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Hemácias são unidades morfológicas da série vermelha do sangue, também designadas por eritrócitos ou glóbulos vermelhos, que estão presentes no sangue em número de cerca de 4,5 a 6,0 x 106/mm³, em condições normais. São constituídas basicamente por globulina e hemoglobina, e a sua função é transportar o oxigênio (principalmente) e o gás carbônico (CO2) (em menor quantidade) aos tecidos. Os eritrócitos vivem por aproximadamente 120 dias.

Estas células não possuem núcleo nem ADN e o seu citoplasma é rico em hemoglobina, que é responsável pela cor vermelha do sangue. Por conta da sua caraterística a hemácia é utilizada para diversas pesquisas, como osmolaridade de membranas.

Formação nos humanos

A formação de hemácias é denominada eritropoiese. Este processo é dinâmico e envolve os processos de mitose, síntese de DNA e hemoglobina, incorporação do ferro, perda de núcleo, organelos e resulta na produção de glóbulo vermelho sem núcleo e com reservas energéticas.

A medula óssea é o cerne da eritropoiese que realiza-se pela diferenciação das células-tronco em pro eritroblasto, eritroblasto basófilo, eritroblasto policromático, eritroblasto ortocromático e reticulócito (liberado na circulação). Após o período de um ou dois dias o reticulócito perde o retículo e torna-se um eritrócito.

Características
Nos mamíferos, os eritrócitos são discos bicôncavos que não têm núcleo e medem 0,007 mm de diâmetro. Nos demais vertebrados, são ovais e possuem núcleo. A ausência do núcleo em mamíferos pode ser considerada uma vantagem evolutiva, já que o espaço que seria ocupado pelo núcleo pode ser ocupado por uma maior quantidade de hemoglobina, aumentando a eficiência no transporte de oxigênio. A cor vermelha se deve à alta concentração da molécula de transporte de oxigênio dentro das células, a hemoglobina. Há cerca de 5 milhões de eritrócitos em um milímetro cúbico de sangue humano; eles são produzidos numa velocidade de 2 milhões por segundo por um tecido especial que se localiza na medula óssea de quase todos os ossos no recém nascido, e apenas nos ossos axiais em adultos (arcos costais, corpo vertebral, esterno e ílio) o tecido hematopoiético, e as partículas velhas são destruídas e removidas pelo baço liberando bilirrubina.

Os eritrócitos também atuam no começo da verífase (fase da divisão celular entre anáfase e telófase ) ativando a coenzima de restrição  do MED2, enzima responsável pela promoção da citocinese.

As baixas tensões de oxigênio, hipoxia, nas grandes altitudes estimulam maior produção de hemácias para que o transporte de oxigênio seja facilitado. A hipoxia é detectada pelo sistema renal, e este produz a hormona Eritropoetina que estimula a medula óssea a produzir maior número de eritrócitos, consequentemente causando a correção da hipoxia.

Quando colocadas em solução hipotônica (menos concentrada), as hemácias sofrem hemólise, ou seja, se rompem. Em meio hipertônico (mais concentrado), perdem água e murcham, ocorrendo plasmólise.
Quando os eritrócitos se rompem, liberam a hemoglobina, que é convertida em bilirrubina e eliminada pela vesícula biliar ao sistema gastrintestinal.

Na membrana dos glóbulos vermelhos existem vários tipos de proteínas que são: a anquirina, actina, glicoforina, banda 3, espectrina e banda 4.1.

Doenças e ferramentas de diagnóstico

Doenças sanguíneas que envolvem as hemácias incluem:

 Anemias são doenças caracterizadas pela capacidade diminuída de transporte de oxigénio devido à diminuição da contagem de eritrócitos ou à concentração de hemoglobina nestas células.
 Anemia ferropénica (ou anemia ferropriva) é a anemia mais comum; ocorre quando a ingestão de ferro ou a sua absorção pelo organismo está diminuída, levando a diminuição da produção da hemoglobina, pois o ferro é um dos seus principais constituintes;
 Anemia falciforme é uma doença genética que resulta da mutação das moléculas de hemoglobina. Quando estas se desligam do oxigénio tornam-se insolúveis e levam à alteração da forma das hemácias. Estas partículas em forma de foice são rígidas e podem bloquear os vasos sanguíneos, causar dor, tromboses e outros danos teciduais. Especificamente, a anemia falciforme é devida a uma mutação que consiste na troca de um aminoácido Glu-6 (glutamato na posição 6) por uma Val-6 (valina na posição 6) na zona externa da hemoglobina; esta mudança de um aminoácido polar para um hidrofóbico causa a alteração conformacional própria da anemia falciforme.
 Talassemia é uma doença genética que resulta na alteração da quantidade produzida de subunidades da hemoglobina.
 Anemia hemolítica é um grupo de anemias cuja causa se deve à destruição aumentada de glóbulos vermelhos (hemólise), podendo ter origem factores intrínsecos ou extrínsecos à hemácia.
 Esferocitose é uma anemia hemolítica caracterizada por um defeito genético nas proteínas da membrana e/ou no citoesqueleto da partícula, levando a hemácias pequenas, de forma esférica (esferócitos), daí o nome, e de constituição frágil, ao contrário da sua forma bicôncava e flexível.
 Anemia Perniciosa é uma doença autoimune caracterizada pela falta do factor intrínseco necessário para a absorção da vitamina B12 da comida. A vitamina B12 é essencial para a produção da hemoglobina.
 Anemia aplástica é causada pela incapacidade da medula óssea de produzir partículas sanguíneas,(a produção de partículas sanguíneas pela medula óssea também pode ser chamada de eritropoiese).

 O parasita da malária passa parte do seu ciclo de vida nas hemácias, alimenta-se da hemoglobina e depois provoca hemólise, o que origina febre. Tanto a anemia falciforme e a talassemia são comuns nas áreas da malária pois estas mutações oferecem resistência a esta doença.
 Policitemias (ou eritrocitoses) são doenças caracterizadas por um aumento do número de glóbulos vermelhos. O aumento da viscosidade do sangue daí derivado pode causar vários sintomas.
 Na policitemia primária o número aumentado de hemácias advém de uma alteração da medula óssea.
 Várias doenças microangiopáticas, que incluem a coagulação intravascular disseminada e as microangiopatias trombóticas, apresentam no diagnóstico fragmentos de hemácias designado por esquistócitos. Estas patologias geram feixes de fibrina que prendem os glóbulos vermelhos quando estes tentam passar pelo trombose.

Os vários exames sanguíneos incluem a contagem de glóbulos vermelhos por volume de sangue e o hematócrito (percentagem de volume de sangue ocupado pelo volume total das hemácias). O tipo sanguíneo precisa de ser determinado se for necessária uma transfusão sanguínea ou um transplante de órgãos.

Sistema ABO
A descoberta dos grupos sanguíneos

Por volta de 1900, o médico austríaco Karl Landsteiner (1868 – 1943) verificou que, quando amostras de sangue de determinadas pessoas eram misturadas, as hemácias se juntavam, formando aglomerados semelhantes a coágulos. Landsteiner concluiu que determinadas pessoas têm sangues incompatíveis, e, de fato, as pesquisas posteriores revelaram a existência de diversos tipos sanguíneos, nos diferentes indivíduos da população.

Quando, em uma transfusão, uma pessoa recebe um tipo de sangue incompatível com o seu, as hemácias transferidas vão se aglutinando assim que penetram na circulação, formando aglomerados compactos que podem obstruir os capilares, prejudicando a circulação do sangue.

Aglutinogênios e aglutininas

No sistema ABO existem quatro tipos de sangues: A, B, AB e O. Esses tipos são caracterizados pela presença ou não de certas substâncias na membrana das hemácias, os aglutinogênios, e pela presença ou ausência de outras substâncias, as aglutininas, no plasma sanguíneo.

Existem dois tipos de aglutinogênio, A e B, e dois tipos de aglutinina, anti-A e anti-B. Pessoas do grupo A possuem aglutinogênio A, nas hemácias e aglutinina anti-B no plasma; as do grupo B têm aglutinogênio B nas hemácias e aglutinina anti-A no plasma; pessoas do grupo AB têm aglutinogênios A e B nas hemácias e nenhuma aglutinina no plasma; e pessoas do grupo O não tem aglutinogénios na hemácias, mas possuem as duas aglutininas, anti-A e anti-B, no plasma.

Ver também

 Hematopoiese
 Eritropoiese

Hemácia
Hemácia


"Research consistently shows that teaching is the single most important school-based factor in a student's academic growth" (Center for Education Policy Research, Harvard University). Improving the effectiveness of Kentucky's classroom teachers is a primary goal of personnel growth and evaluation systems. District certified evaluation plans should reflect and support Kentucky's commitment to every student being taught by an effective teacher by promoting the vision of continuous professional growth and development of skills needed to be a highly effective educator. Local plans should be designed to catalyze professional growth and create a fair and equitable system to promote and measure teacher effectiveness.
The Kentucky Framework for Teaching (Danielson 2011) provides educators a clear understanding of what it means to be effective.
The Kentucky Framework for Teaching: Specialist Frameworks (Danielson 2011) provide other professionals with their own specialized framework, outlining what it means to be an effective media specialist, counselor, speech pathologist, or school psychologist.
The Principal Performance Standards Reference outlines what it means to be an effective principal.
NGP also publishes the Educator Development newsletter of articles and announcements that highlight Kentucky educators engaging in relevant and innovative distributed leadership models, planning for equitable access, and pursuing effective professional learning and instructional and assessment practices of interest to all Kentucky educators.


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Tesla to deliver over 405,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2022
Tesla has sold 405,278 electric vehicles in the last three months of the year 2022.
This is a record made by Tesla, before which the company had never sold so many cars in such a short time.
Earlier, Tesla sold 308,600 cars in the last three months of 2021.
Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y are the best selling models.
In the year 2022, Tesla had 388,131 customers only for Model 3 and Model Y.
Apart from this, Tesla has sold Model S and Model X to 17,147 customers.
In Q4, Tesla also had trouble securing transportation for completed vehicles.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Baroness Neuberger (sister-in-law of Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger) was announced as the chair of an independent review into the Liverpool Care Pathway, a care plan for the dying that avoids unnecessary treatment and focuses on palliative measures. Neuberger will sit with a panel of experts and oversee investigations into complaints brought by bereaved relatives. The panel will report to MPs and the NHS Commissioning Board in the summer.
Laws on driving licences will be changed after it was found that there was a loophole which facilitated illegal trade in UK licences. A BBC investigation revealed that agencies were obtaining UK licences for foreign drivers via a Hong Kong licence, which can be automatically swapped for a UK licence. The new restrictions will mean that requests to exchange licences from outside the EU will only be accepted if the licence holder can prove that they have passed a driving test in a country where the testing standards are equivalent.
The High Court rejected the Met police's attempt to strike out claims brought by women who claim they were tricked into relationships with undercover officers tasked with spying on their activist groups. Mr Justice Tugendhat held that the Investigatory Powers Tribunal had jurisdiction over the Human Rights Act 1998 claims but did not have any jurisdiction in regards to the common law claims for damages, which would have to be heard in the High Court. QBD proceedings were temporarily stayed pending the IPT's decision.
Finally, a professor at the University of Newcastle has admitted to four counts of damaging cars after a late-night spree of scratching graffiti onto expensive cars. Luxury models had polite phrases such as "very silly", "really wrong", and "arbitrary" scratched into them with a screwdriver.


Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc. (Deluxe) announced today that long-time film industry executive Debbie Mann is returning to the company as SVP, Operations and Client Relations, Deluxe Technicolor Digital Cinema (DTDC). Mann will have a dual focus on distribution services and the customer experience as DTDC drives forward with new innovations and initiatives to expand its business globally.
One of the four original executives of motion picture distribution services company ETS, Mann built and led the company's operations and client-facing services organization, growing ETS to be an industry leader when it was acquired by Deluxe and renamed Deluxe Film Services in 2002. During her previous time with Deluxe, Mann led strategy, operations, and all facets of the distribution business as SVP, Deluxe Film Services. Under her almost two decades of leadership, the ETS and Deluxe teams successfully distributed 3.5 million new release prints, supporting customers nationally. Mann was also instrumental in the launch and growth of Deluxe's digital cinema business, running operations and client relations. She re-joins Deluxe most recently from having served as Director of Theatrical Sales for STXfilms, a division of global media company STX Entertainment.


The name Alyce is of Old French origin, and is a variation of Alice. The table below indicates the number of times the name Alyce has been given to baby girls in recent years. The last 125 years refers to 1880 through 2004; last year refers to 2004. The rank and count values are based on U.S. Social Security Administration counts for the one thousand most popular names given to baby girls in each of these years.
The table below indicates the number of times the name Alyce has been given to baby girls and baby boys each year, from 1880 through 2004. Alyce last appeared in the top thousand girl or boy names during 1961, the last year shown on the table. A blank entry indicates that the name did not rank among the top one thousand names given to girls or boys, respectively, during the specified year.
During the last 125 years, parents have used Alyce as a girl's name nearly 100% of the time and hardly ever as a boy's name. Cumulative counts and total counts shown on the above tables are somewhat lower than actual counts because the name Alyce appears in the top 1,000 girl names only 80 times during the last 125 years.


We are thrilled to welcome several missionaries and staff members from The Awakening for Emmanuel's annual SEND Week, February 5-7!
We will be joined by EC Alumni missionaries, Kevin and Summer Sneed (East Africa Bible College), Roger and Ginger Johnson (Haiti), Seth and Madeline Nix (The Awakening), and several other staff members from The Awakening!
Also, The Awakening Band (EC Interns & Awakening Staff) will be leading worship in all chapel services that week.


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Soyouz T-7 est une mission spatiale soviétique ayant eu lieu en 1982. Elle a pour but de rejoindre la station spatiale Salyut 7. Svetlana Savitskaya qui fait partie de l'équipage est alors la deuxième femme à aller dans l'espace, près de vingt ans après Valentina Tereshkova.

Équipage
Les nombres entre parenthèses indiquent le nombre de vol spatiaux effectués par chaque individu jusqu'à cette mission incluse.

Décollage:
   Leonid Popov (3)
   Aleksandr Serebrov (1)
   Svetlana Savitskaya (1)
Atterrissage:
   Anatoli Berezovoy (1)
   Valentin Lebedev (2)

Paramètres de la mission
 Masse: 6850 kg
 Périgée: 289 km
 Apogée: 299 km
 Inclinaison: 51.6°
 Période: 90.3 minutes

Points importants

Soyouz T-07
Exploration de l'espace en 1982
1982 en Union soviétique
Août 1982

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


It is here! Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes for MacBook is finally available so you can play it on all Macintosh computers. This puzzle video game is developed and also published by Steel Crate Games. In the game, one player is tasked with disarming several generated bombs while he is assisted by other players who are reading the instructions from a manual. Sounds interesting, right?


This entry was posted in Australia, Tasmania and tagged birds, dining, food, nature, photography, restaurant, wine by kathy. Bookmark the permalink.
What a wonderful day – the meal looked amazing!
It was lovely, certainly lived up to expectations.
Thanks for those photos, Kathy. I missed getting up there. Not sure about some of those ingredients, though. What is a deconstructed pumpkin pie? The desserts sounded divine.
Sounds like my normal cooking.


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**TWIRP guest forms are available from Mrs. Timmins in room E207. Forms are due back by February 20th. They require several signatures so don't wait!
**Pennies for Patients is being sponsored by Big Sisters. Fourth hour classes will compete by donating money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The class that raises the most money will earn a pizza party IF the school raises at least $550. Please bring in your donations and place them in your 4th hour class' box now through this Thursday, February 12th, to support this worthy cause!
**There will be an important meeting for anyone interested in playing football next season today at 2:35 in the Auditorium. Coach Herron will be there with information on weightlifting, spring, and summer workouts. If you have any questions or cannot be there see Mr. Miller in the Attendance Center.
**Attention Seniors: Please turn in "Remember When" photos for the yearbook to Taylor Quigley by this Friday, February 13.
**A United States Marine recruiter will be on campus this Wednesday during both lunch hours. If you are interested, stop by and talk to this recruiter in the Student Center.
** Student Council will be selling candy kiss roses to be delivered on Friday, February 13th. Roses are $1 each, 6 for $5 or 12 for $10. Each rose contains 2 candy kisses and your personalized message. Flowers will be sold during A and B lunch or before/after school from Mrs. Timmins. This is a great way to show someone you are thinking of them and the proceeds will go to the American Heart Association.
**An assembly will be held tomorrow at 1:30 in the Main Building Auditorium to honor first semester Renaissance winners. If your name is not on the list and you feel it should be, please contact Mrs. Hawkins in the Attendance Center.


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José Encarnación Alfaro Cázares (Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, 27 de septiembre de 1956) es un economista, abogado y político mexicano, miembro del Partido Revolucionario Institucional. Fue diputado federal en la LIII Legislatura del Congreso de la Unión de México.
De diciembre de 2012 a abril de 2015 se desempeñó como secretario de organización del Comité Ejecutivo Nacional del PRI. Fue diputado plurinominal de la VII Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal.

Biografía
José Encarnación Alfaro Cázares fue el sexto de ocho hijos de Tereza Cázares Núñez y Filiberto Alfaro Araiza; nació el 27 de septiembre de 1956 en Ciudad Obregón del estado de Sonora donde realizó sus estudios de primaria y secundaria.
Viajó a la Ciudad de México donde estudió la preparatoria en el Centro Escolar Benemérito de las Americas. Realizó estudios en economía en la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México y posteriormente obtendría la licenciatura en derecho en la Universidad del Valle de México.

Cargos partidistas
Fue dirigente nacional de la Juventud Popular Revolucionaria y posteriormente del MNJR (Movimiento Nacional de la Juventud Revolucionaria) que posteriormente cambiaría a FJR (Frente Juvenil Revolucionario) y luego a Red Jóvenes por México.
Dentro de la dirigencia nacional del PRI ha ocupado los cargos de secretario de Promoción y Gestoría. Fue miembro fundador de la Coordinación Nacional Ejecutiva del Movimiento Territorial (1992-1995), coordinador nacional fundador del ICADEP (1997) y ocupó la dirección de la Escuela Nacional de Cuadros del PRI (1996). En 1999 fue presidente del Comité Electoral Interno para la elección del candidato a gobernador del Estado de México. Ha ocupado el cargo de delegado especial y general en 16 estados.<ref>Realizan nombramientos en PRI-DF 'Periódico El Economista , 21 de diciembre de 2012.</ref>
En 1994 ocupó el cargo de la coordinación de la estructura territorial en la campaña presidencial de Luis Donaldo Colosio.

En diciembre de 2012 fue llamado por el presidente del Comité Ejecutivo Nacional del PRI, César Camacho Quiroz, para ocupar el cargo de secretario de Organización de dicha institución. Dicho cargo lo ocupó hasta el 23 de abril de 2015 cuando el cargo fue ocupado por Baltazar Hinojosa Ochoa.

 Cargos de elección popular
A pesar de tener una larga trayectoria política dentro de su partido, Encarnación Alfaro tan solo ha ocupado un cargo de elección popular. En 1985 fue elegido como diputado federal para la LIII Legislatura de México, cargo que desempeñó del 1 de septiembre de 1985 al 31 de agosto de 1988.
Anteriormente habría ocupado el cargo de Diputado Suplente del diputado Rubén Castro Ojeda en la LII Legislatura de México.

Obras literarias
PoemasCanto a la América Latina (Verano de 1975)

 Premios y reconocimientos
 Pakal de Oro'' Fundación Becerra Pino (2014).

Referencias

Bibliografía

Enlaces externos
 Página web de José Encarnación Alfaro Cázares

Miembros del PRI de Sonora
Políticos de Sonora
Diputados de la VII Legislatura de la Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal
Diputados de la LIII Legislatura de México


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Trypsin treatment cell culture One day last week I let everyone know that during a specific sixhour period, I would concentrate on eating only healthy food as well as throwing in some outoftheordinary.
Vancouver food magazine awards El Paso Wholesale Foods Economy Cash Carry Bulk volume discounts on food and groceries. Welcome to our website. We are Economy Cash Carry, a grocer wholesaler for the.


As a young girl, I always loved storytelling and I also loved journaling. I've kept a journal for as long as I can remember and I encourage my children to keep journals too.
So I was super excited to hear about Alicia Key's new animated app…Ok, ok, I was also super DUPER excited to meet the 14-time Grammy winner, mom to 2-year old son, Egypt, and wife of Swizz Beatz. Alicia's new app, "The Journals of Mama Mae and LeeLee" is about a young New York City girl's relationship with her wise grandmother, inspired by Alicia's own relationship with her Nana.
In the app, LeeLee's bedroom serves as the hub and its 3D animated interface lets kids participate in a number of immersive features, such as playing the piano or writing in a journal.
It's pretty cool! Watch the trailer for the new Alicia Keys app here.
Keys produced music for the interactive app, which was released today for $3.99.
tional story-packs will be made available in the future through the bookshelf.
app includes original songs and score from "Blue Moon".
"Blue Moon" and the micro-game will appear at the piano post-story.


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Suspect shot dead after pulling BB gun on cops
When police attempted to bring in a suspect with outstanding warrants at a Motel 6 in Modesto, California, 54-year-old Raymond Lee brandished a gun and was fatally shot by police. The weapon was later determined to be a BB gun. Watch the dramatic police bodycam video from Nov. 29 here.
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I'm writing a fantasy series entitled The Iron Elves. The first book, due out July 2008 in hard cover from the nice folks at Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster) is titled A Darkness Forged in Fire. At the moment, it's a bit of a beastie at 160,000 words so some judicious editing is in order. My editor at Pocket is currently reading through the ms and will be sending me his revisions shortly. Concurrent with that, my agent, Don Maass of the famed (dare I say world renowned) and eponymous literary agency, is finalizing the details of the contract with my editor. If you're at all interested in being a writer then you've probably contemplated the choice of finding an agent versus finding a publisher. It might seem like a Catch-22, and in some ways it is, but I firmly believe that if you are pursuing a career in the field then you will want an agent. More on this later.
Meanwhile back at the day job, my book (and when I say my book it's with my editor's hat on) Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq by Kirsten Holmstedt, is going on sale July 4th. I'm damn proud of this book, this author and these amazing women. I had a chance to meet several of the women soldiers in the book at the recent Book Expo America (BEA) held in NYC at the beginning of June. We held a book signing on Sunday morning and after going through nearly 300 copies we had to turn people away. I hadn't been sure what to expect, so seeing such a huge and positive response was very gratifying and seems to bode well for the success of the book. We're beginning to get reviews and full articles in newspapers around the country and radio and television appearances are stacking up. It should be a very good summer.
Hey, congrats on getting Don Maass — that's great!
So is the deal all official and public now? And is this an offshoot of the same alternate WWI you were working on a few years back?
Thanks! I was going to email you today with the news . I met Don for lunch and we hit it off and the rest is, or will be, history. The final points of the deal are being worked out, but it's pretty much official now. I don't know if you ever saw any of this one, but it's set in a Napoleonic-like (Napoleonicesque?) time period that's sort of Brooks' Shannara meets Cornwell's Sharpe's Rifles. So it's less an alt hist than an evolution of fantasy to a more modern time frame.
I was reading your posts about Blue Heaven and enjoying them.
I don't think I saw that, but I'm looking forward to it now.
I outed you on my blog, so maybe some folks who remember you from the old Del Rey workshop or Clarion will come by and say hi now too.
I'm Rhona, came from Charlie's blog and am always happy to meet more writers here!
Ditto! Thanks for saying hello and making me feel welcome.
Hi — I'm Jena, here via Charlie's blog too. You really hooked me with the descrip of your book — the Sharpe series is one of my favorites. Best of luck with it!
It's a bit like creating a hit song, isn't it? You find the hook which draws people in until you have them in your clutches and they can never esca- er, sorry, that was the maniacal side coming out. I'm a big fan of the Sharpe series as well so I really hope Bernard Cornwell is flattered and not furious…or litigious!
Okay, now I'm really intrigued — are the Chosen Men in your book?
Oh, and don't worry about that maniacal side — I write some twisted cross between noir and urban fantasy with a heavy dose of forensics and police procedure. All my characters (even the good guys) are a little bent and twisted, so maniacal is a familiar state of mind.
Sort of. Sharpe and the lads definitely inspired me, but I was also inspired (sounds so much better than ripped off) by Kipling, Pratchett and George McDonald Fraser, who, in my humble opinion, is brilliant.
I read your description of your books! You weren't kidding, you know twisted.
Ack! It's MacDonald, not McDonald! Flashman would have me strung up for camels to nibble on for getting that wrong.
I *loved* the Flashman series! I think he was the first anti-hero I'd ever run into, and it was like being hit with a splash of cold water in the face on a hot summer day. Protagonists can be lazy? And untruthful? And – gasp! – really really bad sometimes?
I'd never thought about it till now, but I'll bet Flashman was a big influence on my character development.
The other big influence was a friend of mine who said he liked the bad guys in movies because they always looked like they were having such a great time, laughing and rubbing their hands together in glee — they just had to be more interesting than the good guys.
I was also inspired to write something based on his books, but it didn't work out (a little too much like fanfic, if you know what I mean), so I actually went to the previous century, Clive of India-era, and wound up using it as background for one of my characters, not actually writing in India. I can't imagine Mr. Cornwell would be anything less than flattered.
Hi, Charlie (also known as Social Glue) sent me over!
Good luck with the revisions, once they come in. Ditto on agent first, publisher later.
He is sort of sticky which must explain the huge number of people he dragged over here to welcome me to the wide world of blogging. I see you have your own series coming out next summer…maybe the exact same time as mine in fact…so, should we pretend to be bitter enemies now to create a publicist's dream? You can call me an insider-hack and I'll tell everyone your books are printed on recycled paper…made from extra cute puppies.
Do you have a specific publication date yet? I don't–just "summer 2008," though I expect they'll name the actual date soon. We could be mortal enemies if you want, but it might not be worth the effort. My publisher's HarperCollins Children's–we're probably aiming at totally different audiences!
I think July, but I know pub dates move around like flies on road kill so that could definitely change. Ahh, a crafty move, writing for children to poison them against me! But no matter, what I lack in youth I make up for in immaturity. I'll show up at your signings with free liver and brussel sprouts to give away.
I prefer to think of myself as more of a Social Glue-stick, thankyewverymuch.
Meanwhile back at the day job, my book (and when I say my book it's with my editor's hat on) Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq by Kirsten Holmstedt, is going on sale July 4th.
My god, I want this book (really I want one about women at war in Afghanistan, but this one will do very nicely). Although I am not buying any more books.
Also here from Charlie's blog. Congrats on the book sale. And welcome to the world of blogs.
Oops. I mean , of course.
And you're right, of course.
*sigh* At least the second one has the nice working link.
I think Charlie's going to charge me a commission! Thanks for saying hello.
Now I want to start an lj called !
Hey there! I too am kicked over from Charlie's blog.
Congrats on all your terrific achievements so far, and best of luck with the fantasy series. I too am a product of the OWW, and I tried to graduate from the first Australian Clarion but had to go home half way through due to a pesky domestic crisis I couldn't solve. Have to say, though, it was the OWW that made the biggest difference. I posted 2 fantasy novel chapters there, back in the day, and both series they belong to ended up being published. Well, one's done (completely here in Oz, half-way in the UK and debuts Sep. in the US) and the other has just launched in Oz and will come out UK/US next year. I had many many many confidence issues for a long time when I was starting out — I doubt very much if I'd be where I am now without the fabulous support I got from the OWW. I think anyone who wants to be serious about their sff writing needs to get involved there.
I too have an agent now (though not the one I started with) — but I did the contract first, find an agent second thing. Mainly because I had access to a great editor, due to a prior business relationship with HarperCollins (I had my own bookshop for a while) and my ms landed on her desk after I made an enquiry with the sales team. Still took a long while to get from interest to contract … but it just goes to show, there are many ways to break into this business!
I love the sound of your series. I'm not so much a fan of the Sharpe books as I am the films with Sean Bean, but the era is fascinating, and the characters are great. As for blogging? Who knows? I struggle with not being very comfortable spilling my guts in public … but you have such a fascinating background I'm sure you'll have lots to talk about.
I'll be looking out for a copy of your women in the military book too!
Much obliged! Clarion, OWW and plain old hard knocks have all helped me get to this point. That and a lot of learning on the job as an editor. I've read hundreds, probably thousands of manuscripts now and you quickly learn to pick out what works and what doesn't. The truly difficult task is to apply that objective eye to your own work…and finding some other eyes to help you out through groups like OWW.
Congratulations to you too and best of luck with your US debut!
Thank you. To you too, of course!!!!
That's a great point you make about the usefulness of reading mss. I had a similar experience when I had my own bookshop. I read so many many many many books. It was incredibly helpful in refining my eye. And you're right about objectivity too — I think it's the single most important tool a writer can develop. The ability to step outside your work and view it as work and not an extension of yourself — priceless. Until you can let it go, you can't make it better. That's where the OWW is so fantastic. You can really get those skills sharpened up.
As for your bk 1 being a bit of a beastie at 160k, I should warn you — fantasy has a strong desire to break free!!! *g* My first series, which started off as a standalone of 140k, morphed into a duology. Bk 1 was 165, bk 2 was 180. The 3 books of my new trilogy are clocking in at 195k a piece, and that's only because I've been threatened on pain of death to keep them there. Fantasy stories are like the Tardis: there's a whole lot more in them than would appear on the outside!
BTW, I think your titles are magnificent.
I loved Sharpe's Rifles. This sounds quite interesting. Welcome to LJ.
Thanks for the kind words. I chose a Napoleonic-like time frame because I realized so many had already done medieval northwest Europe, and done it very well. The first book is actually in a land based in part on India.
Even more interesting. Good luck with this.
Yet another from – Welcome and greetings!
Thank you! Brilliant photo-thingy you have, by the way. Once, when I really wanted to do things stupid in a hurry I poured Red Bull instead of coffee in my machine. We're talking quantum leaps in idiocy, and all before breakfast.
Hey, both of you are Canuckistanian expats — maybe you can compare stories about the ease of US immigration rules!
I spoke with my editor this morning on a secure line and he/she has requested anonymity for the time being in case I manage to get myself on the news in an unflattering way.
Waves back sheepishly, which doesn't necessarily mean I was chewing grass and baaaing. Thanks for coming by to check me out!


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Sea-Tac financing initiative aims to provide routine airport-wide sustainable aviation biofuel supply
Mon 31 Oct 2016 – The Port of Seattle has joined with Carbon War Room and SkyNRG to investigate long-term financing mechanisms that could provide a supply of cost-effective sustainable aviation fuels to all airlines serving Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac). At present, point out the partners, supply agreements in the United States are being made through individual, expensive offtake contracts between biofuel producers and airlines. This new initiative aims to accelerate the transition of sustainable aviation fuel from an alternative product used by a few select airlines to a standard product available to all airlines at an airport, they say. Carbon War Room (CWR), founded by Richard Branson in 2009 and now a business unit of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and SkyNRG see airports as acting as a key orchestrator in the procurement and delivery process. Sea-Tac is currently assessing costs and infrastructure necessary to deliver sustainable aviation fuels to aircraft at the airport.
"The demand for sustainable aviation fuel is there, but right now it is more expensive and complicated to source," said Port of Seattle Commission President John Creighton. "We want to make it simple and cost-effective for all airlines to access sustainable aviation fuels and ideally create a model that can work for airports around the United States."
Sea-Tac says it is the first in the world to initiate this step to provide an airport-wide sustainable aviation fuel supply for all routine airline operations. Its operating authority, the Port of Seattle, initiated a $250,000 Biofuel Infrastructure Feasibility Study late last year in partnership with Alaska Airlines and Boeing that is expected to be released in early 2017.
By integrating the fuel directly into the on-airport refuelling infrastructure at an airport-wide blend ratio, CWR and SkyNRG say this standardisation will send a strong and consistent demand signal to the sustainable aviation fuel industry, boost investor confidence and catalyse industry growth.
The two will work with Sea-Tac to evaluate specific funding mechanisms to cover the cost differential between sustainable and conventional fossil aviation fuels. The long-term ambition, they say, includes working strategically with decision-makers regarding locally-sourced fuel and future regional economic investments, identifying supply routes and ensuring any alternative fuels used at the airport are truly sustainable and avoid habitat impact and competition with food.
"The UNFCCC Paris Agreement's ambition of well-below 2 degrees temperature rise cannot be achieved without the participation of the aviation industry, with its emissions projected to consume approximately a quarter of the world's remaining carbon budget by 2050," said Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of Rocky Mountain Institute-Carbon War Room. "The emissions trajectory provides a huge opportunity for market actors to accelerate aviation's decarbonisation, and in the process, enhance their energy supply chains. These kinds of efforts, alongside ICAO's global market-based measure, can help the industry reach the goals defined by the Paris Agreement."
Theye Veen, CFO of SkyNRG added: "Airports are in a unique position, operating at the intersection between airlines, fuel suppliers, governments, passengers and local communities. They are perfectly positioned to support sustainable aviation fuels' transition from isolated transactions to regular operations."
Amsterdam-based SkyNRG was formed in late 2009 following a biofuel test flight by KLM, with the airline a founding partner and current shareholder. A corporate biofuel programme was formed to help fund the development of cost-competitive sustainable aviation fuels by enrolling corporations into a scheme which enables employees to partly fly on sustainable biofuel and thereby reduce their CO2 emissions from air travel. Participants pay a fee to bridge the price difference between traditional fuel and purchased RSB-certified sustainable biofuel, which SkyNRG and KLM hope will in turn stimulate production and so lead to eventual cost reductions of sustainable fuels.
Last week, they announced the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment had become the first government office to join the programme.
"We hope that the Ministry's participation in the programme sends a signal to other parties that the use of biofuel truly does contribute to added sustainability in the airline industry. That might well help to get biofuel production for civil aviation off the ground in the Netherlands," said KLM CEO Pieter Elbers.
Microsoft, Alaska Airlines and SkyNRG partner to reduce business flight emissions through SAF purchase
KLM and SKyNRG announce new industry partners for their corporate biofuel programmes
Shell Aviation to support SkyNRG's Dutch SAF production facility development and secures fuel purchase option
SkyNRG and KLM announce project to build Dutch 35 million gallon sustainable aviation fuel facility
Fuel suppliers join forces to supply three European airlines with sustainable fuel at SFO
Oil giant Shell commits to sustainable aviation fuels as it enters long-term collaboration with SkyNRG
Two new European projects get off the ground to investigate conversion of forestry residues to jet fuel
Air Canada, Red Rock and SkyNRG move forward on biofuel initiatives while Air New Zealand takes longer view
Air Traffic Control the Netherlands joins KLM's Corporate Biofuel Programme
Rocky Mountain Institute signs partnership deal with The Good Traveler carbon offsetting programme


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Home » Magazine » National » Essays	» Exclusive Essay » Will India Become A Superpower?
Will India Become A Superpower?
The leading historian offers seven reasons why it will not. And then, to this objective judgement, he adds the subjective desires of a citizen—that it should not even attempt to become one.
Ramachandra Guha	30 June 2008
Ramachandra Guha	June 30, 2008 00:00 IST Will India Become A Superpower?
A specially commissioned essay for Outlook
Sixty years ago, in the summer of 1948, our nation, then newly born, was struggling for its very survival. In January, Mahatma Gandhi had been murdered by a Hindu fanatic. The act had shocked many Indians, but apparently it had the approval of some. According to one news report, the jailed assassin, Nathuram Godse, received an average of 50 letters a day expressing admiration for his action. This was part of a much wider right-wing, religious, reaction against Partition. Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan were calling for retribution against the Muslims who had stayed behind in India. The relations between the two communities were poisoned further by the tribal invasion of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. With the raiders aided and equipped by the Pakistani army, the religious conflict had, inevitably, become a national one. A bloody battle was on in the high mountains of the Himalaya, as the Indian Army sought to rid Kashmir of the intruders.
Six weeks after Godse fired those three shots from a Beretta pistol in New Delhi, the then undivided Communist Party of India (CPI met in a secret conclave in Calcutta. At this meeting, the leadership of the CPI was taken away from a gentle and very cultured Kumaoni named P.C. Joshi. Joshi wanted the Communists to collaborate with Jawaharlal Nehru's government in building the new nation. His replacement, an austere Maharashtrian named B.T. Ranadive, believed on the other hand that the transfer of power from British to Indian hands was a sham, and that Nehru and his men were puppets of the Western imperialist powers. He took the Communists towards a new 'people's war' line, which mandated the overthrow of the Indian State through armed struggle, and its replacement by a single-party dictatorship.
In June 1948, the infant Indian State looked very fragile indeed. It was pierced from the left by the Communists, and pinched from the right by the Hindu extremists. And there were other problems aplenty. Eight million refugees had to be resettled; provided with land, homes, employment, and a sense of citizenship. Five hundred princely states had to be integrated, one by one, a process that involved much massaging of egos (for the Maharajas tended to think very highly of themselves), and just a little coercion.
The task of princely integration was in the hands of Vallabhbhai Patel and his outstanding secretary, V.P. Menon. Some rulers were willing to immediately join up with the new Dominion. Others waited in the hope of better terms. And some princes were actively hostile. In this very hot summer of 1948, the ruler giving the most trouble was the Nizam of Hyderabad, who was probably the wealthiest man in the world, and without question the most miserly. He insisted that the independence of his (very large and very badly administered realm) had been guaranteed by the British monarch; and that he would now negotiate a separate treaty with His Majesty's Government, which would assure the State of Hyderabad its political sovereignty.
British politicians, Winston Churchill among them, were egging on the Nizam to declare independence. That was a truly dangerous possibility. For, as Sardar Patel observed, an independent Hyderabad would be "a cancer in the belly of India", cutting off communications between the north and the south of the country. Despite the ruler's ambitions, it was clear that the majority of the people of Hyderabad State wished to be citizens of a free India. After waiting a year for the Nizam to come to terms, Patel sent in the Army and compelled him to join the Union.
Few Indians now alive know how uncertain our future looked in the summer of 1948. The question then being asked everywhere was 'Will India Survive?' Now, 60 years down the road, that fearful query has been replaced by a far more hopeful one, namely, 'Will India Become a Superpower?'
This new, anticipatory, expectant question has been prompted by the extraordinary resilience, in the long term, of India's democratic institutions. When the first general elections were held, in 1952, they were dubbed the 'Biggest Gamble in History'. Never before had universal adult franchise been tried in a poor, divided, and largely illiterate society. Evidently, it is a gamble that has worked. The country has successfully held 14 general elections to the national Parliament, as well as countless polls to different state assemblies. Rates of voter participation are higher than in Western democracies. And after what happened in Florida in 2000, we can add that the conduct of polls is at least as fair.
Back in 1948, doubts were also being cast about the Indian experiment with nationhood. Never before had a new nation not based its unity on a single language, religion, or common enemy (or, preferably, all of the above). However, all Indians did not have to speak Hindi or be Hindus. They did not even have to hate the people who colonised them (in fact, Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, counted an Englishman, the Christian priest Charles Freer Andrews, as his closest friend). As an inclusive, plural and non-adversarial model of nationalism, the idea of India had no precedent or imitator. It set itself apart from European nationalisms, which were based on a common language and, often, a shared faith and common enemy as well. Thus the citizens of England were united by the fact that they all spoke English, that they were mostly Protestant, and that many of them disliked France and the French. Likewise, the citizens of Poland spoke Polish, were almost all Catholic, and often detested Russia and the Russians. (In this respect, the idea of Pakistan is wholly European, based as it is on the privileging of a single religion, Islam; of a single language, Urdu; and, not least, on a collective hatred of the larger nation to its east.)
In the words of the political theorist Sunil Khilnani, India has been "a substantial bridgehead of effervescent liberty on the Asian continent". As such, it inspires hope that the largely poor, still divided, and formerly colonised countries of Africa can likewise move towards a more democratic political system. Meanwhile, through its collective coexistence of different faiths, languages, cultures and cuisines, India is a better model for world governance than more homogeneous countries such as China, Japan or the United States. Once, the heterogeneity of India was seen as its greatest flaw; now, it may justly be celebrated as its greatest strength.
India was not expected to survive as a democracy; but it has. India was not expected to hold together as a single nation; but it has. These manifest successes, achieved against the odds and against the logic of human history, have compelled a worldwide admiration. If calls are now being heard that India must be made a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations, then these demands are not just legitimate, but also overdue. It is India's long-term record as a stable, multicultural democracy that lies behind its claims for a place on the High Table of Global Affairs. But if politics were all, then we would not be asking whether India will become a superpower. That question is prompted also by the spectacular success, in the short term, of the Indian economy, the impressive growth rates of the past decade, the entrepreneurial drive manifest in such crucial, cutting-edge sectors such as information technology and the creation of an ever larger and ever more confident middle class.
Superficially, the summer of 2008 looks all too different from the summer of 1948. Then, we Indians did not know how long we would hold together as a single nation; whether we would come under a Communist dictatorship of the left or a theocratic regime on the right, or simply balkanise into a dozen or more different parts. Now—despite the dissensions in the borderlands, in Kashmir and the Northeast—we know that we are and will be a single country, whose leaders shall be chosen by (and also replaced by) ourselves. We no longer fear for our existence as a sovereign nation or as a functioning democracy. What we hope for instead is a gradual enhancement of our material and political powers, and the acknowledgement of our nation as one of the most powerful and respected on earth.
Look more closely, however, and perhaps the more things appear to change, the more they are actually the same. For, in the summer of 2008, the Indian State once more faces a challenge from left-wing extremism. The Prime Minister of India, no less, has identified the Communist Party of India (Maoist), known more familiarly as the Naxalites, as the "greatest internal security threat" facing the nation. The Union home ministry lists more than 150 districts as being 'Naxalite-affected'. This is an exaggeration for, with even one single, stray, incident, a state government is moved to get a district listed under that category, so as to garner more funds from the Central treasury. Still, the Naxalites do have a considerable presence in some 40 or 50 districts; these spread out over the central and eastern parts of the country. Their greatest gains have been among tribal communities treated with contempt and condescension by the Indian State and by the formal processes of Indian democracy.
The conventional wisdom is that the erstwhile Untouchables or Dalits, are the social group who are most victimised in India. In fact, the tribals fare even worse. In a recent book, the demographer Arun Maharatna compared the life chances of an average Dalit with that of an average tribal. On all counts the tribals were found to be more disadvantaged. Some 30.1 per cent of Dalits are literate, but only 23.8 per cent of tribals. As many as 41.5 per cent of Dalits live below the official poverty line; however, the proportion of poor tribal households is even higher, at 49.5 per cent. One in six Dalits has no access to doctors or health clinics; as many as one in four tribals suffers from the same disability. 63.6 per cent of Dalits can avail of safe drinking water, but only 43.2 per cent of tribals.
Two summers ago, I visited the districts of Dantewara and Bastar in the state of Chhattisgarh. Here, a civil war is under way, which pits the Naxalites on one side against a vigilante group promoted by the state government on the other. The revolutionaries identify with the tribals in the short term, fighting for better wages for forest work and against their harassment by petty officials. Their long-term goal, however, is the capture of political power by armed struggle. In their bid to plant the Red Flag on the Red Fort in New Delhi, the revolutionaries view tribals merely as a stepping stone, or, one might say, as cannon fodder. The Maoists use violence regularly and recklessly. Policemen are slaughtered in their police stations, civilians killed by land mines set off on main roads. Their treatment of dissenters is especially savage; they are tried in 'people's courts' and then sentenced to amputation or death.
When I was in Bastar, the Nepali Maoists had just declared a ceasefire. Their leader, Prachanda, had gone so far as to say that multi-party democracy was the political system most suited to the 21st century. I put it to a Naxalite ideologue we met that perhaps they could think of emulating their Nepali comrades. He was contemptuous of the suggestion. He insisted that in India bourgeois democracy was a sham; here, the state had to be overthrown through the use of force. Shortly afterwards, I came across a statement on the Internet, issued by Ganapathi, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). This reported the 'successful completion' of a party congress "held deep in the forests of one of the several guerrilla zones in the country...". The party congress "reaffirmed the general line of the new democratic revolution with agrarian revolution as its axis and protracted people's war as the path of the Indian revolution...". The meeting "was completed amongst great euphoria with a call to the world people: Rise up as a tide to smash Imperialism and its running dogs! Advance the Revolutionary war throughout the world!"
Tragically, the vicious and violent methods of the Maoists have been reproduced by the state government of Chhattisgarh. They have set up a vigilante army called Salwa Judum, composed of tribal youths equipped with rifles. Bands of vigilantes now roam the Bastar countryside accompanied by the police and paramilitary, in search of Naxalite sympathisers, alleged or real. They have attacked dozens of villages and burnt hundreds of homes. They have killed many innocent people and terrorised many others. With the Supreme Court, as I write, are some first-hand testimonies of villagers who have suffered at the hand of these state-supported vigilantes. The residents of Pakela village, for example, recorded that 20 of their homes had been burnt by Salwa Judum cadres. "Everything in the homes," reads the English translation of their evidence, "rice, clothes, utensils and money—got reduced to ashes." Other villagers offered more precise accounts of the damage, listing the number of paddy sacks or hens or pigs seized or burnt from individual households. The collective sentiments of those targeted by the Salwa Judum were expressed most poignantly by the residents of Korcholi village. They said:
"The frightened villagers of Gangaloor, Cherpal and Bijapur, seeing the Salwa Judum, have fled into [the] forests. The Salwa Judum burns the food stock, houses and clothes. They also break the cooking utensils. Raping women, slitting people's throat to kill, killing people by drowning them in water, robbing them etc are the main activities of the Salwa Judum leaders. Why is this happening in our country, why is this happening in Chhattisgarh? Why has the Chhattisgarh administration been running this? Has our chief minister been elected only for this?"
The creation and consolidation of Salwa Judum has greatly increased the level of violence in Dantewara. Villagers are being forced to choose one side or the other. Those who hesitate to join the vigilantes are savagely set upon. In the past two years, close to a thousand people have died as a consequence of the conflict. Meanwhile, the Salwa Judum and the state government between them have forcibly uprooted some 50,000 villagers and put them in camps along the main roads.
An atmosphere of fear and terror pervades the district. Families, clans, tribes and villages are divided by the civil war. As ever, it is the innocent who suffer most. For, the majority of villagers are not interested in this fight at all. They have been dragged into it, willy-nilly, by the Maoists on the one side and the Salwa Judum on the other. As one tribal in the village of Nelasnar told me: "Hamein donon taraf se dabaav hai aur hum beech mein pis gaye." It sounds far tamer in English—pressured from both sides, here we are, squeezed in the middle.
Salwa Judum is a model of how not to fight left-wing extremism. The menace of Naxalism—and let us be clear about this, it is a menace—can be tamed and tackled in two ways: by prompt and efficient policing, and by providing the tribals a greater share in political power and in the fruits of economic development. Unhappily, even tragically, the tribals have become the main victims of economic globalisation. In the days when the state occupied the commanding heights of the Indian economy, the adivasis lost their lands and livelihoods to hydel power plants and commercial forestry schemes. Now, they lose their lands and livelihoods to mining projects which excavate the vast amounts of iron ore and bauxite found on or under land the tribals live on, but whose ownership (or rights of disposal) are claimed by the state. Non-tribal politicians hand over these resources to large firms, foreign and Indian, in exchange for a share of the proceeds. All that the tribals get, in exchange, is dispossession.
In naming themselves after Mao Zedong, the Naxalites hope to do in this country what that Chinese revolutionary accomplished in his—that is to say, to build a single-party dictatorship that calls itself, in Orwellian fashion, a 'People's Democracy'. This dream is a fantasy, but, since the Maoists are determined to play it out, a bloody war of attrition lies ahead of us. The Indian State will not be able to easily recapture the hearts and minds of the adivasis, nor able either to authoritatively reassert its control, by day and especially by night, in the territories where the extremists are now active. At the same time, if the Maoists try to move into the open country, they will be mowed down by the Indian Army. But in the hills and forests of Central India, the conflict will persist, without any side claiming a decisive victory. In the next decade, thousands of lives will be lost, some of policemen, others of Naxalites, the majority perhaps of adivasis caught in the crossfire.
There is then this serious threat posed by left-wing Communist extremism. And—as in 1948—there is also a serious threat offered by right-wing religious fundamentalism. However, while the Naxalites are implacably opposed to the Indian Constitution, the religious bigots work within the democratic process, seeking to divert and distort it. The word 'Hindutva' was coined by the revolutionary-turned-reactionary Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The most effective work in pursuing the political philosophy that bears this name was undertaken by his younger colleague Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar. Golwalkar was head of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) in the first, formative decades of Indian independence. He was preceptor and mentor to, among other men, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, as well as countless other political activists who have occupied positions of influence and importance in different states of India.
Golwalkar's core philosophy is contained in a book entitled A Bunch of Thoughts. Published in 1966, this is a collection of addresses delivered in RSS shakhas across the land. The book consistently elevates Hindus to a superior place in the history of humankind. Hindus had once ruled the world; and they would do so again in the future. Their science was once superior to Western science (Golwalkar sneered that the Europeans were eating raw, uncooked meat while we Hindus were composing the Vedas); and so it would be again.
From Tangra with Love
Ramachandra Guha	National	Essays
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Early Oscar Predictions, 2016
Posted on	January 15, 2016 Posted by	John Scalzi	49 Comments
As most of you know, my first gig out of college was as a film critic, and since then I keep up with the field. So every year when the Oscar nominations come out I go ahead and make an early guess as to what's the frontrunner for the statuette that year. It's 2016, the Oscar nominations are out, let's stop the filly-faddle and get to it.
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
As a general rule (Argo being a recent and notable exception), you can toss out the Best Picture nominees that don't have an accompanying Best Director nomination, and this year I would definitely say that means so long to Brooklyn and Bridge of Spies. I'm hesitant to just chuck out The Martian, however. To be clear I think it's a dark horse, but I'd be interested to see there's any sort of groundswell of feeling for Ridley Scott. His movies are often nominated for (and even win) Best Picture, but he gets nominated for Best Director rather less so. If there's a sense this year he needs to be recognized, it's possible this movie has a chance, as he's a nominated producer this year. See, again, Argo, and Ben Affleck. But again: Probably a dark horse.
(Note to the Academy: Give Scott an honorary Oscar, already. You can't say he hasn't earned it at this point.)
Of the remainder I think The Big Short is probably out first as the comedy (comedies tend not to do well in Oscar races), probably Mad Max next, although it's my favorite, and then at this point it's three-way between Spotlight, Room and The Revenant, with the twist being last year's Best Picture and Best Director win were for Birdman and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and it would be very unusual for the Academy to award a Best Picture to the same director back-to-back. Not impossible but unusual.
Put a gun to my head and at this moment I would nudge toward Spotlight, because it's weighty, historical and has a great ensemble cast. But this is one of those times where I think you have to wait to see how things shake out.
My Bet: Spotlight
My Choice: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Big Short, Adam McKay
Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller
The Revenant, Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Room, Lenny Abrahamson
Spotlight, Tom McCarthy
See above. Generally — but not always, and less in recent years — the Director nod is paired with the Picture nod, so depending on how things sort out, Iñárritu, Abrahamson and McCarthy are all in the running. Plus there's a wrinkle, as I see it: As noted, the Academy is less fussy in recent years about pairing Director and Picture, and I think there's some high regard for George Miller out there. He's had a film nominated before as a producer (Babe, if you can believe it), won for an animated film (Happy Feet(!)) and otherwise had a career that's best described as delightfully eclectic. Even though I think Mad Max is not a likely winner, it's possible Miller sneaks in, and reasonably so, because Max is a hell of an impressive directorial effort.
Otherwise, you got me. The only one I'm certain is in the "just happy to be here" boat is Adam McKay; otherwise it's up in the air for now. Right now, my very super mega tenuous nod is to McCarthy, but I'm not putting any money on it. We'll have to see.
My Bet: McCarthy
My Choice: Miller
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Saorise Ronan's well-regarded and I see more opportunities in the future for her, but I'm not entirely sure Brooklyn is the right vehicle for Oscar gold. Charlotte Rampling must have been delighted to hear the news and it's not entirely outside the realm of possibility that she's a winner, but she's been out of Hollywood in any significant way for a while now. Cate Blanchett is becoming the new Meryl Streep and won very recently. Jennifer Lawrence will take up the Meryl Streep role should Blanchett falter.
Meanwhile there's been a whole lot of love (not to mention a Golden Globe win) for Larson in Room, and the thought is that the Oscars is hers to lose this year. I'm inclined to agree; there's also the wrinkle that it's possible this will be Room's Oscar, i.e., the one given to the film so the Academy voters feel fine about skipping over it in other categories. Which is good for Spotlight and The Revenant.
My Bet: Larson
My Choice: Larson
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Redmayne won last year and Tom Hanks aside, I suspect the Academy is not keen on back-to-back awards in this category. Fassbender's problem is his film was a flop. Damon I suspect will have to be happy with a Golden Globe. For my money it's down to Cranston and DiCaprio, and who will win will depend on whether voters want to rub out the stain of the Blacklist from its history by celebrating by proxy its most famous victim (and, to be sure, Cranston's fine performance), or give DiCaprio the Al Pacino Memorial Academy Award for Being Nominated a Lot So Fine, Here You Go Already. My money is on DiCaprio — hell, I want him to win myself! — but don't count Cranston out.
My Bet: DiCaprio
My Choice: DiCaprio
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara, Carol
Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Alicia Vikander is have a very nice year between The Danish Girl and Ex Machina (let's quickly slide by The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), and I think the nomination itself is the topping on this particular cake. Likewise a very nice career bump for McAdams, who is moving to more Oscar-friendly roles in her career. Winslet has the same problem to a win that Fassbender has. For my money the race is between Leigh and Mara and which film the Academy decides it wants to honor more. I'd vote for Leigh, personally; I suspect the Academy might go the other way. Which is fine!
Also note: This is the category I historically have the worst luck in guessing, so maybe you should ignore me here.
My Bet: Mara
My Choice: Leigh
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Tom Hardy, The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
Mark Rylance, Bridge Of Spies
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Look, I'm just going to toss everyone else off the side and say that I will be stunned as fuck if this doesn't go to Stallone. At this point, it's the "I Survived Everything And Am Still Around And You Just Have To Honor That" award, and why not. Also, you know. Rocky Balboa. And Creed was otherwise generally stiffed, so this will be a fine tip of the hat to that film.
And yes, we can have the discussion of why only Stallone is nominated in Creed, particularly in a year where there are very few people of color in major award categories (and none in the acting categories) — and should, because damn, Oscar, you really kind of showed your cranky whiteness this year. In this particular case, however, it's worth nothing that there is literally no path to Creed without Rocky Balboa, and Stallone. While not disagreeing with the general side-eye being given to the Oscars this year at all, I think the Stallone nomination stands on its own merits. He should win this, period.
My Bet: Stallone
My Choice: Stallone
Thoughts in other categories: There's no way Inside Out doesn't win Best Animated, and delighted to see it get an Original Screenplay nod as well. On the topic of screenplays, if Spotlight wins the Original Screenplay award, that may be director Tom McCarthy's Compensatory Oscar, given to directors who don't get the Director award (see: Tarantino, Welles, Jane Campion, etc). Don't feel too bad for him; an Oscar's an Oscar. Suspect The Hateful Eight might win cinematography, not only for its own merits but also for Robert Richardson working with lenses they literally had to dust off to use. Finally, I don't think I'll be wrong in thinking that the Academy will find the combination of Diane Warren and Lady Gaga too tempting to resist for Best Original Song ("Til it Happens to You").
Those are my first-pass guesses. As always, I'll check in closer to the actual ceremony date with updates. In the meantime, head to the comments to tell me how wrong I am.
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49 Comments on "Early Oscar Predictions, 2016"
Rafe B. (@etcet)
I am inclined to disagree on the cinematography choice – Mad Max was so visually overwhelming that I think it is apt to take that, as well as the VFX, editing, and sound design statuettes for which it was nominated, especially if Miller & Co. don't get one of the biggies.
I'd love to hear which movies/actors/etc you think SHOULD have been nominated since it's clear that persons of color weren't even considered (again) this year.
Ex Machina was my favorite movie of the year and I and would like to see its brilliant original screenplay honored. (And speaking of Alicia Vikander, I adored The Man From U.N.C.L.E.)
With regard to UNCLE, the issue is not whether it was a good film (or if she was good in it) but that it was a big ol' flop which did no one in it any good, career-wise.
kaellinn18
This seems entirely reasonable to me as a first pass based on the ones that I've seen already and the academy's history. Out of curiosity, John, how many of these have you seen yourself already? Do you make a point of watching the Best Picture nominees that you missed before the awards like a lot of people do?
Joseph Finn
OK, that's a fair point about UNCLE being a flop (which I caught up with recently and is delightful).
christophershoupup
I hadn't even realized that was Vikander in both Ex Machina and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. She did a fantastic job in both roles (I haven't seen The Danish Girl yet,but I imagine she excelled there as well). I think they'll split the Picture/Director wins this year and Romero gets the Director and maybe Spotlight for the Picture. I'd say I think your other analysis is pretty spot on too.
Romero?
a Halperin
You are dead on with Stallone. I haven't even seen the film, and I'd give it to him!
How is Mad Max not up for Best Original Score? The movie wouldn't have been what it was without that score.
Witness the Oscars! So Shiny, So Chrome.
Loved the Mad Max nominations, really hoping it pulls off best picture this year, but I have my doubts, people who hate that movie, really really hate it and find it grating.
My bet is it sweeps the technical categories, maybe a best director win for Miller and then it loses in best picture to something more traditional, probably the Revenant. But I hope I'm wrong.
Charles W.
"in a year where there are very few people of color in major award categories (and none in the acting categories) — and should, because damn, Oscar, you really kind of showed your cranky whiteness this year."
How much of this do you think is because of the Academy, and how much do you think it's Hollywood's fault for not making more movies with non-white actors and actresses?
While we're talking about the lack of any people of color in the acting categories, can we also talk about Charlize Theron getting snubbed? She should have gotten nominated for Best Actress (not Best Supporting, as she was the real protagonist of the film). Genre films often have a hard time getting Oscar attention. Even the LoTR trilogy, which won eleven Oscars for its third film, got only one nomination for acting, and that was for the first film. How Sean Astin and Andy Serkis didn't get nominated for the next two films, I will never understand.
Jerome O'Neil
I'm pleased to see Saoirse Ronan getting some coverage. She's been really good for a long time. Watching Americans fumble around her name is pretty amusing as well. :)
Quick note: typo in the "Thoughts in other categories" paragraph, "Don't feel TOO bad for him…"
Otherwise looks like a decent list. I actually haven't really been going to the movies a lot this year and I haven't seen most of these films. It would be great to see The Martian (and by extension Ridley Scott) take home something, but I'm not holding my breath. SF's Oscar wins are usually hard-earned, and smart money's on Mad Max over The Martian.
Besides, I feel like Mad Max deserves it more. Though ostensibly part of a franchise, it's a completely unique take and story for that particular universe. The Martian is artfully done and had me on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next, even though I'd read the book a few times before… but it was a book first. Adaptational qualities are important to consider, but I feel like comparing an adaptation against an original film (even if it's part of a franchise) should probably weigh the original more favorably.
That's just me, though, and I know nothing of film criticism.
Donald Brown (@GadgetDon)
I'm hopeful for The Martian winning best adapted screenplay. To be fair, I haven't seen the competition (I don't see that many movies and those tend to be geekish in nature) – but most movies adapted from books I love require me to say "Movie different from book, accept the differences and enjoy it as its own work". The Martian felt like the book (other than having Commander Lewis channel her inner Kirk at the end), really good job of bringing the book to life.
AnnaH
Do you mean that Stallone is a person of colour? Isn't his family from Italy? I don't really understand this part, perhaps because I'm not American.
Stallone is as much a person of color as I am, i.e., not really, no.
Dave Crisp (@wknight79)
@AnnaH: Creed is notable as a film in which several actors of colour, in particular Michael B. Jordan, are generally considered to have turned in Oscar-worthy performances. The fact that Sly – worthy though he is – is the only person associated with the film to get a nod in a major category is this year's most notable symptom of the Academy's tendency to shit on non-white actors in general.
Laura Lis Scott
I can't stand watching commercials, which makes the theatre-going experience pretty much unbearable. That and skyrocketing ticket prices. As such, I'm way behind in seeing nearly all of these movies.
As a SF writer and lifelong fan, as well as a feminist, I suppose the checkboxes should point to my favoring Mad Max, but I have to say that movie left me flat, and I would rank it somewhere just above Thunderdome in that series. Great performances (and I'm a huge fan of , but a thin story with a lot of and then, and then, and then.
Of the other Best Picture nominees, the only other I've seen is The Martian, which was enjoyable, if a bit by the numbers. Matt Damon carried that movie, but the supporting cast also brought a lot to the tale.
My big disappointment is that Ex Machina wasn't even nominated. That was a disturbing, thought provoking movie that challenged assumptions about intelligence, humanity, empathy, the male gaze, patriarchy, sexual obsession … and Alicia Vikander was simply sensational in it. (Is her performance in The Danish Girl that much better?)
The absence of color and queerness, especially in the Best Picture noms, is disappointing, but I chalk that up as a reflection of the old white men who dominate the voting. Interesting how, for example, Carol gets Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara noms, along with screenplay and art categories, but this "woman's film" doesn't rate for Best Picture or Best Director. (Also interesting that Mara, who plays the main character in the original book, gets relegated to supporting actress. I guess that's a result of the balance of star power.)
With two empty slots in potential Best Picture nods, I wonder what happened to lead to these omissions. I guess it's an Old Man's Awards.
Geoffrey Holtby
If Fury Road doesn't win for Best Production Design that's god damn robbery.
Of all of the films in the categories under discussion, I have seen only two: Creed and The Martian. I think Damon was fine in The Martian, and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but there were one or two directorial, screenwriting, and/or acting choices that took it out of Best Picture or Best Actor territory for me.
Of course, I generally have no interest in seeing the thing that eventually wins Best Picture … since 2001, of the winners I've only seen Chicago, Slumdog Millionaire, The Artist, and Argo.
As to Mr. Stallone, I was genuinely impressed with the performance and would be very happy for him to win.
kacyjey
I completely agree that Sly should get the Oscar. He's just fricken amazing! As for the whiteness of the Oscar noms this year, it's a puzzle and should be interesting with Chris Rock hosting the awards. It's sad though that we even notice color. I share MLK's dream, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." I hope in my lifetime I get to live in a colorblind world.
Karen aka Kacy Jey Author of Jolene, You're Not a Monster
gregm91436
Not much to argue with here, though I'm rooting for George Miller for Best Director; Fury Road is a pure blast of insanity.
How do you feel about the lack of diversity in these nominations and in the movies in general? It actually really bothers me and I feel like the offers are becoming very boring.
Matt Yarbrough
Having seen not a single one of these, I must ask WHERE IS STAR WARS?!??! Huh?!?! (I'm kidding, that seems to be a consistent all caps comment on every Oscar story so far, now that it has been done maybe no one else will feel the need to replicate it here)
Well, Scott is responsible for GI Jane, and I think it's too early to forgive him. Also other terrible movies (Prometheus, ahem), and the Blade Runner Directors cut that is way inferior to the original. So no, I hope he gets nothing for a while longer.
Matthew S. Rotundo
Don't feel bad about having trouble picking Best Supporting Actress, John. It's a notoriously unpredictable category, rife with surprises.
Steve Thorn
I think The Revenant has all the momentum right now, so I'd say 10 of the 12 nominations it has will turn into wins.
A bit of both. Hollywood and theatre simply don't consider actors of color for leading roles. Both NY and LA don't cast actors of color unless the script specifically says they are. And when they do manage to get meaty roles, I have a feeling the powers that be underrate them. The noms for CREED and OUT OF COMPTON were for the most part for the white artists, even though these two pictures are in Oscar favored genres.
(And for the record….I'm getting a little sick of people saying we shouldn't notice color. Sorry, but if you don't notice my friend's black and I'm Asian, I gotta wonder about your observational skill…and if you don't notice all of the baggage that color gives to people (like the additional fear black men get), then I don't think you're being helpful at all. And that's something Martin Luther King Jr. (the real one, not the mythic one) would try to point out)
mngwa
As someone who lived in Boston at the time Spotlight covers, I was blown away about how well they portrayed the city (and should get an award for not mangling accents!!!) My journalist friends say it's also a very accurate portrayal of journalism.
As to Room – it was a fantastic movie. I wish the actor who played the young boy had gotten a nod, because he did an amazing job. It felt like watching him live the events in real life – an exceptional even for someone much older than him.
egl
I'm disappointed that Crimson Peak didn't get any more in the technical categories. It was, by far, the most visually striking movie I saw last year.
Okay, autocorrect, how on earth did you get "more" from "nods"?
Peter Franklin
Yes, can we hear more love for Room? That was an amazingly powerful film.
I agree, the kids performance was astonishing.
rickg17
John – any thoughts on increasing the number of allowed nominees in the other major categories? Looking at Best Picture recently it's apparent that there are often more than 5 worthy contenders and I wonder if that's generally true for other categories too. At the least, it would reduce even further the wiggle room for excluding PoC nominees.
Only real thought I have is that Anomalisa might be a dark horse in Animation because of Charlie Kaufman, but in general the Academy treats that particular Oscar as the Pixar Award.
I honestly think they should consider retiring that Oscar; it's clear the Academy isn't ever going to have the expertise to judge animation, so why pretend they do? No-one begrudges them for not having a Best Videogame award.
I think Miller should definitely take Best Director – Fury Road was one of the only movies where I've actually noticed and appreciated the quality of the *direction*, as opposed to the acting or special effects or music or whatever. It was really well paced.
As for others, I don't know enough to say.
K. Jeffery Petersen (@damienroc)
@Merus It's less that the academy favors PIxar and more that the award generally goes to whichever film grossed the most domestically. So, yeah. Inside Out has it in the bag.
The nomination process for animated films is far more interesting than the actual win. They selected a good slate this year.
The Academy tends to snub films about black people that aren't about racism or civil rights, which reveals a lot about how white people who think they're progressive think about race in America, I guess. Straight Outta Compton and Creed both deserved some nominations for their directors and lead actors. Might not win, but a nod was deserved, even though they weren't about magical blacks helping white people become better humans.
Also, I think the Revenant is being really overhyped. It's okay. It's not one of the best movies produced this year.
moggybreath
I will be very disappointed (although not necessarily surprised) if 'The Martian' doesn't take home Best Adapted Screenplay. As one of millions who loved the book I was thoroughly satisfied with the movie and considered it essentially a textbook for 'how to adapt a book to the screen'. Although it does help I suppose that book was pretty much gift-wrapped for a screenwriter.
Re 'not seeing colour' – MLK said he hoped people would not be *judged* by the colour of their skin, not that it would be ignored altogether. Race/ethnicity/cultural background is part of everyone's identity, including myself as a whitey-mcwhite. To say that you want ignore a part of someone's identity almost says that you consider it something dangerous or shameful.
To me an ideal world is not one where we have to ignore our differences to perceive each other as human but one where we recognise and celebrate our differences as part of what *makes* us human. To see that someone is of different skin colour/gender identity/region/political stripe/musical taste to yourself and say "you are a human being and I respect you" is the ultimate triumph of rationalism and human ethics over tribalism and ego.
Ellie Maloney
Re: Laura Lis Scott, I agree, Ex Machina is unjustly overlooked. It's a great movie, evenly made. I wonder why it had such bad luck. I'm no insider of all things Oscar, so I am truly puzzled.
Bobo Milano
And we can add Morricone / The Hateful Eight as winner for Original Soundtrack
Jack Lint
I'm curious which Pixar winners people thought were undeserved. It seems like their weaker movies don't get nominated and while the studio dominates the category, it's not a given that they will win.
I really enjoyed Man from UNCLE and personally think the soundtrack deserved an oscar nod. Costume design was quite nice, too…but Mad Max deserves that, regardless (and if they give it to yet another British period-piece…well…).
I have no idea about Creed (since I haven't seen it), but I wonder if the reason that "Straight Outta Compton" didn't get nominated due to the concerns over its content…or rather how it glosses over elements of the past, like the accusations of misogyny and violence against women. I suspect many voters avoided nominating it for that very reason. Skipping Creed seems like a mistake, if Jordan's performance was worthy.
Obviously part of the problem is the diversity (or lack thereof) of the Academy voters. They need to address that as part of the issue if they wish the Oscars to remain relevant.
Megs
I'd looooove to see Mad Max sweep the board, but I have a sneaking suspicion it'll lose best picture/director to something boring and more Oscar friendly (i.e. "Two and a half hours of Leo wading through rivers." Ex Machina definitely should have been more widely recognized, especially in the acting categories, so hopefully it'll take best screenplay as a consolation.
Given that Max and The Martian got a decent amount of love, I can't say that Star Wars got genre snubbed. It's an awesome movie for sure, but the only (HUGE) thing it really excelled at was being a great Star Wars movie. I'm sure Disney will be happy to settle for its truck-loads of cash.
And oscarsowhite two years running is a damn embarrassment.
You know what, I just realized that we *did* see "Ex Machina." I'm sorry, I kind of hated it (except that SPOILER ALERT she gets away in the end, which I did not expect) which is probably why I did a brain-wipe right after. The rest of it was (IMO) both predictable and a really repugnant treatment of the captive-woman trope.
Matt W
Is The Big Short a comedy? If so, it's a drama-tragi-comedy. Like, the kind of comedy where you feel so depressed and rage-filled that all you can do is laugh. It's a comedy in about the same way that The Wolf of Wall Street is a comedy, except that it features protagonists who are marginally less monstrous than Leo's character in TWoWS. It won't win the Oscar because it hasn't had much exposure and because it's necessarily didactic given the subject matter and because it's filmed idiosyncratically. Not because it's a comedy.
Ok, so whats the deal with the bleach white oscars? Is everyone who votes white? I dont even know how one gets picked to vote. Is it just institutional lag?
I dont go to many movies, so I dont even know what the people had to choose from for movies. Do they usually pick from like the top 10 money makers for the year? If so, was the top ten money maker movies all white last year? I just dont even.
elearningaccfin
I nearly walked out of The Revenant. Gritty realism, combined with a character who could be in a marvel comic. The "Unbelievable Survival Man". Couldn't suspend my disbelief. They also could have cut about 20 minutes of stunning, but redundant landscape footage. Great start, great finish, the middle was a mess. Leo was great.


text:
What Are Your Priorities (Part II)
Clothes shopping in Taiwan is soo fun! This shop had incredible Italian designs.
They say that happiness or unhappiness lies when our time spent is not aligned with our priorities. That is, the majority of our time spent is not where our actual priorities lie.
So, for example, if you find yourself spending longer hours at work of late when work is not your top priority then you will likely feel frustration, stress, angst.
In my last blog post I gave a simple journaling - reflection exercise to find your top 3 priorities for the year. Go ahead and take time now to do that if you haven't yet.
If you know your 3 priorities already, I invite you to sit down and try to suss out the one that you'd really like to put energy into this year. It doesn't necessarily have to be the most important thing to you. But something that you really want to put thought and energy into these next 11 months to focus on.
Reminds me of Banyan trees in Hawai'i... such a strong and wise presence.
JOURNALING PROMPT:
What do you feel you definitely want to accomplish this year? What is something you'd like to focus on that you feel might be a bit selfish to?
What Are Your Priorities?
We are still in the month of January, though personally it has felt like a full month already. I guess being out sick for 2 some weeks will do that to you. When every hour feels particularly elongated...
But while we are still in the period of trying to think fresh about our year ahead, it's a good time to think about:
Try to pick 3-5 main priorities for the year.
First, it might help to do a "Brain Dump" -- take out a large piece of paper, some color pens, and think through all the areas of importance in your life you'd like to emphasize. Don't worry about choosing right now. Don't censor. Just do a "word vomit" onto the page.
After you feel you are finished, circle up to 5 top most important areas to you that you want to emphasize this year.
Then, go back and star 3 of them.
Write those priorities out on an index card, one each and put them where you will see them. Your mirror, fridge, etc. An example can be: Build up my muscles. OR Spend quality time with dad.
You Above All
I am the first to tell my journaling sisters -- Put You First! You're probably tired of hearing me say it. Maybe not.
I talk about how we're mainly raised to be caretakers and nurturers for everyone else around us. So when we finally get around to think about our own needs, we either don't know or notice what they are, neglect them, brush them off as unimportant, or even claim pursuing one's dream as a reason to not take care of oneself.
I was very close to being guilty of that today.
I'd been sick for the last 10 days, going to work almost every day but two when I finally dragged myself to the doctor's. Slight fever, but no body aches, lot of hacking and phlegm, especially much of the night. Basically a fun-filled week!
I was about to launch into holding my online gathering this morning and realized I couldn't even think about getting ready for it. (I'd been sleeping on and off 10hr a night and still exhausted.) I finally made the difficult decision of cancelling.
It's been actually a wondrous week of learning how to be comfortable and even enjoy the silence. That comes when you close your eyes in bed and you can't fall asleep, but you're dead tired, and letting your mind wander, flitting here and there.
I did feel terrible in thinking about cancelling. But I also did not want to fake it in leading the group, when I knew I did not have the energy to be fully present and engaged in guiding everyone. Maybe women wouldn't notice, but I knew I would not be able to enjoy it and would be totally drained after.
I've learned on this wild entrepreneurial journey, I want to be wholly authentic and genuine to myself above all.
Where is a place where you've learned a similar lesson? Write in the comments below!
An Intention & A Commitment for the New Year
A very successful first Ladies' Happy Hour!
I first started Journaling Sisters a few years back in NYC because I saw me and my girlfriends around me running around like crazy. We were just keeping our heads above water and only being reactive to the next thing, and not being proactive about what we wanted. I wanted to create a quiet reflective space to help us all-- me included -- to slow down.
I've also been noticing it's been extra hard for me to focus. It may be post-holidays, getting back into work routine, family stress, any all of the above. And the thought of the new year and the pressure it brings --- new resolutions, new habits, new commitments --- and we're somehow supposed to take it all in at once, and be better people by February 2020 ideally!
I don't know about you, but along with the usual pressures I already put on myself, it can be kind of a lot. To say the least.
I invite you today or this week to take some quiet time --- I love to escape to a cafe with my big headphones myself -- and think about these two words:
What do they mean to you? What do you feel like you intended or committed to last year? What are 3 things you would like to intend and commit to? Big or small.
Check out my upcoming journaling gatherings to journal in a warm safe space with other women!
www.meetup.com/JournalingSistersBoston


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