Archive for What I'm Reading

I write, design, edit – what am I?

October 6, 2009 · Filed under What I'm Reading · Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Hey! I’m excited because I think I finally figured out the proper title for what I do on a daily basis:

I am a Communication Designer. Specifically in health care. This definition is broad/vague enough to encompass all that I do, but specific enough to aptly describe it.  On a day to day basis I’m: designing customer service banners & poster; ordering promo items; manipulating image & text; editing photos; creating brochures & mailers for different hospital departments & programs; gathering information and laying out hospital-wide newsletters; coordinating physician lectures & mass faxing flyers; writing press releases; taking photos & writing copy for our website. You get the idea …

A Communication Designer “seeks to attract, inspire, create desires and motivate the people to respond to messages, with a view to making a favorable impact to the bottom line of the commissioning body, which can be either to build a brand, move sales, or for humanitarian purposes. Its process involves strategic business thinking, utilizing market research, creativity, and problem-solving.”  I work mainly with visual & text.

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Sharing a piece of Rumi

November 24, 2008 · Filed under The Absurd, What I'm Reading · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

A Delicate Girl

 

The terrible grief of being human! Let

us drink it all, but with a difference.

 

We sit with Junnaiyd and Bestami. The

moon rising here cannot be covered with

 

cloud. There are no deaths for lovers.

Who is the self? A delicate girl that

 

flows out when we draw the sword of

selfless action. This earth eats men

 

and women, and yet we are sent to eat

the world, this place that tries to fool

 

us with tomorrow. Wait until tomorrow,

which we outwit by enjoying only this

 

now. We gather at night to celebrate

being human. Sometimes we call out low

 

to the tambourine. Fish drink the sea,

but the sea does not get smaller! We

 

eat the clouds and evening light. We

are slaves tasting the royal wine.

 

—————————————-

Right now it is snowing heavily on Pontiac. Makes me miss upstate a little … trying to figure out the immediate future is slow going. Each little thing dependent on the next on the next on the next … etc.

—————————————–

Some Kiss We Want

 

There is some kiss we want with

our whole lives, the touch of

 

spirit on the body. Seawater

begs the pear to break its shell.

 

And the lily, how passionately

it needs some wild darling! At

 

night, I open the window and ask

the moon to come and press its

 

face against mine. Breathe into

me. Close the language-door and

 

open the love-window. The moon

won’t use the door, only the window.

———————-

 

Someone who does not run

toward the allure of love

walks a road where nothing

 

lives. But this dove here

senses the love hawk floating

above, and waits, and will not

 

be driven or scared to safety.

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What I’m reading, and other news

November 6, 2008 · Filed under Healing, The Day to Day, What I'm Reading · Tagged , , , , ,

Just an update – since I used this blog as a record of my own reading…

Reading: Right now I am engrossed in a few books: Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov; Small Changes, by Marge Piercy; and the current issue of The Believer.   Feed my brain!

Life: I’m right now packing up for my move to Michigan. Monday was my last day as copy editor at the local paper … it’s a little weird to have so much time to myself now, but that’s what I wanted!  I’m hoping to leave this weekend, and looking forward to spending time with family and getting myself grounded again.

Naturopath: I realize I never really gave an update after last time like I said I would. Basically, I completed a two month allergy diet and determined that I at least have a sensitivity to SOY. Not wheat, or corn, or milk even. Soy is really what sets off my tummy. Wow. Kind of interesting for a vegan … So I haven’t been eating soy for about a month, and have been eating local organic eggs from my friend’s farm, and I feel a lot better.

My colitis symptoms are for the most part under control, however, I am still on a lot of pharmaceuticals, including dicyclomine (anti-spasmodic), cortifoam (cortisone supporitories – though I’m doing these less frequently), still on azasan 50 mg x2 (immuno-suppressant).  The funny thing being that I’ve been doing things that were on my ‘avoid list’ for a long time (i.e. smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol moderately) yet  I’ve been feeling healthier than I have in a looong time.

So I think it’s more a state of mind. My stress level is much lower now than it was when I was engaged/married, and I’m more physically active now than I was – walking, yoga, packing etc.

If you get a chance, check out new photos on my Flickr page – I uploaded lots more crochet and knit photos.

p1090790

 

As for Barack Obama being elected the 44th president of the United States … WOW. I’m proud to be an American and looking forward to his leadership. I don’t think there’s anything I can say that hasn’t already been said about this historic election, but for me personally it was truly inspiring. America you did the right thing! My faith is restored!

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New photos, insights, dreams

September 8, 2008 · Filed under Healing, Other, What I'm Reading · Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m not so good at uploading photos to this blog, but I have ‘new’ photos that I just scanned and uploaded onto my flickr page (apparently I can’t copy the link here – but go to flickr and search for alethafaye). They are photos that Adele took when she was in her photo class(es) at school and she was gracious enough to mail them all to me as I was looking for photos to start building a ‘portfolio.’ I think she is quite good … Soon I will also have standard head shots & body shots to apply for some modeling gigs and whatnot.

 

From Adele's collection

From Adele

 

 

From Gina - Headshot

From Gina - Headshot

 

 

 

Have been using the tarot frequently, as an interpretation tool. The deck I have is the Fenestra deck, a really beautiful deck in the style of the classic Rider-Waite. I was drawn to it after spending almost 45 minutes at the shop in Sedona looking for the ‘right’ one. I didn’t really even look at it, but just decided on it at the last minute. With a good guidebook with exercises (“Learning the Tarot” by Joan Bunning) I have been learning a lot — not just about tarot, but I think about myself, which is, after all, the purpose.

She suggests doing a daily one card reading. Admittedly, I have not been doing it every day, but it is very interesting on the days that I do, and have generally been keeping a journal. Last week I did a 12 card Celtic cross on a particular situation in my life and it proved to be very apt. I found myself crying (not hard to do for me) and in awe of the accuracy, and revelations, of the reading.

Today I drew The Hermit card (IX of the Major Arcana) … signalling a need for introspection, spending some time alone, withdrawing from the senses. This is something I’ve known I needed but have been resisting, or ignoring. It’s very easy for me to be a ’slave to the senses’ so to speak. Luckily, I have that opportunity to be alone right now in my life, though I may find it a struggle to do so. Often the cards reveal something know by my ‘inner guidance’ but that I may be ignoring. It helps to bring things to light that sometimes I would prefer hidden. The tarot forces you to be honest and look into yourself (sometimes we all need a little kick, right?).

I have cards from the suit of swords come up rather frequently. I think this is interesting because I have also been having dreams about swords. I also dream about particular cards some nights and wake up to learn about them. I have never really been one to believe in ’signs’ but I have always been a vivid dreamer and recognize my dreams as carriers of messages …

A particular dream I had featuring swords: My friends and I are having a pageant of some kind, inhabiting a rather large house … six people in flowing robes, like togas, are dancing in a line, when simulatneously they are all stabbed with swords. Not fatally … my one friend, who is in a lot of my dreams (people usually represent an aspect of self rather than themselves, hmmm – now I have to think about what this friend represents about me), is stabbed in the arm, his bicep is separated from the rest of his arm and the end of the sword is somehow broken or burned off. He falls and I run to see if he is OK, there’s a lot of blood. He wants me to pull the sword out, but I am scared that will hurt him more. But I pull it out, and then he is alright.

One interpretation is that I see I that while I have the power to inflict pain (I worry about this a lot) on others, and myself, I also have the power to heal, to make things right, to pull the sword out.

 

Hi-Ya!

Hi-Ya!

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Love letter

September 2, 2008 · Filed under What I'm Reading, What I'm Writing · Tagged , , , ,

It’s been a few weeks since the last letter/post here. I want people to know (in case they are worried) that things are fine – I’ve just been going in and out of a general disappointment with situations, people.  The other side of that is that thankfully the friends I have made here do shine through and remind me of all that is worthwhile in Utica.

Lately I have been reading this cheesy compilation of historical love letters. They are charming, and quite fascinating … I guess I am looking for some answers or questions to my own emotions.

In any case, I am posting a ‘love poem’ that I wrote a few months ago, really a found poem, composed from lines of imho one of the best lyrical albums ever – Vespertine, by Bjork.  * Disclaimer: One of the songs on the album in an e. e. cummings poem set to music, and of course I had to borrow some of those lines.*  The music on this album is very powerful, and this poem, for me, is erotic but sad and dark.

 

I have a recurrent dream

  pedaling through the dark currents

of the pleasure in me,

  looking hard for moments of shine.


Through the warmest cord of care

  your love was sent to me.

I’m not sure what to do with it.


Swirling black lillies totally  ripe …

Feel my breath on your neck

  and your heart will race

But careful, careful

  There lies my passion hidden,

there lies my love.

I will take the sun in my mouth.

Will I complete the mystery of my flesh?


I wake up

   and the day feels broken.

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Finally

January 29, 2008 · Filed under Animal Rights, Environment, What I'm Reading, vegan · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

 Finally someone at the New York Times put out a piece that talks some sense about the seriousness of our culture’s meat-guzzling addiction and its implications for the planet!! This is good to see in such a major media outlet.  Will people actually start talking about it? 

 

Read it here:     Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler  by Mark Bittman

 


For more straight talk about the meat industry and health, I’ve been picking up pieces of Skinny Bitch  by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnoui. It’s hilarious. And they pull no punches. I won’t quote it here b/c, quite frankly, the language is not kid-friendly and I don’t want to offend anyone.

 

The part I love about it is that this non-diet ‘diet’ book, which happens to a NYT Bestseller, doesn’t promise fab results with no effort (we all know that’s bullsh*t anyway) – guess what people – you need to work a little to transform yourself and your life! If you don’t face up to that fact, you are deluding yourself.

 

Seems like maybe some people in the mainstream media are waking up  

 

OK One more good read, that again, I’ve only been getting bits and pieces of (this book lives in my bathroom), is The Exception to the Rulers by Amy Goodman and David Goodman of Democracy Now.  Just go to their website.

 

 

Happy reading!!

 

Also, this post is open to discussion for the 90+ people I sent the article to. Please, feel free to comment!  I want to hear what you think! 

 

 

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The World Peace Diet

November 30, 2007 · Filed under Animal Rights, What I'm Reading · Tagged , , , , , , ,

My cat Orenji just tried to jump almost 4 feet up onto my lap (I’m sitting on a stool) without realized that there is a glass table between us … a loud crack and then kitty was clinging onto my legs, having made it only halfway to his destination. OW! He seems OK though and is now purring happily as I type … what a weirdo.

So obviously I don’t need to say that the the Wolrd Peace Diet advocated by Dr. Tuttle is vegetarian, but I do ned to tell you that you can go to the website and download a free copy of the entire 330+ page book which presents the most compelling case for ethical vegetarianism. It is well worth the time to read at least some of it and learn something new. do it! I’m thinking of just ordering a bunch of the paper copies to give as gifts .. (shh!)

I’ve added some new links along the side, including a website dedicated to the case for impeachment. Check it out!

I promised a few posts ago to put an excerpt from Is America Necessary? by Jacob Needleman up here, so here it is:

Here lies the secret of America – that is still has a future, that it offers mankind a future. The remnents of other nations and cultures may strike the sense of wonder in us with the greatness of their art and beauty and customs. But in these places we are looking into the past. In America, we are looking into the future – maybe an increasingly threatening future, but still a real one …
If we take America “literally,” if we see around us conformity, corruptions, rank injustice, materialism, superficiality, and vulgarity, metaphysical squalor and blind attachment to physical comfort – if we see only that, we see the death of America and the end of its future. But if we look more deeply, we may still see a nation and people granted for a brief moment the material and spiritual conditions enabling them to step into the real future of man, which is the future of the developing soul.
The future is another word for the soul.

I am a *hopeless* optimist, and I agree with Needleman’s argument here that America’s influence is so great that we have a choice in regards to creating a future using that power – that it IS possible to bring the soul and spirit of America back in order to correct the damage that we’ve done. I’ve never really thought about/articulated “America” in a spriritual sense, but I think this essay captures it for me. “America must give back to the world the main thing it is taking from the world… ” He is calling for America to do some serious soul-searching: “The world had hoped in the outer America while subliminally feeling the resonance of the inner America. But first we who live here must feel it. If Americans themselves do not acknowledge the sould of America, the world may not wish to keep us.”

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One of my favorite blogs

November 24, 2007 · Filed under The Day to Day, What I'm Reading, vegan · Tagged , , ,

Enjoying a laid back afternoon with the hunny at home, who is perfecting his throat-singing skills today, while I am working on various craft projects (newest: weaving a nest-like basket out of my defunct dreads).
Just thought I would post this link to one of my new favorite blogs: The Urban Vegan
There’s great stuff on here and mouthwatering, easy recipes (and photos) that even an omnivore would love. I check it regularly if only for food ideas and to gaze at the scrumptious photos of things like “Orange-scented cranberry-almond biscotti” and “Monkey bread” … mmm.
Enjoy!

Coming soon – an excerpt from an excellent Parabola article entitle “Is America Necessary?”

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Pardon the Turkeys . . .

November 23, 2007 · Filed under Animal Rights, Environment, Politiks, What I'm Reading, vegan · Tagged , , , , ,

Here’s a great little post from Bill Maher giving a few good reasons to pass on the turkey this year.

“New Rule: The president can’t pardon just one or two turkeys this Thanksgiving. He’s got to let them all go.
It’s probably too much to expect from the man who wanted “no child left behind,” then vetoed health care for kids. But think of the upside. Freeing the turkeys might help the president’s credibility when he says things like, “We don’t torture.”‘ Read more.

N & I just spent a really relaxing nice Thank-you day in CT with my folks. We did a lot of the cooking, actually, whipping up a homemade pumpkin & sweet potato pie, some roasted acorn squash, along with a seitan loaf with mushroom & red wine gravy. Yummm. My dad made a great vegan stuffing with water chestnuts to go along. No deprivation for the vegetarians at this feast! :) I tried not to overdo it, but I definitely ate a lot more in one day yesterday than any other daysince coming out of the hospital. It was a little trying on the system but not too bad. I enjoyed some cheeses too for the first time in a long time, but not sure how much I’m going to keep that up . . .

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Back into it …

November 18, 2007 · Filed under Healing, The Day to Day, What I'm Reading, Writing · Tagged , , , , ,

At this point it would be easy for me to throw up my hands ands say “i’m just not a blogger” or “I’m just not a writer.” I’ve let small obstacles get in my way or writing anything consistently, perhaps hiding the fact that I just don’t put the effort in to say what I want to say , post the interesting things I want to post, and in general laziness.
As a brief chronicle of life though, this will serve as an update. Last Friday I was admitted to the hospital and stayed there until Tuesday to treat Ulcerative Colitis … [an auto immune disease whereby the lining of the colon is chronically inflamed] … long story short this is a ‘diagnosis’ that I’ve had for seven years, on meds for six and then actively trying to ‘heal’ myself for the past year, sans pharmaceuticals. While I have made much progress, I ended up in the hospital with the inflammation having spread to my entire colon and a warning that letting it go again could drastically increase my chance of cancer- very painful and scary indeed.
Needless to say, I’m taking the drugs again if only to save my life. I am working out alternative therapies to use in conjunction with the drugs so I don’t have to take as many in the long run. Again I am truly blessed to have such a support system and network of healers and listeners around me – friends and family. All the doctors that I saw were very respectful of my right to choose or refuse treatment and I received excellent care at the hospital I stayed at, even though I didn’t have insurance.
In all, the experience created a space of completion and ‘what’s next’ … Just another wake up call that I can’t afford to live my life without active participation, and that I get to say how it’s going to go. I’m not a victim of circumstance but can create an environment that will help me succeed in the ‘face of’ those circumstances.

***
New Books/reading materials:
(obviously I went on a B&N binge)
Adbusters #74
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
Studying about Tara (the female incarnation of the Buddha)
The Gaia Project 2012 by Hwee-Yong Jang
Still working on Don Juan Road to Ixtlal

Writing -
Article submitted to beturtle.com, but I haven’t seen it up there yet … keep checking for me!
Business plan for bulk herb and tea shop??
– this would be my dream come true right now-

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