Fixing Up Split Headphone Wires with Yarn!

Oh oh I actually came up with the solution to this problem all on my own and I am DELIGHTED at how well it worked!

So I tend to be rather hard on my headphones and as a result, I don’t spend much money on them. I had a cheapo pair currently that work fine, however, the connection between the two wires leading up to the headphones split, so they were constantly getting tangled. It was driving me pretty crazy.

I’m simultaneously learning to crochet and have a lot of yarn around, which gave me an idea. What if I just added some yarn into the wires and then braided the three pieces (two wires, one yarn piece) together? That would combine them all again and reduce the tangling!

It honestly worked better than even I could have anticipated! And it made my headphones look really unique and fun. I’m really happy with the result.

Here’s how I did it!

1. There was one tiny clasp still holding the two split wires in the headphones together. I cut that off with some scissors, as I’m about to render it useless!

2. I took some yarn and tied it securely to the base of the headphones using a few knots.

3. I measured out the yarn against the headphones and cut it to the length of the entire cord. This will actually be too long, but it’s easier to trim it later than add more length if you cut it too short.

4. I channeled my elementary school self and braided the wires together with the yarn! (making friendship bracelets was the cool thing on my school bus! I carried around the cutest little Cat in the Hat bag full of embroidery thread and safety pins to pin the braid to the back of the seats while I was working on it. Ahhh nostalgia.) I held the end of the braid with my chin, but you could also clip it or hold it down with some heavy books if you like.

5. When I was almost done, I tried on the headphones to ensure I had enough length of two split wires for my head and neck, then tied off the braid below that spot.

And there you go! It’s been working perfectly since I braided it. :)

#ShakespearesPlaylist: The Taming of the Shrew

This is part of the #ShakespearesPlaylist series! You can read all of those posts here!

So I LOVE finding songs to fit the mood of #Shakespeare plays. Basically every time I hear a song I love on the radio, I think about how I could fit it into a production. I can’t help it. My brain just does that, which is funny, because I’ve only directed one production (my own one-act) and questioned myself and my abilities the entire time, so I don’t necessarily see myself directing anything else any time soon, but I just like to dream about the music anyway.

The Globe Theater cast of The Taming of the Shrew from 2013 - photo from https://thehoneycombers.com/singapore/the-taming-of-the-shrew/

I’ve decided to play with this habit of mine more and make full-fledged Spotify and Youtube playlists for each play by Shakespeare, under the umbrella name and hashtag #ShakespearesPlaylist .

Quick Wikipedia summary: The Taming of the Shrew depicts the courtship of Petruchio and Katherina, the headstrong, obdurate “shrew” in the title. Initially, Katherina is an unwilling participant in the relationship; however, Petruchio "tames" her with various psychological torments, such as keeping her from eating and drinking, until she becomes a desirable, compliant, and obedient bride. The subplot features a competition between the suitors of Katherina's younger sister, Bianca. who is seen as the "ideal" woman. The question of whether the play is misogynistic or not has become the subject of considerable controversy, particularly among modern scholars, audiences, and readers.

I chose Florence + The Machine’s Kiss with a Fist to represent the domestic abuse prevalent in Taming of the Shrew. This is the part of the play that makes everyone uncomfortable, but it’s such an integral part to the plot that you really can’t remove it or gloss over it without changing the story completely. This is one of those problem plays that I think needs to be done carefully and respectfully, with a lot of conversation and care. Sure, perform it, but make sure to discuss the problematic aspects of it in your program or in a post-show discussion.

Husband John and I saw a version of it at The Globe in London in 2013 that featured an all-female cast; that choice retained the original story while portraying it in an explicitly feminist way that helped me see it in a really different way. It was very affecting. Because of those problematic aspects though, I personally have never been involved in a production of it nor have I seen many productions of it. One study (reported on Priceonomics) found that it was the fifth most popular Shakespeare play (in terms of professional performances by major theater companies between 2011-2015; this kind of surprises me? It is quite possible though that I’ve just happened to live in areas where it’s just not commonly performed. Plus, I mostly work with and am around community theater productions, and they seem to be slightly less willing to put on controversial plays (just my observation, not sure why).

I should note- Kiss with a Fist is not actually about domestic violence. Florence Welch explained the meaning of the song on her blog: “It is about two people pushing each other to psychological extremes because they are fighting but they still love each other. The song is not about one person being attacked, or any actual physical violence, there are no victims in this song. Sometimes the love two people have for each other is a destructive force. But they can't have it any other way, because it's what holds them together, they enjoy the drama and pushing each other's buttons. The only way to express these extreme emotions is with extreme imagery, all of which is fantasism and nothing in the song is based on reality. Leona Lewis's ‘Bleeding Love’ isn't actually about her bleeding and this song isn't actually about punching someone in the mouth." (I grabbed this explanation off Wikipedia)

Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation is a bit of an obvious choice for representing a woman who refuses to conform to society’s expectations of her, but I love this song and had to include it anyway.

Yeah, that’s a really short explanation of that, but I really can’t think of anything else to say. Joan Jett is awesome.

Etta James’ It’s a Man’s Man’s World addresses the gender dynamics of the play, as ultimately Katherina has little choice when it comes to her husband. Although Katherina does ultimately “agree” to marry Petruchio when he shows himself willing to counter her sharp wit, she has no ability to stop the ceremony when Petruchio hits the priest and drinks the communion wine and is completely helpless when Petruchio abuses her by withholding food and gaslighting her until she does his bidding. He shows off her “tame” self at the end to the other men. The setting of this play truly is “a man’s world” and Katherina is trapped in it.

Finally, since these songs have mostly been pretty dark, I’m ending on a lighter note with Letters to Cleo’s I Want You to Want Me. This cover was prominently featured on the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack. 10 Things is a loose adaptation of Taming of the Shrew and also coincidentally is one of my favorite romantic comedies of all time, probably because it came out in 1999 when I was 11 and thus was one of the first modern romantic comedies I ever actually watched.

The Best Long-Lasting Lipsticks: If You Love the Look but Hate Reapplying

So some friends asked me for long lasting lipstick recommendations and I'm happy to oblige! These lipsticks work well for anyone who loves makeup but hates spending more than a few minutes applying it.

Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink Liquid Lipstick, Lover, 0.17 fl. oz.

Maybelline

So currently, I telework full time from home and don’t even put on makeup most days. I just use my basic skin routine of cleanser, toner, acne products, moisturizer, and Vaseline petroleum jelly at night (on my forehead and lips) - I really keep it super simple. And my skin generally looks great as a result! So when I /do/ leave the house, I generally just put on some lipstick and peach blush, perhaps a little concealer if I’ve been stressed out lately. If I’m feeling ambitious, I’ll put on some eye shadow and mascara, maybe eye liner. But I definitely have more lipstick than any other product and wear it most often!

I /only/ wear long-wear lipstick because I despise smudgy lipstick and leaving lipstains on glasses. I’ve honestly tried using fancier lipsticks before; I’ve prepped my lips with a sugar scrub and used a lip primer and lip liner and blotted three times and used a setting powder. It never works for me! And it’s way more work than it’s worth for the final result. So now I just stick to the long-lasting lipstick I know and love.

Two tips on long-lasting lipstick:

1. Use Vaseline petroleum on your lips at night to keep them moist and happy. These products can often be drying. Vaseline can also help remove the lipstick!

2. The secret trick to keeping lipstick off your teeth- After you apply, just put your thumb in your mouth, close your lips around it, and then pull it out. You have to wipe your lipstick off your thumb then, which is annoying, but I’ve literally never found anything else which works better.

So my most commonly worn lipstick brand these days is Maybelline SuperStay Matte Ink (pictured). The colors shown here are: Pioneer, Heroine, Artist, Romantic, Explorer, Philosopher, and Protector.

I love this brand! It runs under $10 and comes in a lot of different colors - from classic or bold, to neutral or more out there shades. I should have even more than are pictured here, I just can’t find one or two of them right now, as I usually always have one in my purse when I’m out and about.

I have gone to dentist appointments wearing these shades before and they don’t budge; my dental hygienist has actually asked me what brand it was. They’re great! And you can also mix them together for an in-between shade if you’re careful - I apply the shades directly over each other on my lips and then rub it together to mix it and cover all the lines. I of course use a cloth to sharpen all my edges.

In addition, this brand has a great applicator that has a sharper edge than most do; i find it easier for making a sharp line. It also smells AMAZING. I think they put vanilla in the formula or something.

I also recently tried out the Maybelle Super Stay Ink Crayon Lipstick but honestly, I wasn’t impressed. It didn’t last nearly as long as the regular formula.

This pic shows my favorite lipsticks and most commonly worn AFTER my Maybelline:

First: my Rimmel Provocalips (upper left corner). These colors from left to right are Play with Fire, Heart Breaker, Kiss Fatal, Little Mink, and Dare to Pink.

Next going counter clockwise: the shorter purple lipstick is Maybelline 14 hr in Wine and Forever (my darkest lipstick!); then two Maybelline Superstay 24 Colors - All Day Cherry and Timeless Toffee.

Upper right: CoverGirl Outlast All Day Two Step Lipcolor in Eternal Flame.

Bottom Right: Lipsense by Senegence long lasting liquid lip color in B. Ruby with Glossy gloss.

Next to that on the left is Revlon Colorstay Ultimate in Buffest Beige (my go to nude lip color). I use this one if I’m wearing stage makeup and playing a dude.

Next to that: Revlon Colorstay in Unlimited Mulberry and Forever Scarlet.

Finally, bottom left is Kat Von D everlasting liquid lipstick in Backstage Bambi.

I would recommend all these brands with different levels of caution; all of them will last longer than your standard cream lipstick. Almost all of these can be bought at a drugstore or Target and honestly those tend to work best for me (I think my lips just adhere better to cheaper brands?). The Kat Von D is the most expensive by far; this shade lasts maybe half a day for me, but I've been told that this particular color is the hardest to work with from that line so I'm hoping to try another shade in the future to get a better idea of its quality.

The Lipsense is very different from the rest; it dries very quickly and requires lots of thin layers and a gloss to work. It's a bit tricky but I've found with regular lip scrubs that it withstands most of the day. It can only be bought from independent sellers and not from retail stores; if you're interested in it I can give you my contact. :)

As always, let me know if you have any questions! I'm happy to help!

Easy No Heat Hair Styling For Fine-Haired Girls

Half dry hair in low buns at top, lower left shows the hair immediately after several hours drying in the low buns. lower right shows the final look after it’s all dried post-makeup.

Since I bleach my hair before i dye it all the colors of the wind, I try to really baby it at other times.

I rarely use heat styling on my hair- maybe once a month I’ll use a curling iron and a blowdryer maybe once every two months. But my hair tends to lie rather flat if I don’t do /anything/ with it, so I use a lot of no heat styling tricks. Usually, I just style it by waiting until it’s half dry after a shower, and then putting it into one of a few hair styles so it can gain some shape and texture as it dries the rest of the way. This doesn’t work on everyone, but if you have naturally straight hair with a similar medium-fine hair diameter like I do, it works great! (If you’re not certain what type of hair you have, this article on Headcurve can be really helpful! I have a 1b hair type, meaning it’s fine and generally straight, but not so fine that you would see a lot of scalp showing through.)

My current favorite no heat style is two low buns in the back. I specifically also twist the hair as I’m putting it into the bun. I then either sleep on it or chill for a few hours while I’m working.

Once I take it out- voila! Fun curls and texture. As you can see in the picture, it’s still just a little damp when I take it out, so I finger comb it and zhush it a little. By the time I’m done with my makeup, it’s all dry and looks great! It’s really simple and I quite like it. :)

I personally don’t tend to use a lot of product on my hair unless it’s absolutely necessary. I don’t even usually use frizz free serum on my hair, as it can look greasy really quickly. I’ll often just put a little lotion on my hands at the end of my prep, rub it in, and any small amount that’s left, i’l just lightly finger comb through my hair - ends first, than just a very light hand on my roots.

#ShakespearesPlaylist: Comedy of Errors

This is part of the #ShakespearesPlaylist series! You can read all of those posts here!

So I LOVE finding songs to fit the mood of #Shakespeare plays. Basically every time I hear a song I love on the radio, I think about how I could fit it into a production. I can’t help it. My brain just does that, which is funny, because I’ve only directed one production (my own one-act) and questioned myself and my abilities the entire time, so I don’t necessarily see myself directing anything else any time soon, but I just like to dream about the music anyway.

I’ve decided to play with this habit of mine more and make full-fledged Spotify and Youtube playlists for each play by Shakespeare, under the umbrella name and hashtag #ShakespearesPlaylist .

Quick Summary of the Play from Wikipedia: “Set in the Greek city of Ephesus, The Comedy of Errors tells the story of two sets of identical twins who were accidentally separated at birth. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus. When the Syracusans encounter the friends and families of their twins, a series of wild mishaps based on mistaken identities lead to wrongful beatings, a near-seduction, the arrest of Antipholus of Ephesus, and false accusations of infidelity, theft, madness, and demonic possession.”

I actually acted in a minor role in Comedy of Errors earlier this year! It’s an extremely silly play, and probably one of my least favorites, but the director and assistant director had a really fun vision for it that included lots of slapstick and physical comedy, plus a prominently featured rubber chicken. I got to wear a lovely costume and a ridiculous mustache and got to do some really fun comedic acting just reacting to the shenanigans aroudn me! Here’s a publicity pic of me for it (pre-mustache):

Plus I just got to work with the best people. Here are a couple of us in a ridiculous cuddle pile on the floor backstage, lol.

ANYWAY, when I think of this play, I tend to think of exceptionally ridiculous songs or songs about “double vision” or confusion. So I’m putting in Yakety Sax, the classic slapstick song, Double Vision by Foreigner to refer to the Twins/mistaken identity plot, and One Week by BareNaked Ladies to evoke the shenanigans feel of the whole play. I’m also throwing in Crazy by Gnarls Barkley (a cool slowed down version!) in here to refer to every character’s mutual feeling of “What is going on here? Am I going mad?” by the end of the show".

What songs would you add to this list? You can suggest them here or on Twitter at #ShakespearesPlaylist :D

A Diet App for Children? Are you Friggin Kidding me?

I just found out that the Kurbo by WW app exists from this Atlantic article (which has a great overview of the app and the issues with it) and I'm slightly horrified. It’s aimed at children 8-17. Apparently you need to sign up /with/ a parent if you’re 13, but in my experience, age restrictions on tech like that are super easy to get around. And even if a parent DOES sign you up, are they realistically going to be there with the kid at every moment supervising them on the app?

The basic idea behind the app (putting foods in green, yellow, and red categories based on nutritional value and encouraging users to eat yellow and red in moderation) isn't /terrible/ but marketing it to children as opposed to parents is pretty...awful. And to kids as young as *8*? Are you friggin kidding me? I've used the WW program before and found it pretty positive and helpful (with just a lot of caveats in there about my own depression and ADHD issues which sticking to any healthy diet long term difficult), but I'm pretty appalled they're doing this. I could /maybe/ see the idea behind marketing it to teenagers 15 and up with their own access to money, but from just a basic administration issue, the vast majority of kids don't buy or prepare their own food?

Plus this whole thing just seems really problematic and trigeringg. Even WITHOUT the 24/7 news cycle and social media of today, I remember being unhappy with my size and my weight starting at least back to age 9. I clearly remember the first time I looked at a picture of myself and hated the way I looked (it was from summer camp, I was sitting on a horse and wearing black shorts and a colorful shirt and I thought my legs looked "huge"). I am much happier and more confident with myself, my life, and my appearance than I ever was as a child, but I STILL fight disordered eating habits all the time. Aiming a weight loss app at a child is just one of the worst things I can imagine. Let. Them. Be. Children. And don’t give them a friggin complex over their appearance at an age that’s so difficult already.

Emerging Writers Festival Unpacking: Keynote, Fiction Intensive, and Against the Algorithm

So going over all my notes from the Emerging Writers Festival is helping me recap everything I learned and make sure I put it into practice in my own writing life and practice. In addition, I’m hopeful this might be helpful for others who weren’t able to attend some of the sessions, for whatever reason.

So here are some tidbits and wisdom from the first few sessions I attended at the festival!

Catherine Chung and Tayla Bruney

The Keynote with Catherine Chung. She talked about her second novel, The Tenth Muse, with moderator Tayla Burney (a journalist and book reviewer for the Washington Post. She also writes a weekly email newsletter of author events and literary happenings around DC called Get Lit DC; you can subscribe to that here).

• Cathy said that she had to rewrite her novel several times. “I had to let my narrator have this amazing life. I found sometimes I was the oppressive societal force holding my protagonist back.”

• She said that she’s had writing retreat experiences where they just feed and house you and you just write all day. “It’s the most quixotic, ecstatic writing experience where you never have to leave the world you’re writing in. It ruins you for life.”

• At one point, the company she worked for actually did a Christmas skit making fun of her ambition to be a writer. [Isn’t that SO SCREWED UP, seriously??]

• “Writing rules are silly.” One professor claimed that if you don’t write every day you’re not a writer, but she said that while she was researching for her second novel, there were maybe years where she went without writing. She’s clearly still a writer.

• For her first novel, she wrote all the time and threw out at least 1,000 pages as part of her process. It seemed like she was just accumulating pages and then throwing them away. But eventually it all came together and she figured out the structure. Her second novel was more structured from the beginning and was a different beast entirely.

• A friend gave her a headsup before her novel came out: “Every writer gets depressed when their book gets published,” regardless of how well it does in the world or anything. Because you’re going from living entirely in your head to releasing it and waiting to hear what people think of it. Waiting is a terrible feeling. So ahead of her second novel’s release, Cathy decided just not to care.

• She named the protagonist of her second novel Katherine as a joke, since so many people thought her first novel was an autobiography. However, it kind of backfired because many people still thought her second novel’s protagonist was autobiographical. At one point her wikipedia said that she was a 74-year-old woman; she was kind of sad when it got corrected.

From novelist Catherine Chung’s Fiction Intensive Workshop:

• Cathy talked a bit about how she found it really interesting to see what people believe and what they don’t believe, as all of fiction is about making things up that people go along with. Sometimes we’re willing to believe the most ridiculous things, and in the current political climate, there’s a constant debate about what is true and false. What determines the stories we believe? What determines the stories we tell and are allowed to tell? (I believe most of the statements in this paragraph are actual quotations from her, but I didn’t notate it well enough in my notes to know for sure, so I’m paraphrasing a bit.)

• “When you figure out the technical parts of a story, everything else falls into place” – who is the narrator, the audience, what is the shape of the audience.

• She had us do an exercise where we wrote a letter to someone close to you in which you told them something you’ve never told before. As Cathy said, this premise sets up the central tension of a story from the very beginning. “There’s a reason you haven’t told them this thing before, and there’s a reason you’re telling them now. There’s a potential of how it will change everything.” When there’s an audience member for a story that’s very specific, it puts the tension of the story at the forefront. She pointed out that we don’t usually think about the fact that the speaker in a story is different from the author, and the intended audience and the actual audience are not always the same. Once she started thinking about this, it helped her unlock some things she’d been working on for her first novel.

• Cathy said her first and only college writing professor said you have to be absolutely subjective about everyone you write. You have to be able to see it from their side, no matter how horrible they are. But you also have to be absolutely objective about yourself.

Against the Algorithm Panel with Lupita Aquino (co-founder and co-moderator of the LIT on H St Book Club at Solid State Books, instagram book reviewer), Amanda Nelson (executive editor of Book Riot), and Kendra Winchester (co-founder of the Reading Women podcast). My notes from this were scribbled into a tiny notebook I bought last minute at Old Town Books while my laptop was charging, so they may not be as detailed or as…in complete sentences as other notes. :)

Panelists gave some great advice about the dos and don’ts of author marketing:

• Lupita - Engage with people before asking them for a favor or a review. And pay attention to what types of books people are into.

• Kendra - She suggests engaging in Middle Reader Thursday or other events designed to bring attention to your books. There are lots of hashtags and discussions out there particular to specific genres. You can even reach specific agents this way sometimes. She also suggests you experiment with your marketing; don’t be afraid to be imperfect.

• Amanda - Be a community member before you start asking for stuff. Find book writers that write about your genre and reach out to them directly. Writers LOVE to hear from authors.

I basically didn’t take any photos on the Saturday of the writing festival at all except this one.

• Regarding diversity in publishing and books:

  • Amanda - publishing as an industry is overwhelmingly white women at lower levels and white men at the higher levels. The inherent structure is racist and sexist. Her company has a diversity mandate where 30% of their reviews have to be of works by POC authors. They’re very strict about it

  • Lupita - Online, you notice the diversity issues more. We need the options.

  • Amanda- If you say “I just want a good story,” you're saying you just want to read what’s marketed to you. And those books are by authors who are overwhelmingly white, male, and cisgendered.

  • Kendra- You have to work to find the books sometimes and represent them. We need to see more people with disabilities in them. We need more than just Darcy’s cousin and a woman in the attic. She suggests following amazing women as well to learn from them.

  • Moderator Allison Punch - wants to make a distinction between what’s getting buzz and what’s actually written. People of Color have always been writing; we’re just now hearing about them.

• What they do to help underrepresented authors

  • Amanda - Donates ad campaigns to some independently published books.

  • Kendra - a snowball effect can really help.

  • Amanda - looks out for debut authors in her marketing and tries to promote them.

  • Kendra - Points out that she thinks it’s unfair to debut authors that we expect them to be perfect. They need room to grow and become better.

• If you want to become a book reviewer on social media

  • Kendra - be consistent with your postings

  • Amanda - have an interesting angle to it. Don’t just post a photo of fairy lights as your cover picture. Like she follows an instagram that only posts library books - she loves that, as it brings out books that are older. Do something unique.

• How to support books besides tweeting and reviews:

  • Amanda - pre-orders! for libraries even, creates buzz

  • Kendra - create an evergreen post of a list of books - one of their most popular posts ever still is about Muslim women authors.

  • Lupita - pre-order giveaways

  • Amanda - pre-ordering from independent bookstores

• Pitching to reviewers

  • Kendra - be specific and complimentary. Show familiarity with the reviewer’s work and guidelines.

• To avoid drama on social media

  • Lupita - Set boundaries - practice self care

  • Kendra - ignore the drama and go to the people that support you

  • Amanda - Remember your job and ignore the rest. Avoid the petty crap.

#ShakespearesPlaylist: King Lear

This is part of the #ShakespearesPlaylist series! You can read all of those posts here!

So I LOVE finding songs to fit the mood of #Shakespeare plays. Basically every time I hear a song I love on the radio, I think about how I could fit it into a production. I can’t help it. My brain just does that, which is funny, because I’ve only directed one production (my own one-act) and questioned myself and my abilities the entire time, so I don’t necessarily see myself directing anything else any time soon, but I just like to dream about the music anyway.

I’ve decided to play with this habit of mine more and make full-fledged Spotify and Youtube playlists for each play by Shakespeare, under the umbrella name and hashtag #ShakespearesPlaylist .

The incomparable Larry Yando as Lear in Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s production in 2014. Photo from https://www.chicagoshakes.com/plays_and_events/lear

Quick Summary from Wikipedia: King Lear is the tale of a king who bequeaths his power and land to two of his three daughters, after they declare their love for him in an extremely fawning and obsequious manner. His third daughter gets nothing, because she will not flatter him as her sisters had done. When he feels disrespected by the two daughters who now have his wealth and power, he becomes furious to the point of madness. He eventually becomes tenderly reconciled to his third daughter, just before tragedy strikes her and then the king.

I’m starting with King Lear because I just watched Kurosawa’s “Ran” with my husband, which is basically King Lear set in feudal Japan, so it’s on my brain anyway.

Here are a couple songs on my King Lear playlist. What would you add to this list? :D

Both Viva La Vida by Coldplay and Pompeii by Bastille fit King Lear’s “former leader watching his world crumble” theme, IMO.

Okay these two are a little more specific and require some explanation.

Frank Sinatra’s Where Do You Go? - I went to law school in Chicago and lived there for a few years after, so then-boyfriend/now-husband John and I went to a lot of shows at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. They have a great under-35 program that allows younger adults to get discount tickets and it was AWESOME.

In 2014, they did a friggin’ astounding version of King Lear that portrayed Lear as someone who really loved Frank Sinatra and used Sinatra’s music throughout the play to illustrate his growing madness. This specific obscure Sinatra song was used to illustrate how lost and alone Lear was and was mixed and looped to show his growing distortion. Right before the intermission, this one house set that had been standing up the whole time came toppling down over the actor playing Lear, who stood in just the one hole for the window so he wasn’t actually crushed, with rain and thunder and this haunting song in the background.

So clearly it made an impression. I definitely think of Sinatra whenever I think of Lear now.

Ravel’s Bolero is my pet choice and something I would include if I ever had the opportunity to direct Lear in the future. There was an amazing Radiolab episode a while back which discussed how the repetition in Bolero and in one woman’s paintings were a strong symptom of their own mental illnesses. It fascinated me and ever since, I have wanted to use Bolero as a metaphor for Lear’s madness.

What obvious songs am I overlooking? Do you have any choices that might seem odd without further explanation? I want to hear them all! Use the hashtag #ShakespearesPlaylist to get them to me. :)

The Inaugural Emerging Writers Festival in Old Town Alexandria!!

The last two weeks or so have been really rough, so I was really excited to attend my first writers festival in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia this past weekend!

It was the inaugural festival and was hosted by Old Town Books, which opened last year and is run by a bunch of really wonderful people with great ambitions and thoughts for the reading and writing communities! (I wrote a while ago about attending my first book club meeting there; the next one is in September and features the book “Coastalegre,” which is loosely based on Peggy Guggenheim and her daughter. As an art lover, I deeply appreciate this.)

This is a photo gallery, so you can click through and look at more than just like, my face and this one panel pic. I actually was so absorbed in all the speakers that I didn’t take nearly as many photos as I thought, but I got a good amount anyway. :)

I had so much fun and I learned a ton! I attended numerous classes and panels and volunteered at two of them. Honestly, I did WAY more than I even realized, once I started writing all these things down. I also met just a ton of wonderful writers at different points in their careers, which was so wonderfully inspiring.

• Keynote Conversation with Catherine Chung, author of The Tenth Muse

• Fiction Craft Intensive with Catherine Chung

• Against the Algorithm Panel with Lupita Aquino, Amanda Nelson, and Kendra Winchester (all bookternet reviewers and leaders)

• Polish your Pitch with Jennifer Baker (publishing professional of 16 years, host of the Minorities in Publishing podcast, contributing editor to Electric Literature, essayist)

• Publishing Masterclass with Jane Friedman (20 years of experience in publishing industry, author of The Business of Being a Writer and The Authors Guild Guide to E-Publishing)- I had to leave this early to go volunteer at the merch table, but the first hour was AMAZING and so useful.

• Talk and signing with Tope Folarin (author of the novel A Particular Kind of Black Man, short story author)

• Apply Yourself Panel - with Hannah Bae, Jennifer Baker, and Caits Meissner (PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program director, author), Kris Zory-King moderating

• Writing the Personal Essay with Hannah Bae, journalist and essayist

• The Path to the Debut Novel with Angie Kim, author of Miracle Creek

I was honestly going to write a whole blog post about ALL the things I learned in ALL the classes, but I just…do not have time fo rthat today. So i think I’m going to spread it out in more bite sized pieces, one or two classes a past for a while. I honestly gained so much useful knowledge

It's My Fisher Wallace-versary and the Anniversary of Getting My Depression Under Control

Selfie-ing it up with the Fisher Wallace Stimulator. I tend to use a sweatband with it instead of the included Velcro headband; it just has always worked way better for me.

A year ago today, I received my Fisher Wallace Stimulator in the mail and used it for the first time. My depression was REALLY bad then, despite being on two anti-depressants already, and I was desperate to find something that worked. The Stimulator had great reviews and a 30-day return period so I thought - why not?

Within a few days of use, it kicked in. And since then, my clinical depression has been more consistently under control and my brain has been more stable and happy than ever previously. I still do have some issues at times, but usually those relate to - me not using my Stimulator enough or me going through a particularly stressful experience. I am consistently happier, calmer, and more focused in my life. I don’t snap at my husband as much and we can talk about tough topics now without me getting overly sensitive.

And once I made space in my brain for something besides just trying to survive emotionally, I rediscovered my love for writing and started really pursuing a career in it. Since then, I’ve had numerous stories published, self published one short story myself as an experiment, and have made a ton of writing friends on twitter and in person. My writing life makes me so so happy and I am utterly delighted that the Stimulator helped me get that life.

I’ve written about my experience with the Stimulator more in depth in the past here, so I won’t repeat it all now. But I just wanted to mark this day for the important, life changing event it was. I am so so thankful that this technology exists. ❤️

FYI: you do need a prescription to purchase it. It isn’t covered by insurance and usually costs $799, but they have a sale going right now (only for TODAY, it looks like) where you can get it for $399. I highly suggest it! It doesn’t work for everyone (i mean, does any medical treatment work for anyone?), but there’s a 30-day return period where you can get your money back if it doesn’t help you.

As always, if anyone out there had questions about the Fisher Wallace Stimulator, depression, ADHD, chronic pain, or any other of my pet topics, please feel free to reach out to me here, on twitter (@rachaeldickzen), or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/rachaeldickzenauthor). :)