Lydia Schoch

Here is this week’s list of essays, short stories, poems, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

The Awful Greatness of the Cherry Sisters via HorribleSanity. Who here has heard of the Cherry Sisters before? I hadn’t, but I was fascinated by their story. If only it could have had a happier ending.

That Lucky Old Sun. This is one of those links that works best if you know nothing about it when you start reading. Enjoy!

The Rumor Mill via LyddieThomas. I wouldn’t want to work here, but it sure is an interesting concept.

The Sweetest Kidnapping. What does it mean to do something in the best interest of a child? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

Paper Tigers via jdubqca. I love this.

From The Last Dying Cat:

Tess is the last Cooney-Martin cat. There will be no others. No kittens, no adopted strays, no trips to the shelter. Done. The last cat. Tess.

What have you been reading?

Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t shared this story on this blog yet.

Years ago someone asked me if my workplace had any adamantium pans.

She wasn’t laughing when she asked.

Her facial expression was completely serious. Slightly stern, even.

“No,” I said. “We only have metal ones.”

Disappointment flooded her face.

“Do you know where I can find one?”

I had a choice in that moment. I could tell her that adamantium only exists in the Marvel universe. From her facial expression and body language, I wasn’t sure she’d believe me. She looked so earnest and eager to find it.

I could play along and recommend another store to try. That seemed cruel, though. This didn’t come across to me as the kind of joke she was in on or would appreciate.

Or  I could do nothing.

“Sorry, I don’t know of any places that sell it.” The exchange ended, and she melted back into the crowd.

Sometimes I still wonder what her backstory was. Did she have a young relative who jokingly told her it was a superior metal alloy for baking delicate desserts? Did she misread something online and accidentally come to the conclusion that this was something available to people in our universe?

Was she pulling my leg?

The world will never know, but still I wonder.

What’s the most surreal thing that’s ever happened to you?

No More Questions! from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

What a humorous and touching way to honour the woman who shared these stories. Doesn’t it make you wonder which stories about your life will be remembered by future generations?

Photo credit: Warsocket.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the kinds of conversations that make me the happiest. As longtime readers might remember, I’m not a big fan of small talk. I’ve learned how to do it fairly well over the years, but I always breathe a sigh of relief when the conversation moves to weightier topics than what kind of weather we’ve been having.

My list (probably) won’t be the same as yours, but these are the types of things I hope to discuss more often in 2016:

Did you know that….

For example, did you know that all of the members of a wolf pack take turns playing with and looking after baby wolves? They also share their food with pups who are old enough to eat meat.

I’m most interested in factoids like this that are related to science, history, and nature, but my ears perk up every time I hear this phrase because there’s such a good chance I’m about to learn something fascinating.

An anecdote like this one could lead to a discussion on anything from that funny thing so-and-so’s kid did with their dog last week to what happened in Yellowstone National Park after wolves were reintroduced there.

What would happen if….

One of my favourite things to do when I’m sitting quietly somewhere is to think of unlikely – but usually not impossible –  situations and then figure out how I’d get out of them.

Occasionally, crucial parts of the subway system in my city shuts down for a few hours or a day due to flooding, mechanical issues, or other problems. What would be the best way for me to get home from neighbourhood X in that scenario? If my first choice route isn’t available for some reason, what’s another good way to get home from that area?

Sometimes I do add in conditions that don’t actually exist in our world – e.g. vampires – to see what solutions my mind can come up with when, say, it isn’t safe to be outside at night.

No, this isn’t an anxiety thing on my part. I don’t worry about what would happen to me in any of those scenarios, I simply enjoy pushing my mental map of how the streets are laid out and where certain landmarks are located as far as they can possibly go. Spatial skills aren’t one of my strong points, so I enjoy practicing them when I can.

What did you really think of….

My husband and I tend to like different styles of art and genres of fiction. There is overlap between us, of course, but I find it a lot of fun to explore what it is he loves about action movies and I love about the postmodern realism movement in art.

When you look at the world through someone else’s eyes, you’ll often catch things that you hadn’t noticed the first time around. I’ve found that this is even more true with people you don’t know well yet.

I’d love to know what’s on your lists.  Let me know in the comment section below!

Here is this week’s list of essays, comic strips, poems, short stories, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Why Cursing Is Not Profanity via AllainaDaniels. I agree with this blogger 100%.

Hey, Ugly Duckling. There are no words to describe how much I love this.

The True Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Never Truly Ate the South. Until I read this article, I genuinely believed that Kudzu had infested the U.S. south and was unstoppable. Here’s the real story of this plant.

Down the Road via jrobertswi. One of the things that I genuinely enjoy about winter is the way it reveals parts of a landscape that are otherwise hidden away. It’s like hearing a secret that no one else knows.

How Cleaning Can Be Therapy via TracyShawn. I don’t find cleaning particularly relaxing, but I do get a similar mood boost from folding laundry. It’s especially rewarding when I’m at the end of the folding process and finally get to match up all of the socks. If I could somehow make a living by folding socks, I’d do it all day and every day. Ha! I’d love to know if any of my readers find certain household chores as relaxing as Tracy and I do.

From The Tomato Thief:

Eva sighed again.

It was debatable whether she knew the real reason that Grandma Harken lived so far out of town. Her mother kept a lot of secrets.

In fact, it was because of the tomatoes.

What have you been reading?

A few days ago, my Twitter stream was filled with pictures and stories of a celebrity who had died. I won’t mention this person’s name out of respect for their loved ones.

This post isn’t about this specific celebrity, anyway. It’s about how western culture thinks of celebrities in general and why I disagree with how they’re treated.

Why don’t I mourn dead celebrities?

I never actually knew them. Listening to someone sing, reading something they’ve written, or watching them perform in front of a camera isn’t the same thing as truly knowing that person as an individual. While there are celebrities who have created books, albums, and shows that I deeply love, there’s stark difference between the persona those celebrities have created and who they actually are when they’re not in the public eye. One of these things is easily knowable, but the one that really matters is not.

Grief is a personal, private matter. I’ve been lucky enough to have only needed to grieve over the death of a loved one a few times in my life so far. Grief isn’t something that can be condensed into a pithy gif or quote. It’s messy, lonesome, and painful.  Often it feels like it will never end because there are so many small, daily reminders of that friend or family member who isn’t here any more. While I have empathy for the loved ones of anyone who dies, I have never felt lonesome for a celebrity. I’ve never wondered if a celebrity would still have the same love of sewing or skateboarding if they’d lived like I’ve wondered about people I actually knew and cared about.

Celebrity worship doesn’t make sense. I don’t care how much celebrities weigh, which diets they follow, who they’re dating, whether or not they have baby bumps, why they’re allegedly cheating on their spouse, or how much money they made on their last project. The idea of paying such close attention to the microscopic details of what a complete stranger does with his or her life isn’t something I understand at all. While I never wish anyone ill, I have no interest at all in becoming emotionally invested in the lives of famous people.

I save my love and my grief for the people I know personally. There is more than enough going on with them to keep me busy for a long time.

The character in this short film used to be a dancer. Watch him reminisce about his old dance moves and then try to perform them again!

What I liked about this film the most were transitions between this character as an old man who has a lot of aches and pains and the agile, athletic person he used to be. They were really well done.

I recently had a funny conversation with a friend about the boring realities of being an adult.

Growing up I had certain expectations of adulthood: freedom; the ability to go to bed and wake up when I wanted to; the possibility of eating nachos and ice cream for dinner.

I knew adults had to do various things to keep a household going, of course, but I didn’t dwell on that part of it very much. The houses I lived in were always clean, warm, and filled with good things to eat. How they got that way was only dimly as important as the fact that I’d be the one making the rules someday.

Both my friend and I pictured a life filled with the freedoms of adulthood. Neither one of us realized all of the other stuff that happens behind the scenes when you’re the one in charge.

By now I’m sure you can guess what we actually did this past weekend:

• Laundry.
• Grocery shopping.
• Running errands.
• Replacing things that had worn out.
• Fixing a water heater (this was on his list, not mine).

These weren’t exactly the glamorous or exciting things I pictured as a kid.

When you grow up, suddenly you become the house-elf working behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. This is true whether you have 0 kids or 12 of them and regardless of where you live or what you do with the rest of your time.

There’s always more adulting to do, and most of it doesn’t have anything to do with nachos or ice cream.

Haha!

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, essays, poems, comic strips, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

BED08 via JAHesch. What a tearjerker. It’s amazing how many different emotions a good writer can pack into such a small amount of space.

Don’t Speak His Name. This is exactly what the weather has been like in Toronto over the last several weeks. Based on reports from friends who live elsewhere, a lot of other people can say the same thing.

Woman Goes Viral After Shutting Down Racist Co-Worker in the Most Hilarious Way Possible. Okay, this is one of the most brilliant responses to racism I’ve ever seen. Kudos to her for handling it so beautifully. I hope no one ever gives her any trouble over her name again.

Why the Myers-Briggs test is Totally Meaningless. Fascinating stuff.

How My Bum Eye Helped Me Look in the Mirror Again via KW_Writes. This was such a great post. It reminds me why I like the body acceptance movement so much.

The Little-Told Story of How the U.S. Government Poisoned Alcohol During Prohibition with Deadly Consequences. This is the stuff of nightmares. It makes me wonder if similar things are still going on today with other substances.

My 10 Favourite Ray Bradbury Stories via MariaHaskins. I’ve read a lot of Ray Bradbury’s stories, but I haven’t read any of these yet. This needs to change. They all sound amazing.

What have you been reading?

Everyone knows they can send a complaint to a business that has annoyed or inconvenienced them in some way. This can be an incredibly important way for a company or an individual to know that they’ve made a mistake and need to change how they behave in the future.

Sometimes I wonder if people also realize that businesses also need compliments, though.

I’ve worked at places that accepted both kinds of feedback, and the number of times I remember hearing praise is so uncommon that I vividly recall every single one of them.

(Interestingly enough, the places where I’ve volunteered have had a higher percentage of positive feedback. It was still always lower than the number of complaints we received, but I wish I knew why this was so. Do organizations that rely on volunteer labour tend to attract more appreciation from the people who use them? I’d do a study on this topic if I were independently wealthy, but I digress.)

Here’s the thing: compliments matter just as much as constructive criticism.

When I’ve received compliments in the past, they didn’t just make my day. They were the highlight of my entire week. I remember literally skipping home from work one day years ago after someone I’d been assisting said something kind about me.

It felt so incredible to realize that someone noticed all of the hard work I’d been quietly doing and was thoughtful enough to mention it out loud.

Hearing positive feedback about a coworker or fellow volunteer is nearly every bit as exciting. I absolutely love knowing that the people I work with are succeeding. It makes me want to put twice as much effort into whatever it is that we’re trying to accomplish because of all of the tangible proof we’ve just been given of how much our actions matter.

So often you only hear feedback when you’ve done something wrong. It’s wonderful to also hear about something you’ve done right!

Compliments affect people on a pragmatic level, too. Many employers factor these things in when making decisions about raises or promotions. A single appreciative message from a stranger probably won’t make a big difference either way, but a history of them could lead to some very happy news for the person you verbally applauded in the future.

I don’t know about you, but I want the helpful people I meet in life to be recognized and rewarded.

This is why I contact organizations when the people working for them delight me in some way. It is also why I hope you’ll start doing the same thing. Our world would be a much better place if everyone was just as eager to pass on compliments as they were to complain about the things that dissatisfy them.

Will you join me?