Vulnerably Raised Questions

Martha Eleen: I, Huck
Mary Catherine Newcomb: Grassy
January 7– January 29, 2012

I, Huck by Martha Eleen maps the domestic space framing the artist’s relationship with her son Gabe, who is vulnerable and requires constant support. A view of a dynamic person whose natural gifts of sharp wit, emanating love, and disarming honesty are obscured by disability bias. The titles are quotes from Gabe.

In her January 2012 exhibition at loop Gallery Mary Catherine Newcomb combines an image of the hare, a recurring personal symbol, with her interest in working with living media; (she) raise(s) questions about relationship between different life forms.

loop Gallery
1273 Dundas St W Toronto
For more info: http://www.loopgallery.ca
Info obtained from http://www.akimbo.ca

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Authentic Happiness

Authentic happiness is determined as largely a consequence of “learned optimism”. The opposite of a defeated passive state known as depression is “learned helplessness”. The gateway to optimal functioning is found in rethinking positivity and seeking it through well-being. The goal to think positive no matter the situation is insupportable and counterproductive. A wiser aim is to find the most effective way to propel us where we want to go. Both optimism and pessimism can help us get there-smiley face not required.

Info obtained from Psychology Today’s Optimism issue, article Optimism (And Pessimism) By Annie Murphy Paul

Borderline

Amanda Clyne: Borderline
December 8, 2011 – January 28, 2012
Opening Thursday December 8, 6-9pm
Artist talk January 21 at noon

On the borderline of
photography and painting
resolution and dissolution
imagination and appropriation
reinvention and reproduction
stasis and metamorphosis
structure and sensuality
intimacy and spectacle
desire and futility
melancholy and madness.

p|m Gallery
1518 Dundas St W, Toronto
Www.pmgallery.ca
Info obtained from http://www.akimbo.ca

Solutions In Your Sleep

Dreams may seem bizarre or nonsensical because the chemistry of the sleeping brain affects how we perceive our own thoughts, but we nonentheless continue focusing on all the same issues that concern us while we are awake.

Trying to dream about a particular problem is called dream incubation, increasing the chance that you will come up with a solution. Write down your problem, review before bed, visualize it concretely. When you awake, lie in bed and recall any trace of a dream, invite more of it to return, and write it down.

Info obtained from Scientific American Mind issue Great Idea! You Must Be Dreaming article ‘Answers In Your Dreams’ by Deirdre Barrett

Honouring The Heroes

OTTAWA – From big cities to small villages, Canadians of all ages gather today amid the mournful skirl of bagpipes and tears to honour the country’s war dead.

Those who fell on Afghan soil will also be memorialized in Langley, B.C., today with the planting of 157 trees in their honour. Canada’s honour roll holds the names of more than 114,000 people who gave their lives in the two World Wars, the Korean and Afghanistan conflicts and on peacekeeping missions.

Info obtained from: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/remembrance-day-time-honour-remember-canadas-war-dead-090826237.html

V Day

The Vagina Monologues is back — with three new monologues, a new intro, and dozens of heartbreaking testimonials from young women around the country as part of a nation-wide campaign to stop violence against women, VDay. What started as a play has become a national phenomenon, the bible for a new generation of women.

For more info go to: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/ensler/vm/

The Teenage Brain

The brain undergoes extensive re-modeling and a massive reorganization between our 12th and 25th years…when this development proceeds normally we get better at balancing impulse, desire, goals, self-interes, rules, ethics, and even altruism; generating behaviour that is more complex, and more sensible.

Teens behave with such vexing inconsistency because their brains aren’t done, along with lacking experience generally, they’re still learning to use their brain’s new networks…not a rough draft but a highly adaptable creature, the more we learn about what makes this period unique, the more adolescence starts to seem functionally effiencent.

Info obtained from National Geographic issue The New Science Of The Teenage Brain article ‘Beautiful Brains’ by David Dobbs

Self Sabotage

What all self-defeating behaviours have in common is that they are false friends-they seem helpful at the time but are actually harmful to us, especially when repeated.

When it comes to self-sabotage procrastination is king. In a world dictated increasingly by the economics of attention, we have to be careful where we invest ourselves. There are only so many minutes in a day, in a lifetime…self deception is the handmaiden of procrastination…deep down we know little white lies, vague intentions, not removing distractions are excuses…it’s essential to stop the self deception.

Info obtained from Psychology Today issue Stop Self-Sabotage article ‘The Enemy Within’ by Edward A. Selby

Haunting Memories

Haunting people from our past can be put to history, by making implicit memories into declarative ones, with giving them a context of the past. Psycho analysis is often about turning our ghosts into ancestors.

Info obtained from further reading of the novel The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge

Positivity’s Pitfalls

How rosy thoughts can lead to negative outcomes now researchers are refining the picture. Paint your fantasy in too rosy a hue, and you may be hurting your changes of success.

One possible explanation is that idealized thinking can sap motivation…especially when you fantasize something very positive-it’s almost like you are actually living it.

Info obtained from Scientific American issue Better Greener Smarter Cities