Welcome to my new adventure to close out the year! I'm taking every theme from the figbarf page on Instagram and posting at least one figure per theme, since I feel bad for not keeping up the whole year and I like a challenge lol. As a way to guide myself, I also picked a theme from each group that would be the overarching theme, with this overall theme being Ships, Crews, & Captains. Hope y'all enjoy these!

 

Left to right:

 

#figbarf31 - Clones, Duplicates, & Doppelgangers: Captain Rex (The Clone Wars)

#figbarf32 - Fairy Tales: Captain Hook (Peter Pan)

#figbarf33 - Different Timelines, Parallel Worlds, & Alternate Realities: Captain Kirk (Star Trek Beyond)

#figbarf34 - Martial Arts: Master Wu (Ninjago)

#figbarf35 - Ships, Crews, & Captains: Captain Atom (DC)

A: The first one. His name is Phillips, Samuel but they call him Hush.

CIA afilliate, observation, detection, long range arms specialist. Numerous reported missions and even more unreported. 87 Confirmed Kills, including political leaders, rebels, troublemakers. But who knows how many he actually silenced.

B: The second one?

 

--------------------

 

Hey everyone :D

While I am still working on the "Infiltration" Moc I showed last time, this is actually part of a story that will lead up to said Moc. Telling an overarching story over multiple Mocs is something I wanted to try since I created my Flickr account and I am looking forward to finally approach such a project!

Stay tuned, I will try to regularly expand on that storyline and I have quite the number of interesting builds in mind. :D

Dualism can mean the tendency of humans to perceive and understand the world as being divided into two overarching categories. However that definition is considered a tad controversial. In this sense, it is dualistic when one perceives a tree as a thing separate from everything surrounding it, or when one perceives a "self" that is distinct from the rest of the world. In traditions such as classical Hinduism, Zen Buddhism or Islamic Sufism, a key to enlightenment is "transcending" this sort of dualistic thinking, without merely substituting dualism with monism or pluralism.

 

I'm quoting the above from Wikipedia. I really like the theme for this week because there's so many interpretations. If you're still wondering, this week's theme is "DUALISM". Please check out the Macro Monday pool.

 

So how is the image above related?? To me it's simple and I believe it fits the subject of photography well. The bottle cap here is in focus and the bottle (body) is out of focus. I thought I'd make it simple again so there you go. Happy MM everyone!

- www.kevin-palmer.com - I've seen pictures taken from this arch above Bighorn Canyon, but I've never been able to locate it until now. And it's not too difficult to reach. Compositions are limited because of the way the arch is set against the cliff and you can't get very far back. Just as I started to leave, the sky unexpectedly took on a pink glow and I ran back to the arch to capture the color before it faded away.

The head office of the International Olympic Committee In Lausanne, Switzerland.

 

Checking Wikipedia made me laugh, as there's a warning on this page saying the neutrality of this article is disputed.

 

Why am I not surprised?

 

The IOC itself states on its website:

 

"Designed to reflect the IOC’s overarching mission to make the world a better place through sport and the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020, Olympic House brings together the IOC staff – 500 employees previously spread across Lausanne in four locations – under one roof. It is an investment by the IOC in sustainability, one of the three pillars of Olympic Agenda 2020."

 

Well...

Welcome to my new adventure to close out the year! I'm taking every theme from the figbarf page on Instagram and posting at least one figure per theme, since I feel bad for not keeping up the whole year and I like a challenge lol. As a way to guide myself, I also picked a theme from each group that would be the overarching theme - so for this first one I picked Classic LEGO Themes, so the first fig will be a Bounty Hunter / Hitman from a classic LEGO theme, and the rest follow. This also makes the entire thing pretty close to counting as #5kfigbarf posts... which was not really on purpose but definitely works as good way to end the year since that was a big part of 2021 for me haha

 

Hope y'all enjoy these!

 

Left to right:

 

#figbarf1 - Bounty Hunters & Hitmen: Boba Fett (The Mandalorian 1999 version)

#figbarf2 - Wild West: Bandit 3 from the Western Cowboys theme

#figbarf3 - Robots & Androids: Exploriens Droid

#figbarf4 - Fantasy Movies & TV: Harry Potter (2001 upgrade)

#figbarf5 - Classic LEGO Themes: Dr. Kilroy from Adventurers

Super Multi Coated Takumar 35mm f3.5 with Sony A7RIII

Color Tales

 

14/17

 

The project should deal with colors and their effect on well-being, feelings, expression and thus on human psychology. When I realized that there was so much more to tell through this project, I began to develop it into an overarching concept. The language of images should not only shed light on the linear theories of the psychological effects of colors. The pictures with the help of the language of colors should tell a story, describe a situation, let thoughts wander into the future or the past, inspire our fantasies.

 

I used milk, acrylic paint, liquid soap and oil to create this amazing arts.

 

Every picture tells a story, but I desided not to explane the story behinde each one, but invite you to give your own meaning and your own feelings when you look at the picture. I belive that makes more fun:)

 

Enjoi it and I hope you’ll like it.

 

PS: have a good time and take care!

 

"short films – …and then we‘ll call it even"

  

In the silent arena of our minds, where thoughts dance like invisible actors, a profound equality among us all is revealed. These inner conflicts, which do not manifest themselves in the outside world, are the invisible threads that weave the fabric of human existence. They are the silent struggles that each of us, regardless of gender or external circumstances, wages in the depths of our souls. These inner struggles are not mere challenges, but essential components of human existence that initiate us into the mysteries of life.

  

Every person faces their own inner battles, which are unique in their intensity and significance. These psychological struggles cannot be compared, as they are an expression of each individual's journey through the depths of consciousness. They are the touchstones that shape us and lead us to explore the limits of our being. Overcoming these inner conflicts holds the possibility of growth, transformation, and enlightenment.

  

The pursuit of overcoming these inner struggles is a deeply personal and often solitary journey. It challenges us to look into the darkness within ourselves and find the glimmers of light that guide us. In this inner argument lies the chance to discover the essence of our being and strengthen the connection to our true self. Thus, these inner conflicts are not only tests, but also invitations to self-knowledge and spiritual development.

  

youtu.be/Ab98XBcD-ME?si=U-7jISjKbOlRYvQW

  

I kept this series practically closed as a self-portrait series for a very long time. I think it’s time to open it up and at the same time connect it to my overarching theme, the portraits.

  

As a rule, these are long exposure shots with exposure times varying between 2 and 30 seconds. In this case 6 seconds. They are series that deal with a range of human feelings and thoughts. They deal with desire, loss, regret and pain and the attempt to process all of this.

Dream of the River by Glen Andersen was installed in 2016 at the foot of No. 2 Road at the Fraser River in Steveston.

 

Description of Work:

“Dream of the River” sculpture is in the form of ribs of a full size (30’) half-built fishing boat with concrete salmon vertebrae forming the keel.

 

The ribs are structural steel tubes welded to a spinal core hidden inside the vertebrae (themselves under-formed with polystyrene).

 

The ribs also resemble ribs of a salmon The concrete is white, patterned with a boney texture and the pipes are rust-patinated steel.

 

The sculpture is perched on a grass berm overlooking the Fraser River.

 

Artist Statement:

Designed and built to resemble an archaic relic, “Dream of the River” is a surrealist folly, wherein a full-size fishing boat “skeleton” is visually married to a salmon backbone.

 

It conjures the primeval and the not-so-distant industrial pasts of its riverside setting and conflates them into a vision akin to what might have been witnessed by the unseen spirit of the river itself.

 

Much art and history about Steveston valourizes human activities while the ancient mystery of the salmon themselves is underrepresented. Thus salmon vertebrae form the keel.

 

The general site was occupied by boat-builders (Japanese-owned, 1950-1976), fish-packers, and fishermen, whose activities were essentially built on the backs of the salmon migrating upriver.

 

Boat scale and profile are modeled after a 1951 West Coast Trawler of the type built nearby.

 

The half-built vessel also references the fact that many Japanese boat builders had to abandon their projects in 1942 prior to their expulsion/internment.

 

It is meant to be an interactive work, and viewers of all ages are encouraged to climb it, much as one might do upon discovering a gigantic whale skeleton, or an old boat.

 

Glen Andersen Biography:

Glen Andersen is a Richmond-based artist specializing in public and community art with a focus on plaza enhancements using mosaics of tile and pebble.

 

Andersen has been engaged in this realm of activity since 1995, with prior focus on independent film-making and art-based activism on issues related to land-use. At heart he is a surrealist, blending the visible with the invisible.

 

Andersen's public artworks are designed to respond to a site’s geographic and historical specificity, conjuring invisible or buried aspects of a given location, targeting the viewer’s imagination as a way to deeper understanding of place.

 

This means that the overarching (and underlying) natural context of the location (often buried by urbanization) is foregrounded in the imagery, materials and metaphors used.

 

Since moving to Richmond in 2008, Andersen has come to appreciate the uniqueness of this place, with its natural and agricultural origins and is applying his philosophy and strategies of public art here when opportunities arise.

 

Asahi Pentax | 50mm f2 | Ektar 100

 

Part of a series that I think came out quite well. No message, or overarching theme, just twenty minutes of me idly taking pictures while the other interns went about their work.

 

The set.

Welcome to my new adventure to close out the year! I'm taking every theme from the figbarf page on Instagram and posting at least one figure per theme, since I feel bad for not keeping up the whole year and I like a challenge lol. As a way to guide myself, I also picked a theme from each group that would be the overarching theme, with this overall theme being Heroes & Sidekicks. Hope y'all enjoy these!

 

Left to right:

 

#figbarf16 - Heroes & Sidekicks: Robin

#figbarf17 - Time Travelers: Rose Tyler

#figbarf18 - Star Wars: Chewbacca and C-3PO (bonus two sidekicks!)

#figbarf19 - Detectives & Sleuths: Dr. John Watson

#figbarf20 - Medieval Fantasy: Mort, working as Death

DSC_0078-001

Poem.

 

Quintessentially Scotland, wrapped in a burnt amber autumnal cloak.

Lochan islet overarched by the noble, native Scots Pine.

Rosehips, gorse and sapling silver birch frame a breathless stillness and combine to form the archetypal landscape of Caledonia.

A perfect moment of utter calm where time ceases and beauty overwhelms.

How rare.

How special.

How therapeutic

to mind, body and soul.

 

Grisedale Beck

A slightly closer version in first comment box below. I choose the above for the overarching branch

“In the forest think of the forest, not of this tree and that but the singing movement of the whole,” Carr wrote in her journal in 1935. Her perception of the interrelatedness of all things mark her foresight; this wisdom applies today as we face environmental threat. Carr challenged the notion of nature as commodity, repeatedly pointing to the devastation of clear-cutting in her paintings: contrasting humanity’s destructive work with the overarching presence of the divine in the skies above.

"As part of a three year study that began late summer of 2013, (Glacier) park staff and researchers started to capture mountain goats and fit them with radio collars. The study is part of the overarching Going-to-the-Sun Road Corridor Management Plan and will provide information and inshight into relationships between people and wildlife and how roads can influence these interactions. In the Logan Pass and Highline Trail areas, mountain goats and people interact frequently. This study will help frame a broader understanding of how mountain goats are affected by roads, people, possible predators, and adjacent trails."

According to Park Service literature, the collars are pre programmed to 'fall off' this summer, 'without additional human interaction'.

Welcome to my new adventure to close out the year! I'm taking every theme from the figbarf page on Instagram and posting at least one figure per theme, since I feel bad for not keeping up the whole year and I like a challenge lol. As a way to guide myself, I also picked a theme from each group that would be the overarching theme, with this overall theme being The 1990s. Hope y'all enjoy these!

 

Left to right:

 

#figbarf21 - Mechs, Cyborgs, & Cybernetics: T-800 (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

#figbarf22 - Post-Apocalypse: James Cole (12 Monkeys)

#figbarf23 - PRIDE: Megan (But I'm a Cheerleader)

#figbarf24 - Villains & Henchmen: Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs)

#figbarf25 - The 1990s: Woody (Toy Story)

© Cynthia E. Wood

 

www.cynthiawoodphoto.com | FoundFolios | facebook | Blurb | Instagram @cynthiaewood

Color Tales

 

5/17

 

The project should deal with colors and their effect on well-being, feelings, expression and thus on human psychology. When I realized that there was so much more to tell through this project, I began to develop it into an overarching concept. The language of images should not only shed light on the linear theories of the psychological effects of colors. The pictures with the help of the language of colors should tell a story, describe a situation, let thoughts wander into the future or the past, inspire our fantasies.

 

I used milk, acrylic paint, liquid soap and oil to create this amazing arts.

 

Every picture tells a story, but I desided not to explane the story behinde each one, but invite you to give your own meaning and your own feelings when you look at the picture. I belive that makes more fun:)

 

Enjoi it and I hope you’ll like it.

 

PS: have a good time and take care!

 

My wonderland - @ New Town Eco Park (officially Prakriti Tirtha) - Calcutta, India.

  

Revisited.

  

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All rights reserved. All images contained in this Photostream remain the property of learning.photography and is protected by applicable Copyright Law. Any images from this Photostream may not be reproduced, copied, or used in any way without my written permission.

 

Thanks for your Visit, Comments, Favs and Awards !

 

No private group or multiple group invites please !

 

Those who have not uploaded any photograph yet, or have uploaded a very few photographs, should not mark me Contacts or comment on my photo. I may block them.

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New Town Eco Park (officially Prakriti Tirtha) is an urban park in Rajarhat, Kolkata. The park is situated on a 480 acres (190 ha) plot and will surround a 104 acres (42 ha) waterbody with an island in the middle. The park was conceptualised by Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee in July 2011. West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) is the overarching body coordinating the construction of the park, along with different other government bodies responsible for implementation of different works inside the park. The park has been divided into three broad parts; 1) ecological zones like wetlands, grasslands, and urban forest, 2)theme gardens and open spaces, 3)and urban recreational spaces. The Eco Park will be further divided into different sub-parts according to the different types of fauna planted. The park was inaugurated on 29 December 2012 by Mrs. Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal.

 

Source : Internet

 

The Monastery of Santa Maria d'Alcobaça, north of Lisbon, was founded in the 12th century by King Alfonso I. Its size, the purity of its architectural style, the beauty of the materials and the care with which it was built make this a masterpiece of Cistercian Gothic art. It still retains its authenticity as it has not undergone any major alterations.

 

Restoration projects implemented by national organisations have strictly respected original materials and techniques. In addition, the awareness of the importance of maintaining the physical and intangible authenticity of the property is a fundamental and overarching principle for safeguarding the monument and preserving its specificity and uniqueness.

Color Tales

 

13/17

 

The project should deal with colors and their effect on well-being, feelings, expression and thus on human psychology. When I realized that there was so much more to tell through this project, I began to develop it into an overarching concept. The language of images should not only shed light on the linear theories of the psychological effects of colors. The pictures with the help of the language of colors should tell a story, describe a situation, let thoughts wander into the future or the past, inspire our fantasies.

 

I used milk, acrylic paint, liquid soap and oil to create this amazing arts.

 

Every picture tells a story, but I desided not to explane the story behinde each one, but invite you to give your own meaning and your own feelings when you look at the picture. I belive that makes more fun:)

 

Enjoi it and I hope you’ll like it.

 

PS: have a good time and take care!

 

Carom billiards, sometimes called carambole billiards or simply carambole (and in some cases used as a synonym for the game of straight rail from which many carom games derive), is the overarching title of a family of cue sports generally played on cloth-covered, tables, which often feature heated slate beds. In its simplest form, the object of the game is to score points or "counts" by caroming one's own cue ball off both the opponent's cue ball and the object ball(s) on a single shot. The invention as well as the exact date of origin of carom billiards is somewhat obscure but is thought to be traceable to 18th-century France.

 

The word carom, which simply means any strike and rebound, was in use in reference to billiards by at least 1779 from the french word carambole, which is used to describe the red object ball.

 

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

 

Join us at le chambre verte

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Magritte/223/123/24

Love Benoit & Florens

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

dreamt I cast an overarching path

Of coloured scales

Thriving on the solar rays that play upon

The waning of the storm –

 

Point Nepean National Park, Portsea, Mornington Peninsula, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Last year I decided that I was going to start reading more and I read 255 books. This year, I wanted to up my game a little bit and do more like a reading marathon and ended up the year reading 365 books, a book for every day. Even though I am a pretty athletic person, I can't run because it hurts my knees. I am not as graceful and elegant as I would need to be for professional dance and sports has never interested me. But reading is the one thing I can do and I like to do at the gym, on planes, in bed, and in the bathtub primarily. So, I made an effort to read for a minimum of 2 1/2 hours per day and sometimes ended up reading for more like 4 hours a day on weekends and when I had other days off from work. I didn't read to show off but to escape the reality of our current country's political situation and to learn more about the lives and perspectives of others unlike me. Reading a mixture of novels, nonfiction essays and immigrant stories, collections of poetry and short stories, I read less than 10% of these books by white people and of those 10%, most were by women. I can say that I really enjoyed the vast majority of the books I've read and don't have any significant regrets for this reading marathon.

 

I should also note that, although some of these books did come out in 2019, many did not. The following are my favorite books of this year that I read this year (regardless of their original publication date). I know I am also probably forgetting some and I feel remiss in that too, but I spent hours writing the following (even longer than that reading these) and I hope some of you get some good recommendations of books you might also like to read or can connect with me on a book you have read. Feel free to share your favorites as well! I am highly interested in having conversations about books and finding out about literature I may have had less exposure to living in America.

   

1. Tell Me Who You Are by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi

 

This book is an astounding work that covers so many different states and personal backgrounds to reflect on race in America. If you like Humans of New York, this is a little like that in the sense that it explores what makes us human but it's a great more complex and thorough than that-maybe a Humans of America. The fact that Guo and Vulchi were able to travel all across the US to gain an understanding of so many people and how their race has affected their lives is a daring and meaningful venture in and of itself but it's also clear that they make a concerted effort to explore the things these people like and enjoy so that there's a fuller sense to some things they have in common with others. In addition, the photographs of these people really add to a sense of them. if you do not fall in love with these humans along with this work as a whole, that is a loss for you. We must change in our country. We must develop more empathy and patience. We must be able to listen to others who we think we share nothing in common with and find the things we do share whilst respecting individual differences. This is the only way we will be able to heal and move forward.

 

This book is a masterpiece and should be celebrated in every household across America.

 

www.chooseorg.org/ournewbook

  

2. Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

 

This book is so relevant to what is happening at the border with the unfair treatment of families from Mexico right now in all of our names but it also manages a personal touch with an extended road trip and the link between the mother/protagonist and her own family and how she handles her own children being separated from her. This is a harrowing read, especially because there is truth in the weight of our names as Americans being tied to the deep sins of mistreating other humans. This is also, however a very poetic read, haunting in its lyrical quality and in the way that Luiselli is able to adeptly convey the range of emotions she feels, desperate and distraught but also so very insightful. You will read these pages wit your heart in your throat, worry that if you are not careful, you may actually end of swallowing it.

 

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/03/lost-children-archi...

  

3. Frontier by Can Xue

 

2019 was the year I discovered Can Xue, the experimental fiction author from China who, at first, everyone thought was male as her pen name isn't especially gender specific. Can Xue is not understood fully by probably most people and I myself had to read several sentences over again a few times, especially this work, the most esoteric of what I've read (three novels and one short story collection this year). The imagery is especially potent here and you don't really know exactly what is happening in the way the human form can transform. You really don't know quite what could be actually happening....and what could be a dream or a hallucination. This would be a book I would read at the end of the world cuddled under a blanket and remembering the most imaginative humans could be then hoping there were some creatives still left out in the tundra of the world.

 

www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-mysterious-fronti...

  

4. Though the Arc of the Rainforest by Karen Tei Yamashita

 

Another new author I discovered was Karen Tei Yamashita and, though I also enjoyed reading a collection of her plays entitled Anime Wong, I even more so enjoyed reading this novel. Yamashita is Japanese American but you get more of that specific perspective from her plays. Set between Japan and Brazil, this novel features a very vivid cast of interesting characters not to mention the protagonist that is the rotating ball in front of the Japanese train conductor's head. This is one of the most unique books I have ever read in my life and it's no surprise that the forward is from one of the most highly intelligent authors in the world, Percival Everett. This novel is a real treat and is a riveting surreal adventure.

 

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/karen-tei-yamashita-2/...

  

5. Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

 

I've spent many years not knowing very much at all about the lives of those who live in North Korea, much as the citizens of North Korea have spent their lives knowing not too much about others outside of their country. This non fiction work follows the lives of North Koreans who escape into China and South Korea and manage to be granted refugee status and follows them up until the early 2000s. It's another book that disarms you in its brutality. Demick records the stories of their lives, how they bought into propaganda, and how they started to gather inklings of the truth while they were in their home country. The depth of the poverty and brainwashing is immense from the time that these people are schoolchildren. Even if they were starving, if someone came by and saw that their picture of Kim Jong-il then Kim Jong-un weren't immaculate, they could be taken and forced into a labor camp. If they didn't weep loud enough at the death of Kim Jong-il, they were also suspect and no one could trust their neighbors, who could also very likely be government informants. The only media that they had access to was North Korean and Russian propaganda films and even their literature was greatly restricted. In addition, even having a bowl of rice a day was seen as a great luxury. Many starved to death and were happy to have less mouths to feed in their family. The clothing women could wear was also severely limited. This was (and possibly still in many ways is) a super suppressed society (from the point of view of an American especially.) I'd be curious if anything has changed and what but really what honestly struck me is how the government deliberately misled their citizens into thinking that they were producing things they weren't and that the rest of the world was under the same amount of hardship. This is a government who would rather see their people starve than to stoop to accepting aid from abroad. It's eye opening and terrifying for me to think of the people who have suffered and died under these regimes.

 

www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/03/nothing-envy-korea-...

  

6. The Pretty One by Keah Brown

 

There has been a real paucity in literature of valuable and unique human perspectives and this work of nonfiction is an incredibly valuable addition to the canon of literature as a whole and adds to our collective human empathy and understanding of the range of experiences one can have while being alive. Keah Brown is a woman like none other-honest about the world and her own growth as a human, friend, and twin sister, insightful about the racism and ableism in our current present world and humorous in her observations of pop culture. Keah Brown has a different ability level and many might say she has a disability. I say she has an ability that most other people do not possess and may not ever possess. That doesn’t mean that our physical environment does not need to become more accommodating (it does) and that people don’t need to develop more empathy (they do). But, it does mean that we would all be wise to learn from her perspective.

 

keahbrown.com/

 

www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/disabledandcut...

  

7. Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

 

One of the most astounding books of fiction I read this year was a book that feels incredibly brave and is loosely based on actual incidents that happened in the Rodney King riots of LA. Steph Cha is Korean American but it became widely clear from this novel that she is very invested in promoting healing between the Korean and African American communities. The novel goes back and forth between 1991 and 2019 and explores racism with a deep and personal delving that made me literally at times gasp out loud. There’s a question of human accountability, retribution, and these are treated with care and contentiousness. This is the kind of wholly relevant novel we can all learn something from even despite it being technically fiction. There are still lots of truths to be found here.

 

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steph-cha/your-house-w...

  

8. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Asha Bandele and Patrisse Khan-Cullors

  

If you live in America and are even remotely aware of the racist systems and acts of violence that are committed against those in the African and African American communities, you should be appalled. I can tell you just reading even what is considered to be “liberal” news outlets I am appalled by how quickly and often they show any mug shot of a person of color but (I always call this correctly), when it’s a white terrorist who has committed a hate crime, we don’t see his face for several days or longer. The fact of the matter is, most of the time these acts are not even classified as terrorism and yet they are just as damaging and politically motivated. This book explores the heartache and mobilization of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as the police brutality and death and the systems in place that keep white people especially profiting. One day, I hope to live in a world where all are treated equally but we have a long ways to go and, as a human of privilege in this current world, I believe the only way we’re going to get there is if all people, including white people, advocate for an end to these racist systems and a place of acceptance, love, and respect for everyone in this world. I’m never going to claim I know the fear and the danger and the distrust that one must feel being Black in America but I do feel extreme sadness when I see cops having no accountability for murder, for profit prisons capitalizing on modern day slavery, and a whole range of racism happening in terms of regentrification, lack of funding for public schools in neighborhoods where there are more people of color, food deserts, and other appalling neglectful practices by our own government. It is shameful. There should be reparations. And, even more so, I do believe that the police in this country are currently doing more harm than good and that we should abolish at least 90% of our prisons. (I’d say abolish all but I want there to still be a place for Trump and all his friends.) This is a must read for all humans who want to come to a better understanding of what it takes to make a movement and the real human damage to what has occurred in several cities across America where the blood on our hands cannot ever be washed off.

 

patrissecullors.com/call-terrorist-black-lives-matter-mem...

  

9. Women Talking by Miriam Toews

 

I’ve read several novels by Miriam Toews and, though I have enjoyed all of them, this is one of her stand alone masterpieces. Miriam Toews comes from a Mennonite perspective and often her stories focus on Mennonite life with some personal anecdotes seemingly inserted here and there. This novel feels much different and offers an important aspect of feminism in terms of exploration of the human female mind after the real life events taking place in Bolivia in 2005-2009 when these women were raped consistently by men in their Mennonite community and were basically told by these men that these abuses were not happening and that these women were psychologically unsound. Most books of this nature explore the deep wounds of being a victim. This book offers a different sort of perspective. While still putting a human face to the damage done by men, it focuses more on the action of these women in discussions and meetings to decide how they will solve this problem going forward. Will they kick out the men? Will they leave completely? If they leave, will they take the children including the male children? At what age does a male stay behind? These are complex and very real questions and all choices are intellectually explored with great discussion. It made me feel the strength and empowerment of women vs. another book that would have focused more on these humans as victims instead. Well worth the read!

 

www.npr.org/2019/04/06/709530968/these-women-talking-buil...

  

10. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann

 

This is a daunting read. When I say daunting, I should clarify that while I have read a few 1000+ page novels before, they are usually separated into separate sentences. Ellmann clearly was going for a marathon level of stream of consciousness when she wrote this one. Most of the novel (I’d say 900+ pages of it) are The fact of___ the fact of______ the fact of____ the fact of___ and Ellmann reveals what haunts her the most-Trump and corporations valuing profit over people, gun toting MAGA white terrorists on the loose, poorly built bridges, cops shooting unarmed African Americans, and sort of what I can only say I would consider the collective disease process of being American in this present day. But, there is also the overarching story line of being a mother, a daughter whose mother has passed away of Cancer, remarrying after divorce, and oddly enough being a pie baker. She goes through several harrowing real life incidents in the book where she and her family are put in danger but that doesn’t give us a break from her very loud internal monologue that will suddenly just start listing off facts of films, every city she can think of, and random products. The reader’s only reprieve from this great feat of literature is when we see the perspective of a lioness running from hunters and trying to protect her progeny. I do think this book is worth reading, especially if you can get in the groove and feel the pulse of the first person female protagonist but you do need to obviously put in a huge time and emotional commitment. In order to help things flow more smoothly for you if you decide to take up this challenge as a reader, I suggest reading about 100 pages for 11 days straight or 50 pages a day for 21 days straight. If you do this, you manage to get into a certain groove by page 300 or so. Slowly but surely, all the tangential word salad starts making a weird sort of sense and you begin to really feel for the sense of this woman’s personal story and what she’s going through. Maybe it says something about me that I found her relatable even though I haven’t lost my mom to Cancer, haven’t gone through a divorce, do not have kids, and don’t have a clue how to bake a pie. But, I understand being caught in a state of almost helplessness about what my country has become and what I witness in terms of how people act towards each other. Anyway, a lot of people have abandoned this but it might be the perfect book to add to the next time capsule. Hopefully, things will get better in the new year.

 

www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/can-one-sentence-capt...

  

11. In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero

 

I still haven’t watched the show Orange is the New Black, which stars Diane Guerrero, but I fell in love with her as Jane the Virgin’s good friend/sidekick Lina early on. (You can’t NOT watch Jane the Virgin if you live in Chicago. So many of my co-workers went to high school with Gina Rodriguez and always talk about how nice she was to everyone which is literally the opposite of what most people say about you in high school). That being said, I usually don’t read books just because they are by celebrities but I enjoyed this one as well as America Ferrera’s American Like Me: Reflections of Life Between Cultures and Tiffany Haddish’s The Last Black Unicorn. All three nonfiction autobiographies are worth reading and pondering over but Guerrero’s personal struggle against adversity when she literally came home as a teenager and found herself completely alone after her parents had been deported to Colombia struck a real sense in me of how, first it’s gotten even worse with ICE raids, and second, these children are such victims and we’re not even considering all the collateral human damage of what we do as a country when this happens. I found this autobiography brave, brutally honest, and even at times a little funny but mostly I found this to me about the power of perseverance and not giving up no matter what, not just in the struggle for survival, which was very real for Guerrero, but also in the struggle to do what you love and follow your dreams and actually make it. Guerrero is talented, that is for sure, but she is also a sort of superhero as well in what she has overcome and she has given us all a real gift of letting us glimpse the power of her human spirit.

 

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/diane-guerrero/in-the-...

  

12. A Particular Type of Black Man by Tope Folarin

 

This is a complex portrait of a Nigerian family who immigrates to Utah of all places and it seems like some of this story must be based on Folarin’s own life experience in that he did have a family who immigrated here from Nigeria and spent some time growing up in Utah and other areas that are also mentioned in this book. What makes this book more unique than many immigrant fiction or pseudofiction is the exploration of the human mind and exploration of mental health and illness within the protagonist as well as this family unit. What also makes it worth reading is the sense of a celebration in Nigerian culture vs. complete desertion. There were insights and information in this book that really astounded me, even having lived in this country all my life (though, to be fair I have never been to Utah). Well worth the read!

 

www.npr.org/2019/08/24/751917486/tope-folarin-was-a-parti...

  

13. The Memory Police by Yoko Agawa

 

This is the second full length novel I’ve read by Yoko Agawa (I’ve also read and liked The Housekeeper and the Professor as well as her short story collection entitled Revenge). I enjoyed all three of these works but I liked The Memory Police by far the best…the concept that you slowly lose the memory of everything around you and hold dear and the including literally parts of yourself-limbs, for instance, and that anyone who still has the ability to remember is not safe but is taken and separated from society at the very least is a really intriguing concept but where the book really succeeds is in its exploration of memories in the sense that they make us human and are truly a part of us. It’s also a book within a book as we experience this cruel postmodern society from the protagonist while, at the same time, experience her own protagonist of the horror typewriter story she’s been authoring. I really enjoyed the strong sense of mood and contemplation on the nature of existence.

 

www.npr.org/2019/08/12/749538789/quiet-surreal-drama-and-...

  

14. Revolution Sunday by Wendy Guerra

 

This is a mixed sort of book between prose and poetry with some aspects of experimental fiction as well. One cannot help but fall in love a little bit with Guerra as she travels to Mexico, falls in love with an actor, tries to escape persecution from the Cuban government who are constantly monitoring every move she makes, and above all keeps writing as she attempts to discover the truth of the death of her parents as well as gain a sense of her place in the world as a woman, a poet, a human. Some of these lines of poetry are completely haunting and there’s some real themes in this novel about deconstruction and reconstruction.

 

www.npr.org/2018/12/05/673387723/complicated-challenging-...

 

www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/books/review/wendy-guerra-revo...

  

15. The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

 

Lefteri is British but has worked with immigrants in Athens, which is where this story takes place at least in part. This is a really harrowing fictional account of a Syrian husband and wife who have lost their child and are each coping with it in their own ways (the mother soon after goes blind and the father suffers from delusions and hallucinations). This is also a story about the struggle for survival after witnessing the tragedy-the destruction of your home and everything you love, and the process of immigration to a safer space and country and the real life troubles to be found in these places as well. Oddly enough, I also learned a great deal about bees from this book but I still feel it is more focused on the desperation that people in Syria must feel and trying to get over incidents that have devastated them and should have never happened in the first place. On a personal level, I don’t believe in borders and I’d rather have more Syrians in my own country than horrible rich white men. No thanks!

 

www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/beekeeper-aleppo-novel

  

16. Those Who Wander: America's Lost Street Kids by Vivian Ho

 

America is a country of great wealth but, unfortunately, until our tax structure changes, it is a wealth owned by the very few whose greed is overpowering (I mean, everyone needs a 100th house while the homeless are dying on the streets, right). In California, especially the Bay Area, where this nonfiction work concentrates on, this is even more vividly so. The book explores the reasons behind actual murders that took place but also the desperate conditions that drive people to become homeless, the psychologies behind being homeless, and the resources that are available and kind people who have tried to help. This book is a really difficult read because of the subject matter but it is important that none of us look away and turn our backs on those who struggle. No one should have to live in poverty just so the most affluent people can become more powerful. But, of course, these uber rich are miserable too, you know. They too won’t be free until every other human is free.

 

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/vivian-ho/those-who-wa...

   

18. So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo

 

Oluo is incredible candid and honest not just about racism within our structures such as our for profit prison industrial system but within our daily interactions. She answers some questions white people might be too scared to answer and illuminates other things white people might be oblivious about in terms of their/our own sense of privilege. And she does all of this, I’m guess, with the hope that speaking truth to power will lead us all to be better people regardless of our race and also because communities have suffered because in 2019 (now 2020), white privilege is still very much a thing and is going strong.

 

www.thenationalbookreview.com/features/2018/2/1/pzq0lfjcp...

  

19. Logic in an Illogical World by Eugenia Cheng

 

I wouldn’t call myself a Mathematician by any standards. I can do basic algebra without a calculator and I see the artistic nature of geometry and can read and extrapolate from a variety of graphs but, most of the time, I still prefer art, literature, and music to Mathematics. Still, the one time I became really and truly excited about Math happened when I leared about Mathematical/Logical proofs and Cheng explores the art of proofs within the context of several political arguments relevant to this period of time in our shared human history. She touches on the less controversial to the extreme controversial and offers insights into personality and how she herself has changed when she has thought of an argument or a collection of facts in a different context. This book will help you see multiple points of view and have richer discussions about everything from mandatory voting practices to abortion.

 

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/19/the-art-of-logic-by...

  

20. Making Comics by Lynda Barry

 

Many of the books I have written about have touched me and I have learned a great deal from them but this is one of those books that gave me very concrete ideas about activities to do with children at Chicago Public Schools. Not all of these activities are written to be done with children but many can be adapted and I have found that giving kids a 4-5 minute free draw at the end of my Occupational Therapy sessions not only motivates them to complete other challenges but also addresses a visual motor need they might have. I have really enjoyed tremendously seeing kids draw their favorite monster and also as themselves as an animal in particular. I think drawing can definitely be like dreams….you never truly know exactly what you are thinking and feeling until you let your mind and your hands go across the paper. This book also inspired me in a different way, which is to look at my own drawings not as technically good or bad but as a product of my own mind and spirit and, in that sense, it’s less damaging to me and less frustrating when I can’t draw something exactly how it looks in real life, for example. I loved all the exercises and visual examples in this book! It really can change your life if you let it!

 

www.npr.org/2019/11/27/782921983/cartoonist-lynda-barry-d...

 

21. Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal

 

I have to admit, I fell in love with the protagonist of this story, Kiran Sharma, who identifies with the deity of Krishna and is trying to find how own way in the world as both a boy who is discovering his own sexuality and the fact that he is gay, as well as a young man coming to terms with his identity as an Indian American boy living in middle America (Cincinnati, Ohio). Kiran is dramatic and perfect and Satyal really succeeds in painting a vivid portrait of growing up with obstacles but still being yourself despite these challenges. There were scenes in this book that made me laugh until I cried but also made me cry until I laughed. Wonderfully written with a true celebration of the human spirit and of the joy in being able to be yourself and learn to love everything that makes you: you!

 

www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews/fiction/06/08/blue-boy-by-...

  

22. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous By Ocean Vuong

  

First and foremost, Ocean Vuong is a poet and even in prose this comes out more than the vast majority of novel writers. This is his first actual work of fiction and feels a little traumatic and haunting it it’s deep feeling sense of the experience of life and family. Vuong’s deep feeling protagonist is trying to come to terms with the actions of and his relationship to his mother as well as some of his own life choices. You get the sense that each day brings its own struggles and is definitely not easy and that reality is a cruel sort of mistress that keeps revisiting him. But, the poetry above all will make you remember and want to return to this book.

 

www.npr.org/2019/06/05/729691730/on-earth-is-gorgeous-all...

  

23. A Woman is No Man By Etaf Rum

 

This book is about many things-family, tradition, but also feminism and a new generation of women who think and reach beyond their metaphysical borders. It follows three generations of a family who immigrated to Brooklyn from Palestine and the abuses they suffered at the hands of their men as well as the secrets they covered up. Most devastating is the way that the grandmother and mother expect (though much more so the grandmother) the conforming of the younger women to submit to all the male wishes and hide any evidence of their true selves that might appear ungrateful and difficult. This is a family that would rather kill than be seen as dishonorable and, though it is technically fiction, it is shocking in the depth of abuse these women take and how they themselves as humans are taken for granted. This book was full of surprises for me on virtually every page.

 

www.npr.org/2019/03/02/699051434/for-better-or-worse-new-...

  

24. Broken Places and Outer Spaces Nnedi Okorafor

 

I’m a big fan of the science fiction of Nnedi Okorafor, most notably Lagoon is my favorite, but this book is one I read this year and is a highly personal autobiographical account of her learning to break free from paralysis after a Scoliosis surgery that did not go as well as expected and finding her own unique voice and inspiration in the work of other artists to explore her own realm of Science Fiction in a way that is wholly worthwhile. I had no idea that the author I’ve read so many fiction books from had this extreme experience but I was indeed inspired by her own perseverance and coming to terms with the surgery and not letting limitations define her but pushing beyond these with a strength and dedication that doubtless has made her one of the very best authors in her field.

 

nnedi.com/books/broken_places_outer_spaces.html

  

25. John Edgar Wideman: Fanon

 

This is one of the more complex books of fiction I’ve read this year…it is truly a story within a story within a story based on some of Wideman’s real life with his brother as well as the actual life of the revolutionary Frantz Fanon..it’s about not wanting the cruelty of history to be repeated and about drawing connections between timelines and the way racism continues to impact people across continents today. It is at times highly poetic and at other times so visceral you might have to put it down but in any case very worthwhile reading and incredibly adept and masterful in its exploration of all of these connections and reconciliation between past and present with a hope for a better and different future. There are many passages here that are profound and all are thought provoking.

  

www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Siegel-t.html

  

26. The Hungry Ghosts by Shyam Selvadurai

 

I have learned a great deal about the political crisis in Sri Lanka in the 1980s from Selvadurai. If you want to try to understand what was happening between the Tamil and Sinhalese people, this is a topic that Selvadurai visits often as well as coming of age as a man who is gay and being an immigrant in Canada. There’s also a real delving into the classism inherent within the Sri Lankan society between these people and also, between the protagonist’s own grandmother and her tenants and the abuse and neglect that happens to the poor. Meanwhile, the grandmother manages to distance herself from her actions and convince herself that these people brought these things on themselves with bad karma…by her own standards, she should expect a much worse life in her next one. There are many similar topics in terms of Sri Lankan politics and coming to terms with one’s own sexuality in Funny Boy but this seemed more of an in depth work so I would recommend reading The Hungry Ghosts if you have limited reading time but you may find you’d like to read his others anyhow.

  

nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/book-reviews/book-re...

  

27. Taina by Ernesto Quinonez

 

I read two of Quinonez’s novels back to back and while I liked the emotional drama and complexity of Bodega Dreams, I really liked the sense of Puerto Rican tradition and strong female main character here. This involves everything from the idea of magical realism to deep religious beliefs. Could Taina be a postmodern virgin Mary? Could this be immaculate conception? The other protagonist, a young male, is willing to believe anything she says and fight for her virtue. While this story takes place primarily in Spanish Harlem, it also shows the inherent racism and classism in NYC as a whole while adeptly pulling one into the personalities and tribulations of the characters. Well worth reading!

 

apnews.com/f8209640f0554191a893cbe61a4583b9

  

28. On Black Sisters Street Chika Unigwe

 

This book explores the lives of African women immigrating to Belgium in hopes of a better life and being lied to with the idea that they could be housekeepers and nannies but then are sold into a sex trade where they are basically enslaved until they raise an inordinate amount of money to “pay back” their immigration fee. It is about living unsafely as an illegal and being forced into prostitution just to survive, which happens far more frequently than many people might realize. Women on our own are valuable in terms of our ideas and our empathy but the world will still look at women as a whole and women from African especially as only worthwhile as a body to rape. This is a very difficult read, mainly because of the aspects of truth that this happens but also because you get attached to the characters and don’t want them to suffer, which is the work of a great novelist in and of itself.

 

www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/books/review/book-review-on-bl...

  

29. Home a Refugee Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah

 

This is a really insightful read for anyone who is looking to hear about the author’s escape from Syria to refugees in Canada. We learn a lot about the power of the human spirit and it is also in many ways a testament to why all countries should welcome refugees. It is also valuable in terms of giving ideas on how we can do better in terms of supporting the transition between countries when there is a new language, culture shock, and when families need to keep something similar in place such as even a space to pray in schools. We need to all make sure we are being kind and sensitive and welcoming as well as aware of the probably trauma that refugees have suffered, especially coming from war torn countries. This also shows us how valuable it is to listen and to help refugees tell their stories, as the work of Rabeeah’s Language Arts teacher Winnie Yeung is the reason why we have this remarkable autobiography.

 

quillandquire.com/review/homes-a-refugee-story/

  

30. The Other Americans by Laila Lalami

 

There were many times reading this book I felt fascinated, wondered about the choices of the characters and what they would do next, and drawn to the mystery surrounding the death that unites all of them from the beginning of the Moroccan American father who owns a restaurant and is suspiciously killed by a hit and run. This is a work of fiction but the way it explores racism and xenophobia is all too real and Lalami really helps the reader sense the loss of humanity when incidents like this take place as well as the complexity of it between the investigation and trial and the level of dishonesty too. It’s also interesting because it involves an unlikely inter-racial love affair and there’s a sense that when these two people can fall in love, maybe we can all reconcile our differences with each other…maybe….hopefully we are capable.

  

www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-lailalalami-otheramericans...

  

31. The Making of a Dream: How a Group of Young Undocumented Immigrants Helped Change What It Means to Be American By, Laura Wides Munoz

 

This is a really comprehensive work of nonfiction chronicling the 1,500 walk of a group of Dreamers and a decade of work beginning with Obama and coming up to the published date of January 2019. It makes no qualms about exposing the frustrations and stalemate of the Obama presidency in getting protections but also the horrors of our current political situation for these young and determined humans that are also vulnerable despite their bravery and fierceness. We get to know the inner workings of their lives and family situations, their education and history of what drives them the most in terms of their advocacy. Munoz also exposes how some movements such as gay rights and marriage are pitted against others like the movement to protect Dreamers and how a single year cut off can arbitrary ruin human lives and mean deportations. This is an important read for anyone who still thinks these amazing humans don’t belong or deserve to be here (They do!) and who still thinks it’s easy to become a legal immigrant if you’re just willing to go through the established process….this line of thinking is an ignorant myth. These humans deserve so much more than this. Let’s hope 2020 brings us a new president who is willing to provide more protections and also welcome more immigrants to America.

 

www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/books/review/laura-wides-munoz...

  

32. Go Ahead in the Rain by Hanif Abdurraquib

 

Hanif always brings himself into his writing about music and this is why, even if you are not the biggest Tribe Called Quest Fan, you will still find many reasons to fall in love with this book. That being said, my partner has always loved Tribe and I finally fell in love myself when I saw them perform and was able to photograph them (see: www.flickr.com/photos/kirstiecat/35348763944/in/photolist... ) Hanif made me love both him and the band even more in the way that he explores their history, why their music is groundbreaking, and their contemporaries as well. Hanif also explores his own love of music and how music was seen in his family. There’s also a story early on that shows the racism of his music teacher at school that made me feel so devastated that these things happen from teachers who are supposed to be loving and nonjudgmental. There is so much to love and learn from in this book and, even if you don’t fall in love with Tribe, you might still fall deeper in love with humanity and our relationship to nourishing sound.

 

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/10/go-ahead-in-the-rai...

 

33. Call Me American Abdi Nor Iftin

 

Oh my God the lengths that this man goes to in order to survive civil war in Somalia, escape to Kenya then to the US is insane. My heart was in my throat for the vast majority of this book…a really survival against all odds life story. It also gives a glimpse at how much tragedy some of our immigrants are carrying with them when they come here and the love and supports we should all give them. Abdi Nor Iftin is extremely intelligent and also funny but I can’t imagine going through even 10% of what he went through when he was trying to escape warring tribes and seeing so much death around him and still being able to lift my head off the pillow each morning.

 

www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/books/call-me-american-abdi-no...

  

34. Passing by Nella Larsen

 

I read both Passing and Quicksand by Nella Larsen this year and liked them both quite a bit. Both have a lot to offer in terms of insights into classism and racism but Passing feels a little more vivid to me maybe because it is set between Chicago and NYC whereas much of Quicksand takes place in Denmark. Both novels are well worth reading though and Passing has both a personal component between these two women with a shared history and that of secrets and racism as one woman is passing for white in trade of an elevated place in society at the time. In addition to giving us glimpses of both cities in 1929, it shows a little bit about what it was like both living as a white woman and living as a black woman and the level of anxiety felt by those who tried to keep their race a secret.

 

electricliterature.com/in-nella-larsens-passing-whiteness...

  

35. Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card Sara Saedi

 

In many ways, this is about a family torn because of their differing immigration statuses and how arbitrary all that seems when we’re talking about real humans and not just letters and numbers on a page. This is a family that will go to all lengths in order to get citizenship for themselves and others and will fight to be Americans even though America does not treat them as kindly or with justice. This is also a great deal about the joys of family, of Iranian culture, and also of coming of age and pop culture in America. Saedi, who now writes for iZombie (I still haven’t seen this show myself but now I might give it a try), is at times poignant and at other times really hilarious. You really get a sense of her personality in this autobiography and it really makes you again realize how much immigrants have to offer America and how they deserve far better than what they are given most of the time. It’s a tragedy that we treat humans the way we do simply because they aren’t born here. That needs to stop.

 

www.npr.org/2018/03/28/597600898/americanized-recounts-wh...

 

36. Lindy West: The Witches are Coming

 

Lindy West is hilarious in her examination of racism, sexism, whole bodyism and all that really needs to change about reality. I learned things I somehow missed, like how “Grumpy Cat’s” owners came up with a ridiculous far fetched story so cover up for the fact they were using an insult/slur used for those with different ability levels. I also found the chapters about Adam Sandler and Joan Rivers pretty insightful as well. There were many times I felt like, “Yeah, I agree with that” but she has a really great cutting way about how she presents information and also her opinions that make it a good read.

 

www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/lindy-west-casts...

 

37. The Reactive By, Ntshanga, Masande

 

I’ve never read a book quite like this. If you want to know what it was like to be HIV+ in the late 1990s-early 2000s and living in South Africa, this book is the one for you. But also, this book is about family, about overcoming loss, about deep friendships and has a great deal of existentialism and in general bizarre interactions, drug trial and substance abuse, and an analysis of racism in Cape Town as well. I felt very strongly that I both learned something and gained an attachment to these fictional characters and what they were going through.

 

slate.com/culture/2016/07/masande-ntshangas-the-reactive-...

  

38. Brother by David Chariandy

 

Set in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, this follows second generation Trinidadian immigrants and the racism they encounter living there in the early 1990s. This is a really well written look at family, especially these two brothers and the bond between them and how the family deals with all of life’s small and large tragedies. It’s also a book that will likely devastate you, though I don’t want to spoil anything by saying more.

 

www.cbc.ca/books/brother-by-david-chariandy-1.4246382

  

39. A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian

 

This could be another book about class warfare and profit over people but the layers in it are exceptional and what Subramanian does really well is to delve into the different personalities and power in the women in this place ironically called Heaven and illustrate the need for women to stick together.

 

www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/books/review/mathangi-subraman...

 

40. Dinner By, César Aira

 

I read a couple of novels/novellas by César Aira and a collection of short stories called The Musical Brain and Other Stories, which was also phenomenal. Dinner was even more unexpected and hilarious because it combines the need to be remembered and the power of names with a zombie uprising in the little town of Pringles in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I love the politically astute sense to this and the twists in the plot. Really a very unique book not just about zombies but about the power of human memory.

 

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cesar-aira/dinner-aira/

  

A couple of really highly recommended books of poetry:

 

The City in Which I Love You Li-Young Lee

 

Rangoli by Pavana Reddy

  

A couple of quick cat related books

 

I don’t think the following books are necessarily life changing but I did want to mention to them in case you are a cat lover like I am! I think animals bring out the best in humans when we find ourselves at our most compassionate and so I’ve always enjoyed reading books that feature cats. Here are the couple I read this year and enjoyed:

 

If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura

 

We could give up movies and time but could we give up cats? What if we were terminally ill and this could buy us one more day on Earth….what would we give up?

  

The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

 

For the vast majority of this book, we really don’t know why the protagonist is looking for someone to take care of his cat but we get to meet a lot of different types of people from his past and learn about them, which is both interesting and philosophical.

 

Color Tales

 

1/17

 

The project should deal with colors and their effect on well-being, feelings, expression and thus on human psychology. When I realized that there was so much more to tell through this project, I began to develop it into an overarching concept. The language of images should not only shed light on the linear theories of the psychological effects of colors. The pictures with the help of the language of colors should tell a story, describe a situation, let thoughts wander into the future or the past, inspire our fantasies.

 

I used milk, acrylic paint, liquid soap and oil to create this amazing arts.

 

Every picture tells a story, but I desided not to explane the story behinde each one, but invite you to give your own meaning and your own feelings when you look at the picture. I belive that makes more fun:)

 

Enjoi it and I hope you’ll like it.

 

PS: have a good time and take care!

 

Poem.

 

Quintessentially Scotland, wrapped in a burnt amber autumnal cloak.

Lochan islet overarched by the noble, native Scots Pine.

Rosehips, gorse and sapling silver birch frame a breathless stillness and combine to form the archetypal landscape of Caledonia.

A perfect moment of utter calm where time ceases and beauty overwhelms.

How rare.

How special.

How therapeutic

to mind, body and soul.

 

Resenting work at the moment but I managed to escape to the Lakes for a weekend recently. Storm Ashley rolled in and largely scuppered my photography plans but it did give me a chance to revisit this scene which I'd had my eye on for a few years. The river levels were finally high enough after the significant rainfall to provide separation for the overarching branches. I didn't have too long to finesse the composition, but I don't disagree with my wife that photography is not a spectator sport and we carried on with our walk into and around the Langdale valley.

Color Tales

 

11/17

 

The project should deal with colors and their effect on well-being, feelings, expression and thus on human psychology. When I realized that there was so much more to tell through this project, I began to develop it into an overarching concept. The language of images should not only shed light on the linear theories of the psychological effects of colors. The pictures with the help of the language of colors should tell a story, describe a situation, let thoughts wander into the future or the past, inspire our fantasies.

 

I used milk, acrylic paint, liquid soap and oil to create this amazing arts.

 

Every picture tells a story, but I desided not to explane the story behinde each one, but invite you to give your own meaning and your own feelings when you look at the picture. I belive that makes more fun:)

 

Enjoi it and I hope you’ll like it.

 

PS: have a good time and take care!

 

Often, it is about violations of our soul’s boundaries when anger finds its way into our lives. And not too rarely, this only happens internally, which is usually a good thing. But what do I know? I am searching for answers myself.

 

"short films – …and then we‘ll call it even"

 

In the silent arena of our minds, where thoughts dance like invisible actors, a profound equality among us all is revealed. These inner conflicts, which do not manifest themselves in the outside world, are the invisible threads that weave the fabric of human existence. They are the silent struggles that each of us, regardless of gender or external circumstances, wages in the depths of our souls. These inner struggles are not mere challenges, but essential components of human existence that initiate us into the mysteries of life.

 

Every person faces their own inner battles, which are unique in their intensity and significance. These psychological struggles cannot be compared, as they are an expression of each individual's journey through the depths of consciousness. They are the touchstones that shape us and lead us to explore the limits of our being. Overcoming these inner conflicts holds the possibility of growth, transformation, and enlightenment.

 

The pursuit of overcoming these inner struggles is a deeply personal and often solitary journey. It challenges us to look into the darkness within ourselves and find the glimmers of light that guide us. In this inner argument lies the chance to discover the essence of our being and strengthen the connection to our true self. Thus, these inner conflicts are not only tests, but also invitations to self-knowledge and spiritual development.

 

youtu.be/V6nbFZtxAL4?si=TmaF1592lcq3b-HS

 

I kept this series practically closed as a self-portrait series for a very long time. I think it’s time to open it up and at the same time connect it to my overarching theme, the portraits.

 

As a rule, these are long exposure shots with exposure times varying between 2 and 30 seconds. In this case 6 seconds. They are series that deal with a range of human feelings and thoughts. They deal with desire, loss, regret and pain and the attempt to process all of this.

Mixed media photo encaustic hand-painted with pan pastels.

On wooden board. 7.5" x 7.5"

 

With these hands, she has held onto time, cooing softly and nuzzling it against her breast. She felt its heart pulse with a never-tiring force, it’s drum beat forever always moving forward. Such a curious notion. Don’t things that only move in one direction circle back around? Doesn’t everything that ages eventually become young again? Doesn’t every single day begin anew?

 

Time responded with the only words in its unimaginative vocabulary… tick, tock.

 

With these hands, she has cradled babies— and lovers too. She has stroked and soothed and smoothed and their fears away. She has dried their tears with the softest kisses. Don’t you weep, little baby. Her hands remember the diameter of your wrist, the curve of your ankle bone, the sweet ripeness of your belly. Her hands remember the flow of electricity, under and over currents rippling between you, the first time you touched her, ever so slightly, with the fleshy pad of your index finger.

 

With these hands, she has buried her dead on the hillside near the clearing in the woods— baby birds and bunnies, Siamese cats, Persian cats, tabby cats, and a couple of faithful dogs. She has buried her elders, as is the natural order of things. She has laid to rest the traumas that have left their marks, planting lilies of the valley at their headstones. With these hands, she has buried a child on a cloudy April day, when her white roses unexpectedly turned pink. Her hands have known the hardness, the coldness, of the rocky soil in winter. They have wielded pick-axe and shovel, and when necessary, sword.

 

Her hands know when it’s time to sever and move forward.

 

These hands keep her tethered to the earth. She has untangled fragile roots and transplanted mosses and bare roses and tender seedlings on drizzly spring days, her hair hanging down in ropes, catching in the branches of the overarching willow tree. She has harvested dandelion seeds and collected sacs of cottonwood fluff to stuff her bed pillows. She has picked wild blackberries from thickets lining the forest path, gathered stinging nettles in early spring, hunted hens of the woods in the fall. She has wrapped her arms around the giant oaks as they whispered secrets and sang songs they learned from the wind.

 

She has cupped her hands to drink from the river of forgiveness.

 

These hands have given flight to her imagination. A wellspring flows through them, draping her in a veil of words and colors and the softest impressions. Memories of things once forgotten surface again, an unexplainable knowing unfolds. The old ways push up through the bedrock of generations, doorways to the infinite. In her hands, she holds the key. Every threshold is an invitation to cross over.

 

In the end, her hands offer themselves up to this essential truth:

 

In the space of eternity,

the ticking of the clock

means absolutely

nothing.

 

From this mornings walk, the usual tree with some cloud action!

it's a strange feeling to be growing up. like when one part of you is still sleeping with a teddy bear and staying out late to dance to live music, but the other parts are befriending strangers and being paid small amounts of money for too much work and receiving roses from boys who try to kiss you in the break room.

 

but the overarching feeling is almost always happiness because despite it all something's finally beginning. i guess that this is how it feels to be free.

Asahi Pentax | 50mm f2 | Ektar 100

 

Part of a series that I think came out quite well. No message, or overarching theme, just twenty minutes of me idly taking pictures while the other interns went about their work.

 

The set.

Poem.

 

Quintessentially Scotland, wrapped in a burnt amber autumnal cloak.

Lochan islet overarched by the noble, native Scots Pine.

Rosehips, gorse and sapling silver birch frame a breathless stillness and combine to form the archetypal landscape of Caledonia.

A perfect moment of utter calm where time ceases and beauty overwhelms.

How rare.

How special.

How therapeutic

to mind, body and soul.

 

Phot, Austria, Bad Tatzmannsdorf, Reiters Reserve Südburgenland, 120 ha geschützter Erholungs- & Urlaubsbereich, 8.000 m² Wellnessbereich, a golf course consists of two overarching 18-hole courses & a 9-hole course.

Two driving ranges, pitching & putting greens & a chipping area.

In addition, there is also a 5-hole Fun Course for newcomers, who have not yet got their course licence. Together these make the 50-hole Golfschaukel Austria’s biggest golfing venue.

 

👉 One World one Dream,

...Danke, Xièxie 谢谢, Thanks, Gracias, Merci, Grazie, Obrigado, Arigatô, Dhanyavad, Chokrane to you & over

6 million visits in my photostream with countless motivating comments

Excerpt from thewelltoronto.com/arts/dustin-yellin-emergence/:

 

Emergence

2023

 

Emergence by Dustin Yellin braids together three threads–the origin of the universe, the birth of life, and the creation of computing. The sculpture depicts a giant figure modeled from the World Tree, a mythological concept found across multiple cultures that connects the Earth to the stars. Mirroring various evolutionary hypotheses, Emergence grows out of a base plate that represents a primordial soup from which all life on Earth developed. Various vignettes and fantastical elements are scattered throughout the figure’s body: a cat with the rear of a dog stares into a toilet to see its reflection like Narcissus; an astronaut chick hatches out of a geodesic sphere; a battery-operated frog licks a Black Hole in the form of a bagel; a monkey emerges from a monkey brain held up by a large-lipped rotisserie chicken; hybrid animal/human astronauts explore the entire scene from top to bottom, making their way up to the moon.

 

Included among these surrealist details are many elements relating to the sculpture’s overarching themes of cosmology, mythology, and technology, interspersed with nods to Ontario, such as local flora and fauna, and major Canadian inventions. These many details add up to tell various stories of how small things come together to form more complex systems. Like an open-source code, these stories are not determined, and visitors are encouraged to decipher the artwork and construct their own narratives. More details catch the eye the longer one looks – discover the meaning behind each element by accessing the Emergence Discovery Handbook.

News headlines: Aliens have invaded our planet! They have abducted hundreds of millions of people around the world. They all disappeared at once, in a split second, causing chaos and confusion. The Air Force shot down several UFOs (hobbyist balloons). They even shot down a Chinese spy balloon. Don’t worry: these Chinese spy balloons were also flying over America during Trump’s presidency, but the NWO Deep State never informed him. Quick, rollout Project Blue Beam 2.0 (false flag alien invasion psyops)! We must cover up these strange disappearances. “Welcome to the age of the polycrisis.” “Never waste a good crisis.”

 

The Jerusalem Post: “Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready”.

 

“’If I had come up with what I’m saying today five years ago, I would have been hospitalized,’ he explained to Yediot.”

 

www.jpost.com/omg/former-israeli-space-security-chief-say...

 

“’It’s Logical That Aliens Are Using Black Holes As Computers,’ Scientists Say”.

 

arxiv.org/pdf/2301.09575.pdf

 

Harvard: PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS ON UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENA (Draft under review)

 

“Nevertheless, the coincidences between some orbital parameters of ‘Oumuamua and IM2 inspires us to consider the possibility that an artificial interstellar object could potentially be a parent craft that releases many small probes during its close passage to Earth, an operational construct not too dissimilar from NASA missions. These “dandelion seeds” could be separated from the parent craft by the tidal gravitational force of the Sun or by a maneuvering capability. A small ejection speed far away could lead to a large deviation from the trajectory of the parent craft near the Sun. The changes would manifest both in arrival time and distance of closest approach to Earth. With proper design, these tiny probes would reach the Earth or other Solar system planets for exploration, as the parent craft passes by within a fraction of the Earth-Sun separation - just like ‘Oumuamua did.”

 

“Equipped with a large surface-to-mass ratio of a parachute, technological “dandelion seeds” could slow down in the Earth’s atmosphere to avoid burnup and then pursue their objectives wherever they land.”

 

“Within a close range to a star, extraterrestrial technological probes could use starlight to charge their batteries and liquid water as their fuel.”

 

“What would be the overarching purpose of the journey? In analogy with actual dandelion seeds, the probes could propagate the blueprint of their senders. As with biological seeds, the raw materials on the planet’s surface could also be used by them as nutrients for self-replication or simply scientific exploration. It is important to note, that given the time scales associated with the propulsion scheme discussed here, it is unreasonable to assert that the intention of any such probe launched in the far distant past, has anything to do with the human species. More likely, and similar to NASA’s missions – the goal would be scientific and exploratory in nature.”

 

“Are there any functioning extraterrestrial probes near Earth? We do not know.”

 

“Consequently, the mothership/probe scenario is more energetically viable.”

 

“In principle, a multitude of tiny devices can be released from a mothership that passes near Earth.”

 

“The considerations in this paper imply a useful limit on observations of UAP which bound the hypothetical explanations and can support limitations on interpretations of data.”

 

lweb.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/LK1.pdf

 

Rapture:

 

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

 

“First, the dead who believed in Christ will come back to life. Then, together with them, we who are still alive will be taken in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In this way we will always be with the Lord.”

 

I read 255 books last year and I tried to be as diverse as possible in what I read. Many of these books were not released in 2018 (some were) but just reflect what I did read in the past year. So far, I have read three books this year and hope to read 300 by the end of the year. The photograph of the above sculpture was taken by myself yesterday at The Cultural Center in Chicago and is entitled In the Center There Were Librarians and other Gestures. The artist for this photograph is Susan Giles. I worked on the following list for the last week so sorry I haven’t been as active lately. I hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s!

 

1.Call Me Zebra by Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi

 

I saw this Iranian American Author speak at Printer’s Row this year and talk about her journey writing this novel, a really strong sense of the beauty and power of words along with the loss of human life in this one. It has reminiscences of the honoring of literature that often come about in Rabih Alameddine and Salman Rushdie’s work.

  

www.azareenvandervlietoloomi.com/about/

  

2.Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life by Yiyun Li

 

This has been classified as an autobiographical nonfiction memoir but it is so much more than this. It is endlessly philosophical about depression and suicide and an examination of life fully lived as well. It is very different than her fiction and not for casual readers who don’t want to feel deeply. Still, she has given us a gift of insight not just into herself but into the nature of humanity and that cannot be taken for granted. In the few months that have followed, I have thought back on this book and what a strong presence it made on my psyche. Yiyun Li is a Chinese American and I’m so grateful for immigrants like her adding to the canon of books we have available in this country to help make us better Americans and, more importantly, better humans.

 

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/59088/yiyun-li

 

3.We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 

I read all of Adichie’s books this year and they are all very worthwhile to read. So many tackle issues of racism within American as well as in Africa (you have to remember, what is mass marketed overseas to Africans are shows like COPS that reinforce racism against African Americans). There seems to be so many strong Nigerian authors emerging at the moment and Adichie is the best of the best. Though some might not consider this text to be a full nonfiction work, I still consider it the most important one I read. Adichie explores in such insightful ways how sexism hurts not only women but men also in our current world. It’s something I would recommend for everyone (male, female, or gender neutral) to read or watch the lecture of.

 

www.chimamanda.com/

 

www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_we_should_all_...

 

4.Born Bright: A Young Girl's Journey from Nothing to Something in America by Nicole C. Mason

 

Ta-Nehisi Coates has so much to offer American in terms of understanding racism in all facets and the insights of someone who is an extremely intelligent man trying to raise a family in America. Nicole C. Mason does one thing better, though, which is to say she offers more solutions. As an African American woman, she has had to deal with her own challenges in terms of extreme poverty and racism and has overcome this to become a professor at Georgetown University and Executive Director of the Center for Research and Policy in the Public Interest at the New York Women's Foundation. Her insights into our current institutionalized racism and classism are something everyone should be educated on.

 

cnicolemason.com/index/

 

5. My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris

 

I only read five graphic novels this year, which is somewhat surprising considering I read about ten the year before that. Although I am not opposed to the classic superhero type of graphic novels, I’d really rather read more autobiographical type of novels or those that explore the human psyche more than anything else. My favorite graphic novel of all time is by David B. called Epileptic (French). I tend to enjoy the really creepy Tim Lane, Daniel Clowes, or Black Hole by Charles Burns. Anyway, this is also somewhat creepy but, even more so, richly artistic. The way that the drawings match the words in terms of both content and quality is truly a wondrous experience. This is a book you’ll delve into and have a hard time putting down and it is thick and fulfilling. It also takes place in the 1960s in the north side neighborhood of Uptown, Chicago, which is really interesting to see depicted. I love the scenes from the streets and the Art Institute especially. Within the book, the protagonist grapples with disease, murder, racism, sexual identity, and even the Holocaust. Apparently, this is only Book One and there might possibly be Book Two to look forward to later on this year. In any case, a really rich delight.

  

emilferris.com/

 

6.Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

 

I read many books by Nnedi Okorafor this year but this one was by far my favorite…fantastical Nigerian Science Fiction at it’s finest. This book is intensely creative and extremely well written. It will make you wonder why Okorafor isn’t celebrated in every household in America but I think it’s well acknowledged that racism and sexism within the science fiction genre go hand in hand. Those who really pride themselves on appreciating the genre, however, better start getting woke fast. Reading this one might be a good place to begin.

 

nnedi.com/

 

7.We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates

 

It isn’t enough to really consider yourself to be aware of racism in America and its history because, in order to be truly understanding of this, you have to know how racism has truly pervaded every aspect of America in an institutionalized way both historically and in modern times. I am pro-reparations and what I mean by that is that white people have stolen and oppressed people of color for so long that they are owed by us in so many ways. That is one reason why I don’t vote for white people any longer or donate to their campaigns. In any case, the racism that James Baldwin wrote about so eloquently in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s is still happening today and explored thoroughly and with in depth research by Coates. If you think racism is obsolete in America, you will have much to learn from this book of essays.

  

ta-nehisicoates.com/

  

8.Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

 

Octavia is another African American science fiction author that should be a cherished household name. She passed away when she was only in her 50s but she gave the world some of the most imaginative texts. I read quite a few of her novels this year but I liked both Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents best. It takes place in an apocalyptic America and, in the second of the series is a “leader” who takes over who literally screams “Make America Great Again” as his mantra, which is super creepy in its prophetic warning. I also love this concept she explores as a “sharer” who feels extreme and even physical empathy and a development of a new religion. Also really interesting to note is that Octavia was diagnosed with Dyslexia as a child….what a strong author she became despite it!

 

www.cnn.com/2018/06/22/culture/octavia-e-butler/index.html

 

9.Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada/ Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen

 

I hate to put a white male author’s book on my list. I really do and, unfortunately, this is the first of three. But, in any case, Rabih Alameddine recommended this when I saw him at Printer’s Row Book Festival in Chicago and, as I love his novels, I felt I had to give it a chance. I admit, I didn’t regret it. This story is loosely based on the true story during the Holocaust of a man and a woman who decide they are going to write anti-fascism postcards against the Nazis. It was originally published in 1947 and takes place in Berlin. Fallada himself was not Jewish but led a really difficult life where quite early on, he was meant to die in a supposed duel, a suicide pact made with his male lover. His male lover died and he obviously did not. In any case, mainly this book is about the idea of resistance in any small or large way, even if it seems small, silly, or gets you killed. To resist fascism is to reaffirm your own humanity and the protagonists the Hampels can’t exist any other way. I have to admit, I found myself crying several times while reading this book, especially considering the relevance to modern day times. Alameddine commented on how silly and stupid it was for this couple in real life and in this book to do this…they knew they would be caught….but they managed to distribute hundreds of postcards that put in mind inklings of doubt into the German population about what Hitler was doing and that is extremely important. These days, we just tweet about how much we hate Trump but, back then, there were some who assumed the vast majority of the population approved of the human rights violations the Nazis were committing….which makes me wonder if perhaps social media could prevent another Holocaust.

 

www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/books/review/Schillinger-t.html

 

10.Confessions by Kinae Minato

 

This is some grueling psychological craziness that you will go through but man is it ever worth it. Kinae Minato was an actual teacher in Japan before she decided to write the kind of horror that will haunt you. This one is mainly about the evil that children can commit and the parents that condone and/or encourage it…and, it’s about a society that subconsciously promotes it too or, as in American society, gives attention/press to those who harm and confuse others into thinking this is the best way to get noticed. It’s so much more than that, though, and it will mess you up for days. I read Haruki Murakami’s Killing Commendatore this year as well and this was far more effective in my opinion but this is also about vengeance and made me think of the Chan Wook Park series on the subject (though, he’s Korean vs. Japanese which is an important distinction).

 

www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-kanae-minato-20...

 

11. Jesse Ball: Census

There is no one who can write quite like Jesse Ball. It is almost as if it has been removed from time and space completely and exists in its own strange universe. And yet, it is not science fiction…it’s more like humanistic fiction…like a deep feeling realistic fiction. Though Census isn’t my favorite of his novels (my favorite is actually The Curfew followed by Silence Once Begun as a close second), it is as always well worth reading. There’s such a beautiful sense of this relationship of a father and son as they collect information about strangers…an almost fairy tale esque sort of feeling at times but not quite. It’s difficult to explain except to say that each moment of the story seems one in your life you’d cherish and therefore each word is a pleasure, which is odd considering that some categorize it as Dystopian Fiction. I guess one person’s Dystopia is another’s Utopia.

www.jesseball.com/

 

11.Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead

Such a beautiful poetic and still realistic ode to a city that is always teeming with lives and energy. I’m originally from upstate NY (Rochester) and have visited NYC a few times…what exists there has changed over time but some things to remain more constant. Whitehead captures the essence in a way that is true and in a way that so many others have failed to. I’ve read quite a few of his books this year and have enjoyed all of them but none quite as much as this one. Although, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention he wrote an awesome zombie book, Zone One, that was excellent to read around Halloween.

www.colsonwhitehead.com/

 

13. Alice Walker

 

It’s very difficult to talk about Alice Walker at this time when there are so many accusations of anti-semitism. This is nothing new, in fact, as she’s supported Palestine and traveled there to learn about what has been happening to its people for a very long time. She has witnessed suffering and she has written poetry and accounts where she separates the beliefs of what she sees as radical Zionists and those who are Jewish who don’t advocate for suffering. Still, I don’t think it’s ok that she’s defending David Icke’s work and I am very concerned about that. Earlier this year, before all of the controversy surfaced, I had the chance to see Alice Walker as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival and so I read just about everything I possibly could beforehand from novels to poetry to essays. Alice Walker married a Jewish man and had a child with him in 1967…that’s probably important for people to consider. She has also done a ton of work to stop the practice of female genital mutilation in Africa. Her message is solidly one of peace and equality in the Middle East and I hope nothing has changed in that regard.

 

In any case, I am not going to devote multiple entries to Alice Walker but if you are interested in reading her work and deciding for yourself, your local library should have many selections without you needing to look any further. I greatly enjoyed the novels Meridian, By the Light of My Father’s Smile and the essay collections Cushion in the Road and Anything We Love Can Be Saved as my favorites. I’ll also remind people to realize that reading something objectively will not make you a harmful or hateful person. Be ready to learn from all perspectives, to reject some and consider others. That’s what being an intelligent human being is all about. Still, I don’t support anti-semitism or any other discrimination against humans and I hope the world continues to become a more accepting and loving place.

 

14.We Crossed a Bridge and it Trembled: A collection of the voices of Syrian Immigrants by Wendy Pearlman

 

Now more than ever it is very important to read about what is happening to this group of persecuted people and understand their perspectives…it is easy to see the anger and desperation, the sadness and sometimes bitterness in these lives but, at the same time, you connect with them on some small level. I can’t begin to imagine how it feels or how badly the US has messed up in this situation. I only know I care and am so very saddened and helpless by it all. Reading their thoughts and about their life experiences is the very least one can do.

 

www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/12/we-crossed-a-bridge...

  

15.Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

 

Such an interesting book about hard working immigrants who are doubly affected by the economic crash in 2008 and who go to such great lengths to stay in America, a country which is basically ruining their very lives. This book really shows a strong sense of the immigrant struggle and the cluelessness of the white people around them in NYC but it has a strong storyline and sense of characters besides that which makes it all the more compelling.

 

www.imbolombue.com/

  

16. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

 

This one is so much more than a coming of age story. It combines culture and criticism of contemporary society and has such a witty writing style and takes place in Chicago, which made it an even better read for me. I think there’s an interesting exploration of what is expected of immigrants and their children and also what immigrants are expected to like and the conflict that comes from when those aren’t in sync. Very interesting read and also a very engaging writing style.

 

erikalsanchez.com/about/

  

17.Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

 

This book is really something…it’s a little about politics and family but it’s a great deal about love in this modern world, in all its messed up ways. It’s hard for me to talk about this book without giving away the ending, which has still stayed with me after many months but let’s just say it’s very effective and leaving a lasting image with you. Technically, this book is a reworking of Sophocles’ Antigone (it’s been too long since I read this actually) but with a modern retelling that includes the current political climate and ISIS. She won the Women’s Prize for Fiction this year for this book.

 

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/06/kamila-shamsie-wins...

 

18. An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

 

This science fiction novel combines a little bit of everything-class struggle, race struggle, and sexual identity struggle along within the overarching power struggle of what is written as postmodern space based slavery with an incredibly strong female protagonist leading the revolution. Well written and a fantastic addition to the genre.

 

www.npr.org/2017/10/06/548665897/unkindness-of-ghosts-tra...

 

19. All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung

 

This is an autobiographical novel based around Chung’s experience being adopted by a white family living in Oregon and explores both the nature of adoption and all of the difficulty that comes from that as well as racism and racial identity. It’s really interesting to see both an evolution of her thoughts and the way she interacts with her biological and adopted families. It’s possible that no one who was not adopted could understand how it feels just like it’s possible that a white person could never truly understand what it is like to be of another race. However, this book is quite honest, revealing, and a perspective that should be learned from.

 

nicolechung.net/

  

20.Mischling by Affinity Konar

 

Affinity comes from a Jewish perspective with a Polish ancestry. This novel is based on some of the texts and non fictions surrounding the Holocaust based on twin studies and experiments. I’ve read quite a few books about the Holocaust but I didn’t realize myself the extend of these twin studies and ended up looking up a couple of the names of the most heinous individuals in this book. Affinity rightfully so pulls you into the characters, these two female twins in particular, and their unique bond as well as the overall bond of their family. Because the Nazis wanted to do scientific experiments on identical twins, parents were encouraged to give them up so that they wouldn’t be killed. However, the torture they endured (sometimes also leading to death) was worse than death in some instances. The worst of humanity can be found within these pages…it’s a harrowing read but I also learned from it and feel texts like this are important to remind us that we can never repeat this history.

 

www.affinitykonar.com/

  

21. One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni

 

I loved the concept of a group of people trapped in a situation where, though they are total strangers and come from very different backgrounds, must trust each other with their life stories. And, what really comes through is the richness of a life and of diverse experiences and the nature of their memories. This is so far the only thing I have read by Divajaruni but I look forward to reading more of her work this year!

 

www.chitradivakaruni.com/

  

22.Reality is Not What it Seems by Carlo Rovelli

 

Rovelli is an Italian theoretical physicist and this book is a great deal about the history of the science evolving as well as about time and black holes. I have to admit, there was quite a bit I learned but also quite a bit I couldn’t quite wrap my head around. What the book left me feeling is oddly calm, however. Because, since Trump became president, I’ve had a real strong sense that we are all trapped in a black hole of some sort and this basically confirmed some of my suspicions. Now, if I could just get to a different alternative reality where someone like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is president….perhaps, we’re at least headed in the correct direction, though.

 

23.Electric Arches by Eve L. Ewing

 

It was such an honor to see Ewing speak as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival this year and such a wonderful thing for Chicago that this extremely talented poet, graphic novelist, and nonfiction writer resides here. This collection of poetry really speaks to growing up on Chicago’s south side in the 1990s but it’s so much more than that. It’s an important collection of poetry not just because of Eve L. Ewing’s voice but because of the strength of her words and imagery. My only disappointment with this is that it wasn’t longer so I could keep reading.

 

Eve L. Ewing also just published a nonfiction work, Ghosts in the Schoolyard, covering the closure of 50 public schools that Rahm Emanuel imposed as one of his very first acts as mayor. This is probably one of the most important books that was written this year but I haven’t read it yet (which is horrible, I know). It’s a little too close to home for me as I remember with horror all of the striking and the aftermath from this from the fake community meetings (literally set up by Charter school profiteers to gather information) I attended to all of the marches in the streets. In one of the most horrible things, the “welcoming schools” that were taking in students from the closing schools had no information on the students with disabilities showing up. Working with students who are nonverbal and have severe autism, some of these students couldn’t even tell us their names and so we couldn’t look them up in the system to even know their allergies and medical precautions. Most people are familiar with making children cross gang lines, I realize, which is also horrific, but this was something that also haunts me still today. In any case, people need to realize how damaging to a community it is when public schools are not supported and kids are placed in danger.

 

eveewing.com/electricarches/

  

24.Feel Free by Zadie Smith

 

I am really impressed by the range of topics these essays address, though I would have loved more political essays. Zadie Smith does have an insightful essay on Brexit but she also talks a great deal about her parents, Italy, and such a huge variety of art between paintings and films as well as meeting famous actors and musicians. Never before did I think I would come across a selection of essays about Anomalisa and Get Out for example and also she wrote an essay on Christian Marclay’s The Clock. There’s something here for everyone, basically.

 

www.zadiesmith.com/

 

25.Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada

 

I felt haunted and a dream like state reading this book written from the perspective of a polar bear. Between zoos and circuses and effortless wandering, it seems we are all, in some ways, polar bears, meditating on existence itself. I felt like I could be a human being and a polar bear at the same time.

  

www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/books/review/memoirs-of-a-pola...

  

26. Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak

 

This novel is a thrilling mix of the personal and the political by this Turkish author. It really looks at the ideas behind religion and class struggle in an insightful way with a riveting plot that goes back and forth between present day and when the main protagonist was going to college.

  

www.elifsafak.com.tr/home

  

27 .God Loves Haiti by Dimitry Elias Léger

 

I really hope we get more from Léger as this is story telling at its finest….an earthquake, a love story, a hideout, and a sense o heavy life choices with different protagonists each strong affected by the earthquake that occurs here. It’s interesting to use the earthquake that happens at the very beginning as the stimulus to drive the rest of the plot but it works well here. One senses that, earthquake or no, each life choice matters greatly.

 

observer.com/2015/01/on-the-page-god-loves-haiti-is-a-stu...

 

28.Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala

 

This novel does such a good job of exploring white hypocrisy as well as highlighting the difficulties of being an immigrant in America and being gay in a culture that is homophobic. The male protagonist in this story is forced to go back to Nigeria in order to be freed from his homosexual “affliction” but has to deal with his own troubles back in America in terms of racial profiling and police brutality. This is a story that could happen today easily and we should all make sure it doesn’t.

 

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/20/speak-no-evil-uzodi...

 

29. The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

 

This affected me more than I thought it would. I am vegan, sure, but I’ve never really been all that fascinated by marine life (nor have I ever wanted to eat any kind of seafood) and I really felt the strong sense of empathy between Sy and the octopuses she writes about as well as the journey she takes overall in terms of understanding them. The empathy she feels and the strong sense of personality and intelligence she senses should not be ignored. I found myself by the end of this wondering aloud how I often do when it comes to many animals…how could anyone eat such a lovely living creature?

 

symontgomery.com/soul-of-an-octopus/

  

30. The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

 

All of Umrigar’s books are fantastic and this isn’t even my favorite of hers to be honest-The World We Found is the one I like best. But, this is still a fantastic story set in India this time about making unlikely friends and survival, it’s about living under a rigid caste system as well and hints at some changes taking place slowly but surely with time and access to higher education. It’s also about apologies and redemption. Btw, Thrity is a wonderful speaker to see if you get the chance.

 

umrigar.com/

  

Honorable Mentions:

 

Short story collections I loved this year include Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and Others, N.K. Jemisin’s How Long ‘TIL Black Future Month? Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang, and Revenge by Yoko Ogawa. I also liked most of Carmen Maria Muchado’s Her Body and Other Parties. I also found Valeria Luiselli’s Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions informative and valuable but I thought it needed to be much longer. Hanif Abdurraqib’s They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us essays on music was also really well written and offered interesting insights into music and culture and W. Kamau Bell’s Awkward Thoughts had me thinking about race in a different way AND had me, at times laughing with his very geeky but cool sense of humor. I also really loved the graphic novel, Saga.

Poem.

 

Quintessentially Scotland, wrapped in a burnt amber autumnal cloak.

Lochan islet overarched by the noble, native Scots Pine.

Rosehips, gorse and sapling silver birch frame a breathless stillness and combine to form the archetypal landscape of Caledonia.

A perfect moment of utter calm where time ceases and beauty overwhelms.

How rare.

How special.

How therapeutic

to mind, body and soul.

Welcome to my new adventure to close out the year! I'm taking every theme from the figbarf page on Instagram and posting at least one figure per theme, since I feel bad for not keeping up the whole year and I like a challenge lol. As a way to guide myself, I also picked a theme from each group that would be the overarching theme, with this overall theme being Famous Duos. This one is particular... I went with both figs in the duo lol. You're welcome. Hope y'all enjoy these!

 

Left to right:

 

#figbarf46 - Book & Graphic Novel Characters: Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase

#figbarf47 - Teachers, Masters, Students, & Apprentices: Depa Billaba and Caleb Dume

#figbarf48 - The 1980s: Twins Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito

#figbarf49 - Mashups, Amalgams, & Crossovers: Super-Soldier and Dark Claw (Amalgam)

#figbarf50 - Famous Duos: Calvin and Hobbes

#figbarf51 - Family: Dean and Sam Winchester

#figbarf52 - Christmas: Mr. and Mrs. Claus

The overarching lesson I take home with me after every trip to the American West is that I am really not that important. Neither are the things that I worry about.