residential schools

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Sept 29-Oct 5, 2019

/ Melanie Marttila

A substantial curation of stuff to get your mental corn popping.

Claire Landsbaum interviews Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey on how far #metoo has yet to go. Vanity Fair

Teresa Write and Bob Weber: names of children who died in residential schools released in sombre ceremony. CTV News

Jason Lyons says that to pay attention, the brain uses filters, not a spotlight. Quanta Magazine

Chelsea Wald: why red means red in almost every language. Nautilus

Atossa Araxia Abrahamian says, the dream of open borders is real—in Svalbard. The Nation

Dan Charles: how Penn State is cutting greenhouse gas emissions and saving money. NPR

Brian Fagan recounts the bizarre 77,000-year history of the bed. Quartz

Ian Campbell reports on the continuing outrage that “hallway healthcare” continues at Health Sciences North. CTV News

Ashley Strickland has hope for the first all-female space walk scheduled for later this month. CNN

It’s black hole week on SciShow Space news: is the hypothetical “Planet 9” actually a primordial black hole? And … the assassin black hole (that’s not sinister at all, is it?).

Dr. Becky shares all of the latest discoveries about Jupiter’s aurora that Juno has facilitated. And the outtakes at the end are hilarious 🙂

And Physics Girl gets to see the world’s largest optical lens (going in the LSST).

Brendan I Koerner: how cities reshape the evolutionary path of urban wildlife. Wired

Kelly Richmond-Abdou tells the tale of a couple who spent 20 years replanting a forest for animals to return to. My Modern Met

Mario L. Major reports on the Australian stingless bees building stunning spiral hives (and no one’s quite sure why). Interesting Engineering

Jason Bittel lists five animals with amazing senses. Popular Science

Cats in therapy from the ever entertaining Ze Frank.

Thank you for the visit and I hope you found something to entertain or inspire your next creative project.

Be well, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

ThoughtyThursday2019

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Sept 25-Oct 1, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Yup. Lots of informal writerly learnings for you this week. LOTS!

K.M. Weiland answers reader questions about scenes versus chapters. Helping writers become authors. Later in the week, Kate invites Wordplayer, Usvaldo de Leon, Jr., to share his thoughts on setting up the potential for change in character arcs.

Lisa Cron guest posts on Writers Helping Writers: how your character’s misbelief drives the plot. Later in the week, Angela Ackerman provides this amazing list of resources for writers.

Karen Woodward explores C.S. Lewis’s writing advice.

Jo Eberhardt shares her lessons learned from watching Supernatural. Writer Unboxed

Kristen Lamb shows how Girl on the Train demonstrates the two elements that all great stories share.

Barbara O’Neal responds to the Merritt Tierce article I shared last week: money and the writer. Writer Unboxed

Joanna Penn interviews Toby Neal on The Creative Penn podcast.

 

Janice Hardy guest posts on Writers in the Storm: five reasons your revisions aren’t working.

Erika Robuck has a message for all of us about remembering why we started writing. Writer Unboxed

Steven Pressfield digs deeper into the reasons he writes.

Jami Gold explores how to strengthen your stakes. It’s not always about going big.

Veronica Sicoe discusses story world design and choosing the right time period.

Oren Ashkenazi lists six ways flight changes a fantasy setting. Mythcreants

Bonnie Randall guest posts on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University: on balance versus burn-out.

It’s NaNoWriMo prep season! Joe Bunting shares ten catalysts that will help you win NaNoWriMo. The Write Practice

Catherine McKenzie unpacks the issue of audience limiting covers for books by women authors. Writer Unboxed

More fallout from the Lionel Shriver keynote:

Stephanie Saul reports on how campuses are teaching freshmen about cultural sensitivity and microaggression. The New York Times. This was the kind of thing that Janet Reid ranted about last week.

Liz Dwyer closes the diversity gap in young adult literature. Take part

Tshaka Armstrong discusses Luke Cage, Black Panther, and why superheroes of colour matter. Rotten Tomatoes

Jenny Kay Dupuis shares her grandmother’s residential school story in honour of Orange Shirt Day. CBC

Heidi Ulrichsen interviews Danielle Daniel about her new memoir. Sudbury.com. Later in the week, Danielle was interviewed on CBC Sudbury’s Morning North.

Carl Slaughter of File 770 interviews Kelly Robson.

Haralambi Markov reviews Charlotte Ashley’s body of short fiction. Tor.com

Fran Wilde’s characters aren’t defined by their disabilities. Natalie Zutter for Tor.com.

PW Radio interviews Nisi Shawl on her novel, Everfair, and Writing the Other.

Rachel Cordasco reflects on the Three Body trilogy. Tor.com

Margaret Atwood writes about re-envisioning Shakespeare’s The Tempest in her novel, Hag-Seed. The Guardian

Laura Miller muses on the haunting of Shirley Jackson. Literary Hub

Michelle Fazekas and Tara Butters, the showrunners behind Marvel’s Agent Carter, sell series ideas to various networks, including a series based on Wesley Chu’s Tao series. Deadline

Susan Spann explains when you should walk away from a publishing deal. Writer Unboxed

Ed Nawotka of Publishers Weekly says the publishing world needs more Canada.

Wallace Immen visits the Penguin Random House offices where curling up with a good book is encouraged. The Globe and Mail

Award news! The British Fantasy Award winners announced 🙂

The Scotia Bank Giller Shortlist is announced.

Martha Schabas reviews Hannah Moscovitch’s Bunny and the play’s exploration of the double standard of consent. The Globe and Mail

Tori Amos: Trump is disrespectful to all women. The singer/songwriter talks about her response to Audrie and Daisy, the role of storytelling in her creative process, and accountability. The Daily Beast

And here’s her LA Times piece on the same issues.

Thu-Huong Ha lists 30 words and phrases that will soon be eliminated from American English. Quartz

Author Hannah Kent dives into the Irish world of faith and fantasy. Donna Liu for The Guardian.

John Plotz writes about the influence of Ursula K. Le Guin. The Guardian

Matt Santori-Griffith interviews Greg Rucka on Wonder Woman and queer narrative. Comicosity

Entertainment Weekly shares a fan-made mash-up between Stranger Things and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Awesomesauce 🙂

Anne Perry recommends five Stephen King books you should read if you liked Stranger Things. Hodderscape

Estelle Tang talks to Sam Heughan about sweat, sheep-dipping, and Outlander spoilers. Elle

Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly takes a first look at Outlander’s new season. Later in the week, Lynette shares some breaking news on another actor cast for season three.

Film festival audiences say Split may be M. Night Shyamalan’s best movie yet.

 

Whew! I’m exhausted.

See you Thursday!

Tipsday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, July 3-9, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila

With all the shootings of African Americans and police this week, I must admit to despair. Others have posted much more eloquently than I. Here is one post that spoke to me.

Justin C. Cohen offers some advice for white people in the wake of the police murder of a black person.

David Wong explains why anxiety is the plague of the modern world. Cracked.

You must die to live. Science and non-duality.

This is a bit distressing. Chanty Binx speaks up after three years of harassment and a bizarre privacy breach. We Hunted the Mammoth.

Shahida Arabi shares twenty tactics highly manipulative narcissists, sociopaths, and psychopaths use to silence you. Thought Catalog.

Zack Beauchamp writes: Canada is the least xenophobic country in the western world. Vox.

But we have out problems:

How Karoli Kuns became a Hillary supporter after reading the candidate’s emails. Blue Nation Review.

Mike Wall covers Juno’s move into obit around Jupiter for Space.com. And Phil Plait covers the event for Slate.

This is the last thing Japan’s Black Hole satellite saw before it died. Ria Mizra for Gizmodo.

Maddie Stone reports that the prospects for alien life on Titan keep getting better. Gizmodo.

Why do you hate the sound of your own voice? ASAP Thought.

 

Dr. Seuss’s secret artwork is displayed at Vancouver gallery. CBC.

Animals transition to freedom as Argentina transforms zoo into a refuge. AP.

A woman uses an ancient Viking song to call cattle. LifeBuzz.

Lindsey Stirling: The Arena

 

See you Saturday!

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, June 26-July 2, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila

Lightheaded this week, but it’s all guaranteed to pop your mental corn 🙂

The Toronto Star posts all 113 of the new Order of Canada recipients. Yay, Canada!

Samantha Bee does an awesome job of summarizing Brexit for the rest of us. And David Tennant helps out, too! The Week.

The chief who said no. One northern village rejected residential schools and built their own instead. Bob Weber for The National Post.

Lindsay Harrison shares ten lessons her mother’s death taught her about healing and happiness. Tiny Buddha.

Sarah Schuster shares what it’s like to have high functioning anxiety. The Mighty.

Pride Toronto members respond to messages of hate. Robin Levinson King for The Toronto Star.

The next time someone says women aren’t the victims of harassment, show them this. Tickld

John Pavlovitz writes about young men, sex, and urge ownership (and why it’s not the girl’s problem). Standing ovation. Bravo, man.

Wonder Woman became the feminist hero the 70’s needed. Gwen Ihnat for the A.V. Club.

Julie D’Aubigny, also known as La Maupin, is profiled on Badass of the Week.

A small meteorite punches through the roof of a house in Thailand. Phil Plait for Slate.

Maddie Stone reports on Jupiter’s stunning northern lights. Gizmodo

One of my recent faves. Nothing but thieves – Trip switch.

 

See you Saturday!

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Jan 24-30, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Popping your mental corn for . . . a couple of years now, anyway 😉

Walking helps us think. Ferris Jabr for The New Yorker.

Diversity at the Oscars matters. #OscarsSoWhite Cameron Bailey for The Globe and Mail.

I am not black. You are not white.

 

The bitter experience of residential schools translated through ballet: Going Home. CBC.

Steven Page shared his mental health struggles in Sudbury last Thursday night. The Northern Life.

You are not weak by Devin Sarges.

 

New Alzheimer’s treatment fully restores memory. Science Alert.

The memory capacity of the brain is ten times greater than previously thought. New Universe Daily.

Mental Floss lists ten legendary monsters of North America.

Plants communicate using a network of fungi. Uplift.

Trees have social networks. Another article on the same topic. The New York Times.

Traces of a 9000 year old civilization discovered in Lake Huron by University of Michigan researchers. Message to Eagle.

Lupus 4 is a dark cloud in space. Phil Plait examines the mysteries of this tentacular hole for Slate.

Lady Science, a new anthology, is helping to stamp out sexism in the sciences. Slate.

A buried ‘daytime hotel’ is rediscovered in all its Art Nouveau splendour. Messy Nessy Chic.

Roger Boisjoly, the engineer who tried to stop the Challenger launch, dies at the age of 73. The LA Times.

Mimi Matthews explores cat funerals in the Victorian era.

And that was Thoughty Thursday.

And guess what? I lied last Saturday when I said I’d be back with more convention reportage. It’s actually Next Chapter time! So, I’ll be back on Saturday with that.

Thoughty Thursday