Friday, October 10, 2014
I fell into some websites by way of voting for a site I like. It wasn't supposed to take very long, this voting, but what started as taking a few minutes to clear my personal inbox turned into a couple of hours of digging through nominated sites. Why?!
Why?!
Because they were all damn impressive!
"Being able to say I remember, is a blessing most of us take for granted.In France, 850,000 people suffer from Alzheimer's disease and 225,000 new cases are diagnosed each year."
DUTCH INSTITUTE FOR WAR REMBRANCE
The website tweedewereldoorlog.nl (second world war online) functions as a portal but also features online exhibitions on the topic. The current exhibition tells the story of the Second World War in 100 diverse objects, brought together from the combined collections of 25 Dutch war museums. Ranging from a wool sweater that, because of the textile scarcity, was made entirely out of dog hair to a pair of round spectacles that famous Dutch resistance fighter Hannie Schaft used as a disguise during her missions. The objects, each one with its own special story, showcase the many different sides of WW II. Next to the online exhibition (to be viewed on computer, tablet and smart phone), the objects will also be on display in the internationally renowned Kunsthal Rotterdam.
You can see a short video for it here.
The Dutch Alzheimer’s Foundation wants to mobilize more and younger people in the fight against dementia, people for whom the disease is more remote. To do so we created a Facebook campaign that used friend’s photos to allow people to experience what it’s like to have Alzheimer’s disease. During the campaign, people were tagged in photos of events that never took place. A photo would appear on their timeline, in which they could see themselves at an event that they knew they had never attended. This personal confusing experience brought the problem very close by.
One of the ballets that the National Dutch Ballet will be performing this season is Swan Lake and one of the operas that the National Dutch Opera will perform is Mozart's The Magic Flute. It makes me want to go and see these, even though it'll take quite a bit more money and time than just an evening at the theater.
I had to stop there because there are things I actually have to do at work.
:/
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Last night I had a meeting with my career advisor... who is also kind of acting as a Life mentor for me. I nearly forgot that I had made my appointment over a month ago! Thinking back, I made it when I first got that feeling of "have to write this book NOW!" Wow, that was over 2 months ago. Meeting with her last night helped reanimate me and helped me find the focus that I've been looking for lately.
So for those that don't know/didn't get the speech, my friend Sean posted this article back in April. It's an article about the stigma of mental health issues and I highly recommend it. What it did for me was help me realize that now is the time to jump in on this conversation, and I want in! I have a lot to add to it and I want to do my part in helping kids especially. They should know they're okay and that there are more of us that feel the same way out there.
I'd say that it's been since declaring my major as creative writing in college that I've wanted to write and publish this book. That was sort of my acceptance that I wanted to write professionally. I had my second round of counseling my sophomore year and I knew that I wanted to help anyone who felt like I did. I hadn't been diagnosed yet, but I knew there was something I was battling, and writing, books, and music went a long way in helping me through things. I figured if creativity & art could help me, maybe what I could do when I am good enough is write a book that others can go to that will help them not feel alone in this.
Notice I said when I am good enough. This book (that doesn't exist yet... well, it's a rough sketch at the moment) was and is important to me. It's the book I wish I had when I was in high school - one about a girl that is bipolar - just like me (so it turned out)! Who is going through the same emotions and changes - just like me! Oh, what I would have given for that character when I was 16! As it's so important, I want it to be perfect - or as perfect as it can be. So I never felt ready because I saw writing as this super important business that I didn't have the keys to yet.
When I first met with my counselor over a year ago, it was about another book. In getting to know me, though, she heard a lot about The Book - this one I have to write. So she wanted to know, why am I not writing this book? Which made me wonder, yeah... why am I not writing this book? Because I'm not a published author with answers as to how to write this?? One thing I have learned is... well, you never have the answers... you just learn some tricks. So, what was I waiting for?
It's taken some prodding, some thinking, and Mark Joyella's article on Medium to get me to where I am now. I'm writing this book. I'm writing it to join the conversation on mental health, I'm writing it to let kids know that it's ok - I feel that way, too, and I'm writing it for me... because I survived. If I can help just one kid survive it, too, then my book will have made all the difference.
;;
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