Lydia Schoch

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, videos, poetry and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

From The Friendship of a Cat via BillyDees:

They make even the clearest headed and most sensible person act like they have serious psychological problems. It’s like all that crazy talk and speaking in tongues, from both women and men, when their child is born. Upon meeting a kitten for the first time, it’s etiquette to talk to it in a very silly voice… and it’s a voice that stays with you for all your days together.

Skeptical Harry Potter. This would have made for a much more interesting introduction to Hogwarts for young Harry.

The Mystery of the Tiny Door in a Tree. I hope the Bay Area “gnomes” know they’re welcome in Toronto as well. How cool would it be to see something like this in High Park?!

Regret. What if regrets were living organisms?

The Art of Joyful Subversion. I met a few joyfully subversive grown-ups when I was a child. Every conversation we had about alternative ways of looking at the world fluttered around in my mind like a bulletin board full of yellow sticky notes. When I hit my late teens I began sorting through those reminders to see which ones I wanted to keep. I don’t know many children these days but I look forward to passing on the tradition as this changes. Who they actually grow up to be is none of my business but no one should be stuffed into a pre-determined fate.

Sometimes via RHMustard. It’s funny how old memories continue to surface years after a death. My grandmother has been gone for 22 years and as much as I am at peace with the short window of time we shared on this planet there are still days when I wonder what she’d think of everything that has changed since she left.

Tree: A Life Story vividly describes the life cycle of a fir tree and how every stage of its existence is in some way crucial for the survival of at least one other species. This book is perfect for readers who don’t have in-depth knowledge of botany or forest ecology. It describes technical terms and complicated relationships so poetically that at times I forget I was reading non-fiction.

What have you been reading?

“Un gatto interrogativo- A question mark” by Mauro

Bruce Gerencser recently asked his readers for ideas for upcoming posts.

I love this idea so I’m stealing it.

What topics would you want to see at On the Other Hand in the future? Is there anything I’ve written about that you’d like to revisit?

What do you think Interrogative Cat is questioning? 🙂

Photo by Jacek Cisło.

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

This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again.  The man profiled in this article has almost completely switched from eating food to drinking a fortified smoothie he recently invented. Even if this is shown to be safe I like food too much to give it up entirely but with my milk allergy it would be wonderful to keep a serving or two of human “kibble” on me for those occasions when it’s difficult to find safe stuff to eat.

Years. How many years does it take for the horrors of slavery to fade?

From I Wore Red Today:

I have been on this journey of coming out, acknowledging who I am, and looking to live my full life for almost one year.  I have been scared at times.  I was depressed enough to briefly think about suicide earlier in this journey.  I was frustrated.  And then I felt something I almost never expected to feel – the joy of loving and being loved by someone who I could fully bond with emotionally.

The Case for Getting Married Early.  I’ve known teenagers who are ready to get married and people three times that age who haven’t even figured out how to be a good friend yet so I’m puzzled by (white) Toronto’s deep aversion to getting married young. If you’re in love and both feel ready to make that commitment why allow something as arbitrary as age stand in your way?

The Vital Importance of Having a Flossideegibbet.Now I want one!

Remember This Lady? I Didn’t Either. Irena Sendler saved the lives of 2,500 Jewish infants and children during World War II. And then the Nazis figured out what she was doing…

On Missing Childhood. The further away you are from childhood the easier it is to romanticize it. Kids have little to no control over what happens in their lives and they can be terribly, remorselessly cruel to one another. These are two facts I think many grown-ups forget when they gush about how nice it was to be age X. I actually had a wonderful upbringing but was still thrilled to grow up, take responsibility for my own life and choose who remained in it.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox isn’t an easy story to promote without giving away major spoilers. Sufficed it to say Jenna is a teenager recovering from a nearly fatal car accident whose family has been acting quite strangely since she began regaining her short and long-term memory.

This is the perfect book for anyone who found the world more confusing than ever before when they were seventeen. At that age I knew just enough to realize how much I hadn’t figured out yet and not having all of the answers felt like walking around with a pebble in my shoe.

What have you been reading?

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, I Care messages, six word stories and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

I Care. Count me in!

Porn for All, Not a Ban, Is Better for Women. Not all sex work is exploitative and not all mainstream jobs are dignified. Most porn doesn’t actually appeal to me but I don’t have any issues with other adults watching it.

The 30 Happiest Facts of All Time. The best ones were 7, 17 and 21.

Too Many Pets and Not Enough Animals. I know I’m guilty of this.

Black and Bengali. Have you heard of the historic district of Tremé? As genetic ancestry tests become less expensive and more well-known I suspect there will be a lot of people  surprised by the actual ethnic origins of their ancestors. For many years avoiding horrific but often legally-sanctioned consequences was an excellent reason to lie about your identity. And of course there have always been secret adoptions, affairs, and women who don’t or can’t know who the father of their child is due to a wide variety of circumstances!

The Photograph. A challenge for my creative readers: write a six word story about what you think is happening in this photograph and then post it in the comment section. (This picture is work-safe but the rest of the site is not.)

My entry:

After the sacrifice we smelled rain.

 Ripple. A story about rippling kindness from my new Twitter friend, Ani Sangye.

If you’ve ever wished books didn’t have so many words Talking Pictures is what you need to read! It is a charming book full of vintage pictures, postcards and short messages to and from ordinary people. I loved thumbing through it and imagining what the lives of the subjects were like 40, 60, 80 or more years ago.

What have you been reading?

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

Before I send you around the web can you guess what one of the most common search terms for this blog was over the winter?

on-the-other-hand.com and christianity.

I have no idea why so many of you like that phrase but if you’re one of the people who found this blog that way I’d love to know how you thought it up!

Socializing is as exhausting as giving blood. People assume we loners are misanthropes, just sitting thinking, ‘Oh, people are such a bunch of assholes,’ but it’s really not like that. We just have a smaller tolerance for what it takes to be with others. It means having to perform. I get so tired of communicating. – Anneli Rufus

Why Are We So Ashamed of Our Women Heroes? One of the unexpected bonuses of moving away from Northwest Ohio was getting away from this attitude. Toronto isn’t perfect but blatant sexism is much less socially acceptable here. In my experience the (non)reactions of other people to discrimination or prejudice can be just as damaging as the actual incident.  I’m saying this as someone who has also been the bystander who should have spoken up.

How Should Men Act Around Children? The saddest thing about stranger paranoia in North America is that we’re blaming innocent men when 30% of sexually abused kids are hurt by relatives and 60% are hurt by family friends or authority figures.

Lovecraftian Playground. I hereby reserve the right to play here someday. Sometimes the most mature option in life is whooshing down the slide with a grin on your face.

From I am the 47%:

As it turned out, government cheese is Helluva Good. We ate it for four and half years, and I really did see it as part of God’s provision for our family. Uncle Sam’s chick peas floated us through the lean seasons, which lasted from autumn until tax time.

Romantic Wisdom From Rap Genius via Jason Oberholtzer. Do you over-think lyrics? Have you ever stopped liking a song once you realized it’s actual message? I have a  tendency to extrapolate way too much information from pop music. Maybe that is why I enjoyed this post so much!

Animals Made Out of Food. Yes, this is as adorable as it sounds.

We need more people like Amanda Palmer in the world:

After a lifetime of economic and emotional struggles Dorrit arrives on The Unit with resignation. As a single, childless woman working in a low demand career she knew she couldn’t escape her fate as a a dispensable. At least now her life would serve a purpose.

To be honest with my readers the character development was weak and there were a few snarled plot threads but the premise of this book is so chilling I think you should read it anyway. Modern society still treats certain people as inherently less valuable than others and has encoded these prejudices into law at many different times and places in human history. It doesn’t stretch my imagination to envision it happening again.

What have you been reading?