"Are you a witch?" a three-year-old girl asked me a few days ago. I was walking my dog past her house, and we'd struck up a conversation. As soon as the words had left the little girl's mouth, her mother looked the way mothers do when their toddlers blunder obliviously into faux pas. Horrified, she … Continue reading Are you a witch?
Mehri’s Story: Persecution and Faith
I am half-Iranian but have never been to Iran. I grew up in Edinburgh, and the closest I’ve ever been to visiting my mother’s home country was in 1978, when my Scottish father was offered a job at a Tehran university. At the time, the country was one of the most westernized in the Middle … Continue reading Mehri’s Story: Persecution and Faith
Scarred for Life: Ted Meyer
https://youtu.be/g_HOIg1qV9A "I may look similar to all of you but I'm different. Just slightly different. One mutation actually. I was born with Gaucher's Disease, a rare genetic illness that kept me going in and out of the hospital when I was a kid." At the age of 14, Ted Meyer felt like his life was … Continue reading Scarred for Life: Ted Meyer
Ed Sheeran: “Being weird is a wonderful thing”
I've just watched this video from 2015, and thought it was worth sharing. It's singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran talking at a gala for the American Institute for Stuttering. He starts by saying, "I was a very, very, very weird child" and takes it from there. Well worth watching. https://youtu.be/K_3r3SolyDs
Race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership
Today - February 19th, 2017 - is the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066. And in the current political climate, it's a day that invites considerable reflection. Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, allowing the Secretary of War to create special military zones within the US. It led … Continue reading Race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership
Meghan Markle: More than an Other
When I lived in the UK and was asked my identity, I always checked the box for 'Other'. I'm Scottish-Persian, and that made sense there, where Persians are Asian, not white. In the US, where I live now, Persian is considered Caucasian, so I've been tending to check 'Caucasian', in order to play by the … Continue reading Meghan Markle: More than an Other
The power of adversity
I've read a lot recently on the subject of failure - and how we need to learn how to fail. Most of this conversation has been in the context of raising children. In other words, we can't just hand out participation ribbons to kids when they don't win. They have to cry and have tantrums. They have … Continue reading The power of adversity
Ugly
By guest blogger Alan McArthur A punk tattooist named Ugly. OK. It's Thailand - where your nickname comes before your real name. And you do get some odd ones. Nasty, his friend. Yep, actually a really nice guy, like Ugly. The subject's the Otherworld. Where the Others live. And who is an OTHER. Another oddball, … Continue reading Ugly
Nori Shirasu: moonwalking… and writing his own script
Nori Shirasu is many things - a fine artist, a performance artist and an actor. He paints, he dances, he mimes, sometimes he teaches calligraphy and anime, he's writing a book - the list is pretty limitless. Within minutes of meeting him earlier this year, we got talking about not fitting in. Originally from Nagoya, … Continue reading Nori Shirasu: moonwalking… and writing his own script
