Culture | Little Flutters Culture | Stories by Tash Keuneman

‘Culture’ Category

How my back bone gave me strength

July 29, 2009 by Tash Keuneman

A guest post by Vixel on how her scoliosis changed her for the better

I am a firm believer in clichés such as “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I believe that we are the product of our experiences, both good and bad. Everything we go through, every choice we make, shapes us slightly, and helps us become who we are, which is why, after years of trying not to let Scoliosis define me, I realised that if I could somehow wish it away, I don’t think I would. (Scholiosis is a word used to describe abnormal side to side curves of the spine, for more information, access iscoliosis.com)

Vixel

I like the person I am today, and although I may at times hate the way I look, the pain, and the fact that sometimes I just can’t physically keep up with everyone else, I know that a lot of my best personality traits are a direct result of Scoliosis-related experiences.

I am fiercely independent.

After surgery as a child, people had to carry my bag for me at school, I had to go up to the I.T room before class with the teacher as the top stairs were rather precarious and while at first I felt like a bit of a princess (I was ten and terribly precocious), I soon grew tired of having to depend on other people for things.

Deep down I also had the impression from several older relatives that some members of the family really didn’t see much of a working future for me, I think they expected me to end up unable to support myself. I don’t blame them for this but it ignited in me a burning desire to be totally independent and self-sufficient, never having to rely on anyone. If I come across a problem, I like to tackle it myself, and will only ask for help if I’ve first tried to sort it out on my own. As such, I’ve developed a personality trait that allows me to deal with setbacks and work with them, rather than dwelling on them.

I value learning and intelligence.

I’m never going to be a model, an athlete, or anything else I have to meet strict physical criteria for.

I can’t do manual labour.

I’d find standing at a shop counter all day very difficult, so I’ve known from the start that in order to succeed, I’d have to use my brain.

When other kids were running around the playground at school, I was sitting on a tree stump reading. When recovering from surgery I took extra French classes instead of P.E. and I think that’s the main reason I did well at French at GCSE level. I love learning, and finding out about a new fascinating subject is my favourite pastime.

I can go into a shop, pick up an item of clothing and know just by looking whether or not it will fit me.

There’s a lot to be said for having a weird body shape, you really get to know about what looks good! I could never claim to be a fashion expert, but I’m very much an expert at shopping for me!

I’ve spent so many years trying not to be defined by Scoliosis; being paranoid that people won’t see past the medical condition and see that I’m no different from anyone else, that often I forget just how much it has shaped my character.

I’d be a completely different person had I never been diagnosed, and I’d never trade my personality, my great group of friends (some whom I’ve made through support forums, that include some of the most amazing people I know) and the knowledge I’ve gained for a “perfect” body.

Vixel is a blogger for Sparkle and Glitter, “ a blog-zine project that attempts to observe the sparkle and glitter that makes our daily lives shine a little brighter and helps make life a bit more interesting.”

Category Culture | Tags: | 3 Comments
Why I get sunburnt in Australia and pale in the States

July 20, 2009 by Tash Keuneman

I never understood why I burnt to a crisp in one day down under yet I could walk around for weeks in a singlet with so much as a tan in downtown D.C, what with the 4WDs thundering down streets and the number of people per square kilometer.

Turns out this lack of tan is because of two things; a meterological belt that stops all the northern hemisphere pollution heading south and temperature. Yes, northern hemisphere, you cause a lot of pollution but that’s because there are more of you.

“The stratosphere in the southern hemisphere — the layer of atmosphere where the ozone layer lies, 15 to 50 kilometres above the Earth’s surface — is about five degrees Celsius (41 F) colder than in the northern hemisphere.” Because of this cooler temperature, it’s harder for the southern hemisphere to digest all the CFCs let off into the air, the extra ice sucks out cholorine from CFCs.

Remember, if you’re travelling down south to be extra cautious. I know you want to get a tan to show off your Aussie trip, but Australians have the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. “The winter time UV level that we measure here in Brisbane are more than that in summer in the Netherlands” Professor Michael Kimlin, a cancer researcher told ABC.

So, as Sid the Seagull reminds all Aussies, remember to slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a hat.

It wouldn’t hurt to adhere to these rules no matter where you live.

Sources:

ABC Science

Aussie Skin Cancer Risk

Category Culture | Tags: | 4 Comments
An inspirational postcard

July 15, 2009 by Tash Keuneman

from me to you.

Category Culture | Tags: | 2 Comments
How one woman published a fashion magazine

July 8, 2009 by Tash Keuneman
Tamia Stinson from Cincinnati, Ohia, is a double agent. By day, she’s a marketing and branding specialist, by night an online magazine publisher.

“I got my “real job” through a temp agency and I’ve been there for about five years. The blog and magazine came from an almost physical need for a tangible creative expression, I had to let it out; my lifetime love of fashion magazines.”

29-year-old Stinson, created an online magazine as a vehicle for her love of fashion. She just hit publish on her second issue. “This is sort of embarrassing, but originally the magazine was going to be a promotional vehicle for me and my blog, sort of a monthly digest of posts with a little behind-the-scenes information, unpublished photos, design tips, that sort of thing. Then I decided maybe I’d include one or two other bloggers, the idea just snowballed from there.

“One of the things that always pushes me along is the fear that I’ll regret not at least trying to make a go of doing things I enjoy. I would rather try and fail than not try at all.”

Three tips for creating a magazine:
1. You need to really commit to publishing something you can be proud of. I gave that a lot of thought before deciding to create Style Sample Magazine.
2. Make sure you know and understand your target audience and give them what they want.
3. Do some research so you know what resources you have at your disposal because that will have a big impact on the quality of the publication.
Work flow

“Once all is said and done–reviewing submissions, communicating with contributors, proofreading and editing articles, photo editing, design and layout, marketing, etc, I’d say each magazine is about a 30-hour project. The lovely bloggers who contribute are my saving grace when it comes to producing amazing content and promoting the magazine on their own blogs. I do need help, though, so I’m starting to work with another local blogger on design and layout.

“I’ve always loved fashion magazines and the web has made it possible to do so much for so little money, so I figured I’d start my own.”

How Stinson targets to her audience

“I participate on fashion and style-related message boards, social networks like Facebook and Twitter as well as several fashion-related networks, join communities where other fashion bloggers hang out, add the blog site to various listings, write press releases, comment on other blogs and more. Plus, the bloggers who contribute are kind enough to post it on their own blogs, so it gains traction that way as well.

Tech stuff

“I draw inspiration from other more established magazines, websites, and print graphics when designing the layout. As far as software, I use OpenOffice to lay out the pages, Photoshop Elements and Inkscape for graphics, and Google Docs for editing text. I’d love to be able to buy a professional page layout program in the future, but for now everything I use has been free. All it costs is a lot of time and love!

Is self-publishing better than traditional publishing?

I’ve only experienced the do-it-yourself side, but I’d have to assume self-publishers have more control over their content and distribution. It’s also much more accessible and depends not on who you know, but what you know, which is the way things should be.

I’ve always loved magazines–my apartment is full of them, and some date all the way back to 1993! Producing an online magazine is obviously less expensive than producing a print magazine, though you can buy print copies of Style Sample online, too. The proliferation of software as a service providers and the ability to put your content online for free has really democratized the publishing industry.

I’m not sure if blogging itself is the end of the line for journalism, though I do think that online and mobile/portable content are the way of the future.

However, blogging is a great medium for both true journalists and people like myself who use it as a form of self expression.

Next on Tamia Stinson’s list is professional dancer. “I love to dance, always have–everything from Baroque ballet to shaking booty at random in the club.” Visit her magazine and blog.
Category Culture | Tags: | 8 Comments
It only takes one

June 29, 2009 by Tash Keuneman

Category Culture | Tags: | 1 Comment
Twenty not so random acts of kindness

June 24, 2009 by Tash Keuneman
Acts of kindness makes us feel better. It’s the little push from thinking of something sweet and actually doing it: that is a spark of magic.
1. Arrange for a happy hour with people you want to know better. Beer always loosens social constrictions and creates new friends.
2. Send a “thinking of you” card to someone who lives five minutes away.
  Tell them how much you enjoy their company.
3. Take photos of every holiday and important get togethers. It might seem like overkill, but if you dig up the photos in a year, hit Print and send them to the other party, they’d be stoked.It has a longer lasting impression than posting it on facebook.
4. Call that friend you’ve been meaning to catch up with. Make sure it’s someone that you absolutely, genuinely love. There’s no reason to hang onto old relationships just because you’ve known them for so long. Guilt is one of the ways to know you’re keeping in contact for the sake of it.
5. Buy a book that you think will help/cheer someone and gift it to them.
6. Blow up a picture of your Mum and yourself and send it to her with the words “thank you” scrawled in the corner.
  Blow up a picture, not your cheeks.
7. Cook extra food for someone who’s been uber busy, deliver it to their house.
8. Go out of your way to recycle. Think of all the lives you’ll be benefiting in the future.
9. Buy flowers for a boy.
10. Write a short thank you email to a journalist that wrote a brilliant article – the good people in media need love right now, they’re being the worst hit of this “economic crisis”.
11. Send a letter of positive affirmations to someone you love that lives far away.
12. Do some research into non-profits and charities around you. Pick one that matters and offer up your skill set or money.
13. Leave a gift where someone least expects it. In the fridge, behind a computer, in a shoe.
14. Create a fairy tale from the adventures you have with your best friend, how you met, the dangers you’ve overcome and the happy “in the end” future.
15. Encourage art. If you know a budding artist, get their work framed, if you know a photographer, create a photo book using the many online tools available.
16. Write sweet little nothings to your lover and leave it on the bathroom mirror or in their jacket. Make sure their Dad doesn’t borrow said jacket (that happened to me last week).
  Awh! © Tash Jayasinghe
17. Go to the $2 shop and get a stack of temporary tattoos, find the nearest person under 15 years old and give them huge tattoo sleeves.
18. For someone jobless/down: write inspirational quotes and stick it around their house when they least expect it. Drag them to the gym and get a good work out, the endorphins will do the rest.
19. Buy tickets and ear plugs to a concert for someone who rarely goes to a gig. Dance like an idiot at the edge of the crowds with them.
20. Eat at the most unhealthiest place imaginable. Order the triple beef/cheese/heart attack combo with a large coke and fries. Don’t feel an ounce of guilt.
Category Culture | Tags: | No Comments
Children with imaginary friends are better communicators

June 8, 2009 by Tash Keuneman

A study based in Australia and Britain found that children who have imaginary friends are better communicators, more creative late on in life and can hold a coherent conversation with an adult better than their unimaginative cohorts.

With 65% of kids having an imaginary friend at some point of their childhood, this is great news for the Beatrice Potter in us all.

Having an imaginary person to talk and play with makes you more empathetic later on in life, “They are trying to get into someone else’s role [so] they have a better understanding of someone else’s mindset.” said Dr. Evan Kidd from La Trobe University to the ABC.

An as yet unpublished report claims that these children are more creative and achievement-orientated later on in life. Being a first-born or only child increases your chances of having an imaginary friend, presumably because when you have siblings, you can pull their hair and read their diary instead of creating other similar situations in your head or attributing broken things to the teddy bear.

“”My favourite was a boy with an imaginary wife and an imaginary baby”, he said. “But the wife wasn’t the mother of his child. The mother was a nurse who travelled internationally. When asked where the wife was, the boy replied: ‘I divorced her. She talked too much’.” said Dr. Kidd, the bloke most often quoted for this story, in the U.K Telegraph.

I may be slightly biased in posting these findings, it does work to my advantage. In full disclosure: I was a first born with an imaginary friend, her name was Anika and apparently when we moved from Dubai to Australia, she did not follow.

Category Culture | Tags: | No Comments
How to cut a cake, by Cake Love

May 22, 2009 by Tash Keuneman

There are times when I don’t care if something is blatant advertising, if it’s cool, it gets picked up. After all, great advertising can be creativity at it’s best. Think of Mastercard’s adverts. They’ve changed the whole meaning of “Priceless”.

Cake Love, a Washington D.C store had a handy little card on how to cut a cake. I thought I’d share it with you.

I had the best freaking cupcake at Cake Love. The impatient teenager behind the counter told me their one-liner about waiting ten minutes for the butter in the cake to melt. I’ll be honest, I dismissed her but waited five minutes for the bus and ate it on the ride home. It was messy, sticky and spicking awesome. It was like eating icing sugar, butter and vanilla essence, disguised as cake. If I go on any further, this would be a post on my other blog and would verge on orgasmic, so I’ll leave that train of thought here.

If you want to drool over their menu, go ahead.

Category Culture | Tags: Cake Love | 2 Comments