Totally Smitten: Paige Turner, you are artistically adorable

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paige turner, licenseWhile in the Harvard Bookstore last week, I spotted Page by Paige and after a couple minutes of browsing knew this was one graphic novel I had to curl up with in bed or in a lounge chair.

The graphic novel takes the form of entries in Paige’s sketchbook which contain almost magical depictions of her thoughts and feelings interspersed with a more traditional narrative structure of sequential panels that follow Paige on her own (in a museum, on the metro) and with her new band of Brooklyn friends (going to open mics, putting smiley face on tulips). The honesty of Paige’s uncertainty is rendered strikingly and poetically by the unique style of this graphic novel.

So far, this is the best graphic novel I’ve read this year!

Whoopie Pie Fridays at Clover

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Clover whoopie pieClover still has the best whoopie pies I’ve ever eaten. The cookie part is soft, sweet and chewy while the filling isn’t too thick or two saccharine—it’s just slightly sugary with a creamy texture.

The folks at Clover only make these on Friday evenings, so you can’t just bag one whenever. But for me, it’s worth the wait and anticipation. A nice treat for the end of a long week.

Pollution isn’t just something we put into the world

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Breasts_front_cover_web Breast-feeding is an ecological act, connecting our bodies to the world in a complex web of give-and-take. The permeability of breasts allowed us to make great advances. Their estrogen sensitivity allows us

to reach puberty at optimal times. When our ancestors migrated and settled in river and costal areas, omega-3–rich diets turned their breast milk into gold, and our brains grew. We recruited, harvested, and bred specialized bacteria for our milk; we collected molecules from the world and from our bodies to manufacture novel sugar and fats to protect our babies. Our special low-protein milk kept us growing slowly, so we could have the longest childhoods on earth and learn everything we could.

Our brains grew so well that eventually we learned how to change the world’s ecology. We couldn’t possibly have guessed that we were changing our breast milk as well. Our nouveau crème no longer serves us as well as it once did. Ironically and tragically, breast milk once propelled our evolution, now it may be impeding it by conveying toxins and quite possibly contributing to infertility and brain and body impairments. For many decades, the formula companies have tried to mimic breast milk, but it is breast milk that now may be approximating formula. That is decidedly depressing.—Florence Williams, Breasts.

Best fortune cookie message ever.

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Well, okay, so far. Yes, I really got this in a fortune cookie.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Having done work in the field of education and being generally interested in tacking problems with people, I’ve certainly found this to often be true.

Dealing with (and in) Bottled Up Emotions

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Tuoz is really good at bottling up his negative emotions, especially frustration and anger. This is only to be expected since he’s been doing it for a long time now. When we were kids, he started holding in his feelings more and more during third and fourth grade. He wasn’t great at it back then, and he actually hasn’t improved much since; sometimes feelings and thoughts would slip out of his grasp or he couldn’t keep his hold on them, and there’d be an outburst in class or an explosion on the playground.

But once he discovered his knack for making containers, he didn’t have to exert as much restraint upon his emotions. All he needed to do from then on was get his feelings and thoughts under control or reined in (which he usually was able to do discreetly), then expediently cram them into one of the homemade containers (typically a bottle, occasionally a box or tube) that he’d carry with him; they were designed and built to withstand the pressures and temperatures of their future contents so long as he kept a lid on them, tightly. Continue reading →

Just Watched: Closed Note

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Kae reading the diary While it’s somewhat predictable if you’ve watched a bunch of Japanese (or even Korean) films and dramas, Closed Note with Erika Sawajiri, Yuko Takeuchi and Yusuke Iseya is an idyllic portrayal of the warmth and ideals of youth and human nature. The film does a good job of gradually, almost leisurely developing and revealing relationships between characters, through the present and past, through conversation and writing. Another reminder of how our thoughts and feelings can, in a way, transcend time and space.

As usual, I don’t want to give anything away. If you heartwarming/wrenching, sentimental Japanese films, give this a shot (preferably without watching the trailer below).

Yuko Takeuchi plays once again the kind of character she’s good at endearingly rendering.

In-Flight Delight: Yellow Elephant

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Aoi Miyazaki as Tsuma in Yellow Elephant During a recent flight, one of the film options was Yellow Elephant with Aoi Miyazaki and Mukai Osamu. A fan of films that take their time with quotidian yet unique plots, I quickly became absorbed in this low-key film. The idyllic beginning with quietly quirky couple Tsuma (who can apparently hear animals and plants talking) and Muko (a novelist) living in the countryside gradually transforms into a tale of how the past pulls at the characters and how they rescue each other, even when they don’t realize it.

The choice of actors in this film is excellent. Most of the characters I’ve seen Aoi Miyazaki play (starting with ちょっと待って、神様 and Eureka) are rendered believable and relatable by her acting.

I love how flights to Japan can be like mini film festivals.