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Retro Fiction Review Series: "Vengance of Dragons", second book in the 'Secret Texts Trilogy' by Holly Lisle

Retro Fiction Review Series

 

"Vengance of Dragons" (1999), second book in the 'Secret Texts Trilogy' by Holly Lisle

Published by Warner Books, New York.

This is a solid second book in a trilogy. I dived into it as soon as I finished the first book  and unearthed the third book at the same time, expecting that transition to be just as urgent. The story is fast paced, romance unfolds, the deeper plot thickens and the early promise of a utopian ending falls away to a nuance of character growth that I particularly appreciated. 

 

Namely, how do you as the heroes on the side of 'good' persevere when your best hope, the one you've been working toward for hundreds of years is thwarted. It's not a usual part of tales like this and I really like the way Lisle handled it. At no point was it a shallow turn in the plot, it was never melodrama for the sake of it. Instead, as a reader we start to consider what being that person standing up against wrong might mean, what it might cost, how we may not actually know what the right answer is, how there is no guarantee of success... ever. 

 

I am still particularly in thrawl to the variety of characters all with different motivations some more noble or pure of heart than others. I am invested in the protagonist Kait and her lover Ry, but I'm also investested in the numerous secondary characters and how they negotiate the same story. 

 

The novel doesn't quite stand alone, though there is a very good synopsis in the beginning of the book that may cover that for some people. It is very much the bridge in a trilogy, there's a lot of plot that takes place relevant to the first and third books but the book at no point comes across as filler, but instead as a vital link between how the story began and how it will be resolved. The tensions and conflicts within this series are well and truly complex enough to cover all three of the books and they're deftly woven in as part of the story.

 

I can't say much more about this save that I relished reading it and still recommend it as an extension of what I said about the first, being that if you enjoy epic fantasy, adventure and political intrigue, you would possibly apprecate these books. 

 

 

Retro Fiction Review Series: "Diplomacy of Wolves", first book in the 'Secret Texts Trilogy' by Holly Lisle

Retro Fiction Review Series

 

"Diplomacy of Wolves" (1998), first book in the 'Secret Texts Trilogy' by Holly Lisle

Published by Warner Books, New York.

In "Diplomacy of Wolves" Holly Lisle begins a story that really grabbed my attention and I practically devoured it. This review may be spoilery beyond this point so if that's important to you you may wish to simply know that I highly recommend the book and go and read it before continuing on with this review.

On the blurb it is described as: 

"...a fantastic epic of ancient curses, evil conspiracies, and the darkest of sorceries."

This is an apt description for the story. The central protagonist Kait is immediately likeable and she gives us a multi-layered insight into the world of Matrin in which the story is set. I love stories involving intrigue, politics and magic and my, this story doesn't disappoint! The politics involves the notion of a powerful aristocratic class known as 'Family', inevitably two rival Families clash over power.

Any illusions Kait may hold about the sanctity of family or purity of her Family the Galweigh's motives over the rival Sabir Family's are quickly shattered. Kait's place and understanding of the world around her is pulled apart and she is left to make the best choices she can to serve her Family after a brutal attack on one of the prestigious Galweigh Family Houses.  

I also love stories with romance and in this there is also no disappointment. What I love about this book and the romance threads is that Kait gets to be a sexual being. She does struggle with this as her Karnee nature lends itself to intense sexual desires leading up to the time when she Shifts. However, this is not the struggle of a young woman in the grips of a puritanical view, rather her own moral code that would see her sleep with people for a genuine connection or preferably not at all.

Kait makes her choices to engage in or not engage in sexual connections without the condemnation of those around her for the reasoning of sex for it's own sake.Strange that this is refreshing, but it is. Too often my eyes glaze over reading about yet another female character being punished because she dared to be a sexual being. That Kait is always in fullness 'herself' indcluding in a sexual sense makes the book and it's romance enjoyable to read. Other romantic threads also include such ability to choose freely and not be punished for it so the surrounding impression is that there is no sexual war of consent being fought between the characters. 

Ry as a Sabir Wolf treads a fine line in places in this book where he brushes against being a Stalker, it is only Lisle's deft writing of his character and how he interacts with and thinks of Kait that steers this story thread away from a toxic interpretation. You can absolutely see the unhealthy patterning around relationships that seems to be almost a defining trait within the Sabir Family, but Lisle is careful not to give that reasoning any permissability. I also really enjoyed Ry's relationships with his friends, their camraderie is believable and made me smile many times. I could actively believe in them standing with him despite the dangerous and in some ways foolhardy courses of action he proposed to take.

The counterpoint to the 'hero' protagonists is the characters who are the villains. There are several ways in which individual character's roles change throughout the story but some of the true villains are easy to pick from the very beginning. You're given an introduction to certain characters that very easily identifies them as 'evil', not through convenience but believably through the character actions and justifications for their actions. Some of the other villain characters were more ambiguous in their presentation, though there was always a sense of being wary of them. It makes you think... but not too hard about it. 

I won't say much about the story itself, but as a 'quest story' it is interesting and both familiar (tropes are like that) but also engaged with interestingly, at no point was I bored by the procession of the story. The story itself is intricately linked with sorcery and the system of magic and religion is believable and not so all powerful as to be irritating. I particularly like the way the notion of consequences for actions are engaged with. The decision to keep one's 'Word' or not, the fact that in asking for help from a God one forgot to ask for a clear sign of support. Little things that just really allow me to relax and enjoy the story.

One favourite aspect I really enjoyed was the emphasis on Love as the underpinning of  Peace in the wake of the Wizard War that events in the story herald. 

If you're someone who enjoys the epic fantasy style of book, enjoy magic and political intrigue with a side of shape shifter magic and romance, I recommend this book (and the trilogy) to you. I'll be interested in thoughts from other people who've read the series about their impressions of it. 

Recent TED talks that I've appreciated:

The good thing about using TED talks for background music/company while I'm working is that they're inspiring and often very motivational. I got a heap of work done on Friday because I was listening to these. I love TED talks - I've got a whole other bunch of talks that I've yet to listen to, so more posts like these are planned.

First of all Stanley McChrystal talking about leadership: 'Listen, learn and lead'. This quote really sums up what I got out of the talk: 

"Leaders can let you fail, and not let you be a failure.”  

This talk came from a military background of experience, I don't usually find myself in a space where I find that inspiring or motivating. However, there were interesting insights around leadership and how people who are so very different can find a commonality with which to come together as one unit. I appreciated this. 

This next talk almost brought me to tears for it's beauty and vision. Harnessing the internet for the powers of breathtaking connectionism and creativity. Composer and conductor Eric Whitacre presents at TED talking about his experience creating a virtual choir: 'A virtual choir, 2000 voices strong'. This talk really gives you an amazing platform from which to truly appreciate these virtual choir performances. 

His first piece titled "Lux Aurumque" involved 185 voices from 25 countries around the world, is an amazing proof of concept. Its success inspired Eric to create an even larger virtual choir using his song "Sleep". The result was an epic music experience, a virtual choir 2.0 comprised of over 2000 voices from over 58 countries around the world

Although I'm disappointed in Google as a organisation at present, I was impressed by Sebastian Thrun's presentation to TED: 'Google's driverless car'. After losing a friend to a car accident, Sebastian says that he "decided dedicate my life to saving one million people every year." Sebastian reports that he's not there yet, that this is just a progress report.

In my listening his work on the driverless car has a number of potential positive impacts on society. Not the least of these is the potential to massively reduce traffic accidents; plus, the ever persuasive money maker in saving people time - he estimates around "4 billion hours per year" in the US. He also comments on how it will contribute to environmental initiatives to reduce pollution by reducing time spent waiting in traffic - his estimate for the US is that it would save "2.4 billion gallons of gasoline per year". This car looks pretty nifty - I wonder how far we are from cars like this being 'ordinary' and part of the everyday landscape?

"Wrongologist" Kathryn Schulz talks about how we engage with being wrong, or rather how we avoid it at all costs focusing only on being right and in many cases not taking the lessons that come with being wrong into account. Her talk 'On being wrong' is well worth a listen. Also, how cool is her job title 'Wrongologist'?!

I really enjoyed David Meslin's talk on 'The antidote to antipathy', He talks about how people in general aren't uninterested or uninvolved with politics because they don't care, or because they're stupid or because they're lazy... but that "apathy as we think we know it doesn’t actually exist ... that people do care, but that we live in a world that actively discourages engagement by constantly putting obstacles and barriers in our way." From intentional exclusion, unprofitable messages with the economy of freedom of expression to the cynacism provoked by political parties who all say similar things and are unwilling to engage genuinely outside of the politics machine. 

In another fascinating talk, David Christian discussed 'Big history', and how the increasing complexity surrounding conditions for the universe involves amazing instances of vulnerability and fragility. This was one of those talks that makes me swoon over science and physics and cosmology. To think about the universe with this kind of breadth leaves me breathtaken. 

Forth grade teacher John Hunter presents about 'The World Peace Game' and his experiences of teaching in classrooms with it. He talks ofchildren's ability to act on far reaching vectors and affirm their actions as the right thing despite the disagreement of others. He talks about his student's understanding of war and it's cost when they write condolences letters to the families of the soldiers who are killed when they 'go to war' on another nation.

The World Peace Game's board has 4 levels including a deep sea and deep space level, as well as a land and sea level with four nations both rich and poor. The way he talks about all he's learned from children's engagement with the game is truly humbling, I love that he's created a trust between himself and the students in order to achieve the potential of what the game has to offer. I also love that the concept really does engage with real world issues that we're unable to solve as adults - hearing children's perspectives on them is amazing. 

Caroline Casey tells the story in her talk 'Looking past limits' about how she became Mowgli from 'The Jungle Book'. She's had an amazing and far reaching career, but everything all came together for her with an intense authenticity when she trekked across India on the back of an elephant. This was a beautiful story, and reminds me of the notion of considering what I would do, if I knew I couldn't fail? I don't have an answer in words yet, though my heart knows the words. 

Silence is the subject of Anil Ananthaswarmy's talk on 'What it takes to do extreme astrophysics', he visits some of the most remote and breathtaking locations in the world and the astrophysics projects going on there. I am so very excited by the passion and dedication with which teams of people all over the world undertake to take us to new levels of understanding about the universe and our place in it. 

Retro Fiction Review Series: "Queen City Jazz" by Kathleen Ann Goonan

Retro Fiction Review Series

 

"Queen City Jazz" (1998) by Kathleen Ann Goonan

Published by Voyager, London.

'Queen City Jazz' is an interesting book, it has a great premise with exploring a distopian future using a melding of giant bees and hive like 'alive' city networks and the post effects of a 'nano war' on the people surrounding and within one of those cities, 'Cincinnati' known as the 'Queen City'. 

The protagonist Verity is the reason I read it all the way through. As a character, being young and quite ignorant of her history and with selective teaching of her history around her she has startling indpendence and the ability to act autonomously. Her choices are her own all the way through and she is clear about her reasoning for things throughout her journey. It is delightfully refreshing (still) to read a believable female character as the protagonist in a novel where it's not playing too much up to tired tropes for female characters. 

For example, playing into the trope, Verity is 'chosen' for a particular destiny, but the way in which the author uses that trope interestingly and allows Verity to interpret for herself what being 'chosen' means. While there were romantic threads in the book it wasn't a strong theme and the story was stronger for it.

On the less positive side of things, I didn't really enjoy the 'god/prophet' thread. This thread involved the story of a middle aged male character who was responsible for early programming of the cities, him and his issues leaked through a little bit to strongly and made my teeth hurt a little. 

Overall I liked it and am glad I read it, but it was a bit of a slog to get through and I was committed to finishing it rather than really wanting to read it all the way through. My reasons for doing so, such as the interesting premise, the female protagonist and her story remaining central, her independence, resilience and autonomy reinforced the entire way through made it worthwhile. 

I'm really glad the book exists and that I read it. It is a solid science fiction novel and it pressed a lot of my reading desirability buttons gently, but without ever really hooking me. Still, that's my experience of reading and your mileage may vary. 

 

Retro Fiction Review Series: "Cat Fantastic" eds. Andre Norton & Martin H. Greenberg

Retro Fiction Review Series

"Cat Fantastic" (1989) edited by Andre Norton & Martin H. Greenberg.

Published by Daw Books Inc, New York.

First Impressions: 

This anthology is beautifully put together as a hardcover with thick paper and it's one of those books you enjoy the physical feeling of reading. The book boasts 15 stories with an interesting table of contents. The anthology features predominantly female author names, with three or four gender ambiguous names as well. There are a variety of protagonists, some human, some cat, some male, some female - a nice balance that reads well. 

In her introduction, Andre Norton discusses the "weighty subject of cats" (vii) and what she suggests is an affinity between them and writers. She points out that it is because the cat is known to be mysterious, at times imperious and well known to live by their own (non-human) standards that makes cats such a fascinating subject for story telling. Certainly if this anthology is anything to go by, I find myself agreeing with Ms. Norton. She summaries the book as "fifteen histories [that] deal not only with spells but also with diplomatic relations on other planets, with forbidden research, engineering on a grand scale and with guardians who know their duty and expertly do it" (viii).

I'm not usually one for short story anthologies, although every so often I come across an anthology sufficiently seductive enough that I cannot resist. Perhaps it is that I am cultivating entirely positive experiences with short fiction so as to get past my general unenjoyment of it in the past. In any case, a book entirely composed of books about cats is an easy sell for me, I couldn't resist if I tried. This anthology has an overall quality that left me very satisfied and when I realised that there were four more anthologies by the same editors about cats, I ordered them immediately. 

I would unquestionably recommend this anthology to anyone who enjoys stories about cats particularly those stories with a speculative fiction basis, anyone who enjoys stories that feature strong and interesting female characters written by a variety of (now) well known female authors.

Note: This is a long review, even though I'm only discussing the stories that I particularly liked or particularly noted.  

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The Stories: 

 

"The Gate of the Kittens" by Wilanne Schneider Belden

This is a story of Feathers the pregnant cat, dark magic, time crossings, a brave and compassionate librarian Judith Justin who can drive a Bookmobile confidently through a raging storm. This is a quirky kind of story, the kind about saving the world where no one else really knows that's what's happened.

I love the friendship and the general acceptance of things out of the ordinary that Judith exhibits. I love that the's an ordinary and solitary woman travelling through mountains with a Bookmobile, self sufficient and all around competent. Judith is a very likeable person and the story is believable in part because her own reasoning and intuition is emphasised.

I enjoyed the story, it was sweet and satisfying - though I also wouldn't have objected to a novel length stand-alone story with this premise. This story was an inviting beginning to the anthology, I definitely wanted to read more. 

 

"The Damcat" by Clare Bell

The Black Canyon dam project is the setting for this story told by Dale Curtis, an engineer, who meets Mike, a Native American Indian man from the Hopi tribe and his bob-cat partner Tonochpa. The friendship formed between Mike and Dale is interesting, they come from vastly different backgrounds and belief systems. Yet, they form a trust and respect for one another such that a critical issue with the dam is able to be fixed when all three of them bobcat included work together to solve the problem. 

This is a story involving a non-white character who commands respect, rather than the white protagonist saving the day it is instead thanks to the actions of Mike and his partner Tonochpa that make the vital difference with the support of Dale. That their actions saved the lives of many and ensured the strength and structural integrity of the dam remains a quiet achievement between them. I find myself liking these quiet stories of heroism where it is enough that those involved know what happened rathe than seeking public acclaim. 

This story read a little clunky in places, and as a white person I am unsure how well the story of a non-white person was handled but my impression of it was positive, if anyone else has thoughts on the story on this particular aspect I'm interested to hear them. This wasn't a favourite story, but it was quite different to the other stories in the anthology and I wanted to talk about it. 

 

"Borrowing Trouble" by Elizabeth H. Boyer

This story is very much the kind of story that makes me want a series of books set in this world with these characters. The story was one of my favourites and it in some ways reminds me of Tamora Pierce's characters and her worldbuilding. I also have a fondness for boy protagonists who are a little bit arrogant and full of themselves, and learn to be a little bit less so in the process of growing up, retaining the snarky charm. Agnarr is such a character, obviously the bane of the Meistari's life and yet a great hopeful as a wizard student with lots of talent (but very little patience). 

Agnarr befriends Skuggi, a cat travelling with another wizard who tells him the battle-scarred cat is too much for him to handle, but the cat is determined and so it goes that Skuggi joins company with Agnarr. The key to having a familiar is to discover their true name, a feat that Agnarr stumbles on but proves to be his saving grace when a vendetta against the Meistari is uncovered. The story is well written, easy to read and really endeared me to it. 

 

"Day of Discovery" by Blake Cahoon

Another favourite, this story is about Lyssa a scientist completing her thesis. It is a science adventure and romance, involving a Guardian cat named Einstein. Her recently deceased professor and ex-lover has stolen credit for her research work on other dimensions and molecular transference and Lyssa is fighting with her friend David's help to be able to complete it. This is a simple story but it's effective and enjoyable - there's not much else to say without spoiling it. This is another story that made me want more of a novel, again not in a bad way. 

 

"Yellow Eyes" by Marylois Dunn

Another epic-fantasy style setting, this story was also up there with my favourites told from the point of view of Yellow Eyes the cat. Yellow Eyes leads an ordinary sort of life for a cat in a castle, things get a little bit different for him when he unexpectedly befriends a new and foreign dog who has joined the castle hunting pack. There is a mysterious jewel and the sage advice from the White Cat who is the companion of a spell weaver. Together the animals manage to save the castle, it's a journey well worth reading. This was a beautiful story, perfectly rounded out into an ending that has the rare compliment of making me feel satisfied with exactly how the story was told and ended. 

 

"It Must Be Some Place" by Donna Farley

This particular story was near the top of the list of my favourites from this anthology. It's a story that reminds me a little of Pratchett books, and I would *love* to see this as a full length novel or a series of them - there's plenty of material to play with. The story itself I could easily see as a novel (and one I'd lovingly reread at that). This is the story of Jack, a lost sock and Butterfly the tortiseshell tom who knows his magic and helps Jack to recover the lost sock. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but I loved the band of characters as they come together. I also really enjoyed both Jack and Butterfly as protagonists. Definitely one of the top stories for this anthology in my opinion. 

 

"Trouble" by P. M. Griffin

A story like this is remarkable in the subject it undertakes and the way it handles that subject. Dory is a child from an unhappy home and it falls to her cat companion Trouble to help her. The story is a small one, but it is deft and has a sweetness to it that I enjoyed. Trouble's decisiveness and imperious way of helping Dory and looking after her is endearing, Dory herself is an interesting character though we only begin to get to know her. This is another story which would have been well served as a novel exploring the bigger story that's been hinted at. That said, the small story was still satisfying in it's way. 

 

"Skitty" by Mercedes Lackey

This story was also delightful, I loved the simplicity of the tale and how delightfula pair Dick and Skitty are. I loved this reworking of the cats hunting pests story - I've read it in a couple of children's fairytales and I liked this version just as much. This was perfectly contained within a short story, it was just a pleasure start to finish. 

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I should mention that the other stories were a pleasure as well, most of them were very solid and only one or two left me with very little to say or recommend about them. Likely as not, that's personal taste talking. I've stuck to the stories I liked best or noted most for another reason for this review, as being a collection of stories it's a long review. This was the simplest way to contain it. I hope that you'll take a look at the collection if you can get your hands on it, the editors have done themselves proud and the contributing authors as well. I say this as someone who doesn't generallly enjoy short stories, specifically that this collection was well worth my time and effort. 

If you've read it, let me know what you think. Or, if you find it and read it, let me know. 

Comments bug now fixed!!

With sincere thanks to Hope for her time and patience in helping me edit the css, the comments section on post pages is no longer black on black. 

Yay!  

Now I can finish the first Retro Fiction Series review and get it uploaded!

For those of you who've been patiently persevering despite the bug, thank you very much!

Comments box bug...

Hi there,
 
I'm aware there's a bug with how comments show up in certain views as black text on a black background. I'm working to fix it, bear with my lack of CSS expertise I'll figure it out as soon as possible!
 
*waves*
 
I now return you to your regularly scheduled Monday.

New project! The Retro Fiction Review Series!

Let me tell you a little bit about this new project I'm taking on! I'm very excited :)

I have inherited a large number of rather interesting and awesome books from a dear friend of mine who is going 'all ebooks all the way baby' and as a result, I have benefited greatly. Many of these books are ones that I probably would have been delighted to be recommended from when I was a teen or in my early twenties, however, that didn't happen and I'm hoping to go back and fill in a number of what I see are large gaps in my reading history. There are lots of female authors and stories of women and feminism and of cultural futures that I'm very interested to explore.

My project occurs out of my desire to record what I'm reading and what I enjoy about it. I've never really done this before and I think that if I can develop the skill my following uni and postgrad years will be eleventy-million times easier. 

Also, I suspect there's plenty of people out there who are also interested in recommendations for books that are not brand new and just released, but part of the background of the immense number of books in genres like science fiction and fantasy (assume when I use this term that I mean the entire generous umbrella for books of this nature). There are *so many* book in fact, that someone talking about what they liked about it or didn't like about it might just be useful. 

I'll be talking about these books in terms of my first impressions and general overview discussing any relevant demographics - as in how  many authors in anthologies are non-white people or women, if there are any queer stories, stories of people with disabilities and so on. I'll discuss the story and the characters, the world building and my personal experience of the book (or individual stories if it's an anthology). It is also fairly likely that I'll make some sort of critical commentary from my perspective as a (fledgeling) cultural analyst. 

So here we are, with the Retro Fiction Review Series, I'll be your host Ju. Coming up next, a rather long review of the 1989 anthology "Cat Fantastic" edited by Andre Norton and Martin H. Greenberg. Then, a review of the 1994 "Queen City Jazz" by Kathleen Ann Goonan. 

Let's have a conversation about communication and interpersonal skills...

Specifically I wish to talk about the lack of emphasis on teaching communication and interpersonal skills. This is the first of perhaps several posts in this vein. 

First of all, what I want to preface this post with, is affirming that people do learn this stuff. We do think about this stuff - some of us, quite a lot. However, I believe that while some of this is covered in early childhood learning, by the time we get to highschool it's negligable or non-existant.

We go through teenager-hood and then are sent out into the world as brand spanking new adults, where expectations are high but teaching, mentoring and the ability to safely practise are low. 

On most job advertisements, there is a requirement for the applicant to demonstrate good communication and interpersonal skills. In our daily lives we personally talk to and communicate with many people.  We develop friendships and romantic relationships, we often have families that we relate to as well. Yet we don't generally get more intensive teaching beyond our growing up basics about how to do all of this.

If we're lucky we figure a bunch of things out early on and run with them. We learn how to make friends, sometimes we learn how to deal with friendship conflicts, sometimes we learn how to be in a romantic or sexual relationship, sometimes we learn how to deal with conflict here too. However, it's all by doing, in the deep end when and where the consequences of your actions really make a different and unintentional (or even intentional) harm is very possible. It's so unnecessary.

There are also those of us for whom figuring out communication doesn't happen like that. Those of us who fall into this space continually find ourselves frustrated and flumoxed as to why things with other people don't work out. We may have an inkling that it's something we're doing or not doing, but we may be utterly confused about what it might be. For those of us in this situation how are we meant to learn how to communicate better?

I get frustrated seeing people struggle over what I know to be issues of communication and interpersonal skills. I get frustrated knowing that the skills needed are well within reach to anyone who cares to learn - and has the opportunity to be taught in a safe and caring manner. So often this isn't the case and it saddens me. 

What tops this off for me, is that when workplace morale, culture and communication go out the window, we pay (either personally or companies) a large amount to then do a bunch of learning about communication and interpersonal stuff that we could quite easily have learned as a part of our general schooling. 

Why do we have to get to a dire point of noticing that we're missing some key skills and support before we are able to do anything about it? In some cases, we'd rather put on a strong front and deal with it through determination alone. There has to be a better way. I want to see these and related skills (like ethics) taught throughout schooling and before we enter the workforce, take on a trade, go onto further study, go travelling, or become a stay at home partner and/or parent (or any other life choices that we might wish to make that I've forgotten to mention). 

There is no subsitute for the communication skills I've (painstakingly) learned - mostly through that gauntlet of getting it so very wrong before I could begin to get it right. I've hurt people I cared about, I've alienated people, I've made situations worse where I couldn't figure out what on earth I was doing wrong. I've worked incredibly hard over the years to turn that around. I've become very good at these skills and relationships in general by virtue of the fact that having spent far too long getting it wrong, I was deeply invested in having it go right.  

The confidence I have now gained in my communication ability including with interpersonal skills is hard won and I'm proud of it, but more than that... I want to give it away so that other people don't have to go through that same gauntlet of painful (sometimes traumatic) experiences before it all starts to come together. It's not necessary to learn by trauma, I wouldn't wish that on anyone - and I have to say again - there has to be a better way. 

Everything we do in the world, at some level almost certainly involves another person and it baffles me that we spend so little time teaching communication and interpersonal skills. If they underpin so very much of what our everyday lives are about, how is it that we value the teaching of these skills so little? Is it like that unwinnable equation of motherhood being the 'most important' job you'll ever do while simultaneously being the lowest paid (by which I mean, we pay for the privilege).

I don't pretend to know, but along with ethics, critical thinking and other community minded learning, I advocate to see communication and interpersonal skills being taught formally as a vital life skill - as important as being able to read or write.  

 

Long time no blogging... (plus bonus My Little Ponies)

Dear readers, if you're still out there...

Sorry for the extended absence, especially in the beginning of my setting up this blogging space. Life got a bit full on and as a result I'm now rather burned out and in recovery mode. Updates will continue to be sporadic while I find my groove again.

*much love into the ether*

Also, because such things are important, General Zoi on Deviant Art has created a My Little Pony Avatar Creator. Thus I give you my avatar pony self! (If I picked myself a pony name, it would possibly be 'Infinity Heartsparkle'). Or something like it. My lovely friend Samvara photoshopped the cutie mark in for me, it's a loveheart encircled by an infinity symbol.

Ju_pony_dark

And that's all I have for you today. Till next time, *waves*

Another Link Salad!

Another set of recent(ish) links for your collected enjoyment/appreciation. 

First up, a recipe: Swedish Meatballs (you know, like the ones from Ikea that many of us know and love?) This came out beautifully and was well appreciated by my family. 

Communities like this delight me beyond measure! How to save a library: residents from Stony Stratford borrow all the books in their local library in an attempt to avoid it being closed down. 

To say that I am humbled by this is an understatement. Given the horrible treatment our detainees experience at the hand of our government, that these individuals would still reach out to us following the Queensland floods is truly amazing. It is well beyond time for us to put an end to the way in which we engage with asylum seekers. 

Rebecca Drysdale kicks ass in this awesome music video "It Gets Better" in response to the It Gets Better Project started by Dan Savage in response to teen homophobia in the United States. From the website it looks like there will be a book coming up for release in the US on 22nd of March, preorder here if you're interested (all proceeds will be donated to assist LGBTIQ youth).  

Yet another reason why Twitter wins all over Facebook, contesting a gag order relating to US Government request for user information it is clear that they have rather awesome privacy ethics. 

Twelfth Planet Press has recently announced a plan for 2011 releasing a series of female author collections collectively to be known as 'The Twelve Planets'. The list of authors being showcased by this series include: Margo Lanagan, Lucy Sussex, Rosaleen Love, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Deborah Biancotti, Kaaron Warren, Cat Sparks, Sue Isle, Kirstyn McDermott, Narrelle M Harris, Thoraiya Dyer, Stephanie Campisi. There are several ways to get your hands on these amazing collections, check out the Twelfth Planet website for ordering details

A message of productivity on why you should avoid reading email first thing in the morning. It's a technique that I've used a fair few mornings since reading it in order to get a chunk of study out of the way before I get caught up in minutae. 

Recently a 19th century French townhouse has been opened to the public after being sealed for the last 100 years. The photos are just beautiful and the idea that something like this has stayed preserved as a vision of what a yesteryear 'everyday' looked like. 

In a different and less positive vision of the everyday, Andrea talks about rape culture asking the question 'Who Will Rape Me?' Creating a discussion context that considers the likely reality that a great number of women in their life times will be subjected to at least one instance of sexual violation or assault. 

Going back to the revolution in Egypt, a few different links for you. In this video Waseem Wagdi talks about the events in Egypt, dated 21st January, 2011. This facebook album depicts images of women in Egypt, as in the media coverage there were few mentions or visuals of women participating in the protests. In this article, Techland discusses 'World Web War I' and why Egypts digital uprising has been so different. Finally, two images of humanity as an 'us', one the celebration of a wedding in Tahrir Square where the Egyptian protests took place and another showing Christians protecting Muslims during their prayers. Here is the Al Jazeera announcement of Mubarek resigning - so much promise for the future in this result! Truly my heart goes out to the Egyptian people and my will stands with theirs that they choose the future pathway of their country and its leadership. As a demonstration of 'usness' it is pretty spectacular and I am still, even now, deeply moved by it. 

More on the concept of 'us' and community, this is much closer to home. There has been a brilliant summer initiative running in Fremantle this summer called 'The Cappuccino Strip Street Club'. On the first Thursday in the month, people gather in a selected street location engaging in activities of 'placemaking' and togetherness. There's a facebook group that's open invite if you're interested here. Rugs, couches, chairs and tables take over the road spaces. Costumes, performances, children playing and adults merry-making fill the space and people come together, reclaiming space from cars and traffic, for people. It's pretty amazing to participate in, I've watched some great performances, met lovely people and just relaxed and enjoyed being in the place that first stole my heart.

In the realm of science fiction, Marianne de Pierres has just had her first YA novel 'Burn Bright' released - I'm ecstatic about this and can't wait to get my hands on a copy! If you haven't seen the amazing book trailer, check it out here. The second book in this series 'Angel Arias' is already a hot topic and so is the book soundtrack of the same name by Yunyu, there's a trailer preview of the soundtrack here.  In other science fiction related linkage, this Tor blog asks where is the polyamory in SFF? A question I'm highly invested in myself, and though I know of a few different scattered titles, aside from the Robert Heinlein they've required quite the hunt and I'd love to see more exploration of different family, relationship and people/beings connecting setups in a genre space that proposes to speculate. 

And now we break for a baby bunny picture. It just cheered me up and made me feel squishy and happy. We all need that sometimes! Also for your enjoyment and cheering, this UPular remix.

This blog post on friendship guidelines is an interesting one, I don't agree with everything it puts forth, but the idea that being discerning in friendship is a privilge is one I'm interested in engaging with, and actually is a privilege I'm happy to be part of. I've recently been in situations that have led me to remind myself that minimum standards for human engagement are just that: minimum standards. They don't even dictate the probability or likelihood of friendship, just that as one human being engaging with or relating to another there are certain minimum expectations I hold for communication and engagement.  

So as part of the recent flooding in Queensland, premier Anna Bligh engaged an AUSLAN intepreter whilst giving out updates on cyclone and flood through media services. For some strange reason there was a lot of criticism for that, and this video is a response to that criticism from the Victorian Council of Deaf People.

This interactive webgame 'Spent' challenges the idea that you may never need help, may never end up poverty stricken and unsure how to make it through. Very interesting and quite confronting in places. US centric, but no less pointed for that. 

Yet more awesomeness and light heartedness! The most awesome cello battle and video clip (very slashy too) where Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic play 'Smooth Criminal' by Michael Jackson. This video animation 'Thought of You' came up on another social media site and was so beautiful and well made that I had to share. Also, this would have to be my favourite LOLcat ever, on world domination no less! More YouTube goodness, a mixture of art, animation and incredible talent, first with 'Sometimes the Stars' by Adelaide band 'The Audreys', so beautiful as a song and as a clip. This in addition to the breathtaking power of the internet and fan culture undertaking 'The Johnny Cash Project' in an effort to link together thousands of artwork frames into a music video for Johnny Cash's last song 'Ain't No Grave'

Natalie Latter discusses the ethical implications of the Australian government choosing to act or not act on climate change. I appreciated the discussion of the ethical stance rather than another article on the economic cost or the economic savings to be made. I am so over the economy as a the most important global focus. 

As part of the centenary celebration of International Women's Day, three links (and a follow up, more dedicated post later, I promise): Annabel Crabb at The Drum discusses the concept of 'behind every successful woman is a wife' and whether our focus should be on getting men out of the workforce instead of predominantly on getting women back into the workforce around child care and other commitments. Selma James reiterates that point and makes several more, in her article looking at International Women's Day on a global scale. She discusses women in the world,our commonalities and differences in the struggle for equality. Finally, 007 frocks up for International Women's Day, and brilliantly narrated by Judi Dench this short clip asks the question: 'Are We Equals?'

And finally, how else could I end, but with TED Talks I've been watching recently?  Three for your viewing pleasure today, Jody Williams talks about a realistic vision for world peace and the idea of reclaiming the word 'peace' with new relevancy. Krista Tippett discusses reconnecting with compassion, and this was a truly stand out talk. Krista discusses compassion as a technology for living and connection in our contemporary world. There was also unexpected very different insight into Einstein as person and not only a scientist. Finally, Van Jones discusses the economic injustice of plastic. I really liked how he talked about the human cost and the concept of disposability in general. Not just about giving plastic bottles a second chance, but people too.

Preparing for the new semester...

I've been spending quite a solid amount of time and effort getting ready for the beginning of the 2011 university year. It's been a bit of a rocky start given that my university has decided to close down my degree program. I'll get to finish my degree, but they're already axing staff and units associated with the degree, so I am feeling slightly anxious about this. 

Still, I am mostly done with the core parts of my degree, so I may be able to scrape through my undergraduate without too much hate... we shall see. I will miss my favourite lecturer who returned from well deserved long service leave to an invitation for voluntary redundancy. Classy, yes?

Still, preparation is important and now a week or so out I'm feeling the stirrings of my brain hungering for more information and thinky stuff, to be able to get stuck into a new semester of essays. 

My birthday present in November last year from a couple of my lovely friends were a set of bookshelves, which they installed into my study where things were mostly piled in some vague organised way on the floor. The installation meant everything got moved around and picked up, shoved around. I've been avoiding getting stuck into the decluttering, sorting and putting away, but this week I've managed to complete the bulk of it. I've culled books, magazines, recipe books and filed an awful lot of paper. I can see the floor (it needs a good vacuum) and I can admire my lovely stacks of books in organised piles. My desk is clear and I'm drawn to the room to work in it again! 

Success! It is in this moment that I feel ready to return to the learning again, space that is mine, access to all my books and cool learning stuff. Over the break I've not been academically idle, doing bits of reading and catching up on backlogs of related online reading in the feminist and queer blogosphere. 

I'm still in process of trying to formulate strategies and systems for efficient learning and time management given that this time I expect to be working full time at least for part of the time... which numerous people tell me is a terrible idea. My take on it is that after last year, I am convinced it cannot be worse and  must therefore be better. Plus, there is the added bonus that for 30ish hours of work a week I will be paid - which is a huge difference from last year. 

This semester I'm looking forward to delving further into philosophy, cultural studies of television and audiences and having great conversations with people around me (really whoever will sit still long enough). 

For those of you also returning to study, what are you looking forward to? What ways do you prepare for the upcoming year? What is your best efficient learning tip?

Blog rec: The Fluent Self, because Havi is awesome!

I and several friends have been loving on The Fluent Self blog quite a lot lately, because Havi and her duck Selma are fantastic blog company to keep! They have fun where there is colouring and dancing and figuring out ourselves (and writing a book about it), being creative about working on the stuff in our heads. Havi talks about things like biggificationdestuckification and about how useful it can be to have your own instruction manual that is your Book of You.

I love the sense of fun and playfulness that comes with Havi's approach. I love that where the right words don't exist, they can be invented at will. I love the tiny useful techniques that make unpleasant things more fun, more doable and highlight whole new ways of doing things that I discover as I play with it all. 

I appreciate the candour with which Havi shares going through her stuff, coming to grips with the things in her way and the stuff stopping her. There's a sense of a reinforced 'us' all together working on our stuff, rather than one awesome person leading other trying-to-be-awesome people. We're all awesome! Things like that make me happy.

I am someone who believes in this idea of being the best you that you can imagine for yourself, believes in that fundamentally everyone is worthy of unconditional love, and that anything is possible.  I'm not sure that Havi would put it the same way, but I feel that her messages are not at odds with this. 

I adore Havi's blog, and it's pretty much the only major blog where I'm willing to read the comment streams. I thought I'd write this as maybe if you knew about it, you might like Havi's blog too. 

Reviewing the 52 Acts of Cyberfeminism Blog Project

I've been recently engaged in a fun skyping project with two of my dear friends. As part of her doctoral thesis, Sajbrfem started a blog project called '52 Acts of Cyberfeminism' involving lots of art projects, subversion, exploration of feminism, hacking new media with playful and creative misuse not to mention inviting people to conspire and collaborate on the project. 

Twice a week for the past couple of weeks we've spent a couple of hours discussing art works, known as 'Acts' for a month and reflecting on what we got out of it, how the Act was received and the response to it. We also explore the context of it's original inspiration and consider it's continued relevancy and accessibility. 

One of the interesting aspects I have found personally in revisiting this blog and looking at the Acts is the ongoing narrative. In the original year in which the project ran, the blog was updated weekly and every update was a surprise and something brand new. Reflecting back upon the Acts with some familiarity and knowingness opens up new avenues of enquiry. 

The project covered key aspects of feminism but explored them in a different way than I have traditionally seen in the blogosphere, representation wasn't discussed in text but explored in visual photo quilts which brought to light aspects of how words have cultural association and understanding alongside their conventional language meanings.  

Another project that came out of the blog was Act 10 which started the Hollaback Australia blog in collaboration with the feminist blog Hoyden About Town joining an international network of blogs calling out people who engage in sexual harassment in public spaces. 

It also considered the 'open source' aspect of the infamous Open Source Boob Project by questioning the way in which the idea of 'open source' had been applied: "My thought process went something like this: Open source boob project? Hardly. Now if they were handing out instructions on how to make your own boobs then maybe…" This inspired the Real Open Source Boob Project which provided a tutorial for people to create their own boobie, open source instructions open to all. 

The journey is varied and interesting, one I'm enjoying a lot and learning much from, particularly given the undergraduate I'm pursuing. Sajbrfem is an inspiration to me and I value her contributions to the web and to feminism, value her playful subversion of traditional mediums and underrated mediums such as craft. She has a talent for seeing art in most anything, and I admire this. 

I highly recommend taking a look through the 52 Acts blog project and trying out some of the art for yourself. 

 

Metaphorical Cotton Wool

There are a fair few people surrounding me online and offline that are going through stuff at the moment. I'm sure there are others I'm unaware of, but I've had several conversations in recent months in which I've applied what I tend to call metaphorical cotton wool. I thought that I'd blog about what I mean by this a little, hoping that it might be of benefit to others. 

What do I mean when I say 'metaphorical cotton wool'? As a metaphor, it describes the mental and emotional act of wrapping your hurts in cotton wool the way you might physically. The idea is comfort and gentleness. 

I find that whenever I am feeling upset, if I am struggling with something,whether it is in myself or involving others, that applying ruthless gentleness is often the best thing I can do for myself, often benefiting others too. It's a pause in the action. It's like wrapping yourself in a large cocoon of soft cotton wool, where you focus on breathing, calmness and mentally reassuring yourself.

How it works with more than one person is that if the parties all apply the rule of gentleness, of applying this metaphorical cotton wool, there is a space of listening and calmness where concerns can be shared, resolution and reassurance sought, misunderstandings and miscommunication clarified.  

Gentleness is mental cotton wool, and like real cotton wool it has so many uses and applications. I have never found approaching something with gentleness to make a situation worse, it's one of those things that I rely on now as an intrinsic part of who I am. It's also something that I give away as much as possible, sharing my experience of it hoping others may find it valuable. I have many conversations about many things, but invariably they all relate to gentleness, to this notion of creating internal and external spaces that are safe and inviting, where hurts can heal and individual(s) can grow. 

My way of application tends to follow this pattern, just as an example: 

  • taking a deep breath, several of them. 
  • remembering that I am awesome
  • remembering that the other person (if there is one) is also awesome
  • appreciating the world through the perspective of others

It's a small plan, but I find it effective as a starting point, and moving on from that as I can best judge for myself at the time. 

Here's to ruthless gentleness, to respect and to communication. 

I'd be interested in other people's comments on how this or something like it works... 

 

2011 Theme: Conscious Faith

This year's theme didn't leap out at me with the same kind of vibrant declaration that I've been spoiled with - there was a lot of searching and musing involved. In previous years, I've started listening and the concept became obvious fairly quickly, like one of those inner moments where it feels like a bell song reverberating throughout your body. This time, no bell. I did get there in the end - and it wasn't just a case of deciding between my two top candidates as both of them were getting my attention pretty thoroughly. In the end it was realising that neither single choice was the right one, that actually the correct choice lay in embracing both concepts in tandem as a complimentary entwined enquiry for the year. 

2011 is about both consciousness and faith. Conscious Faith. 

When I say 'consciousness' what I'm referring to is conscious living, looking at the way I'm using my energy, what I'm putting it into, what I'm directing it away from, what I am choosing, what consequences I come across, how I organise and process things, my systems and strategies for making my life work - is it working for me or just running the show? Am I living in line with my values, am I questioning them and thus refining my positions - am I willing to change a position entirely? Am I taking chances, am I playing things 'too safe'/'too well-behaved'? Am I exploring and expressing myself honestly and with vulnerability? 

Those kind of questions.

When I mention 'faith' I'm not speaking from any religious or spiritual space. I'm talking about the way you can have confidence or belief in something without tangible supporting facts - without needing to seek out proof, because it is the act of believing, of trust and sincerity that is the key aspect of the concept.

When I think about how these two concepts look together, what it might entail or look like I feel like faith is also about looking around me. It is appreciating what is in my life and being conscious about where my energy is going, where my priorities are, seeking out my wishes and goals, discovering what projects will encompass those things. Really noticing what is happening within my life, what opportunities are available, what pitfalls to avoid. Leading on from connectionism stuff, conscious faith is also about recognising people who cross my path where there is some sort of exchange to take place - learning or listening, teaching, humbling, growing or inspiration, taking actions or appreciating results. It is about recognising that connection moment when it happens and playing it out to its full potential, where everyone gets the best of the experience.

This is all conscious faith to me, recognising and following from intuition into belief and trust and considering or generating what I need from within to meet the challenges without. 

What kind of actions and/or goals are going to be part of this at this beginning stage?

- practise listening and continue to develop this as an active ability

- look at what systems and strategies I employ for efficiency and to get things done, evaluate their effectiveness and implement new systems or strategies if required. 

- continue to expand on my reading list of non-fiction study related material, take advantage of the many recommendations that cross my screen on a daily basis and read some of those as well. 

- be conscious about my cooking, look at what I'm choosing to cook, consider what ingredients are involved, what ethics are impacted by my choices, by my family's choices.

- develop trust in my ability to have meaningful conversations that will assist people in shifting some of their hard stuff, as part of this I should never forget the honour that is being invited in to share someone's hard and scary stuff.

- listen to my inner desires and heartfelt goals and act in accordance for their fulfilment. This would include my degree and any other major decisions like travelling or moving. 

- practice playing, get more comfortable with being silly and not so serious, enjoy my creativity and imagination and encourage this so that it becomes part of 'my ordinary'. 

- make a difference in the world, be honest and sincere. Do it because it feels right and not just to look good. Make it contribute to lasting cultural shift and not quick and insincere bandaid fixes. 

- support others in their making a difference in the world. 

- actively live in accordance with the ideals that mean the most to you. I mean, 'we are all and us' and 'anything is possible'.

- keep faith with yourself and your self dedication vows and promises. Give this away to others so that they also have the opportunity to be their own best friend. 

- continue your practice of connectionism, expand on it and know it like you know how to breathe. 

 

This is the beginning of the journey. From here who knows what it will look like? I suspect at times it will be a rollercoaster and other times it will be deeply peaceful and calm. I have no doubt that the year will be challenging, that it will demand from me all of myself to the best of my ability to truly, honestly and powerfully be myself. 

I am so ready for this, here's to 2011. 

2010 Theme Reflection: Connectionism

(reposted from my personal blog space)

2010 has been about connectionism for me. How that’s occurred has been both similar and different to how I anticipated and crafted it as an idea. I’m pleased by this having come to the end of the year. 

Some of my closest of friendships have become closer still - in that way where you just marvel because you just weren’t sure it was possible to feel closer still. 

I’ve become close to new people in different ways and I’m enthralled and enamoured by this. 

I’ve come to an acute awareness of connection and when it’s present, not present and various nuances around that. I’ve also become quite expert at creating connection that is based inside of freedom and space. A space that holds no obligation or expectation save respect, a space that people can step into or not as they choose, without expectation or obligation. A space where invitations are freely given, and declining means knowing that I won’t take it personally against me, that it is only about that invitation at that time. 

Being able to do this well is important to me for several reasons, in part because I value time spent genuinely and freedom makes that possible, and also because like anyone else, I don’t like to feel pressured or obligated or trapped and I work to avoid experiencing it or creating situations that have that in the background. 

One of the most important things I’ve learned about connectionism is that <b>we are all an us</b>.  It’s simplicity masks the importance of the message in some ways, but it resonates strongly whenever I say it, resonates in my heart and through my body - as a statement, it lives for me. 

One of the other things that connnectionism has been about is teaching others about creating a space where connection is possible for others to step into. Trying to explain and use useful analogies and metaphors has been interesting for this, because it’s largely intangible. I’ve done well and not so well at this but have learned a lot about it. There’s a difference between stepping into a space - like a gathering or conversation (or something) where it all feels welcoming and friendly and positive, and where you’re unsure of your welcome of whether it will be a friendly or positive space. You can be skilled at recognising a space as welcoming and positive and stepping into it and responding accordingly and yet struggle with creating that same space for others. 

I will write more about this aspect in a separate post because there’s a lot to consider and tease out about it, particularly given we’re talking intangible intuitive stuff as well. 

So when I picked ‘connectionism’ as my word for 2010, I had an idea of what I wanted it to be like based on my dot point definition of the word. My year was all of that and more, and though I had a secret and unspoken desire inside of those guidelines, it wasn’t fulfilled. Overall the year was excruciatingly hard work and demanding. The things that I set out to do or experience or practise involving connection have been rewarding and challenging and I’ve learned so much.  

 

The definition from the first post back in January: 

- being connected to people

- promoting things that mean others get to be connected

- learning about what connection means, looks like, feels like etc in as many ways as possible

- connecting with new people

- deepening my connection with current friends

- being and living a life that gives people an idea of what connection is and can look like

- sharing what I know and have learned and experienced about connection with interested parties

 

Based on what I’ve written above, I’m quite surprised on how strongly that vision and understanding has been fulfilled. 

Additionally there was the list of dot points on things that I wanted to do around fostering connectionism, lets revisit them shall we?

- cooking... the year has only passingly been about cooking and I’ve enjoyed what cooking I’ve done and have at various points had the opportunity to impress people with my cooking but not as much learning new skills, and not as much teaching new skills.  

- getting to know my friends better has been deeply rewarding and I’m delighted by it frequently. I value it deeply and am still actively creating opportunities for this to happen. 

- have met amazing new people this year! This has been successful beyond my wildest hopes. 

- did really well throughout the year at Uni, got almost all the marks I really wanted, learned so much and came to see the body of skill and knowledge that is my own understanding and offering to the world  separate from all the bits and pieces I’m learning. 

- alas have not loved on Fremantle as much as I would have liked, though there has been some lovely experiences there nonetheless. 

- falling in love every day... can honestly say that this is true... as I’ve mentioned in the previous posts it’s something of an ordinary experience for me, part of how I move through the world. However, it’s something I take pains to appreciate and value consciously and not take for granted. 

- spending time less well behaved... well.... partly successful? I struggle with this, not unsurprisingly I think. But I have been in situations where I have practised it and the sky hasn’t fallen, I haven’t ended up being hated by everyone I know etc... and so bit by bit I’ve plucked at the strings of conditioning around this, starting to unravel this idea of being ‘good’ that I feel locked into sometimes. 

- still interested in learning French but have not done anything on this. 

- travelling interstate pretty much didn’t happen - only for Worldcon which was quite low an experience for me though there were specific and amazing highs. 

- doing my hippy student travelling thing didn’t happen, but is still on the cards. 

- inspire others in themselves... this has happened in a thousand little ways and no matter how small or large... each moment just awes me and I am teary. People are amazing, and those who’ve invited me into see their hurt and jagged bits, the not so pretty and struggling bits... have truly wowed me. They have humbled me even as I know I’ve contributed to them. 

 

So that’s it. My year in connection. Not small or simple or easily explained... but complete and valued beyond measure.

Review: Tangled

I watched 'Tangled' for the second time this morning and it was just as good to watch the second time around as the first. It's a movie that has been constructed in such a way as to not present as either a 'girl's' movie or a 'boy's' movie, the balance is pretty solid story and character wise in that sense. Looking at it with a feminist and cultural analysis lens, it comes out pretty damned favourably. I will admit that I was surprised how well it does. 

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Overall it was a very well balanced movie, well written, good action sequences and pacing with character and plot development sequences. It was a movie where there was a likeable central female protagonist who was handy with a frypan (as a weapon) and surprisingly self-sufficient having been raised in a tower away from the world for eighteen years. The interpretation of the story by Disney was simple and effective hitting all the high notes of the traditional fairytale. 

From a non-tokenism point of view, it passes the Bechdel test very early on with exchanges between Rapunzel and Mother Gothel. Both the character of Rapunzel and Mother Gothel are believable. Focusing on the latter for a moment, her villainous motives are clear and believable, her character remains consistent to these motivations throughout the entire film. Mother Gothel is set on staying young for ever and protecting the magic that keeps her that way. She's emotionally outright manipulative toward Rapunzel which reinforces Rapunzel's dependency on her and her naivety. Rapunzel's naivety is believable, though it is clear that she is self sufficient, intelligent and imaginative. Thus when she leaves the tower, the way she learns and acclimatises to the outside world is also believable. 

This is a classic fairytale story, complete with rescuing. Less 'traditional' is the way in which Rapunzel does an awful lot of rescuing of her guide Flynn. Flynn is goofy but likeable and not quite prepared to meet someone like Rapunzel who is intriguing and trigger happy with the fry pan. Flynn has princely good looks, a manner that suggests a certain confidence with charming women, and I have to say that one of my favourite lines in the movie is "You broke my smoulder!". As Flynn and Rapunzel make their way to the city in order that she might see the floating lanterns, it is clear that Flynn learns as much from Rapunzel as she does from him.  I also appreciated the band of unlikely friends they met along the way (although in this aspect it was masculine character heavy). 

As far as supporting characters go, hands down the non verbal characters have it - there were three. It was at every point very clear what their intended communication was and they were likeable and very different in both personality and motivation. Maxiumus the noble steed was a delight to watch at every point, I couldn't love the character more if I tried. His dedication to apprehending Flynn for the theft of the crown is admirable, and the array of less than horse-like behaviours in pursuit of this goal are endearing, as is the truce like relationship that eventually occurs between Maximus and Flynn. Similarly Pascal the chameleon is a delightful best friend character for Rapunzel, giving her a playmate and confidant, someone to encourage her and occasionally mock her, a constant companion who supports the story and never short circuits it. The third non-verbal character is actually one of the ruffians they meet whose secret dream is to be a mime. The mime is a minor but articulate character, which for a non verbal character says a lot. 

The band of thugs and ruffians the pair first meet at the 'Snuggly Duckling' (seriously what a cool name for a thug and ruffian pub!) are every bit as intimidating as you'd expect in the first few minutes, but Rapunzel's determination to see the lanterns wins them over when she explains why she needs Flynn (who is apparently on everyone else's black list) as her guide. Singing, dancing and absurdity ensue with each of the ruffians exclaiming their secret hidden dream. 

Of particular note about this sequence is that although all of the characters were male, they all had dreams that fell into the realm that I'd loosely title 'non traditionally male interests'. This was especially cool as a dichotomy playing off the fact that they were engaged in what were clearly defined stereotypical male occupational roles for a fairytale kingdom. 

Other more minor aspects that I appreciated about the movie included the overall darker tone of the movie. It was a little bit more sinister than I've seen of Disney in recent years, a little less sanitised and it is something that I think really supports the film's success. I enjoyed that although there was magic glowing hair as one of the keystones of the story, that the story was less about the hair/magic and more about Rapunzel herself. Even the romantic storyline played second fiddle to her overall desire to fulfill her dream to see the lanterns in person (aka: metaphor for self actualisation). I also have to comment on how much I enjoyed the lowly frying pan wielded as a formidable weapon throughout the film. This may seem like a minor point to appreciate, however, the fact that it is an ordinary implement found to hand says different things about violence and self protection as oppose to purposeful weapons for offensive violence. 

I find very little that I could nitpick about this movie and I choose not to do so as it would feel petty given that I'd be searching as opposed to reviewing honestly. This film was very entertaining from an adult point of view, and having seen it today in the company of a three and five year old, entertaining and sustaining for them as well.  I thoroughly enjoyed the film and would recommend it without reservation.  

On taking on a yearly theme...

One of the ways in which I organise my focus and learning over the course of a year* is to choose an overall theme for the next twelve month period. 

When I say theme, what is it that I'm talking about?  I mean, a concept that you use as an overarching focus to what's going on around you, something that ticks away in the back of your mind as you move through the world. A theme is something that motivates and inspires you, something that you're in some way hyper aware of whenever there is hard stuff, big stuff and good stuff going on in your life. It's a way to pay attention to something going on that needs that concentrated energy for an extended period. 

Past themes I've had include 'Exploration', 'Expression' and last year was 'Connectionism'**, and I'll tell you more about this year in a follow up post. Mostly in this post I wanted to set up the idea so that if you wanted to, you could try it for yourself. 

A theme is in some ways aspirational, but more tangible in that it's a space you're creating to step into, awareness you're cultivating and knowledge/experiences that you're valuing. 

Sometimes you might choose something that you'd like to work on, something that you've been stuck on or something recurring that you're not all that happy with. You might also choose something positive that you actively want to bring into your life. You can choose anything, but in thinking your way through this, you'll likely stumble on a concept that feels 'right' and clicks with you and where you're at. 

When I take on a theme for the year, I have a strong sense of what I'm bringing to it in the beginning - even if that appears to be little or nothing. For me it's important to be aware of what some of the ideas and thoughts, desires and assumptions I'm bringing to the theme, because invariably the best of what I'll learn and grow into, won't be any of what I already thought I knew. Knowing what I bring to the beginning of a journey like this (and it is a journey - a treasure hunt in a lot of ways), allows me to see more clearly what I really got out of it, expected and unexpected. 

As part of setting up the treasure hunt, I also find that listing actions, habits, wishes, goals or projects I want to include as part of the journey is useful and inspiring. This list motivates me to go searching and delving into the theme I've taken on, allowing me to really connect with it, immerse myself in it and commit to it fully. These things also give you a way of reflecting on the progress of the journey as you go through the year. 

Once the year is done, reflecting on what went on over the course of the year, how it related to the theme, what I learned or saw, felt, appreciated, valued, struggled with, is deeply rewarding. It's also a great way of letting go of the journey completed in order to embark on a new one! Thus are traditions created. 

What kind of journeys and treasure hunts are you embarking on? What do you think these will entail? What do you look forward to on the journey? What are you fearful or nervous about? What actions/habits/wishes/goals/projects are you taking on as part of your theme?

Happy themeing! Stay tuned for my post on 2010 with 'Connectionism' and what my 2011 theme is all about! 

 

* When I say 'year' I mean that this is generally a useful timeframe with which to go about this theme business. However, if you feel like you're done with a theme inside a year, great!  See what occurs to you as the next theme you might want to take on, perhaps it will take longer, shorter or be much the same - go with what feels right for you. 

** I'll talk more about connectionism in a follow up post but the way I look at it, it takes the idea and concept of connection to a bigger overarching level that I find more interesting and engaging to play with. 

The 2011 S.H.I.N.E. Online Blogging Challenge Starts on 1-11-11! Come Join Us and Make Your Blog SHINE! - WritingSpirit Blog

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Inspired by my friend Calli who blogs over at Saucy Sisters, Tsunami Sarah's Wild Ride and Egoboo WA.  I've decided to take this on, since I have a list of things to blog that is always getting longer. Also, there's a mind map on my study wall that says "Just DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!", so here I am.

1. Decide how many times per week you want to blog--preferably twice a week or more.

My plan is to blog twice a week.

2. Add a comment on this post with your blog address, and how many posts per week you're committing to...

Done!

3. Use the hashtag #SHINEonline to communicate with other bloggers who are participating in this challenge...

Done!

4. Sign-up below if you would like to get blog tips and articles sent to you, along with blog challenge updates, and information on free teleconferences.

Done!

5. Start blogging!

Also done!! YAY!

 

What would I like to get out of this exercise?

The challenge of sticking to something like this that involves sharing and publishing and writing and thinking for a fairly long scheduled time.

Improve on my blogging and say some of the stuff that I keep wanting to say and keep struggling to find the time and the words to say.

To keep my thoughts turning over and refining, growing and changing as I learn more things, have more conversations, read more stuff and meet interesting people.

Contribute to the online world in a way that is about me contributing to making a difference, to not being silent, to not being a passive consumer of the world and the way in which things happen, pushing back and engaging in some cultural shift.

Having fun and finding a whole bunch of other interesting blogs!