Inspiration Diary: March 2018
Here's a peek into what I've been looking at over the past month.
I hope you find these things as inspiring as I did!
Book of the month
Brave by Rose McGowan
This book has exploded on social media, riding the wave of #MeToo and #RoseArmy and did a lot to help understand McGowan's perspective, particularly her insightful look into her childhood in the Children of God cult. Although through the news we're now more familiar with Hollywood exploitation, I was still surprised to read about how we as consumers are viewed by its executives.
Throughout the memoir I felt that I could relate to her being an outsider, although I have in no way suffered similar abuse. The prologue begins with her thoughts on shaving her head, which were very similar to my own as people react in strange ways to what is just a hairstyle.
Este libro explotó, particularmente en las redes sociales con hashtags como #MeToo y #RoseArmy y ayuda mucho a entender la perspectiva de McGowan, especialmente su exploración detallada de su infancia en un culto. Aunque estemos más al tanto de la explotación de Hollywood, igual me sorprendió leer sobre cómo nos ven los ejecutivos de Hollywood a nosotros como consumidores.
A lo largo del libro sentí que podía relacionarme con McGowan como una extraña, aunque no haya sufrido ni cerca el tipo de abuso que tuvo que soportar ella. El prólogo habla de sus reflexiones en torno a raparse, lo cual fueron bastante similares a las mías porque la gente reacciona de manera bastante rara ante lo que es, al fin y al cabo, sólo un corte de pelo.
I was so happy when it got here!
Be warned. The book is easy to read in terms of style only: the content is often very difficult to digest and I physically winced on the subway at one point. I think it's one of those books that are important to read because of their context as well as their content: more than anything, it's a call to hit back, to be empowered by channeling anger and being brave.
“Since I and so many brave survivors have come forward, titans of every industry have toppled. We survivors have gained our power. We survivors are using our voices in record numbers. We cannot let up, and as hard as it is, we must continue to get even louder, to push even harder. We all count. We all matter. Here’s to freedom, yours and mine. Now go breathe fire.”
Una advertencia: este libro es fácil de leer pero sólo en téminos de vocabulario. El contenido es a menudo muy difícil de digerir por su crudeza y en un momento sentí que me estremecía físicamente en el subte. Creo que es uno de esos libros que son importantes de leer por su contexto además de su contenido: ante todo, es un llamado a contraatacar, a ser empoderadas al canalizarnuestro enojo y siendo valientes.
Video of the month
"Families of the children and teacher who were killed in the Dunblane school shooting 22 years ago today send a message to survivors of the Parkland school shooting who are planning to protest for gun law reform in the US. The Dunblane massacre led the UK to enforce some of the strictest firearms legislation in the world, outlawing private ownership of most handguns. Almost overnight, 200,000 gun owners had their weapons banned, a law which was enforced with heavy fines and up to 10 years in prison."
Familias de los hijos y profesora que fueron asesinados en el tiroteo de la escuela de Dunblane hace 22 años mandan un mensaje a los sobrevivientes del tiroteo de Parkland, que están planeando una protesta por reformas en los Estados Unidos. El masacre de Dunblane llevó a que el Reino Unido aplicara de las legislaciones sobre armas de fuego del mundo, prohibiendo la tenencia personal de la mayoría de armas cortas. Casi de un día para el otro, 200,000 propietarios vieron que se prohibieron sus armas mediante una ley que se hizo cumplir con multas fuertes y hasta 10 años de cárcel.
Again, not an easy thing to watch when you know what happened in Dunblane and Parkland but it was very uplifting to see this gesture of support and their message of hope. The video gave me chills the first time and continues to do so: humanity reaching out like this is amazing and this kind of solidarity, truly inspiring. I'll be writing a blog post on gun control soon, stay tuned.
De vuelta, esto no es algo fácil de ver cuando sabés qué pasó en Dunblane y Parkland pero fue muy motivador ver este gesto de apoyo y su mensaje de esperanza. El video me está dando siempre piel de gallina: este tipo de solidaridad es increíble. Estén atentos que voy a publicar una columna sobre este tema pronto.
Podcast of the month
My own podcast, Plus Five Four. Just kidding...that would be biased.
I've been listening heavily to the Reply All podcast from Gimlet. They cover tech stories but I would 100% recommend it even if you're not that into tech: their investigations have a human side and the hosts have excellent storytelling skills that ensnare you. There's the search for a lost Bitcoin, they explore what kind of person gets phished, investigate people behind elaborate internet scams...
The latest episode, "A Pirate In Search of a Judge" [sic] is about mystery emails from internet providers threatening to cut off the internet of a Reply All listener, accusing them of illegal downloads...but the listener has no idea what they're talking about.
Mi podcast, Plus Five Four. Mentira, no soy tan cara rota. Estuve escuchando mucho el podcast "Reply All" de Gimlet: 100% recomendable. Hablan sobre cosas tecnológicas pero con un lado humano y una gran capacidad de narración que te atrapa (como la búsqueda de un Bitcoin perdido, estafas en línea...). El último episodio trata de un fan de Reply All acusadx de bajar un episodio de Girls ilegalmente...cosa que no hizo.
News story of the month
This isn't so much a news story as a project by a news organisation: the New York Times launched the Overlooked project on International Women's Day, writing obituaries for notable women that did not receive them at the time of their deaths. Many of these oversights were news to me. One that blew me away was Sylvia Plath, whose death in 1963 didn't get a mention in the NYT and according to Anemona Hartocollis, the journalist who wrote the obituary, they don't really know why. You can read the obit here.
Esto no es un reportaje si no más bien un proyecto de reportaje que está haciendo el New York Times. El Día Internacional de la Mujer, iniciaron el proyecto "Pasadas por alto," en donde escriben obituarios para mujeres notables que no lo recibieron en su momento. Muchas que no fueron incluidas me sorprendieron, en particular Sylvia Plath, cuya muerte en 1963 no se mencionó y, según la autora de su nuevo obituario Anemona Hartocollis, no saben bien por qué. Pueden leer el obituario actualizado acá.
National Geographic also came out in March to do some serious soul-searching about blatant racism in their magazines over the years: it's a refreshing trend.
Check out this Facebook Live that NYT did (they're on every Thursday, by the way) where Hartocollis shares her thoughts and research, including an exploration of the stigma around suicide and rejection letters for the Bell Jar. Which I haven't read. Maybe that'll be April's book of the month.
El National Geographic también salió en marzo a hacer un buen examen de conciencia en cuanto al racismo alevoso que ha plasmado en sus revistas a lo largo de los años: es una tendencia refrescante.
Pueden mirar arriba el Facebook Live que hizo el NYT (todos los jueves, por cierto) en donde Hartocollis comparte sus reflexiones y su investigación: habla de la estigmatización del suicidio y cartes de rechazo por "La campana de cristal." Que no leí. Quizás sea el libro del mes de abril.
Film of the month
Black Panther. I'm not even sure how much to go into this because I could talk about this film for days but I would hate to spoil it for someone. Just...go watch this. The hype is more than justified. As a feminist it is very rare for me to leave a cinema not fuming about the portrayal of female characters — more susprising when you consider that in this case there's an inherently patriarchal system i.e. a monarchy as the backdrop.
If you have watched it, I thought this video was awesome:
I also watched two documentaries that I would recommend on Netflix: "Rotten" and "Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things."
Pantera Negra. No sé cuánto decir porque podría hablar un montón sobre esta película pero me da mucho miedo arruinarla para alguien que no lo haya visto. Así que...vayan. Por favor. No está inflada de más, digamos. Como feminista es muy raro que me vaya de un cine sin estar molesta por cómo mostraron a algún personaje feminino —más raro todavía cuando consideramos que se muestra una monarquía en la película, un sistema inherentemente patriarcal. Y si viste la película, el video de arriba no tiene precio.
Website
If you read my blog post on how I built my capsule wardrobe, you will have seen this website Color Palette FX —basically, you upload any picture and it extracts the colours. Not only that, it shows you the complementary colours and the triad for each one. This was extremely helpful when creating my capsule which you can read about here.
If you're interested in colour palettes in general or just like looking at combinations of colours, check out Colourlovers.com, which has 4 million user-created palettes.
Si leyeron mi post sobre mi cápsula de otoño, habrán visto este sitio Color Palette FX, que básicamente extrae los colores de cualquier imagen que subas. De hecho te muestra también los colores complementarios y su tríada. Fue extremadamente útil al momento de crear mi cápsula, pueden leer sobre el proceso acá.
New place
A small artisanal beer place around the corner from my apartment: there are a lot of craft beer places around Buenos Aires (and the rest of the world) but the place is tiny, not pretentious and the beer isn't expensive. Also, I insist, under 200 metres away from my place. I hung out there after the rally on International Women's Day on March 8th, a perfect way to end a day of marching, photography and sorority.
Related post: "Sorority"
Una birrería chica a la vuelta de casa: hay muchos lugares de cerveza artesanal en Buenos Aires (y el mundo) pero este lugar es diminuto, no es pretencioso y la cerveza no es cara. Además, insisto, queda a 200 metros de casa. Fui después de la marcha 8M, una manera perfecta de terminar un día de marcha, fotografía y sororidad.
Advice of the month:
Sadia Badiei (of the Pick Up Limes YouTube channel/blog), had a little tip that I've really taken to over the past few weeks — she'll probably be featured on the blog again because of her very informative and beautiful videos. In one about healthy habits, she suggested getting an elastic band or bracelet and switching it from one wrist to the other whenever you catch yourself thinking negatively, gossiping, complaining or "anything else that promotes a negative mindset."
Sadia Badiei (tiene un canal de YouTube y un blog "Pick Up Limes") dio un consejo que me quedó mucho estas últimas semanas — probablamente aparezca de vuelta en el blog por sus videos super lindos e informativos. En uno sobre hábitos sanos, sugiere conseguir un elástico o brazalete y cambiarlo de una muñeca a otra cuando te das cuenta que andás pensando negativamente, chismeando, quejando o "cualquier otra cosa que promueva una mentalidad negativa."
It doesn't stop negativity popping into your head, of course not. But physically changing the bracelet from one wrist to another did wonders to stop the snowballing effect negative thoughts can have, which often ends up in an avalanche of stress that just isn't helpful. It just makes you take a little step back and focus on breathing or just thinking about something else.
Here's the Pick Up Limes video: you can check out the beautiful blog (lots of recipes there) right here.
Obvio que no bloquea por completo los pensamientos negativos que puedan llegar a aparecer. Pero cambiar físicamente de mano la pulsera hizo mucho en frenar ese efecto bola de nieve que pueden tener los pensamientos negativos y suelen terminar en una avalancha poco productiva. Te hace dar un pasito para atrás y enfocar en respirar o tratar de pensar en otra cosa. Abajo tienen el video y pueden ver su blog (con muchas recetas) acá.
What have you been looking at lately?
What's inspired you?
Let me know in the comments!
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