physics.
I know this is a minor thing, maybe major depending on how much you value being able to control your character to the best of your limits, but anyways don't you love that freedom to be able to maneuver your character to your likes?
1. You can do the shock spring jump and do the feathery flap or beak buster. Or you can just do the spring jump outside the boundaries instead of being stationary.
2. You can do a forward roll then jump so you have the ability to cancel it and not be locked into the entire animation.
3. When you're doing the talon trot and enter a room that talon trot is saved to the next room so you don't have to re-enable it.
Albeit minor, this freedom of use for various moves is nice. Many of these don't break the gameplay in any way and can be a nice convenience for speedrunning stuff (have you seen those Banjo Kazooie TASs?). I really hope this game brings back that freedom like being able to use a giant fart bubble after doing a sick roll into a wall thus bouncing off and jumping on a small platform to crouch then falling off because of all that sliding friction thus putting you in mid air where you can do a giant fart bubble on some baddie. That's the kind of freedom I want in a game like this. Also please don't bring back the scratch attack.
Re: I want this game to have awesome gameplay physics.
That's what Toybox is for. Get a first-hand feel for the gameplay and report any problems to Playtonic so they can tweak it to perfection.
Banjo-Tooie had much more freedom of movement - it was all a lot smoother and freer. You could control moves in a larger variety of ways.
Jellyfunk wrote: That's what Toybox is for. Get a first-hand feel for the gameplay and report any problems to Playtonic so they can tweak it to perfection.
TSE1130 wrote: What is a Toybox?
The Toybox is the "Demo" of the Game, wich was an tier of the Kickstarter.
"Our Toybox experiences are designed to deliver hands on time with Yooka and Laylee before the game comes out. You can be the first to take our heroic duo for a spin (literally, if you press X) but we promise this self-contained plaything won't spoil the full game: It's built from in-game assets arranged specifically for this experience. There won't be any objectives to beat, just a controllable duo, nice music and a few surprises too.
The Enhanced Toybox will include a special environment, advanced props and special moves right away."
I agree with OP, which is funny, b.c. I was about to tear into him on the erroneous assumption (based on the thread's title) that he wanted a realistic physics engine, or would perhaps be wowed by "rag doll physics". Good games are almost always ruined by "realistic" attempts at physics simulations. Corpses get kicked down hallways by nudging into them, cars bounce weightlessly to the moon on impact--time after time, "realistic" physics only encourages disbelief, counter to the presumed intent of its inclusion in the first place.
Back in the Gamecube days I was really impressed with the physics in Super Mario Sunshine were. My favorite thing to do was literally kick the durian fruit all around Delphino Plaza! XD The physics doesn't have to be the best, most innovative and realistic movements possible, but simple things like that would be a nice touch.
In YL, you could stumble on some kind of ball, and you could kick it around for fun. Then maybe once you've expanded the world you find there's actually a goal for you to kick the ball to and you get a Pagie for it.


Our heritage in Central and West Africa dates back to 1957 when Nestlé began trading and distributing its products in Ghana. Today, Nestlé owns and operates nine factories that cater to the region and provides direct employment to more than 5,200 people. We also provide indirect employment to over hundred thousand people.
The Nestlé Central and West Africa entity, which was formed in 2005, oversees our operations in 25 countries in the region from Mauritania to Central African Republic. Our headquarters is based in Accra, Ghana.
With total investments of CHF 183 million in the Central and West Africa Region over the past three years, we continue to grow our business, develop our people and cater to the needs of our consumers.
help people care for themselves and their families.
In Central and West Africa, we strive to help address the specific nutritional needs of the population by offering tastier and healthier foods & beverages; and by promoting balanced diets and healthy lifestyles. Nestlé's portfolio in Central and West Africa includes a variety of brands in a number of food and beverage categories including: dairy, culinary, coffee, beverages, infant nutrition, bottled water and confectionery. Maggi, Milo, Cerelac, Golden Morn, Nescafé, Nido and Pure Life are just some of our most popular brands in the region.


text:
Monforts at Techtextil India
Mag-53press release
Monforts Textilmaschinen GmbH & Co. KG will be providing information on its extensive range of coating and finishing technologies for the production of nonwovens and technical textiles at the forthcoming Techtextil India exhibition.
"India is already a very important market for Monforts and there are exciting prospects ahead for Indian manufacturers of technical textiles, who are well positioned to capitalise on growth opportunities," says Monforts Head of Denim Hans Wroblowski, who will be at the Monforts stand in Hall 4, booth C52 at the show. "India has one of the largest working-age populations in the world and a complete textile value chain for both natural and synthetic fibres."
In addition, he adds, India's government, through its Ministry of Textiles, has been actively promoting the growth of technical textiles through various programmes based on investment promotion, subsidies, the creation of infrastructure and the stimulation of consumption.
As a result, India's Ministry of Textiles is forecasting that the growth of technical textiles in the country will be over 18% annually in the next few years, from a value of US$16.6 billion in 2018 to US$28.7 billion in 2021.
Value addition
High value-added technical products such as wide-width digital printing substrates, carbon fabrics for high-performance composites, filter media, flame retardant barrier fabrics and heavy-duty membranes are now being coated on Monforts texCoat ranges and finished with the company's industry-leading Montex stenters.
"Since we acquired the technology that our coating units are based on in 2015, we have made a lot of refinements," says Hans. "All of these developments are reflected in higher coating accuracy and the resulting quality of the treated fabrics. At the same time, our latest multi-functional coating heads offer an unprecedented range of options, with a wide range of modules available."
The texCoat user interface is now equipped with the unique Monforts visualisation system and the magnetic doctor blade has greater power reserves. Options include a carbon fibre-reinforced composite coating drum with a more scratch-resistant surface and maximum rigidity and remote control which simplifies exact adjustment for the operator.
Montex stenters in special executions are meanwhile ideal for the drying and finishing of both technical woven fabrics and nonwovens and characterised by high stretching devices in both length and width.
"The European-built Montex range of stenters has earned its leading position in the technical textiles market due to the overall robustness, reliability and economy of these machines," Hans concludes. "Whatever the intended end-product – and we continue to discover potentially new areas in which technical textiles can be utilised all the time – we have the machine specification and know-how to turn ideas into reality. In India we also benefit from the strong sales and service support of A.T.E. Enterprises."
Texchtextil India takes place alongside World of Composites at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai from November 20-22.
A recent Monforts texCoat installation.
Hans Wroblowski
A high-performance spacer fabric finished by Monforts.
Adding value to nonwoven fabrics through advanced Monforts coating.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The hills came back, they wrapped around her like an old friend, like a mother's arms and she was safe, more than that, she was free.
Iris folded herself into her coat, it was a heavy, twisted wool with a knitted corsage on the left lapel, chocolate brown and as warm as it looked. It would be alright, she insisted to herself.
The platform was cruel. It hollered, ripping bits off people, tearing steel and diesel smashed through air, but she didn't mind. To be fair, she thought, nothing can get through to me now, nothing can scrape or stab me and she let the trains do their worst. Her hair was thrown upwards like a beacon, her coat billowed out behind, filling her form until she swelled, bigger than her shape, her smallness hidden from the world and then she stepped.
Iris climbed onto the 10:17 to Wolverhampton.
Familiar towns whipped and passed. She watched reflections of people staring into laptops, intent on their day as she gripped the seat beneath her, scrubbed the nap backwards and forwards in her small hand. Yes, she was still there.
And changing for another train she felt the air she needed getting nearer and on and up through cities she used to know, places they'd visited when cars were hired and journeys made. Now it was a screech of a platform and cold strangers looking in beyond her, searching out seats by her side.
Tiredness pulled her down through another change of station and she wondered about her sanity, whether she'd really left home at all and if she had, what would she do when she got there?
She dozed. The weight of the hours closed her eyelids and the rocking of the carriage carried her away. She saw mountains and pine trees, how they framed themselves in one moment. The stream was drawn down through the image like a child's artwork and it jumbled and glinted over rocks. She was there in the old train. Their train, warmed and wrapped from the Alps, stuffed full of chocolate and memories. The bowl of baked cream, the wicker chickens and the sky. How clear it had been, how far away but its light lit their rooms and their beginnings.
The train shook her awake into the sunlight dropping shadows, streaming out across the land. Iris blinked herself back into the afternoon, ordered a black coffee because she could and sat, mug hugging as she closed in nearer to her old town.
And morning came. Morning, after her tired trudge to the B and B, daylight after the restlessness of lumpen foam, of unfamiliar sounds and scented sheets. But morning came as it did back then, when they slept in spontaneous rooms, when owners smiled and gave them a key to the room on the left of the landing and they were there. It wasn't just the mountain air that filled her lungs, that sparkled her eyes, it was the touch of herself, it was the sound of her laughter and in narrow streets with no plans, they ran.
Iris walked up alleyways, she walked taller than she was, like a bride to an unseen alter, she traced her steps. And there in the light rolling up the mountains, there in the air that she recalled, she found the pub. She pushed the heavy door and turned left by the coat stand and there she was.
There, on an unplanned adventure with few clothes to their names, there, just north of his mother's home where they'd travelled to because they could, they laughed and they sneaked out. They left the pub without paying, just once – only once because the staff were unresponsive and they, themselves were young. They were away together for one of the first times and they could run.
He took her hand and they walked straight through Iris standing at the door and how they ran, laughing like children down the cobbled lane until they stopped just beyond her sight, bent double and caught their breath.
Iris left the pub, she followed their trail and held them again in the distance. The girl looked back, saw Iris and stopped. She stood there in the crisp clarity of the mountains, she stretched up tall and wide and flung her arms to the sky. There, in a place Iris remembered, there, with him by her side. The girl squealed out, head back eyes tearing, lungs full and she was free. He photographed her and Dear God, she was so free.
Iris ran, she charged towards the girl and the girl knew. She opened wide her arms and called her home.
'It's alright,' she whispered as Iris sobbed on her shoulder. The girl took her hand and showed her and there in the mountains with the light falling on her greying hair, Iris reached up. She threw her arms up to the clouds and called out his name.
She pulled the air around her, the sense of him, their purpose and how she'd grown. Iris in the mountains, arms wide in celebration of her form. It was yesterday, it was always there. And it was now and freedom was her name.
This entry was posted in Act of Memory, Certainty, Consciousness, Dance, Enchantment, Fairy Tale, Feminist theory, Kingdom, Landscape, Mind, Searching, Time, Wedding and tagged Adventure, Autumn, B and B, Beginnings, belong, blues, bridges, Clouds, Food, freedom, gift, journeys, keswick, lakes, Motherhood, mountains, platform, relationships, release, search, spirit, sun, travel, Waiting, wine, wings.


This year, I did not do my Daily Gratitude post-a-day challenge in November.
Have you ever heard of scleromyositis? Systemic scleroderma? Polymyositis? Neither had I… but October and November were largely given over to familiarizing myself with Latin and Greek words that characterized these random autoimmune disorders. I suggest you don't get on the internet and look up either one, or their adjacent symptoms; it's just not helpful. It's honestly never helpful to go straight to WebMD after talking to your doctor, but it's least helpful when you have an autoimmune disorder, and everything you hear or see is a variation on this disorder is related to both fibromyalgia, Raynaud's and arthritis, and Your Mileage May Vary. At baseline, you can characterize it as the chronic inflammation of the nerves, muscles and joints, but it's much less straightforward. There is just so little unambiguous information on our bodies attacking ourselves. It's hard to figure out what you're feeling, how you should react, what you should fear, and what you should do next.
I didn't lack gratitude this autumn — I don't lack gratitude — but I was lost in my head, trying to remain normal, participate in normal industry activities within the Kidlitosphere, finish this novel, keep normal on the front burner while my head was filled with gray mist and buzzing. After a September move, and finally settling into a little jewel box of a house, I should have been grateful. After the horror of the fires, I should have been grateful that we have had a lovely autumn, with one last splash of unseasonably warm days in October followed by glorious rain, and more rain, with a few clear blue days interspersed in between. Autumn has had a drinkable quality this year, as our lungs praised the air quality and took in deep draughts of petrichor, crisp, leaf-mould, wet ground, faint woodsmoke, and glowing moonrise. I got a new bike! I randomly lost another seven pounds! There has been much that is lovely and fine, including the gift of teenagers trick-or-treating who ensured that we did not have a year's worth of old candy in a jar to keep eating. Even amidst the grinding exhaustion and pain, even with the weird lesions that showed up on my fae, there has been so much grace, so much relief, so much change – but I missed a lot of it, locked in to the paralysis of What? How? Why?
I've started on an immunosuppressant drug this week which means a lot of hand-washing – and a lot of hand-wringing about having twelve people for Thanksgiving and five choral performances and loads of rehearsals between now and December 16 – but the plans were made before the treatment was decided, and there's no turning back now. I'm being as careful as I can, whilst balancing and juggling all else that is on my plate — being a good partner and friend and daughter and writer. We'll see how it all goes.
"Suddenly there was a great burst of light through the Darkness. The light spread out and where it touched the Darkness the Darkness disappeared. The light spread until the patch of Dark Thing had vanished, and there was only a gentle shining, and through the shining came the stars, clear and pure.
It's not a direct quote from the book, but the movie synthesizes it beautifully: The only way to defeat the darkness is to BECOME THE LIGHT.
Autumn, incoming. Been foggy and chilly in the mornings for most of August, and this morning I opened the first jar of applesauce we canned two weeks ago. Today's chill and fog, in honor of the battering poor Hawaii is taking, is hardly noticeable, and yet: September. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, the breezes smell of apple peels, etc. September is always the beginning of the year, after sooooo many years of school and teaching. So, happy new year, friends. It's time to start over, and make new resolutions.
I might hate it. As usual. The thing is this: I keep trying to write to the well of deeper ideas that I have within me, the well which doesn't come with a winch and a bucket but just… a cover? A nice little decorative bench seat around it? Some wild flowers? No way to get the water out, in other words. This inarticulateness really bugs me, but the cure for being unable to speak is to keep talking, and talk… louder. And, so I continue.
To that end, I've also listened – equally, doubly important. This morning I listened to a round-table discussion on Writing The Other with three writers of color, discussing the importance of practice, of failing, and of not holding minority communities responsible for your wanting to tell their stories. This is important to me – still and always – as a person of color, because my current Kinda Finished Work features a person who is part of the albinism community, and a Latino character. I don't feel like I necessarily need an empathy-check on writing these characters as human beings, but it's been empirically shown this year that people of color can still mess up – COLOSSALLY FAIL, even – if they don't check in with the people whose voices they're borrowing, so to speak. And so, the plan is to check in… once I get past this mushy, "I think I hate this" spot. Eventually.
Part of my intentional resolutions for this new year is participation – I'd like to go to another writing conference, somewhere, and listen and talk about ideas and writing. Last week, I let out into the light of …social media, if not "day," the idea I've had and written and rewritten for a science fiction novel. I've kind of been discouraged by my agent about speculative fiction — on his website, Secret Agent Man flatly states he doesn't read it and has let me know that the editor with whom I work at Knopf has no experience in it, either. Since "Contemporary YA sells" (Thanks, John Green), the interest in it from my people has been less than faint, and so I'm kind of at sea… but on the other hand, thinking positively, I now have the opportunity to work with new people. I may even use a different configuration of my name, just to keep things straight. I'm determined, especially after listening to people writing under the hashtag #YAWithSoul, that there really does need to be more representation of marginalized groups in science fiction and fantasy. I've been fiddling with this novel FOR YEARS and — I've decided it's going to be the next one I work on. I'm hoping it feels riskier than it is.
Finally, there's a potential move on the horizon – another international relocation. I tend to lose my ability to write in the panic of packing and unpacking. This time, I'm a.) going for less panic ("Well… good luck with that," Anxiety says, examining her nails), and also intentionally going to carve out some time for my brain — and at least write some poetry or SOMETHING to start processing things sooner. More information on that as it happens.
So, those are my new writing thoughts for the new year. What are new year thoughts?
is that a spider? Huh.
& "A QUIET GIRL SPEAKS"!
Winners, once again using the contact form (Don't leave personal information in the comments, of course) send your mailing address and you'll receive a signed copy of PEAS AND CARROTS and some other tiny goodies.
Thanks to everyone who played along, and thank you again for being part of a great book birthday. I hope you keep writing the stories of your families, and of your lives.
Dess knows that nothing good lasts. Disappointment is never far away, and that's a truth that Dess has learned to live with.
Dess's mother's most recent arrest is just the latest in a long line of disappointments, but this one lands her with her baby brother's foster family. Dess doesn't exactly fit in with the Carters. They're so happy, so comfortable, so normal, and Hope, their teenage daughter, is so hopelessly naïve. Dess and Hope couldn't be more unlike each other, but Austin loves them both like sisters. Over time their differences, insurmountable at first, fall away to reveal two girls who want the same thing: to belong.
Tanita S. Davis, a Coretta Scott King Honor winner, weaves a tale of two modern teenagers defying stereotypes and deciding for themselves what it means to be a family.
In honor of PEAS AND CARROTS' book birthday February 9th, I'm out and about in the blogosphere, talking about hiding (@B&N's OPEN MIC Project – do check out the other pieces), writing about divine (every) bodies (@STACKED BOOKS, and thanks to Kelly for inviting me), and tomorrow I'll be at John Scalzi's blog, sharing the BIG IDEA – or one of them – behind the book. At some point, I'll also show up in The Horn Book blog. I have two copies of PEAS AND CARROTS left to share, and I thought I'd give someone a chance to win one… by sharing a six word family story.
Hemingway's famous six-word tale, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn," inspired the "six word story" meme, and has served as a writing prompt for decades, challenging writers' ability to create an entire narrative arc in just six words. Having a topic may – or may not – make it easier… give it a shot and see!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Create an original six word story – funny, poignant, etc – describing your family, whether chosen family, foster family, or the one you were born with. Submit this story, between NOW and midnight February 9th (PST) via the site's contact form, with the words "Six Word Story" in the subject line. I'll be sharing some of these as I receive them, and will throw the very best of them in a hat and select two. Winners to be announced February 10th, and personal details, mailing information, etc., will be requested then.
Good luck! Remember you have between now and midnight (PST) December 9th.
I'm told the candy does NOT, in fact, taste like peas or carrots. Bummer.
February is not just when the groundhog emerges (albeit with a LOT of help from people pulling it) from its hole to find its shadow – it's apparently the month when introverts Make An Effort (also with a LOT of help from people… pulling). I'll be booktalking, and being visible this February here and there – first, I'm presenting a webinar February 2nd for The National WWII Museum on Mare's War as part of their WWII emphasis this year. Teachers and families who do homeschooling, you'll want to jump on this! The week following, I'll be on the blog STACKED and then the tumblr Size Acceptance in YA; at BN Teen Blog's Open Mic project sometime next month, and on John Scalzi's WHATEVER blog's Big Idea project on February 9th, which is the same day that PEAS AND CARROTS has its book birthday.
I'm grateful to everyone who asked me to show up and hang out next month, and given me the opportunity to talk about what I do and how I do it.
The antonyms of indifference, Merriam-Webster reminds us, are attentiveness, curiosity, warmheartedness and sensitivity. I agree, and Tabatha Yeats, a writer who blogs at The Opposite of Indifference has those qualities in spades. Dismayed at our after-Christmas distress, she sent along the perfect joyful little distractions… games!
Love Letters is kind of a narrative game of risk that seeks, in a most unloverlike fashion, to knock all the other lovers out of the game. It's kind of amusing when really cut-throat people play it; Tech Boy and I are still kind of fumbling their way through and the first round, anyway, were somewhat gentle with each other. (That didn't last.) But Red7 is …catnip for the competitive, a game in which one has to change the rules to win. On the surface, it's very simple… you're simply organizing suits, in a way. But, you're also playing seven games at a time. We were a little amused and a little relieved to see that there are Youtube tutorials – at least three – on how to play.
If the first ten days of January predict how the year will go, I'm going to be well amused (and also well drookit, as the Scots say. This rain is kind of amazing)! Thank-you, Tabatha, very much.
Have I shown you this cover yet?
This final cover is the result of a lengthy negotiation between my understanding of the book's characters, and the designers' understanding of the job before them. I've been asked not to share design "dud" rejected for the official cover – and really, it wasn't a dud, per se, it just wasn't right for this book – but the original concept introduced to me was a broad lawn on which two girls lay – separated by a lot of space. Unfortunately, they were separated from the reader as well – we looked down on them from far, far away, and to me, they looked tired, or hung over, or …something passive. This was brought back to me cropped in various ways, lightened, darkened — but it was variations on a theme, and for me, it didn't work no matter how we angled our gaze. For one thing, there was a glut of books a few years ago that looked like lawn-care manuals with all of that grass. For another, a quick check through internet images will net romantic YA novels like STEALING PARKER by Miranda Kennally and the paperback of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by that one guy — both with people lying on lawns. And there are more. MANY more. And while there's nothing inherently wrong a lawn, one of the characters in the novel is not a product of suburbia, and would probably never be found just lying down on nature — not public nature, anyway. You don't know where that's been. We take so much for granted, culturally, and we can be quite tone-deaf sometimes about projecting our perceptions. So, it was a "no" from me, over and over.
It is hard enough differentiating a book from the herd; it's easier when your book doesn't look like another book that just came out. Hopefully I didn't frustrate too many people as I quietly lobbied for a whole new design. And asked my agent to help me lobby for a new design – and we got one! And it just pops with that brilliant color.
The designs you see accompanying this book are MY design duds. Now, I don't always do as much public PR stuff as I *cough* should with regard to books (still vainly hoping that merely writing them is enough) but as soon as I knew I'd have a book out in February (a discovery brought home to me by the ARCs arriving two months ago – previously I understood there was an Autumn release date, not early-early Spring) I started checking into costs and considerations on creating swag for giveaways.
Aside: There is a wildly misunderstood notions by those outside the industry and some authors who are independently published or published through a small press, that only THEY have to worry with doing their own PR. Haha, no, I am published by one of the BIGGEST of the "Big Six" (which is now Big 5, since two morphed into one RandomPenguin) and this is still something I need to do, and it is my money that goes into it. (While we're on the topic, did you read that the Author's Guild reported most writers earn below the poverty line? Unless your name is Joanne and you wrote about wizards whilst living in Scotland, you're usually not rich. Thanks to Tech Boy, I worry a bit less about this, but…) It's a choice we all make, how much of our advance we plow back into PR stuff, how helpful and fun it is for readers, etc. Wise writers have advised it's a better use of time/funds than social media.
A rummage through Google brought a few helpful ideas to the fore, beginning with Sherri D. Ficklin's tips on price and practicality, on through the magical Joyce Wan, and into the wilds of Etsy, a dangerous place to go with your wallet. I found quite a bit of fodder for swag, but the most helpful thing has been the niecelet currently living here rent-free being a newly minted graphic designer with an MFA in Advertising and Art Direction from Academy of Art University. I advise EVERYONE to find one of these if they can, trés helpful. (Oh, don't look like that. I'm not using her, I'm a client. And, I'm going to pay her. Eventually.) We did a lot of brainstorming through the summer on what we could come up with, and… I said "No" to her a number of times, and felt increasingly embarrassed about it. However, as she reminded me repeatedly, at the end of the day, nobody is going to love my book project more than me, so I sat down and did some actual designing myself. Niecelet made it look like it wasn't done by chimpanzees using broken crayons on a laptop screen, and the upshot is that bags and magnets containing my design should be arriving next month.
When you get SCREEN CAPS from friends (broads?) to let you know a.) that they're talking about you online, b.) that they're talking about you online in a forum to which you have no access c.) that they're talking about you online in a forum to which you have no access and want to make sure that you know they can say whatever obnoxious thing about you that they want because you're not there to defend yourself, you know it's probably past time to join Twitter.
And so resumes the uneasy marriage: introvert and social media.


text:
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namespace App\Exception\Stripe\Event;

class Exception extends \Exception
{
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


In 2015 my friends asked me to create an illustration for their wedding invitations. They asked me to incorporate a list of things that were the biggest parts of their shared lives the 2 biggest being, their love of the outdoors and their puppy. It was a pleasure to work with them and they loved the print and ended up creating a poster to hang in their home.


text:
Williges (auch: Willigis oder Willegis) ist ein alter deutscher männlicher Vorname oder Familienname. Er leitet sich von den altniederdeutschen sowie althochdeutschen Begriffen willio und gisal für "Geisel" her.

Namensträger

Historische Zeit
 Willigis (auch Wilgis, Vulgisus, Wilgils, Hilgis, † um 700), Heiliger der Römisch-katholischen Kirche und Vater des heiligen Willibrord
 Willigis (940–1011), Erzbischof von Mainz; Heiliger der Römisch-katholischen Kirche

Vorname
 Willigis Jäger (1925–2020), deutscher Benediktinermönch, Zen-Meister und Mystiker

Familienname
 Frank Williges (* 1962), deutscher Politiker (CDU)
 Thorsten Williges (* 1969), ehemaliger deutscher Handballspieler

Germanischer Personenname
Familienname

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Bronchodilator reversibility in Australian adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Reid, DW and Soltani, A and Johns, DP and Bish, R and Williams, TJ and Burns, GP and Walters, EH, Bronchodilator reversibility in Australian adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Internal Medicine Journal, 33, (12) pp. 572-577. ISSN 1444-0903 (2003) [Refereed Article]
DOI: doi:10.1111/j.1445-5994.2003.00485.x
Background and aims: Bronchodilator reversibility (BDR) and inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) use were assessed for volunteers who responded to an advertisement requesting current or ex-smokers who were experiencing breathlessness to attend for lung function testing. Methods: One hundred and fifty-four volunteers responded. Forced expiratory volume (FEV1) was measured before and after 400 μg of salbutamol. Significant BDR was assessed according to guidelines of: (i) the American Thoracic Society (≥12% plus 200 mL of baseline FEV1 or forced vital capacity), (ii) the British Thoracic Society (BTS) (≥15% plus 200 mL of baseline FEV1), (iii) the European Thoracic Society (≥10% predicted FEV1), and (iv) the most commonly used criteria in Australia and New Zealand (≥15% of baseline FEV1). Results: One hundred and twenty-three subjects (33 female; 40 current smokers; median pack years 48 (range 5-144)) were suitable for analysis (i.e. had no history of asthma, demonstrable airflow limitation and a forced expiratory ratio (FER) of <70%). Twenty (16%) patients had an FEV 1 within the normal range but FER of <70%, 24 (20%) patients had mild disease (FEV1 60-80% predicted), 31 (24%) patients had moderate disease (FEV1 40-59% predicted), and 48 (39%) patients had severe disease (FEV1 <40% predicted), according to BTS criteria. Significant BDR was evident in: (i) 58 (47%) subjects by American criteria, (ii) 26 (21%) subjects by British criteria, (iii) 19 (15%) subjects by European criteria and (iv) 36 (29%) subjects by Australasian criteria. ICS use was reported by 71 (58%) subjects overall and was weakly, but significantly, related to poorer FEV1 (r = -0.2; P < 0.01), and greater BDR (r = 0.3; P < 0.005). Conclusion: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Australian volunteers with no history of asthma encompasses many individuals with significant BDR. Interestingly, most volunteers reported ICS use and this was related to poorer spirometry and greater BDR. However, until the underlying immunopathology has been determined they cannot be assumed to have 'asthma' or even an 'asthmatic element'.
Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology
Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions)
Respiratory System and Diseases (incl. Asthma)
Reid, DW (Dr David Reid)
Johns, DP (Associate Professor David Johns)
Walters, EH (Professor Haydn Walters)


text:
Brooks receives contract extension at Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech Director of Athletics Whit Babcock announced Tuesday that head women's basketball coach Kenny Brooks has agreed to a four-year contract extension that will keep him in Blacksburg through 2025-26 season.
Since his arrival in 2016 Brooks' Tech teams have enjoyed four consecutive 20-win seasons, with the first three resulting in trips to the WNIT, including a WNIT championship game appearance in 2018. In 2020, Brooks and the Hokies were poised to make the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006 after a historic 21-9 season that featured a program-record 11 ACC wins.
"We're energized about the trajectory of our women's basketball program under the leadership of Kenny Brooks," Babcock said. "Virginia Tech women's basketball is in good hands with Coach Brooks at the helm. Kenny is a Virginia native who is well-respected across the region and has been adept at bringing talent to Blacksburg and developing players in the nation's top basketball conference. He is a proven winner and a fantastic representative of Virginia Tech."
Brooks is the only active ACC Coach with a streak of 15 consecutive seasons with 20 or more victories, dating back to his tenure at James Madison, his previous stop prior to Tech.
"First and foremost, I'd like to thank Dr. Sands and Whit Babcock for the opportunity and the trust they display in me to lead the women's basketball program at Virginia Tech," Brooks said. "When you take over a program, you will endure many challenges. Their support has allowed us to put Virginia Tech women's basketball in a position to compete on and off the court for national prominence.
"Over the last four years, I've grown as a coach competing in the best conference in the country," Brooks added. "Our continued success and growth were made possible because of a collaborative effort between staff and players. Former players like Sami Hill, Vanessa Panousis and Sidney Cook taught me what it means to be a Hokie. Former players like Taja Cole, Kendyl Brooks and Lydia Rivers showed me what it looks like to love being a Hokie. To my current group, who represents Virginia Tech as true student-athletes and has me excited about the trajectory of our program. There have been so many people who have made mine and Chrissy's transition to Blacksburg an easy one. We are looking forward to continuing an ascent towards the top of the ACC standings."
The 2019-20 Hokies accomplished numerous milestones that included the program's first ever ACC Freshman of the Year, ACC Sixth Player of the Year and five players named to the ACC All-Academic Team. On the court, Tech won a program-record 11 ACC games, won four ACC contests in a row for the first time, had a three-game road winning streak for the first time, and went 13-2 at Cassell Coliseum. Along the way, Tech collected the program's first win at Notre Dame and earned the highest ACC Tournament seed after finishing tied for fourth.
In his time in Blacksburg, Brooks has mentored six All-Conference players and nine different Hokies have received All-Academic recognition.
https://hokiesports.com/news/2020/11/24/tech-womens-basketball-head-coach-kenny-brooks-rewarded-with-contract-extension.aspx
Tagged with: ACC Kenny Brooks Virginia Tech
Virginia Women's Basketball Cancels Remainder of 2020-21 Season
Duke shuts down women's basketball for remainder of season
Leazier joins North Carolina Women's Basketball Staff


2 : to shout or speak sharply The captain barked orders at the soldiers.
: to rub or scrape the skin off He barked his shins.
What made you want to look up bark? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).