Northwestern Magazine May Close In 'Vetting Committee' Standoff

June 22, 2015, 5:03 pm

≫ Next: This Short Film Perfectly Illustrates The Trauma Of Your First Bra

≪ Previous: Female Masturbation Has A Brand Spankin' (And Sparkly) New Name

$

0

0

A Northwestern University professor who edits a bioethics magazine has shelved the publication over a dispute with administrators, who demand that public relations staff approve content.

Katie Watson, a professor in the university's Medical Humanities and Bioethics program who edits the journal Atrium, said the demand followed recent controversy over the school's censorship of an essay called "Head Nurses," recounting sexual experiences with nurses. Watson said medical school administrators told her she must allow a "vetting committee" to review her editorial choices "and veto them if they were perceived to conflict with other institutional interests."

"Approximately a week after this vetting committee told me what I would, and would not, be allowed to publish, I canceled the issue," Watson told HuffPost, explaining she is "not moving forward with the publication under that condition."

The standoff follows Northwestern's censorship of last year's Atrium issue containing an article written by Syracuse University professor William Peace about oral sex performed by nurses on hospital patients in the 1970s. Northwestern, a private university in Evanston, Illinois, removed the article from its website, but backed off when a faculty member threatened to expose the censorship.

Watson said she had been selecting proposals for the next issue of Atrium, which is published roughly once a year. She met with a hospital administrator, a medical school administrator on the faculty, a person from the medical school communication department -- the members of Atrium's new vetting committee.

Around the same time, Northwestern slashed Atrium's budget, according to a letter Watson wrote to Peace, which was posted on his blog.

Northwestern spokesman Alan Cubbage declined to comment on Monday. The university wouldn't answer questions from HuffPost last week about the Atrium censorship, and instead provided a statement saying, "The magazine now has an editorial board of faculty members and others, as is customary for academic journals."

Watson and other faculty members disputed the statement, saying the vetting committee is not an editorial board, evidenced by the presence of a university public relations person. The nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has suggested Northwestern's vetting committee threatens academic freedom.

"It's unusual for the PR department of a university to have any oversight of a peer-reviewed journal edited by a faculty member at that university," said Ivan Oransky, co-founder of the Retraction Watch blog and a professor in New York University's journalism and medical schools.

Watson told Peace she has staunchly guarded editorial content against administrative tinkering not because she necessarily is a fan of each article, but to preserve the free expression of "all the challenging, illuminating voices" in Atrium.

Watson is considering ways to make Atrium independent, to find another publisher, or to close the journal permanently.

"I work with good people in both the medical school and the hospital, and I remain hopeful," Watson wrote. "But if I become convinced Atrium can no longer move forward with integrity here, I will drop the publication's MH&B and NU affiliations and move it elsewhere, or I'll throw a party for the terrific run it enjoyed and end it."

Alice Dreger, a Northwestern medical professor who guest-edited the controversial Atrium issue, said if the administration "honestly believes" it's normal to allow "administrators and PR folks tasked with making sure we don't publish anything that might offend anyone ever again ... then our administration seems to be made up of people who have never worked with scholarly journals." She said the finds the administration monitoring of journal content "extremely disturbing."

"They said, 'We paid for it, so we get to say what’s in it,'" Dreger said. "I asked them whether, under the new 'Northwestern Medicine,' brand, I was expected to run all of my work past them -- my articles, my books, my tweets, my talks, my blogs, my op-eds -- given that Northwestern essentially funds all of my work. To this, they had no good answer, but to repeat that they could 'monitor' Atrium."

Like Us On Facebook | Follow Us On Twitter | Contact The Author

Tyler Kingkade covers higher education at The Huffington Post. Contact him at tyler.kingkade@huffingtonpost.com.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

---

This Short Film Perfectly Illustrates The Trauma Of Your First Bra

June 23, 2015, 9:28 am

≫ Next: 13 Children's Book Authors Who Should Have Written Fiction For Adults

≪ Previous: Northwestern Magazine May Close In 'Vetting Committee' Standoff

$

0

0

"Oh, honey. Do you want to start wearing a bra?"

It's the question that can elicit either joy or pure terror for every pre-teen girl, and a new short film from director and visual artist Natalie Neal has beautifully depicted the moment that many girls realize they're becoming women -- getting their first bra.

Titled "Seashells," the short is steeped in pastel-colored nostalgia -- its young lead (Michelle Moores) sings along to Celine Dion and The Spice Girls as she imagines looking like the busty pop singers plastered all over her bedroom walls.



Neal told Dazed Digital that she first came up with the concept for the short film in 2012, after getting married.

"The abrupt change in how people treated me as a married woman was such a slap in the face that my whole perspective in life changed," Neal said. "One of the things that had me very interested during that time was how women are expected to change their decisions based on how other people react to their body."

She told Dazed about her first encounter with a bra. "I was 10 when my mom first told me I needed a bra, and the experience was totally traumatic for me. Of all my memories, this is the earliest I have of what it meant to struggle in an effort to meet society’s unreasonable demands for me."

Neal is best known for her 2012 short, "Rose and Sophia", which follows two teenage best friends who rekindle a childhood interest in spying. "Seashells" is her second short film.

Watch the full 9-minute short above.

H/T Dazed

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

13 Children's Book Authors Who Should Have Written Fiction For Adults

June 23, 2015, 10:07 am

≫ Next: Father-Son Duo Brings Breakfast To Life With Syrupy Sweet Pancake Art

≪ Previous: This Short Film Perfectly Illustrates The Trauma Of Your First Bra

$

0

0

Beloved children's book author Judy Blume released a new book this month. All hail Judy! Except, unlike her 1970 masterpiece Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, her recent work, In The Unlikely Event, is being marketed toward adults.

Blume's decision -- or, perhaps, her publisher's decision -- to release another book specifically for adults brings us back to a much blogged about debate in the book world: What is the difference between children's books, YA novels and adult fiction? A succinct delineation between the genres might read: "The sine qua non of YA is an adolescent protagonist, who will probably face significant difficulties and crises, and grow and develop to some degree." Following from this definition, we could expect children's literature to feature child protagonists; adult literature stars the over 18 set.

Despite the differentiation, some people are of the mind that a good children's book or YA novel should be readable to any age range, adults included. The boundary between the distinctions is porous, says writer Daniel Hahn. "Books are wayward things, and the good ones, the ones that are really alive with that energy that seems to detonate in your brain as you read, aren’t so easily contained." After all, according to a 2012 study conducted by Bowker Market Research, 55 percent of the people buying fiction geared toward young adults are, actually, just adults. And they're, actually, reading the books for themselves.

Yet more than a few critics have expressed their distaste for the adults who like to vacation in YA and children's lit territory, defying the limitations of a staunch acronym -- see here, here and here. Adults, they say, should stick to "the complexity of great adult literature."

At the end of the day, we tend to agree with writer Meg Wolitzer, who thoughtfully concluded her take on the "YA war" with a balanced aside: "When you’re deep in a good book, you won’t even hear the drumbeats." But, in honor of Blume's latest foray into the world of adult fiction, we decided to single out a few of our other favorite children's lit and YA authors, and imagine a universe in which they created books for adults, too. Or, more specifically, a universe in which these authors wrote stories with adult protagonists. Behold, the 13 authors we wish would have written fiction for adults:

1. Beverly Cleary

Aside from a couple of memoirs, Beverly Cleary had a prolific half-century career as a writer publishing only children’s literature. Her Ramona Quimby books redefined kids’ reading for generations, with relatable, funny stories about the family on Klickitat Street. Cleary’s gift for drawing out the humor and poignancy in down-home tales about kids like those she knew growing up has been a great enough contribution to the world of letters. Still, her warmth, honesty and eye for the ridiculous would have benefited the world of adult fiction -- imagine a novel about the Quimby parents’ marriage, as written for mature readers rather than through the eyes of Ramona. -Claire Fallon



2. Walter Dean Myers

The best kid’s book writers don’t treat their young readers as inferior or less intelligent than adults; they don’t downplay the gravity or language of their writing, but make adult themes more palatable by sharing them straightforwardly. Walter Dean Myers’ Monster expertly handles the issue of racial stereotyping, through the eyes and literal lens of a character wrongly accused of a crime. Issues such as fate, and narratives as a means of making sense of the world, are at play, and would do just as well in a heavier, lengthier work. -Maddie Crum



3. Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Many a child dreamed of having a game so elaborate, well-researched, top secret and exclusive as The Egypt Game, as dreamed up by Zilpha Keatley Snyder in 1967. Snyder's iconic children's tale revolves around two young girls and the fanciful imaginary world they dream up in the storage yard of A-Z Antiques, based on Ancient Egyptian beliefs and rituals. The suspenseful story represented the pinnacle of imaginary game awesomeness, and shaped many an after-school playdate. Though she died in 2014, we wish Snyder would have provided grown-ups with a similar incentive to play pretend. -Priscilla Frank



4. Katherine Paterson

The Bridge to Terabithia is one of those YA novels that treats adolescents as what they are: eventual adults. In the book, Katherine Paterson explores depression, death, religion and isolation in ways that few other novels aimed at kids do. She wasn't afraid to talk about anxieties, scary to people far older than grade school age, that wracked the brains of preteens -- Should I have empathy for a bully? How do I reconcile the fact that my friend doesn't believe in God? How can I grieve a person's death when I feel partially responsible? These were not diet lit questions. The Chinese-born American author is still alive today, and wouldn't it be great to see a work like The Day of the Pelican or The Great Gilly Hopkins written with adult leads? -Katherine Brooks



5. Mary Pope Osborne

It all began with Dinosaurs Before Dark, the 1992 classic where Jack and Annie find an enchanted, arboreal dwelling, travel through time and make friends with a pteranodon named Henry. Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House series took off from there and never looked back. She published 50 more books in the series, causing it to surpass Harry Potter on the 2006 New York Times Best Seller’s list. How did she beat out J.K. Rowling herself? With artful cliffhangers and the tantalizing hope that children could be whisked away from their routine lives into a new historical period each day. Adult literature could use a dose of her talent for suspense and whimsy -- not to mention rapid serialization. -Colton Valentine



6. Gail Carson Levine

If you didn’t read Ella Enchanted growing up, it’s not too late -- based on my frequent re-readings, it totally holds up. Gail Carson Levine’s Newbery Award-winning debut book is an intoxicating stew of fairy-tale tropes, sneaky female empowerment, humor, and above all, lovable characters. Levine recreates (or creates anew) fantasy worlds that feel intimately familiar, with all the human quirks, flaws and emotions that make stories jump off the page. While no one is too old for Ella Enchanted, what about a modern fable designed for adult readers? The world of adult literature could do with a little more magic, especially of Levine’s clever, thoughtful variety. -Claire Fallon



7. Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak’s approach to writing kid’s books –- to always incorporate both the stormy and sunny sides of life, and not sugar coat plots with neat resolve -– would lend itself well to stories for adults, too. In Where the Wild Things Are, he doesn’t shy away from nudity, and he seems proud, or at least not ashamed, of the frequency with which the title is banned. When asked whether the movie adaptation of his book was unsuited for children, he said: “I would tell them to go to hell.” So, if his frank scruples don’t make him an excellent candidate for novel-writing, his public discussion of his sexual exploration certainly does. -Maddie Crum



8. Madeleine L'Engle

The best young adult novelists know adults don’t have to be villains. Madeleine L'Engle -- in this superfan's humble opinion -- knew this better than most. Her books allowed adults and kids, those classically opposing species, to become friends and confidantes, and thus, to learn from each other. Surely she would have made a fabulous adult fiction writer had she taken that path. A simple optic shift switches her genre. Her most famous contribution to literature is A Wrinkle in Time, a sci-fi classic whose energy comes from this interplay. Meg and Charles Wallace Murry adore their mysterious, absent father so implicitly, they venture into alternate dimensions to rescue him. Love between child and adult seduced legions of young readers, but for me, a quieter example sealed the deal.

I came to know L'Engle could write grown-ups as compellingly as kids somewhere in the depths of her poetically realistic series starring Vicky Austin. Being a teenaged reader, my copies of those books turn today from wear to the pages detailing Vicky's adolescent romances. But the scene I remember most vividly isn't romantic at all. It comes from A Moon by Night, when the Austin family makes a cross-country road trip pit stop at an uncle's house in California. One early morning, Vicky and Uncle Douglas find themselves the first ones up. Dawn works its magic, and Vicky begins to let her teenage defenses down. She is distraught over the death of a family friend -- the very concept of death, really. Her uncle states his take, honed over years of questioning. When we rage at the universe, he proposes, we are really asking, "Why aren't you doing things my way?" This struck young, sullen me as a bit of true wisdom, not to mention my first inkling that adults are simply kids given more time to reason through problems. -Mallika Rao



9. Ellen Raskin

Ellen Raskin blessed elementary schoolers everywhere with her 1978 novel The Westing Game, about sixteen heirs working to crack the mystery behind millionaire Sam Westing's unceremonious death. The Newbery Medal-winning book features a badass 13-year-old girl protagonist, secret identities and Americana-centric clues that will make you proud to be an amateur sleuthing American. Raskin is hilarious and clever and, though she died in 1984, we would have loved the opportunity to see her craft a thriller for the adult set. -Priscilla Frank



10. Chris Van Allsburg

Chris Van Allsburg is the American illustrator and writer responsible for epic works of children's literature like The Sweetest Fig, The Wreck of the Zephyr and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. (Oh, and Jumanji and The Polar Express.) While his books rested almost entirely on his adept imagery, realist cartoons that were beautifully horrifying to the kinds of small children who enjoyed a well-crafted scary story, the words he wrapped around them created absurd, sometimes nightmarish plots that kids just gobbled up. He could easily turn the episodic illustrations from The Mysteries of Harris Burdick into short stories geared toward adult eyes only. -Katherine Brooks



11 & 12. Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire

If there’s one thing adult life is lacking, it’s mythology: the unabashed belief in mystic tales that hold clear moral principles and connect readers to a common history. Enter the d’Aulaires, an immigrant couple hailing from Munich, Germany and Kongsberg, Norway, who paid their way to the U.S. with their illustrating talents. Though they’re best known for their gorgeous books of Norse and Greek myths, the d’Aulaires also made captivating picture books on Norwegian folktales and famed American figures like Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln. Their stories gave scores of children a first introduction to the worlds of ancient Gods and heroes -- an epic scale we’d love to see repackaged for adults. -Colton Valentine



13. Lois Lowry

When a book has been banned as much as it has been made mandatory on elementary school curriculums across the country, you know an author has achieved something great: a real conversation has started. The Giver quartet is one of those dystopic series that attempted to kick-start kids' appetites for critical analysis and a healthy sense of defiance. Lois Lowry's M.O. is simple: "For my own grandchildren -- and for all those of their generation -- I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another." We can only hope that when her grandchildren age, she contemplates the possibility of writing something for the adults they'll become. In an era when environmental politics are as pressing as ever, it seems a story told through the eyes of adult protagonists could benefit from Lowry's emphasis on caring more. --Katherine Brooks



Notable Runner-ups: S.E. Hinton and E.L. Konigsburg. Let us know your picks in the comments!

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Father-Son Duo Brings Breakfast To Life With Syrupy Sweet Pancake Art

June 23, 2015, 10:30 am

≫ Next: An Honest, Tear-Jerking Account Of Becoming A Father

≪ Previous: 13 Children's Book Authors Who Should Have Written Fiction For Adults

$

0

0

Your favorite morning cartoons just got a new look.

A father and son in Melbourne, Australia, are turning beloved cartoon and pop culture characters into delicious, colorful pancakes BuzzFeed reported. Under the name TigerTomato, the duo creates quick YouTube tutorials for how to create these lively little flapjacks. And they are too cute to eat! (Almost).

The creations include classic cartoons, like Garfield and Homer Simpson, but also some newer animated stars, like a Minion and Olaf from Frozen. Check them out below.

Pikachu









Lumpy Space Princess from "Adventure Time"









Maggie Simpson









Kirby









Doraemon









Hello Kitty









These delectable works of art are just a short list of the endless possibilities to sketch on your skillet. Batter up!

Like Us On Facebook
Follow Us On Twitter

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

An Honest, Tear-Jerking Account Of Becoming A Father

June 23, 2015, 11:03 am

≫ Next: An Intimate Look At 'Family Meal,' The Staff-Only Food Customers Will Never Get To Eat At A Restaurant

≪ Previous: Father-Son Duo Brings Breakfast To Life With Syrupy Sweet Pancake Art

$

0

0

It's impossible to anticipate the challenges that may arise in the journey to becoming a parent.

Telegraph political cartoonist Bob Moran shared his emotional experience of becoming a dad to a daughter with special needs in this beautiful animated video.

Titled "Father's Days: the animated memoir of a first-time dad," the video shows Moran trying to become the father figure he always imagined he'd be as he helps his baby navigate through the NICU, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and more.

"Fathers are supposed to be heroes, aren't they?" he wonders.

It's a powerful, touching story that dares you not to cry.

H/T Neatorama



Like Us On Facebook |
Follow Us On Twitter |
Contact HuffPost Parents

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

An Intimate Look At 'Family Meal,' The Staff-Only Food Customers Will Never Get To Eat At A Restaurant

June 23, 2015, 11:18 am

≫ Next: Here's What A Chimp Drum Solo Sounds Like

≪ Previous: An Honest, Tear-Jerking Account Of Becoming A Father

$

0

0

Since it opened in the Arts District in the fall of 2012, Bestia has been one of the toughest reservations in Los Angeles. Every night, the Italian restaurant is packed with Angelenos and tourists grateful for the chance to eat the restaurant's homemade pastas, pizzas and charcuterie, widely considered some of the finest in the country.

But as exclusive as the restaurant is for dinner, it's more exclusive still at lunch. To snag a table during the daytime, you see, you have to work there. At 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. every day, Bestia serves its staff a sumptuous "family meal" prepared by one of its chefs.

Bestia is by no means unique in this respect; family meal is a storied tradition of restaurants all over the world. You could think of it as the original Google Cafeteria. It gives the staff a chance to take a break from their busy days and sit together and chat over a meal prepared by one of their own. The fare at family meal tends toward the hearty and comforting -- more rustic than the food that the restaurant usually serves, but often no less delicious. The concept of the family meal has even inspired at least one cookbook.

But Bestia takes this tradition unusually seriously. A different chef from the line is assigned to cook family meal each day. About half the time, they'll prepare either pasta or braised meat left over from dinner service the night before. But on other days, they'll make a dish representative of their cultural heritage -- pork adobo, say, from a Filipino chef, or chow mein and fried rice from one with Chinese ancestry. For these days, the restaurant will order specific ingredients only for family meal, which represents a significant investment in creating a convivial atmosphere for the staff. Yet Ori Menashe, the restaurant's Israel-born executive chef, thinks that such an investment pays great dividends.

"For me, family meal is the thing that sets the day," he said. "If family meal isn't great, people don't feel good.

"But it's not about eating fast and running out to smoke a cigarette," he continued. "It's about creating an environment that's like a family, where people are sitting down together, joking and laughing and talking. I've worked at restaurants without family meal, and it's not the same. When my shift ended, I just wanted to get out of there."

For a few months shortly after Bestia opened, the restaurant even held a competition for who could make the best family meal. Every Saturday afternoon, one of the cooks would prepare an elaborate feast related to their own ancestry, with a generous budget of about $400. On one of these afternoons, Menashe recalls, a cook even roasted a whole pig on the dead-end street in front of the restaurant.

Bestia allowed this reporter to sit in on and document a family meal one recent Monday afternoon. The chef in charge of lunch was line cook Camillo Zamora, a former Marine artilleryman of Mexican descent. At noon, the kitchen was aflutter with prep for the night's meal; one chef was butchering lamb's necks for a braise, while others were working on dough for pasta and pizza. But Zamora was in the middle of preparing a Mexican feast: carnitas tacos, beans and red snapper ceviche tostadas.

"I learned how to cook this stuff by osmosis," Zamora explained. "Different family members would cook these things all the time when I was growing up, and I would watch them in the kitchen."

The beans and pork were already nearly done, but he had just gotten started on the ceviche.



He chopped several pounds of fish as Ori and his wife Genevieve Gergis, who's also the restaurant's pastry chef, stood nearby and worked on a dish for an upcoming event.



Zamora then put the snapper in a big plastic bag and poured in a mixture of citrus juices.



He used a vacuum sealer -- normally used for dishes that are poached sous vide -- to remove all the excess air from the bag and compress it.

"This is the modern way to make ceviche," Zamora explained. "It's how a lot of restaurants do it these days. It's much faster and more reliable than just mixing it together. The vacuum forces the citrus into the fish."



Earlier that morning, Zamora had chopped a host of vegetables and herbs -- tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, red onion, cilantro -- for the ceviche.



After the fish had marinated in the citrus juices for about 15 minutes in the sealed plastic bag, Zamora took it out and mixed it with the vegetables.



Meanwhile, prep cook Miguel Sanchez pulverized tomatillos, serrano and jalapeño peppers, garlic, cilantro and red onion in a blender to make a salsa to put atop the carnitas.



Just after 1 p.m., the food was ready. Zamora carried massive trays of carnitas, beans, tortillas and ceviche out to one of the dining room tables.



Here's a closeup of Zamora's meltingly tender carnitas.



Here's his red snapper ceviche.



And these are some tortillas that Zamora fried so people could use that ceviche to make tostadas.



There was also homemade horchata -- a staple of Mexican family meals at the restaurant. Sometimes, Gergis said, family meal will also be accompanied by agua frescas.



At 1:20, Ori called the staff out to the dining room to get their food. He and Gergis lined up first to get their tacos and tostadas.



Here, cocktail director Jeremy Simpson puts beans atop his carnitas taco.



The two men in the foreground of this photo are Elcido and Ceasar, both dishwashers. All in all, a couple dozen people ate lunch that day, many of them prep cooks who get the food ready for dinner service before the night staff arrives. Because more people work at the restaurant in the evenings -- not only in the kitchen, but also in front of course -- the 4 p.m. family meal tends to be even bigger than the 1 p.m. one. As many as 50 people take part.



Here's a plate with two of the delectable foods on offer: a carnitas taco with guacamole and a ceviche tostada.



Once everyone had gotten their food, they sat down in small groups at tables in the dining room. Some ate quietly and played with their iPhones, but most chatted, laughed and gossiped. Zamora had the place of honor next to Ori.

"Camillo always makes good food," Menashe said. "And this is no exception."



The staff sat and ate in small groups around the restaurant. Though some spent much of the meal on their cell phones, most were shooting the breeze in English, Spanish or both.



Most of them weren't related by blood, but they ate together like a real happy family.




Follow Us On Pinterest
| Like Us On Facebook |
Follow Us On Twitter

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Here's What A Chimp Drum Solo Sounds Like

June 23, 2015, 11:30 am

≫ Next: 'The Bachelorette' Season 11 Episode 7 Recap: Kaitlyn Bristowe Gets Physical With Nick

≪ Previous: An Intimate Look At 'Family Meal,' The Staff-Only Food Customers Will Never Get To Eat At A Restaurant

$

0

0

It's definitely better than Nickelback.

A new paper published in Scientific Reports analyzes the rhythmic stylings of a chimp named Barney -- and shows that chimps may be more musically inclined than we previously thought.

Researchers at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in the Netherlands recorded Barney banging on a barrel back in 2005, but a scientific analysis of his performance wasn't published until last week. At the time of the recording, Barney, a "low-ranking" chimp living in a group of five adult males, was 24 years old.

Here’s a short clip of Barney’s drumming, which the paper notes was not prompted by humans in any way:



Though it’s not unusual for chimpanzees to beat on objects or their own bodies in the wild, the paper notes that this behavior “has, musically speaking, little in common with human drumming.” That’s because it's typically less rhythmic. According to the paper, an “essential characteristic” of human drumming is “beating at regularly spaced time intervals” that “makes the occurrence of the next beat(s) predictable.”

While he probably won’t win a Grammy anytime soon, Barney does indeed hit his barrel at regular intervals.

Analysis also showed that Barney’s drumming had an average tempo of 257 beats per minute, which, according to the paper, is “close to human tempo for rhythmic music.”

Humans already know that chimps use drumming to express aggression or impress a mate. However, Barney’s performance didn’t appear to serve any specific purpose or communicate any particular message. That’s similar to human drumming, which the paper notes does not need to have a “particular purpose or context.”

Additionally, while most chimps' drumming lasts only a few seconds, the paper says, Barney’s drum solo went on for around four minutes as he remained totally focused on the barrel.

Researchers believe that their analysis of Barney’s drumming could be the first piece of “strong evidence” that there’s an evolutionary link between the “wild beating” of chimpanzees and music performed by human beings.

“Barney’s performance confirms that the chimpanzee, our closest relative, could indeed be capable of drumming like a human,” the paper says.

Read the whole study here.

H/T Newsweek


Contact The Author

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

'The Bachelorette' Season 11 Episode 7 Recap: Kaitlyn Bristowe Gets Physical With Nick

June 23, 2015, 11:41 am

≫ Next: Despite Fears About Trigger Warnings, Survey Suggests Few Faculty Are Forced To Use Them

≪ Previous: Here's What A Chimp Drum Solo Sounds Like

$

0

0

It’s 2015. By now, reality TV is a young adult, but it hasn’t grown out of "The Bachelor" franchise. Despite its bizarre dating rituals, low success rate, and questionable racial and gender politics, the stable of shows is, if anything, more popular than ever. Do people love "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," or do they love to hate it? It’s unclear. But here at Here To Make Friends, we both love and love to hate them -- and we love to snarkily dissect each episode in vivid detail.

In this week's Here To Make Friends podcast, hosts Claire Fallon, Culture Writer, and Emma Gray, Senior Women’s Editor, recap the seventh episode of "The Bachelorette," Season 11. We'll discuss that weird "lighthearted" Irish wake, Shawn's jealous meltdown, and, of course, that whole sex scandal.

Plus, we'll speak with former "Bachelor" producer and co-creator of Lifetime's "UnREAL," Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, to figure out just how real "UnREAL" is, and what she learned while working behind the scenes on reality TV's most romantic franchise.



You can check out our future episodes of Here To Make Friends and other HuffPost Podcasts on The Huffington Post's Sound Cloud page. Thanks to our producer, Katelyn Bogucki, our editor, Jorge Corona, and our guests Anna Breslaw and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro.

Also, check out the HuffPost Here To Make Friends podcast on iTunes and make sure to rate and review the show, too.


The best tweets about this week's "Bachelorette" ...

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

---

Despite Fears About Trigger Warnings, Survey Suggests Few Faculty Are Forced To Use Them

June 23, 2015, 11:46 am

≫ Next: What Your Preferred 'Harry Potter' House Says About Your Personality

≪ Previous: 'The Bachelorette' Season 11 Episode 7 Recap: Kaitlyn Bristowe Gets Physical With Nick

$

0

0

Very few college professors are forced to use trigger warnings in class, according to an online survey of College Art Association and Modern Language Association members.

Out of 808 who responded, less than 1 percent said their college or university had adopted a trigger warning policy. Eighty-five percent said in the survey that students had never asked them to use trigger warnings, and 93 percent did not know of any student-initiated efforts at their school to require them in class.

Without a formal policy, 12 percent said they used trigger warnings regularly, while another 11 percent said they tried them out "several times" and 34 percent utilized warnings "once or twice." Another 42 percent said they've never used a trigger warning.

The non-scientific questionnaire was developed with help from the National Coalition Against Censorship, and distributed using SurveyMonkey. The results were first presented at the annual conference of the American Association of University Professors last week, and were subsequently provided to The Huffington Post.

Trigger warnings are short statements used prior to discussing material about sensitive subjects that may bring up personal trauma. The concept of trigger warnings has existed for a century, but became increasingly popular in blogs over the past decade. As more hyper-connected millennials have arrived on college campuses, some have asked for their use ahead of potentially disturbing and "re-traumatizing" content.

The issue attracted more attention last year as campuses like the University of California, Santa Barbara and Oberlin College in Ohio began considering policies for using trigger warnings.

Yet, the survey of faculty -- which the organizations say is the only bit of data on the use of trigger warnings in academe -- suggests a trigger warning policy for professors would actually be an anomaly.

Joan Bertin, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship, said they did the survey because so far, there were only anecdotal reports to rely on. She cautioned the survey is a "snapshot of people who chose to be in the picture."

What the survey showed, Bertin said, was that if faculty is using trigger warnings, it appears that "professors do it for reasons for self-protection." Of the 626 who said they did not provide trigger warnings, 11 percent responded that "once or twice" a student complained about the lack of warning to the professor's administrators.

"We are more concerned from an academic freedom point of view for untenured or adjunct faculty that if they don't do warnings and a student complains, that's the end of their professional career or their contract," Bertin told HuffPost.

Indeed, a majority -- ​63 percent -- said trigger warnings would have a negative effect on academic freedom, compared to 7 percent who said it'd be "positive." Forty-five percent similarly believed their use would have a negative impact on classroom dynamics, while 17 percent theorized a positive result and 28 percent said they didn't know.






Like Us On Facebook | Follow Us On Twitter | Contact The Author

Tyler Kingkade covers higher education at The Huffington Post. Contact him at tyler.kingkade@huffingtonpost.com.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

What Your Preferred 'Harry Potter' House Says About Your Personality

June 23, 2015, 11:57 am

≫ Next: The Hottest Baby Names of 2015... So Far

≪ Previous: Despite Fears About Trigger Warnings, Survey Suggests Few Faculty Are Forced To Use Them

$

0

0

Apparently muggles have a little bit of magical power after all -- at least when it comes to understanding their own personality. According to a recent small study from Stetson University, the University of Washington, Tacoma, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and University of Florida, the fictional Harry Potter house we identify with may offer clues into our own character traits.

The Background
In Harry Potter, students who attend the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry are sorted into one of four houses. Gryffindor members are known for their bravery and heroism; those who belong to Hufflepuff are regarded as friendly and fair; Ravenclaw residents are touted as witty and intelligent; and kids sorted into Slytherin are understood to be ambitious and cunning.

After the series ended, author J.K. Rowling launched an interactive website called Pottermore, where fans could take their own personality test of sorts to see which house they would belong in if they attended the wizarding school. The study authors examined these questionnaires and Pottermore users' results to help inform their own research.

The Setup
Researchers examined the housing placements of 132 Harry Potter fans who already took the sorting quiz on Pottermore. They then compared them with the participants' scores on additional questionnaires, based on the Big Five personality measures (such as agreeableness and extroversion); "need for cognition," which refers to intellectual engagement, "need to belong," meaning social acceptance motivation; and the Dark Triad traits (narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism) to see if there was an association or link between the two results.

The Findings
The researchers found that for the most part, people's personality traits aligned with the stereotypes for each Harry Potter house. Those who identified as Hufflepuffs scored high in agreeableness, Ravenclaws had a positive association with a need for cognition, and Slytherins scored highest when it came to the Dark Triad personality constructs.

The only exceptions were those who identified with Gryffindor -- our beloved Harry's own house -- and a few in Hufflepuff. Researchers expected that those sorted into Gryffindor would rank higher in extroversion and openness and Hufflepuffs would score higher on "a need to belong" in the personality test, but the research found no correlation. The results will be published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences this fall.

The Takeaway
There are stipulations when it comes to measuring personality types given that they're so qualitative. Human behavior is so complex, it's rare for anyone to fall solely in one camp (as fans of the Harry Potter series will remember, Harry was almost sorted into Slytherin). But our character traits can still offer insight into how we interact with the world. Furthermore, the study researchers believe we can learn something about human nature through fiction.

"Our findings suggest that fiction can reflect real underlying personality dimensions," the authors wrote. In other words, what we read may influence how we view ourselves. Personally, we choose to see ourselves as Gryffindors -- or, really, as Hermione Granger, because she is the best:



We'll be expecting our Hogwarts acceptance letters any day now.

H/T The Atlantic




Follow Us On Pinterest
| Like Us On Facebook |
Follow Us On Twitter

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

The Hottest Baby Names of 2015... So Far

June 23, 2015, 11:59 am

≫ Next: 'Vampire Woman,' Other Ink Fanatics Swarm Expotattoo In Colombia

≪ Previous: What Your Preferred 'Harry Potter' House Says About Your Personality

$

0

0

By now we’ve all heard about which baby names were most popular last year, but what about the names that are attracting the most heat now and into the future?

Here is Nameberry's behind-the-scenes look at our 100 hottest baby names of 2015, the secret popularity list of the names gaining the most in views on the site. Our methodology: We looked at the number of times every name in our database was viewed for the first half of this year vs. the same period last year and, controlling for overall traffic increases, which names jumped the highest.

The hottest names of 2015 and beyond are a mix of fresh favorites and vintage choices enjoying new attention. Some of the names here are already-stylish: Everly and Owen, Ash to Zed.

But there are a lot of surprising choices among the Hot 100. That said, if you name your baby the still-unusual Tove or Meilani, Leif or Leon today, don’t be surprised to find it a lot more popular tomorrow.

Without further ado, here are Nameberry's Top 100 baby names of 2015... so far:

Girls

Adalyn
Ainsley
Alaia
Alessia
Alina
Alivia
Amoret
Asha
Augusta
Aveline
Bea
Betty
Brooke
Bryony
Camila
Eira
Eleanora
Ellen
Emerson
Estelle
Everly
Gaia
Indie
Ione
Isobel
Jocelyn
Judith
Kaia
Kalila
Liliana
Lucille
Marin
Marley
Meilani
Mireille
Norah
Orla
Paloma
Pandora
Peyton
Polly
Primrose
Remi
Ruth
Sasha
Tallulah
Teagan
Tove
Vanessa
Veronica

Boys

Adam
Amias
Angus
Arlo
Asa
Ash
Augustine
Austin
Booker
Brecken
Callen
Calvin
Cameron
Chase
Chester
Cohen
Cole
Colton
Cy
Easton
Ellis
Evan
Grey
Greyson
Harlan
Hudson
Ignatius
Jameson
Kellen
Killian
Kingston
Landry
Leif
Leon
Logan
Luca
Lucian
Marius
Marshall
Nathaniel
Osias
Owen
Pax
Paxton
Quade
Quentin
Reuben
Rhett
Warren
Zed



Like Us On Facebook |
Follow Us On Twitter |
Contact HuffPost Parents

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

'Vampire Woman,' Other Ink Fanatics Swarm Expotattoo In Colombia

June 23, 2015, 12:29 pm

≫ Next: Columbia Adds Toni Morrison, But Not Trigger Warnings, To Required Reading

≪ Previous: The Hottest Baby Names of 2015... So Far

$

0

0

At the Expotattoo in Colombia, you can see tattoos from head to toe, titanium horns, dental "fangs" and numerous facial piercings ... and that's just on one woman.

Maria Jose Cristerna, Mexico's famous "Vampire Woman," was just one of the many tattoo and body modification enthusiasts who descended on Medellin, Colombia, last weekend.

"My body transformation has been a part of taking my taste to the extreme," Cristerna told Agence France-Presse in 2012. "Life is short and sometimes we waste it on many things, so I've chosen beauty. And for me it's beautiful to be this way, so that's why I do it."

Other notable attendees included Victor and Gaby Peralta. In 2014, they set the Guinness World Record for most body modifications for a couple with 84 combined. That includes 50 piercings, eight microdermals, 14 body implants, five dental implants, four ear expanders, two ear bolts and one forked tongue, according to Guinness.

Take a look at what went down at the expo in the photos below (and a few more of the "Vampire Woman" from last year's event).

Some of the images may be disturbing to readers.







Like Us On Facebook |
Follow Us On Twitter |
Contact The Author

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Columbia Adds Toni Morrison, But Not Trigger Warnings, To Required Reading

June 23, 2015, 12:33 pm

≫ Next: 'Batman: Arkham Knight' May Be Game Of The Year -- But There's One Big Problem

≪ Previous: 'Vampire Woman,' Other Ink Fanatics Swarm Expotattoo In Colombia

$

0

0

An op-ed in an Ivy League school's student newspaper was enough to incite a national debate on trigger warnings for classic texts, but not enough to sway school policy.

Members of Columbia University's Multicultural Affairs Advisory Board, a student group that works with the school administration, described in April how a survivor of sexual assault was triggered by reading a scene depicting sexual violence in Ovid's "Metamorphoses." The narrative poem is part of the syllabus for Literature Humanities, a yearlong course that is supposed to introduce students to the foundational texts of modern civilization.

The concern with "triggering" material is that students who have been through traumatic experiences might read something in the required texts that brings up these past events, causing undue harm and anxiety.

The Spectator piece led to a storm of national debate from both the right and the left, calling out coddled students and, naturally, Fascism. Peggy Noonan, former speechwriter to Ronald Reagan, called the op-ed "a significant and growing form of idiocy" in the Wall Street Journal.

Despite the debate over the student opinion piece, there is no plan to eliminate triggering texts or mandate trigger warnings, Roosevelt Montás, the director of Columbia's Center for the Core Curriculum, told HuffPost. The syllabus for the Literature Humanities course was updated earlier this month, following a routine review, and Toni Morrison's "Song of Solomon," selections by female poet Sappho and John Milton's "Paradise Lost" were all added. The April op-ed said Morrison's work "should be valued as founding texts of the Western canon."

The decision to add Morrison was driven by a desire to add a more contemporary author to the end of the syllabus, and "Song of Solomon" was chosen by a faculty vote, Montás said. Sappho and Milton have previously been included in the curriculum.

Columbia's choice to go without trigger warnings is representative of a larger trend, according to an online, non-scientific survey of members of the College Art Association and the Modern Language Association. Out of the 808 higher education faculty members who responded, just .5 percent said their school had a policy on trigger warnings. On an individual level, 42 percent said they had never used a trigger warning in class, while 12 percent said they did so regularly. Nearly 90 percent of respondents said that they had never had a complaint about not using a trigger warning.

There are several reasons for Columbia's decision, Montás said, including the unpredictability of classroom discussions, a dedication to protecting academic freedom and the need to confront difficult issues.

Literature Humanities classes are discussion-based, meaning that what gets discussed "depends on the themes that a class picks up on and the personalities, interests and investments of each class," said Julie Crawford, current chair of Literature Humanities. Thus, professors can't always warn students that a class will talk about sexual violence or other forms of oppression.

It is also important to offer autonomy to the professors teaching the courses, who come from across departments, Montás said. Aside from the texts and general themes, these teachers are free to focus on whatever aspects of the readings they choose.

"We are very zealous of guarding academic freedom and intellectual freedom of expression of professors," Montás said. "So we are very careful not to appear to be acting in a role of thought police."

Professors do receive guidance and support. Some instructors are graduate students, and they have a required class themselves on teaching Literature Humanities. For all instructors, there is a weekly lecture by an expert on the upcoming text. There are also frequent opportunities for collaboration, including workshops, recommended conferences and online resources.

"If you deal with that material in a way that alienates a student or alienates any portion of the people you are teaching, then to that extent you have failed as a teacher," Montás said. "So we want to have the kinds of conversations that equip instructors to do the best job with those texts."

Both Montás and Crawford said that discussing the difficult content in these texts is vital. Crawford spoke to the therapeutic qualities of literature as well as the power to build empathy and understanding. After 9/11, she told her Literature Humanities students that they could skip the upcoming class, or come but use it to discuss what had happened in the city. But, "uniformly my students wanted to come and talk about the book."

"One of the goals of the class that I think is really crucial is empowering students to say no text is too close to them and no text is about them," Crawford said. "They are empowered by this experience to pick up any book from any time and make their way through it in meaningful and rigorous ways."

Moreover, Montás explained, to avoid sexual violence and marginalization is to miss out on key parts of the growth of civilization.

"I don't see any way that you can deal with the history of thought and politics and literature that we deal with without those issues being salient," Montás said.

If a student is worried about being potentially triggered, Montás said, he or she should speak with the instructor directly, especially since each class is individualized. If a student feels he or she cannot speak with the instructor, Montás encouraged the student to speak with someone else, like an academic adviser, counselor or himself.

"But we have to find ways to talk about the difficult issues," he said. "We cannot simply shut down when we encounter them."

Last year, freshmen students wrote a similar article about confronting the sexual violence included in many of the texts. This is also far from the first time students have criticized the heavily Western, heavily male curriculum. It has been an ongoing debate, with ebbs and flows, for decades.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

'Batman: Arkham Knight' May Be Game Of The Year -- But There's One Big Problem

June 23, 2015, 2:25 pm

≫ Next: Why This Mom Is Sharing Pictures Of Her Body After Breast Cancer Surgery

≪ Previous: Columbia Adds Toni Morrison, But Not Trigger Warnings, To Required Reading

$

0

0

Batman attempts to deactivate an exploding collar on Catwoman in "Arkham Knight."

Months after GamerGate first set video game culture ablaze with unbelievable resistance to the idea of feminist perspectives in the gaming industry, we have a new title that features some of the most compelling female characters in pop culture. "Batman: Arkham Knight," which came out Tuesday, spotlights Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Oracle and Harley Quinn in major roles. But while these women are often represented as strong, independent and able in other media, their featured roles here often tell a different story: They are damsels in distress.

Many, many people will play this game, if previous entries are any indication. The last main title in the series, which has a couple of spinoffs, sold over 5 million copies. And that aside, "Arkham Knight" is actually an exceptional game taken on its own merits: It is devoted to a cohesive aesthetic and narrative in a way few other games are, the set pieces are compelling and it's brimming with things to do. One moment you'll be studying the microscopic details of a crime scene, and five minutes later you're dodging drone fire in the middle of a populated city street. It all feels crunchy and good.

"Arkham Knight" will likely earn accolades as one of the standout titles of the year -- it already holds a 91 on Metacritic -- and that is precisely why its sins should not be ignored.

(Note: The text that follows contains some spoilers for the storyline in "Arkham Knight.")


Poison Ivy appears in "Arkham Knight" with a barely-there shirt and a mossy crotch.

It's really no big secret that gaming and tech are male-dominated industries, even if consumers are split basically down the middle in terms of gender. Plenty of people will play "Arkham Knight" and probably ignore its oftentimes troubling presentation of women -- perhaps that's simply because the game is exciting, and as soon as you settle into a moment, something explodes and you're off to something else.

But others will play the game and feel offended. Or disgusted. Or threatened. Or simply unwelcome. Even if those people were outnumbered 100 to 1 in a population of 5 million customers, it would be worthwhile to examine why and do better next time. Because here's the trouble with "Arkham Knight": It is a great game tarnished by its dreadful depictions of certain characters and situations.


Poison Ivy is held hostage in "Arkham Knight."

The baseline problem with "Arkham Knight" is that instead of taking opportunities to depict strong women, the game makes them weak. For the most part, the female characters suck.

When you first come upon Poison Ivy early in the story, she has a gun to her head. You rescue her, and then you lock her in the back of the Batmobile and drag her to police headquarters. Later in the game, Batman determines that Ivy can communicate with -- literally -- a big old tree that could counteract the effects of a chemical weapon that Scarecrow intends to detonate somewhere in Gotham City. So Batman hauls his way back to lockup and drags her back to the Batmobile like she's a petulant child. Poison Ivy is basically a power-up for the player to collect, like a mushroom in "Super Mario."

She is barely wearing clothes throughout the entire ordeal.


"Arkham Knight" recreates a troubling scene from "The Killing Joke" in which Barbara Gordon is shot and paralyzed by the Joker.

Catwoman, often portrayed as Batman's equal, fares no better. Like Ivy, her storyline begins in custody. Her outfit is unzipped enough to show a massive slice of cleavage. Why? Because Catwoman is "sexy" and it's apparently hard to portray sexiness without showing boob?

The Riddler has strapped her to a chair, and Batman is called to rescue her. You arrive on the scene and find that there's an entire ordeal required to free her: Riddler has fitted her with a choker that will explode unless you deactivate a number of locks. The gameplay sometimes has Batman and Catwoman working together -- you can switch between them at points -- but the pattern almost invariably requires Batman to complete some feat of cunning, force and reflexes while Catwoman bums around in a locked chamber. Her liberation is essentially a prize for you, the player.

Things are absolutely worst for Oracle, a hero in a wheelchair who assists Batman remotely. To detail her storyline would reveal much about the largest plot points in "Arkham Knight," but things do not go well for her. An incredibly problematic storyline from the comic books is retread in vivid detail: She is abducted and maimed and exists almost entirely in this context to stir angst in the featured male characters. Batman, Robin, Commissioner Gordon and Alfred fret over her like a baby missing from the crib.


Harley Quinn steps up.

These are not failures from a gameplay perspective. But they are artistic missteps, awful quirks that will make this game -- and perhaps all video games by extension -- seem incredibly stupid to any critical thinker who may have thought to give "Arkham Knight" a try.

This game does not exist in a vacuum. It arrives at a moment when women are still being shut out of the gaming and tech industries to the point where many are even looking for work elsewhere. It is bizarre that "Arkham Knight" both includes many women and diminishes them so plainly.

All of that said, there are some important caveats. First: Harley Quinn -- Joker's deranged on-again, off-again girlfriend -- is actually kind of cool this time around. Her character design in "Arkham City" (NSFW) was incredibly sexualized and seemingly intended purely for the male gaze. (For an interesting discussion of this very topic, listen to episode 58 of the lovely "Isometric" podcast.)

Here, Harley Quinn's decked out in a pretty serious tutu and barks orders at a bunch of armed dudes. She's more covered than not. The whole thing struck me as fairly whimsical and a step in the right direction, even if it's not a perfect representation.

And no one can argue that the comic book source material is free from cheesecake. There are, in fact, many comics featuring these characters that are several orders of magnitude more sexist than "Arkham Knight." Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn in particular are often exploited for sexy fluff, as this page from "Harley and Ivy #2" shows. It's by the great Paul Dini and Bruce Timm:



But there's a major difference between this comic and something like "Arkham Knight" -- something that maybe isn't so obvious. This Poison Ivy could be appealing to men and women alike. The entire miniseries is devoted to Harley and Ivy wreaking havoc on their own terms -- it's "sexy" more than "sexist." They actively and successfully strike back against the forces that oppress them. They aren't seeking the approval of men, and they certainly don't need a player to rescue them.

And not that we need an eye for an eye, but the two ladies also take a second to objectify some dudes in the third issue:



It's ostensibly fun for everyone. And that's what we could use a little more of in these games.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Why This Mom Is Sharing Pictures Of Her Body After Breast Cancer Surgery

June 23, 2015, 2:46 pm

≫ Next: James Cameron Cried The First Time He Heard James Horner's 'Titanic' Theme

≪ Previous: 'Batman: Arkham Knight' May Be Game Of The Year -- But There's One Big Problem

$

0

0

One courageous woman wants to spread awareness about breast cancer by sharing gorgeous images of her body after surgery.

(Some images below may be considered NSFW.)


Jennifer, a mother of two and breast cancer survivor, came across photographer Natalie McCain's The Honest Body Project, and wanted to participate. The project, which showcases intimate portraits of mothers' bodies alongside narratives about their lives, aims to empower mothers to feel good about their bodies and help instill body confidence in their children. Jennifer wanted to represent a specific group of moms -- those who are battling, or have survived, breast cancer.

"Cancer has been an amazing journey for me. My body and soul are forever changed. There are moments I wish I hadn’t had to endure, and yet, who would I be today without them? My boys, my husband, my friends, saw me through so much, were so strong, and held me up with so much love. I am well today. I live in THIS moment. With THIS amazing, resilient, gift of a body. I am no one without it, and I came so close to losing it. I respect this body for its abilities and I acknowledge its limitations. We’re good, this body and I. We’re good.”

Jennifer, who asked that her last name remain private, told The Huffington Post that the bravery of other women in the project encouraged her to share her own story and pictures.

"I started thinking about all of the different women being positively affected by the honesty of these perfect and real bodies," she said. "Every story, every photo felt like a step up for me, confidence and acceptance of myself exactly the way my life has rendered me."

“As I was processing the landscape of breast cancer treatment, researching, deciding, coming to realizations, the one thing that bound all of my decision making together? My boys. If one option was slightly more aggressive than another? I did it. I have to live to see them grow. It repeated itself over and over throughout my treatment. Mastectomy over lumpectomy. Radiation over no radiation. Total hysterectomy to starve the cancer of needed hormones? Done. All very personal decisions. Another woman might find complete peace with more moderate treatments. I utterly respect that. And the research supports her decisions. I just know myself. I couldn’t live with a single ounce of doubt. I did it all. And then some.”

Photographer McCain told HuffPost that Jennifer's photo shoot was an emotional, but ultimately rewarding process.

"I typically am not nervous during the sessions, but I had unfortunately just received the news that my mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer a few days before Jennifer's session," she said. "I was worried I would become emotional and have a hard time, but instead I found comfort through Jennifer's strength and bravery. Her story helped me to be optimistic and have hope... The love and beauty between her and her sons is something so natural and beautiful to photograph."

“I am so sorry to tell you this over the phone, are you sure you want me to do this?” The nurse asked. “Yes. Please. I think I already know.” I replied. “Your biopsy results are positive. You have Invasive Lobular Carcinoma and Invasive Mammary Carcinoma.” There it was. I had breast cancer.”

Jennifer wants her photographs to raise awareness about metastatic breast cancer. She also hopes that other cancer patients and survivors will be inspired to share their own stories after reading hers.

"I hope that women who are going through cancer will feel their beauty, and hold on tightly to joy in their lives, be that children, or friends or whatever makes them whole," Jennifer told HuffPost. "I hope that they will not despair in a body that has permanently changed, but embrace it, love its resilience, find peace with it."

See Jennifer's full story here, and support The Honest Body Project here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

---

James Cameron Cried The First Time He Heard James Horner's 'Titanic' Theme

June 23, 2015, 2:46 pm

≫ Next: Global African Artists Explore The Meaning Of Disguise In The 21st Century

≪ Previous: Why This Mom Is Sharing Pictures Of Her Body After Breast Cancer Surgery

$

0

0

Legendary film composer James Horner died in a plane crash on Monday, but he will always be remembered for his music.

Horner was best known for his two-time Oscar-winning score to James Cameron's "Titanic," as well as his scores to "Braveheart," "Apollo 13," "Avatar," "Field of Dreams" and "A Beautiful Mind." The 61-year-old, who has composed music for over 100 films, was also an avid pilot. The two-seater single-engine S312 Tucano he was flying on Monday crashed in Santa Barbara, California.

While many celebrities, collaborators and fellow musicians have remembered Horner on Twitter, Cameron paid tribute to the composer on The Hollywood Reporter's site on Tuesday. The "Titanic" director looked back on working with Horner on everything from the first project they both worked on, "Battle Beyond the Stars," up to "Avatar." Although the two got off to a rough start while working on "Aliens" together because of timing issues, the filmmaker said that he knew he had to work with Horner again on "Titanic," telling THR, "I thought, 'I don’t care what happened, I want to work with James.'"

Cameron remembered the first time he heard Horner's concept for the "Titanic" theme. "I drove over to his house," Cameron said of Horner, "and he sat at the piano and said, 'I see this as the main theme for the ship.' He played it once through and I was crying." When the director heard Horner play his idea for "Rose's Theme," he said he knew the musician had "cracked the heart and soul" of the movie.

The filmmaker told Entertainment Weekly that he cried during every song Horner played that day in his studio. "I said to him, 'You’ve done it,'" Cameron told EW. "He said, 'I haven’t done anything yet.' And I said, 'James, you’ve done it.'"

For the full tribute, head to The Hollywood Reporter.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Global African Artists Explore The Meaning Of Disguise In The 21st Century

June 24, 2015, 7:56 am

≫ Next: Why Jennifer Coolidge Steals Every Scene

≪ Previous: James Cameron Cried The First Time He Heard James Horner's 'Titanic' Theme

$

0

0

Europa, 2008, Nandipha Mntambo, Swazi, born 1982. Exhibition print 311/2 ×311/2 in. (80 ×80 cm). Photographic composite by Tony Meintjes. Loan from the artist and STEVENSON, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

The Western mythos around masks is familiar, unconcealed. Don a disguise, whether a helmet for a sports match or a costume for a masquerade, and be liberated, freed from a fixed identity and thrown into a space with limitless potential.

We often transfer a similar understanding onto the masks worn in African rituals, conjuring visions of supernatural transformations in which the self is abandoned under the cloak of disguise. However, this kind of interpretation requires the wearer of said disguise have a fixed identity to begin with, a stable place from which to depart. What happens when such foundations are complicated, and Western fantasies disturbed?

A group exhibition at the Seattle Museum of Art entitled "Disguise: Masks and Global African Art" aims to dismantle our concepts of identity and disguise, commissioning eight artists from Africa and of African descent to address the present and future language of masks, veils, cloaks and screens.


The Last Supper in Havana, 2009, Hasan and Husain Essop, South Africa, b. 1985, pigment print on cotton rag paper, 25 1/4 x 36 1/4 in., Josef Vascovitz and Lisa Goodman. © Hassan and Husain Essop, Photo courtesy of the artist and Goodman Gallery.

Masks of wood and fiber from the SAM collection are propped against contemporary facades incorporating video glitches, immersive environments, and virtual reality. Viewers are prompted to question: How do contemporary artists visualize the lasting human desire to hide from each other and ourselves? What role do such disguises play in understanding gender, race, origin and identity; hybridity, queerness, in-betweenness, becoming?

Pamela McClusky, who curated the exhibition along with Erika Dalya Massaquoi, was partially raised in West Africa, growing up around masquerades. "I always thought people didn't really understand them," she explained in an interview with The Huffington Post. "Museums tend to collect masks but not full masquerades. I always felt they didn't know what they're missing."

McClusky was also skeptical of the ways African masks were most commonly integrated into Western culture, via artists with little knowledge of their origins and purpose. "I also have a little bit of a vengeance streak against Picasso and that era where they put masks on naked bodies in works like 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.' It was an aberration to the African context they came out of."


Untitled, Egungun Series, 2011, Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou, Benin, b. 1965, digital exhibition print, 59 x 39 1/4 in., loan from the artist and Jack Bell Gallery, London. © Leonce Agbodjelou, Photo courtesy of Jack Bell Gallery, London.

Traditionally, African masks are made to be worn as part of masquerades, rites central to many (but not all) healing and problem-solving rituals. Many of such masks reside in the SAM, plucked from their former lives as performative vessels and plopped into the white walls of the museum, to be carefully examined but never touched. Visitors encounter these ritual objects, casting onto them a self-fashioned understanding of their original purpose. However, often these stories fail to encapsulate the true purpose of the masks, revealing more about viewer than work.

Additionally, the normally sterile and hegemonic setting of the museum space isn't the most compatible with the vibrant aura of the masks. "I think for a lot of people museums have an austere sensory diet that you go on when you walk in where you look at one thing at a time," McClusky said.

In response, the curator remixed the traditional museum setup, allowing past and present interpretations of disguise to reverberate off each other. While viewers walk through "Disguise," a soundtrack plays in the background, turning the galleries into immersive environments with plenty of play between African masks and their contemporary counterparts. "In one gallery, we set up four older masks and they're looking at screens of 21st-century masks that are adapted from their image, so it looks like the masks have been watching TV all day."

The artists on view each communicate a distinct worldview and relationship to the notion of disguise. Jacolby Satterwhite crafts virtual masquerades based on his mother's impossible inventions, while Walter Oltmann crafts ornate wire sculptures which catalyze metamorphosis. Each artist disrupts the standard narrative of a mask as a means of liberation or escape, instead questioning what additional factors contributed to this mythology as the conventional understanding of disguise.


Neo Primitivism 2, 2007–14, Brendan Fernandes, Kenya/Canada, b. 1979, 12 fiberglass animals, resin masks, dimensions variable, loan from the artist. © Brendan Fernandes, photo courtesy of the artist.

What happens when African authenticity mingles and merges with Western fantasy? And does such an authentic African identity even exist? This question is at the center of artist Brendan Fernandes' work. "I grew up in Kenya. My family moved to Canada, and now I live in the U.S., so I've always been negotiating this idea of identity," Fernandes explained to HuffPost. "People always ask, who are you, where are you from? And I'm from a lot of places. Identity is something that is constantly changing and in flux. We want them to be static, but they're always changing and moving. Because of that, I use the term 'authenticity' a little bit tongue-in-cheek."

For "Disguise’s Neo Primitivism 2," Fernandes unleashed a herd of 12 fiberglass deer, all donning identical white resin masks, throughout the gallery. "The masks were bought on Canal Street and cast into these plastic kids party masks," Fernandes said. "And then there are the fake deer, which are used in hunting to attract real deer. So we have two fake objects. The mask itself embodies the political attributes of a Kenyan nomadic male warrior, but in Kenyan tradition we don't wear masks. So somebody made this mask up and sold it as a souvenir in an African market on Canal St. These fake masks that have their own identity that's made up and created. How is that real? How is that authentic?"

And yet, together, the fake deer and the fake mask form a new creature, an original amalgamation of fakeness. "When you put the mask onto the deer, it takes away the decoy function of the deer. It becomes a hybrid. Hybridity is something I'm contemplating. The idea of becoming, queering, a transitional space."

Hybridity also serves as a central concept for artist Saya Woolfalk, whose multimedia works revolve around a mythical species called "The Empathics." The virtually crafted hybrid breed, part plant and part animal, are an impressionable bunch, to say the least. Woolfalk's species literally absorbs its cultural influences and physically mutates as a result. "The Empathics," much like many Americans, are constantly shifting, digesting and evolving in reaction to external influences.


Chimera from the Empathic Series,2013, Saya Woolfalk, American, b. 1979, still from single-channel video, 4:12 minutes, © Saya Woolfalk, photo courtesy Leslie Tonkonow, Artworks + Projects, NY

For Woolfalk, whose father is African American and white and whose mother is Japanese, masks aren't just disguises, they're body parts, launching pads. "My work has to do with the aspirational embodiment of something that we may or may not inhabit yet," Woolfalk explained. "The idea of masking isn't necessarily this sort of -- performing an identity."

"For this project, I thought a lot about ideas of diaspora. What is the diasporic notion of a performance? What does it mean to be a contemporary global citizen? How can an installation make someone feel the way a global citizen might feel if they weren't displaced, if they were actually located and welcomed?"

Woolfalk's video, somewhere between a children's science performance and a psychedelic drug trip, allows viewers to enter into this state of hybridization, eating up cultural stimuli and reflecting them accordingly. "When I talk about a global citizen, I'm not talking about the people who fly around from place to place. It's the idea that we're constantly changing, responding to the influx of the people that we encounter on a day-to-day basis. I mean people who are constantly changing responsibly to the myriad people of cultures around the world."


Muses series, 2015, William Villalongo, American, b. 1975, 7 paper collages in plexiglass vitrines, 23 1/2 x 18 in., Courtesy of the artist and Susan Inglett Gallery, New York. © William Villalongo, Photo courtesy of the artist and Susan Inglett Gallery, New York.


"Disguise is a common phenomenon that we all share," McClusky said. "But artists are showing us ways to work with that within in a multitude of media, and are able to give us suggestions of ways to rework that side of our lives." The simple trope of mask as escape doesn't quite hold up to the 21st-century notions of identity and origin. The artists of "Disguise" reveal other ways to hide, to play, to shape-shift, to pretend, to erase: all without showing your face.

The exhibition runs until Sept. 7, 2015, at the Seattle Art Museum, and then will travel to the Fowler Museum at UCLA from Oct. 18, 2015, to March 13, 2016, and to the Brooklyn Museum from April 22 to September 11, 2016.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Why Jennifer Coolidge Steals Every Scene

June 24, 2015, 8:53 am

≫ Next: J.K. Rowling Reveals More Insight Into 'Harry Potter' Backstory On Pottermore

≪ Previous: Global African Artists Explore The Meaning Of Disguise In The 21st Century

$

0

0

"I'm so vain, all I could think was I should have stopped at 'American Pie,'" said Jennifer Coolidge, after watching a clip reel of highlights from her career. (Her role as Stifler's sexy mom popularized the term MILF in common parlance.) "I didn't need to be all those other fat-faced ladies."

It's as a versatile, scene-stealing character actor, though -- the shy beautician in"Legally Blonde," a gold-digger in "Best in Show" -- that Coolidge earned the Faith Hubley Career Achievement Award at the 17th annual Provincetown International Film Festival.

On hiatus from "2 Broke Girls," Coolidge will lend her comedic talents to playwright Marisa Smith's "Saving Kitty," currently in rehearsals. Performances will begin July 9 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She flew across Cape Cod Bay and spent an afternoon at Provincetown's Land's End Inn, where she sat down with The Huffington Post to look back on her brilliant career:

It's a beautiful day to be in Provincetown, drinking a glass of rosé, don't you think?
I couldn't agree more. I came in on Cape Air, and there was this really handsome pilot. I was in the seat behind him and you can literally touch the pilot. I thought about giving him a neck massage. It's just so intimate in there. Also, he had a little bobblehead dinosaur on the dash, which I just thought was so charming.

Those are some small planes. Does that make you nervous?
Not really, but they ask you your weight before you get on. And I'm thinking, could my lie take everyone down? Could I possibly bring us into the sea because I lied about 20 pounds?

You know, you're very quotable -- on and off screen. My friend Trish's Tinder profile, all it says is "We both love soup." She gets a great response.
Maybe that should be my Tinder. I'd love to be dating someone. But how do I do that? They say you can't really use these apps and things as an actress. It's really hard for me to meet someone. I don't want to date actors. Been there done that. Only one actor per household, please.



Are there any Christopher Guest projects in the works that you might be involved in?
Well, I did these PetSmart commercials with him in January and he said he was going to do something this summer. And I thought, I hope I don't have anything going on this summer! But you know that's about as good as it gets, working with Christopher.

He really likes women and gives them great parts. Think about the roles he's had for women like Catherine O'Hara and Jane Lynch. It's hard to find guys that really like girls. He thinks women are funny, you know? I so very much hope I get to work with him again.

Not that I'm complaining, but you don't take a lot of serious roles. Any reason?
I can't get the serious roles. People don't see me that way. I was in a taxicab one time in New York City and the driver scolded me the entire ride. I had this amazing role in "Bad Lieutenant," with Nicholas Cage, directed by Werner Herzog, and I played a sort of drug addict. And that taxicab driver: "You're supposed to be a funny lady. I don't want to see you like that!"

You were a pretty funny lady as a pageant mom on a recent episode of "Inside Amy Schumer."
It was so much fun to work with her, as you can imagine. I just saw Amy in New Orleans. We're both obsessed with that city. I went to see her do standup and it was by far one of the best shows I've seen in my life. It was this mind-blowing show. I was like, "That is how it's done." It was smart and she says the kind of things that girls don't dare to say. This stunning, modelesque woman -- a New Orleans supermodel, I don't know where she came from -- was there alone sitting near me and she just laughed and laughed. It's a great compliment when the beautiful ones laugh.



Your first television appearance was in 1993 alongside another comedian, as a masseuse on "Seinfeld." I once told my third-grade teacher that it was my favorite TV show and she called my mother to tell her that it's not appropriate for someone my age. My mom told her, "Mind your own beeswax."
Good for her. You have a cool mom. [Laughs] You know, that show really legitimized my career. Even for my own mother, who was dying of cancer at the time, who said, "You know, you might not be a loser after all." It was such a big deal at the time. I think it was my big break.



You got to be Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriend.
And then people who would never have let me in the door thought, "Oh, Jerry let her in."

Not a bad guy to open the door for you.
Yeah, thank you, Jerry. ... And I've never seen him since. [Laughs]

Call him up! Tell him you want to get a coffee and drive around. You'd be perfect for that.
I would, wouldn't I? ... Do you have his number?

This interview has been edited and condensed.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

J.K. Rowling Reveals More Insight Into 'Harry Potter' Backstory On Pottermore

June 24, 2015, 9:11 am

≫ Next: These Emojis Nail Those Feelings You Can't Put Into Words

≪ Previous: Why Jennifer Coolidge Steals Every Scene

$

0

0

Even after seven books, there's just so much we don't know about pretty much everyone in J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series.

But on Tuesday, the author gave fans a bit more insight into the backstories of the book's most-loathed, and yet most-intriguing, characters.

Writing on her website Pottermore, Rowling finally revealed to fans why Harry's Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia Dursley were so cruel to him. While in the books, the Dursleys are only said to hate magic and resent Harry's mother, now we know the real backstory behind the people at 4 Privet Drive.

Rowling writes that during their last year at Hogwarts, Harry's mother Lily and her boyfriend (and future husband) James Potter, were invited by her sister Petunia to meet her fiancé Vernon Dursley, only the meeting didn't go very well.

"Vernon tried to patronize James, asking what car he drove. James described his racing broom," Rowling writes.

She continues, "Vernon supposed out loud that wizards had to live on unemployment benefit. James explained about Gringotts, and the fortune his parents had saved there, in solid gold."

Rowling writes that Vernon grew angry when he couldn't tell if he was being made fun of, and the evening ended with him and Petunia storming out of the restaurant, while Lily burst into tears.

When Petunia and Vernon got married, she refused to let Lily be a member of her bridal party, and Vernon wouldn't even speak to James. And while they stopped speaking entirely after the wedding, they begrudgingly took Harry in after his parents died. Rowling writes that Harry's close resemblance to his father is to blame for his uncle's behavior toward him (just like Snape).

Well, that's a much more grounded and realistic explanation than this fan theory that suggested they could have been totally nice people and that their cruelty was a result of prolonged exposure to a part of Voldemort’s soul living inside Harry.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

These Emojis Nail Those Feelings You Can't Put Into Words

June 24, 2015, 9:26 am

≫ Next: Own Andy Warhol's Storied Hamptons Estate For $85 Million -- Anyone?

≪ Previous: J.K. Rowling Reveals More Insight Into 'Harry Potter' Backstory On Pottermore

$

0

0

If a picture is worth a thousand words, an emoji is worth five thousand. That's because emojis are meant to replace language! But sometimes, a smile or a smirk just won't cut it. That's where illustrator Chris Gerringer comes in.

Gerringer, whose work can be found on his Tumblr Paper Beats Scissors, created the emojis that can help you express your true feelings -- feelings like "remembering the work you put off all week" and "holding in a fart."

"I came up with idea just thinking about what it would look like if they had the sort of emojis I would need on a regular basis -- something that would maybe reflect more of the ridiculous/mundane things I spend a lot of time doing," Gerringer told The Huffington Post in an email.

Now if only Apple would give these emojis the green light, we'd finally be able to express ourselves fully.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.