• On Life and Love

    APW 2013: Intellectualism, Anarchy, Privilege and Power

    (This is the fifth in a way-too-long-running series on APW 2013.) I am not educated on anarchy or intentional communities. I consider this a lack in my education. (Seems like reddit may have a good starting place for me.) Dennis Fox is a psychologist from Boston who focuses on a few interesting topics: intentional communities and critical psychology. What is critical psychology, you ask? When speaking of truths, Fox said, “current psychology’s truth is in finding ways for unhappy people to adapt to the current world, rather than in changing the current world.” That really resonated with me. So many of the unhappinesses we struggle with derive from trying to…

  • On Life and Love

    Links! 7/12/2013

    Some good reading: Wu-Tang Clan Had an ASL Interpreter at Bonnaroo and She Stole The Show No additional commentary from me needed, clearly. Delightful Helicopter Pilot Rescues Kid’s RC Plane From Treetop This is awesome. C/O Angi. Julius Escaping *ORIGINAL* Snake Opens Door – YouTube What the eff. Worlds Cutest Frog – Desert Rain Frog – YouTube Both creepy and adorable. All Hail the Queen? | Bitch Media "It is difficult to square the singer’s mainstream packaging with subversion of conventional and sexist views of gender. But ultimately, the policing of feminist cred is the real moral contradiction. And the judgment of how Beyoncé expresses her womanhood is emblematic of…

  • On Life and Love

    I “Treasure” the Opportunity

    I accepted a Board position for my church today. …There are several words in that sentence that feel a little foreign coming out of my mouth. (Clue: “accepted”, “Board position”, and yes, “church”) The cute thing to say here would be, “Oh, geez, this is such a ‘real adult’ thing to do! When did I become an adult?” Insert bashful giggle, etc. Leaving aside the fact that I haven’t felt like a kid in a long damn time, I find that I’m mostly feeling a calm readiness to take this on. Of course, I might be singing a different tune after a few board meetings and the sorts of miscellaneous…

  • On Life and Love

    Wuut? Aerial Yoga

    If you’d asked me three months ago if I’d try aerial yoga, I’d’ve said, “Um, no.” Bunch of reasons: I don’t like heights, I don’t like being inverted from high places, and I don’t like exacerbating my already always-there shoulder pain (sez the weightlifter *eye roll*). Also, I’m sometimes scared to try new things. Ask me two weeks ago? Fuck yeah, I’ll try it! So tonight, I went to Lucy’s beautiful and friendly studio and tried it. And then I spent most of the 75 minute class swallowing tears. Not due to any one thing in particular. It wasn’t just the physical pain or emotional pain and frustration, but the…

  • On Life and Love

    Dense Belly Dance

    Shortly after H and I did the West African dance class last month, we decided to try a belly dance class down in the Ballantyne area of Charlotte, where I work and they live. We’ve gone every week since. This is a different instructor than the one I went to from 2010 thru (sporadically) 2012, and there are some fascinating differences. This instructor is more inclined to talk “technical” about the dance moves from the first class–the muscles involved, what should be contracting and relaxing during a move. That’s great for me in relearning properly, and H has done other formal dance training before and finds that immensely helpful. We…