Caught My Eye: "Old" Books

At the beginning of every new semester, my shelves are graced with the delicate smells of the paper factory and the used bookstore. Thick textbooks and reprints of novels I haven't read come in waves through our mail system, and even two weeks in I am still receiving packages loaded down with titles like And Introduction to Behavioral Endocrinology and Songs in Praise of Lord Krishna. I'll hoist my bag on home and dump them all on my bed, in awe that by the end of three months, all (or at least most) of these books will have been read and may possibly have to be shipped off to another destination.

As you might imagine, it can get kind of overwhelming.

So, today I will indulge my instinct to run away from all that is new to the comfort and safety of my favorite "old" books, which in themselves are not aged, but I came across them much earlier in my life and am eager to reread them. Remember that little girl version of me that wanted to read all the books in the world? She read these books and deemed them so important that she bought them for keeps and now carts most of them around whenever she moves to any new destination like, oh say, to New York City. Here's the short list:

The Selected Odes of Pablo Neruda - Pablo Neruda
Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
The Pocket Muse - Monica Wood
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
The Abhorsen Trilogy - Garth Nix
The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri

What are your old favorites? Tell them to me in the comments!

Also, if you are clamoring for something new to read, I'm always posting up interesting articles and books over at my Tumblr page.

Caught My Eye: The Thing that Gets You Through

This week, rather than focusing on a specific book, article, movie, or art piece that touched me, I want to give a list of all the things that have gotten me through this week and continue to make me feel strong in a time of great weakness. In different ways, for different reasons, these pieces of media have made me think and brought me some entertainment, laughter, and peace. Hopefully they can give you just as much strength as they have given me.

The Moth podcast, particularly the stories by Charlene Strong and Elif Shafak.

Mindy Kaling's book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and Other Concerns) in audiobook form, which she herself reads and is hilarious because of it.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - a book given to me by my father as a New Year's gift.

Corinne Bailey Rae's music.

Caught My Eye: Articles from 2011

Yesterday, I wrote up my retrospective of 2011, so today I offer you some further great reading to reflect on for the year - pieces I've loved and wanted to follow up with. Here's to a new year and new material to come!

Guest posts
I've been submitting several pieces into the larger internet world this year, including one I didn't know was published on The Rumpus: Last Book I Loved - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. This year I was writing for Refuse the Silence, a blog about women of color on college campuses. I blogged with HellaBus and the Barnard Zine Library blog, including a feature on the event I read at, Meet Me At the Race Riot. My interview responses were posted on the Brooklyn Zine Fest blog and I got a mention on Brown Pundits. All great work that I hope to continue in the coming year!

Life Lessons
I've been learning a lot about the power of living in the moment, having positive body image, and being mindful of break-taking. I've also really enjoyed learning about living life like it's an experiment, writing well, following your dreams, blogging, keeping balance, gratitude and habit formation.

Political/Identity pieces
I talked a lot about my South Asian identity this year. I wrote about Muslim women, becoming an activist, and embracing single sex education. It was quite an amazing year for self-exploration!

On Location
As I mentioned yesterday, I attended a lot of events this year: everything from Slutwalk NYC to Seattle Pride. I attended Occupy Wall Street, a vigil for Troy Davis, and several writing events at the Nuyorican and The Moth. I attended the Stand Up for Women's Health Rally, Take Back the Night, and the blogging event Ain't I A Woman? Such a sweet year for being out there in the world.

Series
I did a lot of series this year. There was Caught My Eye, Project x Project (and its follow-up Creative Every Day), and DIY Interlude where I explored my own creative process. I also experimented with making a zine video tutorial and another video on progress. So, on top of everything, I feel that this year was also great for experiments.

And that marks the airing of all my 2011 pieces of note. Now that the closets are cleared, let's welcome in the new year!

Caught My Eye: Fire

Image via DesiStudios

This movie came out in 1996, and I didn't hear about it until college. Clearly, I was deprived of some amazing works of art in my youth.

Fire is a movie about two Indian women who are in arranged marriages within the same family; the marriages are loveless and often they must bend to their husband's will regardless of whether he is being dutiful as well (sounds like a familiar narrative...).

The difference is that in Fire, the two women do get to fall in love - with each other. It's an amazing transition from viewing their acts as something wrong to finding the passion they need in one another.

Caught My Eye: Awkward Black Girl

The Date is my favorite episode! Find yours at the ABG website.

I love this video series. When I need a good laugh (in between art projects and experiments) I turn to Issa Rae's fantastic series to brighten my day. So why's it so great? Here's a rundown:

Awkward Black Girl is a mini-soap opera about a terrible office job, awkward interactions with co-workers, and the trials of romance. Best of all, it's extremely funny. By using stereotypes ironically and otherwise breaking social expectations of minorities and women, the show appeals to my academic side along with my awkward inner core. With this series, I don't have to choose between seeing people portrayed non-stereotypically and getting a laugh. Which makes me wonder - why isn't all TV like this?

Check out more of what's Caught My Eye and some of my own videos.

Caught My Eye: Muslimah Media Watch

Muslimah Media Watch gives a great perspective on voices that are not often allowed to speak in either Western or global media: Muslim women. They bring together broad opinions about representation with very focused stories on the impact of decisions by governing bodies on Muslim women (such as FIFA's treatment of the Iranian womens' soccer team). They represent voices from American patriots and Bangladeshi students alike. This blog gives a broad and informative look at Muslim women, and it is created both by and for them.

Here are three of my favorite posts:
Why Did Tom MacMaster Choose to be “A Gay Girl” Blogging from Damascus?

The Ghettoization of Begumpura Neighborhoods

The Sensational Story That Wasn’t: Reports Of ‘Stoning’ Death Of Ukrainian Girl Turn Out To Be False

Want some more media to digest? Check out more of the Caught My Eye series.

Caught My Eye: TED Talk on The Uniform Project

The Uniform Project is truly where fashion meets activism. It is an interesting project in that it took the deceptively simple challenge of wearing one black dress every day for a year and made it a metaphor that people could invest in - bringing kids the money they needed to go to school.

TEDxDubai 2010| Sheena Matheiken from Giorgio Ungania on Vimeo.

I am particularly impressed with the way Sheena Matheiken explained the idea at TED Dubai. It was inspiring to hear her speak about the impact and the uses of everyday challenges like these. She brings together a confluence of factors (look-at-me blogging, personal style, and sustainable fashion practices) in order to create her own brand of personal is political activism.

Though The Uniform Project is now over two years old, I am still awed by the way that this simple idea took hold and helped a lot of underprivileged children find their way to school. Watch the video and check through the archives for some more greatness.

Want more media for consumption? Check out the rest of the Caught My Eye series.
Read some of my posts on feminism and inspiration.

Caught My Eye: Colonize This!

This week, I read Colonize This!, a book of essays by women of color about their experiences finding - and molding - feminism. I read this book (394 pages) within four days - not just because the library due date was coming up, but because I was absorbed in the stories of these amazing women of color from all different walks of life. Check out my thoughts after the jump!

Caught My Eye: This American Life Ep. 435

This American Life Episode 435.

This week, I am featuring one of my favorite episodes of This American Life! I listen to most of my podcasts while walking and/or jetting off to the next location, and This American Life always provides me with both entertainment and food for thought. This episode in particular really got me thinking as I made my way to the coffee shop that morning, so I hope you enjoy it as well.

Otherwise known as "How to Create a Job," this episode is about job creation and how much involvement the government really has in the process. The podcast dissects the idea that government can create jobs by first asking the seemingly innocent question: how does one create a job?

This American Life shows that the answer is more complicated than you might think, and not just from the perspective of government officials. They explore job training programs and conventions of professional economic developers in order to show all sides of the issue. Ultimately, this episode caught my eye (and ear) because it was informative and honest - although it did present a pretty unsatisfying answer to how a job is created. I'll leave it to you to be the judge of how effective our leaders are at keeping their promises to workers in the US.

Any fans of This American Life already out there? What's your favorite episode?
Also, I am always looking for new podcasts to listen to, so share yours in the comments! Your favorite ones, ridiculous ones, even very specific ones (I listened to one about the history of knitting fibers before) are all welcome.

Check out more media with the ongoing Caught My Eye series.
You may also be interested in listening to my audio posts Pressing the Record Button and Is Blogging "Giving It Away For Free"?

Caught My Eye: Dear Sugar Column at The Rumpus

As I was trying to rouse myself from a literary stupor this week, I searched around the internet for some inspiration to fill myself up until I could no longer stand the feeling of not writing. One of the articles that I came across that most inspired me was The Rumpus' column Dear Sugar.

Dear Sugar is a self-reported advice column, but it caters to those of all stripes - it is not just a love life column, nor an inspirational manifesto, but also takes care of its writers and other people in long response articles. My favorite of all such articles is Write Like a Motherfucker, which tells the unabashed truth: get writing and keep doing it until it hurts.

Check out the rest of Sugar's advice column for everything from marriage advice to alternative graduation speeches; you will not be disappointed!

Check out some more media with the rest of the Caught My Eye series.

You may also be interested in reading 3 Ways I Beat Writer's Block to a Pulp.

Caught My Eye: Fringe Star Jasika Nicole's Comics

Although it may not be inherently obvious because I do not write about TV much on my blog, I am a huge nerd when it comes to TV-watching. After the heady days of sitcoms such as Roseanne and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (which, for the record, I did not watch when they were on the air - I was instead glued to the reruns during my middle and high school years), I dove into the world of fantasy and sci fi programming and never went back. Just last weekend, naturally, I re-visited my pre-teen love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer using the power of Netflix. But, although that could be a "Caught My Eye" in and of itself, instead I would like to talk about another sci fi show I watch with an avid passion: Fringe. And, further than that, I would like to write about the character Astrid on that show, a.k.a. Jasika Nicole.

Caught My Eye: Reading Women

Alright, I know that I said that regular posting would resume Friday, but I didn't account for one major thing: sleep. Upon arriving home, I attempted to stay awake, but instead collapsed into an earth-shattering slumber, not to be awoken unless food was available. So, this post that was supposed to be put up Friday is actually coming to you today. My apologies for the delay!

Contrary to popular belief, finals time for me is great for doing all the things I miss out on during the rest of our very busy school year. So, when reading week began and I realized that I actually didn't have anything I needed to catch up on, I dove into this book that had been waiting on my shelf for quite some time: Reading Women by Stephanie Staal.

Caught My Eye: Safe & Sexy Photography Project

The Safe and Sexy Photography Project is a website that features women in two outfits: their "sexiest" and their "safest," as chosen by the participants. The website also features captions that have the stories of why these women chose their outfits - I think it's really interesting to look at them first without reading and try to guess, then read and figure out which is which!

This project really speaks to the idea of different personal styles and beliefs about fashion. What someone might call safe, I might call sexy and what someone might call sexy, I would say is safe. Similarly, the women on this website are a range of ages; there are some older women that have more radical (at least in my opinion) sexy outfits than I myself would wear! Basically, I think this project opens the doors to looking at personal fashion choices and what they mean for the individual, rather than what the media feeds us in terms of "safe" and "sexy" labels.

 I do not own any of these images - they are the property of Sarah Hughes, the photographer.

Absorb some more media with the on-going Caught My Eye series.

Caught My Eye: A4 Papercut

While I didn't have any breaking new work for you yesterday (as I am still chugging along on my two papers - just citations to go!), here is a great artist that caught my eye this week.

Peter Callasen's "White Hand"

Peter Callesen's artwork* is amazing. He cuts up paper and makes it into 3-dimensional shapes! I encourage you to check out the entire gallery. It is truly amazing what some innovative people can do with just a normal sheet of paper.


*Though it should be pretty obvious, I don't own any of the artwork displayed here!


Absorb some more media with the on-going Caught My Eye series.

Caught My Eye: The Difference between Fashion & Style

Hello there! Yesterday I fell silent on the blogging front due to overwhelming attempts at getting my final anthropology paper started (4/15 pages written, whoo!) and today looks like another full one. As you might imagine, the infinite universe of the internet has been set aside for a little while - thus, I am going on a brief hiatus. Never fear, however, as I will be returning on Monday with fabulous insight and excellence!
For now, please enjoy this great image from Indexed and check out all the other awesomeness available at that site!

Check out some more media in the on-going Caught My Eye series.

Caught My Eye: Tim Burton's Vincent Animation

Sometimes when I am working for a very long time (as I did/am doing today), I like to take a break and watch mindless Youtube videos...
Well, this one is not as mindless as some of the others that I break with, but I remember really enjoying this Tim Burton short animation, most likely for it's quirky and dark tone. Please enjoy it and send me any Youtube videos that I can use to distract myself this weekend as I write two papers and prepare for an exam!

 

P.S.
The Draw-a-thon was great last night! I did a lot of tester drawings that I was not so happy with, but that got me back in the groove, and then came out with a really large and very nice drawing at the end. Pictures will be forthcoming.

See more media in the on-going series Caught My Eye.

Caught My Eye: Think Simple Now

I have mentioned before that Think Simple Now is a great website for making you feel better and learn about how to deal with complex situations, but just in case you haven't checked it out, I encourage you to! Here is a round up of my favorite articles:

Healthy Relationships

When Couples Fight (not just for people in relationships!)
Living in the Moment 

The Art of Building Self-Esteem 

How to Achieve Anything
I'm Sorry, I Don't Know, I Can't...
A Guide to Happiness via Self Forgiveness
Personal Change You Can Measure

Caught My Eye: Mark Bittman's Opinion Column

Not that I need to plug the great Mark Bittman, of How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian fame, but I recently stumbled upon his opinion column in the New York Times. I must admit, his writing really makes me think about things related to food, culture, and our beliefs about things that I often believe as "commonsense" (but that my anthropology teacher might call hegemony).

Here are two pieces that I recently read and enjoyed:

The piece "Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others" is great if you want to learn about animal cruelty and feel depressed but enlightened.

Check out the "Sustainable Farming Can Feed the World?" piece to learn about the ways that I wish I could change the world.

You may also be interested in reading my post Why Eating Can Make Me Depressed.

Saturday Feature: HowStuffWorks

Due to a massive cold that hit me starting yesterday and into the weekend, I have been too tired to do much of anything save sleep, drink water, and take that one French final. So, this post is a Saturday feature rather than a Friday feature - but other than the difference in alliteration, the website is still awesome!

HowStuffWorks is a website of monolithic proportions, involving podcasts, blogs, and articles about just about everything. I typically listen to two of their many fabulous podcasts (Stuff You Should Know and Stuff Mom Never Told You) and read the blogs daily. They keep me updated on everything from this intense TRON hotel room to how to grow a moon garden to the psychological effects of product advertisements. All in all, both the blogs and the podcasts keep me waist-deep in nerd knowledge. And I love it.
The articles are also very thorough - for instance, I woke up this morning with the song "Home on the Range" stuck in my head and I wondered: are there really American antelopes? For those of you that don't already know, one of the prominent lines of that song is "where the deer and the antelope play..." So, I got on my trusty laptop and searched up the word "antelope" and, lo and behold, they had a listing of antelopes, where they were from and their ecology. Awesome. Now I know that antelope does not apply to just one animal, but is a class of four-legged beast and that there is also a mislabeled faux-antelope called the American antelope. I can feel the nerd power coursing within me.

Anyway, I think that this website and its various features can keep someone who enjoys knowledge entertained for many many days - so check out HowStuffWorks.

Check out some more media that I absorb in my follow-up series Caught My Eye.

Friday Feature: Le Blog de Big Beauty

Fabuleuse, non?

Le Blog de Big Beauty

I just discovered this blog recently from another blog that I really enjoy - Already Pretty!
This blog is about a plus-sized French woman who adores fashion and is a pretty well traveled person from the looks of it! Currently, she has some pieces up about a trip to New York that I believe she is currently on, and it is great reading.
Oh, you don't say... You don't speak/read French? Never fear! The English translation is posted below the main post in French, so read on non-French speakers!
Part of the reason that I enjoy this blog is because it is interesting French reading - previously I only got practice from my classes and reading the news (never a laugh and a half, I'll tell ya), so when I found this blog I was really happy to dive into my French reading comprehension.
Anyway, it boils down to this: this is a great blog for both style-nerds and occasional French readers, it is also a great one for larger women as well as those who just want to read about awesome fashion ideas. Check it out!

Take a look at my media-rich follow-up series: Caught My Eye.