her real world

James Nachtwey’s Wish

James Nachtwey, one of the world’s greatest photojournalists and winner of the 2007 TEDPrize, received “one wish to change the world”:

“I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about.  I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”

Nachtwey’s website is filled with images of places one can barely believe are on earth. It’s hard to look at them and not feel guilty about laying in a king-sized bed in a huge apartment in downtown Ottawa, typing on a 17″ laptop while eating a sesame ball filled with red bean paste.

I’ve never really put to words why I feel so strongly about photography, but Nachtwey does:

“I have been a witness, and these pictures are

my testimony. The events I have recorded should

not be forgotten and must not be repeated.”

A picture is worth a thousand words is so corny and overused, but it’s true.  I am much more compelled by a photograph than I am by text, and a photograph can be understood by just about everyone.

So please, watch the video and wait for October 3, 2008.

Whew, I’m a girl

I’m a sucker for quizzes, especially ones that are so easy to poke holes in and make fun of. I won’t even go into specific issues, just note that I groaned with dismay numerous times throughout the quiz.

For instance, I didn’t answer the one about the authors because I didn’t know who the “male” one was, and I seriously wasn’t gonna put Jane Austen.  And it turns out that it’s that question that put me on the threshold of being in touch with my inner animus and being in the middle.

My result:

0-6 Women: You are in touch with your inner animus – you defy gender stereotypes and plough your own furrow. This does not necessarily mean you’re a tomboy or a ladette, just a girl who dares to be different.

Gimme a beer any day!

Via Maclean’s (shhh! I read the blogs.)

Questionnaire: Are you gender typical? (Scoring)

Monday, 22 September 2008

Of course the differences between the sexes are interesting (and sexy). But think for a moment about a beautiful Bangkok ladyboy compared to a 19-stone rugby prop forward. Or contrast a female shot-putter with that skeletal girl on the catwalk. The differences within each sex are equally interesting.

Some Greek philosophers and Carl Gustav Jung believed that every psyche contained both male and female components in varying proportions. Recent evidence supports the idea of psychological gender as a spectrum, and that your place on the spectrum is not necessarily related to your genetic or physical gender. So, forgetting your outer biology and chromosomes for a moment, where do you belong on the behavioural chart? Even if we use oversimplified categories from popular science, are you more a Man from Venus or less a Woman from Mars? Tick either A or B to indicate which of the following most closely reflects your preference:

more »

Birthday Beholder Cookies

While trying to think of a way to make a belated birthday gift of baked goods for my DM (dungeon master, yes I’m a dork) special (happy belated birthday again J.!), I was inspired/challenged to try to make beholder sugar cookies.  We were having a “minis night” (which is when we get together and play D&D minis (yes, I’m a dork…get over it!), and I presented seven of these puppies to him as an alternate warband.  We ended up eating a few instead, and he took a few home to his gorgeous little family (hello E., S., and R.!)

So I made beholder sugar cookies.  It was my first time with royal icing, and the things I learned were as follows:

1. You don’t want the icing to be too thick, or you’ll break your icing bag squeezing it out.  I did this, which is why my beholders lack tentacles.  The eyeballs were supposed to have wiggly bits that attached them to the head, but as I was making the last of the pupils the bag exploded so I had to improvise.
2. You cannot rush royal icing.  I didn’t realize how time consuming it would be, and rushed a bit.  Thankfully the people who would eventually enjoy these cookies know that I’m rarely early, and so my little bit lateness was only really noticed when we weren’t able to wrap up until 2:30 am.
3. Royal icing does not like humidity.  And of course, Friday night was rainy and hot.  So the icing never really dried well.

Overall, it was a great experience.  I had to try two different recipes, as Alton Brown’s sugar cookie recipe created a disaster.  Notice how the pictures that accompany his recipe show floury looking cookies?  Once I baked up the first batch I immediatly noticed that they were too hard/tough/floury to be enjoyable cookies.  I immediately threw them out and went with what I should have gone with first, the self professed Best Rolled Sugar Cookies.  However, I did use Alton’s Royal Icing recipe, which turned out well for the most part.  Next time I will know what consistancy to go for, and won’t add too much icing sugar.

I can’t wait for the next sugar cookie challenge!  I think I might want a rematch sometime on the beholders….

more »