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Note to self: The therapeutic effects of reading other people's to-do lists - Healthy Living, Health & Wellbeing - The Independent

Note to self: The therapeutic effects of reading other people's to-do lists - Healthy Living, Health & Wellbeing - The Independent.

Note to self: The therapeutic effects of reading other people's to-do lists
Sasha Cagen has spent the past decade collecting other people's to-do lists – she reveals why the simplest form of therapy may be index-linked
By Kate Burt, Sunday, 3 August 2008

Other people's to-do lists can be endlessly fascinating – but pinpointing exactly why isn't always easy, admits Sasha Cagen, an American writer who has spent the past nine years collecting hand-written "notes to self" from hundreds of strangers.

Yet, just a few minutes browsing through those lists on the blog Cagen has dedicated to her pursuit goes some way to providing the answer. "Get car headlamp fixed, mop hall, call cat psychic," reads one. In another, a trainee psychotherapist bullet-points some fears about her impending career that, intriguingly, include "I hate having to think about my clients in relation to my clothes and hair," while the classic "Girls I've kissed" list (complete with names, descriptions, nationalities and the year the kissing took place) is reassuring in its familiarity – who hasn't done the same?

The fascinating blog from this article is at http://todolistblog.blogspot.com

Saving Michael Vick's dogs - Washington Post- msnbc.com

Saving Michael Vick's dogs - Washington Post- msnbc.com.

Saving Michael Vick's dogs
Pit bulls rescued from fighting ring show progress in rehabilitation effort
By Brigid Schulte, Washington Post, updated 2 hours, 41 minutes ago

When football superstar Michael Vick pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to run a dogfighting operation, we knew he had kept about 50 pit bulls on his 15-acre property in rural Surry County, Va., on a road named Moonlight. We knew the dogs were chained to car axles near wooden hovels for shelter. And we knew the dogs that didn't fight were beaten, shot, hanged, electrocuted or drowned.

But we didn't know their names. Headlines described the nameless dogs as "menacing." Some animal rights groups called for the "ticking time bombs" to be euthanized as soon as Vick's case was closed and they were no longer valuable as evidence. That's what typically happens after a dogfighting bust.

An amazing tale of dedication, hard work, and love as antidote for cruelty.. dogs are surely amazing animals...

Essay About Love and Literary Taste - Books - Review - New York Times

Essay About Love and Literary Taste - Books - Review - New York Times.

Essay
It’s Not You, It’s Your Books
By RACHEL DONADIO, Published: March 30, 2008

Some years ago, I was awakened early one morning by a phone call from a friend. She had just broken up with a boyfriend she still loved and was desperate to justify her decision. “Can you believe it!” she shouted into the phone. “He hadn’t even heard of Pushkin!”

LA Weekly - News - The Life and Death of Jesse James - Josh Olson - The Essential Online Resource for Los Angeles

LA Weekly - News - The Life and Death of Jesse James - Josh Olson - The Essential Online Resource for Los Angeles.

The Life and Death of Jesse James
An internet love mystery
By Josh Olson, Wednesday, October 10, 2007 - 12:00 pm

I met Audrey back in the nascent days of the Internet, when we were both on AOL, regular contributors to a message board devoted to screenwriting. I was just starting out as a writer, and might have optioned one or two things for a few hundred bucks (if that), and Audrey was someone who enjoyed the witty banter of writers. Her posts were funny, acerbic, unsentimental and smart, and one of the many things we bonded over was our enormous admiration for author Harlan Ellison.

One of the strangest but somehow oddly familiar tales of online "romance" gone very strange indeed...

Internet Home To The Amazing Skidboot’s Life & Legacy

Internet Home To The Amazing Skidboot’s Life & Legacy.

Farewell, Skidboot.. R.I.P.. All Dogs Go to Heaven

Skidboot is at rest, the bell of time having made its inevitable toll. What a wonderful life of fourteen years he lived! Never has a last minute, second thought Christmas gift ever shone so brightly as Skidboot.

On Sunday evening, March 25, 2007, Skidboot was laid to rest beneath an oak tree on the ranch to which he contributed greatly in building.

David and Barbara request that Skidboot be remembered by a donation to your local animal shelter in Skidbootʼs name.

Great, fun-loving, and special (they are *all* special) dog.. thanks to Roxy and Neo, my Italian greyhound family now, I have found that "man's best friend" idea really true.. nothing against cats :), but dogs are love unconditional, all day, all night, all the time.. Skidboot was like that, too...

Pretty Girl with her Dog

Pretty Girl with her Dog,
originally uploaded by nyctreeman.

Lovely photo, I think c. 1920s.. girl with dog.. I am testing out a new way (easier) to use photos - vintage mostly from a flickr group for collage images...

Random, Whole Foods Partner to Promote Memoir - 3/12/2007 - Publishers Weekly

Random, Whole Foods Partner to Promote Memoir - 3/12/2007 - Publishers Weekly.

Random, Whole Foods Partner to Promote Memoir
by Lynn Andriani, PW Daily -- 3/12/2007

Random House is teaming up with Whole Foods, the world's largest retailer of natural and organic foods, to promote a spring memoir, Dinner with Dad: How I Found My Way Back to the Family Table. The title, which goes on sale May 22 with a first printing of 25,000 copies, is Cameron Stratcher's memoir of how he, a "lawyer-commuter-father," realized his children were growing up without him, and vowed to be home five nights a week to make dinner with his family for a year. It's his third book.
...
D.C. Stracher will also promote the contest through his blog, http://www.dinnerwithdad.com/.

Book Review: 'Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn'

Book Review: 'Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn'

Source: Book Review: 'Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn'

By Scott Eyman, Palm Beach Post Books Editor
Sunday, August 13, 2006 

I have a sinking feeling that this collection of Martha Gellhorn's letters will be read mostly for the information to be gleaned about Ernest Hemingway. Gellh orn was Hemingway's third wife, the one who always refused to speak about him after their divorce, mainly because she couldn't stand him and didn't care to relive the experience. But Gellhorn was also a novelist, and one of the premier war correspondents of the 20th century, so there is much to recommend about this bountiful collection besides fragmentary information about Hemingway. 

Gellhorn was a spiky, utterly undomestic creature, a man's woman and something of a trial, never more so than to the people who loved her. Late in her life, she sued Bill Buford, the editor of Granta and a good friend, because he hadn't paid her royalties that she thought were due

Nice to learn about this collection of letters.. as with all the wives of Hemingway, there's much to be read about their ways of seeing and knowing him as man, writer, and husband...

Techdirt: Is The Internet Diluting Friendships?

Techdirt: Is The Internet Diluting Friendships?.

Is The Internet Diluting Friendships?
from the or-just-making-old-studies-obsolete dept

Okay, sure, you may have 50,000 friends on MySpace, but how many would you consider close confidants? A new study is suggesting that the combination of the internet and longer work hours means that Americans have fewer "close" friends. We may know new, interesting and different people from around the globe -- but have fewer and fewer really good friends than we did twenty years ago. Of course, as the researchers admit, one reason this could be true is the way the survey was worded. They asked about how often people "discuss" important matters with friends -- but admit that many people may not consider emails or instant messages "discussions."

25 Comments | Leave a Comment..

There's something to this one.. I have more "virtual friends" now, but I have fewer closer friends in my close circle.. interesting comments on this site for the post...

The Changing Story, the Unquiet Glory of Love - New York Times

The Changing Story, the Unquiet Glory of Love - New York Times.

The Changing Story, the Unquiet Glory of Love
    By ALAN RIDING, Published: June 14, 2006

PARIS, June 9 — In the nonstop marketing of sex and violence, popular culture in the West too often ignores the changing face of love. Not boy meets girl: that is amply covered by sugary movies, novels and songs. What's missing is a recognition that love is more than a sentiment: it can also be an accurate — and at times disturbing — gauge of social evolution.

That at least is the premise of an unusual exhibition at the Maison de la Villette in eastern Paris, on view through Aug. 13. "L'Amour, Comment Ça Va?" the title asks, "How's Love Doing?" The show then offers an answer, not through sweet images of lovers by the Seine, but by looking at love through the prism of France's social convulsions over the last 40 years.

The conclusion? Love, too, has been radically transformed.

Newswise | Baby Boomer Sex – Will They Still Love It When They’re 64?

Newswise | Baby Boomer Sex – Will They Still Love It When They’re 64?. 

Baby Boomer Sex: Will They Still Love It When They’re 64?
Description
Will baby boomers do the same for graying sex as they did for the sexual revolution of the 60s?

Newswise — Will baby boomers do the same for graying sex as they did for the sexual revolution of the 60s? Yes, says University of Maryland professor Robin Sawyer, who teaches human sexuality in Maryland’s department of public and community health. But there also could be pitfalls for newly divorced boomers thrust onto a “brave new world” of dating.

In the following interview, Sawyer, a boomer himself, talks about boomer sex, then, now and into old age, and about how boomers, for all of the sexual walls they’ve knocked down, still don’t know how to talk to their own kids about sex. And that’s a problem.

A Conversation with...Robin Sawyer, professor of public and community health, University of Maryland

Q - Can the baby boomers take all the credit for the 60's sexual revolution?

Sawyer: In a sense, it was part of the social revolution of the late 50s, early 60s. Sex was a subset of a larger movement - clothes, music. Boomers were in the vanguard of a movement away from the stoic 50s.

Recommended reading.. sad that as parents we boomers (yes, I'm one..) can't talk more openly and freely about sex with our kids.. we need to work on that one...

NPR : Replay: Prom Season

NPR : Replay: Prom Season.

NPR: Replay: Prom Season
Tales of the modern prom -- from bidding for a date online to building your own tux -- out of tape.

Stories in this Series

Social Outcasts Shine at Geek Prom

May 10, 2005 - If you sat out your high school prom in social misery, now's your chance to shine. In Duluth, Minn., a prom is held for "geeks of all shapes and sizes." Dressing as a Star Trek character is highly recommended, as is the drink of choice -- the pocket protector.

For Prom, Taffeta Is Out, Duct Tape Is In

May 10, 2005 - An essential of modern life becomes prom garb. Two teens from Richland, W.V., make a tuxedo, dress and accessories -- including bow tie, top hat and tiara -- out of duct tape. The outfits took 25 hours to make.

Listing just two of the stories in this series.. very retro flashblack for boomers, I think.. prom time was quite special, and yes, most still have strong memories of these signal events.. thanks to Librarians' Internet Index for this pointer...

Problems with your husband? Blame him - Today, Weekend Edition - MSNBC.com

Problems with your husband? Blame him - Today, Weekend Edition - MSNBC.com.

Problems with your husband? Blame him
In ‘It's (Mostly) His Fault,’ Robert Alter says most men aren’t interested in connecting with their wives; they’re interested in dominating them
Weekend Today
Updated: 5:25 p.m. ET March 24, 2006

Sure, we’ve all heard that it takes two to tango in a relationship, but that may not necessarily be the case. After more than 30 years of counseling couples, Robert Alter concluded that men are to blame for the problems in most marriages. That doesn’t mean that men can’t change and learn to be better partners. In his new book, “It's (Mostly) His Fault: For Women Who Are Fed Up and the Men Who Love Them,” Alter tells how men can assume more active roles in their relationships and how both spouses can communicate with each other with more honesty and candor.

The News-Review - News: Should transgendered men be allowed to use women’s restrooms?

The News-Review - News: Should transgendered men be allowed to use women’s restrooms?

Should transgendered men be allowed to use women’s restrooms?
TRUTH OF YOUTH
November 28, 2005
Comments (13) Print Email Subscribe

“We are living in a time when many things that we know to be true are starting to evolve and change. ‘Transgender’ is a relatively new term coined in the 1970s that pertains to someone who exhibits the appearance and behavioral characteristics of the opposite sex.

The debate over the use of restrooms and locker rooms has arisen recently because Multnomah County and the cities of Portland, Lake Oswego and Beaverton have gender laws that enable businesses — such as health clubs with specific areas for certain genders — to require a person to document their gender.

This is a teen column from a news site in Oregon.. but, the headline caught my eye.. and I had to blog this one...

Is Key West Going Straight? - New York Times

Is Key West Going Straight? - New York Times.

United States > Florida > Florida Keys
Is Key West Going Straight?
By ROBERT ANDREW POWELL, Published: November 18, 2005

FOR decades, the remote Florida town of Key West has been a refuge for gay tourists, a kind of Southern bookend to Provincetown, Mass. - a place where drag shows, all-male guest houses (complete with communal hot tubs) and a spirit of unbridled hedonism attracted everyone from closeted Midwest accountants to Tennessee Williams.

But recently, soaring real estate prices and the popularity of events like Fantasy Fest - an annual bacchanal of of parades, masquerade balls and celebrity look-alike contests that began as an AIDS fundraiser in 1979 and has since evolved into a drunken open-air party that would be right at home on fraternity row - have begun to attract a more heterogenous crowd, one that can at times make Key West look like any other tourist town getting ready for Spring Break.