sexual abuse

Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Sept 12-18, 2021

/ Melanie Marttila

Welcome to fall! It’s thoughty Thursday, your opportunity to get your mental corn popping in time for the weekend!

Jelani Cobb: the man behind critical race theory. The New Yorker

Matt Lavietes reports that the Department of Justice limits use of chokeholds and no-knock warrants. Axios

Patty Nieberg: police in Elijah McClain’s hometown racially biased, officials say. Associated Press

Alysia Harris: “We have to evaluate the motives of health care institutions.” Scalawag

Curtis Bunn: digital records from 19th century give Black families a glimpse of their ancestry. NBC News

Ashawnta Jackson explains how Eyes on the Prize, one of the most influential historical documentaries of all time, almost didn’t get made. JSTOR Daily

Sagamok Anishnawbek, Mississauga, and Serpent River First Nations to host ceremony before searching residential school site. CBC

Kelly Hayes reports that Line 3 resisters light the way in a battle for life on Earth. TruthOut

Lindsey Bark reports that Lawrence Panther teaches first Cherokee language class at University of Arkansas. Cherokee Phoenix

Leila Fadel: for many American Muslims, the legacy of 9/11 is the fight for civil rights. NPR

1,000 Dreams shares the stories of refugees. Compelling.

Livia Gershon: evading abortion bans with mutual aid. JSTOR Daily

Brian Naylor: Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, and Maggie Nichols blast the FBI’s mishandling of their allegations about Larry Nassar. NPR

Joe Friessen and Molly Hayes: Western University reels as student dies from assault; social media sparks investigation into sexual violence. The Globe and Mail

Avis Favaro, Elizabeth St. Philip, and Alexandra Mae Jones take us inside an Ontario ICU where all the covid-19 patients are largely young, and all unvaccinated. CTV News

Guy Kawasaki interviews Juliet Funt (daughter of Alan, of Candid Camera fame) about how you can really be productive at work (spoiler: it’s not do more with less). The Remarkable People Podcast

The entire SpaceX Inspiration4 launch. The exciting part is in the last 30 minutes or so, but if you have the time, the commentary throughout is fascinating. NASA Spaceflight

Frank Jacobs: did dark magic conjure up the British Empire? Big Think

Alice Albina reviews history from Boudicca to modern Britain: the dream of island utopias ruled by women. The Guardian

Olivia Box explains how wind energy could affect marine ecosystems. JSTOR Daily

Jessica Steward shares Albert Dros’ enchanting photos of Madeira’s ancient Fanal Forest filled with 500-year-old trees. My Modern Met

The mystery of Earth’s disappearing giants. In our nature | It’s okay to be smart

Thank you for visiting, and I hope you took away something to inspire a future creative project.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Dec 6-12, 2020

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s thoughty Thursday, your opportunity to get your mental corn popping!

Brakkton Booker: federal investigators join probe into Casey Goodson shooting death. NPR

N’dea Yancey-Bragg reports that the Seattle police who fired pepper spray and blast balls at BLM protestors violated order, according to judge. USA Today

Liz Navratil reveals how a divided Minnesota city council votes to cut 8 million from police budget. Star Tribune

Emmanuel Acho talks to the police. Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man.

Hailey Fuchs: Brandon Bernard’s planned execution stirs debate over punishment for your offenders. The New York Times

Karen Hao read the AI ethics paper that forced Timnit Gebru out of Google. Here’s what it says. MIT Technology Review

Luis Martinez reports that 14 senior army leaders at Fort Hood suspended or fired after broad review of sexual harassment and abuse allegations. ABC News

Colin Dwyer: Canada authorizes Pfizer vaccine. NPR

Joe takes us inside the lab that developed the covid-19 vaccine. It’s okay to be smart

Margot Sanger-Katz, Claire Cain Miller and Quoctrung Bui compiled this article on how 700 epidemiologists are living now, and what they think is next. The New York Times

Jackie Wattles explain how the Starship explosion was still a success. Spoilers: we learn from our failures. CNN

Nadia Drake introduces us to the astronauts of the Artemis Mission, eight of whom are women (!). National Geographic

Jim Daley says Earth’s orbital shifts may have triggered ancient global warming. (From Sept 2019, but still interesting.) Scientific American

Marco Hernandez and Cassandra Garrison report that the world’s biggest iceberg heads for disaster. Climate change is still happening. Reuters

Grace Eber explains how precisely arranged stones coil and surge across the land in Jon Foreman’s mesmeric works. This is Colossal

Fun, and so much better than the original. Walk Off the Earth and Harm & Ease cover Toxic.

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you found something to inspire a future creative project.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories.

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Dec 10-16, 2017

/ Melanie Marttila

It’s time again to get the mental corn popping. In a small way.

I think I’ve figured out why my Thoughty Thursday curations have been suffering of late. 2017 has simply been an exhausting year. Though as a Canadian, I haven’t been in the thick of it, the madness is there, every day. It’s in the news, in the posts of friends and writers I follow, it’s EVERYWHERE.

There’s no escaping it.

And so I find myself shutting down. I don’t want to engage in all the sturm und drang. It makes my heart hurt. But it’s all important stuff. A lot of it needs to be shared. But I get selective. Because exhausted.

I seriously hope 2018 is a little lighter on the soul.

Salma Hayek: Harvey Weinstein is my monster, too. The New York Times

Courtney E. Martin: this isn’t about bad apples; It’s about our broken sexual culture. On Being

Why are America’s farmers killing themselves in record numbers? Debbie Weingarten for The Guardian.

The Boston Globe takes a hard look at its city. Boston. Racism. Image. Reality.

Christen Reighter: I don’t want children—stop telling me I’ll change my mind. TED Talks

 

Be well until the weekend.

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Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Dec 10-16, 2017

/ Melanie Marttila

Please find linked your informal writerly learnings for the week.

Jane Friedman gives you a book launch plan for first-time authors without an online presence.

Jami Gold takes her turn in the Writers Helping Writers coaching corner: episodic vs. epic.

Later in the week, Jami talks transitions on her own blog: meanwhile, back in our subplot …

Piper Bayard helps you win the anxiety war. Writers in the Storm

Sharon Bially touts the power of a writing group for publishing success. Writer Unboxed

David Corbett helps you motivate the reluctant protagonist. Writer Unboxed

Sarah Callender looks at fiction and improv and discovers that they’re sisters from different misters. Writer Unboxed

Kathryn Craft helps you bring your dialog to life. Writer Unboxed

Don’t get rolled by bad publicity. Porter Anderson on Writer Unboxed.

Leanne Sowul interviews Carol van den Hende for DIY MFA: be well, write well.

Melanie Bell shares five books that will help you start and finish your writing. DIY MFA

Steven Pressfield: the villain is not always a person.

Paige Duke helps you survive rejection. Standout Books

Oren Ashkenazi presents six tips for writing sequels. Later in the week, Oren lists five insufficient reasons for including bigotry in your story. Mythcreants

Ursula K. Le Guin explains how to build a new kind of utopia. Electric Lit

Then Ursula appears on Open Democracy, encouraging science fiction and fantasy authors to envision alternatives to capitalism.

CBC Books presents a guide to writing prizes for Canadians.

Jason Guriel: the case against reading everything. The Walrus

Olivia Zaleski reports that two Audible executives depart after harassment probe. The Seattle Times

Have you read “Cat Person” yet? I have, and apparently, I’m in good company: New Yorker short story triggers record-breaking response. Heloise Wood for The Bookseller.

Jessica Jernigan: the book that made me a feminist was written by an abuser. Electric Lit

Naima Coster: my editor was black. Catapult

Be well until Thursday!

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Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, March 20-26, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Topics run the gamut in this week’s batch of thoughty. I was hard pressed to know how best to present it all. I hope nothing jars too much. Then again, sometimes you need a week jolt to get the big squishy (brain) into gear 😉

This is why Finland has the best schools. The Syndey Morning Herald.

National Arts Centre to launch indigenous theatre in 2019. The Globe and Mail.

Tay exposes the lies we tell ourselves about racists. New Republic. Peter Bright reviews the Tay AI debacle for Ars Technica.

UN Women ask men and women to switch roles:

 

One woman tells her story of reporting sexual abuse. The Globe and Mail.

Scaachi Koul: I hope the Ghomeshi verdict makes you fucking furious. You know? It really does. Buzzfeed.

Barbara Moran writes about her mother’s death and how it indicates a greater system failure. The New York Times.

Your drunken aunt was right: the art of the hot toddy. Vinepair.

University Affairs devotes an entire issue to mental health and universities.

Brenda Knowles knows how to save an introvert/extrovert relationship.

Kira Asatryan offers six simple strategies for being happy alone. Time Magazine.

ASAP Thought. Should you trust your astrological sign?

 

Einstein is (almost) always right. It’s okay to be smart.

 

The equinox isn’t what you think it is. It’s okay to be smart.

 

NASA captures the crazy shockwave of an exploding star. Slate.

Earth is about to pass through the tail of Halley’s Comet, giving us a month of meteor showers. IFLS.

Another lovely picture of a strange geological formation on Mars. Slate.

19 pieces on non-human DNA found in the human genome. Yup we got junk in there. IFLS.

Covão dos conchos. A-MA-zing! The real interesting part in about 2:25.

 

Looks like Monty Python had it right. Rabbits (in medieval times) were deadly! The Poke.

Explore the tear-filled (and slightly creepy) world of Marina Bychkova’s dolls.

The White Wolf Pack shares these lovely photos of ravens. Have I even mentioned that corvus corvus rocks my world?  😉

Hope something in this mix gets those fingers moving on the keyboard. Inspiration’s what this is all about.

All the best until Saturday when my next chapter update lands!

Thoughty Thursday