Its a disruptive time for many people right now as we navigate the waters of a province in a state of emergency, closures of all kinds and a new way of working with our colleagues. To say that were in uncharted territory would be an understatement.

However, even while were under the weight of an uncertain time, there are many positive things to look at as well. Were spending more time at home with our families, were coming together as a community (virtually!) and were realizing that working from home, if youre fortunate enough to have that ability, can be a viable option to keep businesses moving forward.

Personally speaking, Im home with my fiance and my nine-year-old daughter and were doing our best to balance out each of our priorities. For my fiance and me, that looks like setting up offices in different parts of the home so we can both be on conference calls at the same time. For my daughter, it means staving off boredom, in between FaceTime calls with friends and relatives, while also keeping up with her studies.

In some ways, Im extremely lucky to have a lot of experience balancing work and life. Prior to joining Fellow, I spent 14years working from home running my consulting business. I had many unique work/life balance situations over that decade and a halfincluding a pregnancy, the birth of my daughter, a battle with burnout and depression, the 2008 market crash and the general ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

Through those 14 years, I developed strategies that helped me cope with the ever-changing priorities that showed up inmy life. The way that Ive handled the ups and downs is by no means a perfect system, but it has helped me tremendously and if youre navigating these new work from home waters yourself, I hope it may be useful to you.

Whether this is an entire home office or a corner of your living room, be sure to set up a space that you love working from. In normal times, I have a computer set up in our home office in the basement, but I dont enjoy spending my working hours down there where the natural light is scarce. So, when Im working from home for long periods of time, I set up shop on the dining room table.

This may be difficult for phone calls though so its worth having a backup space to move to for calls even if that means having them in your bathroom or walk-in closet with the door closed.

When President Barack Obama was in office, he only ever wore blue or grey suits on a day-to-day basis. (Im sure he made an exception from time to time!) Choosing from just two options made it a lot easier to move through his morning routine but it also reduced the number of non-essential decisions he had to make so he could focus on the important decisions.

We all experience decision fatigue and that can be heightened when were out of our normal work routines. Create solid systems and a routine that you can follow, even while working from home, so that you dont end up exhausted at the end of the day.

Im a big believer in batching my work and activities so that I can stay hyper-focused and not burn myself out. Its also really helpful to turn off unnecessary distractions and right now, with the noise around COVID-19, its even more important to turn things off from time to time.

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The idea with batching your work is that you do tasks in groups. For example, if youre going to do email, sit down and do all of your emails at once to avoid the multi-tasking trap. If youre going to focus on writing, do all of your writing tasks while youre in a state of flow. If you are going to pay bills, pay all of your bills and balance your budget at the same time.

By batching your activities, you wont be tempted to get up and do the dishes in-between conference calls or run an errand in the middle of a big project.

In high-stress times, its really important to ensure that youre being kind to yourself and to others. Emotional states run high, people are distracted and your friends, family and colleagues may have a thousand other things on their mind right now. Remind yourself of this before moving into any human interaction so that you can lead with kindness and empathy.

Extend that same kindness to yourself. Its going to be really difficult right now to get it all right. Your kids may be having a bit more screen time than usual, you might be fighting with your spouse a bit more than normal and you might find the unknowns a bit harder to deal with. All of that is, in my experience, totally normal.

Managing your mental health in uncertain times is also key. Take breaks, especially if youre working from home, as work time can easily bleed into home time without a commute and get out into nature. While were all practicing social distancing right now, we can still go for walks in nature and breathe fresh air on a daily basis.

Apps like Calm or Headspace can also help as they can provide you with meditations that you can do at home and there are many yoga and fitness apps that you can use to maintain your health and fitness while at home, too. These are all ways that you can ensure that you maintain self-care while working from home in isolation.

Its really hard to stop scrolling on social, tuning into press conferences and reading the news right now, but I highly recommend that you give yourself a time limit to consume that information before taking long breaks from it, too.

Look to as many positives as possible in this uncertain time and know that the majority of people are understanding and empathetic right now. Reach out to friends and family through digital means, especially if you are isolated, and leverage technology to stay connected with your colleagues.

We will look back on this time as being monumental, because it is, but I think well also look back on this time as being a time of rapid transformation and learning. Were learning how to communicate better, how to support each other better and how to cope in highly chaotic times. Were building resiliency that will be incredibly helpful in the weeks, months and years to come.

Erin Blaskie is the director of marketing at Fellow.app, a tool for managers to have more productive meetings.

Read more here:
Op-ed: Managing work, life and mental health during COVID-19 - Ottawa Business Journal

Three of MUSC Healths specialty areas rank among the best in the country: rheumatology; ear, nose and throat; and cancer.

CHARLESTON MUSC Health has received an official waiver from the Food and Drug Administration that will enable greater access to testing for patients with respiratory illness symptoms and possible COVID-19 exposure.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster and his team worked with the FDA to expedite necessary approvals to mitigate the spread and severity of COVID-19 in South Carolina.

MUSC Health will continue to align closely all COVID-19 screening and testing processes with the guidance administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. To date, national testing capability has been limited, which in turn has slowed the ability to administer testing at state and local levels throughout the country.

With this federal government waiver, MUSC Health has been cleared to implement and accelerate screening and testing capabilities for more people experiencing possible COVID-19 symptoms. Previously prioritized patient groups included hospitalized patients, patients with virus hot spot travel histories, and members of the health care workforce.

MUSC Health expects, within days, to increase significantly the number of patients who will now qualify for COVID-19 testing. This will be accomplished by continuing to work with DHEC, partnering with private industry and implementing an in-house test within the next week. MUSC Health is part of ongoing discussions with other health systems and community hospitals throughout the state on ways to provide access to in-house testing capabilities as quickly as possible.

Read more:
MUSC Health expands COVID-19 testing capabilities | Health & Fitness - The Tand D.com

The key to being a success tomorrow is being successful with your right now time at hand. You must learn to make the most of your time while you are on the journey to reaching the desired goal or life that you have been dreaming about.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. Chinese Proverb

Your dream, your vision or your goals wont amount to anything if you dont learn to walk successfully in the time called "now". Having a vision enables you to see what will be and at the same time it should empower you to deal with what is.

Theres an alarming statistic that Sunday afternoons are the most depressing times in America because people have realized that the weekend is coming to a close and that Monday morning they will wake up, get dressed and drive to a job, school, or mundane routine that they have no passion for.

It's an acute condition that is characterized by anxiety about the week ahead and a sense of helplessness and depression. Like a machine on autopilot they will grudgingly perform their duties and tasks anxiously waiting for the day to end, just to go home, go to bed and wake up to do it all over again.

That creates a feeling of hopelessness that will trick you into believing that there is nothing that you can do that will change your situation or make it better. If you buy into that lie, then it will keep you from doing the things that you can begin to do right now that will bring about the change you are looking for.

If thats you, then be encouraged to keep the vision and dream for your life alive and focus on doing those Right Now action steps that will bring about a brighter tomorrow in the days ahead. You can complain and remain the same or do something that can actually bring about a change in your current situation and circumstance.

Here are five right now action steps that can move you closer to the life you are dreaming about.

Its good to have a healthy reality check every now and then so you can see where you are and where you need to go. Its like walking into a mall for the first time and you really dont know where everything is. You may have a particular store that you want to go to, however you have no idea where it is in the mall. Now, you dont just throw your hands up in the air and quit and walk out due to frustration. No, you do what most people would do. You walk up to the giant kiosk and you find the X and the words that say, you are here. Once you find out where you are, it becomes clear to see how to get from where you are to where you need to be.

Snap out of any bad or negative attitude that keeps you from taking advantage of your time wisely. If you are always in a complaining mood, you will never be in a doing mood. People that complain about their current situation, never have time to do anything that can improve it or change it for the better.

You reap what you sow. If you have big dreams that go far beyond your current job, then you should start being the best employee you can be right now and right where you are. Remember, productivity produces promotion. If you are always complaining then you will never gain the lessons that your current job can teach you that will serve as preparation for your future.

A good way to check and see if you are doing this right now action step is to ask yourself a question.

Would I hire me if I were the boss? If your answer is yes, then youre on the right track. If your answer is no, then you still got some work to do. Either way, keep moving forward.

You will never go wrong by helping others achieve their dreams and goals on life. Dont get so tunneled vision on you that you forget those around as well. It pays to help others. One day on your journey to reach your goal, you will need someones help in order to get to the next level. What goes around comes around.

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.-Zig Ziglar

Oftentimes people are so focused on what they dont have, that they cant clearly see what they do have. Or they compare their lives with the lives of other people who they have deemed to be more successful than them.

Its important that you learn to be thankful for what you already have. If you have a job that you dont like, then imagine your life right now without the paycheck that comes along with it. That should put things into a little bit of perspective for you. The point is, no matter what, you can always find something to be thankful for. You can find a silver lining that will keep you moving forward for time being while you continue to work on the right now action steps that will lead you to the life you really want.

There are many things you can begin to do right now that will forever change your life tomorrow. Quit sitting around complaining about what you dont like and start doing the things that will bring about great change in your life. Think of right now action steps as building blocks that you are using to build the life youve been dreaming about.

It will take time of course, as nothing great happens in one day. Whenever you find yourself getting a little overwhelmed then let that be a signal for you to take a small break and go out and help someone get closer to his or her dream.

Right now is absolutely the right time to start going after your dreams and your goals like never before. Dont waste anymore time complaining about anything, especially when it is in your power and ability to start bringing about a great change.

Continued here:
5 Actions to Take Today That Will Move You Toward Success - Beliefnet

Make friends who force you to level up.

Everyone needs friends. There isnt a single person in life anywhere, no matter what they say that doesnt need friends. Humans need human contact to be able to be happy and live normally. Even if youre an introvert or dont like physical contact or whatever, everyone still needs friends and people there to support you and talk you through your hard times. Friends are there to love you and support you protect you and help you with your struggles. Friends are there in your life to have your back and defend you no matter what. They are there to be loyal to you and never turn against you or leave you behind.

Friends are people that are hard to come by believing it or not. They are something that you have to be the type of person that you want to attract to be able to make the best friendships for yourself. It is interesting to see how everyone works differently.

RELATED: 100 Inspiring Friendship Quotes To Show Your Best Friends How Much You Love Them

I have had a lot of different experiences with friendships. They are not always easy, and they do not always last. It is sad when you find yourself in a friendship where you are the person who is giving more and feeling drained and like your friend doesnt care as much and isnt willing to do as much work to keep it afloat. It is hard. Sometimes you have to be the one to admit when a friendship isnt working out. Real friends are there for you and are willing to make sacrifices to make sure that things are working out and getting better.

Friends are something that everyone needs. We all need someone who is on our side and will love us unconditionally in a platonic way. Romances are for different connections and relationship types. Its great having people in your life who are consistent and will be there for you no matter. Make sure you find those who are loyal.

A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. Walter Winchell

RELATED: 20 Relatable Quotes For People Who've Been Betrayed By A Best Friend

If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you. Winnie the Pooh

I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen. Ernest Hemingway

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, What! You too? I thought I was the only one. C.S. Lewis

True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable. David Tyson

Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart. Washington Irving

Theres not a word yet for old friends whove just met. Jim Henson

A single rose can be my gardena single friend, my world. Leo Buscaglia

Dont make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to level yourself up. Thomas J. Watson

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Dale Carnegie

RELATED: 14 Drake Lyrics That Make The Perfect Instagram Captions For Your Squad Pics

A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future and accepts you just the way you are. Unknown

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others. Confucius

Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation. Oscar Wilde

How many slams in an old screen door? Depends how loud you shut it. How many slices in a bread? Depends how thin you cut it. How much good inside a day? Depends how good you live em. How much love inside a friend? Depends how much you give em. Shel Silverstein

A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. Arnold H. Glasgow

I dont need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better. Plutarch

In everyones life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. Albert Schweitzer

The real test of friendship is, can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple? Eugene Kennedy

It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages. Friedrich Nietzsche

A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when theyre not so good and sympathizes with your problems when theyre not so bad. Unknown

RELATED: 50 Funny Happy Birthday Quotes & Wishes For Best Friends

Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. Its not something you learn in school. But if you havent learned the meaning of friendship, you really havent learned anything. Muhammad Ali

If ever there is tomorrow when were not togetherthere is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if were apartIll always be with you. Winnie the Pooh

Growing apart doesnt change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. Im glad for that. Ally Condie

Ones friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human. George Santayana

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone. Audrey Hepburn

Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou are in, continue firm and constant. Socrates

One measure of friendship consists not in the number of things friends can discuss, but in the number of things they need no longer mention. Clifton Fadiman

Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. Dont over-analyze your relationships. Stop playing games. A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness. Leo F. Buscaglia

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. Marcel Proust

RELATED: 40 Friendship Quotes That Prove Distance Only Brings You Closer

Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected. Charles Lamb

If you go looking for a friend, youre going to find theyre very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, youll find them everywhere. Zig Ziglar

You can always tell a real friend; when youve made a fool of yourself, he doesnt feel youve done a permanent job. Laurence J. Peter

Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great. Mark Twain

Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you. Love me and I may be forced to love you. William Arthur Ward

No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow. Alice Walker

Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together. Woodrow T. Wilson

Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer. Ed Cunningham

Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friends success. Oscar Wilde

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. Elisabeth Foley

RELATED: 25 Sassy Quotes To Send To Your Fake Friends (Girl, BYE!)

Some of the biggest challenges in relationships come from the fact that most people enter a relationship in order to get something; theyre trying to find someone whos going to make them feel good. In reality, the only way a relationship will last is if you see your relationship as a place that you go to give, and not a place that you go to take. Anthony Robbins

Theres one sad truth in life Ive found while journeying east and west the only folks we really wound are those we love the best. We flatter those we scarcely know, we please the fleeting guest, and deal full many a thoughtless blow to those who love us best. Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. Oprah Winfrey

Do not keep on with a mockery of friendship after the substance is gone but part, while you can part friends. Bury the carcass of friendship: it is not worth embalming. William Hazlitt

A good friend can tell you what is the matter with you in a minute. He may not seem such a good friend after telling. Arthur Brisbane

Many a person has held close, throughout their entire lives, two friends that always remained strange to one another, because one of them attracted by virtue of similarity, the other by difference. Emil Ludwig

A good word is an easy obligation; but not to speak ill requires only our silence; which costs us nothing. John Tillotson

When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are. Donald Miller

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. Anais Nin

If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone. Maxwell Maltz

RELATED: 30 Funny Quotes About Friendship To Use For Your Next Instagram Caption

Hayley Small is a writer who focuses on pop culture, religion and relationship topics.

Excerpt from:
That's What Friends Are For 50 Friendship Quotes That Prove Your BFFs Always Have Your Back - YourTango

We can sometimes find a calm awareness inside us, an inner space with a universal quality, something that seems to exist inside all of us.

Finding this calm inner space is useful to us. The realization of universal consciousness brings with it a sense that were part of something much larger than our everyday life might suggest.

It reminds us that were the human expressions of a conscious intelligence that exists throughout the Universe.

Were the living expressions of a cosmic intelligence thats transforming itself into the precisely orchestrated biochemistry of our bodies, allowing us to live life as a human being.

Whenever we want to, we can tune into and access the transformative power of this cosmic consciousness inside all of us. The universal conscious awareness has an unlimited capacity for change and evolution.

We can find an intuitive realization of the presence of this spatial conscious awareness, whenever we inwardly focus our attention.

In our busy everyday world, we can sometimes lose touch with the spaciousness inside us that allows us to realize this cosmic connection, and find ourselves getting snagged up in our thinking.

Were not our thoughts about ourself however, were the universal conscious space in all of us thats giving rise to thoughts. Our thinking appears in this universal space and tugs at our attention, distracting us from being consciously present.

Sometimes these thoughts can separate us from other people, tell us were separate from the world or make us unhappy in some way.

When we can tune in to an unlimited source of inspiration and intelligence inside ourselves, however, we dont need to think ourselves into being unhappy, hurt or diminished by our everyday life experiences.

Tuning in helps us bounce back from unfortunate circumstances and makes us more resilient.

We can reach into the inner conscious space with our attention, and it dissolves us into itself. We can realize and know the cosmic space as one conscious awareness in all of us.

Knowing this unlimited cosmic intelligence inside ourselves, helps us find the intuition and insight to change our life for the better, if we need to.

Consciousness in all space is transforming cosmic energy into clusters of tiny resonances inside the living cells of our body, like three-dimensional music.

This conscious cosmic space looks through all of us and sees itself, appearing as a world. Were consciousness in the Universe transforming itself into living beings.

We can reconnect every day with this cosmic awareness inside all of us.

Paul Mulliner is a writer and digital artist

This article was first published here on Medium.com

Read more:
Knowing the Universe - Thrive Global

Following final evenings Season 3 premiere of Westworld, viewers had been handled to a six-minute featurette that went inside the episode and tried to the touch on its many features like the tone for the new season, the design of the actual world, utilizing Singapore as the future, what these fundamental characters need, and way more.

General, youll be able to actually inform that theyre treating Season 3 as a contemporary begin. They should be conscious of the blowback they bought from Season 2, and they alsore making strikes to attempt to reestablish the viewers whereas additionally bringing them into a brand new setting. I believe the smartest transfer right here is the introduction of Aaron Paul as Caleb. Paul excels when enjoying a personality whos tough round the edges however has a superb coronary heart, and placing him with Dolores is a pleasant solution to stability her out and present that not all of humanity are wealthy, evil bastards. You additionally want an viewers surrogate just like how we had younger William (Jimmi Simpson) in Season 1. There must be somebody who has our sympathies and whos studying about the stakes together with the viewers, and Paul is just about good for that. Additionally, as a soccer fan, I hope we get extra Marshawn Lynch as a result of hes pleasant.

Try the Westworld featurette under, and click on right here for a recap of the season premiere.

Right heres the official synopsis for Westworld:

Comply with the daybreak of synthetic consciousness and the evolution of sin on this darkish odyssey that begins in a world the place each human urge for food will be indulged. Aaron Paul, Vincent Cassel, Lena Waithe and Scott Mescudi be part of Evan Rachel Wooden, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris and extra for the upcoming third season, which can discover questions on the nature of our actuality, free will and what makes us human.

The rest is here:
Westworld: Six-Minute Featurette Takes Us Behind the Scenes of the Season 3 Premiere - Checkersaga

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, we're all being told to avoid touching our face to stop the spread of the virus.

But it's much easier said than done. In California a health official was videoed licking her finger straight after emploring the public to not touch their face.

So why do we touch our faces and is it easy to break the habit? We put those questions to behavioural psychologist Dr Sarah Cowie from the University of Auckland.

Why do we touch our face?

There are lot of reasons why we do it. The most obvious one is that we have an itch we need to scratch. But also, we seem to touch our faces more when we feel anxious or when we are concentrating on something or trying to keep our attention on a task. There's a school of though that says this face touching might have a social function that might show that you are sort of self-aware. There's also a school of thought that says this could be some sort of leftover behaviour from primate grooming that's just kind of come through evolution. So nobody knows quite why we touch our face for these reasons, but there are definitely some environmental triggers that tend to occur before we are likely to touch our face.

What are those triggers?

There are three main triggers. One of those is that when people are concentrating on something, and particularly when you're trying to keep your attention focused on a task, often we find people touch their faces at that kind of point. When you're feeling a little bit anxious, that's also another situation where people tend to be touching their faces. And then for very practical reasons, if you're itching or need to adjust your lipstick or whatever. That one is probably a little bit more conscious but again, a lot of the time we'll just brush hair out of the way or itch your browwithoutas much as a thought.

How do we break the habit?

It's a little difficult, because the thing with habits is that very often we don't realise we're doing them, so they are actions that occur without aconsciousthought. And it turns out that we probably touch our face somewhere more than 23 times an hour. And if you think about all the time your remember touching your face, you might think that's not possible, I don't touch my face that much. But people touch their face a lot. Of course, it becomes worse when you are thinking about it and trying not to touch it. So habits are tricky things to break, particularly when you have a long history of engaging in those habits.

When I think about not touching my face, it's like it becomes more itchy? It's like it wants me to touch it, is that natural?

It certainly seems like it is. The thing is to try and shift the focus from not doing it to being more aware of those environmental triggers that are likely to make you want to touch your face. So rather than going through and saying 'okay, today I am not going to touch my face', shift focus and think, well can I be a little bit more aware of my surroundings and what I'm going through, and then I can recognise when I'm likely to be touching my face and hopefully redirect that behaviour. How can we encourage children to not touch their face?

So part of it is recognising some of those behaviours are not behaviours anybody is consciously aware of doing. Trying to make sure your environment isn't overly stressful, but also just using the normal kinds of techniques and approaches you would use for any sort of behaviour with your children or indeed anybody around you. For example, incompatible behaviours, so getting children to do something else with their hands so they can't touch be touching their face. Having things like stress balls, or even encouraging people to put their hands in their pockets or play a game with your hands. Obviously it's not possible in all sorts of situation, but it's a good starting point. So, if you're encouraging any sort of behaviour, rather than justsaying 'don't do that', or explaining not to do it, reward when it doesn't happen, reward when you're doing something else. So, just some of the strategies you'd use for beating other behaviour.

Should we all buy fidget spinners and stress balls?

There are whole bunch of really strange things coming out to help, like you can get a wristband that vibrates when it seems like you're moving your hands towards your face, or there is an app that tracks your movements and tells you off when it seems as if you are tracking towards your face. Some of those are towards making you aware of the situations where you're likely to be touching your face. but the other thing is stress balls and fidget and spinners and anything that you can do with your hands - take up knitting - but something that's incompatible with touching your face.

The rest is here:
Touching your Face: Why do we do it and how to stop - RNZ

Rob Halford is ready to go when Hammer calls to ask him your questions. Ive been looking forward to this, says the Metal God, who released a Christmas album last winter and will be fronting Judas Priests 50th anniversary celebrations this year.

What follows is a conversation that produces tears, laughter and interesting revelations...

Why not? Those records, Jugulator [1997] and Demolition [2001] are both part of the great history of Judas Priest. And Tim is a good friend of mine. Ive never done any of the songs that he sang on but Id definitely have a crack at them. Im up for that.

"When? It could happen at any time, it wouldnt need to be an anniversary. Before we go onstage we have a jam, and thats time when ideas from leftfield are thrown around. Thats probably how well do it. Itll just happen and itll be brilliant.

Usually its the ballads. I can really let rip on the screaming metal ones; I feel loose, free and comfortable on those. Its a song like Beyond The Realms Of Death [from Stained Class, 1979], Angel [Angel Of Retribution, 2005] or the acoustic version of Diamonds And Rust [Sin After Sun, 1977] is the most difficult.

"Anything that demands an enormous amount of tension becomes harder as you get older. You really have to zone in and focus more.

There are so many of them, arent there? Theres one band I really like from Cannock and theyre called Wolfjaw a three-piece band thats not exclusively metal, theyre hard rock but they have great arrangements. Theyve been bashing away quietly and strongly on the underground but I think that their moment is coming soon. Give them a listen.

I dont like using the word best in that context. We had Iron Maiden open for us at the start of their career [in 1980] and they were brilliant. Saxon did the same and they were also brilliant. Oh god, there were so many.

"More recently we had Uriah Heep open up for us in America and they were brilliant. Theyve been around just as long as Priest and theyve got a catalogue of incredible songs. So theres another great example.

Absolutely they do and Ive been putting my two pennorth into Priests music for most of my life, but its concealed by smoke and mirrors. Take a song like Evil Never Dies [from 2018s Firepower]. I make some digs there and I know what I mean, but heres the thing, especially for a band like Priest: music is about escapism.

"If I hear one more thing about Brexit, I dont know what I will do. To me theres a place for politics and I applaud bands that make it important in what they do, but with me the clues are there if you want to look for them.

Thank you, I just put one up for Throwback Thursday! Its of me by the gate in the place in the Yew Tree Estate in Walsall where I used to live. Im holding a copy of the vinyl of the Killing Machine album.

"Its a double-throwback because it was 41 years ago when that album came out. I dont think I will be joining Twitter. Its a place for strong opinions; most discussions that I read seem to end with, Fuck off, you wanker. If I went on there Id probably be banned within an hour.

Its a pretty straightforward choice. One would be Ronnie James Dio; I listen to him nearly every day. Id have to pick my mate Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, who is phenomenal. And lets go with one from the very beginning of this form of music Robert Plant [of Led Zeppelin].

"Ive always enjoyed the bluesier elements of his vocals and the Ooohs and Aaahs that they threw in were important; they may not have been words but Planty taught me how to connect on an emotional basis with that type of phrasing.

It was a conscious decision. The band- members all spoke between us about the need to make a statement about the metal we were making. At that moment in our career we felt it was important to pull together and create something that was truly significant. Thats why we hid ourselves away at Miraval Studios in the south of France where nobody could find us. We worked hard every day to make that album.

"One of the great lessons of having had a long life with a band is that sometimes you must do these things sit back, take a minute and contemplate what you want to reinforce. With Painkiller we had to remind people that Judas Priest was a strong, British heavy metal band.

We played lots of and lots of shows with Motrhead and I always found it amusing that after theyd played Lemmy would put his hair in a turban. I made a point of going to see him after each show and Id always end up sitting on Lemmys lap. Imagine that! The Metal God sitting on Lemmys lap, with his hair in a turban.

"Theres also a bittersweet one regarding a photo on my Instagram. After a South American tour together we were heading back to Los Angeles. It had been a long, long flight. Lemmy had been sitting by himself and you generally didnt want to get too close to him if that was the case, but I went and said thanks for a great tour. We had a bit of a chat and internally I felt something was going to happen. [Rob falls silent, trying to compose himself].

"Sorry thats an upsetting memory. I asked him for a selfie and he said fuck off, but we took it anyway and its the last photograph of me and Lemmy together. I still miss Lem and everything he stands for in rocknroll. But the music will last forever. Thats what I tell myself whenever Im feeling down.

The main catalyst was the chance of working with my brother Michael [on drums] and my cousin Alex [Hill, the son of Priest bassist Ian Hill]. Id always wanted to do that. I love Christmas music and I can never get enough of it, so thats why we made Celestial.

With so many choose from thats very tough, but if you put a gun to my head Id go with Sad Wings Of Destiny and British Steel. Its incredible that we made British Steel, which had the iconic Living After Midnight and Breaking The Law, in just 30 days.

I really like the Necromancer outfit Im wearing on the current tour, with the purple top hat and the cane. Weve always had that element of heavy metal razzle dazzle. Ha, how the fuck did that come out of my head? But you know what I mean.

Weve got a massive warehouse full of props in Leicestershire; its like a heavy metal Aladdins Cave and this question reminds me that I must go there for a mooch around. Ive got a very treasured etching given to me by the late Maurice Jones, the promoter of the first Monsters Of Rock Festival, so Ill go with that.

After 58 metal years it becomes harder and harder. Rest is very, very important. Mine has become a bit like an old Morris Minor it takes three days to get it going but it works just fine once its warmed up.

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Rob Halford Q&A: His best Lemmy story and why he won't be joining Twitter - Louder

MARCH 16, 2020

I WAS FIRST INTRODUCED to Dao Stroms writing over 13 years ago when a mentoring professor gave me a copy of her collection of short stories, The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys. At the time, I was trying to write a book that didnt quite know what it wanted to be: a hybrid of anecdotal research, autobiography, failed memory, and fiction. I was frustrated by the absence of literary models in my life. Stroms book was unique though I read avidly, I had not yet encountered a book whose sentences conversed with me, rather than speaking above me. I admired the fact that these stories did not offer definitive, epiphanic resolutions, focusing on the interiority and intimate experiences of the characters as they process the world around them.

The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys is a collection of four linked stories about four different Vietnamese-American women living in the United States, inspired by Nina Simones song Four Women. It engages with issues of gender, inheritance, language, and the search for home. For me, it felt like the very beginning of a rich, ongoing dialogue which has evolved within and between Dao Stroms successive publications, the memoir We Were Meant To Be a Gentle People (accompanied by a song cycle, East/West) and the poetry collection You Will Always Be Someone From Somewhere Else.

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Dao Strom about The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys and the many beginnings it inspired.

MEGHAN LAMB: In your preface to The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys, you explain that the book almost wasnt published, in part because its original publisher a major house in New York didnt feel it was enough of a novel. Rather than change or adapt your books linked novella structure, you found a new home for it. What was that process like? Did this process lead you to formally reevaluate and redefine yourself as a writer?

DAO STROM: I think that I have always been a writer working in between genres and mediums, but I just didnt fully know it at first. My first novel, Grass Roof, Tin Roof, was actually a series of short stories linked together by short, lyrical fragments. So, the loosely linked four-novella structure of The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys was, really, a natural evolution from my first novels form. The plain fact to state here may be: I was not a novelist or meant to be one, at least not in the traditional sense of one continuous narrative that follows one protagonist all the way through.

Losing that first book contract was initially a shock, but it was also, in the end, liberating. It woke me up to the realities of publishing and it set me on a different course. I would have to stake my own claim to make my own forms.

As it went: I did one more round of edits and retitled the manuscript, and my agent was diligent and determined about finding the manuscript another home. But following The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys, my writing did indeed change taking a more hybrid tack: between prose and poetry, image and text, engaging the aural senses too. My failure to fit in resulted, ironically, in my going further afield. In looking back now, I see that it all evolved as it was meant to. I already had a visual background (having studied film) and a separate practice as a musician and songwriter. The hybrid-literary form allowed me to dissolve boundaries between my own different realms of voice.

The novella, too, is a form that inhabits a neither/nor realm, willing neither to compress nor elongate itself. Ive always liked structures that allow for deeper immersion, while at the same time employing techniques of tension and truncation. In looking back, I will own that I could not have written any differently than I did. The writing dictated its desired parameters; I still work this way now, as opposed to trying to impose structure onto the work.

Ive reread The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys numerous times over the past decade, and Ive been struck by the ways rereading feels like an archiving of the self: a cataloging of who I was at different points in my reading. Do you experience a similar kind of self-archiving, rereading your own work? Can you trace your evolution as a writer in these pages, or do they feel fully distinct from the work youre doing now?

There are emotional truths that I myself went through in each one of the stories in The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys. For instance, the first story is one of the most painful to reread now, because for me what it catalogs is a lot of internalized racism and intense self-scrutiny, even self-loathing, that was related, but in an unacknowledged way, to race, to becoming aware of what it means or what it may look like being Asian in America.

Mary, one of the protagonists in the book, is a lot like me during my early college years. She is trying to exempt herself from certain aspects of her racial experience, which is something a person of color who has grown up steeped in white culture might well do. She also projects a lot of that scrutiny onto her male friends, who are also Asian-American, and who are her most real relationships despite all her affectionate energies poured toward an absent (white boy) lover. But although I gave Mary a lot of my own traits and experiences from that age, in some ways I also put her at a greater disadvantage, making her even more alienated than I was at the time.

There is a truth about a father that arises in Marys story; in my own life, I also learned a truth about my father, though a little earlier, in my adolescence. Mary does not arrive at any emotional resolution about this or her other affections. For me, the story is a sort of time capsule of a period of disconnection and an emotional what-if as if someones emotional bearing continued along that path. In my real life, however, some of the events and relationships I drew from to write the story have continued, resurfaced, even evolved in wondrous ways.

Memory also constantly changes memories. I dont perceive things in the same way that I did when I was writing those stories. So, I might say Im also glad I captured what I did when I did, with the particular sensitivity I had in that period toward those insecurities, desires, melancholies, et cetera. Reading back, some of it is entertaining, even humorous, to reencounter. The second story, Walruses, for instance, has a lot of very real, sometimes quietly absurd, details that occurred during a time that felt to me psychically gray, slightly harrowing, and formative. The story captures all that for me while riding its own fictional currents.

On the subject of self-archiving: Did the autobiographical elements in The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys feel like a prelude to the personal explorations in your later work? Have your feelings toward these experiences changed in the process of recasting them as fiction, nonfiction, or poetry?

Pieces of me are laced throughout these stories, no doubt, and a sort of self-traveloging reverberates throughout my work. I am most certainly an interior-oriented writer who uses the self as an ongoing repository. But none of it is precisely or wholly me, and in my day-to-day life, Im actually a private person, not too prone to sharing. But I am interested in the mind and memory as material, and this is a tactic I employ even as a fiction writer. Perhaps my fundamental interest, really, is perceptions and how we string them into patterns by which we tell ourselves stories or try to make sense of living. I am always, always aware of every memory, every story, being a result of choices in perception and construction.

With We Were Meant To Be a Gentle People and my work since, Ive started dealing more directly with perception, constructing the self/identity, constructing meaning, and simultaneously, questioning it all. Ive started questioning the factors that feed into our perceptions and how they are retained as memory, as history, and so forth. In my writing life in my mid-30s and on, it may seem I dropped the artifice of fiction, to wrestle more directly with the material itself but this is not to say construction and artifice are not still a part of the process.

Another common element in these works is the word gentle (which appears in two titles) and the bent of the long titles themselves. None of this was conscious, but I do think something is hinted at in those titles. From the Gentle Order stories to the hybrid elements of We Were Meant To Be a Gentle People and the Somewhere book, a gentling an acuteness of perception definitely plays a part. In all the works, I see threads about looking closely, about heeding the small, about seeking an order to the pieces of ones life.

The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys features narratives from three very different Vietnamese-American mothers. Has your relationship with these fictional mothers changed over time, as youve raised your own son into a young adult? Do you find yourself identifying more or less with any of the mothers in this novel?

These mothers span different degrees of remove from their Vietnamese backgrounds, no doubt, and it is maybe only in the Interlude between the second and third stories that the specter of Vietnam looms visibly. I feel the most empathy for the mother in that piece and the ways in which she navigates her trauma distantly, through so many omissions and orders her present life to be as small and manageable as possible. Some of her tendencies I look at with affection the covering of everything in plastic, the appliances never used for their designated functions, details Ive observed in many refugee households while also aware of the role of disruptive trauma in ones past, that can underlie such habits, which Im aware exist in myself, too, truthfully.

I dont remember how it came to me anymore, but somehow the impulse arose to give that mother a child who would look at her only as a mother, his harbor and anchor, who in his child innocence would not know how to read her except through a lens of love. This seemed like a grace to offer that mother, and maybe to offer the book as a whole too. Its also apt that, in a book designated to consist of four stories narrated through womens voices, I would break my own rules and drop in a fifth story from a young males viewpoint I have a hard time staying inside the lines, once a frame is drawn. It also felt fitting to imagine this male figure who was connected and yet different from the mother and sisters, maybe a little more at ease in himself (he also is not a refugee, but second-generation born in the United States), and who would be nothing but good-natured toward them. The female protagonists in all the other stories are to some degree displaced from their birthland. Maybe I was forecasting a type of male emotional capacity I wanted these women characters to encounter.

The mother Im perhaps closer in experience to is Sage, in the last story, who is mixed-race and completely estranged from her cultural background. Though she has traits in common with me, I made her more rootless, more displaced from her Vietnamese-ness than I am. One of my favorite mothering scenes in the book comes when Sage arrives at a party (after she and her friends have marched in an antiwar rally) to find her son delighting in being wrapped up in a string of green Christmas lights. When I reread that moment, I am still transported, still pleasantly disarmed by how the children light up the page and imbue the story with a kind of gentle surreality. This sits in subtle counterpoint to the adult navets and interpersonal confusions also at play in the story.

Do you and your son talk about your own memories of Vietnam? As a third-generation Vietnamese American, how does he process your shared or un-shareable experiences?

My son over the years has spent a lot of time reading over my shoulder. Ive made it a point to let him know about our past, especially my parents. He knows that his grandparents were writers, that his grandfather spent a decade in the communist reeducation camps, that erasure and trauma have been a part of our history, and that Ive been trying, in my art, to reconnect and reconcile with that history, its estrangements and echoes.

Inherited trauma is very real, and I believe that part of learning to live with it is being able to recognize it. I grew up with parents who believed it necessary to sever from the past, which was not uncommon for the first generation. I wanted to give my son what I didnt have: a sense of access to the past and, hopefully, to a different kind of future as well. I took my son back to Vietnam when he was 15, and we are going again now, when he is 20. I am sharing my journeys with him, but Im also aware he has his own journey and will integrate the past however he needs and chooses to, if at all. My simplest hope is that he should know where and what he comes from, while on a personal level be able to see the grace and resilience that lie behind him he has grandparents, for instance, who have lived remarkable lives, who made difficult and selfless choices in the face of crises. I cant know, of course, what my son really feels or will do with this information, but I hope in the end that he will draw strength from it.

Meghan Lamb is the author of All of Your Most Private Places (Spork Press, 2020) andSilk Flowers(Birds of Lace, 2017).

Continued here:
Artifice Is Part of the Process: An Interview with Dao Strom - lareviewofbooks

Artist Jorge Larrea is known in Montclair to alumni of Northeast Elementary as their beloved former art teacher. Larrea has also had his work One featured at Montclair Public Library. Now Larrea will have his first solo exhibition, opening this Thursday when Clerestory Fine Art presents Awake in Dreams: The Visual Immersions of Jorge Larrea.

Awake in Dreams features large oil paintings meticulously rendered with geometric and organic shapes, creating dreamlike worlds where human figures intertwine with their surroundings. Larrea sat down with Baristanet to share more about his Ecuadorian background and the influences of Renaissance painting on his surreal compositions.

Where are you from? And what was your upbringing like?

I grew up in an upper middle class family in Quito, Ecuador. I went to eight different schools because I was expelled from so many of them. My grandmother called me rebel without a cause.

What was your first brush(!) with art making?

When I was in Pre- K, this kindergarten boy had his work chosen for a show in school. I remember it was a bull-fighter, done with all these amazing colors. I was so in awe of him, he became my herohe was probably five. Since then, I wanted to be able to create art. When I was 10, my mother signed me up for art classes downtown. I would take the bus from home, by myself, a couple times a week. I remember my first painting was a lake; I loved drawing the waves in the water.

Whose art has influenced or intrigued you?

Salvador Dali I love his work. I love his imagination, skill, the technique he used, the colors. When I came to the United States and enrolled in art classes, I loved the Renaissance masters. Eventually when I studied surrealism in college, I tried to apply that concept, painting without thinking. But then I remember buying my first canvases and I said, okay, Im going to try what the surrealists did and see what happens.

What is your experience with teaching? How has it impacted your work?

Teaching, especially elementary school students, made me more playful. Seeing in kids the joy of creating constantly reminded me to just do it without a lot of overthinking or planning ahead.

And if you ask the kids at Northeast, their favorite class was art. It was awesome to be able to teach their favorite subject.

How did you begin to synthesize philosophical language with your art? Was it a conscious choice, or did it just happen?

Everything in nature has evolution. What Im expressing as an artist has to do with what lifes all about. Feeling organisms, thinking organisms and spiritual organisms, and how we are connected with the whole. We are all one with the universe, Mother earth.

Some of your pieces are filled with extremely intricate line work; how do you create these structures?

When I was a kid, I remember my mom showing me the veins on leaves. Veins are everywhere, in tree trunks and fruits, in our skin, in the sky, water and sand. So thats when I began to feel like we are all interconnected. When I paint, I want to feel and show those connections. All of those lines show me the energy of life, and also how veins and roots and nerves and electrical charges, are all speaking to each other.

Can you talk about your symbolism and use of color?

When youre sitting in front of a dark painting and feel melancholic and sad or maybe introverted, and then you take 10 steps to the right and see a yellow and red painting and feel uplifted and happy thats when I understood how wonderful color was.

I learned from Dali how images can convey so much. How they can connect our minds to our subconscious, how you can be reminded of dreams or different states of mind.

When these symbols come onto the paper or the canvas, I want them to have the right colors. Its about the power of color as energy and the power of the symbols to say so much about our inner selves.

Is there a piece from the show you are most excited about or has an interesting backstory?

My largest painting Will is also the one that took me the longest. The reason why its probably my favorite is because it embodies my philosophy and also my influences. The colors are very much like Latin American colors, very strong, very powerful and all balanced, as rich as possible. The influence of the Renaissance, the linear perspective, the balance, and the human figures are very idealized.

I use the symbol of the sperm because it could be in the animal world, in nature, in human life. It represents the wheel of life, the ability to become something else, to create something new.

You always need to overcome things. You always need to overpower certain things. You always need to compete with others. And competition is necessary because without it, there is no evolution.

What advice do you have for young artists?

When I teach, I noticed how kindergarten kids make art without thinking, without ego, without looking at each other. They just do. Then, the older they get, the more self conscious, the more fearful they become. They are afraid to show weaknesses or to be bad. The advice I would have for all ages is like the Nike Ad, just do it. Dont think about it. Just see what happens without comparing yourself. Competition is great, as long as its healthy and natural. The competition comes after the fact of doing it. You dont want to do something to compete, you want to compete as you do.

Clerestory Fine Art presents Awake in Dreams: The Visual Immersions of Jorge Larrea, March 12April 24, 2020. Meet Larrea at an opening reception on Thursday, March 12 from 7-9 p.m. Additional public programming will accompany the exhibition, including an evening featuring both stand-up comedy and Clerestorys widely popular silent disco, kids tours, a special tour for high school students, artist talks in both Spanish and English, and an Art and Finance panel discussion geared towards budding collectors. For more information, visit the Clerestory Fine Art website and follow on Instagram.

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Conversation With Jorge Larrea: "Awake In Dreams" Solo Exhibition at Clerestory Fine Art - Baristanet