Retitled Disney Films

"Here's a funny series of posters for some of Disney's classic animated films that gives us a brutally honest title based on the themes of the story. They highlight the content, stereotypes, and tropes of the films. The posters come from Christine Gritmon and Nick Nadel of TheFW."

Brutally Honest Posters For Classic Disney Animated Films 

Thanks to Leslie for sharing this one. 

A Birthday Gift

Fiona is a neighborhood teenager who babysits Miss C.

Fiona will be turning 16 and her mother is giving her an incredible gift.  It's such a neat idea that I wanted to share it. 

She is asking those that know her daughter to write her a note or letter answering these three questions:

What do you wish you knew when you were 16?

What strengths and positive attributes do you know about Fiona?

What unique gifts and abilities do you see that Fiona possesses?

What do you wish you knew?

I wish I knew that many of the things about my self I judged as odd or idiosyncratic are some of my most colorful qualities.  That I could celebrate these instead of trying to sand the edges of them and make them fit a tiny black and white puzzle that I'd created in my mind. 

I wish I knew that asking questions is okay, and making changes based on the answers to those questions is okay. 

I wish I knew that making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn, but also that yesterday's lesson never applies to what I need to learn today.  It belonged to yesterday and today has something entirely new for me to learn.  

I wish I knew that relationships are meant to heal us and teach us about ourselves, and heal us and teach us some more, repeat, forever. 

I wish I knew that there is no there.

I wish I knew that doing something that inspires my heart is one of the fastest and funnest (yes I know that's not a word )ways to learn more about myself and the world.  And will always lead me to the next funnest (now I've used it twice) or interesting thing that I need to know.

I wish I knew that God was bigger than the religion I thought s/he belonged to.

I wish I knew that reading other people's lessons was not half as valuable as learning my own specific lessons.  

Finally, I'm glad I didn't know all these things then because it gave me something to learn from age 16 to Current Sage. 

Now back to Fiona and the other two questions.  

Well Fed

My mom used to have a tin sign that hung in our kitchen, "To school well fed on Grape Nuts."

I think it was all about the giant dog pictured, a St. Bernard, since my mom once loved a St. Bernard.

And you know what they say: Once you love a St. Bernard, something something Grape Nuts. 



I know a woman who says Anyway twice.  She never says it once.  When she transitions, she says, "Anyway anyway."  It's rather endearing.

Anyway anyway.

There is a blogger and life coach named Rachel Cole who writes about living a Well Fed Life.  Not just in the sense of physical food.  But feeding the hungry parts of the self.
She describes herself as a "fierce advocate for women feeding their truest hunger."  She asks other women how they conceive a well-fed life.  I love reading these guest posts.    This one caught my mind and anyway, anyway, I'm sharing it.

Enjoy the feast.

Another Glorious Reason (as if we needed any beyond Pure Delight)

"...individuals who frequently read fiction seem to be better able to understand other people, empathize with them and see the world from their perspective. This relationship persisted even after the researchers accounted for the possibility that more empathetic individuals might prefer reading novels. A 2010 study by Dr. Mar found a similar result in preschool-age children: the more stories they had read to them, the keener their theory of mind — an effect that was also produced by watching movies but, curiously, not by watching television. (Dr. Mar has conjectured that because children often watch TV alone, but go to the movies with their parents, they may experience more “parent-children conversations about mental states” when it comes to films.)"

---from Your Brain on Fiction, by Annie Murphy Paul

So pick up that novel, or children's book, or scooch together for a family movie night and profound post-discussion with your kiddo.

It's good for you. 

Skillz

I am in the kitchen peeling hard boiled eggs and listening to The Maytrees by Annie Dillard. 

His fondness for humans did not extend to girls, who were less interesting than frogs, and noisier.

C enters and stands in the doorway, listening.

Girls had no higher wish than to get old enough to wear make-up.

 C: "Who is saying that?"

I tell her it's a story, and that this part is about a boy.

"How old is this boy?"

"He's 11."

"But what he's saying is his opinion.  And it's fiction."

"It is fiction," I say.

"And his opinion.  Because you do other things besides wear make-up."

"I do."

"Lots of other things."

"So many."

"Like, you make make egg salad."

Then she leaves the kitchen and I'm left making egg salad.    

Happy Birthday

Two notable women  born on February 3, back in dem 1800s.
Deets on them, and of course, the children's book version.

(I made bold anything I found particularly funny.  Oh history!  How much we learn!)



1.Elizabeth Blackwell

It's the birthday of the first woman to graduate from medical school, Elizabeth Blackwell, born on this day in Bristol, England, in 1821. She wanted to become a doctor because she knew that many women would rather discuss their health problems with another woman. She read medical texts and studied with doctors, but she was rejected by all the big medical schools. Finally the Geneva Medical College (which became Hobart College) in upstate New York accepted her. The faculty wasn't sure what to do with such a qualified candidate, and so they turned the decision over to the students. The male students voted unanimously to accept her. Her classmates and even professors considered many medical subjects too delicate for a woman, and didn't think she should be allowed to attend lectures on the reproductive system. But she graduated, became a doctor, and opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children.

---from Writer's Almanac

The First Woman Doctor, by Rachel Baker


2.Gertrude Stein

It's the birthday of writer Gertrude Stein (books by this author), born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (1874). She spent part of her childhood in Vienna and Paris, but grew up in Oakland, California.

Stein left Oakland for Radcliffe College, where she took classes from the philosopher William James. Then she moved to Paris, where she met and fell in love with Alice B. Toklas. Alice moved in with Gertrude, and she typed up Gertrude's manuscripts, got up early to clean and arrange the dishes, cooked and shopped, and ran the household. Together they presided over a salon in their home at 27 Rue de Fleurus — Gertrude had first lived there with her brother, Leo, but he did not share her passion for cubism and avant-garde writing, and moved to Florence. Young writers and artists flocked to 27 Rue de Fleurus — Picasso, Matisse, Ezra Pound, Georges Braque, Guillaume Apollinaire; and in later years, Hemingway, James Joyce, T.S. Eliot, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

In 1933, Stein published The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, which was not by Toklas at all, and it was a bestseller.

Gertrude Stein said, "I always wanted to be historical, from almost a baby on, I felt that way about it."

----from Writer's Almanac

Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude, by Jonah Winter

Sunday Review

1.
The Boys at the Back, by Christina Hoff Sommers

"A few decades ago, when we realized that girls languished behind boys in math and science, we mounted a concerted effort to give them more support, with significant success. Shouldn’t we do the same for boys?"

2.
War Games, by Nana Asfour

"My stepson's battle was virtual.  But the one I experienced was real."