I really liked this interview with Patricia Arquette but I’m still not going to see Boyhood.
“I do know, that in this movie [Boyhood] it’s all these little moments, that nobody else would put in a movie but that Rick [Linklater] would say: “No, this is beautiful, this is life. It doesn’t have to be this spectacular, enormous, magnificent life for it to be important.” I haven’t seen a director spend so much time with a 46-year-old-woman reading papers and complaining about plumbing and whatever else she’s doing. Studios would say to filmmakers that “audiences don’t want to see that”. But now Boyhood has done really well, they’re not in a position to.”
***
List of women who led a revolt or rebellion
***
I have a billion billion questions about this piece. I understood maybe 1/15th of it. It is too breathless at times by half. Towards the end, it veered a bit towards Orientalism. I loved it.
Confronted with Ramanujan’s mathematical locutions, such as this one, which uses an infinite “continued fraction” to relate e, π, and the golden ratio1 to one another,
Hardy realizes that Ramanujan’s formulae, so weird yet elegant, supercharged with meaning yet concise, “must be true because, if they were not true, no one would have the imagination to invent them.” So disturbed is Hardy by the genius evident in Ramanujan’s letter that he sends an emissary to the edge of the empire, to India, to bring Ramanujan back to the imperial capital.
At Cambridge, Ramanujan is friendly and funny, easy company, but weird mathematics gushes out of him. He can’t explain the reasoning that leads to his formulae, nor their significance. He seems otherworldly to Hardy, as easy and dexterous with infinite quantities as with a knife and fork. With his intellect finally being fed by a university, Ramanujan’s genius erupts into something never before seen. And then he begins to die. Tuberculosis is suspected and so, in line with the treatment of the day, his doctors force him to live in an open room fully exposed to the English winter. The food the doctors bring him, Ramanujan writes, is inedible: botched curries “as hard as uncooked rice.” His body wastes away until he is little more than a walking skeleton. Then he returns to India, expecting to die. As his last act, he produces the strangest work of his career: a series of mathematical formulae only recently understood. We now know that they grant the bearer passage to the infinite.
***
LeVar Burton is a better man, and a better person, than you or I shall ever be. Do not let this lead you to despair; it should not bring you sorrow but gladness, that we have lived in a time when he could be our lodestar.
Burton opened his appearance by lamenting that he hadn’t brought everyone hot chocolate as Sunday’s blizzard (on February 1) rolled into Chicago. To the delight of the filled auditorium, Burton read The Rhino aloud to kick off the event. The book, written in rhyme as a folktale, tells the story of a young rhino struggling to overcome the storm inside himself with the help of his friends. Burton explained that he wrote the story to help children understand that depression and sadness can be part of anyone’s life and to help them overcome the social stigma of mental illness.
Speaking with clear passion, Burton talked about his own love of stories and the importance of reading in children’s lives. He spoke of his own “storytelling mentors,” in particular, Fred Rogers, Gene Roddenberry, Alex Haley, and his own mother. Burton’s mother raised her three children on her own and was instrumental in creating a love of reading and stories in all of them. Speaking to cheers and nods across the auditorium, Burton emphasized the importance of adults reading in front of children and encouraging the passions of their children through books.
“If your child is passionate about superheroes, damn it, buy your kid comic books,” said Burton.
***
“Eel City is the name given to a community of deep-sea eels living amongst hydrothermal vents in the new volcano of Nafanua in American Samoa. It is unique because most hydrothermal vents are predominantly inhabited by invertebrates, whereas there is little invertebrate life in Eel City.”
come on let’s all go to eel city, eel city is the safest place to be
***
The Creation of Franklin on Peanuts
Perhaps surprisingly, Charles Schulz replied quickly to Glickman’s request. On April 26, he sent her the following note:
Dear Mrs. Glickman:
Than you very much for your kind letter. I appreciate your suggestion about introducing a Negro child into the comic strip, but I am faced with the same problem that other cartoonists are who wish to comply with your suggestion. We all would like very much to be able to do this, but each of us is afraid that it would look like we were patronizing our Negro friends.
I don’t know what the solution is.
Far from being discouraged by Schulz’s negative reply, Harriet Glickman saw in it a ray of hope. She wrote again to Schulz, asking for permission to show his letter to some of her African American friends and get their reaction. “Their response may prove useful to you in your thinking on this subject,” she wrote. Schulz replied,
I will be very anxious to hear what your friends think of my reasons for not including a Negro character in the strip. The more I think of the problem, the more I am convinced that it would be wrong for me to do so. I would be very happy to try, but I am sure that I would receive the sort of criticism that would make it appear as if I were doing this in a condescending manner.
***
(THE WORD IS “BAD”)
Elizabeth Wurtzel’s new book is really, what’s the word pic.twitter.com/dYfO9niNeP
— Jia Tolentino (@jiatolentino) February 10, 2015
***
♪ come on lets go to eel city ♫
Tags: link roundup, the internet
However, Burton became visibly emotional when a young deaf woman expressed the profound impact Reading Rainbow had on her as a child. She asked if she might shake his hand, but Burton spread his arms wide and climbed down from the stage to embrace her. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room
no, YOU’RE crying
you are right, I am.
So my awesome dad’s awesome best friend from college is a major supporter of the Kickstarter, and had LeVar Burton over for dinner, and asked him to sign a picture for me because I love LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow so much. And he did, and videotaped himself signing it, and then he looked at the camera and said “Erin, this … is for you!” My dad didn’t tell me that this happened, he just sent me a vimeo link with the message “This is pretty cool.” And so I watched it and BURST INTO TEARS and it was amazing and I love LeVar Burton.
OMG I love LeVar Burton AND I love your dad and his friend! What a wonderful treat!
Ugh, so much. At my desk. So embarrassing.
I am 100% bought into the Levar Burton cult of personality and every time I hear something new about him my estimation of him rises even more. Also he and I share the same birthday.
brb changing my birthday
I met LeVar at a comic con and he was everything you’d want him to be. I was okay in line to get his autograph but when it was my turn I unexpectedly lost my shit. I started to tear up and babble about how much I loved Reading Rainbow and how it’s one of the reasons I’m a librarian (though not a children’s one). He was amazingly sweet and gracious. Ugh. I love him so much.
There was SO MUCH crying at that event. He was wonderful.
AS IF I WASN’T CRYING ALREADY from the clip Mallory posted
LeVar Burton is one of those people whose words almost always make me cry.
He’s just so good, y’know?
Is that book excerpt….is it irony? Or maybe some kind of elaborate joke? Please?
If not, is it a dispatch from Eel City? I’d read a book about how cool Eel City is.
“because they count grains of rice or something”
What.
Elizabeth Wurtzel is a special snowflake.
Isn’t that vampires, anyway?
So much ugh. Seriously, I sometimes want to cut Wurtzel some slack, because she clearly has issues… and then she does/says/writes another thing that just makes me nope out of there.
I recently reread Prozac Nation for the first time since I was 12, and as such could not properly appreciate the long interlude where she brags about having sexually rejected a member of the butthole surfers.
I remain yet unconvinced that she is not engaging in some years-long, extended trolling performance art, a la Joaquin Phoenix or potentially Ann Coulter.
I mean, she is probably not, but I hold out hope for a “Gotcha!” day, because otherwise…
I’d tell you but I’m busy counting grains of rice.
That’s exactly why I did like Boyhood. The small moments, especially Patricia Arquette’s small moments. I think maybe because I’m a parent myself, what made Boyhood good to me was watching the parents grow up more than the kids. And I don’t even like Ethan Hawke.
Yeah, I saw Boyhood on a plane and was surprised at how much I liked it, considering that “male coming-of-age” story is such a boring idea these days. It was so much more about the parents than I expected, and they were really compelling. Especially Patricia Arquette, who is just phenomenal in what is a fantastic role. The way she grows and changes and fucks up and succeeds is something you don’t see in a lot of films.
Yeah, I really liked Boyhood. Are people refusing to see it because it’s a male coming-of-age story? While I also lament the lack of stories told from non-white male perspectives, that’s a separate issue from the quality of the film itself. Furthermore, even though I’m a black woman, there were plenty of moments in the film that I identified with. The Ethan Hawke character was a lot like my own dad. And like you say, there were a lot of small moments of truth in there about what it means to grow up that really resonated with me.
I’m not refusing to see it, but I’m not wildly interested in it.
I’m not seeing it because I worry I’ll bawl my eyes out when I do.
I found it moving in a subtle way, but I didn’t cry. It’s not your typical coming of age film in that it’s quite long (though I liked that) and there are no big, a-ha moments really. It’s just this kid having a fairly typical American upbringing. The storytelling style is rather “naturalistic” but it works. One example (since I don’t want to give away the whole film!): he goes to do an overnight visit at a college and there’s a scene where he and his gf are at a bar and later a diner, and it’s so obvious from their movements and their reactions that this is a new and exciting thing for them. That resonated a lot with me; that feeling of being kind of on the cusp of adulthood and freedom. There’s no sweeping score to indicate that this.is.a.moment, it just kind of happens. It’s has this pseudo-documentary thing going that I really liked.
That was the first time in ages (maybe since Before Sunset or whichever the second movie in that series was) that I could stand a character Hawke played. Linklater is on a role and Patricia Arquette’s last scene is a total heartbreaker. Loved that movie.
Link roundup links to School Library Journal. All my worlds are colliding…
I wanted to go to ALA-MW so bad when I found out that Levar Burton AND Cornel West would be there. Couldn’t afford it 🙁
Having just done a google image search for “deep sea eel” I am afraid I must politely decline your invitation to go to Eel City with you, Mallory.
It is surrounded by the “moat of death”, so I think you made the right decision. (also cutthroat eels??)
If this is a clever Loretta Lynn reference, it is extremely subtle and clever.
If it is not, you need to see this movie. (no eels) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgylOni0JSI
I’ll go see ‘Boyhood’ after some woman is funded to make ‘Girlhood’ so I can view them as companion pieces.
While I would definitely support a movie like that, Boyhood really did feel universal to me. I grew up in circumstances about as different as possible from the main character, but I still felt that the story was extremely relevant to my life and was beautiful. It’s an extraordinary film and I recommend you not wait 12-15 years for someone to put together a female version. I doubt you’d regret it.
I’m not usually that impressed by autographs, but when I got my Reading Rainbow backer package, I held up the autographed book and said to my husband, “LeVar Burton touched this .”
Oh and screw that Mary Worth guy.
Yup. And the Dennis the Menace guy.
Yeah I posted before I scrolled down that far. WTF comic strip authors?
Glad Charles Schultz held firm though. I always really loved the Peanuts in a nostalgic way. They make me feel safe and content.
I can’t think of anything that makes me feel more safe and content than the Charlie Brown Christmas special. And I don’t even like Christmas!
Right!?!
Anyway, who reads Mary Worth?
The Comics Curmudgeon.
WE BUILT EEL CITY!
WE BUILT EEL CITY! ON LOTS OF EELS, BUILT EEL CITY!!
WE BUILT EEL CITY ON LOTS OF EE–EEEEEEEEEEEEEEELS!
Thank you Eel City, Mallory Ortberg and Jefferson STARSHIP (ugh) for this new song that will be in my head all day.
A you’ve been bubblin’ your brags around town
That you’ve been a fishin’ my man
But the man I love, when he picks up bait
He puts it in a garbage can
And that’s what a you look like to me
And what I see’s a pity
You better hold your breath and swim outta my way
If you don’t wanna go to Eel City
If you don’t wanna go to Eel City
You better detour around my town
‘Cause I’ll grab you by the tip of a fin
And I’ll float a you off a the ground
I’m not a sayin’ my baby’s a saint ’cause he ain’t
And that he won’t swim around with a fishy
I’m here to tell you gal to lay off a my man
If you don’t wanna go to Eel City
Loretta Lynn Everyone! http://youtu.be/YgylOni0JSI
This is so so so beautiful.
<3 <3 <3
Great, now Guns ‘n’ Roses are stuck in my head:
Take me down
To the Pumice Stone City
Where the vents will steam
And the eels are slippery
Oooh won’t you please take me home
On the way to Eel City, can we visit the White Shark Cafe? http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/National-Wi…
re. list of women who have led revolts: Trung sisters! Trung sisters! wooooooooooooo
BTW, bc of some weirdly misplaced sense of ethnic pride (see above) I’m generally not “woooooo the Chinese!” but shit, Elizabeth Wurtzel, are you just completely ignorant of any example of Chinese art and literature from the past four millenia?
I’m going to go out on a limb here and Say No. And also extend that to the cultural outputs of the entirety of Asia and Africa and Central and South America. And probably pre-contact North America as well.
And also the cultural outputs of the parts of Europe that aren’t medieval-and-afterwards Western Europe.
Hmm, well this is embarrassing: I had her confused with the woman who wrote “Eat Pray Love” so I was doubly like “AND YOU HAVE TRAVELED THE WORLD, WTF.”
But still, I’m not as embarrassed as she should be!
I AM JUST NOW REALIZING I WAS SIMILARLY CONFUSED
I checked the byline on that Patricia Arquette article after I read it and was not in the least surprised to see it was a woman.
“come on let’s all go to eel city, eel city is the safest place to be”
After shoveling my way through two feet of snow in the last two weeks, I wouldn’t mind living in a hydrothermal vent in a volcano right about now…
right?! the article’s like, “why would eels move somewhere warmer???”. i’m no *scientist* but maybe because: warmer.
A few years ago, as an adult, I got to go see LeVar Burton read a picture book about space travel aloud. It was the best.
I love LeVar Burton SO MUCH that I fear anything happening ever to destroy my vision of him as the man who made me love reading. Luckily, every interview I’ve ever heard with him has made me love him even more. If you can track down his episode of “Girl on Guy” with Aisha Tyler, DO IT. His life has been fascinating and he’s a genuinely amazing person.
tl;dr LEVAR BURTON IS PRECIOUS AND MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS
I’ll even link to it: http://girlonguy.net/podcast/girl-on-guy-104-leva…
It’s AMAZING.
His interview on The Nerdist podcast was one of the best things I’ve ever heard. He speaks really eloquently about Kunta Kinte and what that role means to him, and is extremely patient when Matt Mira starts being really really weird in a very Trekkie-specific way at him.
Also, Aisha Tyler is a national treasure.
hell yes
AMEN!
So you would pretty much be exactly like Troy on Community if you met him? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhOG3XwX9Yw
“My third wish would be for a million wishes, but I’d just use them all on a million signed photos of LeVar Burton.”
YOU CAN’T DISAPPOINT A PICTURE! *sobbing*
I’m almost embarassed to admit that Community is my only association with LeVar Burton. (I wasn’t allowed to watch much TV, growing up.)
Faking knowledge of the 1980s and 1990s pop culture based off of contemporary TV shows is totally legitimate. I do it all the time.
My Dad read a book called “The Plug-in Drug” in the 1980s, and our TV was boxed up for years. It only came into use again when my family succumbed to Star Trek: TNG’s appeal.
wait, are you my niece?
No, but it’s nice to know I wasn’t the only one whose childhood was blighted by that book.
My all time favorite episode. I quote the “Never meet your heroes/You can’t disappoint a picture” line to my confused friends all. the. time.
I just did a rewatch of the first two seasons and this one is so great. I love how that episode is all ~~drama~~ like, Community-style tongue in cheek meta drama – but the LeVar Burton scenes are TOTALLY GENUINELY EMOTIONAL.
“More fish for Kunta.”
“And they were quickly eaten…by eels!”
https://screen.yahoo.com/bear-city-drinking-00000…
A dude took me to see Boyhood on a date and I was prepared to hate it and think it was super eyerolly but i actually really liked it. It was such a calming movie that I found it really nice to watch. Patricia Arquette was great in it but I liked the boy kid too especially when he was young. I found him annoying in his teenage years but that’s true to life too.
Housemate: “Look, I know the past week’s been a pain, but you can -”
Me: Eel City.
“I just don’t think….I mean, you’ll be fine. You’ve got a lot on your plate but-”
EEL CITY.
I kick over the table, and with tears in my eyes I turn to gaze at the distant horizon. The wind stirs and whispers “come on let’s all go…”
Eel city bitch, eel city sea-witch
Ten ten ten shrimpies on ya seashells bitch
“However, Burton became visibly emotional when a young deaf woman expressed the profound impact Reading Rainbow had on her as a child. She asked if she might shake his hand, but Burton spread his arms wide and climbed down from the stage to embrace her. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.”
Well, I just teared up.
Off-topic: THERE WERE WOMEN IN THE ROMAN MILITARY BUT ARCHAEOLOGISTS IGNORED THEM FOR YEARS
Never off-topic for The Toast.
But even in that article it’s like, “well obviously they weren’t fighting, though!” and, I mean, probably? But if you just totally revolutionized our view of the Roman military, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to say “we had it wrong before, but we definitely have it right now, no question!” But! Still glad someone is finally saying this stuff.
This does not surprise me, but it makes me angry nonetheless: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/02/10/t…
UGH
Related ugh: this letter to Dear Prudence– http://www.slate.com/articles/life/dear_prudence/…
Maybe I’m just awesome at playing the man’s game (or in denial and don’t have an eye for sexism?).
Yes, that is it, you are just awesome at playing a man’s game and that there are no other female candidates who are as awesome as you.
The part where she writes back in and it becomes obvious that she’s not actually dealing with these people in real life but rather arguing with them on Tumblr!!!! What. Lady.
She must have been in the special section of tumblr that MRAs are always pointing to, full of SJWs and manhaters and harassers and whatnot. I always try to find this section of Tumblr, but all I can find are pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch.
Think is, I know this girl, in the sense that when I was still doing physics research I knew a girl just like her. It’s the “I’m the one special one”-feeling. I do believe she truly doesn’t see any sexism. I also think it’s likely she has blinders on.
She’s also pretty young. If she got her PhD before entering the workforce she probably hasn’t been working for more than a couple of years and my experience and most of my friends’ experience with sexism in science is that as a woman you’ll do just fine as the junior person/bright young thing who the men can “explain” thing to and order around, most of the trouble comes when you try and move on to being a intermediate/senior person and have trouble getting men to accept that you are competent and experienced.
Yeah also duh not everyone’s experiences with sexism are the same but people don’t usually get pissed at you for not sharing their experiences unless you are a jerk who implies that you are immune because you are better than everyone else, as the letter-writer did
I don’t even hate the advice, except that it takes the letter at face value. People being jerks for a “debate” and questioning your experiences? Disengage! Yes, good plan. But I feel like a teacher reading an earnest response to a trick question on the exam.
[fingers crossed for Bad Advisor response]
I don’t know, I guess I’m just not like other girls? Like I really love a bacon cheeseburger, lol! And I’m really into just, like, drinking a couple of beers and watching the game, you know? I don’t get what the big deal is, but maybe that’s because I have brothers?
Are you a leggy blonde? Have you Lived Internationally?
Most of my friends are guys? Girls are just so much drama all the time, and guys are so much easier, y’know? Like, if they’ve got a problem they’ll just SAY it.
How do you grade MATH on a bias? This makes me so angry. More than in any other field, in math, if you’re correct you’re correct. Either the answer is x=2 or it isn’t. Whaaaaaaaaaat.
I recently watched a thing on Netflix called The Mystery of Eels, which was surprisingly touchy-feely for being a documentary about eels. But it was also pretty good! It turns out we don’t know very much about eels.
I also have to include this, which is worth clicking for the photo caption alone but also for so many other reasons. http://www.thelocal.se/20140808/worlds-oldest-eel…
That caption just made my morning.
so the article is charming, but for some reason i thought you liked the title…and I thought eh?
and then I read that photo caption 😀
I found that documentary so disappointing! I wanted Hard Science About Soft Fish but instead I got some annoying whitebread artist dude talking about his weird paintings a bunch.
OMG I also had the exact same experience but I turned it off in one of the first scenes when he was USING A DEAD EEL TO PAINT WITH WHO DOES THAT YOU FUCKING WEIRDO
Like I get that painting with fish is a time-honored tradition in Japanese art, we did it with kids at the museum summer camp I used to intern in, but dude, you’re from Connecticut. Maybe let someone who’s, y’know, Japanese or whatever talk about gyotaku?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyotaku
Well and the thing is — I had no idea this was even a thing because it was presented as just, you know, White Guy Paints With Dead Fish Like He Invented It. The whole thing gives me the willies though — I don’t like touching fish 🙁
Are you sure that dude wasn’t secretly Brian Topp from Spaced?
Brian: I’m working Tim, working. Do you understand?
Tim: No, sorry. Got me there.
Brian: Trying… to…avoid…clichés by not actually placing my brush on the canvas.
Tim: Wow. Right.
Brian: I’m using my penis.
Tim: Finally.
*drawls* Briiiiiian.
Yeah I was kind of weirded out by the guy but I was also pleased that this person is SO INTO EELS
Hard Science About Soft Fish A+++ would watch/read/subscribe/anything
Touchy-feely
I found the article on Ramanujan heartbreaking as I cant stop picture him freezing alone in a drafty dorm, wasting a way and so far from everything that is familiar.
At least he got to return to India before he died!
I am choosing to believe the “he was a time traveller all along” theory (even if I find it a bit disparaging to his genius)
TOASTS, I know this is not the open thread but I have just been on an emotional rollercoaster!
My mom emailed me to say that my SIL was in the hospital*. She’s pregnant, so I called my brother expecting the worst. He said she had to have an emergency c-section due to pre-eclampsia; she and the baby are both fine, except the baby has to spend a few weeks in the NICU because he was born at 31 weeks. (He kind of looks like my dad, though I guess it’s too early to tell since he’s mostly just small and red and wrinkly.)
I’M AN AUNT!
31-week-preemies have a pretty good outlook, right?
*making this the second time in 10 months that a member of my immediate family emailed me to say another member of my immediate family was in the hospital, people need to knock this shit off
I think everything will be fine! My cousin also had an emergency c-section for pre-eclampsia about the same amount of weeks in. He was teeny tiny and had to be on oxygen for a while, but now he’s almost one and super strong!
Congratulations, Auntie! That kid is so lucky. He gets to grow up with you as a role model.
Congrats!! 31 weeks is quite respectable, try not to worry too much!
congratulations and good luck!
Many congratulations!
31 week preemies have a pretty good outlook, I think. Two friends of mine had a preemie around that age, and 16 months later she’s doing fantastically — strong, curious, and the cuuuuuutest.
Congratulations! Aunthood is awesome.
Also, take solace in the fact that of the (many) healthcare workers I know, the folks that work with preemies are the most badass of the badass. They are all stone-cold rock stars.
Congratulations!
My mother likes to send emails with just the person as the subject line and then inside a good OR bad news suprise. For instance:
Subject: Your Cousin Mel
Body: Won a medal at the state fair
Subject: Professor Jones
Body: Died in a firey plan crash. I’m getting flowers sent, do you want to share?
Subject: Your dad
Body: found some socks in the guest room. They’re zebra print, are they yours?
(A:yes obviosly they’re mine)
I do not like this method.
thank god I’m alone in this room because the wheezing gasps of chortles of snorts of laughter emitting from my body are disturbing even to me.
No that is terrible. My mom at least calls me, but she will say, so, I have some news. And then pause, and then say, well, your uncle… well. He [call last week] [got hit by a car] [just won the lottery].
It’s quite stressful.
My mom once called me and opened with “Your dad got hit by a car.” After I said, “WHAT?!” she went on to explain that my father had been driving a rental car in St. Louis and another driver had side-swiped him at an intersection and everything was totally fine. I’m still not sure I have fully forgiven her for that.
MOTHERS!
My mom does something similar. She’ll call and leave a voicemail that just says, “Hey [StillT]. It’s mom. Just, umm… *deep breath* have some things to tell you. Please call me back as soon as you can.”
So I’ll call in a panic like, “Oh my god is everything OK?!” and it’s “I saw your elementary school teacher at the store today. She’s doing great and said to say hello.”
My mom regularly includes the words “from mom” in the subject lines of her emails and at the end of her text messages.
I’ve given up trying to explain
Happy Aunthood!!
Good outlook, indeed, and it’s great to hear baby & mom are both well. Best wishes to all!
Yay, that’s so exciting! Congratulations! Being an aunt is awesome!
(Also, I agree on the whole ‘e-mail for hospitalizations’ trend — hospital news is a phone call thing! Or at least a text message)
Mazel tov! Best wishes for you and your SIL and your nephew! <3
I think you’ll all be fine, my brother was a 31 week teeny premie (there’s a picture of him dwarfed by my teddy bear and everything) and now he outpaces me at a giant 6’3″ so 🙂
And congratulations, Ms. Aunt!
Congratulations on your aunthood!
NICU Nurse here – 31 weeks is, as Mrs Peel said, very respectable. Yay!
That’s great to hear 🙂
I know this must be very much a YMMV situation but how long do 31-week preemies stay in the NICU on average? A few days? Weeks?
It definitely is a ymmv situation, as it totally depends on the bean (technical term for baby). Yet, the guesstimating rule of thumb is that he could stay until he would be full term, which is 40 weeks. So, a 31-weeker might stay for 8-9 weeks. HOWEVER, in real life, it doesn’t have to take that long. Once he is gaining good weight, can eat on his own (bottle/breast or combination), keep himself oxygenated in room air when awake and asleep, and fit into a car seat safely, he’ll be good to go. I suspect that he is looking at weeks rather than days. Sorry this is not more helpful. It’s totally bean-dependent. I hope mom and baby are doing well!
Toastie moms of preemies, what has been your experience?
Keep us posted and Enjoy your Auntie-ness. 🙂
Congrats on Aunt-hood!! Is this your first time at the aunting gig? Because if it is, you get to choose your aunty name which is kind of like choosing your superhero name. Which is excellent fun.
Mine is Aunty Gravity.
Also sometimes you get to be the bad aunt, and feed them ice cream and give them toys that make noise.
>>I will be very anxious to hear what your friends think of my reasons for not including a Negro character in the strip. The more I think of the problem, the more I am convinced that it would be wrong for me to do so. I would be very happy to try, but I am sure that I would receive the sort of criticism that would make it appear as if I were doing this in a condescending manner
Oh FFS, DO IT! Get criticised! Do it anyway! Criticism will not kill you!
I used to have sympathy for this kind of “but if I, as a privileged person, attempt to represent not-privileged-person, I mght do it wrong and get criticised!” until I realised what a stupid manifestation of privilege it is to think you can do something perfectly and get no criticism at all, and that that’s the only thing that makes it worth doing. When a not-privileged prison represents their group, they get criticised left, right and centre: for doing it at all, for doing it wrong, and you have all the voices in your head telling you you shouldn’t be doing it at all. It’s ok to be criticised!
Charles Schulz is dead
That deeply silly Elizabeth Wurstzel quote makes me even more excited to read The Three-Body Problem, the very popular (in China) science fiction novel by Cixin Liu (translated by Ken Liu). The idea that we (USians) are inherently more creative is so terrible and wrong.
This is on my library holds list and I am SO excited to read it!
1. Thank you for the book recommendation, I have added it to my goodreads to-read list. 2. Right? Lol at the idea that American teenagers are the only ones creative enough to be making apps.
I gave to my mother for Christmas (Mom is a. a huge sci-fi fan, and b. a mildly chauvinistic Chinese-American, so this is doubly exciting for her). I am greatly looking forward to her review.
I liked the Patricia Arquette interview. I have to say it was a little stressful reading about her financial situation — I mean, just that if a well-known Oscar nominated actress stresses about her finances, what does that mean for the rest of us? -sigh
It’s all about what you do with your money, though. 🙂
Toasties, I think this article on women, weightlifting, and femininity may be interest to some of you: http://maisonneuve.org/article/2015/01/29/making-…
This rules. Sending it to the club.
As sad as it is that we have to talk to children about depression at all, I wouldn’t trust too many people to do it wisely… other than people like LeVar Burton. I may have to buy the book for… a friend.
The Ramanujan article is so weird and so mystical and breathless but damn, what a fascinating story.
Yeah I just finished it and am kind of reeling. I especially loved the mathematical explanation of Hinduism…it’s so powerful and beautiful.
Yeah, and I was especially glad the author also included the stuff about math and Christianity to clarify what was being contrasted with Hinduism (and make it clear how everyone is working within peculiar cultural constraints). I never thought very much about religious vs. mathematical infinity before.
Congratulations!
I know it’s really really mean to say that somebody “peaked,” but really, Elizabeth Wurtzel is what happens when you peak at 26.
Congratulations on aunthood!
Mine were 32 weeks, emergency c-section, four weeks in the NICU with cpap and IVs and g-tubes. Now they’re 22 months and climbing the walls and eating us out of house and home. Y’all should be fine!
Do we do other links here? I need to do another link here. I saw this: http://www.bustle.com/articles/63368-whats-it-lik…
And I have questions. 1) Bustle, why you perpetrate outdated definitions of “losing virginity?” 2) Did this writer *want* to have this sex? I am not here to tell them what to do/not do with their bodies, but wow nothing about that article made me feel comfortable.
🙁
Wow, yeah, that article raises a lot of questions about the writer and her experience, and maybe she doesn’t want to share the answers to those questions, but I’m feeling kind of unsettled knowing nothing about her except this story. Like how the best parts of her virginity-losing experience were watching Discovery Channel and her partner not getting mad at her for bleeding.
I definitely don’t think she owes the random denizens of the internet any answers, but yes, I would very much like to take her out for coffee and ask if she wants to talk.
I am so glad that you posted the article on Peanut’s Franklin. It’s a very compelling case study on trying to be an ally. I’m still not sure if what happened couldn’t have been done better (that would be an interesting discussion), but from the article Schulz seemed to be very thoughtful about the matter.
As a white person who last read Peanuts when I was a child, I started reading this article thinking that Peanuts had never had a black character. Only after reading the article a bit and seeing the strips did I remember Franklin. When I think about that, his presence does seem a bit double-edged: he fit into the group so seamlessly that I had never noticed his race, but at the same time he wasn’t prominent enough for me to truly remember. Perhaps this was due to his perfection, or perhaps it was because he wasn’t featured enough?
The most original denial of sexism I’ve ever seen:
http://shitmyreviewerssay.tumblr.com/post/1106397…
“The authors do not control for the height of their subjects in their experiment. What they call prejudice against women may be argued to be prejudice against shorter people.”
“Were some of those women wearing striped shirts? The authors may actually be encountering prejudice against striped shirts.”
I’m so conflicted, because on the one hand LeVar Burton is generally excellent and I really want to admire him unreservedly.
On the other hand, are we all just pretending he didn’t act the way he did when Philip Seymour Hoffman died? Like, is there a section of his children’s book about the stigma of mental illness that’s just screenshots of his own twitter feed?
aah, I was just thinking in the background “wait didn’t he do something…not perfect at some point? Say something mean or insensitive? What was it?” So I guess…yes? Although I thought he apologized for that.
Admiring anyone unreservedly is just setting yourself up for disappointment, in my experience.
i think about it sometimes, how lucky i was to have a television show nearly every day that celebrated reading, and introduced me to stories from all around the world about all different kinds of people, that offered me a glimpse into everything from fish markets to human-powered land vehicles to symphonic orchestras—and it was all hosted and narrated and explained and produced with great kindness and humor by a young black man.
ugh i’m getting all verklempt just thinking about it. i love levar burton. he was a role model for me growing up, and he still is.
One last thing RE: Boyhood, the fact that it’s just shy of three hours long is insane. It flew by and didn’t feel that long at all. Some ridiculously excellent editing.
So this book just showed up in my Amazon recommendations and it seems like the Toastiest book ever, so I figured I’d share.
The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories http://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Lesbian-Horse-Stor…
Regarding Franklin: one of my best friends credits the presence of that character for helping him (in his words) “be the lone black kid amongst the whites” when he was younger.
I used to live near the town of Ely in Cambridgeshire and was delighted to learn that it is named for the fact that before the fens were drained it was basically an island in a sea of eels. They used to pay their taxes in eels. Now THAT is an eel city. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/her…
So, I am a math graduate student, and would be very enthusiastic about talking about/ answering any questions about the Ramanujan article! For what it’s worth, I enjoyed it though I found it a little extravagant.
Thank you, I am going to take you up on this offer!
To the left and the right, the train tracks vanished in the distance. Imagine the number line. In the middle is zero, the origin. To the right lie the positive numbers; to the left, the negative numbers.
I think I get this bit.
They go on forever in both directions, with an infinity at each end.
I also think I get this bit.
Between them, as though between the terminals of a battery, the numbers leap into existence.
What does he mean, leap into existence? Do I not know enough about batteries? Is this just an overblown way of saying, “are there”? (if yes I will be disappointed but I had no such psychedelic experience on antimalarials so would not be totally shocked either)
I might have other questions arising for you answer and also, have you considered writing a gal science piece about maths? I really like reading about maths (from a point of pretty obvious ignorance) and I am sure lots of other people do also.
So, distressingly, I think you’re probably right about him just meaning ‘are there.’ Here is an alternate (though almost certainly not what he meant) interpretation, though-
If you’re thinking about the number line as just a line, without the markings, then you could stretch it or squish it or slide it over and still see exactly the same line. So from this point of view, there’s nothing really special about 1 or 2 or even 0- you could slide any of them over without changing your picture. But, the thing you really can’t change easily is going off to infinity in either direction- moving to the right and moving to the left are still meaningful concepts. So positive infinity wayyy off at the right and negative infinity off to the left are the most important things (like the two ends of a battery), and what we see as the real numbers is just what they pull taut in between them (the same way that electricity is a flow of current in some direction rather than a static thing*.)
That is my totally hand-wave-y maybe analogy- I’m not sure if it will make sense to anyone not in my brain.
I have thought about doing a piece about math, but I’m pretty unsure of what people would like to hear about. I can definitely talk about math (even math with very low barrier to understanding!) indefinitely, and there are endless stories of bizarre mathematicians, and possibly people would be interested in hearing about how new math gets built.
*Um, except for static electricity, I guess. Physics is not my strength.
both the original quote and your reification are lovely – thank you!
I would LOVE to hear about how new maths is built! It is a source of ongoing fascination to me that there is a subject where, at an advanced level, you need to find out things that will always be true and have always been true but noone figured it out before.
Thank you for your lovely explanation of that quotation as well.
Congrats on Aunt-hood!! Is this your first time at the aunting gig? Because if it is, you get to choose your aunty name which is kind of like choosing your superhero name. Which is excellent fun.
Mine is Aunty Gravity.
Also sometimes you get to be the bad aunt, and feed them ice cream and give them toys that make noise.
Also this took place in rather a different political climate.
both the original quote and your reification are lovely – thank you!
There was a play about Ramanujan, produced by theatre de complicite in the UK called A Disappearing Number, there was also a radio play on bbc radio 4 from the same script which was pretty hypnotic to hear on a long drive.