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Archive for the ‘Self-Improvement’ Category

Glossier, #NoMakeup, and the authenticity myth – Document Journal

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From Maybe Shes Born With It to You Look Good: how beauty brands sell us on the compulsive labor of self-optimization

The Glossier girl is carefree, charming, and preternaturally beautiful. We watch her swipe sheer gloss onto smiling lips, or dab a dot of concealer under bright eyes; she uses her hands to apply the color, finger-painting on already-flushed cheeks. Rather than showcasing the products effectiveness, the Glossier girls conspicuous lack of before and after underscores the importance of experience versus result. Her coy smile suggests that with the right combination of product and lifestyle, we too could attain this state of perfect imperfection.

Digital and millennial pink, Glossier entered the beauty scene in 2014 when the industry was in the midst of a body-positive rebrand. Drugstore titans like Pantene, Covergirl, and Dove had successfully leveraged womens empowerment as a mainstream marketing strategy, tackling female-centered social issues in viral campaigns such as #ShineStrong, #GirlsCan, and Real Beauty Sketches. The widespread success of those campaigns ushered in a new era of advertising, with brands now required to become fluent in the language of contemporary feminism while continuing to profit off mainstream beauty ideals.

Glossier was perfectly poised to fill the new demand for beauty products that integrate the feminist ideal of self-acceptance with the capitalist imperative of self-improvement. The launch of Glossiers original product line also coincided with the popular rise of multi-step skincare, a beauty regimen which similarly blurs the experiential boundary between ritual and result. As makeup, [Glossier] promises to mimic the effects of impeccable skincare, wrote Haley Mlotek for The Fader in 2016. As skincare, it promises to replace the need for makeup entirely.

This demographic restriction of no-makeup makeup is, of course, part of the appeal: much as Brandy Melville profits off the exclusivity of their limited sizing, Glossier provides a self-improvement ritual for women who already fit within a hairs breadth of dominant beauty ideals.

Glossiers cultlike following is due in part to Emily Weiss, the companys founder, CEO, and resident New York It-Girl, previously known for spearheading Into The Gloss, a popular blog about womens beauty routines. With only two brick-and-mortar retail stores, the brand has leveraged their social following and philosophy of hands-on community engagement to cultivate both an avid fan-base and a high degree of visibility. Glossiers signature pink poucha free gift easily repurposed as a chic makeup bag, travel case, or even a handbaghas become an omnipresent accessory among millennial women, much as the free canvas totes that come with a New Yorker subscription became an iconic status symbol on the streets of Manhattan.

The Glossier Flagship, which is located within spitting distance of my workplace, routinely draws crowds of millennial devotees waiting in line while brand representatives dole out boxed water or free umbrellas (Isnt their entire business model making you pay crazy amounts of money for repackaged vaseline and oxygen? asked my colleague when I brought this up on Slack.) Indeed, Glossier has been criticized for the practical limitations of their sheer, barely-there makeup products (Glossier Announces New Line of Makeup For Women Not Already Beautiful, reads the title of Mara Wilsons 2017 article for Reductress, where she describes the brands popularity among models, future models and Instagram models, introducing a new parody product line, Prettier, that will contain actual tints.) This demographic restriction of no-makeup makeup is, of course, part of the appeal: much as Brandy Melville profits off the exclusivity of their limited sizing, Glossier provides a self-improvement ritual for women who already fit within a hairs breadth of dominant beauty ideals. The Prettier satire is made all the more ironic by the 2019 launch of Glossier Play, a new sub-brand of dialed up beauty extras that encompasses everything the original brand shied away from (though it includes sparkles, glitter, and primary colors, it still stops short of doing any cosmetic heavy lifting when it comes to concealing problem areas.)

In her 2019 essay on the compulsive labor of self-optimization, Jia Tolentino describes the ideal woman: Everything about [this woman] has been preemptively controlled to the point that she can afford the impression of spontaneity and, more important, the sensation of ithaving worked to rid her life of artificial obstacles, she often feels legitimately carefree. Rather than compulsively applying makeup before she heads out the door, this woman has paid a premium to identify as low-maintenance. This affords her an experience of freedom from the oppressive force of beauty standards, while maintaining a level of physical appeal that has proven benefits.

Much as the rise and fall of hemlines is informed by norms surrounding womens modesty, the history of beauty has been marked by its fluctuating relationship with the natural.

There is a wealth of options available to the customer looking to maintain the illusion of beauty low-maintenance: from microblading and eyelash extensions to injectables, plastic surgery, and veneers. By offering rotating discounts for services such as teeth whitening, facials, and long-lasting gel manicures, the advent of the mobile couponing app Groupon has broadened the pool of people with access to luxury cosmetic treatments previously reserved for the wealthy.

With todays abundance of online beauty resources, makeup tutorials, and access to Facetune, everyday opportunities for self enhancement now extend beyond upper class demographics. Yet as the pursuit of beauty is becoming more egalitarian on an individual basis, the authority of the natural and the policing of fakery remain a dominant principle in maintaining the social order. Much as the rise and fall of hemlines is informed by norms surrounding womens modesty, the history of beauty has been marked by its fluctuating relationship with the natural (one might consider the trajectory of womens eyebrows from the needle-thin pluck of the 1920s to the fashionably bushy eyebrows of today.)

Beauty isnt the only economic signifier subject to revision. In the 1900s, the advent and popular adoption of plastics like celluloid and synthetic resin challenged the implicit value of material by creating identical replicas of luxury items such as ivory and amber. Suddenly, plastic imitations of powerful class signifiers could be cheaply reproduced, and stigmatizing imitation materials as fake was one way to ensure that the value of luxury materials was not entirely eclipsed by their synthetic counterparts. More than a substance, plastic is the very idea of its infinite transformation, writes philosopher and cultural critic Roland Barthes. It is this, in fact, which makes it a miraculous substance: a miracle is always a sudden transformation of nature. Today, the recent increase in beauty mobilityand the popularization of transformative editing tools like Photoshop, Facetune, and Instagram filtershas spurred increased scrutiny towards artificial forms of beauty, much as the fashions of the elite change when the aesthetic becomes more widely available.

The appeal of natural beauty is nothing newsearch #nomakeup and you will find some 18.2 million posts on Instagram, ranging from close ups of skin texture to smiling models to acne scars to eyelash extensionsbut Glossier has undeniably played a role in turning the aesthetic of natural makeup into an aspirational image of effortless glamour. And yet, while Glossiers championing of real beauty seems like a harmless extension of the self-acceptance narrative, focusing on the concept of authenticity precludes makeups more substantive power to enable self-actualization and personal expression. Its this same assertion of natural value that serves to ensure beautys exclusive status, ignoring those whose natural beauty hasnt seen layers of expensive treatments or who dont meet impossible beauty standards with a morning routine consisting of a splash of water and a well-placed dab of rose-flavored vaseline.

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Glossier, #NoMakeup, and the authenticity myth - Document Journal

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November 5th, 2019 at 12:46 am

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I’ve Spent 4,000 on Online Courses and I Still Feel Like a Fraud – VICE

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This article originally appeared on VICE UK.

I type my bank details in and wait for the confirmation email. As the initial wave of excitement hits, I start thinking about how different my life is going to be thanks to this purchase. Ive just bought another online course and have spent almost 4,000 on this type of learning in the last three years.

So why do I still feel like a fraud?

I've taken courses in everything from creative writing to salary negotiation. The most expensive purchase was a $1,000 course that promised to teach me how to make and sell my own courses. That was more than two years ago. I still havent become a course creator. No matter how many books I read, podcasts I listen to, or online courses I take, I dont feel smart enough to monetise my knowledge.

The cheapest course and the one least likely to progress my career was the one that made me realise I had a problem. When I paid 29 for access to OMGyes, a platform devoted to the science of female pleasure, I knew things had gotten out of hand. I can usually get myself off in the time it takes to microwave a bag of rice, so why was I paying to get better at it?

Im not alone in my obsession with becoming a better version of myself. According to one survey, 94 percent of millennials reported making personal improvement commitments and are willing to spend over $300 a month on self-improvement.

Millennials are better educated than previous generations, so why are we so willing to invest in learning when many would argue were already pretty smart? Competition has a lot to do with it. The days of standing out in a crowd due to having a degree are long gone. Instead, youre just as likely to be judged by employers on your productivity (read: side hustle) outside of work than you are for your contribution to the nine to five. (Tellingly, I recently saw a job advert that listed moonlighting as an admirable candidate quality.)

Emma Shearwood, 29, has spent around 2,500 on online learning this year, focusing primarily on business and social media courses.

I always feel like I should be improving something which is like saying Im not enough already, she says. I think society often tells women were not enough and so we spend money to become better than we already are. I see it in a similar way to how I see the beauty industry.

With the social media highlight reel telling us our peers are getting promotions, writing novels and becoming CrossFit champions, its easy to feel under pressure to better yourself. But with so many free resources available, from YouTube videos to library books, it may come as a surprise that people are so willing to spend money on online courses.

Lauren Hutchinson: "The main issue with these online courses is the lack of accountability to finish them." Photo courtesy of Lauren

New Yorker journalist Jia Tolentino writes in her book Trick Mirror: We pay too much for things we think are precious but we also start to believe things are precious if someone makes us pay too much. In programmes designed to teach people to become course creators, theres often pressure to set high prices so that potential students consider the course valuable. And it works! If I see a free course, I assume its not going to be very good. If, however, I see a course for 499, I start to wonder whats inside and begin to fantasise about how it could change my life.

Lauren Hutchinson, 34, has spent 5,000 on online courses over the last few years and is in the early stages of running her own business. The courses included digital marketing, photography, and crystal healing. She believes that course creators have a knack for tapping into our insecurities and offering us costly solutions to fix them.

Often when were on social media its a time when you can feel at your most fragile as youve seen everyone elses highlight reel, she says. It drags you further and further into the youre not as good as these people spiral. Then you see an ad for something which can help you catch up.

The reality is rarely anything like the dream. Investing in online learning hasn't given me confidence, it hasn't drastically increased my income, and it hasn't notably progressed my career. I spend all this time trying to expand my knowledge and yet all this learning is stopping me from creating anything. Often, one course just leads to another, unlocking further insecurities I didnt have before.

Sian Melonie: "One course gave me the confidence to go for a new job role but I still signed up for more. Its a vicious cycle." Photo courtesy of Sian

Sian Melonie, 35, is currently job hunting in London after spending five months travelling around India, Bali and Vietnam. Shes spent around 2,000 on online courses.

For me it's definitely a confidence thing and a pressure to always upskill, she says. I take the courses when Im low in confidence and to feel like I'm continuing to learn. One course gave me the confidence to go for a new job role but I still signed up for more. Its a vicious cycle.

I got in touch with business psychologist and womens leadership coach, Jess Baker, to ask her the big question: why are we like this?

Baker believes that an obsession with online courses can be rooted in imposter syndrome, the often-used term that can see those affected doubting their accomplishments and worrying theyll somehow be exposed as a fraud.

Imposter syndrome is very much driven by fear, she says. It also gives you unrealistic standards which often can never be met because those with imposter syndrome are usually perfectionists.

Baker explains that online courses can be incredibly valuable and helpful, but only if you act on the lessons you learn. She added: We constantly have this unconscious battle between how we are now and how we see ourselves in the future. Buying a course is a sign of wanting to better ourselves but we have to be realistic about how able we are to commit to that. Knowledge doesnt equal action.

Lauren often finds it difficult to complete the courses she signs up for and believes her ADHD, which she was diagnosed with in April this year, may play a factor. She often signs up to the courses impulsively and loses interest before getting to the end.

In 2018, Lauren purchased a 3,000 coaching programme that she was unable to start due to the loss of her dad. She said: Not once has anyone checked in to say hey, we notice youve not done anything with this course. Are you having issues?

The main issue with these online courses is the lack of accountability to finish them. With a degree, youll have assignments and a tutor to nag you. Course creators should make sure that the courses are completed and if theyre not for whatever reason, they should try to understand why.

For those who sign up for online courses and struggle to finish them thanks to motivation issues or a lack of confidence, its worth questioning whether youre seeking an external solution to an internal problem.

Professor Binna Kandola has done extensive research into how imposter syndrome can affect your career. Although online courses can feel productive, those with imposter syndrome may still end up holding themselves back in their jobs and failing to make necessary changes.

He said: I know of someone who has a collection of all the positive feedback hes received over the years and when hes feeling like a bit of a fraud, and that hes not capable of a particular project, he pulls this folder out and reads through it all.

Many of the people I talk to recognise that imposter syndrome is a part of them and that it might never go. You might never get rid of it but you can minimise the impact it has on your life, treating it like a critical friend.

I asked Lauren if she regrets signing up for so many courses. She said: I dont regret signing up for them, I regret not completing all of them. Ive definitely still learned a lot throughout my various courses but if Id have implemented even half of what Id learned, I wouldnt be struggling to pay my bills after starting up a brand new business.

@CantSwingACat

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I've Spent 4,000 on Online Courses and I Still Feel Like a Fraud - VICE

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November 5th, 2019 at 12:46 am

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Supporting staff means spending money on additional training – Automotive News Canada

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EDITORS NOTE: This is the second of six stories celebrating ourlatest group of 25 Best Dealerships To Work For in Canada.

When it comes to career development, many of Automotive News Canadas Best Dealerships to Work For do just talk the talk.

If [staff] have any interest in any development course, Ill pay for it, said Michael Norris, dealer principal of Volvo of Edmonton. Every dealership says ... we support our staff, but then [an employee says] you want to take a self-improvement course and youre told to pay for it yourself.

It comes down to the way that we internally treat each other. Talk is cheap.

Lally Ford in Tilbury, Ont., 60 kilometres east of Windsor, stood out as the only one of the 25 winning dealerships to tell Automotive News Canada that it offered paid sabbaticals.

About two or three employees per year take advantage of the dealerships education and sabbatical opportunities, said Vince Lally, president. Its something we celebrate. We make sure everyone is aware of it, Lally said, adding that the goal is to make sure every employee is performing as best as they can.

That means more education in a lot of cases.

DEVELOPMENT EQUATED WITH CARING

While sabbaticals could help recruit a candidate, I think its more of a factor that the employer cares and he wants me to be more comfortable with my job and what Im doing, Lally said.

Many dealerships also reported going above and beyond the training that is provided or mandated by automakers.

Trent Hargrave, partner at Riverside DodgeChrysler-Jeep-Ram in Prince Albert, Sask., 350 kilometres north of Regina, said the dealership regularly brings in speakers from outside of the industry to get employees to think differently about their jobs and their approaches. The car business is large and powerful, but its so myopic that you need to go outside of the industry to get the proper perspective.

FRESH EYES, FRESH VIEWPOINT

For employees, hearing from someone outside the auto industry can provide a new perspective.

Sometimes well plant seeds and theyll fall on real fertile soil and those employees respond, he said. But some have a modest response, but maybe down the road it clicks because another thing from another source comes in.

Managers at Audi Brampton, 40 kilometres west of downtown Toronto, identify career opportunities upon recruitment, said Roberto Fazio, vice-president of finance and administration at the dealership.

After hire, we engage in regular evaluations to ensure that the emplo ee is on track both within the department and the dealership group overall, said Fazio. We recently implemented a high-performance leadership training program to accelerate staff development, which is modelled on similar training from the NADA [National Automobile Dealers Association]. Participation in this training is highly coveted by our staff.

Development is a priority at Riverside Dodge, said Hargrave.

If youre a young person and you want to gain some skills that will serve you well later in life like accountability, show ing up on time, working hard, we ca work with you on those, he said.

Sometimes were a career and sometimes were a job. Both are goo in our view.

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Supporting staff means spending money on additional training - Automotive News Canada

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November 5th, 2019 at 12:45 am

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To halt the crisis in the humanities, higher ed should rethink its classification of knowledge (opinion) – Inside Higher Ed

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Its time to bring the crisis of the humanities to a close. Efforts to track student numbers in the humanities, especially in America, now read like a long-running soap opera with high (and even modest) hopes dashed by more bad news.

As far back as 2013, one observer in The Atlantic claimed the crisis was largely over. What had been a steep drop in numbers was now only a gentle slope. She was wrong. By 2015, The Washington Post reported that the number of English majors at the University of Maryland, a public flagship, drop[ped] 39percent over five years. Maryland wasnt alone, and other numbers have been telling the same story -- including declines not only in undergraduate majors but also in applications for doctoral study.

The primary responses have been to blame or to tinker. The people who play the blame game have turned on others, dwelling on what presidents, deans, career-minded students and neoliberalism have been doing to us. The tinkerers have tried modest forms of self-improvement. In the United States, they include research departments in literary study that are adding creative writing tracks to their majors to bolster numbers.

In all of those efforts, however, one simple survival question hasnt been asked: If the humanities is in crisis, then what are we doing in the humanities? Thats a question that leads to other, fundamental queries. What is this thing we are in? How did we get in there in the first place? Whats at stake in staying? Could we leave?

To close the crisis of humanities, we need to put the humanities into a history that can give it closure. That means first identifying its origins. How old is the label humanities? Why was it applied, and to what? What does it share with its sister terms, sciences and social sciences? The answers to these queries are surprising enough to pose one other: What might happen if we peeled it off?

First surprise: far from being the venerated, age-old enterprise often depicted by many people who defend the humanities, the term acquired its primary modern meaning less than 200 years ago. The branch of learning, reads the Oxford English Dictionary with a first citation of 1855, concerned with human culture; the academic subjects collectively comprising this branch of learning, as history, literature, ancient and modern languages, law, philosophy, art and music. That formulation was a genuinely new mix of two dynamic concepts: humanities and culture.

Only a few decades earlier, humanities had meant something very different. Through the 18th century, it was used to distinguish classical from modern languages and secular as opposed to divine learning. Culture was even more in flux; in its modern senses of a particular way of life and of the best that has been thought and written, it was a new term, first emerging into the language in the early 19th century.

Second surprise: when the modern disciplines first emerged from the European Enlightenment -- the 1797 Encyclopedia Britannica called them the newly detached parts of knowledge -- they werent parts of a pre-existing entity called the humanities. In fact, all three of todays standard categories -- the sciences and social sciences, as well as the humanities-- were not primary but rather secondary classifications of knowledge imposed on the disciplines between 1830 and 1860.

A Zoning Strategy

Our modern word for this type of arrangement is zoning. As in our cities, zoning strives to minimize encroachment while maximizing growth. The result is what the New York City Zoning Board calls a pleasant environment in which everyone has a neighborhood as well as a home. When homes are threatened, owners come together to defend their neighborhoods. They answer the call.

The call that formed the humanities was culture. In Matthew Arnolds 1869 formulation in Culture and Anarchy, culture became a catalyst of social cohesion, reordering knowledge as it aspired to reorder society. In harmony with cultures project of social improvement and aesthetic uplift, a subset of disciplines bonded that subject to a set of methods and took on the label humanities, per our earlier OED citation.

By the first half of the 20th century, that community -- and its sister groupings, science and social science -- began to take up institutional residence as organizational divisions within universities, with the labels themselves etched into campus buildings. World War II proved to be a watershed, thanks especially to the rise of general education as embodied by the Harvard University Redbook report of 1945, a curricular manifesto written to manage the flood of college-bound vets supported by the GI Bill.

That strategy was deliberately devised to counterbalance the relentless growth of science and technology during the war with required curricula in other disciplines now grouped conveniently in the humanities and social science. Those requirements were supposed to broaden and democratize access to a common, American cultural heritage and disperse citizens into a wider array of careers.

The Big Bang of modern higher education ensued with more universities of more kinds providing greater access to a wider range of students. The rapid period of inflation from the 1950s into the '60s filled every available neighborhood of the university -- humanities included -- enabling an exuberant expansion in faculty members, graduate students and scholarship. It was the bubble in which so many of the people currently debating the fate of the humanities first entered that community. During that expansion, the strategy of zoning -- disciplines collected into gated communities -- was extraordinarily successful. As the populations grew, so did their outputs. By 1965, this sense of mission and progress was institutionalized and monetized by new endowments that sought to warm the public to their agenda: the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

But things have now cooled off -- majors have shrunk, doctoral applications have dipped, the endowments have been on the chopping block -- and passionate defenses have failed to heat them back up again. The more victim-centered those defenses are, the more they veer into a bait and switch: humanities in distress becomes shorthand for culture, and saving the humanities becomes saving great art.

But thats not, of course, what the research disciplines that populate the humanities produce. Disciplines in research universities produce knowledge, and the crisis of the humanities is not about conserving culture but changing knowledge.

Weve sketched this history to pinpoint what should and can be changed: the zoning of the disciplines. The crisis of the humanities is the crisis of the strategy of zoning itself. It is an early-warning signal that the entire system of second-order classifications has outlived its usefulness.

Zoning did fulfill its historical purpose: creating an environment in which the disciplines could grow while hived off into separate groupings. But now that they have grown, that success needs to be succeeded by a new strategy. The currently ubiquitous desire for interdisciplinarity, and its weak results, sends the same message as the crisis about life in the gated communities -- its not so pleasant anymore.

And we shouldnt be surprised. Humanities, social science and science are artifacts of zoning; they are not and never were permanent portals to the future. Its time to revamp an organizational project that is neither as old (these are modern, not ancient, categories) nor as new (it reflects 19th-century priorities) as most people think.

Reaching Its Shelf Life

Lets start by agreeing on a historical fact: knowledge projects begin, and they can get stuck. The intellectual sciences stand like statues, Francis Bacon wrote of the Aristotelian schemes of Scholasticism in 1620. Bacon called for what we need now: a comprehensive reorganization of knowledge. Our renewal could begin like his by clearing out intellectual clutter. He pushed aside systems and methods that had stalled, blocking access to things as they are. His purpose was to make room for doing new things with those things -- progress made possible by what he called the good fortune of new resources: printing, gunpowder and the nautical compass.

As we enter our own moment of new resources -- including the digital technologies of the information revolution -- our 19th-century zoned communities are now our clutter. Features of zoning that had once nurtured productivity -- from physical and institutional barriers to conventional pairings of subjects and methods, such as culture with close reading -- are in the way. We no longer need -- indeed, we cannot afford -- that extra layer of difference.

By opening the gates and remixing subjects and methods, we can take a decisive first step toward renewal. We can re-expose the disciplines to each other. Without the blunt, binaristic borders between zones -- humanities versus sciences, humanities versus social sciences -- the disciplines could connect across the much more complex and multifarious surfaces and interfaces they have with each other. Scholars could interact with their counterparts in all fields without the burdensome assumption that they represent more -- an entire community more -- than their specific area of expertise.

Literary historians, for example, could do literary history without also having to be the experts in the human in the room -- an act of humility that our fellow humans across the disciplines might appreciate. They could be professors of English first and foremost and not of humanities -- as they were when English departments first formed in 1813, when the first professor in English language and literature was appointed in 1828, and when the number of English majors peaked in the late 1960s.

The recent huddling under the label "humanities" -- the defensive reaction of so many of our colleagues to the current crisis -- is the great irony of that crisis. If the history we are telling here is correct, our colleagues are turning to that label at the very moment its reaching its shelf life. To use it past its expiration date is not only to put a target on our backs; it also obscures our specific forms of expertise. The consequences are most immediately dire for those in the humanities, but the longer-term liability is the entire tripartite system. Institutions that keep the old knowledge zones in place will undermine their own efforts to reshape the university to meet the newly complex problems of modernity. Its time for faculty and administrators to let go.

A Decisive Step Toward Renewal

The alternative we all face across the zones is to face the future rather than trying to hold on to the past. However difficult the transition, this is the time to emerge from zoning into a new set of relations among the disciplines. We call this future compatibility. We use this term -- rather than "interdisciplinarity" -- to articulate how dezoning might work out in practice.

Interdisciplinary desire simply hasnt paid off because its energy dissipates as its channeled through the zones, often into neighborhood headquarters such as humanities centers. Unfortunately, those efforts too often work like an invitation to a conference at such a center. We can accept or not, spend more or less time and energy there, and then return home -- our, primary, first-order disciplinary homes. Such party-over experiences have left many of us searching for an alternative.

Compatibility will be different from current interdisciplinary efforts in two ways. First, its ventures across disciplines will not be limited to our familiar neighborhoods. Most interzone efforts are actually intrazone efforts. Second, we see compatibility as an ongoing obligation rather than a night out. It is a new attitude toward knowledge that becomes desirable and possible once we forgo the comfort and complacency of the zones. We take it to be a sustained effort in all disciplines to be adequate to each other rather than loyal to their neighborhoods. By adequate, we mean creating knowledge consonant with the best explanations in other disciplines. "Explanation" is the key term here, for better ones are what we need to take advantage of new resources. To be compatible is to proactively engage each others explanations. As the stability offered by zoning erodes -- as signaled by the crisis of the humanities -- compatibility articulates how we might navigate the organization of knowledge as that organization changes.

This is a moment of striking new opportunities to set sail. We took our own first journey -- between literary history and physics -- not as delegates exchanging perspectives across the humanities/science divide, but as two disciplines trying to solve the same problem: how to insert the new resource of information -- the digital, (big) data, computation and knowledge itself -- into our different fields. Doing that is no easy task, and doing it without balkanizing the term is even harder, since information is already being invoked in startlingly incompatible ways. Even as we worry about information overload, we are overloading information.

To our surprise, we discovered that this problem of integrating new resources is as fundamentally difficult in physics as it is in literary study. Neither quantum mechanics nor general relativity, the most fundamental theories in physics, David Deutsch, the father of the quantum computer, has observed, provide a meaning for information or even a way of measuring it. Information, he concludes, demands of physics a new mode of explanation. Deutsch calls his effort to open physics to information Constructor Theory, a regrounding of his field in a counterfactual distinction between possible and impossible tasks. To us, this focus on the possible and the counterfactual read like an invitation to be compatible, a reading confirmed by how Deutsch chose to launch the theory.

In addition to the turn to the history quoted above, Deutsch decided to publish a philosophical paper first, not a mathematical one. And at the core of the philosophy of Constructor Theory is a significant literary component: one of the theorys primary strategies is linguistic -- the development of a new precise language for integrating the concepts of information and knowledge into our explanations of the real. Informed by a theory constructed in this way, physics emerges into compatibility as something that looks like it woke up in the wrong neighborhood -- appearing almost entirely as, in Deutschs words, the theory of the effects that knowledge can have on the physical world, via people.

History, philosophy, language, knowledge, people. Instead of citing Deutsch for a zoning violation, we should accept the invitation and be willing to wake up somewhere else. What matters -- after dezoning -- is not whether knowledge is in science or in humanities, but whether our explanations are compatible and what compatible explanations do to the disciplines that make them.

Every crisis contains opportunity, and the crisis of the humanities is a chance to put disciplines to work in a new way. If we open the gates that currently divide them, disciplines energized by a new compatibility could develop shared protocols for newly conceptualized research questions.

Its a first step, not a cure-all, but a step that we can take now. Knowledge grew before it was subdivided into the humanities, social sciences and sciences, and there will be new opportunities for growth across all the disciplines after it.

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To halt the crisis in the humanities, higher ed should rethink its classification of knowledge (opinion) - Inside Higher Ed

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November 5th, 2019 at 12:45 am

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The only thing you should give up to be happy again (the story of a Fisherman and a Banker) – Ladders

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Id like to share a quick story about happiness with you.

Its a story about a Mexican Fisherman and an Investment Banker.

It goes something like this

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, only a little while. The American then asked why didnt he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his familys immediate needs. The American then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time?

The Mexican fisherman said, I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.

The American scoffed, I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats.

Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.

The Mexican fisherman asked, But, how long will this all take?

To which the American replied, 15 20 years.

But what then? Asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said, Thats the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!Millions then what?

The American said, Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.

The future is still not here, and cannot become a part of experienced reality until it is present..To pursue it is to pursue a constantly retreating phantom, and the faster you chase it, the faster it runs ahead. This is why all the affairs of civilisation are rushed, why hardly anyone enjoys what he has, and is forever seeking more and more. Alan Watts

The first time I read through this parable, it didnt really make sense to me.

At the time, my takeaway from this parable was that happiness and self-improvement were in direct conflict with each other.

The Mexican Fisherman was content with little but didnt aspire to make progress or grow as much as the Investment Banker did.

In other words, if youre happy right now, why would you strive to make progress and achieve mastery in your craft?

But, then I soon realized that Id missed the point completely.

Our happiness and self-improvement are not in conflict at all.

The Mexican Fisherman had the foresight to see what was truly important to himhis family, friends, and hobbies.

Most importantly, he made the decision to be happy right now.

You see from childhood, weve been taught to defer our happiness into the future.

In high school, youre told that its only after you graduate with the best grades and get accepted by a prestigious university, then youll finally be happy.

Once you get these grades and enroll in University, youre told that its really only after you graduate with the best University degree and get a high paying job from a top Corporate company, then youll finally be happy.

After you get this job, youre told once again that after you reach the top of the career ladder and make 6 figures a year, then youll finally be happy.

Once you start building financial security, youre told that actually its only after you get married, have kids, buy a house and a fancy car, then youll be happy.

The more we chase happiness and acquire more stuff, the more unhappy we becomeits the happiness trap.

The single person chases marriage to finally be happy, whilst unhappy married people chase singleness again to be happy.

The unknown musician chases fame and attention to finally be happy, whilst the popular celebrity chases obscurity to be happy again.

One man chases wealth and money to find happiness, another extremely wealthy man sells his possessions to the poor to be happy again.

Ironically, we continue to defer our happiness until we retire at an old age and finally realize that we were capable of being happy all this time.

If a formula for unhappiness existed, itll probably look something like this

Once I get [Fill in the blank], then Ill finally be happy.

But, what if you already have enough to be happy right now?

If you truly want to be happy again, the only thing you should give up is trying to get something in the future to make you happy.

Just look at how little children interact with the world.

They dont dwell on the past or worry about the future. They dont really care what people think about them or even what they think of themselves.

They live life in this moment right here and now, even though they dont have money, a fancy job, house, car or a spouse.

You can tap into this freedom because youve been there before.

Let go of trying to control the future and embrace the happiness thats already available to you right now.

This article first appeared on MayoOshin.com.

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The only thing you should give up to be happy again (the story of a Fisherman and a Banker) - Ladders

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November 5th, 2019 at 12:45 am

Posted in Self-Improvement

Heart of Our City: Langille is only getting better with experience – Prince Rupert Northern View

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Eighteen-year-old Scott Langille has already started his own I.T. business aimed at helping other companies navigate through their disorganized databases. (Jenna Cocullo / The Northern View)

For most students, that year fresh out of high school is for backpacking through Europe, moving forward into the work force ready to make some real money with no plans to ever look back, or to dive right into higher education.

But for Scott Langille that much anticipated year after high school was about giving back to the community, which had taught him so much about himself.

The reason for my gap year off school is really to gain experience in the community, make up a little bit of money before I head off to university but most importantly I think is to get involved with different organizations and nonprofits in Prince Rupert and give back to them and support them in their missions. Because thats really what allowed me to grow in the past few years here in Prince Rupert.

Langille is currently involved with the Prince Rupert District Chamber of Commerce and is coordinating their Rising Star business mentorship program. Aside from the chamber he is also secretary treasurer of the Prince Rupert Toastmasters Club. Finally, on his long CV, he is volunteering as the stage manager of the upcoming community musical Disaster!.

READ MORE: Disaster in store for Prince Rupert, announces Lester Centre of the Arts

When Langille would first stand up in front of a crowd of people at Toastmasters he couldnt really figure out what to say. He was shy and lacking that extra push of confidence needed to express himself. As he stepped up for a table topic he was very nervous, shivering all over and sometimes his mind would go completely blank.

But Langille wanted to push ahead anyway. What he really wanted to learn was how to develop an opinion and what he actually cared about and valued. This was not the kind of thing academics had prepared him for.

Through impromptu topics and speeches he slowly began to figure out what were the topics that most mattered to him and how to articulate his vision for the world.

One year later he served as the Toastmaster of their open house similar to an MC and found himself addicted to talking to the group.

I just wanted to talk more and more in front of the group. And I wanted to go up for another table topic to discuss just whatever it didnt matter to me anymore at that point. I just I knew that whatever I was asked, Id be able to speak on it. Thats one example of really what Ive learned.

Volunteering for his high schools musicals helped him figured out what he loved to do.

You might think that oh, theatre is just specific to theatre, but these are skills that you can use throughout your life. These experiences, learning how to communicate with others as a stage manager, or how to manage a team, that sort of thing are really vital to any career.

Langilles journey of self-discovery through volunteering made him discover a passion for allowing others to learn outside of the classroom. Seeing what he could achieve allowed him to believe in the possibilities of what any young adult could achieve.

This is why Im involved with the Rising Stars program, because I want to give others that opportunity to learn and grow because I see potential in all those students. Ive really been able to enjoy my experience and my time, but also learn so much and you really dont get these kinds of experiences just in school.

Despite all the opportunities for self-improvement and self-growth, what drives Langille to get up every morning are all the opportunities for how things could improve in Prince Rupert.

My main focus is on business, commerce and entrepreneurship because I think theres a lot of potential in this world for improvement. And thats really what drives me.

Right now, Langille has begun his own I.T. business in Prince Rupert which focuses on helping organizations utilize their databases in an efficient manner.

I think in any business I see the potential for innovation, and to improve it and make it more efficient and more effective through I.T. related innovation. So that thats why thats what I want to learn in university at UBC.

The message Langille hopes to relay to students is that its normal to feel mentally unprepared for that year right out of high school and to find ways to learn and self-discover beyond the classroom. For him the answers lied in Prince Ruperts community.

My recommendation to any high school student would be to get involved and just learn about what different organizations do, what their missions are, what they value. And this really gives you experience that will be super important in your later years and really matters to the community that you live in.

LAST WEEKS HEART OF OUR CITY: It was a bon voyage for Aidan Murphy-Morven

THIS WEEKS MVP: Soccer to Socratic, David Armstrong

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Heart of Our City: Langille is only getting better with experience - Prince Rupert Northern View

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November 5th, 2019 at 12:45 am

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Microsoft sees a 40 per cent productivity boost from four-day week test in Japan – The INQUIRER

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At least one employee looks psyched for his three-day weekend.

DESPITE ALL THE TECHNOLOGICAL advancements of the last century, we've been stuck in a five-day working week for nearly 100 years. There's a wide body of evidence to suggest that's a silly idea, with work just stretching to fill the time, and Microsoft Japan now has more proof of the pudding.

This August, the company switched to mandatory three-day weekends for its 2,300 staff every week, closing the doors and making them shut down Teams, close all their Bing windows and put Clippy to bed. Meetings were also capped at half an hour, and there was an increase in remote conferencing.

The results were pretty staggering. Not only did sales per employee go up by a whopping 39.9 per cent year on year, but Microsoft also used 23.1 per cent less electricity and printed 58.7 per cent fewer pages.

Naturally employees were a big fan of the changes tested over the period, which also included self improvement and family wellness programmes. In all, 92.1 per cent of employees said they liked it, according to Microsoft. The remaining 7.9 per cent presumably have less comfortable seating at home.

Over here, four-day weeks are pretty uncommon, although that could all change very soon, given a commitment to it is going to be part of the Labour Party manifesto in the upcoming election.

This has unsurprisingly been jumped on by opposition parties as unrealistic, but before you look at Microsoft's experiment and conclude it's actually pretty reasonable, it's important to recognise that Japan is a very different country with some of the longest working hours in the world.

In short, any country that literally has come up for a word that means "overwork death" probably isn't one which has previously been a beacon of employee satisfaction.

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Microsoft sees a 40 per cent productivity boost from four-day week test in Japan - The INQUIRER

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November 5th, 2019 at 12:45 am

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AI and RPA: Threat or opportunity for the IT managed services industry? – Emerging Europe

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We live in a fabulous era of technological achievements. Practically something new, something better emerges every day. But can we catch up? The recent speed of innovation outpaces the capacity of many individuals and teams to adapt. That is why the playing field for business is changing.

Over the past several years things like big data, transformation, digitalisation, artificial intelligence and robotic process automation (RPA) have turned from fantasy into reality. These trends have influenced the future of many business sectors, including the managed services industry.

Once the preserve of books and movies, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a reality in todays world. It is already here in fact all around us. From big data to our personal devices, from workplaces and manufacturing automation to intelligent home systems and even healthcare powerful processing units and next-level software algorithms are making our lives easier in an unprecedented ways and pace.

And here comes the question: Should we be afraid of AI?

Artificial intelligence is by definition the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. AI systems can learn (acquire information and rules for using it), make reasonable decisions (i.e. they know how to use rules to reach conclusions) and self-correct.

On the other hand, artificial general intelligence (AGI) systems are those that really disturb the public. These are hypothetical machines that will exhibit behaviour, skills and flexibility as humans do. They will possess generalised human cognitive abilities, creativity, self-consciousness and will be able to find a solution when presented with an unfamiliar task, without human intervention. Futurists are afraid of the so-called singularity event a hypothesis that the invention of artificial superintelligence will abruptly trigger fast self-improvement cycles, resulting in the creation of a system far surpassing the capabilities of human intellect and civilisation. The big problem is that an algorithm could not possibly have emotions and empathy and being superior to humanity will be posing a potential grave threat to the existence of human race in general.

Sounds scary? Naturally, except it does not exist. It is just a theory. There are only couple of dozen organisations in the world involved in research on AGI. Nobody could claim that they are somewhere close to creating an AGI machine. And even if in decades or centuries there happens to be progress in that field, it will be an object of strong regulation.

How about RPA? Do we even need automation?

It is vital for each and every business to find means to grow, improve efficiency levels and be flexible when developing and providing products and services. Among the top 10 challenges for developing companies in 2019 are the integration of new technologies, innovation and customer service improvement. Users have never been more informed and have never had higher requirements when being supported by a company.

RPA is among the fastest-growing industries worldwide due to the solution it provides to some of the major problems faced by large businesses. The process automation via software eliminates the need for some frequently repetitive tasks to be handled manually, thus allowing employees to focus on activities that have higher value and importance. Gartner reports that by the end of 2020 around 40 per cent of large businesses will have integrated RPA software which will be optimizing the workflow within the company. In some industries the percentage of companies that have already implemented RPA is even higher.

Each day innovators in the business create new products, methods and ideas. By aiming to provide services with higher quality and optimisation of the business process, for instance, the Modis team looked for opportunities for higher productivity and effectiveness. The Modis business is related to delivering managed services and solutions, IT service desk and data centre support, support and maintenance of end-user devices, development of applications and solutions for outsourcing of business processes. It turns out that RPA has the potential to satisfy many of the needs of such types of business. That is why in 2017 the Modis Bulgaria team launched the Modis Innovation and Automation (MIA) Lab a project aiming at developing innovative solutions for automation of tasks, performed by employees.

In response to global trends to meet increasingly complex client needs and maximize efficiency Modis Bulgaria invested in tools, systems and resources, and launched a series of innovation and automation projects and initiatives to further improve its capacity to transform and optimise service and cost of delivery.

The MIA Lab has become one vertical centre of excellence that provides automation solutions across the company in the fields of automation, analytics and workforce management.

The objective is to focus on creating efficiencies in our solutions leveraging latest technologies, by automating basics and repetitive tasks and allow employees to focus on the more interesting and rewarding aspects of their jobs.

With the establishment of the MIA Lab we have put the main focus on removing repetitive work by utilising RPA. The purpose of the lab is to solve critical business problems, create new kinds of smart solutions and add value, using advanced innovative technologies.

The MIA Lab team have managed to complete 18 projects removing repetitive work from service desk personnel, improving the speed and accuracy of transactions as well as service level agreements. By using the latest technologies, we have managed to provide a better customer experience and upskill the service desk personnel, enabling them to focus on added value activities.

What is the future of the IT managed service?

We are living in the era of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, that will see an unprecedented change in the way humans live and work. Many professions will disappear, but that doesnt actually mean that people will be unemployed. In fact, the same thing has happened in the past. In the early 19th century the Luddites, a group of radical English textile workers, were afraid that the time they spent learning the skills of their craft would go to waste because of the introduction of machines. They even destroyed machinery as a form of protest. Actually, towards the end of the century, it became increasingly apparent that technological progress was benefiting all sections of society, including the working class.

Ideally, implementing machine learning, AI and RPA will create an environment which will enhance the human experience for both the organisation and the employee. Increased efficiencies will allocate more resources for the highest-value interactions. Increasing speed and better quality will come without sacrificing meaningful communication and relationships. That could possibly be the right balance leading to the best possible outcome.

Managed services organisations will need to significantly increase their functional and technical capabilities in these IT segments to better manage their clients problems and requirements. Transforming its workforce with intensive training and assessments will be instrumental.

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AI and RPA: Threat or opportunity for the IT managed services industry? - Emerging Europe

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November 5th, 2019 at 12:45 am

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Self-care isn’t enough. Treat yourself with compassion, too – techlifetoday

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NAIT counsellor offers advice for finding balance in life

Self-care has become a buzzword.

The idea of taking time to nurture our mental or physical health isnt new, but its become an unavoidable obsession fuelled by pop culture and a steady stream of curated Instagram posts highlighting a day at the spa or that tasty new smoothie. Its no wonder self-improvement has grown to become an $11-billion industry.

But just because youve decided to take a yoga class or start journaling doesnt mean youre actually practising self-care. Many of us, it seems, are just going through the motions checking off a box on the daily to-do list. But often the stress or anxiety were trying to cope with continues to linger.

Were our own worst critic.

NAIT counsellor Caren Anderson says thats because theres often an important piece missing: self-compassion. We all could stand to have a little more compassion in how we treat ourselves, Anderson says. Thats partly because weve become so quick to embrace the self-care trend, the intent behind the action gets blurred.

Taking time to do something you think is important for your well-being is one thing. Anderson offers helpful tips to refocus your self-care efforts where theyre needed: squarely on the self.

When counselling her clients, Anderson encourages both self-care and self-compassion treating oneself with kindness and understanding but realizes it isnt always easy. To get started, she asks students who visit the NAIT Counselling Centre what kind of empathetic advice theyd give to a friend.

Often, that is much more compassionate than the advice we give ourselves, she says. Were our own worst critic.

In order to get to a place where self-care is emotionally meaningful, you need to start small, Anderson says. To bring more compassion into your life, take a few minutes every morning and evening to think about what youre grateful for. Tell yourself youve earned a lunch break or you deserve to go to bed early.

Theres such a focus on productivity in todays fast-paced world, she says, that you need to give yourself permission to not finish everything. Set boundaries and be kind to yourself if you choose to set aside time for self-care instead of something you should be doing.

If you're having a bubble bath, but you're thinking about all of the things that you didn't do that day, thats really defeating the purpose of self-care, Anderson says. Do you really feel like youre carving out that time for you, or does it feel more like a chore?

A great way to develop self-compassion is through helping others create their own balance, she says. Look out for one another. For example, if you spot someone consistently working through their lunch hour, ask them to grab a bite with you for a quick break.

Its always nice to have a support network to challenge those behaviours, she says. While she doesnt want others to become reliant on peers to determine breaks, creating a culture where balance is encouraged is important.

Remember that a compassionate self-care practice will evolve. It may even look different from week to week.

Its not a perfect formula, not set in stone, Anderson says. As I get older, I need it even more.

Give yourself grace like you would others, she says, and your self-care, however you practice it, will become more meaningful.

See more here:
Self-care isn't enough. Treat yourself with compassion, too - techlifetoday

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November 5th, 2019 at 12:45 am

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Fiona Apple’s Cover of "The Whole of the Moon" Was the Perfect Ending to ‘The Affair’ – Decider

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There are very few shows in the history of television that end with an old man dancing by himself on a cliff. There are even fewer that could have ever made such an idea work. Yet thats exactly how The Affair concluded its five season run this past Sunday (November 3), with a Fiona Apple cover of The Waterboys The Whole of the Moon. And it was as beautifully glorious as it was bizarre. Spoilers ahead for The Affairs finale.

All throughout The Affair Season 5 the Showtime drama has been jumping between present day and another timeline set several decades in the future. Initially that time jump was justified as Joanie (Anna Paquin) tried to piece together what really happened to her late mother. But as Season 5s finale reveals, that initial murder mystery premise was never what this show was angling for at all. The ending of The Affair was ultimately about the same thing as its beginning: coming to terms with mistakes, whether they be mistakes made in your parents lifetime or yours. Naturally The Affair decided to illustrate this final lesson with one of the most mistake-prone and unrelenting characters ever created, Noah Solloway (Dominic West).

The Affairs final episode was written and directed by series co-creator Sarah Treem. For years now weve seen Noah commit sin after sin, from cheating on his wife and ruining a happy marriage to becoming the center of a #MeToo scandal. Noah has always been a mess, and at least until this final season, he was a mess who was rarely held accountable for him many, many mistakes. That changed once his daughter Whitney (Julia Goldani Telles), disgusted by all of the pain her father has inflicted on so many people, uninvited him from her wedding.

This is far from the first time Noah has been called out for being an asshole. But before the finality of missing his daughters wedding, Noahs comeuppance always seemed to come with a side of pleasure. He ruined his marriage only to have a relatively healthy relationship with Alison (Ruth Wilson). He was falsely imprisoned only for that jail time to lead him to his next great novel and countless job offers. Were deeply aware of how Noah typically responds in situations where he is called out, through bouts of anger, blame, and an uncomfortable habit of lashing out. But faced with his own daughters scorn, Noah doesnt do that. For once he accepts that he is the one in the wrong. He has hurt Whitney, his children, and his ex-wife Helen (Maura Tierney), and he has to pay for that pain.

So when Helen asks Noah to leave the wedding venue after hes finished choreographing a flash mob for Whitneys reception, for once he doesnt fight. He doesnt lash out at Helen or argue with Whitney, pointing to the fact that he almost single-handedly planned her wedding. He meekly leaves the venue and stays away. For the first time Noah demonstrates something akin to humility.

Thats what makes his final dance in Montauk so remarkable. Yes, on the surface it is Dominic West in questionable prosthetic makeup dancing alone in silence. But in the context of this show this dance is the remembrance of a single time Noah put the needs of his family before his own. In that moment hes just an old man with fond, happy memories about his family.

If Apples Container was an internal scream about self-improvement and unseen pain, then The Whole of the Moon is its opposite. Its a celebration of life, understanding, and finally being able to see the big picture. Its right there in the songs lyrics: I saw the crescent / You saw the whole of the moon. This final moment with Noah is one of joy and self-acceptance.

The Affair started with a group of broken people who thought their only hope at self-betterment was to break each other further. Throughout five seasons and countless hookups they did a damn good job of doing just that to the misery of everyone involved. But The Affair ended with at least one of its tumultuous characters realizing that real love and happiness comes from vulnerability. As silly as Noahs dance was, thats a thing of beauty.

Watch The Affair on Showtime

Excerpt from:
Fiona Apple's Cover of "The Whole of the Moon" Was the Perfect Ending to 'The Affair' - Decider

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November 5th, 2019 at 12:45 am

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