Free-Speech Fridays: How to Differentiate Between Your Inner Critic and “Being Realistic” by Tara Sophia Mohr

Brilliant women often wonder: well, how do I know if I’m hearing my inner critic, or if I’m just being realistic?

Is that my inner critic telling me that I am not ready to start the business – or is that realistic thinking?

Is that my inner critic telling me that I won’t find a commercial market for my art – or is that simply the unfortunate truth?

Is that my inner critic telling me that I shouldn’t apply because I’d never get the job – or is the voice of wise realism?

These are really good questions.

Please know, I’m all for realism. I believe in bringing our practical assessment of reality to bear in every decision. I have an MBA for goodness sake!

Source: www.taramohr.com

Post submitted by: Miqi Cos

Daily Word: Oneiric

oneiric: pertaining to or suggestive of dreams.

Thursday Take-Off: How is labor valued today?

Booker T. Washington once said, “No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”

In today’s American society, where advanced degrees garner higher salaries, is there still value and dignity in labor?

How does our society value jobs in technology or academia, and how do we perceive jobs that require manual labor? What does this reflect about our societal values?

Share your opinion, and have a great Labor Day!

Post submitted by: Miqi Cos

Daily Word: Mores

mores: customs; habits; ways.

Wednesday Word: Beating the Odds: Teenage Cancer Patient Completes Her Bucket List

Here’s an inspiring story to remind us that, according to Alice Pyne, “You only have one life to live…live it!”

Swim with sharks. Meet a famous pop band. Stay in a caravan. These are all rather standard items to scribble on one’s bucket list – though there’s an inherent problem with most lists: they often languish, unachieved. But a British 16-year-old, facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, set out to tackle her list. And just a year after its creation, she’s managed to strike through all 17 items.

Alice Pyne, from Ulverston in northwest England, created her bucket list after learning more than four years ago that she had terminal Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She posted them all on her blog, which she started in the summer of 2011, to help her keep track of her progress. Just under her blog’s main banner, she alludes to her skepticism in completing all the items on her list: “Some are possible, some will remain a dream.”

It’s time for Pyne to update that text, because in July, Pyne ticked off the final adventure on her list: whale watching in Canada. Though whale watching had long been one of her most important to-dos, Pyne had almost given up hope of ever being able to go. “I just couldn’t believe that I was actually there,” she wrote. “I’m sure that the whales heard that I was about, cos they came out and I know that we’ll all remember it forever.”

Just 12 months earlier, she launched the blog to some unexpected fanfare. She quickly became something of an Internet sensation – the hashtag #alicebucketlist began trending on Twitter, attracting the attention of celebrities from David Cameron, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and Johnny Depp,according to the Huffington Post. The hashtag even became the top trending term one morning in June, The Guardian reported.

Through her Internet stardom, Pyne has managed to get 40,000 people to join the Bone Marrow Register, according to ITV News. But Pyne, cognizant of her terminal illness, hopes the trend will continue far into the future. “It’s really good that I’m getting so many people to join the register, but what about when I’m not here?” she wrote in 2011. “I don’t want it all to stop.” Pyne then explained her next mission: to have large card companies such as Hallmark, Camden, and Phoenix become involved in spreading the word as well.

Pyne’s blog continues to attract volumes of traffic, drawing over four million readers with dozens of encouraging comments written on each post. But perhaps the greatest inspiration comes from the young Pyne herself. Near the top of her blog, she writes: “You only have one life…live it!”

Source: Time.com

What are some things that you’ve always wanted to do in life? How many of them have you accomplished?

Post submitted by: Miqi Cos

Daily Word: Abstemious

abstemious: temperate; abstinent; refraining from indulgence.

Tuesday Title: The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam

Book description from Amazon.com:

A portion of the proceeds of this book will be donated to the Somaly Mam Foundation.

A riveting, raw, and beautiful memoir of tragedy and hope

Born in a village deep in the Cambodian forest, Somaly Mam was sold into sexual slavery by her grandfather when she was twelve years old. For the next decade she was shuttled through the brothels that make up the sprawling sex trade of Southeast Asia. Trapped in this dangerous and desperate world, she suffered the brutality and horrors of human trafficking—rape, torture, deprivation—until she managed to escape with the help of a French aid worker. Emboldened by her newfound freedom, education, and security, Somaly blossomed but remained haunted by the girls in the brothels she left behind.
Written in exquisite, spare, unflinching prose, The Road of Lost Innocence recounts the experiences of her early life and tells the story of her awakening as an activist and her harrowing and brave fight against the powerful and corrupt forces that steal the lives of these girls. She has orchestrated raids on brothels and rescued sex workers, some as young as five and six; she has built shelters, started schools, and founded an organization that has so far saved more than four thousand women and children in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. Her memoir will leave you awestruck by her tenacity and courage and will renew your faith in the power of an individual to bring about change.

To learn more about how you can help fight human trafficking, visit the foundation’s website: http://www.somaly.org.

Read more about this book on Amazon.com!

Post submitted by: Miqi Cos

Daily Word: Pother

pother: a heated discussion, debate, or argument; fuss; to-do.

Monday Money: Writing Tips from a Professor

Consider these writing tips from Professor Richard Hirsh, a History Professor at Virginia Tech:

Here are some useful tips for writing papers that earn good grades in my classes.

• Generally, I will give high grades to papers that I can read quickly. In other words, if the papers are interesting, have few typographical errors, grammatical problems, etc., they will receive high grades. If I need to correct spelling, grammar, sentence structure and so on, I will be slowed down, and I will lose track of your major arguments. So, your goal should be to write papers that I can read quickly!
• Though you are not learning to be journalists, at least one journalistic technique will prove useful, at least in writing short papers. Namely, consider writing an interesting first paragraph that broadly outlines the goal and main theme of the paper. In successive paragraphs, develop those themes introduced in the first. This technique provides the reader with important information quickly and efficiently. (In journalism, this technique is often referred to as the “inverted pyramid,” in which 80% of the story content can be obtained in the first paragraph.)
• Use interestingly written topic sentences near the beginning of each paragraph. We sometimes forget this simple approach, taught to us in grade school, in the hope that more convoluted and “sophisticated” paragraph structures make us appear more learned.
• Avoid phrases that use lots of commas. For example:

Original: “This book represented, in general, a good effort.”

Better: “In general, this book represented a good effort.”

Best: “This book represented a good effort.” (Consider whether you truly need the modifier, “in general.”)

• Use shorter rather than longer sentences. Long sentences that have lots of parenthetical phrases are hard to digest and understand. Also, you will find that you often use more words than necessary to convey an idea. Write economically, as if every word costs you money! Of course, you don’t want lots of short, choppy sentences either. You’ll need to find a balance between the two extremes.
• Read your papers aloud. If you can’t read a sentence without gasping for breath, it is too long. Moreover, listen to yourself. Do the sentences sound like something you would say in public?
• Avoid passive voice. (For example: “It was decided…” Who made the decision?) Also shun the verb “to be.” Use active verbs instead. They make sentences more lively.
• Don’t start a sentence with the words “What,” as in “What I’m arguing is…” because it usually means you’ll use the verb “to be.”  You can write the sentence better without this construction.  (“I argue that…)  Of course, use “What” if the sentence is a question.  (“What is going on?” she asked.)
• Likewise, don’t start a sentence with the word “Which” unless it is a question, as in “Which is why the president signed the bill.”  You may see this construction in the popular press, but it is incorrect, since the sentence doesn’t properly contain a subject.
• Don’t internalize knowledge. From your readings, you will have become very familiar with a certain subject and its jargon. Don’t assume that your readers know as much as you do. If you use specialized terms or expressions, provide short definitions of them.
• When you use pronouns such as “this” and “it,” make sure they clearly refer to the appropriate nouns. Consider these sentences: “The motor in the first French automobile evolved well before its introduction in America. This proves the hypothesis offered by F.W. Langweilig.” What does the “its” refer to? The “motor” or the “automobile?” And what does “This” refer to? In other words, be careful when you use such pronouns.
• Remember that “it’s” means “it is.”  Don’t use “it’s” instead of the possessive “its.”  Know the difference.
• Please proofread papers and use spell-checkers, dictionaries, etc. I dislike correcting typing and spelling errors.
• I encourage you to have colleagues read and edit your drafts before you turn them in to me.
• Avoid using the same words (especially verbs and nouns) in the same sentence or paragraph. Employ different words to provide variety and interest. Utilize a thesaurus if necessary. (See how I avoided the word “use” in each of the last three sentences? On the other hand, I dislike the word “utilize.” It sounds too formal and harsh.)
• Technically, you should not use split infinitives. (For example, “to boldly go…”)
• Avoid clich�s like the plague. (A joke, but do you get the idea?)

Remember the first tip: quickly read papers get the highest grades!

Post submitted by: Miqi Cos

Daily Word: Espy

espy: to see at a glance.

Free-Speech Fridays: The Power of Introverts

In a culture where being social and outgoing are prized above all else, it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert. But, as Susan Cain argues in this passionate talk, introverts bring extraordinary talents and abilities to the world, and should be encouraged and celebrated.

Source: TEDtalk.com

Post submitted by: Miqi Cos

American Cultural Literacy: Out of sight, out of mind

Out of sight, out of mind

PROVERB

We often forget about things or people who are absent.

Daily Word: Hortatory

hortatory: serving to encourage or incite.

Thursday Take-Off: Advice for newborns

If you could give a newborn child one piece of advice, what would it be?

Think back to the most important lessons you have learned in your life. What do you wish someone would have told you? What have you learned that you want to impart on others?

Post submitted by: Miqi Cos

Daily Word: Cosset

cosset: to treat with excessive indulgence; to pamper.

American Cultural Literacy: Nothing will come of nothing

Nothing will come of nothing

PROVERB

You will gain nothing if you invest nothing.

Wednesday Word: Not Just Out of Africa: South America’s “Blood Diamonds” Networks

Source: Time.com

In an office in Santa Elena, deep in the Venezuelan jungle bordering Brazil and Guyana, a diamond trader inspects a rough gem under his magnifying glass. Surrounded by precious minerals, stuffed tarantulas and a sprawling anaconda skin pinned to the wall, he takes calls from men who work in the rowdy clandestine mines nearby and bring him the precious stones. From there, a broker will traffic the diamonds into Guyana, where they’ll receive falsified certificates that they were legally mined and marketed. Many will end up in commercial hubs like New York, Tel Aviv and Antwerp.

And the entire journey will flout the Kimberley Process, a decade-old, U.N.-mandated international agreement to curtail rampant global diamond smuggling. Venezuela, a major diamond producer, is a KP member but voluntarily removed itself as an active participant in 2008 after being widely accused of ignoring the pact’s mission to regulate diamond production and commercialization. “There is no control at all,” says the Santa Elena trader, who asked not to be identified. The KP, as a result, is considering expelling Venezuela: the U.S., which chairs the KP for 2012, this summer delivered an ultimatum to Venezuelan authorities to demonstrate compliance or lose membership altogether.

The Venezuelan crisis is just the latest but perhaps gravest reminder that the KP’s effectiveness is in serious doubt. Last year Global Witness, an international NGO and a KP architect, cut its ties largely in protest over the KP’s failure to stem illicit trade in “conflict” or “blood” diamonds from African countries like Zimbabwe and Côte d’Ivoire, where a civil war is being financed in part by gem smuggling. (That problem was a key impetus for the KP’s creation.) But for Global Witness and other erstwhile KP boosters, Venezuela is one of the most egregious examples of how “the KP has turned itself into a toothless League of Nations,” says Ian Smillie, who in 2009 resigned a top post at the NGO Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), another KP founder, citing a litany of countries where he said the KP had failed. “One way or the other, the KP has actively let Venezuela off the hook.” And if Venezuela can spurn the KP rules, he adds, “why should anyone else bother?”

Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/08/20/not-just-out-of-africa-south-americas-blood-diamonds-network/?iid=gs-article-latest#ixzz247tft1m1

Post submitted by: Miqi Cos

American Cultural Literacy: A rolling stone gathers no moss

A rolling stone gathers no moss

PROVERB

People pay a price for being always on the move, in that they have no roots in a specific place; or people who keep moving avoid picking up responsibilities and cares.

Daily Word: Abjure

abjure: Formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure.

Tuesday Title: Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach

Book description(Amazon.com):

A novel both timely and prophetic, Ernest Callenbach’s Ecotopia is a hopeful antidote to the environmental concerns of today, set in an ecologically sound future society. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as the “newest name after Wells, Verne, Huxley, and Orwell,” Callenbach offers a visionary blueprint for the survival of our planet . . . and our future.

Ecotopia was founded when northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the Union to create a “stable-state” ecosystem: the perfect balance between human beings and the environment. Now, twenty years later, this isolated, mysterious nation is welcoming its first officially sanctioned American visitor: New York Times-Post reporter Will Weston.

Skeptical yet curious about this green new world, Weston is determined to report his findings objectively. But from the start, he’s alternately impressed and unsettled by the laws governing Ecotopia’s earth-friendly agenda: energy-efficient “mini-cities” to eliminate urban sprawl, zero-tolerance pollution control, tree worship, ritual war games, and a woman-dominated government that has instituted such peaceful revolutions as the twenty-hour workweek and employee ownership of farms and businesses. His old beliefs challenged, his cynicism replaced by hope, Weston meets a sexually forthright Ecotopian woman and undertakes a relationship whose intensity will lead him to a critical choice between two worlds.

Post submitted by: Miqi Cos