BRADENTON FL Stress at work can adversely affect other areas in life, such as relationships and sleep, studies show. And as stress in the workplace rises, having a stress management strategy is vital, say mental health professionals and experts in corporate culture.

Its not just workers who suffer from stress. Employers feel the effects of stress in increased absenteeism and lost production, and some companies address work-related stress with policies and practices.

But its important for over-stressed workers to develop their own tools to better deal with stress and not let it affect their job performance or quality of life, says Cynthia Howard (www.eileadership.org), an executive coach and performance expert.

Stress is the new normal and, to become resilient, you must practice strategies that will unhook you from the damaging, reactive nature of the stress reaction, says Howard, the author of The Resilient Leader, Mindset Makeover: Uncover the Elephant in the Room. One cannot think their way out of a stress reaction, and when you ignore what can happen, you leave yourself vulnerable.

Howard offers these strategies to build a tolerance to work stress and perform at a high level even during stressful situations:

Breathe

On a count of four, breathe. The goal is breathing with intention to shift the stress effect. Howard suggests taking four deep breaths breathing in on the count of four, holding on four, exhaling on four.

Breathing is your first line of defense against the distraction of the stress reaction and being overwhelmed, Howard says. Most people today are in moderate to severe stress, multitasking, or in the throes of strong emotions.

Breathing, she says, gets shallow and less effective in blowing off the buildup of carbon dioxide, leaving you more acidic the opposite of what the body needs to stay energized.

Take a moment

The three-second transition. Used at different parts of the day, such as before and after a meeting or difficult conversation, this strategy helps develop the feeling of being in the moment.

Be deliberate with three seconds, Howard says. Pause, breathe, and focus on what you are going to do for three seconds. This slows down your mind and opens your awareness. With practice, it will also expand your situational awareness and lead to more enjoyment of your day.

Mindfulness

Practice everyday mindfulness. Because many people are distracted in a social media-filled world, Howard says, its hard for them to focus for long periods. Mindfulness can tune out distractions.

Mindfulness means directing your attention to what is happening in the moment without judging what is happening, Howard says. This practice improves the quality of your attention and decreases your reactivity to stress.

Keep a journal

Howard suggests taking 10 minutes each day to write out thoughts. This practice will increase self-awareness and build your ability to stay in the moment, Howard says. You will get to know yourself at a deeper level and, with that, get to the real motives that drive your choices and behavior.

Then, she says, set a time limit to do your journaling and have specific goals in mind reflecting on a conversation, recapping your day, digging deeper into your reaction to something. Then go back and review your journal after every quarter. Have you made progress?

We tend to expend more energy than we renew, Howard says. Most people go through the day with constant interruptions, irritations, and other emotional triggers, all draining energy. It is essential to use some type of stress-relief strategy every day to keep our energy stores filled.

About Howard

Cynthia Howard, RN, CNC, PhD is an executive coach, performance expert and the author of The Resilient Leader, Mindset Makeover: Uncover the Elephant in the Room. She researched stress and its consequences in performance during her PhD. In the past 20-plus years she has coached thousands of professionals, leaders and executives toward emotional agility and engaged leadership.

For more information, visit http://www.eileadership.org.

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Stressed at work? Four strategies to reboot, refresh - Daily Herald

ST. JOSEPH Resiliency is a skill, and it's a state of being.

"Resiliency can be dealt by individuals and communities, and practiced through some very straightforward strategies," said Tami Miller,Krasl Art Center's deputy directorandcurator. "We're using the visual arts as a way to discuss this, and discussing the things thatresiliency is built from."

The Krasl willopen its new exhibit, aptly titled "Resiliency," tomorrow. It will be on display through Dec. 1.

The exhibit was developed with Spectrum Health Lakeland.

Resiliency is the process of adapting in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats and even stress such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stresses.

In 2016,Lakeland completed a Community Health Needs Assessment in which mental health emerged as the most urgent needin Berrien County.

The same year, KAC decided on a new mission to inspire meaningful change and strengthening the community.

"Through combining our expertise in art, and theirs in wellness, we developed a theme, and put out a call for artists," Miller said. "We reviewed the entries together and developed the exhibit."

The exhibition features contemporary artists from across the nation working in painting, drawing, illustration, dance and printmaking.

"It's not just one kind of art. It's so diverse," Miller said. "Some artists are using representational and some are actually using art making to make their own resiliency."

She said some pieces are calming, while other encourage positive coping skills.

"This is a positive and immediate way people can build their own skills," Miller said. "They're going to explore thisand find immediate ways to have them stay in the resiliency zone: staying grounded in a state of stress."

Christina E. Fontenelle, a Chicago psychotherapist and artist, will bring art pieces, a dance performance and dance/movement workshops to the Krasl Art Center as part of the "Resiliency" exhibition opening tomorrow.

A call she must answer

For Christina E. Fontenelle, a Chicagopsychotherapist and artist, resiliency isher theme in life.

"It just keeps coming up over and over again,"she said in a recent phone interview."It's just a call that I must answer.I like to do this to get messages across, and embody what I'm trying to get across."

Fontenelle will bring two pieces of art to the exhibition, as well as several dance workshops and a performance. The two art pieces focus around her work with migrant children.

"Theycrossed the border and experienced trauma," she said. "Movement was the only way to get through to them because they didn't speak Spanish or English. I created the pieces through my own self care."

To help others with their self care, she will put on two dance/movement therapy workshops at 11 a.m. Saturday at KAC, and at 6 p.m. Oct. 24 at Benton Harbor Public Library.

Through facilitation, she will lead attendees toward creative, nonjudgmental exploration of what self care means to them. The workshops include an ice-breaker, guided breathing meditation and skills/techniques that can be applied to everyday life.

"My workshops are based off my meditation journal, and I'd like to show people how that came about together," Fontenelle said.

Attomorrow's opening, she willhave a performance at 7 p.m.

"For me it's an honor to be able to be part of a space where we're able to acknowledge what's happening, and resilience as an individual and a whole," Fontenelle said.

She hopes people leave the exhibit with self awareness and self love.

"If I can have one person from the performance, workshop or my artwork leave, and they love themselves a little more, then I've done my job," Fontenelle said. "I want people to love themselves the way they were meant to be loved."

The space in between

Artist John Gutoskey believes that everyone is resilient, whether it's in the day-to-day spaces we're in or the world as a whole.

"It's a miracle we're not blowing each others heads off," he said in a recent phone interview. "We all sort of deal with it."

Gutoskey explores his own resiliency, and that of the queer community, in his eight mixed media mono prints he's bringing to theKraslfrom a collection he callsLiminal Landscapes."

"It's looking at queerness as this in between space," he said. "They are an exploration of what makes a space liminal or queer, and how queer space is different from heteronormative space."

The Ann Arbor artist said it was his own experience growing up gay that lead him to explore queer spaces.

"I was sort of grateful in my 20s for growing up gay because it forced me to deal with it, do therapy, grow up, and be resilient, rebound and believe in myself when people were telling me I'm useless," he said.

He said he also looks at the resiliency theme through the resiliency of others he's encountered through his therapeutic body work.

"When you're traumatized, a portion of our life force is taken away from us, we have to compartmentalize to move on, so it's not in our day-to-day," Gutoskey said. "As you move through the trauma, yourelease the traumatic energy, and you literally feel energy come back to you."

He said that's what he hopes people get from the exhibit.

"Ithink it's great some of the mental health issues we're talking about here and making it be about something more than the artwork," Gutoskey said."And how to seek out resources."

He said people these days need that with, for example, car accidents, surgery, abuse and veterans returning from war.

"You hope someone takes away something. If you see the work, there's a lot of arches and doorways and literal spaces," he said. "I'm just tryingto develop imagery that could talk about this luminality andjust trying to create images that are healing."

Other artists included in the exhibition are: Rachel Corbin, drawing, Nashville, Tenn.; Alli Farkas, painting, Dowagiac; Ginnie Hsu, illustration, New York; Olivia Hunter, photography, New York; the monarq, painting, Seattle; Sergio Goimez, painting, Chicago; and Martina Nehrling, painting, Chicago.

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Finding resiliency through art | Features - Herald Palladium

ONLY CONNECT! Edward Morgan Forster writes in Howards End, his enduringly powerful 1910 novel about class, morality, and love in Edwardian England; only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. In this line, the humanist Forster suggests the importance of linking what he describes as the Inner life and the Outer life: surface and depth, public image and private self. His books complex and vividly drawn characters are defined by their abilities to make these bridges, by their respective levels of hypocrisy, empathy, or compassion.

But in playwright Matthew Lopezs eviscerating and entirely absorbing new work, The Inheritance, the iconic line takes on an additional layer of meaning. The two-part, seven-hour play deftly connects Forsters novel to a pan-generational queer milieu in contemporary New York, effectively proving the timelessness of the novelists themes.

The play shattered audiences in a sold-out run at Londons Young Vic when it premiered in March 2018; The Guardians Michael Billington praised director Stephen Daldrys crystalline production and noted that the play pierces your emotional defenses, raises any number of political issues and enfolds you in its narrative. Before its transfer to the West Ends Nol Coward Theatre, it was lauded by The Telegraphs Dominic Cavendish as perhaps the most important American play of the century so far. It was subsequently garlanded with awards (the Evening Standards Best Play, the Olivier for Best Director).

Now The Inheritance, commandingly directed by Daldry and with several of the principal actors from the London production, has begun previews on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. With AIDS as a haunting presence, inevitable and favorable comparisons have been drawn with Tony Kushners game-changing 1991 epic, Angels in America. (Daldry and the show's designer, Bob Crowley, even give one of their characters prop-house wings in the London production.) But it is Forsters novel that primarily informs Lopezs new work. Whenever we hit a roadblock in a workshop, he says, the answer was very often to be found in Howards End.

Lopez makes Forster himselfhe goes by Morgana central character. A donnish, avuncular figure in buttoned-up tweeds, Morgan, at the plays inception, is instructing a group of young men on the art of transferring life experience to paper. This circle of friends, serving as a kind of Greek chorus, questions Morgan about the seemingly effortless elegance of his books opening lineOne may as well begin with Helens letters to her sisterso dashed off, as if to suggest it doesnt really matter how you start, one of them comments. One may as well begin with Tobys voicemails... to his boyfriend, they conclude. And so it begins.

A closeted man from an age that criminalized homosexuality, Morgan (played by Paul Hilton) is filled with wonder at this younger generation, a tribe of unencumbered men able to live their individual truths buoyed by preternatural self-awareness, PrEP (the daily preventative HIV medication), and pop-culture drollery. What they are often less aware of, as they navigate the travails of Manhattan real estate, Hamptons house parties, and nightclub dark rooms, are the struggles of a preceding generation that fought for liberation and was decimated by the early years of the AIDS holocaust in the 1980s. How can we learn from the past to forge a greater future together? queries actor Kyle Soller, who plays Eric Glass, an earnest activist. Its just such a universal, human story about how we need to recognize our collective history: Theres a message I think we really need right now.

At the outset of the plays action, Toby Darling (a lost-boy playwright, electrifyingly played by Andrew Burnap) is living in a spacious, rent-controlled Upper West Side apartment, the childhood home of his fianc, Eric. Forsters novel revolves around an inheritance, the romantic country house (Howards End) bequeathed by the mystical Ruth Wilcox to the freethinking Margaret Schlegel, a mere acquaintance whom she nevertheless recognizes as a kindred spirit. In The Inheritance, it is a house upstate that decades earlier the young lovers Henry and Walter intended as a refuge from the disease that was ravaging their circle of friends and that is destined to become a sanctuary of a different sort.

Lopez had a thwarted inheritance of his own. Raised in Panama City, a small town in the part of the Florida panhandle known, he says, as the Redneck Riviera, he yearned for the Brooklyn of his parents childhoods. I think they must have seen in it a kind of paradise, he continues. My dad was raised in housing projects; now theyre able to own a home and land. Their son, however, did not see northwestern Florida as a paradise. It was baffling to me. (He has now reclaimed his parents urban roots, living in Brooklyn with his husband of four years, Brandon Clarke.) The solace I hadbesides my parents, who were loving and caringwas the movies and theater and reading, he recalls. The local community theater was my salvation.

The teenage Lopez saw Ismail Merchant and James Ivorys powerful 1992 adaptation of Howards End. I knew nothing about E. M. Forster. I knew nothing about Howards End, he remembers, but seeing that movie absolutely changed my life. It was the first thing that really struck a chord with me as a writer. I was just so enamored of the film and then later the bookand the love affair has not abated. The 1987 movie adaptation of Forsters homoerotic Maurice, published only after the writers death in 1970, was to prove a further revelation, although Lopez had to seek this one out. They were not showing it in Panama City; thats for sure, he says, laughing, and it was not available at the local Blockbuster. When he finally watched the film and then researched Forsters life, he recalls thinking, Holy shit, this is Howards End but gay! The revelation gave Lopez the notion of retelling Howards End as a queer story, and six years ago the writer (who won acclaim for his 2006 breakout play The Whipping Man) set out to re-investigate the book. Lopez wrote every word of his original draft at a Brooklyn writers space, often working until three in the morning and even on Christmas Eve.

The result, as Andrew Burnap discovered during one of four major workshops that spanned two years, was a beautiful mess that ran some 10 hours. Burnap had been starring as a sad-sack Elvis impersonator turned stellar drag queen in Lopezs comedic play The Legend of Georgia McBride in Los Angeles but knew nothing about the new play until his manager sent him the script. I read it at night, he recalls. I started at nine and finished at six. For the sake of my roommates, I was trying to keep the weeping to a dull roar and muffle the laughing as wellbecause I also found it wildly funny.

During the workshop, Burnap played one of the young men in the circle of friends, but he was eventually asked to step in and play the part of Toby. I even told him, Youre too young for the role, but youd be doing me a huge favor, Lopez recalls. Months later, Burnap got a call while he was driving in L.A. I pulled over and sort of felt that my life was about to change, he remembers. Burnap had never been to Europe before he traveled for the play; the new production will mark his Broadway debut.

His fellow cast member Kyle Soller received the 400-page script the day before his audition. Undaunted, he finished reading it on the subway en route to the audition. I felt there was something special in my hands, Soller recalls. The characters are so fully formed and three-dimensional, and Matthews writing is heartbreaking and poetic in equal measure. (Sollers performance won him both the Olivier and Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor.)

It was something that hits you like a ton of bricks, says actor Samuel H. Levine of Lopezs writing. (The actor admits that he had no idea who Forster was when he embarked on The Inheritance. Now I feel like I know him, he says.) Levine plays both Adam, a young actor on a blazing meteors arc, and Leo, a hustler on the reverse trajectory. Having dropped out of school, Levine was working in a restaurant when he was called in to do the workshop. I thought, Theres no way in hell I am ever going to do this, he recalls, so lets just let it rip, and that unharnessed energy helped to secure him the dual roles of the very different characters. From those early stages, Levine remembers the constant flow of new pages. We must have killed a lot of trees!

There was just more than we could ever stage, Lopez admits of his first drafts. A play is theoretical until you actually get it on its feet and watch it in a run. I dont think those early audiences knew quite how much power they had, he adds. They taught us everything. The first preview before a Young Vic audience proved, as Levine recalls, overwhelmingly electricit hit really hard, hearing the reactions. Burnap remembers sneaking into the back of the theater, during the wrenching conclusion of act one, and witnessing the sort of theatrical event where everyones life is changed, almost as if the entire audience is held in suspension, he says. Im just so moved in every performance, says Soller, because we can hear the audience audibly crying, full of the histories that theyre bringing to the story.

One member of the London cast who brought a particularly poignant past to the story was the legendary Vanessa Redgrave, who was a haunting Ruth Wilcox in the Merchant--Ivory movie and played a mother whose son has succumbed to AIDS decades earlier in The Inheritance. (The actress herself lost her ex-husband Tony Richardson, father of her daughters, Joely and the late Natasha Richardson, to complications from the disease in 1991.) Though Redgrave will not be appearing in New York, Lopez notes the power of her performance. It was an incredibly humbling thing to watch her examine her own trauma and to see her put her personal experience in service of the play, he says.

More changes are afoot in the new productiona new chorus and a subtle reconsidering. With this new American ensemble comes a new personality, Lopez says. I think that the last thing were interested in doing is putting up a carbon copy of the production in Londonotherwise, just show the video. One of the things that I learned from Stephen is always to question your assumptions, and always go with the desire to make it better.

Thanks to the Forster estates supportive trustees, Lopez even visited the authors rooms at Kings College, Cambridge University, and was able to study the writers original manuscripts. I feel a different, newfound kind of kinship with Forster, he says, and Id like to think that the cast came away feeling as possessive of Forster and his writing and his legacy as I was when I started writing the play.

Read the rest here:
The Inheritance, London's Epic, 7-hour Play of the Century Arrives on Broadway - Vogue

For many of us, when we make a mistake, self-criticism is often our default response. The voice in our heads that tells us that we are useless or worthless or that we are never going to amount to anything unless we pull our socks up. Surely, having such a coach on the side-lines, spurring us on, will make us perform better in the future? Many of us believe that self-criticism demonstrates our commitment to the highest possible standards.

If you had asked me 10 years ago how best to motivate myself, I suspect that self-criticism would have featured fairly high up the list. If someone had suggested I take a kinder approach to my setbacks or failures I probably would have laughed. Surely the only way toachieve the high standards that I had set for myself was to hold myself accountable by criticising my short-comings? That would ensure I didnt fall short again. It is certainly true that we dont like the feeling of being criticised. Criticism is painful. It feels bad, regardless of who is dishing it out. Yet, it would be a mistake to believe that self-criticism motivates us to keep moving forward.

Criticism hurts

When we criticise ourselves, the emotional pain we experience lights up the same pain centres of the brain as physical pain, namely the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. As a result of this overlap in neural circuitry, when our inner critic runs rampant inside our head, it can feel as if someone has quite literally punched us in the gut. Only, rather than a critical stranger, we are the ones inflicting the pain. In an effort to protect ourselves, we trigger fight or flight the very same mechanism that we call upon to help us defend ourselves from a predator. Only, in the case of self-criticism, we are both the predator and the prey.

Whereas the threat from an actual predator usually dissipates within minutes or hours, our self-criticism can last for days, months or an entire lifetime, slowly eroding our self-worth, self-confidence and our sense of safety. Yet, if we cannot find sanctuary in our own mind, where will we ever find refuge from the critical world we find ourselves in? As a result (and contrary to popular belief), self-criticism has been shown to have a negative effect on our long-term motivation. Our inner critic effectively undermines our self-esteem and, with it, our motivation to persevere.

A different approach to failure

Research into self-compassion shows that those who are able to cultivate greater compassion towards themselves, counterintuitively end up holding themselves to a higher standard and perform better than those who criticise themselves. A self-compassionate response has been shown to reduce anxiety, depression, stress, perfectionism, shame and pain. It has also been shown to increase life satisfaction, happiness, optimism, body appreciation and immune function.

Part of the reason is due to the fact that self-compassion doesnt induce our fight or flight response so there is no longer the fear of beating ourselves up if things go wrong. Instead, we tap into our parasympathetic nervous system, meditated by our mammalian caregiving system (also known as our tend and befriend response). It works by triggering the release of hormones such as oxytocin, which help to promote feelings of warmth towards ourselves and relieve any stress we may be experiencing. We become our greatest ally.

Cultivating greater self-compassion

When it comes to cultivating greater self-compassion towards our self, there is no silver bullet. It begins with mindful self-awareness of those moments when we are experiencing pain or suffering and learning to catch ourselves from mindlessly chastising ourselves. The second step is to be kind. A simple exercise that you can do to cultivate greater kindness towards yourself, which is an exercise from the Mindful Self-Compassion programme developed by Chris Germer and Kristin Neff, is set out below.

1. Think of a behaviour that you are keen to change and that is currently causing you problems. What happens when you display that behaviour? Do you get defensive? Do you close down?

2. What does the voice of your inner critic tell you? What words does it use? What tone does it use? How does it express itself?

3. Now get in touch with the part of you that feels criticised. What impact do those critical words have on you? How do they make you feel?

4. Finally, can you think of a kinder more compassionate way of acknowledging your pain in that moment? Imagine it was a close friend who had been berating themselves for a similar transgression, what would you say to them to help comfort them in that moment? Can you use similar words to comfort yourself?

Lastly, it can be really helpful to harness our common humanity. Reminding ourselves that we are not alone in moments of suffering can be a huge comfort. Humans are imperfect beings and all of us will have experienced setbacks and sorrow in our lifetimes. Reminding ourselves of this fact can help soothe the pain we may be experiencing in that moment. The more often we practise self-compassion the quieter our inner critics voice will become.

See the rest here:
Silencing the critic within - Thrive Global

3 October 2019, 14:26 | Updated: 3 October 2019, 16:06

Sorry, but we have no choice but to stan.

Sadly, receiving a dick pic you absolutely did not ask for is a regular occurrence for a lot of women. Astudy publishedin The Journal of Sex Research found that men actually think women like their unsolicited nudes and that they send them in hope that they'll receive something sexual back YIKES.

Faye Kinley, a trans woman from Glasgow, knows a lot about this topic because since she came out as trans, she has been hit with a barrage of unwanted dick pics. But when a random man decided to send her an explicit snap after finding her phone number online, she had the perfect response.

READ MORE: People are now "cockfishing" thanks to iPhone 11 Pro camera wide lens

Basically, the guy messaged her saying "hey girl you are so sexy" alongside his unsolicited dick pic, which had a croissant placed over it to keep it PG. Faye returned his gesture by sending back a nude photo of her own.

"This random guy somehow got my number off here and sent me a dick pic," she tweeted. "And I guess he didnt appreciate it when I sent a picture of mine back. Worked like a charm."

He responded: "What the hell? Why would you send me that? I'm blocking your number now. Bye. Delete this conversation."

Although Faye said the initial post got her banned from Facebook, it was a viral hit on Twitter and has been "Liked" almost 300,000 times.

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This trans woman has gone viral after her perfect response to an unsolicited dick pic - PopBuzz

To fellow comic Bo Burnham, she is the most influential/imitated comedian of a generation a millennial Lenny Bruce. As anyone who saw her Edinburgh fringe debut last year will know, Kate Berlant is the real deal a silly/clever impro-comic majoring in how identity and ego are performed in the too-much-information age. And yet here she is arriving in London for a short standup run, to zero name recognition and minimal fanfare.

That may change: after roles in Tarantinos Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and 2018 hit Sorry to Bother You, she now has a TV sketch show in development with sidekick John Early. Telly connoisseurs will identify Early as a star of hipster comedy-thriller Search Party, in which Berlant also appeared. The duo have posted a series of hilarious videos online skewering as Search Party did the smart, shallow and self-absorbed millennial way of being. But their TV projects have yet to escape in-development gridlock, obliging Berlants genius to remain, for a little while longer, a secret shared by comedy lovers alone.

But thats fine by her, she tells me, on the phone from LA. (Shes a Santa Monica native.) When I do a show and people turn up, that means more to me than anything, says the 32-year-old. Live performance is my favourite thing. Pause. That being said, please hire me for film or TV if theres anyone reading this.

In the past, shes been bullish in response to TV commissioners complaint that her and Earlys slippery brand of humour is too weird. So were supposed to try to make something that appeals to everyone, and by doing so make something that appeals to no one? We firmly reject all of that. Today, she doesnt accept the premise. I dont think what Im doing is niche. I cant stop making faces or crossing my eyes. Im embarrassingly lowbrow at times. Earlier in her career, her ambition was to be the new Jim Carrey.

The truth is that her comedy scrambles lowbrow and highbrow, as it does the distinction between the real Berlant and the character she may or may not be playing. On stage, she presents as a precious, preening comedian-cum-savant, hypersensitive to the atmosphere in the room and to every teensy indication of her own fabulousness. She barely seems to have any actual material, save for her stream-of-consciousness commentary on the gig and her experience of it. The vibe is: its our privilege to be in her presence the more so when the show devolves into (of all things) a demonstration of her psychic powers.

The clairvoyancy act, Berlant reports, is sometimes effective to a spooky degree: I think theres a connection between being psychic and improvising. Theyre both about following intuition and not trying to overthink things. But finally, its just a joke and an excuse, she says, to be more herself onstage. Most comics, I venture, dont need that much artifice just to reveal their own voice. But Berlant distrusts authenticity in comedy: Performance is always not you, I would argue. She will accept though that her stage persona is an extrapolation of the most annoying parts of myself, including my boredom with the idea of the self-deprecating comedian. Im more like: I very much want attention, thats why Im doing this. I just exaggerate how desperately I want to be seen.

Alongside that, she says, I wanted to confuse my legibility onstage. Is it a character, or a real person? Why is the language I use falling apart? Why indeed? Because it reflects the post-internet language that derives from half-reading a million articles, from hearing opinions regurgitated in a couple of sentences. That fragmented access to information that we all have. Berlant on stage is a person cobbled together from internet fragments. Wellness culture, corporate feminism, academic jargon: its all in there. Im playing a person so steeped in the cultural critiques that Im obliterated. Theres so much commentary on myself that I cease to really exist.

You could blame her time at NYU, where she did a masters in the cultural anthropology of comedy, and acquired a fascination with the performance of knowledge. Or you could blame the fact that her dad is the artist Tony Berlant, renowned for his collages of found metal objects which might just have inspired the provoking juxtapositions in his daughters comedy.

But youd have to admit that, just as it can be read through an art-intellectual lens, so Berlants comedy can simply be enjoyed for its ridiculousness and flamboyant liveness. Shes so totally in the moment, says her mentor Sarah Silverman. Berlant says: I have tremendous respect for comics who have their 60-minute act scripted in advance. But for me, it feels dead if I dont keep it open, and keep myself in a place of terror.

Maybe thats not wise for my mental state. But in performance, I just find it impossible to not acknowledge whats actually going on in the moment. At the core of her comedy so self-aware, so aware of the contexts is a hyper-awareness of the essential weirdness of performance, says Berlant, the brutality of the expectation of doing comedy. And how inherently bizarre that encounter is.

Kate Berlant is at Soho theatre, London, 7-12 October.

More here:
Kate Berlant: 'There's a connection between being psychic and improv' - The Guardian

The weather has dropped half of one degree, announcing to all Dallas residents that fall has arrived. Luckily, those who dont follow football can fight off some of that seasonal depression with one of the best comedy show seasons that Dallas has hosted in a long time. As always, comedy is subjective to each persons taste, so if you really hate one of these recommendations, please leave a comment and well be sure to send a letter to that comedian letting them know they dont need to come anymore.

From arenas to comedy clubs, we have narrowed down some of the best comedy shows to see this fall. Be warned, there will be a two drink minimum required to read the entire list.

Mark NormandOct. 4-6Addison Improv4980 Belt Line Road, No. 250 (Far North Dallas)$20-$30

Mark Normand has quietly been amassing a following with his quick one-liners and approachable demeanor. Imagine the kind of jokes your uncle would tell at Thanksgiving; now further imagine they were actually funny, and youll get a good idea of Normands style. Hes becoming a fixture on television, appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbertand virtually any show Comedy Central produces. Hes probably even been on South Park. The Addison Improv will be a good fit for his energy, and with tickets starting at $20, it's a value deal for a name like his thats on the rise.

Eric Andre: Legalize Everything Tour 9 p.m., Oct. 10Majestic Theatre1925 Elm St. (downtown)$25 and up

The only thing predictable about Eric Andre is that nothing about his show will be predictable. The actor and comedian is bringing his unhinged brand of comedy to the Majestic Theatre for one night. Probably still best known for his run on Adult Swims The Eric Andre Show, the multifaceted performer was featured in this summers live action remake of The Lion King, on which he lent his voice to the hyena Azizi. Andre is an immensely talented performer who effortlessly pushes the comfort zone of an audience to both squirm and laugh in tandem, so buy a ticket and squirm with others.

Miranda Sings7 p.m.,Oct. 15Majestic Theatre 1925 Elm St. (downtown)$75 and up

Is the character Miranda Sings, brought to life by YouTube star Colleen Ballinger, meant for children or adults? You decide when Balinger smears on red lipstick and steps on the Majestic Theatre stage to share a revue of songs only the way Miranda can. (That is to say: poorly.) The fan base always come out strong forBallinger'soddball creation, thanks to the Miranda Sings YouTube channel and two seasons of Haters Back Off on Netflix, so even though the show is on a Tuesday, expect these tickets to not last long.

Cristela Alonzo7 p.m., Oct. 18Granada Theater3524 Greenville Ave. (Lower Greenville)$30 and up

Hometown hero Cristela Alonzo is returning for one night to make the audience in the Granada Theater laugh. Honest, charming and, of course, hilarious, Alonzo has become one of the top comedy stars in the last decade. Work on ABC sitcom Cristelaand her voice talents on Cars 3 have made her a household name, but where Alonzo still shines the brightest is in stand-up comedy. Her stop in Dallas is part of her My Affordable Care Act tour, in which she will also be promoting her new book Music to My Years.

Nate Bargatze7 and 10 p.m.,Oct. 25Majestic Theatre 1925 Elm St. (downtown)$35 and up

Quiet, low key and an absolute killer onstage, Nate Bargatze is doing two shows at the Majestic near the end of October. Bargatze is one of those rare comics who can isolate the funny in absolutely everything we see as normal and unexciting. He's a storyteller with traces of comedy legend Bob Newhart in his performer DNA, setting a pace that would otherwise appear slow if it didnt yield so many hard, genuine laughs from the audience. Go check out his latest Netflix special, The Tennessee Kid, to get a taste of his unique style. Youll be glad you did.

Dane Cook7 p.m., Oct. 26The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving$75 and up

Those who remember Myspace fondly can look back on a time when Dane Cook was king of all things comedy. While he may not be selling out arenas anymore, the fast-paced delivery and puffed-out-chest bravado of Cook are still present in an act loved by fans who never abandoned him. Theres also an appeal present in his shows to see what the voice of the dial-up generation has to say about our current state, as Cook's social observations were one of his calling cards to crowds of Smirnoff Ice-holding college kids. Cook was always an artist who possessed raw talent as a storyteller, and now armed with an older viewpoint and acute self-awareness this could very well be an excellent night of stand-up.

Bill BellamyNov. 1-3Arlington Improv309 Curtis Mathes Way, No. 147, Arlington$25.00 and up

If the television set was your de facto babysitter in the '90s, youll remember Bill Bellamy as a recurring smiling face. Bellamy was launched into the public eye thanks to HBOs Def Comedy Jam and as one of the first VJs on MTV. (Ask your parents.) You might not see the actor and comedian on your screen as much now, but hes consistently kept his stage act sharp touring around the country.

Tim Dillon 8:30 p.m., Nov. 14-16Hyenas Fort Worth425 Commerce St., Fort Worth$15 and up

Its very likely that you dont know the name Tim Dillon. Change that now, and be one of the people who said you knew him before he became famous. The New York-based comedian is one of the most white-hot talents in stand-up right now with his ability to provide a fresh take on even the most tired comedy tropes that comics refuse to let die. Hes appeared on Netflix as part of the The Comedy Lineup and you can listen to him weekly on his podcast Tim Dillon Is Going to Hell. If this list had to be whittled down to one comic to see this fall, Dillon would be the prime selection without a second of hesitation. Rolling Stone named him as one of the Ten Comics You Need to Know, and you really do.

Joe Rogan8 p.m., Nov. 15American Airlines Center2500 Victory Ave., Dallas$65 and up

It would have been crazy not that long ago to think that Joe Rogan would, very likely, sell out the American Airlines Center if he decided to do a show there. The NewsRadio and BattleBots alum got into the podcasting space before anyone even knew to call it a podcast, and now Rogan has one of the largest internet presences in the world, with his show, The Joe Rogan Experience, which hasmillions of weekly listeners. Sometimes decisive, but always provocative, Rogan is sure to spark as much debate as laughs throughout AAC in November.

Original post:
The Best Upcoming Comedy Shows in North Texas - Dallas Observer

With service to more than 2 million people, The Seattle Public Library and King County Library System share a central mission: Providing universal access to information and ideas.

In our increasingly digital age, we cannot fulfill that mission without providing access to digital materials, including e-books and e-audiobooks. Together, our two library systems checked out more than 7 million digital books to patrons last year, making us among the leading public libraries in the world for digital lending.

Our ability to connect our patrons to digital materials, however, is threatened. On Nov. 1, Macmillan Publishing, one of the countrys biggest publishers, is launching a library e-book embargo, meaning that for the first eight weeks after publication, public libraries no matter their size may purchase just one copy of a new e-book.

Macmillanbooks recently or soon to be published include Me, by Elton John, Permanent Record, by Edward Snowden, and We Are the Weather, by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Macmillans plan will have a serious impact on library users, especially those with the fewest resources and the most barriers. Readers with disabilities, such as poor vision and dyslexia, for example, are especially reliant on e-books. For library users who count on us to provide them with the latest books and materials, it means that wait periods will be the longest just when demand is the highest.

Macmillans policy is part of a growing trend among the nations biggest publishers to charge public libraries higher prices for e-books and e-audiobooks and to restrict their access. Its rationale is that they lose sales of electronic books to libraries as customers forego buying and instead borrow.

However, studies and common sense suggest the opposite, that libraries are an essential part of the publishing ecosystem that promotes books, reading and learning. One study compiled by the Panorama Project showed that 50% of all library users report purchasing books by an author they were introduced to in the library. Patrons try out books with us and then go back and purchase their favorites for their personal libraries and as gifts.

There are an estimated 116,867 libraries in the United States. As more and more people choose to read on their tablets and phones, we join libraries across the country in asking Macmillan to reverse its policy so that we can continue to meet readers needs both online and in print. Tens of thousands of readers have already added their names to a petition launched by the American Library Association at eBooksForAll.org.

Whether you are a cardholder with the Seattle Public Library, the King County Library System or any of the other 60 public library systems in Washington state, we encourage you to stand with us and work toward a more just outcome for the greater reading community.

You can make your voice heard on this issue by emailing Macmillan and asking it to change its policy: elending.feedback@macmillan.com, or providing feedback using the Twitter hashtag #eBooksForAll.

As always, and especially during this time, we hope that you will continue to support your local libraries and our mission. More importantly, use this time to browse our shelves and online catalog. We are certain that you will uncover new authors, find old favorites and understand the role libraries play in providing you access to your educational, informational and reading interests.

Marcellus Turner is executive director and chief librarian of The Seattle Public Library.

Lisa G. Rosenblum is executive director of the King County Library System.

See original here:
Publishers e-book restrictions and pricing hurt library users in Seattle, King County and beyond - Seattle Times

Oct 03, 2019 Kate Hill Arts, Cazenovia Republican, Entertainment, Library News, News

This month, the New Woodstock Free Library launched Tuesday Night Out a new adult program series held each Tuesday at 7 p.m. The free programs are designed to encourage adults of all ages to interact with others, make new friends and engage in enjoyable, stress-reducing activities. (Submitted)

Staff Writer

On Oct. 1, the New Woodstock Free Library launched Tuesday Night Out a new adult program series held each Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Each week, the library will present a different free activity designed to encourage community members to relax, have fun and meet new people.

According to Heather Elia, the series organizer and facilitator, the weekly programs will continue indefinitely as long as there is sufficient interest.

Elia is a New Woodstock resident and a masters student in library and information science at Syracuse Universitys School of Information Studies.

I approached [Library Manager] Renee Beardsley about hosting this series of events because I thought there might be a community need for people to get out of the house once a week to interact with others, make new friends, and engage in some enjoyable, stress-reducing activities, Elia said. Ive been inspired by my coursework and exposure to what other public libraries are doing in their communities . . . I [wanted] to introduce these sorts of free, fun activities to my own community, and the library is the perfect place because its free and open to everyone.

Elia designed the first five programs based on ideas gathered from other public libraries and her own interests.

Preference was given to activities that were easy and inexpensive to organize and that with the exception of the book group did not require special preparation or extended commitment.

According to Elia, suggestions for future Tuesday activities are strongly encouraged.

Its really about what community members are interested in, she said. Thats how the series will be guided going forward.

The program series kicked off with a coloring session in the librarys main room.

Adult coloring books have become a nationwide trend, due in large part to research suggesting that coloring has the potential to reduce anxiety, create focus and bring about increased mindfulness.

During the session, participants had the opportunity to get creative, relax and enjoy each others company.

The library will host four additional programs this month.

Sign-up is not required, unless otherwise noted.

During the second program, participants will choose from the librarys diverse collection of board and card games.

The first monthly meeting will focus on the novel The Other Einstein (2016) by Marie Benedict.

Told through letters, the story follows Albert Einsteins first wife, Mileva Mitza Mari a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose accomplishments were obscured by her husbands shadow.

Library Manager Renee Beardsley will lead the session.

Call 315-662-3134 or email newwoodstock@midyork.org to reserve a copy of the book.

Community members are invited to bring along their favorite cups or mugs from home and relax over a hot cup of tea and lively conversation.

A selection of caffeinated and decaffeinated teas will be provided.

Unlike a traditional book club, this event will offer participants the chance to discuss anything and everything they have been reading, as well as books they are looking forward to.

Community members are also invited to volunteer to lead future sessions.

Located at 2106 Main St., the New Woodstock Free Library is open Monday 1 to 9 p.m.; Tuesday 1to 5 p.m.; Wednesday 1to 5 p.m. and 7to 9 p.m.; Thursday 1to 5 p.m.; Friday 1to 5 p.m.; and Saturday 10 a.m.to 1 p.m.

For more information on the Tuesday Night Out program series, contact Library Manager Renee Beardsley at 315-662-3134 or email Heather Elia at heatherelia@twc.com.

Read the rest here:
Spend Tuesday Night Out at New Woodstock Library - Eagle News Online

When my husband retired last fall, we discovered that our new reduced income left us unable to afford newspaper subscriptions.

Bad timing.

With the upcoming elections, we wanted to remain as deeply informed as possible on national news and politics, which for us includes reading whats sometimes called a legacy newspaper. Having recently moved from Pennsylvania to the Pacific Northwest, we also wanted to read local news to learn about our new community.

These days. you can often read only a limited number of free articles online in major national, and many local, legacy papers before you hit a paywall. So frustrating. But I also started wondering: What does it mean for democracy if people who have low, or even no, income are blocked from reading independent journalism?

With a library card, which can be obtained for free, if you have access to a home computer or smartphone, you can access newspaper databases remotely.

At this point I should say that I am all for journalists getting paid for their work, and all for newspapers making enough money to stay in business. I believe that the free presss role as government watchdog and guardian of our rights is crucial. Sadly, due to lack of advertising and other factors, almost 1,800 newspapers closed between 2004 and 2018, according to a recent study. So I am happy that the paywall model has allowed some of those newspapers that remain to continue.

But the possibility that perhaps not everyone has access to the free press still concerned me. I went looking for answers.

In the heyday of print newspapers, most particularly in the 20th century, news was easily available and basically inescapable. Newspapers were everywhere: on coffee tables in homes, offices and waiting rooms, for sale with visible headlines on newsstands in cities or in news boxes on suburban corners. Commuters on public transportation generously or carelessly left papers behind for the next person to pick up.

Most importantly, you could walk into any public library and find a plethora of different newspapers hanging on wooden poles or stacked in labeled racks. Anyone could read these papers for free, no library card required.

Back then, this was the classic solution to reading newspapers when you couldnt afford to buy them. Unfortunately, just as the number of print newspaper titles in the country has declined, so, too, has the number of print newspaper titles in libraries.

What you will find in libraries today is an abundance of computers that are available for the public to use for free. For the longest time, I assumed any attempt to read a newspaper on one of those computers would hit a paywall, just as on my home computer.

I was wrong.

Newspapers can be accessed online without hitting a paywall and without needing a library card on those free public-access computers, as long as you are physically in the library building, according to Kirk Blankenship, electronic resources librarian for Seattle Public Libraries.

It turns out that, as newspapers started going online, libraries began purchasing digital newspapers from database companies. Libraries pay these companies for the databases that seem best for the populations they serve.

Patricia Kelly-Evans, a reference librarian at the Montgomery County-Norristown (Pa.) Public Library, told me Libraries strive to meet their communities needs while performing their own budgetary balancing acts. They make decisions based on pricing models, patron feedback and usage statistics.

Blankenship estimates Seattle Libraries spend about $60,000 a year on databases.

But have the database companies compensated the newspapers for the use of their content?

Yes, according to Lisa Wilson, news product management lead at ProQuest, a database company often used in public libraries.

ProQuest works with publishers to license news content for products like US Newsstream. When libraries purchase these products from ProQuest, they make them available to their patrons at no cost, Wilson explained via email.

So it turns out libraries are still the solution for reading newspapers on a regular basis for free.

US Newsstream is a database that gives access to U.S. news content from the 1980s to the present. In my library, a US Newsstream sub-database called US Major Dailies lets patrons read The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Other newspapers are available in other databases or sub-databases, either from ProQuest or another database company such as NewsBank. Want to read your former hometown newspaper? Chances are you can.

Why do libraries provide this public service?

Providing access to information and removing barriers is a primary tenet of libraries, Blankenship said.

Stanley Seivert, associate librarian at the main Central Branch of the Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis, echoed this sentiment: A major function of libraries is to make information available. Newspapers are just one more source of information.

It gets even better. With a library card, which can be obtained for free, if you have access to a home computer or smartphone, you can access newspaper databases remotely. This means you can read newspapers online from home and other places.

Many libraries let you sign up for a library card through their website, but I recommend signing up for one in-person. This will allow you to talk directly to a librarian about the publications you want to read and be shown the exact path and even shortcuts for doing so.

Your librarys database may be different as well. The Seattle Public Libraries use PressReader, which gives readers an actual page view of current newspapers going back 60 days in essence, a virtual newspaper. My librarys database gives readers a text-only list of headlines.

I currently read The New York Times remotely through my local library site. You can start reading newspapers that interest you by going on your librarys website and then to Online Library. From there, youll see a resource list, where you can find newspapers and search for the particular edition you want. Whatever steps your library requires will quickly become familiar.

Once you come to a list of headlines, you can scroll through and click on whichever headline interests you to read the full article. Or you can save it to a file, email it to yourselfor print it out to read later. You can also have the article read aloud in English or have it translated in print to 20 other languages!

My husband and I are now saving enough so we can buy our own print subscriptions in the near future. Meanwhile, we recently treated ourselves to a paper issue of the Sunday New York Times, and spent a long lovely morning reading it, just like in the old days.

It was nice to have a paper on the coffee table again.

Next Avenue brings you stories that are inspiring and change lives. We know that because we hear it from our readers every single day. One reader says,

"Every time I read a post, I feel like I'm able to take a single, clear lesson away from it, which is why I think it's so great."

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How to Read Newspapers on a Budget - Next Avenue