Archive for the ‘With Your Biscotti & Coffee’ Category
I finished the book knowing a lot more about life of the Chinese immigrants in Gold Mountain (Canada). Descriptions of present day China and some of its 20th century history were also eye opening and fascinating.
The flow of this memoir is however uneven. Fong Bates has a wonderful way with words as illustrated in her more descriptive passages. Had she turned that deft talent to allowed us to
get to know her and the relatives that she encountered in more depth the book would have been richer and ultimately more fulfilling. Instead there are sketchy bits about this and that person and as for the author she is an aloof and withdrawn narrator.
It is not easy to recognize that our parents were ‘people’ first. They loved and hated, laughed and cried, succeeded and failed all before they became a mother or father. For someone who went to China openly seeking her father’s story’ Fong Bates’ comes across as surprising judgemental of the truths as they reveal themselves.
The book is a quick read, enjoyable and interesting but it is not up to the gushing reviews that some have written. Jan Wong in The National Post writes a well balanced review.
With Your Biscotti & Coffee
1) I had never given much thought to the notes scribbled in the margins of books until I read about Professor Jackson and her two decades of researching ‘marginalia’. From the sidelines by Kathryn Blaze Carlson
2) It takes a team to successfully find the right home for a foster child and St. Loius is paving the way to proving that; Foster Care: Extreme Edition by Curtis Sittenfeld
3) Curl up with a second mug of coffee and be prepared to view some of the worlds greatest art collections; Google Art Project
There are plenty of people speaking out over the perceived harshness in the Chinese ‘Tiger Moms’ child rearing style. With near epidemic school bullying, little girls in kitten heels and make-up and our boys struggling in school with record low grades perhaps all is not going so well in North American homes either.
I had an English upbringing; a child rearing style that lacked in spontaneous hugging and trips to amusement parks; along with a zero tolerance for whining and not eating one’s
vegetables. There were rules and there was discipline. On the other side of the coin talking things through and being heard was only a cup of tea away. I was loved in that ‘we are here when you need us, always do your best, try everything once and treat people with respect’ way.
The world’s children can not be bought up in a universally approved homogenized process. Cultural differences in raising a family shouldn’t bring with it an assumption that being strict translates into an absence of humour or love.
Maintaining a steady grade average, taking part in carefully chosen extra curricular activities as well as learning good manners, deference to personal boundaries and self-reliance aren’t old fashioned they make for a well adjusted adult. Without these traits many of today’s ready to enter the work force young adults are about to learn that the world doesn’t have time for their poor inter-personal and communication skills, inability to empathize and over inflated sense of self.
With Your Biscotti & Coffee
Continuing our look at the younger generation …………
1) Peggy Orenstein’s Cinderella Ate My Daughter. To purchase amazon.com
2) Before heading off to college some students are going out into the world to expereince adventure and volunteerism. Is the gap year worth it? by Sean Gregory
3) Can Google Earth enhance the reading experience for students? What the Joads Saw by Vanessa Farquharson
Spirituality and religion are entities that I tend to analyze; never quite sure how they fit in my worldview. I also find it fascinating that as women we once lived lives influenced by the
moon cycles, ran homes steeped in seasonal rituals, were both healer and keeper of ancient family stories and traditions.
Today December 21st is Winter Solstice and it is steeped in female folklore:
Celebrating Winter Solstice is a bit long but interesting
As a coach I often hear women say that there is an emptiness or void inside of them and perhaps the key to filling that lies in a re-connection with our past. An untamed beach with waves crashing in powerful harmony speaks to my ancient Anglo-Saxon self. And is probably the closest to a spiritual experience that I have known to date.
As a New Year begins our ancestry may hold unexpected revelations about ourselves. The success of 2011 is in the soil between your fingers as you plant herbs, a mountain climbing expedition or returning to the religion of your childhood.
With Your Biscotti & Coffee
1) The first written record of this sport dates back to 712. Cleaning Up Sumo by Hannah Beech/Saitama Sakae
Two Interesting Women
2) Dr. Hawa Abdi – Heroic, Female and Muslim by Nicholas D. Kristof
3) The perfume business is not all roses especially for perfumer Patricia de Nicolai, Scent of a Woman by Nathalie Atkinson
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Recently I read an opinion piece by Barbara Yaffe entitled PM’s wife stepping out of the shadows then I check the top of the newspaper to make sure I hadn’t regressed in time. The repetitious ‘wife of’ along with phrases such as ‘becoming chatelaine of 24 Sussex avenue’ & ‘highly judicious manner’ had the role of the PM’s wife playing out like a political version of Father Knows Best.
While the US title for the president’s spouse of First Lady is not great; it has definition and in that capacity she does have the support and lee way to define the role and subsequent contributions during the President’s term.
Compare Michelle Obama on the White House website to Lauren Harper on the Prime Minister’s of Canada website. For balance we can look at the more traditional first lady, Laura Bush and what she accomplished during her years in the White House.
What is keeping the Prime Minister’s wives from fulfilling the potential of their position? Is it an outdated political protocol in Ottawa, type casting by the press or the personality types of the wives themselves?
One day a Canadian first lady will give that role the depth that it deserves; which is not as the article suggests about being a media personality nor is it about enhancing a husband’s political image. It is recognizing the opportunity to make a difference, leave an imprint in Canadian history and when the children ask what did you do while daddy was Prime Minister the answer is not going to be “Making sure that no one noticed me”.
With Your Biscotti & Coffee
Instead of An Interesting Woman I thought that I would end the year with a few good men and the choices may surprise you.
1. There is little doubt that the old style of politics is gradually and thankfully becoming a thing of the past. Today’s young politicians like Newark’s new mayor are running their cities from the streets. Is Cory Booker the Greatest Mayor in America? by Lucy Kaylin makes you believe in the future of some of America’s defunct cities.
2. South Africa no longer has the wisdom and steady hand of two of its most revered statesmen. In October at the age of 79 Archbishop Desmond Tutu retired. Nelson Mandela is 92 and November of this year his foundation asked that the public allow him to have a peaceful retirement.
3. At number four is the often abrasive, sometimes inarticulate Prince Charles. Recently interviewed by Brain Williams there is no doubt that above all else he has accomplished a lot through The Prince’s Charities and has been a visionary when it comes to the environment and organic farming.
I like people but I also need my alone time which according to recent findings is going to lead to my early demise. Studies are becoming increasingly insistent that the more you interact with family, friends and co-workers the happier and healthy you are mentally and physically. One even went on to say that perhaps the medical profession may want to make some recommendations if a patient seems to be solitary. Prescription to read ‘meet two friends and call me in the morning’.
Some of us enjoy being by ourselves and don’t feel lonely nor are we in a state of inertia. We are of a personality type that need quiet time to de-stress and decompress. Which logically means being healthier.
Humans need peace and quiet so that creativity, problem solving and even healing can take place. I recently spoke with a client who had suffered a great loss; she admitted that what was wearing her out at this point was not the bereavement but the lack of time to herself. As well meaning friends and family kept calling and dropping by, she was trapped in a place of their need to comfort her.
Today’s society is over stimulated; requiring constant connection with something or someone. We are also passing this onto the next generation. In truth when we do embark on a friendship or relationship its growth and richness is nurtured by the fact that the individuals involved are self-sufficient, self-reliant and capable of autonomous thought.
I was thinking this morning while alone in the shower that we are fortunate Mozart didn’t spend all his time in coffee houses with his BFFs or Virginia Woolf wasn’t busy dazzling her followers on Twitter or she may never have written A Room of One’s Own which ironically is based on the premise that ‘A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction’ .
My inspiration to write this post came from: I’m denying your friend request by Marni Soupcoff, National Post
A New Risk Factor: Your Social Life by Tara Parker-Pope, The New York Times
With Your Biscotti & Coffee
1) Two Summer Movies for grown-ups
Hidden among Despicable Me and The Twilight Sage:Eclipse are two cinema gems that you may have overlooked. Both are worthy of a stolen afternoon in a cool movie theatre and some buttered popcorn.
2) Warriors in Pink
India’s gang of vigilante women are striking fear in the hearts of wrongdoers and earning the grudging respect of officials.
3) High Line Park, NY
From historic railway yards founded in 1930 to a functioning public park, it is a fascinating journey.
The Forgotten Garden has been compared to Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden; even author Kate Morton writes veiled references to it in her book. If you expect that
quality of narrative and characters you will be disappointed. However if you are looking for the perfect summer read that will whisper “make a glass of ice tea and take me outside for half an hour” this is the book for you.
The story has a charm that takes one from page to page effortlessly. The lives of Nell, Cassandra and Eliza weave around you as their stories unfold in three different time periods.
Morton also wrote some interesting male characters in Linus and Nathaniel and it is a shame that she didn’t allow them to play a more pivotal role in the story line especially as it drew to an end. Linus in particular would have made the conclusion more affective. Instead the ending was predictable and the last few pages insipid but you are so engaged by that point you suffer through the harlequin style dialogue between Christian and Cassandra. I get the romance but Christian was not crucial to the plot that we have been following for over 500 pages.
A woman’s search to find her real family, fascinating fairy tales and a walled garden at the end of a maze all play a key role in everyone’s lives. Underneath all this is the question “How is home defined?” It is the place where we are born? The house that we return to at the end of the day? Is it being with family or that certain someone? Will one unexpectedly discover home while travelling? As the book illustrates we know when we have found home, but we don’t know where or even how it may come into our lives.
Kate Morton talks about her book.
With Your Biscotti & Coffee
1 – An Interesting Woman: Maria Gunnoe
When you fight a big company, a town and a way of life the danger to one’s self and your family is real. Maria Gunnoe took on the big coal industry in Appalachia. Coal Country Crusade by Tamara Jones/More Magazine
2 - Nine of the most amazing bookstores in the world from The Huffington Post
3 - American Theatre Wing
An in depth look at what is playing on and off Broadway and behind the scenes.
Migraines are an ailment onto themselves. You get your full blown, you want to die ones. There is the mid-sized ‘I may make you take to a dark room, close to a toilet and not let you sleep or I might go away’ level and last is the mini migraine that I have had for awhile; the head pain is nagging and constant and your stomach is queasy but you can function.
Unfortunately though I choose this weekend to watch Shutter Island with Leonardo DiCaprio; not knowing that it has a very vivid scene that triggers a migraine for his character. That managed to kick my symptoms up a notch. I wonder too if anyone else finds that some of the commercials for migraine medication leaves them feeling slightly unwell?
Needless to say all this has left me quite ineloquent so let’s get to our …………..
With Your Biscotti & Coffee
1) A good nights sleep can be so illusive; two very busy women HuffPost’s Arianna Huffington and Glamour‘s Cindi Leive decided to embark on a month long Sleep Challenge 2010 and they blogged about its successes and failures.
2) An Interesting Woman: Gayla Trail
Gayla Trail is a writer, photographer, and graphic designer. She is the creator of the popular gardening project, You Grow Girl and the author of You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening as well as an in-demand gardening personality and spokesperson with a focus on urban gardening, growing food, sustainable living, and community. Her own line of pithy gardening products
O magazine recently featured Gayla in How to grow your own herbs
3) Afganistan remains a paradox as these three reports illustrate
Afghan women swap burqas for police uniforms By Daphne Benoit
Lyse Doucet reports on the Afghan women jailed for bad character
A garden can be much more that than it seems Growing gardens, independence and esteem by Terry Glavin
I do it in the evening; Chris prefers to do it with his morning coffee. We have two delivered every day; the Calgary Herald and the National Post; when I am out & about I buy the Globe & Mail. In spite of all our efforts articles abound that the newspaper industry is in peril.
Is this slump in sales, partially due to different generational tastes yes, and it is also about lifestyle. Everyday I revel in, utilize and thoroughly enjoy the technology that puts the world at my figure tips. It allows me no limitations to where I can take both my coaching company and online magazine. However when it comes time to relax I prefer the print media format.
I don’t think we are seeing an end of print media so much as a time of rebirth. “We have a generation that is consuming information in totally different ways” says news anchor Kevin Newman in an interview that talks about his decision to leave his on air news job in order to explore the world of digital media. (Read Crossing digital divide, interview by Karen Mazurkewich)
Time’s Managing Editor Richard Stengel recently announced that ‘For the first time since the magazine’s birth in 1923, we will soon be delivering the entire contents of TIME to paying customers in a radically different way: as a self-contained application that you can download to the iPad. (From Ushering In a New Era)
Even though the competion for readership numbers is no longer about who has the news box on the corner of main and 1st street; the media companies are still choosing to handle the issues in a singularly autonomous fashion. Will the different media apps for devices such as the Blackberry or pay for content on the Internet prove to be the sustaining solution? Of all the articles being written on this subject, James Poniewozik sums up the current situation best in his editorial All the News That’s Fit to Mint
I think tackling the insatiable need for information and news in today’s world with a more united or partnering approach might prove to be the beginning of a solution for the media’s woes; in other words to go where no newspapers have gone before.
With Your Biscotti & Coffee
1) There was once a time when I would plow through any book, now I have to agree with Sonya Chung the list of books that I haven’t finished has increased. From her column in The 
Millions blog read Sonya’s post – It’s Not You, It’s Me: Breaking Up With Books.
2) Things are so troubled for the Roman Catholic Church that it is easy to forget that there are some truly heroic nuns and priests doing some remarkable work in the world. From the NY Times Who Can Mock This Church? by Nicholas D. Kristof
3) Does your dog like to rock to Bono or is your cat more of a jazz fan? If you don’t think that they have a preference check out the world’s first Music fof Dogs concert, article by Amy Coopes.