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The Protein Society
MCB CONGRATULATES RECIPIENTS OF THE 2022 PROTEIN SOCIETY AWARDS
The Protein Society, an international society dedicated to the advancement of protein research, recently announced its 2022 Award winners, several of whom have been funded by MCB's Molecular Biophysics (MB) cluster. The Protein Society Awards recognize outstanding efforts of researchers who have distinguished themselves with significant achievements in protein research and who have made exceptional contributions in leadership, teaching, and service. Read more about the MCB-funded winners below.
Hans Neurath Award Winner – Squire Booker, Ph.D.
The Hans Neurath Award honors those who have made an exceptional contribution to basic protein research. Professor Squire Booker (Penn State University) is recognized for his research which has provided deep insight into the governing molecular logic underpinning biosynthetic pathways, enzyme cofactors, drug action and metabolism, and the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance.
Learn more about Squire Booker's NSF funded research.
Stein & Moore Award Winner – Daniel Herschlag, Ph.D.
The Stein & Moore Award recognizes eminent leader in protein science who have made sustained, high-impact research contributions to the field. Professor Daniel Herschlag (Stanford University) has identified the principle of "catalytic promiscuity," a critical missing link in evolution. In addition, his lab developed the RNA chaperone hypothesis, demonstrated the role of RNA binding proteins in coordinating gene expression, and has been on the forefront of developing cutting edge techniques that illuminate new aspects of protein behavior.
Learn more about Daniel Herschlag's NSF funded research.
Protein Science Young Investigator Award Winners – Nicolas Fawzi, Ph.D. and Nozomi Ando, Ph.D.
The Protein Science Young Investigator Award recognizes a scientist in the first 8 years of an independent career who has made an important contribution to the study of proteins.
Professor Nicolas Fawzi (Brown University) is an internationally recognized leader in his field, his efforts were among the first to bring structural to proteins following phase separation. The Fawzi lab has provided insight into the physiology of membrane-less organelles and their pathological dysfunction associated with cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Learn more about Nicolas Fawzi's NSF funded research.
Professor Nozomi Ando (Cornell University) has pioneered new experimental and computational methods to illuminate the molecular mechanisms of protein allostery. Her research on diffuse scattering, faint and smeary signals in the background of x-ray diffraction images from protein crystals is noted with high regard. She is also recognized for her work in advancing structural biology education and advocating for diversity in STEM. Learn more about Nozomi Ando's NSF funded research.
Join us in congratulating recipients of the 2022 Protein Society Awards. The full list of awards and winners can be found here: https://www.proteinsociety.org/page/protein-society-awards.
Posted in Blog and tagged award, Molecular Biophysics, The Protein Society on April 8, 2022 by nsfmcb. Leave a comment
MCB CONGRATULATES THREE 2020 PROTEIN SOCIETY AWARD RECIPIENTS
The Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) congratulates three MCB-funded researchers for recognition by The Protein Society. Catherine Drennan, Karen Fleming, and Martin Gruebele were among seven recipients of the 2020 Protein Society Awards announced March 12.
Professor Catherine Drennan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is the recipient of the Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award. The award recognizes "exceptional contributions in protein science" having a large impact on the scientific understanding of biology. The Society cites Dr. Drennan's contribution to the understanding of the biology of metalloproteins as well as her advocacy for "inclusion and equity"in science and education.
Professor Karen Fleming (Johns Hopkins University) is the recipient of the Carl Brändén Award. The award honors an outstanding protein scientist who makes "exceptional contributions" in the areas of education or service. Dr. Fleming is cited for her work on thermodynamic measurements of membrane protein folding. She also received recognition for her service work with major scientific societies and her efforts to address gender biases.
Professor Martin Gruebele (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) has been awarded the Hans Neurath Award. The award recognizes researchers who have made notable contributions to basic protein research. Dr. Gruebele is cited for his work on the use of flash heating and ultrafast spectroscopy for studying protein folding and for studying flash folding in live cells.
Posted in Blog, Broader Impacts and tagged 2020 Protein Society Awards, award, Drennan, Fleming, Gruebele, MCB, Protein Society, The Protein Society on March 19, 2020 by nsfmcb. Leave a comment


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New York Jets Football Jerseys Fall From $99 Down To $2
Funny story written by Abel Rodriguez
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says that he has never seen NFL football jerseys selling for $2.
NEW YORK CITY – (Sports Satire) – Jets coach Adam Gase was asked if he is ready for the season to be over. He looked at Dottie Bazooka, with Sports Balls Illustrated Magazine, and replied that he was ready for the season to be over six weeks ago.
The Jets record now stands at a pitiful (0-12). At the start of the season, the Jets were averaging 9,000 paying fans per game.
The latest Jets loss was to the Las Vegas Raiders, 31 to 28, before a crowd of 17 paying fans, including two nuns from St. Lolita of Holy Capricorn Church, who managed to scalp two tickets for $4 each.
The president of the New York Jets fan club, Ambrosia Zumpy 66, told the Right Coast Revue, that the fan club membership has dropped by 87%.
Zumpy also noted that the Jets football jerseys have gone down in price from $99 to $2.
4th-string kicker, Wellington Twizbay, asked permission from Coach Gase, if he could just stay home with his family, who had flown in from New Zealand. The coach told him what the hell, stay home.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Zumpy, who has been president of the Jets fan club since 1993, has turned in her resignation, and says she is going to have to get herself some serious therapy.
New York JetsNFL
The NFL Bans Tailgate Parties 02 December 2020
Tom Brady: I Want to Play in Shitty Markets Until I'm 50 01 December 2020
The New York Jets Fire Their Entire Cheerleading Squad 01 December 2020
The Denver Broncos Sign Tim Tebow 30 November 2020
Miami Dolphins Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa Agrees To Change His Last Name 25 November 2020
The NBA and The NFL Have Just Named Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris The Sexiest Woman in Politics 15 November 2020
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Will Be Implementing A New Football Rule – Throw a Punch and You'll Get Thrown Out of The Game 10 November 2020
Nicki Minaj, The Hip-Hop Artist Noted For Having 2 Solid Gold Nipple Rings Has Just Released Her Latest Album 08 November 2020

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Master's is the result of collaboration between Ca' Foscari University and the Centro Ricerca e Formazione Psicomotoria e Pedagogica (Centre for Psychomotor and Pedagogic Research and Training, Ce.R.Fo.P.P.) in Udine.
Basic training: oriented towards the educational and preventive disciplines for the developmental age, adult education, group dynamics, planning and work-integrated learning.
Specialisation training: the programme is divided into three areas of psychomotor intervention: theoretical learning, personal adult education and practical training with children, all interdependent and structured on two levels: educational practice and preventive practice.
The learning is backed by an active philosophy centred around respect for people and their possibilities, acknowledging their ability to be protagonists in their own future and fostering full development of their potentials and the characteristics of their personal and social capital.
skill in managing the dynamics of groups of children, family relations, interteam social relations and institutional relations.
Personal adult education area: the second aspect of the Master's covers the theme of psychomotor assistance, focussing on its preventive-educational value. It analyses learning difficulties in the educational-scholastic and/or private context, aimed at children who, for various reasons, are experiencing temporary difficulties and tonic-emotional-behavioural fragility.
Practical training with children area: the aim of the last aspect of the course is to give every psychomotor therapist the active, creative and relational skills necessary to follow, support and help the child develop autonomy and relationality; stimulating and fostering desire and curiosity towards themselves and the surrounding world.
The proposed course programme is oriented towards experiential learning in personal training workshops, projects on the ground and the planning of learning processes based on reflexivity in action (Schön). Research, reflection, study and practical training will be reinforced and complemented by active experimentation (personal study, project work, workshops, practical experiences, research-action/research-training and role play).
The Master's is conceived as a learning community in which everyone contributes to self-enrichment and enrichment through collaborative learning and peer-tutoring.
Pursuant to legislation (no. 4 of 14 January 2013) regulating the profession of psychomotor therapist, attainment of the qualification of Master's in the Profession of Psychomotor Therapist and subsequent attendance of an advanced 900 hour course focusing on case studies organised by Challenge School qualifies the participant to join the Italian Associazione Nazionale Unitaria Terapisti e Psicomotricità dell'Età Evolutiva Italiani (Italian National Association of Development Age Psychomotor Therapists, ANUPI TNPEE), requiring a total of 2400 hours specific training (1500 Master's + 900 advance training course).
The programme is principally, but not exclusively, aimed at educators and teachers in nursery and primary schools, day nursery educators, professional educators, speech therapists, psychologists, physiotherapists, development age neuro-physio-psychomotor therapists, pedagogists, social workers, volunteers and all professional figures working in the fields of education, sports, social work and health for the development age in disadvantaged contexts.
skills in planning, analysis, intervention and educational, preventive and performative assessment in situations of ease and malaise; mastery of self and personal deontological, ethical and cultural professionalism; research and experimentation; organisation and overall management of the psychomotor intervention.


Why innovation is vital for businessManagement – let's just make it up as we go along!
When creative thinking or creativity is mentioned, most people will immediately think of something related to art or design. But, creative thinking is not just limited to the artistic world, but is something that is built into all of us – and vital for successful businesses.
The terms 'creative thinking' and 'business' are rarely used in the same sentence, which is a shame as thinking creatively is a powerful business tool that should never be overlooked. Creative thinking can help a business to identify and exploit new opportunities and assist in problem solving, improving overall productivity.
Once a business is established, it is very easy to be seduced by the relative simplicity of 'business as usual' or attracted by the mantra of 'sell what we've got'. Many business owners focus on existing products, services or methodologies and would rather make small tweaks to the existing, rather than developing fresh new ideas to improve their business strategies. But, for those that think outside the box, the rewards can be huge by finding new perspectives and removing the limits we put on ourselves.
Changing our way of thinking in business is vital for growth and success. Without it, we run the risk of not looking at the bigger picture and as a result, often overlook important factors that could hinder our success.
One way that we can change the way we think is to simply rephrase common business questions or problems. For example, a business owner might say "we are not able to cover our business costs this year", which could lead to a simple cost cutting exercise. But, there could be more solutions to this problem that have been overlooked. By rephrasing this statement to something like "we are not generating enough sales to cover our costs this year", we inevitably look at the problem differently – which in turn enables us to consider completely different potential solutions.
Every business owner needs to visualise a business opportunity by creatively thinking about the market demands and analysing their competitors. We call this process ideation; generating ideas that can be used to generate, developer and evaluate ideas for new products, services or processes.
Many businesses value this role of ideation and as a result, regularly hold ideation sessions that help generate multiple ideas between team members that must then be assessed, filtered down and finally acted upon. The main goal of ideation is to help create the "big idea" and the more ideas a business has, the greater their chances are that one of them will be the big idea. Interestingly, companies that get better and better at challenging the status quo and generating small ideas, also become better at generating big ideas.
Developing a good ideation process within an organisation works because it should be built around the needs of the customer. Once a business fully understands the exact problem that needs to be solved, only then can they be in a position to solve it.
Every business has a mission and everyone who is involved in achieving that mission knows the beliefs of the business, what it stands for and how it is going to achieve its goals. But, as business owners, it is vital that we don't ignore other factors that we may run into along our path to success. If we question different assumptions at every stage of the development process, we can generate new ideas and opportunities.
This is a great way to involve other team members. By sitting down together and defining a wishlist for the business, you can get a vast amount of different ideas flowing in a short space of time, without imposing restrictions to make the ideas as creative as possible. Next, pick the best ideas to focus on and then develop new ideas, wishes and goals from that. The end result enables us to see new possibilities that we may not have thought up on our own.
With this ideation technique, you start by defining a clear statement that describes the overall objective. You then choose three of the most interesting words from the statement and produce alternatives for each of them. Once you have your alternative words, list them in a table with the original word at the top of each column. Finally, select one word at random from each column and input this into the original statement. This new variation helps to redefine the opportunity in a new way that we may not have seen before.
Creativity in Business – Does it Provide a Real Edge?


Take your branding to the next level with custom designed cartridge boxes for oil cartridges and disposables. We provide custom packaging for all of our oil cartridges and disposables, leaving you with an end product ready for delivery. Our custom cartridge boxes can be customized to include your company's logo, contact information or social media platforms.


Americana meets rustic style inside this kids bedroom.
Attic kids bedroom with low furnishings and skylight.
Space saving beds and brilliant lighting revamp the aura of the rustic bedroom.
Shape a unique bunk bed for the rustic kids room.
Ladder and railing on the bunk bed give the bedroom a cool touch.
Winter cabin inspired kids bedroom with bunk beds.


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People Powered Peace
...because peace doesn't just happen.
"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures."
- John F. Kennedy
Operation Missing Link
Welcome to Operation Missing Link!
As we have demonstrated before, one of the serious dangers facing the planet today is climate change. And, one of the largest contributors to climate change is animal agriculture. One would wonder that if eliminating or greatly reducing one's consumption of animal products is better than hybrid cars, why aren't more people doing it?
The biggest reason is that there is a lot of money to be made in selling animal products. Almost every commercial break on TV and radio stations advertises some sort of animal based food, be they burgers, ice cream, fish sticks, etc. News media are reluctant to talk about issues that may negatively affect their advertisers so reports from prominent scientists and environmental organizations advocating the elimination or reduction of animal products hardly appear on those channels. The animal agricultural industry also gets a lot of "free money" from the government. As businesses, it makes sense for them to preserve the status quo to keep the subsidies flowing even at detriment of the environment and health of people.
However, what is most disturbing is that our environmental leaders, whom people look up to for guidance on how to best help the environment, readily ignore the devastating effects of animal agriculture on our planet. Chief among them is Al Gore, who did a wonderful job awakening the world to the dangers of climate change through his film, "An Inconvenient Truth" while at the same time ignoring the simplest and most cost effective method of greatly reducing climate change, which is the elimination of animal foods from our diet. Even as he is launching yet another campaign about global warming, it appears that he will, once again, be sidestepping the issue of animal agriculture's impact on global warming.
Operation Missing Link is a world wide effort by ordinary citizens to create video messages to Al Gore asking him to start talking about animal agriculture more openly and asking him to let people know that by eliminating or greatly reducing their consumption of animal products, ordinary citizens can make a huge impact in the fight against climate change. To learn more about Operation Missing Link and how to participate, please visit: http://peoplepoweredpeace.org/operation-missing-link. Check out some of the videos submitted to Operation Missing Link at our Featured Videos page. Our goal is to have 10,000 videos created by people all over the world by the time Al Gore launches his Climate Reality Project.
We hope that you will join us in asking Mr. Gore to openly and actively start talking about the role of animal agriculture in climate change. Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions, concerns or comments about Operation Missing Link.
Hope Bohanec of IDA invites people to participate in Operation Missing Link.
op_ml
Hope Bohanec
wildflower (not verified)
The same goes for all climate activists, such as the local "Climate Protection Campaign".....I won't support them until they acknowledge this issue.


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Burges, William (1806–1876)
by M. Tamblyn
William Burges (1806-1876), settler and resident magistrate, was born at Fethard, County Tipperary, Ireland, the second son of Lockier Burges, medical practitioner, and his wife Isabella.
In October 1829, together with his two younger brothers, he sailed in the Warrior for the new colony in Western Australia, where in 1830 his property qualification entitled him to a grant of 8053 acres (3259 ha) of land. Settling first at the Upper Swan, the three brothers in 1837 moved to the York district, where with William as their leader they established Tipperary; it became one of the finest properties of the Avon valley and by 1840 carried more than a thousand sheep.
Although he visited Ireland in 1841-44, William Burges was consistently interested in community affairs. He was active in forming the York Agricultural Society which became mouthpiece of the Avon valley settlers; in 1847 he was its secretary when it drew up a petition for the transportation of convicts to Western Australia. He was appointed an officer of the Roads Trust for the York district and in 1846 a local magistrate.
In 1850, with his brother Lockier, he applied for land in the newly discovered Champion Bay district. Leaving Tipperary to his brother Samuel, he moved north 350 miles (563 km) to establish the Bowes station, where by 1857 he was grazing sheep on 93,000 acres (37,636 ha). As a big pastoralist he was intensely interested in stock-breeding, importing stud merino rams from England and thoroughbred horses from Ireland.
In 1851 Burges was appointed first resident magistrate of the Champion Bay district, a difficult position that he held until December 1859. White penetration of an Aboriginal area had produced conflicts which he strove continually to prevent. With the establishment of a convict depot at Port Gregory and with his further appointment as sub-collector of customs in 1853, his duties increased. Care of his large district required constant travel: in 1853 he rode 905 miles (1456 km) in five weeks, holding court at the various centres, inquiring into causes of shipwreck and mutiny, supervising the hiring of ticket-of-leave men and everywhere trying to control the illegal sale of liquor in a socially unstable community.
In 1860 Burges returned to Ireland, only visiting Western Australia again in 1868 and in 1875-76. On the second visit he was appointed a nominee member of the Legislative Council but held the position only two months, his main contribution being a vain bid to reform electoral abuses and to introduce voting by ballot. Unmarried, he died in Ireland on 16 October 1876 and was buried at Fethard.
Although his letters and reports do not reveal a man of great imagination or of powerful intellect, William Burges made valuable contribution to the development of early Western Australia. As a wealthy pastoralist he was open to attack by less successful settlers who resented the domination of the great landowners. Yet his vigour, initiative and tenacity were the qualities most needed in the foundation years and especially in the establishment of the pastoral industry. As a faithful public servant, his stability of character was clearly reflected in his tireless work in a remote district at a difficult period.
Votes and Proceedings (Legislative Council, Western Australia), 1875-76
G. J. Kelly, A History of the Champion Bay District (M.A. thesis, University of Western Australia, 1958)
Colonial Secretary's Office, inward letters from resident magistrate, Champion Bay, 1851-60 (State Library of Western Australia)
S. Burges diary, Nov 1840–Mar 1841 (State Library of Western Australia)
L. Burges diary, 19 Apr-Sept 1841 (State Library of Western Australia)
W. Burges diary, Apr 1845–July 1846 (State Library of Western Australia)
York Agricultural Society minute book, 1840-57 (State Library of Western Australia).
Padbury, Walter (employee)
M. Tamblyn, 'Burges, William (1806–1876)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/burges-william-1852/text2149, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 19 January 2020.
Fethard, Tipperary, Ireland
customs officer
grazier (sheep)
pro-transportationist


Starting a home-based business is challenging, but the rewards of a successful launch are worth the challenge. However, as we all know, not all home-based businesses succeed. While statistics vary, the fact is the majority of home-based businesses never get off the ground. With this in mind, how can you make sure your business launch ends up as part of the positive minority instead of the negative majority?
Myth #1: Freedom of time = you having the ability to do what you want with your time.
Myth #2: It only takes 6-12 months of side hustle to replace your current income.
Myth #3: You can accurately estimate the amount of time it will take to complete a major project before starting the project.
Here's the bottom line: If you want to take the leap into starting a home-based business, you will find this episode extremely helpful.
Special discount for Live It Forward podcast listeners—use discount code PODCAST at checkout to save an additional $100 off early-bird registration.
Myth: You can do whatever you want with your time.
Truth: You must WANT to work and LOVE the work you do.
Manage your time by determining your priorities.
Myth: You can replace your full-time income in 6-12 months of side hustle.
Truth: It takes 6-12 months of side hustle to generate some revenue, but it will likely take 2-3 years to completely replace your income.
Mantra: No matter how long it takes or how hard it is, I'm going to make it!
Follow the 80/20 Rule. Work IN your business 20 percent of the time and work ON your business 80 percent of the time.
Myth: You can estimate how long it will take to complete a major project.
Truth: Most major projects take twice as long to accomplish and cost three times as much money as you anticipate (or vice versa).
Set goals with a time limit.
Avoid perfection: Good enough is good enough.
Start new things and make things happen!
Are you looking to become a speaker? Check out Speak it Forward!


Laws that protect journalists – or lack thereof – vary from country to country, as does admissible as evidence in court. But it is your responsibility to know the law, understand the risks you undertake and their possible consequences.
Decide wisely where a good meeting point for you and your sources could be. Is it better to see each other in public or in a private environment? Should there be people and noises around or is a hidden, abandoned place better? Also consider if the area is video surveilled. If you are afraid that someone could overhear a sensitive conversation, meet in a loud surrounding. Noises make it hard for others (and bugging devices) to listen what you say!
However, keep records – in written notes, on a computer, or as sound or video recordings – they must be as accurate as possible, dated and filed in such a way that they can be recovered when necessary. Be crystal-clear about whether the source is in a position to have the information he or she claims. Also probe the source about what he or she has really seen, or knows and/or is prepared to say, their motives, and keep a detailed log of what the source actually says – full words, not paraphrases, or a tape, if you can persuade them to make one. Make sure you fully record all interactions with your source, including what you may have discussed around payments requested or made. Keep receipts connected with story expenditure.
Ensure a transparent and honest relationship with your sources. Never lie to them or mislead them for any reason. Do not make promises you cannot keep, or predict consequences that may not happen. Do not get so personally attached to your sources or involved in their problems that you cannot maintain professional distance.
You must make every effort to ensure you are being told the truth. So treat their information, however critical it is to you, with professional coolness and normal scepticism. Verify their personal details, and be suspicious of any parts of the story they try to hide. Ask difficult questions. Be prepared for unexpected stalls and problems in your relationship with them, and always interrogate what has gone wrong. There is no such thing as a perfect witness, and you do not want to be surprised later by information about a source you had not previously known. Beyond what you may have mutually agreed for source protection, resist any suggestion that your source has a right to control the content of your article or broadcast.


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Дамбадения — остатки древнего города, который был расположен в Северо-западной провинции Шри-Ланки. Находится в 31 километре к юго-западу от города Курунегала и в в 74 километрах к северо-востоку от города Коломбо, на главной дороге Курунегала — Негомбо. Город был столицей Шри-Ланки в середине XIII века.

В начале XIII века вследствие индийского военного вторжения король Виджаябаху III вынужден был отступить из предыдущей столицы Полоннарува и в 1232 году построить новый город с дворцом на вершине скалы Дамбадения. Новая столица была защищена рвом и валами, дополнительную защиту обеспечивала заболоченная местность вокруг. Во времена правления Паракрамабаху II Дамбадения находилась на пике своего развития. Король Паракрамабаху II воевал с индийским королем Калинга Магха за один из четырёх зубов, уцелевших после ритуального сожжения тела Будды Гаутамы и победил его, оставив реликвию себе. Зуб хранился в Дамбадении в храме зуба Будды (в настоящее время зуб хранится в Канди в Храме Зуба Будды). После убийства короля Виджаябаху IV новый король Бхуванекабаху I с целью обеспечения безопасности перенес столицу государства из Дамбадении в Япахуву.

В Дамбадении сохранились постройки XIII века, остатки дворцового комплекса, храм Зуба Будды, вырубленная в скале гигантская статуя Будды, шесть прудов (или плавательных бассейнов) шесть пещер, вырубленные в скалах ниши-колодцы и лестница к вершине скалы. Около двоцового комплекса также расположен храм Виджая Сундара Мая, который был построен в XVIII веке и украшен изображениями и статуями Будды и настенными росписями, также в храме находится имеется старинная ступа.

В 5 километрах к северо-востоку от Дамбадении находится деревянное здание Панавития Амбалама с резьбой по дереву, изображающей мифологических персонажей, цветочные орнаменты и бытовые сцены.

Шри-Ланка
Города Северо-Западной провинции (Шри-Ланка)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


37 Cooks: Have a Happy National Ice Cream Sandwich Day with Double Chocolate Chip Toffee Ice Cream Sandwiches!
Heat oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Lower to medium speed and add the egg and vanilla. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. On low speed, add the dry mixture to the butter mixture. Beat until fully incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Form the dough into approximately 1 1/2-inch balls. Place on parchment- or foil-lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until the centers are just set, about 12 minutes. With a spatula gently pat down cookies to flatten them a bit and allow to cook 2 more minutes.
Scoop enough ice cream to fill cookies and press together. Roll edges in toffee chips. Wrap in plastic wrap and allow to chill for at least an hour.


The last three weeks have been a blizzard of bark! A bark-athon, if you will. Batch after batch of melted chocolate has been transformed into DIY, edible presents for all. Go over to The Kitchn and check out my easy, gift-able recipes for White Chocolate Cheesecake Bark, Elvis Bark (pictured above), and Chocolate Chip Cookie Bark.


The "back office" industry cluster includes companies' call/customer service centers, technical support, processing facilities and data centers. Bluffton's largest employer, eviCore healthcare, formerly known as CareCore National, operates an expansive call center in its Bluffton headquarters as hundreds of employees evaluate healthcare insurance claims. This type of "clean industry" is the Town of Bluffton's perfect match; it provides high-quality jobs for the local economy while producing no environmentally-damaging byproducts.
These are the type of companies the Town of Bluffton is actively recruiting. Among the industries which would complement Bluffton's high-quality lifestyle is the financial services industry. This industry has historically outsourced support operations to third-party firms specializing in back office support. More industries are exploring this concept as a cost-saving measure.
The information-technology, payroll, accounting and other administrative functions of companies are additional sectors which are ideal to locate to Bluffton.
The Lowcountry has a relatively strong, current concentration in the back-office functions, employing more than 4,300 workers in the Lowcountry, the sector grew 7.7% from 2005-2010.
eviCore healthcare's success provides a boost to the cluster's future potential. The company has added hundreds of employees in just three years and is located in Buckwalter Place, a large commercial park dedicated for similar companies. eviCore's willingness to partner with Clemson University and the Town of Bluffton to create the Don Ryan Center for Innovation, has positioned Bluffton as a statewide competitor for entrepreneurial companies.
In addition, eviCore has created a local workforce which possesses specialized skills in cost management, record maintenance, customer service and information technologies. These skills are highly transferable and would support a number of other vertical industries. eviCore offers a seed for expanding the fast-growing medical-related back office and records management niche in the Lowcountry.
The Lowcountry's appealing natural environment and attractiveness to executive visitors and retirees, making the region an ideal setting for corporate campuses and regional headquarters.
A regional distribution cluster will make logistics-related back office and IT an emerging opportunity.


"Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi?" on loop… that was my 90's song from Patti LaBelle's 1974 hit. Why that had to become my earworm to haunt my young adulthood says more about my aspirations than my reality, but it did pique my interest in foreign languages.
Flash forward a million years and I am a mother raising 3 humans in the 2000's. I clearly went to the coucher 3 times, and it occurs to me that I'd really like my 3 citizens to understand that phrase above. Not exactly that phrase, but to understand French or Mandarin or any foreign language.
Surf 2 Snow, I ❤ L.A.
Epic Day 2017: Malibu Beach, CA, to Snow Summit, Big Bear. Celebrating California culture and the people who rally. Who's in for next year?
I ate a big but ant (salty!).
I nearly drowned myself in a mud volcano.
I dipped my cheese in hot chocolate and loved the savory-sweet juxtaposition.
I felt the graciousness of so many Colombians that it makes me take pause.
There are not a lot of tourists in Bogotá, and I suppose that is due to the prevailing reputation of narco-guerrilla violence leftover. But I tell you, it couldn't be a nicer surprise. Arriving to Bogotá, we were greeted by the vast and sprawling city surrounded like a jeweled necklace of lush green voluptuous mountains. My girlfriend told me "me llenan", they fill her, and I get it. They would be overwhelming if they weren't so nurturing. The only thing that rivals these Andes are the constituents it protects.


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This Domestic Church: New Employees, Stressful Days, and Swelling Cankles...Oh My!
New Employees, Stressful Days, and Swelling Cankles...Oh My!
Well, I've been training a new PTA at work to take over inpatient. Then I will be doing outpatient. This is for a couple of reasons, number one inpatient is totally kicking my behind! And number two, when I have the baby and don't return to work, someone needs to be able to handle inpatients. So that part of it is a good thing. But, wow the stress of training. It's difficult to train someone that has more experience than I do, clearly she doesn't know St. Catherine specific things, but she has been working as a PTA for 30+ years. Anyway, it is hard to correct someone when they're doing something the way they've done it for that long. Whew...talk about stress! We've also still had the stress of low census, but it's been in spurts, with some days having a lot of patients and the next day just a few. It seems like it's really going to pick up next week though and that's good. We also hired a new PT that will be starting a week from Monday and she's really going to be awesome! She's from Brazil and is also a certified Manual Therapist, so it will be really cool to get to work with her!


text:
Transcending national boundaries,
the Japan Foundation Asia Center carries out
cultural exchange programs to build up heart-to-heart
relationships between people and enrich the future of Asia.
Grant & Fellowship
NIHONGO Partners
Japan Foundation - WA Project
ARCO RENZ――Dance Creation: The Body, Time, Space, Negotiation, and Collaboration
Interview / Asia Hundreds
Brussels-based choreographer-dancer Arco Renz's work extends far and wide throughout the globe. In working with our Southeast Asian counterparts, we had oftentimes encountered his name from choreographers alike. To dive into this choreographer's work and his influence to others, we interviewed him on his thoughts, dance creations and process, as well as his insight for collaborating with artists from different regions.
Interview:Makiko Yamaguchi (The Japan Foundation Asia Center)
Arco Renz
Arco Renz is a choreographer, dancer, and founder of Kobalt Works, an organization which produces transcultural and multidisciplinary arts projects. His work revolves around Abstract Dramaturgy, a radical, structural, and choreographic confrontation of the individual and the body with time and space. Recent works include collaborations with partners in Southeast Asia, such as CRACK (2011), solid.states (2012), and, in 2014 and 2015, KRIS IS, Hanoi Stardust, COKE, and ALPHA. A solo work, EAST (2015), transposes the ensemble processes from his work in Southeast Asia onto his own body. He also teaches dance and choreography in many institutions worldwide.
ASIA HUNDREDS is a series of interviews and conference presentations by professionals with whom the Japan Foundation Asia Center works through its many cultural projects.
By sharing the words of key figures in the arts and cultures in both English and Japanese and archiving the "present" moments of Asia, we hope to further generate cultural exchange within and among the regions.
Encounter with Dance
Makiko Yamaguchi (hereinafter Yamaguchi): Will you please tell me how you became dancer?
Arco Renz (hereinafter Arco): My parents are both ballroom dancers; they're champions, actually. After their competitive career, they opened a dance school. This is where I first learned ballet as a young boy. But as a child, I was not able to fit into the strict formality of ballet. So I started to learn ballet very young, and also stopped learning it very young. As a child I liked to imagine and improvise movement; just play around without the constraints of a codified language. Growing up in my parents' dance school, dance, music, and people coming together to connect through movement have been an all-present part of my childhood.
As a teenager I decided to study theater. I passed through Berlin and then moved to Paris. While practicing as an actor and director, I also studied literature and philosophy. In Paris I encountered contemporary dance. I discovered different ways to approach the stage. During a workshop with dancers of Pina Bausch, there was an exercise where we had to walk on stage, one by one, and tell the audience, "I am a dancer, because ...." When I found myself on stage, alone in front of the audience, I suddenly said, "I dance in order to say what I cannot think." This was the beginning of the artistic trajectory that brings us together today.
Yamaguchi: Could you tell me more about your encounter with contemporary dance, when and how it happened?
Arco: I started to be involved in contemporary dance from 1992 onwards, this workshop in Paris I mentioned took place in 1994, and since 1995 contemporary dance became the only focus. In the early '90s, I perceived contemporary dance in Paris as a fresh dynamic art form; little institutionalized, it was a field for experiment, research, and adventure.
It was at that time in Paris that I met Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. She proposed me to come to Brussels and to experiment scenarios for what was to become her school P.A.R.T.S. I joined a group of thirty or so other dancers and performers for a workshop in Brussels in preparation of the school. These sudden experiences in Brussels opened up radically different ways of looking at dance for me.
Besides the physical aspects of dance, the interconnectedness of dance with other movement practices, with music, theater, and social sciences was a major ambition of the curriculum.
Rhythm classes with the great teacher Fernand Schirren were at the core of this network of disciplines. Structural analysis of musical, mathematical, and natural patterns made me aware of new fields of tension between dance and choreography, between movement and writing movement. I decided to join the first generation of P.A.R.T.S. to experiment on what it means to dance today, what it means to choreograph, to share experiences through teaching, and to deepen and broaden possibilities to say what we cannot think.
Forms, Time, and Space
Yamaguchi: I was always familiar of your name but I never quite knew why exactly you are often working with Southeast Asian artists. Is there any special interest for this region and its culture? We have done interviews for our Asia Hundreds series with artists and art-related people from Southeast Asia, for example Rithisal Kang of Amrita Performing Arts, Cambodia, Eko Supriyanto from Indonesia, and also Olé Khamchanla from France/Laos. They all mentioned your name in the interviews, so I thought we have to interview you; I was very curious how you work with the artists from Southeast Asia.
What was your very first encounter with the region?
Arco: The first residency in Southeast Asia was in the year 2000 in Indonesia, and it took place thanks to a personal encounter. In this sense the first encounter with the region was simple; organic, hands-on, and practical. There was openness and curiosity for this encounter to take place, but there was no specific professional, personal agenda, nor premeditated scheme. It was an instinctively aimless encounter. Aimlessness can be an essential condition for sustainable and dynamic encounters, because it allows for spontaneity and the quality of the shared experience becomes the focus of attention.
Earlier I had encountered Kathakali, Balinese dance, Kyogen, and Kunqu through extensive workshops and seminars in Europe. Together with the early encounter with ballet, these experiences had triggered in me an ambiguous affinity with formalized, codified movement languages; fascination and suspicion at the same time. In Europe, people are generally most impressed by traditional dance and theater forms from Asia rather than contemporary forms. These codified languages are often displayed in Europe in contexts romanticizing the oriental "other." I was suspicious of such constructions of mysterious oriental images and seemingly opposing poles of East and West.
On the other hand there was fascination about principles underlying movement that appeared as alternatives to what I had experienced so far in theater and contemporary dance in Europe. For example, the expressive use of hands and eyes is not just a superficial, formal characteristic; it points at a very specific relationship to space, where the body is the axis of space and the performer moving in space from this axis. This is a "vertical" notion of space which is very different from a body traveling through space and "taking" the space through tracing trajectories horizontally. And such, a vertical performance quality changes our perception of time.
The beginning of a traditional form usually starts with learning how to stand and then how to walk within the code of that language. This is very significant. Different alignments of the body generate different energetic potentials for the performer inside of the form. The interior aspects of form are extremely fascinating and insightful. This fascination has become the foundation of my work: what is happening inside the form? What is happening in the emptiness between people? What are the interior aspects of relationships and how can this be decoded? What is underneath and beyond the obvious signs? Sometimes noticing the unfamiliar around us, can contribute to recognizing the obvious inside of ourselves.
Yamaguchi: You mean to open the form?
Arco: Yes, to open, to dissolve, to enter forms, or rather to enter the images of movement. The work in Southeast Asia during the past years is about designing processes to explore, question, contemplate, and reformulate images of the body in movement. These are processes of decoding formal images of the body and encoding alternative images with the interiority of the performer as the starting point; these are processes of undermining appearances and conventions. The performances are a by-product of these processes, reflections of their potential.
Yamaguchi: You told us once that you do something else as choreography. What do you mean by that?
Arco: Etymologically, choreography means "writing dance." During these processes, the movement is not definitely written but it manifests itself as ongoing negotiations. The dance here is a dialogue between forms and different qualities of interiority, constantly changing.
Yamaguchi: What do you mean by "interiority"? What is happening there?
Arco: The fundamental gate to interiority is breathing. It is the foundation of most processes that I have experimented with. Awareness of breathing is followed by the conscious circulation of breath through the body; and eventually this consciousness of physical breathing patterns (re)animates our consciousness of more subtle, energetic layers of breaths and beyond. The choreographic process consists of directing breaths through the body in ways that have an impact on the body and that alter or negotiate the body's image, its form in space and time.
The body is like a container, or a malleable cooking pot that has a specific shape. A fire fuels the liquid into the pot with heat, and the steaming heat inside the cooking pot changes the shape of the container.
Yamaguchi: How is the process of decoding like? Is this an analytical approach?
Arco: Decoding means being aware of forms, images, and then being aware of the potential and movement inside them. The approach is experiential, starting from breathing and heightened consciousness of the interrelation between inside and outside of the body. Analysis is only a part of the experience, and its role in the process depends on the situation.
In a nutshell, the practical process of decoding, of deviating from an accepted code, starts from breathing; the energy generated from the breath travels on specific spiral trajectories through the body and has an impact on the shape and movement of the body in space and time.
Yamaguchi: And after decoding comes encoding.
Arco: Intentional encoding can be part of the process. For example, to formulate a performance. However, during the working process a lot of time is spent improvising without intentionally fixing anything. Of course, improvisation is also a form of encoding spontaneously, even if the movement is not memorized or written.
Very late in a working process for a performance, the encoding of the language becomes a focus. By that time, ideally, encoding is an organic step forward. It is the consequence of multiple improvisations, negotiating or decoding the original codified language. It is important that each performer owns her process of decoding. My role in the process is to be a facilitator, an observer, a mirror, a partner.
I elaborate a structural skeleton that will facilitate the performers negotiation during the rehearsals, but also during the performance. This skeleton consists of structures or codes in time, space, and movement architecture, or the image of the body, still or in movement. The performance, just like the rehearsals, is a live, negotiation process of the performer, constantly decoding and encoding anew these structures.
The performer exists. The architecture or image of his body exists in time and space, and it is animated by internal forces or energies that create movement. All these parameters are interacting during the performance in an ongoing negotiation process, animated live by the internal processes discussed before. Movement is not always visible to the eye, but internal movement can become visible.
In Wagner's Parsifal, the hero tells Gurnemanz, "Ich schreite kaum, doch wähn' ich mich schon weit [I scarcely move, yet already it seems I have traveled far]" and the latter answers,"Zum Raum wird hier die Zeit." Here, "time becomes space."*1 Richard Wagner was a visionary.
*1 Richard Wagner, Parsifal (Act 1, Scene 1), 1865.
Yamaguchi: You mean, each performer is in this negotiation process?
Arco: Yes, each performer. It is very important that each performer is responsible and makes choices. A dancer always has the responsibilities of a soloist, even if the dancer is part of a group. Dancing is always a solo. This doesn't mean that we are alone and certainly doesn't mean the dancer can be insensitive of his/her environment.
Yamaguchi: You have to be very individual in thinking.
Arco: We have to be aware and responsible, we have to assert and enjoy the freedom to make choices. But an independent, isolated individuality does not exist; that is a modernist fantasy. We don't make choices isolated from the contexts and situations we live in.
The focus of the process is not on differences in personality or culture. These differences exist and they are a given. The focus of the work is on the cultivation and quality of multiple relationships: the relationship between each performer and specific time structures represented through the music; the specific spatial structures such as points, straight or curved lines; with physical images, that is body-architecture stemming, for example, from a specific movement practice; the relationship of each performer with his/her breathing; with the group of performers; with his breathing, his interiority, his environment, and so forth. Real situations, real relationships; not concepts. But concepts could be elaborated from the experiences. It is a process of devising through action, through movement.
Yamaguchi: It seems very concrete.
Arco: Relationships are concrete. And in an artistic, transcultural, and collaborative context, this means doing something together! Being creative together! Fundamentally, that's what collaboration is. The Latin origin of the word collaborare literally means, "working together;" it doesn't mean "using somebody to fulfill an ambition or agenda."
Collaborative work especially in a transcultural context is full of traps. And a certain degree of aimlessness can be a beneficial starting point for something real and concrete to develop. Dance is essentially a moment to be real. Being real, here, means to let go of polarizing ideas through an awareness of action.
Dance, essentially, is a practice that connects body and mind, action and awareness, time and space, interior and exterior planes, and sometimes it dissolves our ideas of "me" and "other."
Themes Coming up in the Creating Process
Yamaguchi: You talked also about themes of a process. What kind of themes did you have?
Arco: In the beginning of a process the encounter itself is the theme. The encounter is animated by breathing, a multitude of physical experiments and discussions that we share. Then ideas or images appear, often vast and open, such as "freedom" or "survival". Although there can be a challenge with translations, anybody, no matter what their cultural backgrounds, can relate to such ideas or images, especially as their understandings transmute from person to person and between different cultures. Ideas or images can give different colors to the physical experiences developed from breathing.
Yamaguchi: What do you talk about with the dancers?
Arco: We talk about life, the dancer's everyday experiences, their routines as well as outstanding experiences. We talk about what they do, who they are, what they're interested in. Perhaps we go to visit his/her family in the province if that's what a dancer proposes. We talk about and do a lot of things, following the dancer's impulses. It is important for me to relate to the dancers personally before engaging in an analytical cultural research. In my experience, if such research is anticipated, received ideas about the past of a culture dominate the personal encounter with the dancers today.
Yamaguchi: No cultural studies.
Arco: Encounter and experience come before cultural studies and analyses in order to allow spontaneity, curiosity and surprise. But, of course, it is important to combine both approaches. We cannot see a person if we do not also see her society, education, ancestors, culture, environment, and so on.
Dance is the paramount medium for transcultural collaboration because it can consolidate these two approaches in order to dissolve polarizing, received ideas, and in order to be more responsive to the movement and resonances that are actually taking place. Thinking habitually produces polarizing patterns. Dance takes place in a vacuum of inter-being, an experience where time and space, interior and exterior are fully interconnected. Inter-being is a word that I borrow from the great Vietnamese Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh. It superbly describes the potential of dance practice and reaches far beyond in describing the actual nature of our being human.
If we think of something to be divided and different, it will indeed appear to us as being divided and different. If we permanently think, "I am like this, and she is like that" or "Asia is like this, and Europe is like that" opposing poles such as Asia-Europe, him-me, her-me, and so on indeed will start to exist in my perception. I will "believe" that they are real. Dance can be a door to alternative, non-polarizing experiences and perceptions.
Anyway, through shared experiences and discussions, the rehearsal processes and performance themes are designed. Often these are reflected in the title of a performance. For example CRACK, a performance made in Cambodia.
The dancers were a group of six, young, classically trained Cambodian dancers. We met at a moment when obstacles of diverse nature challenged them to move forward personally as well as professionally. They shared this incredible drive to resist and push against the artistic, social, and political limitations of their everyday life in Phnom Penh. CRACK is about this drive, this energy to crack open a limiting container and to define new experiences of freedom and beyond.
At the same time all these young dancers shared a profound respect for the heritage of their classical dance and traditional Cambodian culture. The performance process of CRACK is a live negotiation of elementary, classical Khmer dance patterns from the inside through breathing, steered and directed by the dancer himself, showing us that these apparently opposing poles do not have to be contradictory.
Arco:Another example is the performance solid.states, a duo created in Solo, Central Java with Eko Supriyanto and Melanie Lane. Our rehearsal experiences and discussions led us to the theme of "stability/instability." We investigated how Javanese culture attempts to negotiate harmony between these two poles. Javanese culture has devised techniques such as classical Javanese dance in order to bring about social and individual stability within an outside world that is perceived as intrinsically unstable and dangerous.
Eko, a dancer trained in traditional Javanese dance, negotiates the apparent stability and harmony of his inherited language of movement by destabilizing, aggressive impacts on his body. Melanie's starting point was the opposite extreme of the spectrum. She was born and raised in Australia, her mother is Javanese and lives in Australia. Melanie's dance started from an extremely unstable body condition and decomposed movements towards growing stability and harmony. Both dance trajectories overlap in the middle of the performance.
The performance takes place on an unstable platform; its rocking motion digitally steered through different intensities leading up to earthquake-like shockwaves. This is an example for limiting spatial structures we talked about earlier.
Negotiation in Working Process
Yamaguchi: Can we go back to the term "negotiation"? What is it a negotiation between?
Arco: Negotiation supposes that there is a relationship. We earlier talked about multiple layers of relationships during the rehearsal process and the performance. Fundamentally, negotiation takes place within the setting of an "Abstract Dramaturgy." The performer dramatically negotiates with the non-narrative parameters of time-structures, space-structures, and movement-structures. Negotiation is a noun that I use closely related to the noun "relationship." The dramatic but non-narrative character of the negotiation process is relevant. It is a physical process, a play of forces and energies, interior and exterior.
Architecturally, body-movement-images are negotiated. However, the choreographic work is not a re-composition of forms. This is important in our transcultural context here. To stay with the example of CRACK, the negotiation is not between a European choreographer and classical Khmer dance forms. The negotiation takes place between the performer and her own classical dance forms that are being investigated and negotiated from the inside; starting from breathing, she makes her own choreographic choices. Conscious breathing leads to a place where polarizations such as East and West dissolve. And it's an experience and performance, not a spectacle.
Negotiation is not always with classical dance forms. In the Philippines for example, the performance COKE, is negotiating dance languages of the Manila entertainment industries. Negotiation, in a broader sense, is a process to change perspective. It is a continuous discovery that movement forms, as well as ideas and beliefs underlying them are constructions and codes. They can be decoded, experienced, and encoded differently. Change, hence, becomes an organic potential, and this can create a mental space, a glimpse outside of our habitual subjectivity. These are experiences that are not limited to this or that cultural background.
The Position Of Music
Dance the World from Java, Connecting with People――EKO SUPRITANTO Interview
Extending the Frontiers of Cambodian Performing Arts through Contemporary Dance — the Challenge of Amrita Performing Arts
Street Dance in Laos and Its Future — An Interview with Olé Khamchanla and Noutnapha Soydara
Curatorial Practice and Study of Dance Program - Helly Minarti Interview
Reading between the Lines―Venkatesh M. Swamy & Swati Roy
Report / Asian Literature Project "YOMU" (India)
Malayalam Publishing during the Pandemic―A. V. Sreekumar
Writers and Readers of Feminist Books in India: A Brief Overview―Urvashi Butalia
"Reimaging" Northeast India―NAKAMURA Yui
Some Thoughts on the Reading Culture of Bengal―Anjum Katyal
@jfasiacenterさんのツイート
NIHONGO Partners are those who are dispatched to secondary educational institutions
mainly in ASEAN countries in order to support
local Japanese language teachers and students.
The Japan Foundation is Japan's only institution dedicated to carrying out comprehensive international cultural exchange programs throughout the world.
→ The Japan Foundation Website
The Asia Center, established within the Japan Foundation in April 2014, is a specialized unit with the goal to connect people, expand networks, and develop cultural programs across Asia.
→ About The Japan Foundation Asia Center
Arts and Cultural
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text:
Three Days Confined to Barracks (German: Drei Tage Mittelarrest) is a 1930 German comedy film directed by Carl Boese and starring Max Adalbert, Ida Wüst, and Gretl Theimer. The film is a farce set around a military barracks. It was a major hit on its release. It was shot at the Temeplhof Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the art director Emil Hasler. It was later remade in 1955 under the same title.

Cast
Max Adalbert as Hoffmann
Ida Wüst as Adelheid
Gretl Theimer as Eva
Lucie Englisch as Auguste
Paul Hörbiger as Zippert
Paul Otto as Major von Faber
Alfred Döderlein as Erich Feldern
Fritz Schulz as Max Plettke
Felix Bressart as Franz Nowotni
Hans Hermann Schaufuß as Dr. Strauch
Hugo Fischer-Köppe as Krause
Vicky Werckmeister as Frieda
Hermann Krehan as Storch
Henry Bender as Strabl
Leo Peukert as Stabsarzt

References

External links

Films of the Weimar Republic
Films directed by Carl Boese
Films produced by Arnold Pressburger
Military humor in film
Films set in the 1900s
German black-and-white films
Cine-Allianz films
German historical comedy films
1930s historical comedy films
Films scored by Nico Dostal
1930s German-language films
1930s German films
Films shot at Tempelhof Studios


All talks have been uploaded to the global TEDx Talks account! You can also find them via the playlists on our TEDxSittardGeleen YouTube channel.
All photos have been uploaded to our Flickr account and to our Facebook page.
With thanks to Fotostudio G2.


Flowdacious brings to the hoop a lifelong interest in the body and movement arts. Experienced in a wide range of dance, healing and exercise modalities, she allows a mind-body approach to inform her hoopdance practice, finding within the hoop not only bodily freedom of expression, but mental stimulation as well. If you are feeling stuck in your head and disconnected from your body, the encouraging support, knowledge of body mechanics, and soul-stirring music she offers in her classes can help you reconnect and find your inner dancer!


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HARTLEY'S OCEANS & ISLANDS
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The Private Residence
A Jewel of the Maldives.
Located in the centre of an endless blue lagoon, in the northern Atoll of the Maldives, lies the Private Residence of Gili Lankanfushi. The resort is the epitome of luxury and relaxation with 45 elegant sea villas, delicately positioned on stilts above lapping waters and connected by a network of open air walkways. Each Villa is crafted from natural materials and designed with open plan living rooms, daybeds and in some cases glass bottom floors.
The Northern Lights
Gaze in awe as a kaleidoscope of colours mesmerise onlookers as they light up the sky and dance across the horizon.
The Northern lights have been fascinating human admires for hundreds of years.
This natural phenomenon has given rise to many legends and superstitions. The Salteaus Indians believed the northern lights to be the spirits of great hunters and fishermen dancing across the sky, while the Eskimo's believed them to be the dancing spirits of animals.
Although science understands the dazzling display of lights to be caused by discharged particles from the sun colliding with the earth's magnetic shield, they still hold the same fascination in us today as they did millennia's ago.
The lights can be seen in both the northern hemisphere, referred to as the Aurora borealis, meaning 'dawn of the north' as well as in the southern hemisphere, referred to as the Aurora australis, meaning 'dawn of the south'. Although they can be seen in both hemispheres they are best seen in the Northern hemisphere in areas such as Canada, Norway, Greenland and Iceland.
The Northern lights are always present, however the best time to see them is in winter during the months of September, October, March and April. Witnessing this mesmerising magical display is sure to delight you with memories that will last a lifetime.
Whether you enjoy a sunset stroll along pristine sandy beaches, nature walks in the dense tropical forest or diving rich coral gardens, the paradise of Bird Island is a magical Island destination with magnificent scenery and fascinating wildlife experiences.
Bird Island is the northern most island in the Seychelles archipelago. This remote destination is bordered by powdered white sandy beaches, crystal clear turquoise waters and lush tropical vegetation. The glistening water offers excellent diving and snorkelling opportunities along its rich coral reef and the lush tropical rainforest provides the perfect setting for a leisurely stroll.
During the months from November to February you may have a rare opportunity to witness Hawksbill Turtles nesting along the beach in broad daylight as they pull their weight along the beach and begin digging in preparation to lay their eggs. Witnessing the hatchings during the months from February through to April is also a memorable experience as tiny hatchlings begin their fight for survival, frantically make a dash towards the ocean, fighting the odds against predators.
Bounty of Bunaken
Whether you enjoy feeling the sand between your toes as you take long walks on the beach, the thrill of a night dive as a spotted eagle ray lurks in the shadows or the nostalgia that comes with diving a sunken WWII shipwreck, Bunaken National Park is sure to exceed your expectations.
Lying north of Sulawesi Island, offshore of Manado in Indonesia and covering a total surface area of 89,065 hectares, 97% of which overlain by sparkling clear, warm tropical water, Bunaken National Park makes for the ultimate divers paradise. The park has a unique bathymetry that lends itself to the absence of a continental shelf, allowing the coastal area to drop directly down to the sea floor. The top of the reef begins at 3m and drops an astonishing 600m, making it ideal for both beginners and experienced divers. Being part of the Indo-Pacific region as well as on a direct migratory route for protected sealife, Bunaken National Park also supports one of the highest marine diversities on earth.
There are 5 islands that make up the park, namely Bunaken, Manado Tua, Mantehage, Nain and Siladen, all of which offer great diving opportunities. However, most diving takes place near Bunaken and Manado Tua.
The island of Bunaken is easily accessible via motorized boats that leave daily from Mando Harbor. Lekuan Walls (I, II and III) can be found on Bunaken and boasts one of the Park's best diving spots. The steep underwater walls are lined with deep crevices, giant sea fans and lush sponges. With the walls often being protected from stronger currents, sea life is abundant and ranges from larger species such as bumphead parrot fish, turtles and napoleon wrasses to smaller critters including scorpion fish, lionfish, nudibranch and seahorses. Mando Tua, on the other hand is a magnificent cone shaped volcanic island made up of steep sandy slopes, dotted with coconut palms. Due to the prevailing currents that run alongside it there is a great opportunity to see sharks and spotted eagle rays. Also Home to a 60m long sunken WWII shipwreck Mando Tau is a definite must see.
For those who enjoy something out of the ordinary a night dive in Bunaken is sure to satisfy your craving for adventure. The thrill of diving the depths of the ocean in complete darkness as well as the excitement that comes with not knowing what could be lurking in the shadows is sure to get your adrenaline pumping. As the sun sets and the darkness creeps in a whole new underwater world comes to life as creatures rarely seen during the daytime creep out of their crevices while beautiful tentacles of coral stretch out to catch plankton.
With water temperatures ranging from 26°C to 29 °C throughout the year, Bunaken is a diving destination for all seasons. Between the months of March to October is the dry season while November to March is the rainy season. Since visibility is reduced when it rains diving during the dry months of March to October is recommended.
Cocos The Island of Sharks
Thrilling drift dives, steep vertical walls, blue water diving and deep pinnacles categorize the many superb dive sites in the Cocos but the hundreds of patrolling hammerhead sharks are what make the Cocos island world renowned.
Cocos Island is a remote uninhabited island located 550km off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Declared a marine National Park in 1978, this tropical island offers visitors a rare glimpse into one of the most pristine and untamed rainforests in the world. Created from large uprisings of volcanic seamounts and situated in the Golden Triangle, the converging ocean currents attract an array of marinelife and huge pelagic action, for which the Isla del Coco are famed.
Schooling hammerhead sharks, white tip sharks, Galapagos sharks, tiger sharks, mantas, tuna and the occasional whale shark are attracted to the underwater world of the National Park, making it an excellent diving destination for pelagic lovers.
The main attraction of the Cocos is the scalloped hammerhead sharks that congregate together, sometimes gathering by the hundreds! The best dive sites to see these odd looking creatures is Bajo Alcyone and Dirty Rock. Bajo Alcyone is a 600 ft long submerged mountain where legions of hammerhead sharks and majestic manta rays glide through the water, circling above and below divers in search of cleaning stations. Due to the strong currents here, Bajo Alcyone is better suited for advanced divers.
However, for less skilled divers who still enjoy getting up close and personal with big fish, Dirty Rock is the preferred choice. Towered by spectacular volcanic formations and rock pinnacles this sheltered channel is the perfect location for divers to get in on the pelagic action. Schools of patrolling hammerhead sharks are not the only attraction here, turtles and playful dolphins, along with a huge variety of fish make Dirty Rock one of the most dynamic dive sites in the Cocos.
For a change of scenery divers can enjoy thrilling night dives with whitetip reef sharks. At night these slender sharks emerge, hunting bony fish, crustaceans and octopus in groups. Due to their slender shape these sharks are capable of dashing in and out of caves and crevices as they search for hidden prey. Witnessing groups of whitetip reef sharks as they engage in a feeding frenzy while whizzing past divers is an exhilarating experience, sure to get your blood pumping and your heart racing!
Cruise Glaciers of Greenland
Cruise through a maze of rugged icebergs, beneath a curtain of fog that slowly dissolves as you glide through it, revealing giant glass-like glaziers that stretch across the horizon and tower high into the crystal clear blue sky. If you get close enough to these majestic sculptures you may even have an opportunity to hear the low rumble and cracking of ice, as an iceberg breaks off and plunges into the steel blue sea.
Recognised as the largest island in the world, Greenland boasts miles of unchartered icy territory with spectacular scenery. From snow-capped mountains, rugged icebergs, glass glaziers and icy blue waters, exploring the magnificent landscape, either on foot or by boat, is sure to leave you feeling in awe.
The Greenlandic waters are home to an extraordinary range of wildlife, including white whales, blue, sperm and humpback whales as well as narwhals. On land wolves roam the rolling hills, foxes hide in hidden caves and polar bears guard their icy territory.
During the summer months, from May to July, a natural phenomenon known as the Midnight Sun occurs. The Midnight Sun shines throughout the night, making icebergs and glaziers glow a soft pink and orange colour, allowing visitors to enjoy the beauty of their surreal surroundings, both during the day and night.
Another natural phenomenon that occurs during the winter months, from September though to April, is that of the Aurora Borealis, commonly known at the Northern lights. The lights are best seen at midnight, dancing amongst the stars as they light up the sky a magnificent kaleidoscope of colours.
The Misool Eco Resort offers blissfully secluded accommodation in one of the most bio-diverse diving regions in the world
Misool Eco Resort is a remote dive resort and conservation centre located in the Southern region of Raja Ampat, West Papua. This magnificent resort is surrounded by an archipelago of uninhabited islands and located in the heart of one of the richest, bio-diverse dive regions in the world.
For those divers who prefer a land based vacation as opposed to livaboard, Misool Eco Resort's location makes it ideal for diving while at the same time providing guests with blissfully secluded accommodation, making it the ultimate tropical getaway destination for dive enthusiasts and holiday makers alike.
The rustic water cottages are positioned on stilts above the lapping waters, overlooking the shallow turquoise lagoon. Stairs leading from the balcony allow guests to enjoy the temperate waters right from their doorstep, while hammocks set the scene for maximum relaxation.
With the House Reef just a few splashes away guests can enjoy the dazzling variety of marine life without having to leave the resort or travel far. However, for guests who would like a change of scenery, boats from the resort leave daily allowing guests to travel and experience the wealth of diverse dive sites that Raja Ampat has to offer.
The Heads of Easter Island
The Easter Island statues and the mystery surrounding their creation continue to intrigue visitors today. Satisfy your curiosity while visiting one the most remote and isolated islands in the South Pacific. With its dramatic volcanic landscape, rugged sea cliffs and magnificent beaches, a trip to Easter Island will not only satisfy your curiosity but will far exceed your expectations.
Located over 4000km west of Chile in the Southern Pacific Ocean, Easter Island remains one of the most remote and isolated Islands in the South Pacific. Famed for its enormous stone heads that stand some 4m tall and weigh an unbelievable 14 tons. The creation and transportation of these colossal statues speak volumes about their creators and bear testament to their remarkable physical triumphs and creativity.
Carved from volcanic rock these giant statues lie scattered across the island, yet no one knows their exact significance. Some scholars believe the Moai were created to honour ancestral chiefs who were believed to be direct descendants from the gods. Their supernatural powers guard and protect the community, hence the statues being positioned facing the ocean, as if to watch over the people and protect the island from any unwanted visitors.
The statues of Easter Island and their enduring appeal have contributed towards the Rapa Nui National Park being awarded its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, although these giant statues make it difficult to peel your eyes away from them, there is a lot more to see and do on Easter Island. With its rich volcanic soil, rocky sea cliffs and giant calderas, Easter Island boasts one of the South Pacific's most dramatic landscapes, making a hike along the brim of a dormant volcano hard to resist!
Despite its barren landscape Easter Island is home to a magnificent white sand beach. Bordered by towering coconut palms and blessed with soft white powder sand beach and crystal clear waters, the Anakena beach is an oasis of paradise, warm enough to swim in year round.
Bellow the water's surface the scenery is just as spectacular with mysterious caves and tunnels of lava rock, piercing blue sea and many curious creatures. Due to its isolation many of the underwater species are endemic, making for a unique diving experience. The usual suspects that can regularly be encountered on dives include eels, turtles, porcupine fish, butterfly fish and the occasional pelagic.
The Floating Hotel Cuba
Dive the magnificent waters of Cuba from the comfort of a double deck house boat, The Tortuga.
The best way to dive the Jardines de la Reina is from the comfort of livaboards or houseboats. The Tortuga is a double deck houseboat anchored in a protected channel, close to spectacular dive sites. This provides guests the comfort of living in a hotel while remaining in close proximity to dive sites, allowing divers to reach diving sites within minutes on boats that leave from the Tortuga daily.
The Jardines de la Reina, commonly referred to as the Gardens of the Queen is a magnificent mangrove forest network with spectacular beaches and excellent diving opportunities, housing over 40 dive sites. Beneath the surface divers can expect to find a fascinating variety of sea life including marlins, swordfish, goupers, barracudas, sharks, lobsters and morays. If you're lucky you may find yourself diving alongside the rare Cuban crocodile, being sure to make diving in Cuba an unforgettable experience!
Recognised as having one of the richest marine biodiversity's and renowned for close encounters with a large variety of sharks, including silky, blacktip, reef, hammerhead, bull, leopard as well as whale sharks, diving the Gardens of the Queen is sure to exceed your diving dreams. Not only is the Jardines de la Reina home to a large variety of endangered sharks, the national park surrounding it is also home to numerous other endangered species of plant and wildlife, including loggerhead turtles, hawksbill turtles, Cuban crocodiles and black, staghorn and elkhorn corals.
The Last Wild Islands
Tetepare Island, in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands, is one of the largest uninhabited islands in the South Pacific. Blessed with lush forestry, bordered by metallic black sands and fringed by magnificent turquoise lagoons, this remote island houses many hidden treasures.
Tetepare is a wilderness-lovers paradise with lush virgin rainforests and inviting temperate waters, teeming with wildlife. For dive enthusiasts Tetepare's coral gardens support one of the highest diversities of marine life in the world, second to Raja Ampat.
Frequently visited by docile dugongs who graze along the grassy seabed, large schools of barracuda as well as a wealth of colourful reef fish. Other marinelife regularly encountered on dives include hornbills, pygmy parrots, coconut crabs, bump-headed parrot fish and pods of playful dolphins.
Visiting Tetepare during the months from October through to January provides visitors with a rare opportunity to witness turtles, including the rare and endangered leatherback turtle, nesting along the Island's volcanic black sand beaches. Camp on the beaches at night as you wait in anticipation for the turtles to reveal themselves from the depths of the ocean as they slowly pull their weight along the beach and begin digging in preparation for laying their eggs. From January through to March visitors can look forward to the hatching of the eggs as they begin their fight for survival, frantically making a dash for the shoreline.
Daytime forest walks offer visitors an opportunity to explore the remnants of abandoned villages. Learn about Tetepare's past as you explore these villages, attempting to piece together the mystery surrounding Tetepare's lost civilisation.
Under the cover of darkness visitors can enjoy the thrill of a night-time walk through the rainforest when unusual nocturnal creatures come out from hiding after sunset. Night-time brings with it the opportunity to see cuscuses, a nocturnal relative of the monkey, giant coconut crabs and huge colonies of bats, for which the Solomon Islands are famed.
Islands of the Indian Ocean
For those dreaming of island holidays with powder sand beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see, towering palms trees and lapping azure waters then a getaway to one of the many Indian Ocean Islands can make your dreams a reality.
Boasting magnificent beaches and luxurious island accommodation, the exotic Islands of the Indian Ocean are the ultimate getaway destination. Although the Indian Ocean is the smallest of the world's three major oceans, nestled in its warm waters are a wide variety of spectacular tropical island destinations to choose from.
From the spice island of Zanzibar, the culture rich tropical island of Mauritius and the unique and fascinating wildlife of Madagascar to the excellent diving and snorkeling opportunities of Seychelles and Maldives, visitors are spoilt for choice. With a wide range of activities on offer, including diving and snorkeling, sunset catamarans, romantic starlit dinners, deep sea fishing or simply soaking up the sun, visiting the Indian Ocean Islands is the ultimate beach vacation fit for every occasion, be it a honeymoon, family holiday or business trip.
Museum of living species Galapagos
These remote volcanic islands, with their unique and fascinating endemic species, continue to inspire and amaze visitors today, just as they inspired Darwin's theory of evolution over 200 years ago.
Situated in the Pacific Ocean, 1000km from the South American continent in the Province of Ecuador, is where you will find the remote Galapagos Islands. Home to some of the richest diversities of marinelife, due to its location where three ocean current converge, makes this magnificent archipelago one of the best diving destinations in the world and fully deserving of its status as a World Heritage Site.
The ongoing volcanic activity on the islands bears testament to their creation. Born from erupting oceanic volcanoes, these isolated islands are home to a fascinating variety of wildlife, most of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. These circumstances inspired Darwin's theory of natural selection and his theory of evolution following his visit in 1835.
Most exciting for visitors is the unique and fearless wildlife that inhabit these islands. Marine iguanas, giant tortoises, sea lions, penguins, flightless cormorants and a variety of finches can all be seen and approached, most of which are curious of humans, making close encounters a common occurrence.
Although the Galapagos Islands are notorious for their spectacular wildlife, the landscape is equally astonishing with long stretches of shoreline bordered by steep cliffs, magnificent lava and shell sand beaches and mangrove swamps that shelter secluded lagoons.
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Is Ashley Graham's 'Sports Illustrated' Swimsuit Issue Cover For The Male Gaze?
By Marie Southard Ospina
On Feb. 14, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue got something of a makeover. First published in 1964, the swim edition has long been a hub for supermodels in bikinis. From Heidi Klum to Tyra Banks to Chrissy Teigen to Naomi Campbell, modeling industry giants have either landed in its pages, or up-and-coming models have been propelled into the spotlight because of its pages. But besides being talented models, what do these women have in common? Well, they're mostly tall, mostly thin, conventionally attractive babes. They are "beauty standards" incarnate — the sort of women all other women are so often urged to aspire to.
The 2016 issue is groundbreaking for several reasons, though. It finally branched out a little from that one principal notion of beauty.
Plus size model Precious Lee starred in a Lane Bryant ad within the pages, the second WOC visibly above a size 12 to do so. Mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey landed a cover, helping give some visibility to strong, athletically built women. Curve model Robyn Lawley starred in an editorial for the second year in a row. British Ghanaian model Philomena Kwao, 56-year-old mature model Nicola Griffin, and plus model Ashley Graham all landed the swimsuitsforall #SwimSexy ad. And Graham — plus size modeling veteran that she is — got a cover spot of her own alongside Rousey and straight size model Hailey Clauson. As a fat woman who follows the modeling and fashion industries to some degree, Graham's role in SI pretty much made my day. But should it have, considering the fact that Sports Illustrated is a male-centric magazine that caters so heavily to the male gaze?
Used by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey in her 1975 essay "Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema," "the male gaze" refers to the visual ritual whereby "female characters are sexualized, and the camera may zero in on female body parts considered sexual." It's essentially a form of catering to a male audience by emphasizing the qualities or aesthetic traits we assume men find pleasing.
The male gaze is arguably the thing that has driven much of marketing for decades upon decades, leading to the over-sexualization of women in order to sell everything from beer to gardening equipment to cigarettes. Is it problematic that women have often been pigeonholed into pleasing men above all else? Absolutely. But when I browsed my social media feed to check out the reactions to the latest Sports Illustrated issue, the debate revolving around the male gaze felt a little off somehow.
I don't believe that the body positive community has to be collectively happy all the time. Claiming as much feels almost like an invalidation to the myriad of voices, experiences, and opinions that the complex and diverse worlds of body positivism and size activism have to offer. So as was to be expected, Sports Illustrated, and Graham's presence on the cover in particular, sparked a debate: Was this a win for plus size visibility and the spread of body diversity in media? Or was it just a means to being able to say, "Look! Men find us attractive!"
I understand the urge to write this moment off. As something that won't incite long-lasting change or fight for an end to size discrimination; as something that's only "for men;" and even as something that just isn't relatable to the vast majority of fat women, because most women who identify as "fat" probably don't look like Ashley Graham (myself included).
Mixed opinions are normal. They're good. They're how we learn and broaden our minds to thought processes outside our own. But I think deeming this cover, and all the other moments of body diversity SI showed this year, as being completely irrelevant on the grounds that Sports Illustrated itself is irrelevant to anyone who's not a heterosexual man is something of a disservice to the models involved, to women who choose to present themselves in conventionally "sexy" ways, to people who want to feel "sexy," and maybe even to some men.
Media, fashion and modeling media included, undoubtedly need to be working actively to showcase more diversity of fat bodies above a size 22, differently-abled bodies, non-binary bodies, more WOC, and androgynous bodies. But it isn't Ashley Graham's fault the majority of mainstream plus size models look like her.
Blame brands. Blame marketers. Blame the diet industry. Blame television. Blame whoever decided that clothes don't look good on fat bodies. Graham is a longtime plus size model, working an area of this industry for far longer than most. While I yearn for the day when all of the world's most famous plus size models don't have similar proportions to her (and side note: I also yearn for the day when Sports Illustrated swim also has a male issue, or features more genders in its current one), I just don't believe ignoring how big a moment this must be for someone in her particular field is doing diversity's evolution much of a service.
Maybe it's OK to celebrate this moment as a win for Graham, for mainstream plus size models, for plus size women who do see themselves in her (because there are plenty of "average"-sized women in the 12 to 16 range who probably do see themselves represented in Graham more than they have in any other SI model before her), and even for the plus fashion industry (not because SI is particularly relevant to the plus size fashion industry, but because it utilized a person who is). The point remains that she was the first ever plus size fashion model to land this highly coveted a magazine cover, and that's a huge achievement. As Marie Claire columnist and lifestyle blogger Nicolette Mason wrote on Twitter, "This girl has been working her big butt off for a DECADE [...] @theashleygraham is one of the hardest working people in the biz."
We then arrive at the dilemma of sexy. I've often fought with myself over my makeup routine, wondering why I choose to uphold beauty conventions when in the form of lipsticks and mascara, but subvert them in terms of my style choices or open admission that I actually like being fat. Why do I pick and choose which versions of mainstream sexiness to uphold?
Every so often, I stop wearing makeup for a few days just to make sure I'm applying it because it brings me joy and not because I'm petrified of being seen without it. And I always arrive at the same conclusion: There is empowerment to be found in treating and pampering your body, even if it is historically rooted in the male gaze, in a way that feels right to you. Maybe that's putting on a full face of makeup. Maybe that's taking a stroll through the park. Maybe that's going on a shopping trip. Maybe that's taking a bath. Maybe that's putting oil all over your body and snapping some "sexy" photos.
For me, part of identifying as a "feminist" has always meant supporting the choices women make for themselves, even if I wouldn't make them for myself. At the end of the day, just because I wouldn't necessarily get plastic surgery, or wear cakey foundation, or put on a pair of heels to go dancing doesn't mean someone else might not find personal fulfillment when executing those things. Much like some folks might not find personal fulfillment in being fat, wearing a lot of vintage-inspired clothes, and putting on a pair of emo-like creeper shoes á la me.
I believe there's a difference between exercising the right to display your body in a bikini for a male-centric publication and asking for male approval. In a world in which we are still fighting for a lot of the basic rights that men have simply been granted for being born the "right" gender, I understand the reluctance to do or celebrate things that might cater to the male gaze. But we cannot assume that everything remotely sexual must always be done for that male gaze. Nor can we assume that just because women are in swimsuits, their goal must be to look sexual in the first place. Maybe most people picking up the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue are men. But that doesn't mean the models in the pages are working to please those men. For all we know, many of them are working to please other women, who make up 50 percent of the population and many of whom are bound to come across this issue. For all we know, none of these models are back at home, washing all the body oil off, and thinking, "I finally did it. I got my male approval."
But let's pretend Ashley Graham was in her living room right now, patting herself on the back for achieving one of the highest honors of the modeling industry. Let's say she was looking in the mirror and thinking "you sexy thing, you fucking did it." I think we can all agree that the over-sexualization of women is wrong — but it feels like a much different phenomenon when women want to present as sexy, or even sexual. Perhaps it's the same phenomenon that leads so many body pos activists to strip down to our underwear or fatkinis or even to our birthday suits. There is sexual agency in every body.
Speaking to Ade Hassan, the founder of Nubian Skin, New York Magazine's Dayna Evans wrote, "This newfound declaration of feminist pride in sexiness 'comes from a perspective of respect.' The important thing, [Hassan] said, is 'coming from a position of power as opposed to a position of vulnerability.'" This is why I don't believe it's up to any one individual to assume that a woman's choice in presentation is down to the male gaze. But even if a woman's aesthetic choices do come down to wanting to feel attractive to the opposite sex — even then — it isn't the job of one feminist to tell another woman that she's doing an aspect of her life wrong.
And so we arrive at the other 50 percent of the world's population: The male one. No matter how real and fucked up male privilege is, we just can't blanket the entire male population or assume that every male-born individual must maintain the same preferences, opinions, and voices as every other male-born individual. Because I believe that beauty is 100 percent subjective. I also believe that men have their own interpretations of it, person to person. Yet the reality is that there is still stigma surrounding men who like curvy or fat women. There's still judgment that comes from being a "chubby chaser" or not thinking the size 2 model with boobies the size of bowling balls is sexiness embodied.
In a way, Ashley Graham's cover feels less about curvy or fat women needing male approval, and more about acknowledgment that the main demographic of Sports Illustrated might not want to see just one body type represented. Maybe dudes are multi-faceted, too. Maybe they don't all dream of bonking a size 2 model. And maybe a publication such as this acknowledging as much is just the sort of thing that can help lead to crushing the belief that only thin women deserve love, respect, fairness, compassion, and equality from the opposite sex. Maybe even the awful dudes who make it a point to fat shame women on the Internet will lose fuel for the fire if the media outlets telling us "what sexy looks like" were more diverse, more inclusive, and more accepting themselves.
It's likely that some teenage boy in a high school changing room will put this picture in his locker and daydream about it. Hell, it's likely some grown men will, too. And good for them. As for Ashley Graham, she probably cares about her career a little bit more than all that, and what Sports Illustrated's latest issue means for her actual life. And maybe she carers about what her cover means to a lot of the women who support her. Some of whom might feel a little more empowered in their own sexual agency when they see these images; some of whom might finally want to try a two-piece bikini; some of whom might feel nothing, other than congratulatory sentiments for her.
This cover might mean the world to some women. It might mean absolutely nothing to others. It might cater to the male gaze. It might cater to the female gaze, too. Like any image, those interpretations are going to be varied. But I guess for me, I'm just glad Ashley Graham's cover is different to the hundreds that have come before it. I'm glad it's broken some rules.
Listen to the latest episode of Bustle's The Chat Room, where we discuss body positivity and the reaction to Ashley Graham's cover:
Images: theashleygraham/Instagram; Lane Bryant (1); swimsuitsforall (2)