Selfies

by Wanda on April 24, 2014

Selfies. I don’t think ‘selfie’ was even a word a few years ago, and now, not only has the phenomenon exploded, but ‘selfie’ was the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year for 2013. To be clear, and for those who might not know the term, a selfie is is described by Wikipedia as a self-portrait photograph that is typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone and uploaded to a social media website, such as Instagram or Facebook. Selfies are usually casual and typically taken with the camera held at arm’s length or in a mirror. According to Samsung, 30% of photos taken by 18-24 year-olds are selfies, but celebrities, President Obama, Prince William and Princess Kate, and even the Pope have been known to take them or pose in them.

With social media as a way of life now, people feel the need to constantly update their friends on their whereabouts and activities and I guess selfies qualify as documentation. A 38 year old woman recently had plastic surgery so she would look better in selfies and on Skype. She must be happy with the results because she said “I fee like I look like myself, but Photoshopped.” How’s that for dysfunctional? In fact, the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery reported that the prevalence of selfies has most definitely had an impact on the plastic surgery field. Doctors say that many of their patients request surgery to improve their looks in social media. That’s pretty extreme, but there are some less drastic ways to help you look better in a selfie if you don’t think that’s a good reason to go under the knife. First of all, make sure to never shoot from below. I will personally never take a selfie because the position of the camera on my phone makes me look like I have five chins and am about to fall asleep, but for those who are into it, where you shoot from is key! Lighting can also help- they say natural light is more flattering so try to be near a window if you are indoors. The point is to to be casual and in-the-moment, anyway, so these tips should help enough so you can just have fun snapping the moment without getting too uptight about it.

And of course, let’s not forget about selfie etiquette. When is it okay to take selfies? I’m not sure a memorial service for a great political figure is an appropriate time and place, but what do I know? I’m not a President or Prime Minister. Some universities are banning their graduates from taking them on stage when they go up to get their diplomas, saying it will be too disruptive, and I think I agree with that. There is also some discussion about why people take selfies- are they insecure, narcissistic, or both? And don’t forget about the dangers- emotional and physical. Selfies have been blamed in deaths and suicides and other bad things. Just last week a teenager died when she fell from a railway bridge and grabbed onto live cables while trying to take an ‘awesome’ selfie. So, like with almost anything, there is good and bad. Just remember that selfies should just be for fun. They should not offend anyone, should not make us feel bad about ourselves, and should certainly not kill us.

Knitting

by Wanda on April 20, 2014

Mention knitting and most people picture a gray-haired grandma sitting in a rocking chair. Am I right? Well, it’s time to change that stereotype, since people of all ages are knitting now and have been for some time. For anyone who is interested, there are so many ways to get into this creative and relaxing hobby. There are knitting stores all around the country where customers can get instructions and companionship along with their yarns and needles. There are knitting blogs, knitting books, knitting magazines- it’s actually quite a community. There are plenty of websites to visit for instructions and no shortage of videos on YouTube so you can learn basic and more complicated stitches to knit up scarves, sweaters, hats, and anything else you might want. Knitting is a great way to relax- something about the repetitive motion calms the nervous system; in fact, they say it might have as similar effect to yoga and meditation, and focusing on the activity is a good distraction from thinking about things that cause stress. There is evidence that crafting is a very effective way to ease anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. For a while now, neurologists have recommended doing cognitive activities, such as crossword puzzles, to keep the brain young and sharp, and they now think that working on complex knitting patterns might help too. Since knitters tend to congregate in yarn shops or form knitting circles, the social element is very nice and can also inspire creativity for those who participate. And of course, there is the feel-good bonus you get from the satisfaction of completing a beautiful object with your own two hands. In our fast paced world of instant gratification and electronic equipment, it can be nice, sometimes, to enjoy the old fashioned sense of accomplishment from a hands-on project that took some time. If you knit for yourself, you can enjoy wearing a unique garment. If you knit for gifts, there is a great feeling when you give a loved one something special that you crafted just for them. There are also many charities for hand-knit projects that go to soldiers, preemies, hospital patients, and other groups of people in need, so you can enjoy the emotional and cognitive benefits of knitting and know that you are helping someone else out at the same time. If you have never tried knitting, I strongly suggest you try it one of these days; if you are already a knitter, you are in great company!

Is it News?

by Wanda on April 18, 2014

Chelsea Clinton has announced that she is pregnant. Congratulations to Chelsea and her husband Marc Mezvinsky! Congrats to Hillary and Bill! This is such exciting news! But is it really news? The anticipation of the arrival of a child is very exciting for the parents- and grandparents-to-be, and I’m really happy for them because they’ve all let us know this is something they’ve been hoping for, but is it front page news? What if the future mom is the child of a former and maybe future president- even then, is it really anything more than celebrity gossip?

I know I’ve said I don’t like to get political and I hope my musings here won’t be taken that way; I am not writing as a fan or critic of the Clintons, I am just wondering what makes something “news.” Granted, all the members of the Clinton family have been in the news a lot. Again, not being judgmental here- just saying- that the eight years of the Clinton presidency were definitely…colorful. And it didn’t even end then, with Hillary, a former first lady, running for President and then serving as Secretary of State. I would say that Bill and Hillary qualify not only as political figures, but probably as quasi-celebrities as well, so naturally, some Americans are interested in the milestones in their lives. But this is a personal milestone, and isn’t that a little different? When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and his wife Kate, announced that they were expecting a child, it caused a real stir. The Royal Family has their own celebrity status, but the news of a royal baby also had political implications, as England is a monarchy and that child would be heir to the throne.

Of course, the comments are pouring in. Most congratulate the family and wish them well. Hillary has made no secret about her eagerness to be a grandma and there are comments speculating on whether this will affect whether or not she decides to enter the next Presidential race. Then there are the haters trying to get their political two cents in, expressing their dislike for Bill and Hillary and the whole Democratic party. I am, again, not expressing a political opinion here, just saying there is a time and a place for everything and that is probably not appropriate. But then, if the announcement of your pregnancy becomes national news, you kind of open yourself up to that, don’t you?

Are You Hungry?

by Wanda on April 14, 2014

It looks like it’s one of those days again. You know…when you are simply famished, but there is nothing in your kitchen that you want to eat, you haven’t had time to go to the store, and you can’t think of what you would cook even if you had the ingredients? Happens to me from time to time, and now is one of those times. I am hungry. I don’t know what I want to eat. I looked in the pantry and the refrigerator at least ten times in the last hour, but haven’t seen anything I want. Why do I think I’ll find something I didn’t see the last time I looked?

I should probably just grab a few things and play chef. I like to watch cooking shows. A few shows I watch had episodes where the theme was creating a meal out of ingredients that you probably always have in your fridge and pantry. On “Chopped,” a cooking competition show, the contestants are given a basket of random and sometimes unusual ingredients to use to cook a specific course. I have to say that I am pretty good myself at throwing together ingredients, without a recipe, to create a yummy dish. And of course there’s always pasta.

Pasta is one of my go-to foods. I usually have at least one box in the cabinet, as I assume most people do. I always have olive oil and there is almost always some garlic too. That’s all you really need to easily whip up a quick and tasty dinner. I cook the pasta in salted water and while I’m waiting for it I heat up some olive oil in a separate pan, add a few cloves of crushed garlic, and let it cook for about a minute. If there is some tomato sauce, that goes in; if I am not too lazy, maybe some chopped fresh tomatoes. I’ll add a splash of wine if there is an open bottle around, and then some herbs and black pepper. That’s all there is to it! That simmers for a few minutes and then you mix it in with the drained pasta. That’s the basic “recipe,” but you can play around with it, adding different vegetables or herbs, or any other ingredients you think would work. I can tell you that it smells sooooo good while it’s cooking, and it always hits the spot when I’m in one of my lazy but hungry moods. Okay, now I am really hungry, but I think I know what I want. I am signing off so I can go cook some pasta. I hope you’ll try this one of these days because it is so easy and so delicious!

Spring Fashion

by Wanda on April 10, 2014

Today is the first day I’m wearing shoes, not boots, since… let’s say… November. This has been the most miserably cold and snowy winter I can remember. A friend recently posted a pic of flip-flops on her Facebook page with the caption: “Remember these?” I honestly had to stop for a second and conjure up the idea of flip-flops. Although we are into the second week of April and the sun was shining this morning, I must admit that I did feel a little chilly without my boots, but I’ve had enough of winter and felt like it was about time to embrace Spring. I am inching my way into spring fashion, I suppose, and it did wonders for my mood! I’m not quite ready for the flip-flops and tank tops yet, nor am I in the market for a whole new wardrobe, but there are a few things I can do to keep this upbeat spring thing going for me while I wait for it to actually feel like spring.

Color! I’m going to start wearing more color, maybe even some floral patterns, which is a trend for this spring and summer season. Even if I still need a sweater, a sweater in a happy color should put me in a spring frame of mind. And nail polish- nail color is a great pick-me-up. Pink, light blue, lavender: all great spring choices. I read that yellow is going to be hot this spring, so go for it, all you brave souls! A new lipstick can accomplish the same thing- give you a fresh new look and make you feel happy. The new color for spring is orange; if you’re feeling bold, definitely try it. If orange is too much for you, try a tamer coral. A great hot pink or pearly baby pink on your lips also shouts: “Spring is here!”

Accessories can also refresh your look and give you a lift. Wrap a flowery scarf around your neck and you carry spring around with you all day. Sunglasses have got to be the ultimate spring accessory. Try on different styles until you find the one that suits your face shape best and has a color that complements your skin tone. Make sure the lenses have UVA and UVB protection so you can be safe and look fabulous all at once. And until it’s flip-flop weather for real, colorful ballet flats are a fashionable option and certainly a far cry from snow boots. So hang in there- it looks like spring might actually get here, and with a few easy fashion tricks, you can start feeling it.

Art Everywhere

by Wanda on April 7, 2014

I love art! I am not an artist myself, but I love looking at art, thinking about art, talking about art, and writing about art! And that’s what I get to do right now- I want to tell you about Art Everywhere, a project that was launched today to bring American art to the American public. Five great museums- the Dallas Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City have each submitted twenty works from their collections to be included on the website ArtEverywhereUS.org. From April 7 through May 7 viewers can vote on their favorites, and the fifty most popular images will appear on 50,000 billboards and other outdoor sites around the country, for four weeks, starting August 4.

The project is modeled on one that that was done last summer in Great Britain and stirred up so much interest that an outdoor advertising trade group decided to organize something like it here. It’s a collaboration between the participating museums and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America to attract attention for the museums and encourage visitors, and to give a boost to the billboard business, which has suffered since the predominance of online advertising. It’s a great way to bring art to the people and then include them in a national art project. I love art because it is visually interesting and it makes me think. I think art is extremely interesting, but I know not everyone feels the same way; lots of people I know think art is booooring- they yawn at the mere suggestion of a museum date. By creating an interactive art project, people might become interested in something they would ordinarily run far away from. Very smart idea!

So, check out the website and vote. You might recognize the images, as some of them are well-known, almost iconic examples of American art. If you know the pictures, enjoy looking at them, and feel like you’re part of something. If you are unfamiliar with the works, who knows- you might discover that you are an art lover too. In any case, you can tell your friends that you participated in a nationwide art project, which sounds very impressive, even if you are still bored to tears.

Stream of Consciousness

by Wanda on April 3, 2014

I sat down to start writing today and drew a blank. I wouldn’t exactly call it writer’s block because, as a friend let me know recently, I’m not a real enough writer to get writer’s bock. We all need friends to boost our confidence like that. But still, nothing was working and I was feeling stuck. So I decided to resort to stream of consciousness. According to Wikipedia, stream of consciousness “refers to the flow of thoughts of the conscious mind.” It’s a device that’s used in literature in the visual arts, creating as you go, without planning the finished product. I’m going to just let the words flow. Sometimes, I am full of ideas and my fingers can hardly move quickly enough over my keyboard while my brain floods with ideas and information. Other times, like now, I want to be shooting out fascinating pearls of wisdom or witty commentary on a timely topic, but instead, I’m thinking about what to eat for lunch, what to eat for dinner, what to wear to a party this weekend: Maybe the red dress? No, not the red dress. Is it time for a haircut? When’s a good time to go grocery shopping? Maybe I should walk down the hall to the ladies’ room… Maybe I need some coffee…

It might sound like I am procrastinating, but it’s not that I don’t want to be writing. I really do, but I am stuck. I thought stream of consciousness would help me here, as it has been a good method for me in the past. Remember those punishment assignments in elementary school. Not the really stupid ones like writing “I will not… in class” one hundred times. I’m talking about the semi-stupid ones like writing a 500 word essay about what you did and why you regret it. Not that I was given those assignments too often… But once in a while, when it happened, I used the punishment as an opportunity for developing my creative writing skills. I remember starting off writing about whatever terrible offense I had committed and then having fun going off in all directions, and ending my paper somewhere completely different. That was fun!

Some of my best work has been done when I gave it the least thought; some of my best and smartest decisions have been made when I didn’t “overthink”, and hopefully, that has been the result today, as well. I’m even a little hesitant to edit this post because I will inevitably make corrections and that will take away from the spontaneous nature I was going for. Stream of consciousness writing is as though I am speaking whatever is on my mind without editing and polishing. Of course, spelling and grammar errors would be embarrassing, so let’s hope for the best. I hope it’s been interesting to get a glimpse of the inner workings of the mind of Wanda.

April Fools’ Day!

by Wanda on March 31, 2014

Tomorrow is April Fools’ Day! The day it’s acceptable to be silly and play pranks- does everyone have some good ones planned? I was curious about how the tradition got started so I did some Googling and decided to share the fun facts. Well, not facts exactly, more like theories. Even though April Fools’ Day is observed pretty much everywhere throughout the Western world, there is no definitive answer as to why April first is a day for jokes and pranks. Some believe it originates from the Roman festival Hilaria (related to the English word ‘hilarity’), which was celebrated on March 25, or maybe the Medieval Feast of Fools on December 28. The answer that kept coming up was that it began in 1582, when the Gregorian Calendar (the calendar we use now) was established. Before that, New Years’ Day was celebrated on April first. With the new calendar, the official celebration was moved to January first. Some old fashioned folks were a little slow to adopt the new practice, leading the “modern” citizens to mock them, calling them fools.

Alex Boese, director off the Museum of Hoaxes (yes, it’s real! Check it out: museumofhoaxes.com), says that theory isn’t accurate. His explanation involves a lot of other history which I will skip here in the interest of not turning this post into a lecture. Other theories say it might be a sort of hazing ritual to usher in Spring, and mention the Hindu festival of Hoti and the Jewish holiday of Purim, which occur around the same time of year and are also about merry-making and pranks. But this is the best: In 1983, in an interview with the Associated Press, a Boston University professor dated the tradition to the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine. A group of fools and jesters bragged that they could run the empire better than he could. Constantine was amused and allowed them to try it one day- the first of April- an it became an annual event. Happy April Fools’ Day! This story was totally made up and the AP ran it as a real bit of history. Well done, Professor!

So, what are some good ones? Of course there are the classics- Saran wrapping things and hiding things, dying milk, etc. I saw some funny pranks like making caramel onions to look like caramel apples, coating a bar of soap with clear nail polish, and taping the bottom of a co-worker’s mouse. Have fun, but try not to be too mean. And make sure to watch your back- you don’t know what others have planned for you!

“Conscious Uncoupling”

by Wanda on March 27, 2014

Did you all hear that Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin are splitting up after more than ten years of marriage? How crude of me! Forgive me- they are not splitting up- they have made the decision to “consciously uncouple” and co-parent. The announcement was posted late Tuesday on Paltrow’s lifestyle website Goop, and it has prompted lots of chatter. I don’t follow Goop but I came upon this news just surfing around online and my immediate reaction was: “Consciously uncouple- come on!” I don’t like to judge (okay, sometimes I do), and I don’t really want to beat up on anyone going through a difficult time, but to be honest, it sounds pretty ridiculous. When a couple decides to end a marriage they divorce- or is that too ordinary for them? As I always do, I made sure to read the comments on all the articles I read because they are usually way more interesting that the actual article, and the majority of them expressed what I was thinking too: “So pretentious!”

I suppose that divorcing is for ordinary people who name their kids Sarah and Michael; people that name their children Apple and Moses consciously uncouple. It’s unfortunate when a couple breaks up and heartbreaking for their children, but it does happen and calling it something else doesn’t change what it is. After the announcement by Paltrow and Martin, the post continued with two doctors- neither of them a psychologist or relationship expert, by the way- explaining the concept of conscious uncoupling. They theorize that as life spans have become longer, lifelong marriage may not be realistic anymore and that a successful marriage is one that is fulfilling to both partners as long as it lasts. Conscious uncoupling is supposed to be a blame-free, positive approach to splitting up. In it, the partners are meant to find “wholeness in separation.”

It must be hard to live in the spotlight. To have to make an official announcement of the break-up of your marriage can’t be easy and I’m sure the whole family will have a lot of learning and healing to do. They all definitely have my sympathies. But I think there would be a lot less snickering all around if they had just announced that they were getting divorced.

Food Pics

by Wanda on March 24, 2014

Why are people always posting pictures of their food on Facebook and Instagram? I log on to see what my friends are up to but I must admit that I’m not really all that interested in the details of what they’ve eaten. It seems I’m not alone on this, either- there is actually a Facebook page called “Stop Taking Pictures Of Your Food, Just Eat It!” There are a few other pages with similar titles, and I’ve read some articles on the topic as well. Being a “foodie” myself, I get that there is entertainment and satisfaction value to it- I can watch the Food Network for hours and there are a number of cooking blogs I read regularly. What I don’t get is why every bite of food gets posted.

If you’ve been working hard on some culinary creation, of course you’d be proud and want to share your accomplishment. If you’re at a party and you’re impressed by a spectacular display of desserts, you might want to capture that and share it with your friends, in the same way you would a spectacular sunset from your beach vacation. A beautifully plated restaurant dish may also be worthy of documentation, and your friends will probably enjoy seeing these works of art. But posting a bowl of Cheerios on an ordinary morning? I’ve even seen friends’ photos of their yogurt container from lunch- why is that something to share? Some friends post play-by-play pics of dinner prep every night. In some ways it’s like posting every time you get your mail; it’s something we all do and there is usually no magic in it.

Some of the articles are pretty aggressive regarding the food posters, theorizing about deeper reasons people do it. Maybe it’s for validation- they want their friends to say it was okay to eat that huge ice cream dessert, or pat them on the back for eating a salad for lunch. Some people want to show off their artistic and culinary skills, others, their photography skills. For some, it’s just another thing in their day that gets chronicled, using Facebook as a journal that happens to get shared with their friends. Some mental health experts say it may signal an unhealthy relationship with food, which sounds pretty far fetched to me. As long as we’re dipping into mental health waters here, could it be an unhealthy preoccupation with oneself? Are our friends really interested in every minute detail of our lives? I won’t pass judgment here, I just don’t really get. But I can appreciate the art of it, and some of my friends’ nightly dinners do look absolutely delicious!

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