Mixed bag

Have I got links for you!

I was introduced to the site TED a while ago, but in recent days I've been linked to two really fantastic talks. The first, Ken Robinson on how schools kill creativity, was sent to me by my friend D (who has been visiting Cambridge) and really resonated with me. The other is author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talking about 'the dangers of a single story'. It reminded me a lot of deepad's post 'I didn't dream of dragons'. I grew up a voracious reader, and, as an Australian, read a wide variety of English-language children's books, but I think the majority of them were written by Australians, Americans and British authors. Their characters looked like me, for the most part (although many of the young-adult books I read, especially those set in contemporary Australia, were about CoC, but mainly from the perspective of immigration to Australia). This was unremarkable to me at the time, but I now believe that reading such monochromatic books, and hearing, as Adichie says, a single story about those from other backgrounds is bad for everyone involved.

The Adichie link I encountered through a post on Tiger Beatdown about female characters in literature. I cannot sing the praises of Tiger Beatdown enough. If you add one site to your blogroll, add that one. It is consistently one of the most engaging and interesting places on the internet. The next post is a link to Tiger Beatdown blogger Sady Doyle's column for The Awl, which is about feminist utopias (specifically Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon books) in SF. I link to the Tiger Beatdown link, rather than the (excellent) Awl article itself, because it expresses, most eloquently, the complexity of people such as Bradley, who wrote about utopias while being deeply flawed individuals on so many levels.

Another person who is greatly inspiring to me, but is not without his flaws, is Neil Gaiman. I'm thrilled at his latest idea, which is to introduce a Halloween tradition that involves giving people books as gifts. What a wonderful idea! Being Neil Gaiman, he's able to command a lot of respect, and if you read the next posts in his blog you'll see that he has managed to coopt a lot of big names to participate in this scheme.

Another author I greatly admire is Kristin Cashore. She's a truly wonderful human being and says some very interesting stuff on her blog. I'm not recommending any one particular post, since she is consistently fantastic.

And now on to something completely different! Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope done in Facebook status updates. And a cool op-ed piece by Lucy Mangan about how having sisters supposedly benefits your mental health. As a woman with three sisters, I concur. I love my sisters very much.

I can't stop playing 'Bang Bang Bang' by Mark Ronson and The Business INTL (Feat. Q-Tip and MNDR). It's so catchy! My housemate and I were puzzling over the lyrics, and it took me way too long to realise that they're actually quoting 'Alouette'. That made me feel kind of silly.

Mixed bag

Have I got links for you!

I was introduced to the site TED a while ago, but in recent days I've been linked to two really fantastic talks. The first, Ken Robinson on how schools kill creativity, was sent to me by my friend D (who has been visiting Cambridge) and really resonated with me. The other is author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talking about 'the dangers of a single story'. It reminded me a lot of deepad's post 'I didn't dream of dragons'. I grew up a voracious reader, and, as an Australian, read a wide variety of English-language children's books, but I think the majority of them were written by Australians, Americans and British authors. Their characters looked like me, for the most part (although many of the young-adult books I read, especially those set in contemporary Australia, were about CoC, but mainly from the perspective of immigration to Australia). This was unremarkable to me at the time, but I now believe that reading such monochromatic books, and hearing, as Adichie says, a single story about those from other backgrounds is bad for everyone involved.

The Adichie link I encountered through a post on Tiger Beatdown about female characters in literature. I cannot sing the praises of Tiger Beatdown enough. If you add one site to your blogroll, add that one. It is consistently one of the most engaging and interesting places on the internet. The next post is a link to Tiger Beatdown blogger Sady Doyle's column for The Awl, which is about feminist utopias (specifically Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon books) in SF. I link to the Tiger Beatdown link, rather than the (excellent) Awl article itself, because it expresses, most eloquently, the complexity of people such as Bradley, who wrote about utopias while being deeply flawed individuals on so many levels.

Another person who is greatly inspiring to me, but is not without his flaws, is Neil Gaiman. I'm thrilled at his latest idea, which is to introduce a Halloween tradition that involves giving people books as gifts. What a wonderful idea! Being Neil Gaiman, he's able to command a lot of respect, and if you read the next posts in his blog you'll see that he has managed to coopt a lot of big names to participate in this scheme.

Another author I greatly admire is Kristin Cashore. She's a truly wonderful human being and says some very interesting stuff on her blog. I'm not recommending any one particular post, since she is consistently fantastic.

And now on to something completely different! Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope done in Facebook status updates. And a cool op-ed piece by Lucy Mangan about how having sisters supposedly benefits your mental health. As a woman with three sisters, I concur. I love my sisters very much.

I can't stop playing 'Bang Bang Bang' by Mark Ronson and The Business INTL (Feat. Q-Tip and MNDR). It's so catchy! My housemate and I were puzzling over the lyrics, and it took me way too long to realise that they're actually quoting 'Alouette'. That made me feel kind of silly.