

Should we really fake it till we make it? Amy Cuddy's TED talk
"Your body language shapes who you are." Amy Cuddy presents one of my favourite TED talks. She talks about sticking your arms in the air like superwoman for two minutes in order to CHANGE THE CHEMICALS IN YOUR BODY and make you feel more like superwoman. In her study she discovered that by doing this Cortisol, a stress hormone, lowers, and testosterone, a hormone that helps propel us into action, rises. She scientifically proves the validity of the phrase "fake it till you ma


The birth of a group (and why working with others is a radical politicalpersonalphysiologicalsocialc
The first part is a blog I wrote years ago about the birth of a group of women clowns/performance artists that I'm part of. The second part is a voice memo I recorded to them all more recently. PART ONE About two months ago this thing happened and I got to experience THE GIANT SWING O’ LIFE. I received a group “there’s-so-much-going-on-in-my-world” email, one of those that occasionally makes you (by you, I mean me) feel like all the coolness and greatness and friends in the w


Permission Slips - Don't run over yourself
The following list is from a soap box I was standing on a few years ago. Something a friend and I dreamed of speaking through a megaphone in the skytrain station. You’re allowed …to be sad even if it’s not raining and your mother wants you to be ok
…to be happy, even if other people are not, even if the state of the world terrifies you
…to have a boring story, a boring day, a boring week
…to not know such and such a reference even when everyone’s head is nodding
…to be an


Emotional Correctness Over Being PC
Words are important. The words we choose have an impact on others and the culture we are creating. Words aren't everything. They are the external layer, the crust on the creme brûlée. Or the shell on a rotten egg. I am nervous about political correctness if it's at the expense of driving all the feelings underground and covering it up with new wallpaper or a toasty crusty creme brulee top. Three examples of how PC language is not everything: 1) People who are activists that c