Born in Stars

"It’s like, ‘How do I create the things I want to see and how can you make something that is..."

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:46:19 -0500

“It’s like, ‘How do I create the things I want to see and how can you make something that is compassionate and potentially can be healing to someone?’ Or, you know, they talk about in Buddhism, there’s Tonglen practice, which is someone breathing in the suffering of either yourself or others and breathing out a kind of hopefulness. And you can see art or fiction or whatever being a version of that, where you try to create something that’s hopeful, that also recognizes pain and doesn’t run from the pain: It actually acknowledges it, because I feel like so much of entertainment right now is about distraction and a bombarding of … light and noise. … And whether I’ve succeeded in that or not, I feel like there is an impulse there. … Even if Enlightened fails, I don’t want to walk away from what I’m trying to achieve which is try to make something that is a little bit more contemplative or a little slowed down or a little bit more about how do we live as opposed to something that’s about distracting you from those questions.”

- Mike White tells Terry Gross about his intentions when writing the scripts for Enlightened. (via nprfreshair)

"When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain of further happiness."

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:44:34 -0500

“When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain of further happiness.”

- Jules Renard (via unypl)

jtotheizzoe: A fine philosophy.

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:42:34 -0500

jtotheizzoe:

A fine philosophy.

"Epitaph When I die Give what’s left of me away To children And old men that wait to die. And if you..."

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:40:53 -0500

“

Epitaph

When I die
Give what’s left of me away
To children
And old men that wait to die.
And if you need to cry,
Cry for your brother
Walking the street beside you.
And when you need me,
Put your arms
Around anyone
And give them
What you need to give to me.

I want to leave you something,
Something better
Than words
Or sounds.

Look for me
In the people I’ve known
Or loved,
And if you cannot give me away,
At least let me live on your eyes
And not on your mind.

You can love me most
By letting
Hands touch hands,
By letting
Bodies touch bodies,
And by letting go
Of children
That need to be free.

Love doesn’t die,
People do.
So, when all that’s left of me
Is love,
Give me away.

- Merritt Malloy

”

-
Noticing this morning’s reblog from Humans of New York, our producer Phyllis Myers was reminded of this poem, which is a favorite of hers, and it’s so lovely I wanted to pass it along to the rest of you.
(via nprfreshair)

jtotheizzoe: Good News: Girls Outperform Boys On Science...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:21:33 -0500

jtotheizzoe:

Good News: Girls Outperform Boys On Science Exam

Bad News: It’s Not Happening Where You Think It Is

15-year-old girls outscored boys on science exams, but not in Western Europe or the Americas. While in Eastern Europe and the Middle East girls abilities seem to exceed those of their male classmates, that doesn’t hold true in the most traditionally “scientific” nations. And that sucks.

We’ve heard this bad news too many times. Girls are underrepresented in the sciences from a young age. Despite their equal interest as youngsters, societal pressures drive a wedge in between them and the performance of their male classmates. When they have to indicate gender on a science exam, they score a full 20% lower than if they don’t. All of this translates to the continued discrimination of of women, overt and incidental, all the way up the ladder of science.

Sometimes I feel tired of repeating it. But we can’t grow tired. As frustrating as it is, every time we continue to call out the problem and raise our fists of fury, it helps raise attention and gain support for change. That change will take a long time, because scientific “establishment” moves like molasses, but only a steady push will make it budge.

I know I’m preaching to the choir when I talk to all of you, but remember this: Every time you share science on Tumblr or Facebook or Twitter or Reddit or wherever you hang out on the internet, then that’s one more chance to reach out and grab someone who doesn’t think they’re “into” science. It’s one more chance to give a 14-year-old girl a boost of confidence (or anyone who needs a boost, for that matter). This isn’t something that can be done by a few. We need to spread this like the most contagious virus the world’s ever seen: An infectious curiosity!

Read the full report on this study at NYTimes.com

A History of Violence, and Its Decline

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 17:49:11 -0500

A History of Violence, and Its Decline :

jtotheizzoe:

Although it might not seem that way, judging from the images of war and pain that are so relentlessly beamed into our eyes each day, Steven Pinker argues that humans have actually become far less violent in recent times.

In a long but enthralling essay from 2007, he offers several explanations, philosophical and biological, for this pattern of progress. One of my favorite tidbits, offered by philosopher Peter Singer:

Evolution bequeathed people a small kernel of empathy, which by default they apply only within a narrow circle of friends and relations. Over the millennia, people’s moral circles have expanded to encompass larger and larger polities: the clan, the tribe, the nation, both sexes, other races, and even animals. The circle may have been pushed outward by expanding networks of reciprocity, à la Wright, but it might also be inflated by the inexorable logic of the golden rule: The more one knows and thinks about other living things, the harder it is to privilege one’s own interests over theirs.

nprfreshair: Holy Melville. - Heidi kqedscience: The...

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 22:07:50 -0500

nprfreshair:

Holy Melville. - Heidi

kqedscience:

The real-life Moby Dick: Incredibly rare white humpback whale spotted off coast of Norway

”A white whale has been causing a splash after being spotted swimming in a pod of humpbacks by a British maritime engineer.

Dan Fisher, 32, was on a boat trip to Svalbard in Norway when he noticed a giant white hump rise from the water.

Rushing up a mast to get a better look, he quickly realised he was witnessing one of nature’s rarest sights — a white whale, just like the iconic Moby Dick in the novel by American author Herman Melville.”

"Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t."

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:06:38 -0500

“Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.”

- Bill Nye (via wildlydistorted)
Truth, Bill.
(via jtotheizzoe)

jtotheizzoe: we-are-star-stuff: “For small creatures such as...

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:04:48 -0500

jtotheizzoe:

we-are-star-stuff:

“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.” - Carl Sagan

How fortunate we are, in the vastness of space and time, to experience such love.

nprfreshair: buzzfeed: Eighty-eight-year-old Misa found her...

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:35:07 -0500

nprfreshair:

buzzfeed:

Eighty-eight-year-old Misa found her odd-eyed kitty, Fukumaru, abandoned in a shed. Now the two are basically inseparable.

Possibly the most beautiful love story of all time - told in photos. —Yowei

Photo

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:00:49 -0500

rookiemag: coolchicksfromhistory: Mazie Hirono, the first...

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 08:21:50 -0500

rookiemag:

coolchicksfromhistory:

Mazie Hirono, the first Asian American woman elected to the Senate.

“I bring quadruple diversity to the Senate,” Hirono said at a rally earlier in the campaign. “I’m a woman. I’ll be the first Asian woman ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate. I am an immigrant. I am a Buddhist. When I said this at one of my gatherings, they said, ‘Yes, but are you gay?’ and I said, ‘Nobody’s perfect.’”

<333

-AF

newyorker: “All children are artists. The problem is how to...

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 18:18:01 -0400

newyorker:

“All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

Picasso giving a drawing lesson to his children Paloma and Claude, and two friends. Photograph by Rene Burri/Magnum.

Happy Birthday, Pablo Picasso! See a slideshow of portraits of the artist.

rookiemag: fuckyeahfeminists: Each one of these women is an...

Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:38:25 -0400

rookiemag:

fuckyeahfeminists:

Each one of these women is an Olympic athlete. Let’s challenge the notion that thinness is the only indicator of health and fitness.

olympics soon!

-naomi

21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 11:33:00 -0400

21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity:

People can be good.

Wonderful things

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 11:27:43 -0400

When it’s so hot you can’t do anything, then grey clouds cover the sky and you open all the windows for that cool clean breeze before the storm.

"I search and can’t find myself. I belong in chrysanthemum time, sharp in calla lily elongations. God..."

Fri, 04 May 2012 02:43:02 -0400

“I search and can’t find myself. I belong in chrysanthemum time, sharp in calla lily elongations. God made my soul into an ornamental thing.”

- fernando pessoa (via nostalgiedelaboue)

Photo

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:07:04 -0400

"Be curious, not judgmental."

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:03:28 -0400

“Be curious, not judgmental.”

- Walt Whitman

Taken with instagram

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:45:29 -0400

Taken with instagram