misanthropy creation

Lemon Chicken Bake Recipe

2016-09-23T16:06:00.000-04:00

Lemon Chicken Bake Recipe

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts
Lemon
Gold Potatoes
1 Onion chopped
1 Green Pepper chopped
Olive Oil
Minced Garlic
Eggs
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Paprika
Sazon (or All Season)
Salt and Pepper
Optional: Chickpeas, black or kalamata olives

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place Eggs in muffin dish (so they don't wobble around, if you don't have a muffin pan just be careful they don't break) and bake for 10 minutes.
After the 10 minutes are up, carefully place eggs in ice cold water to stop the cooking

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Rub chicken with olive oil, then season with salt, pepper, Sazon, and paprika.
Place chicken breasts in center large baking dish.
Slice lemons into thin wheels and place on top of chicken breast
Chop potatoes into cubes and drizzle with olive oil and same seasonings.
Surround chicken with the potatoes, onions, peppers.
Sprinkle everything with minced garlic
Bake for 30 minutes
Check internal temp of chicken. Chicken is ready at an internal temperature of 165. If chicken is below 165 degrees, cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Eggs can be shelled then chopped or added to the dish whole.

Chickpeas, Olives and can also be added to this dish before baking.

Cooking with Kristy: Farmhouse Lasagna

2016-09-13T14:19:00.002-04:00

This post was written by Guest Blogger: Kristy Stiers

When you’re hungry for lasagna you don't think about the history of the dish, you might think about the traditional layers of saucy meat creamy cheese and that top crunchy stringy cheese layer. That always has your mouth watering. Did you know that lasagna originated in Greece? Or that the first recorded recipe of lasagna from before the 1400's was written in Great Britain. It was Italy who ended up perfecting lasagna, and this is why most people commonly refer to lasagna as an Italian dish.

A quick stop on Pinterest or Google or any other search engine for and lasagna recipe, you'll find many different types from Mexican, vegetarian, even dessert lasagna.

Most common ingredients of lasagna call for Italian sausage or marinara sauce that has been flavored with traditional Italian seasonings ricotta and mozzarella cheeses. Layered with a nice flat lasagna noodles. Around my house we love our lasagna with the right ratio of sauce too meat. The cheese has to be creamy and the noodles can't be gummy. It all has to be that perfect consistency.

We call my recipe farmhouse lasagna because of the ingredients. We like to start off with our own canned tomatoes simmer it with the seasonings so it can cook down and before it can be assembled. We also use our own sausage that we make by hand and we make the creamy cheese layer out of cottage cheese and we use our homegrown eggs from our farm to make the best creamy consistency.

Ingredients:

Two jars of whole tomatoes

6 tablespoons Italian seasoning

1/2 tablespoon minced garlic

About half an onion diced thin

1/2 tablespoon of fennel seed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound ground sausage

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

A little garlic salt

Pound cottage cheese

Three eggs

2 cups mozzarella cheese

1 box no boil lasagna noodles.

In a blender add one jar of the tomatoes and blend till they become juicy. Add that to a sauce pan that's on medium-low heat. Repeat with the other jar, add onion, garlic, Italian seasonings and a tablespoon olive oil stir and let simmer for at least 40 minutes.

In another skillet, Brown sausage in olive oil, fennel seed and sprinkle a little garlic salt on it. When the sausage is cooked add that to the sauce and stir lightly.

In the blender add cottage cheese, eggs and Parmesan cheese then sprinkle a little garlic salt blend till it becomes a creamy texture.

In a baking dish pour a little of the marinara to the bottom. Add one layer of noodles or sauce on top of it drizzle the cottage cheese mixture and repeat till you get to the top and then you add the delicious mozzarella cheese and bake for about an hour till you see the sauces bubbly in the cheese is melted in a little bit crunchy on the top enjoy!

Faith Collum Cosmetics: Crystal Chameleon Review

2016-09-12T02:21:00.000-04:00

Crystal Chameleon by Faith Collum Cosmetics

Faith Collum is a Certified Professional Makeup Artist and Licensed cosmetologist. She is also a wife, mother and beauty vlogger. Somehow, between juggling all of these things she has accomplished what some of us girls could only dream of... having our own cosmetic brand.

Faith was nice enough to give me one of her palettes (my favorite of the 3 because I love bright colors) in exchange for a product review (I think I am the one that lucked out here guys, seriously)! So here goes...

This 15 color palette includes highly pigmented, soft, blendable, and super affordable compared to other more expensive brand name palettes. Some of the colors are matte and some shimmer. I like this mixture as I usually wear a form of shimmer everyday so the range is nice.

The bright colors are great for under eye liners if you like a little pop! This palette gives you a lot to play around with and creative freedom because of the range of colors.

Here is a view of all the colors of Crystal Chameleon along with a few close ups:

What I like best about Faith Collum Cosmetics Crystal Chameleon palette is the fact that it does not crease and it lasts! I work at an inside/outside bar and grill in Florida and it can get super hot during the day and humid at night. With all the running around I do I can get pretty sweaty but this shadow is dependable and I do not have to worry about my makeup staying in place when I wear it.

Here is an arm swatch I did to show off the pigmentation and beautiful brightness of the colors:

As you can see, Faith leaves out nothing, as you can go for a natural look, bright and vibrant or dark and sultry smoky eye. The range of colors also means that it is the perfect palette to travel with since everything you could possibly need is all in one place!

If you are interested in speaking to Faith regarding this or one of her other palettes she is super nice and would love to talk to you!

You can contact Faith through Facebook and follow her YouTube Channel where she bestows upon us her amazing expertise on product reviews, makeup tutorials and beauty tips!

More links to find Faith Collum Cosmetics:

Twitter
Tumblr
G+
Instagram

Guest Bloggers Needed!

2016-08-22T21:25:00.001-04:00

Misanthropy Creation is currently searching for Guest Bloggers!

If you are interested in any of the following topics please see the directions below:

photography, beauty, make up, clothing, diys, life hacks, women in the news, love advice, sex advice, travel, binge watching, television, movie, book and product reviews.

This is a great way to gain exposure for your own blog! Topics can be specifically assigned to meet your interest or your can create your own topic. Misanthropy Creation has received over 1.3 million views since it's inception and I am currently looking for other bloggers to build relationships with.

Perks:

~Get noticed! Your post will be seen by over 1k unique visitors a day.

~Your post will be shared on all Misanthropy Creations social media outlets and could be featured in our mass e-mail list. That's thousands of more eyes! 6k on Pinterest alone! Almost 500 Facebook likes, 2k Twitter followers etc.

~Build your portfolio! Your post will remain permanent so you can share it with who ever you would like as a sample of your published work!

~Link backs for better SEO! Get noticed in Google search results with another link back to your own blog!

Directions:

Please contact me directly with your favorite picture of yourself as well as 2 or 3 lines of text about yourself for the About section and the bottom of your post. Please see this page for help
List which topics your would be interested in writing about as well as any post ideas you may have or if you would like to be assigned a post idea.

Send this in an email to misanthropycreations@gmail.com

Thank you!

xo Michelle

Set it & Forget it: Quick and Easy Crock Pot Meal

2016-08-22T15:00:00.000-04:00

Pot Roast for Days!

Crock Pot meals are my favorite because the prep time is minimal and the end result pays off with enough food for a day or two. You also have meat that is extremely tender and in some cases, falls right off the bone. Meal planning is not my strong suit, but I noticed that crock pot meals do make meal planning slightly easier. Once the meal is done it can be divvied up into containers and set in the fridge or freezer for a later date. So far my favorite thing to cook in my crock pot are roasts and stews. Here is the recipe for my latest hearty crock pot meal!

Ingredients:

Pot Roast

Mushrooms

Onions

Carrots

Sweet Potatoes

Minced Garlic

Olive Oil

Beef Bullion

Directions:

Chop all veggies.

Smother meat in olive oil.

Poke holes in meat with knife and insert garlic in holes.

Place meat in crock pot.

Surround meat by veggies.

Cook on HIGH for 8 hours.

Of course, normal potatoes can be substituted for the sweet potatoes. I used what I had in the fridge in this case. One of my favorite things to do while cooking is throwing together meals based on what weird ingredients I might have in the fridge. I don't really shop for food with a plan laid out for each day of the week and I usually just poke around my kitchen until creativity strikes. Most of the time I get lucky and it turns out delicious as this dish!

Make Up Tips with Faith: How to Highlight & Contour

2016-08-19T00:11:00.001-04:00

My adorable friend Faith has a YouTube channel full of make up tips. If you have not subscribed to Faith's channel please do!

In this video Faith teaches us how to Highlight and Contour.

Here are my video recap take aways!

Bronzer vs. Contour Powder

Like Faith, I also use a bronzer to contour instead of contour powder, however I personally use Lancôme Star Bronzer when I am not using my Lancôme Blush and Highlighter Kit which comes with all three products needed for the look. Whether you use contour powder or a bronzer is your own personal preference which Faith stresses in the video. In order to create depth Faith uses an angled brush to apply product. I won’t go into detailed instructions because she does give great instructions in the video. You can see right away how the contour defines her cheek bone. She reminds us to make sure that we are blending our contour product. The technique that she uses in the video is to use the same brush after cleaning it on some paper towel or the back of her hand. You can also use your powder brush with some light all over powder on it to help blend.

Finishing Powder and Technique

Faith uses a pressing motion for her finishing powder and highlighting powder so it doesn’t give a cakey muddy result when applied on top of a liquid foundation or cream. After the contour powder and highlighter is applied there is a clear area in the center of each where she applies her blush using the Morphie E4. Again, using the blush, she uses a pressing motion into her skin in an upwards direction before she swipes. This allows the blush to set as well as blend with the contour and under eye highlighter.

Highlighter

The highlighter Faith uses in the video is the BeccaMoonstone, Physicians Formula and Superb Powder, which you will notice all three have an iridescent shimmer quality. Blending is important because the shimmer is very noticeable and can be streaky.

Tips for Nose Contour

Don’t press! Instead of pressing use a short swiping motion so that the product stays right where you want it.

Faith also has her very own eye shadow line which you can purchase by contacting her directly on her Facebook page.

11 Pics for an Authentic 90s Style Comeback

2016-08-15T02:17:00.000-04:00

11 Pics for an Authentic 90s Style Comeback!

There is no doubt that the 90s is making a come back in right now. The glory days of scrunchies, trolls, Nintendo and everything grunge is among us!

Remember Clueless? 10 Things I Hate About You? Empire Records? Can't Hardly Wait? The clothes we wore when we grew up are back in style from all our favorite 90s classic movies!

Pheobe Buffay is a 90s icon and easily has the cutest wardrobe I have ever seen. Throughout the entire series of Friends, Pheobs always dresses on point!

How many crop tops did you buy this summer?!

Baggy sweaters are back in!

A plaid shirt or turtle neck for the school girl look, and my favorite part: Doc Martens!

Tip: Don't spend a fortune at Forever21 or H&M to get the look! You can obtain this style on the cheap by visiting your favorite thrift store. The amount of 90s attire available is overwhelming and at your disposal. Not only that, most thrift stores give back to the community, so you don't have to feel bad about spending 40 bucks on a pair of shorts from the mall, when you can find them at an affordable price at your local Kawanis.

Layer your looks. Have a large plaid shirt handy for cold weather. And don't forget to pick up some Troll Earrings and a choker necklace!

Book Review: Sight Unseen: Science, UFO Invisibility & Transgenic Beings by Budd Hopkins

2016-08-15T01:26:00.000-04:00

Book Review: Sight Unseen: Science, UFO Invisibility & Transgenic Beings by Budd Hopkins My rating: 3 of 5 stars Oh Budd... Interesting read but the scientific "facts" brought up by his wife do not necessarily relate to the subject at hand during discussion. I feel like sometimes she is grasping at straws. This book does however, make you think. There Sight Unseen: Science, UFO Invisibility & Transgenic Beings by Budd Hopkins My rating: 3 of 5 stars are a few interesting stories from experiencers, but nothing outrageously convincing. Trust me, I am not a very skeptical person and I enjoy paranormal stories and believe that there is intelligent life out there somewhere. Budd and his wife just did not do a good job of convincing me any further. View all my reviews

Fortune Teller Ring Giveaway!

2016-08-11T15:05:00.000-04:00

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

2016-08-09T01:44:00.002-04:00

Book Review: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Extremely boring and only vaguely interesting at times. As a person who lost her sister, Sebold does not do the loss of a sibling any justice. There was much that could have been left out of this book and much that was omitted that should have been included. The depictions of the characters experiencing the loss of Susie were not accurately portrayed and I could barely finish this book. My sister passed away in 2007, almost 10 years ago now. Needless to say, I have experienced loss. After I read this book, I watched the movie as well and both left me feeling absolutely nothing. I did not care about the protagonist. I did not care about her family members. Sebold, draws out this story for so long for no real purpose and the entire process is draining as the entire time I read/watched, I wished it would end. I was hoping that the movie would bring to light something that I was missing, perhaps my brain wasn't registering the words properly, or creating the images in my minds eye correctly. I was so wrong. The movie turned out to be so much worse than the book. I actually lost a little respect for Mark Wahlberg... If you have not read the book or watched the movie and don't believe me, by all means, go ahead and pick up a copy for yourself. I would love to hear what you think about either.

View all my reviews

Book Review: The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley by Jeremy Massey

2016-08-09T01:36:00.000-04:00

The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley: A Novel

The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley by Jeremy Massey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book because it was hilarious and entertaining. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending though. I look forward to Jeremy Massey writing more book and will definitely recommend this one. Like the main character of this novel, Jeremy Massey is an undertaker himself. He writes with experience and knowledge in the field as well as what some of us would consider a dark and slightly twisted view regarding death. Without giving away any spoilers or more than the title suggests, we find Buckley in a dire situation four days before his death. The reader follows Buckley on this adventure and there are many surprises along the way. I think I like this book so much because it was the first book that I have picked up where the author told me, "Hey, the protagonist is going to die in the end." right off the bat. Knowing the Buckley dies makes the book more enjoyable as you try to guess at which point he will finally meet his demise. If you have not read The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley I recommend that you do. It is a simple and quick read but Jeremy Massey proves to me to be an excellent story teller.

View all my reviews

This book is available for purchase on Amazon:

Blogging Tips 101: Just a little inspiration!

2016-08-02T17:00:00.002-04:00

I thought I would share a little inspiration today with these blogging tips!

The Problem:

The internet probably changes more rapidly than anything else in the world. During those changes new information is created and old information becomes outdated. There are new ways of getting things accomplished and the old way of doing things doesn't work anymore. When I say old, it could be in the matter of hours, minutes or seconds.

Unless you are willing and able to keep up with this ever changing world you will not succeed in blogging.

Is it actually a problem?

It really depends on how you look at it. Some people who start blogging don't end up making any profit right away and they give up. They stop blogging after a few months an call it quits. Just like anything else though, it takes some time to launch and get off the ground. Just like anything else this is not a get rich quick scheme.

You have to ask yourself a couple of questions:
Do I care enough to commit myself to this?
Is this something that I can dedicate my time to?
Do I feel like I could actually help people with my blog?
Am I willing to do the research and help my self learn all the ins and outs of blogging on my own?

What's the answer?

The amount of time that I have dedicated to this blog is astonishing. The answer is self directed learning. You have to be willing to be constantly learning. Understand that what you learned yesterday may no longer pertain to how things are done today. There is always some nugget of information out there that you will have to find on your own to accomplish your goals. Whether it be how to write a line of code or how to improve your Google ranking, you will never be an all knowing guru. No one knows everything, but there are a lot of self directed learners out there making a steady income from their blogs.

It doesn't happen over night!

Remember this: Patience is key and original content is 150% necessary. You aren't going to start making a great deal of money over night. You will want to throw in the towel. You will go months without writing a word and completely neglecting your blog and it's readership. But do not give up. It is possible and if you dream it you can achieve it.

Check out these videos for a little more information and inspiration!

Book Review: Slade House by David Mitchell

2016-08-02T10:23:00.001-04:00

Slade House by David Mitchell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was a really quick read. The author has a very vivid imagination and his words perfect describe the settings and emotions of the characters. I really enjoyed this story and look forward to more from David Mitchell. His imagination is some place I would like to visit in real life one day, if that were possible.

View all my reviews

Click here to buy this book!

Book Review: Conjuring Casanova by Melissa Rea

2016-08-01T16:30:00.001-04:00

Conjuring Casanova by Melissa Rea

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I received this book as a good reads giveaway.

I made a whole hearted attempt to finish this book. I really did. It did not hold my interest. It seemed extremely lame. the use of the word "century" repeatedly, over and over was more than I could bare. The main character is bipolar, does not react properly to certain situations and at times very dry and lacks her own personality. Physical descriptions were long and drawn out as well as contradicting, leaving me to question what color the cat actually was (silver/blue, make up your mind) and whether the main character was fat or skinny. I read about 50 pages before I put the book down because I felt like I was wasting my time. Seriously? Casanova coming back from the grave/past/another dimension, is extremely lame. Especially considering the fact that she is obsessed with him. Good science fiction/fiction is still based on some sort of truth or scientific fact that holds a certain level of likelihood that allows the reader suspended belief. This novel just does not work for me.

View all my reviews

Binge Watch Junkie Review: Tallulah

2016-08-01T14:56:00.001-04:00

Google description - "A dissatisfied Beverly Hills housewife tired of caring for her toddler hires a stranger to baby-sit."

Don't let then description fool you, this quirky film will give you a few twists in turns that make you want to keep on watching. It is no where near as boring as they make it sound. Ellen Page is aging and can't pass as a a young girl anymore at the ripe age of 29, but her acting has not failed us yet. Tallulah is a free spirit and an expert liar who passes the kid off as her own after stealing it from a rich housewife losing her grip on reality. She is breaking the law by doing what she thinks is best for the child. This movie is worth a watch if you are in the mood for a light drama.

Binge Watch Junkie Review: Stranger Things

2016-08-01T14:52:00.004-04:00

Netflix does it once again with the hit show that everyone and their mother is currently discussing. This show is loved for it's 80's throw back feel. Winona Ryder gives an excellent performance once again as a mother who's child goes missing. This riveting story reminds us of the magic of childhood that we all at once time experience. With that magic comes fear from the deepest and darkest places. All set to the tone of 80's dramatic soundtrack and references from Dungeons and Dragons. This show will make you feel like a scared little kid searching for the boogie monster all over again.

Jewelry Storage Ideas 2016

2016-07-30T15:59:00.002-04:00

Stained and waxed wood necklace display with 23 hooks. 12" long by 2" tall (including hooks).

"Turn your jewelry collection into an artful jewelry display with our wall-mounted wood organizers! Your baubles will become a lovely ever-changing bohemian work of art. A driftwood jewelry holder is a dynamic form of storage for your necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings in your home/bedroom. Accessories become boho decor and out of the way organization. A great gift for her or him, young or old. Or better yet, a great gift for you! "

"I also set up my new jewelry rack I bought from an Etsy shop (Fine Art Holders.) I was so impressed with the outcome! You can talk to the creators and have them customize it anyway you’d like. They’re quick to respond"

"After making the jewelry display I still had a few other pieces of milk glass left over so I paired them with my lamp and put them all together on the opposite side of the dresser. My 50 cent garage sale bird certainly has the spotlight!"

"To create the perfect place to store the jewelry I use most often!"

"Driftwood is a beautiful and unique material. And the best part is that each and every piece is produced and shaped by nature. They're a lot like snowflakes in that way. But unlike snowflakes, they have a much longer shelf life and far more uses."

"There are many different ways in which you can organize and display your jewelry. Clever jewelry storage and display is always a great way to bring a little personality to your space. Take a look at these Creative Jewelry Storage & Display Ideas that will make finding your favorite pieces super easy. Keep your jewelry organized and never lose track of it."

"A unique and beautiful organizational piece that is sure to bring color and style to any space.

This painted hook board is a great way to display your jewelry, scarfs, or hang anything you want to show off. Makes a beautiful headband holder for a nursery! The variety of classic knobs and hooks create an elegant look in the various colors and shapes. "

"Playing cards for jewelry display."

The Pokémon Go Trainer's Advanced Tactics Handbook

2016-07-21T12:22:00.005-04:00

You’ve tossed a few PokéBalls, caught a few Caterpies, and spun your way to a few items at the PokéStop, but it’s time to take things to the next level. These tips and tricks will help you go from novice trainer to unbeatable gym leader faster than you can spit out the PokéRap.

Swipe the PokéBall Button for Quick Menu Access

The PokéBall icon at the bottom of your screen is used to access most of the in-game menus, like your Pokédex, Items, captured pokémon, and the Shop. You can tap the PokéBall icon and navigate to these menus, or you can look like a pro and get to them with a single swipe. Swipe the PokéBall left to instantly access the Pokémon menu, swipe right to go right into your items, and swipe up to access the shop.

See at a Glance Why a Wild Pokémon Appeared

When a wild pokémon pops up out of the bushes, look at the tiny rings surrounding it. If the rings are white, the pokémon was there naturally. If the rings are a purple-y pink color, it showed up because of a nearby lure module. If the rings are replaced by a pink cloud circling the pokémon, that means it was attracted to your Incense item and only you can see it.

Noticing the different rings will help you develop a feel for finding more pokémon in your area, and it’s nice for when you’re playing with friends. You’ll know not to shout “Squirtle!” when you see the incense ring and start an unnecessary stampede.

Increase Your Chances of Catching Pokémon, and Earn More XP

It might seem easy at first, but catching pokémon gets harder as you level up. You start running into stronger pokémon, and your once-massive stash of PokéBalls will start to dwindle if you don’t learn the ins and outs of the perfect throw. When you see a pokémon appear, tap it on your screen, then move to a spot where you’re safe and out of the way. Once you’ve started an encounter, the pokémon will stay on your screen until you either catch it or runs away because of too many failed attempts.

When the encounter starts, you’ll notice a white circle around it. That’s the target you have to hit for your PokéBall to work at all. Inside the white circle, however, is a constantly-shrinking, colored circle (more on that later) that tells you how difficult it will be to catch the pokémon. Your goal is to toss your PokéBall and hit the inside of the shrinking, colored circle. Doing so will grant you more experience points (XP) depending on the size of said circle:

A “Nice!” toss happens when you get it inside the colored circle while it’s fairly large, and will grant you an additional 10 XP if you make the catch.
A “Great!” toss happens when the colored circle is about half the size of the white circle, and will grant you an additional 50 XP.
An “Excellent!” toss happens when the colored circle is very small, and will grant you an additional 100 XP.

Not only do good throws give you some extra XP, some resourceful redditors who have datamined the Pokémon Go app suggest good throws may also increase the chances of catching the pokémon. They also suggest throwing a curveball increases your chances as well, in addition to the 10 XP bonus it provides. To throw a curveball, you just hold your finger on the PokéBall, spin it around, then toss. If you’re having a hard time hitting the pokémon, turn off the AR so it stays still in one place. This also helps you save a ton of battery.

Those XP bonuses may not seem like much on their own, but they make a huge difference over time, especially if you have an item like the Lucky Egg activated, which doubles XP gained for 30 minutes. A good toss and Lucky Egg can turn an encounter with a common pokémon like Pidgey—which would normally only net you 100 XP—into a much more profitable catch. Not only would you get 200 XP for the catch, but an “Excellent!” toss and curveball bonus would add another 220 XP, making that little Pidgey worth 420 XP. It’s almost as much as the bonus for catching it for the first time.

As mentioned earlier, though, some pokémon are much harder to catch, and it all depends on the color of their shrinking circle. Red means very hard, orange means hard, yellow means moderate, and green means easy. For red, orange, and yellow pokémon, a few items will help ensure you make your catch. Razzberrys will lower the difficulty of catching a pokémon by one color, but they are only good for one attempt. If the pokémon breaks free, you’ll need to use another. Using GreatBalls or UltraBalls will increase your chances as well, but you have a much more limited supply, so save them for the really tough pokémon.

Optimize Your Pokémon Training and Evolving

The value of an individual pokémon depends on a few things: your trainer level, its combat power (CP) when you found it, and its move set. Generally, you only want to keep the pokémon with the highest CP and transfer the rest to Professor Willow in exchange for candies you can use to evolve your best pokémon (here’s a breakdown of how many candies each type of pokémon needs to evolve). Once they’re evolved, you can worry about powering them up with stardust. Here’s an example:

You find two Charmanders, one with a CP of 230, and another with a CP of 450. You keep the Charmander with 450 CP (maybe tag it with a favorite star so you know it’s your best), then transfer the other Charmander to the Professor to get a Charmander candy. You don’t power up the Charmander you kept, but wait until you have enough candies to evolve it into a Charmeleon. Again, you don’t power it up, but wait until you have enough candies to evolve it into its final form, Charizard. Only then do you begin to use the stardust you saved to power up your Charizard.

If you want to find pokémon with higher CPs, you need to increase your trainer level. Niantic, Pokémon Go’s developers, have been very quiet about how CP works, so here are a few more things you might want to know about it:

All pokémon of a certain type have the same maximum CP, regardless of what their CP was when you caught them. Basically, a 100 CP Charmander and 450 CP Charmander have the same maximum potential, and that is determined by your trainer level. It’s still best to keep the higher CP one, though, because you’ll save yourself resources powering it up in the long run.
Some species of pokémon have a higher maximum CP than others.
If your trainer level increases, the maximum CP of all your pokémon increases. That means the pokémon that belong to a trainer at level 20 all have a higher CP cap than those that belong to a trainer at level 10.
Evolving a pokémon will raise their current and maximum CP, but the percentage trained will remain the same. For example, a 20 CP Pidgey with a max of 100 might evolve into a 40 CP Pidgeotto with a max of 200—it stays at 20%.

A good rule of thumb to follow is don’t evolve a pokémon that didn’t have a red ring when you caught it. But say you have two Charmanders that both have high CPs. Which do you evolve? If you’re planning on battling with one of them, look at their move sets. It’s best to have a pokémon with two different types of attacks. In Charmander’s case, a version with Scratch (Normal type) and Flamethrower (Fire type) is more ideal than a Charmander that has two Fire type moves. That said, if you want to train some seriously strong pokémon, the best thing you can do is raise your trainer level as fast as possible. It’s better if you don’t waste your resources on powering up the pokémon you find early on in the game. This is especially important with stardust, as it becomes a much rarer resource the longer you play. Be stingy with your resources and focus on building your trainer level first.

Boost Your Trainer Level Quickly With the Lucky Egg Trick

You can level up a lot faster by saving a ton of weak pokémon to evolve when you have a Lucky Egg activated and doubling your XP gain. So, catch a bunch of Pidgeys, Rattatas, etc., and build up a stash of candies. Now activate a Lucky Egg, then start evolving them all. You’ll get 1000 XP for every evolution instead of the standard 500 XP.
Pro tip: don’t evolve Pidgeottos into Pidgeots while you do this! Evolving four Pidgeys into Pidgeottos will cost you 48 candies and net you 4000 XP with a Lucky Egg activated, but just one Pidgeot will cost you 50 candies and only get you 1000 XP with a Lucky Egg. Do the math before you undo all your hard work. Also, Nick Steinberg at Goliath points out that you can battle with pokémon and wear them out before you evolve them. Go fight at an enemy gym with some pokémon and they’ll be returned to full health once they’re evolved.

Track Pokémon and Use Tools to Find the Ones You Don’t Have

Tracking pokémon isn’t an exact science, so there’s no way to guarantee the finding and capturing of anything. Still, the video above from the GameXplain YouTube channel recommends a few tips that make it a little easier: Three paw prints means the pokémon is within a kilometer of your location. Two paw prints means the pokémon is 100 meters away, and one paw print means the pokémon is just 10 meters away (these distances are not yet confirmed, but highly likely). If you see no paw prints, you’re practically on top of that pokémon’s location. Don’t select a single pokémon to track. Keep the entire tracking tab open so you can see pokémon change order based on their location nearby. Pokémon in the top left are the closest to you, and the ones in the bottom right are the farthest away. Choose a pokémon you want to track on the list, then pick a direction. Watch to see if it’s position or paw prints change. If it moves down the list or gets more paw prints, you went the wrong way. Using the process of elimination to track a pokémon can be frustrating, but for now that’s the best way to do it. Unfortunately, the “three-step glitch” is currently making this process harder than usual, but a fix is on the way. If you’re after a specific type of pokémon, tools like Poke Radar let trainers show where they captured what. Different areas have higher chances of spawning certain pokémon. If you know where these areas are, you can frequent them more often and increase your chances of filling up your Pokédex.

Know Your Eggs and Hatch Them Fast

To hatch your eggs, you’ll need to use the incubator item. You get one infinite incubator at the start, and you get a few others as level rewards that come with three uses each. Always use your infinite incubator on your 2 km eggs, and save the other incubators for your 5 km and 10 km eggs. Why? You’ll use up the bonus incubators after only 6 km of walking if you decide to stick 2 km eggs in them. It’s a waste, especially when you can get 30 km out of each one if you only put 10 km eggs in them. Besides, most of the pokémon in the 2 km eggs are fairly common and easy to find anyway. The pokémon in 5 km and 10 km are uncommon and rare (here’s a complete list).
You also need to hatch your eggs as soon as possible when you get them. The CP of the pokémon inside is based on your trainer level when you acquired the egg, not when it hatches. Plus, once you hit the limit of eggs you can carry (9), you can’t pick up any more. You could be a level 20 trainer, but if all the eggs you have were collected when you were level 5, they won’t turn out so great when they hatch. So get walking, running, biking, or consider using some tools if you need help, because the faster you hatch your eggs the better.

For the amateur trainer, gym battles often turn into a messy, tap-fest, where pokémon defeat other pokémon through sheer brute force. The video above, from the Tech Insider YouTube channel, demonstrates a better way to battle. It comes down to a few key moves: Always use your six strongest pokémon when taking on an enemy gym—my friends and I call them bunker busters—and make sure they’re all healed up before you fight. When the fight starts, wait for the screen to flash yellow. When it does, swipe right or left and you’ll dodge their attack. This flash is present throughout the entire match, so you can follow the same pattern of flash, dodge, attack until the battle is over. Not every ability is dodgeable, like “Earthquake,” but most are. Defending pokémon attack every 1.5 seconds, so keep that in mind as you plan your dodge and attack pattern. Don’t try to attack too much after each dodge. When it’s all done, you can leave a pokémon to defend the gym for your team. It’s tempting to leave your best pokémon, but go for your second or third best instead. Keep your best as your bunker buster and use the rest of your strong pokémon as seeders for holding and defending gyms. Holding gyms is how you earn PokéCoins to spend in the Shop (10 per gym held), and you can earn a maximum of 100 PokéCoins every 24 hours (or 10 different gyms).

If you want to focus on increasing your trainer level instead of earning coins, however, I wouldn’t recommend spending much time trying to build up and defend the gyms you take over. You earn five times as much XP for defeating and taking a gym than you do for training at one of your own to bolster its defenses. Also, training up a gym is a much bigger time sink since you can only train with one of your pokémon at a time, as opposed to the six you can use when attacking another team’s gym. Just like with powering up your pokémon, focus on your trainer level first, and worry about holding gyms for your team later.

Spend Your PokéCoins On the Right Items

If you have some PokéCoins to spend in the shop, don’t waste them on items you can collect at a PokéStop. Use them to buy Lure Modules (or incense if you don’t have a PokéStop near your area), Lucky Eggs, and maybe Incubators if you have more eggs than you can handle right now. Also, know the items you’ll get every time you level up so you’re not accidentally buying items you’re about to get for free anyway. This comprehensive list from TheSilphRoad reddit breaks down every known item reward tier.

Book Review: UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities

2016-05-08T11:29:00.005-04:00

My rating:

3 out of 5 stars

UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities

by John B. Alexander

Alexander sits a bit on his high horse and sounds pretentious throughout the majority. It seems like most of the reviews favor his chapter on the sightings/encounters in which he claims to be based in real evidence and hard fact. I would have to agree with those reviews. After studying the phenomena for over 15 years, I have to say that Alexander is right about somethings and I can appreciate his level headedness. However, there are instances where he contradicts himself and sounds a bit hypocritical. Of course, because I was using this book for research, I did not make notations regarding this and still find him to be credible.

Writer's Block

2016-05-06T14:29:00.002-04:00

I would have thought that writing this book would be a lot easier for me than it has been. It turns out that the more research I do, the less writing I am able to accomplish and I have no idea why I cannot get my thoughts and ideas down on paper. The outlining process is daunting and I cannot even figure out what and how my story will take place but I know exactly what I want it to be about at the same exact time and this conflict is driving me absolutely mad. I even started reading How Not to Write a Novel and I think I am worse off now than I was before, since some of the main things I wanted to incorporate are completely ruled out in this book. Examples are the fact that my main character spends a lot of time in bed, since that is where most of the suspense takes place (it's not dirty... stop it...) and incorporating dreams seemed to all be cliche and over done. I know that it can still be done well by the right person, I am just wondering if that person is me. The thought also crossed my mind that I am meant to write this story, but I am not meant to write this story yet. Perhaps there are some other things I need to get out first before I sit down to write this particular novel. Perhaps it has not fermented enough yet inside my brain.

Either way, I am at a loss for words. The only thing I can do is keep researching and hope that one day it will come out. I know that in the end the book will not end up as what I set it out to be.

2016-04-22T15:34:00.000-04:00

Misanthropy Publishing is currently accepting submissions for a first issue release! This is a monumental project start up that you have a chance to be a part of!

Genres: SCIENCE FICTION WORKS, including Hard (Science) SF, Space Fiction, PARANORMAL, Sci Fi, Future Fiction, Lost Civilizations, Utopias, Dystopias, Disaster Novels, Alternate Histories, Time Travel, Parallel Worlds, etc., and FANTASY, including Horror, Gothic! Erotic themes are okay but they must be more literary than sexual. Other genres will be considered on a individual basis. Works will be decided upon on a case by case basis!

Length: All submissions should be short-stories or prose. Please keep all submissions under 10k words if possible. If you go over a little, that is okay too!

Guidelines:

Please ensure that your work is carefully edited.

Make sure you have well-developed and believable characters.

Originality is key! Make sure your story is original and do not copy other plots or story lines from other media.

Payment: If your work is chosen you will receive $25 for your submission via PayPal.

Submit: Please send all submissions to misanthropycreations@gmail.com

Mourning Cursive Handwriting by Michelle Nascimento

2016-04-20T16:05:00.000-04:00

February 25, 2016

Mourning Cursive Handwriting

by Michelle Nascimento

Abstract: Handwriting, especially cursive, is being phased out in schools and no longer being taught. Although there are many benefits that come from learning cursive handwriting, it is not considered important by school districts today and has been dropped from curriculum in order to make room for the instruction and study of other subjects. This paper will discuss how the children of the future are affected by not learning how to write in cursive and their loss of the brain to paper connection. Although technology is the way of the future, there are still many benefits to be had in holding on to an art form and tool like handwriting. Some of the benefits at stake are: calligraphy as an art form, hand eye co-ordination, developing fine motor skills as well as creative development. A child also lacks certain comprehension skills in reading and writing by not learning proper and practiced handwriting. This paper will also discuss how parents and teachers have created a way to keep cursive alive with volunteer programs. Sources used in writing this paper are articles from the Journal of Motor Behavior, Journal of Instructional Psychology and The American Journal of Occupational Therapy. All sources are authored by experts in related fields such as Media and Culture, and Psychology and Neuromotor Behavior, which is the study of the control of motor skills and development.

Keywords: handwriting, education, pedagogy, cursive, literacy, motor skills, hand eye coordination, penmanship

The Decline

The English alphabet, both upper and lower case letters, written in D'Nealian cursive. The grey arrows indicate the starting position for each letter. For letters which are written using more than one stroke, grey numbers indicate the order in which the lines are drawn. The green tails on the front of several of the letters are for connecting them to the previous letter; if these letters are used to begin a word the green portion is omitted. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Take a moment to imagine a world where viewing the English language seems as foreign to U.S. citizens as ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. What would a typical day be like without being able to read or write? Imagine a world full of illiterate people. The teaching of handwriting is no longer being emphasized in schools. Cursive handwriting especially, which was once considered an art form, has now gone out the window. Instead, students are being taught to use digital devices such as tablets for reading, writing and turning in assignments. This type of digital learning causes a schism between the learner and the subject matter at such a young age. No longer does the early learner physically interact in a hands on way. The act of pushing buttons instead of forming letters causes a disconnect between mental and physical aspects of learning. The acts of reading and writing go hand in hand and one can not improve one without also improving the other. Generation after generation, slowly this dumbing down of student’s abilities will have detrimental affects on society as a whole and will lead to the illiteracy of the world at large. The loss of handwriting leads to developmental learning issues; no longer will students be capable of reading, writing and expressing themselves creatively, leaving them at a disadvantage of complex comprehension and fine motor skills.

It all sounds like a post apocalyptic science fiction novel, but truth be told, the condition of literacy in the United States is not too far off from the description just given. Not enough time is being spent teaching handwriting in schools and cursive handwriting has been omitted from the most public school curriculum all together. In the past, according to Vi, “Students spent 45 minutes every day on handwriting. Penmanship was a separate grade on report cards. Today, handwriting instruction might get 10 or 15 minutes a few times a week. Keyboarding skills are taught much earlier, now” (357-359). Without enough time dedicated to the practice of cursive handwriting, the future leaders of this world will read poorly and have failing comprehension skills. In the past, when writing an assignment by hand, if a student made a mistake, White Out was not allowed to be used, the student must start the assignment over again. Students were taught their multiplication tables by writing them out five times each, but no longer are those glory days. Al-Ghabra adds, “The spread of technology gave a logic reason for teachers and students to quit handwriting; they became machine dependents that they cannot make resolutions without using any. Hence, the teaching process does not encourage students to write, and this leads to the decay of their academic performance” (168-78). So why are children not taught proper handwriting skills anymore? As with any new technology, the reason why cursive handwriting fell off the map was out of convenience. As new technology emerged, teachers found that it was easier to grade their students, who turned in assignments digitally. Grading became quicker and easier because teachers could request a standard 12 point Times New Roman font instead of wasting time attempting to decipher what little Timmy was trying to convey through shotty left handed cursive penmanship. However, like the moral of the story of the film Idiocracy (2006), we find that convenience is not always proven to be the best avenue for the benefit of human kind.

Common “Mis-Core-ception”

More importantly, this travesty all starts and ends with standardized testing, which is the act of testing students to ensure that schools are actually teaching them what they need to know for the grade level they are in. According to Vi, “Indicators are that technological advances and state-mandated tests, in addition to other variables, are forcing cursive writing to become a casualty of the American educational landscape” (91-110). Unfortunately for the students, standardized testing works more for in favor of the school than it does for the them. James and Attwood proclaim, “The Common Core Standards no longer require elementary students to learn cursive, and some schools are dropping the teaching of cursive entirely, dismissing it as an ‘ancient skill’” (91-110). If the creators of Common Core really had the student’s best interests in mind they would never drop cursive handwriting from the curriculum because of the many proven benefits, such as those that James and Attwood have researched. In the study, the researchers found that learning cursive as a tool can assist with cognitive development and help the brain work at peak efficiency, a term dubbed “Functional Specialization”. Different areas of the brain are illuminated on an MRI machine while learning how to write in cursive showing a high level of activity. James and Attwood did not detect this sort of brain activity during their experiment when the same sample typed on a keyboard (91-110). Through their research James and Attwood conclude that, “the motor experience that is important for visual recognition is through constructing the form of the letter, not by the simple motor act of typing” (91-110). This brings the reader also to the conclusion that the human brain functions at a higher level when a student is learning to write by hand versus typing on a keyboard. There are different parts of the brain all working at the same time in order to produce the work that is partially labor and partially creative.

Although standardized testing could have metaphorically nailed the cursive coffin shut, there are statistics regarding SATs that show students perform better when they write in cursive. Carpenter states,

Cursive enthusiasts also point to recent College Board data on the new writing section of the SATs, introduced in 2006. The data indicate that the 15 percent of students who wrote their essay in cursive did slightly better than those who used some other type of handwriting. Cursive proponents say this is because those writing in cursive could write faster, allowing them to write longer essays (13-15).

A small conundrum within the school system here, where cursive handwriting is not focused on in Common Core curriculum, however later, at college level, students who write in cursive end up performing better on the SAT. Hammerschmidt and Sudsawad also mention that, “Past studies showed that when teachers were given papers to evaluate, varying only in their degree of legibility, the papers with better handwriting received better grades” (n.p). In support of this, James and Attwood found in their research,

Cursive writing, compared to printing, should be even more beneficial because the movement tasks are more demanding, the letters are less stereotypical, and the visual recognition requirements create a broader repertoire of letter representation. Cursive is also faster and more likely to engage students by providing a better sense of personal style and ownership (91-110).

It is definitive then, if common sense amounts for anything, that if cursive handwriting is no longer taught, future students are more likely to perform poorly on the SAT than students have in the past because generally and overall, students with better handwriting have received better grades. Why is it so difficult for parents, teachers and law makers to see the disconnect here? How can anyone not deem developing handwriting skills pertinent in American schools?

Besides Grades, What are the Risks?

English: Example of Spencerian script. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Additionally, studies have shown that there is much more at risk than dropping SAT scores. Students who spend time practicing cursive handwriting are much better off academically than those who do not. Feder and Majnemer state that handwriting skills help fine tune student’s motor skills and children that have trouble with cursive handwriting will also have trouble with reading, writing and simple communication in the future (n.p). This all boils down to a simple failure to communicate. Al-Ghabra states “No one can argue that there is no relation between hand and brain” (168-78). By learning cursive handwriting and putting it into practice, the student will train their brain to recognize and recall information much quicker than a student who is not practiced in this skill. Graham and Herbert agree with this notion that reading and writing are closely related, “…reading and writing share a close and reciprocal relationship, and there is evidence that reading instruction can improve students' writing. Consequently, it is likely that writing instruction in turn improves students' reading skills” (710-744, 784-785.) In order to become proficient in communicating in the English language, or any language, one must be able to read and write effectively, otherwise there is the consequence of illiteracy. Feder and Majnemer make clear the future of children who have poor handwriting could also potentially suffer from lower grades in math, poor vocabulary and attention problems (n.p).

Coincidentally, fine motor skills are also at risk when students do not practice their handwriting. In a study conducted by Sulzenbruck, et al, where a wide range of people were asked to perform hand eye coordination tasks of placing the tip of a pen in a notch, as well as tracing procedures involving hand-eye coordination. The sample Sulzenbruck’s team used had a wide range of ages, as well as typing skills and handwriting skills. Astonishingly enough, the results were in favor of those who regularly practiced handwriting. Sulzenbruck, et al writes, “Individuals who primarily used keyboards and computers to produce written texts exhibited slower performance in a task measuring the precision of continuous arm-hand movements than people who regularly practiced the skill of handwriting” (247-251). The study goes on to state that not only is computer use a detriment to fine motor skills it can also cause damage to other aspects of human behavior (Sulzenbruck, et al, 247-251). No doubt these developmental issues caused by the loss of handwriting can also be attributed to different types of learning problems such as dyslexia.

What do the People Want?

In a survey conducted by the author, Nascimento, 27 people of the age 21 or older were asked if they believed handwriting should be taught in schools and all 27 people agreed. When asked if handwriting was important, the researcher received positive responses that cursive handwriting was important. Some of the comments are as follows:

“I feel it’s the basic foundation of an education!”

“Yes, I believe it is a valuable skill to help with learning to read. Also, we can’t only rely on computer- in some situations, that just isn’t feasible and person needs to be able to legibly write to be understood.”

“Yes, because historical documents are in cursive handwriting and handwriting is still used on a daily basis. Even signing a name has to be either printed or in cursive. If we become dependent on technology and it fails us some day, the basics will be lost if it’s not continued.”

“[F]urther develops motor skills”

“It’s beautiful and more personal then anything digital. Letter writing is a lost art! Cursive writing takes practice, teaches discipline.”

“I think it creates a solid foundation for writing in general.”

“Hand writing will become a lost art. It is part of kinesthetic learning.”

The reader will find a general consensus, from the data and opinions collected that the majority of parents are aware that their children are not learning cursive in school, despite the fact that they believe that it is an important skill to obtain. In fact, over 50% of the parents reported that their child is not being taught handwriting in school (n.p). Again, the reader can see a disconnect here from personal opinion regarding handwriting skills in comparison to the skills that are actually being taught in schools today.

Cursive Club

As a result of this disconnect, parents and teachers have started “Cursive Clubs” in schools across the country to make up for the lack of education of cursive handwriting. Students take cursive handwriting classes on a volunteer basis. According to Gartner, “In a 2013 online poll by Harris Interactive, 79 percent of adults and 68 percent of children said cursive should still be taught” (n.p). It is a surprise that more parents and teachers are not up in arms regarding the integration of Common Core curriculum and the demise of cursive instruction. After all, the proof is in the pudding, nothing is gained if the instruction of handwriting is taken away, but there is much to be lost.

NPR newscaster Monica Miller stated that cursive handwriting advocate, grandmother Sylvia Hughes understands the importance of the skill and donates her time to teaching children handwriting in an after school program (n.p). What people need to be made to understand is that the loss of handwriting affects could be detrimental to our society as a whole. This is not just about wanting to hold onto something of antiquity. Historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence are penned in cursive, how can you expect someone to respect your rights as a United States citizen if you cannot even read the document in it’s original form for yourself? Carpenter adds, “It may be too late to halt cursive's decline. Fewer and fewer teachers today know how to write cursive themselves” (13-15). It is no wonder the teachers are not advocates for cursive instruction, they already have too much to teach in too little time and they cannot write in script never mind teach it to a bunch of squirmy kids. That does not take away from the fact that “We need literate individuals in our society” Vi eloquently puts this harsh truth into perspective. Instead we are left with children who have a hard time developing sentence structure and word comprehension (357-359). Children at the age of 3 know how to navigate an iPhone better than their grandparents that own the technology. At the age of 10, children are able to execute characters in a gaming world with precision while playing with adults across the country online, yet they have never read a book willingly. What place will these children serve as adults in our future society after their education system has failed them?

Occupational Therapy

As an alternative, parents can enroll their children at learning centers such as Catapult Learning (formerly known as the Sylvan Learning Center) for additional instruction. These types of learning centers exist to provide supplemental instruction in various subjects if the parent or guardian does not feel that their child is being provided with proper education or the child’s needs are not being met within their school district.

Typically, occupational therapy in school is not supplied unless the child displays a diagnosed learning disability (Skibbe, et al., n.p). The downfall of these types of Occupational Learning Centers are the high per class or per hour cost. Skibbe goes on to write that parents should be on the look out for different writing opportunities that they can task their child with as well as ensuring that their child has many writing tools and utensils at their disposal (n.p). It is unfortunate that parents cannot trust educators to teach everything their child will need to learn in their time at school, however, it is imperative that the parent also become involved and provide their child with a life time of education.

In conclusion, it begs to question, how important is handwriting? Will humanity find itself stuck in a technological world one day where pen and paper do not exist? Will the act drawing letters be lost on man kind? If the teaching of cursive handwriting is no longer emphasized in schools, what other art forms will become extinct and attribute to the end of man kind? One can see the very obvious disconnect that is created between material learning and student. So much so, that the loss of cursive handwriting leads to developmental learning issues which make things like reading and writing more difficult. Handwriting and literacy are very closely related and the loss of handwriting could have detrimental affects on the literacy of future generations. Parents, teachers and law makers should have an active role in ensuring that handwriting stays alive in schools for the sake of society. The loss of cursive handwriting as a tool and a skill can snowball and have detrimental affects on society to an end that students will no longer be capable of reading, writing or expressing themselves creatively. Thus, leaving the future generations growingly illiterate and at a disadvantage of fine motor skills and complex comprehension.

Works Cited

Al-Ghabra, Iman. "Handwriting: A Matter of Affairs." English Language Teaching 8.10 (2015): 168-78 ProQuest. 24 Feb. 2016.

Carpenter, C. “Is this the end of cursive writing?” Christian Science Monitor, 99(244): (2007, November 14). 13-15. Retrieved February 12, 2009, from Newspaper Source database.

Feder, Katya P., and Majnemer, Annette. "Handwriting Development, Competency, and Intervention." Wiley Online Library. DMCN Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2016.

Graham, Steve, and Michael Hebert. "Writing to Read: A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Writing and Writing Instruction on Reading." Harvard Educational Review 81.4 (2011): 710,744,784-785. ProQuest. 25 Feb. 2016.

Gartner, Lisa. "Erasing Script: Can Cursive make a Comeback?" The Ledger, Feb 03 2014 ProQuest. 25 Feb. 2016.

Hammerschmidt, Sandra L., and Sudsawad, Pimjai. "Teachers' Survey on Problems with Handwriting: Referral, Evaluation, and Outcomes." AJOT The American Journal of Occupational Therapy. n.p., Mar. 2004. Web. 16 Jan. 2016.

Idiocracy. Dir. Mike Judge. Perf. Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. 2006. DVD.

James, Karin H., and Thea P. Atwood. "The Role of Sensorimotor Learning in The Perception of Letter-Like Forms: Tracking The Causes of Neural Specialization for Letters." Cognitive Neuropsychology 26.1 (2009): 91-110. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

Miller, Monica. "Cursive Club Tries to Keep Handwriting Alive." NPR., 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2016. <http://www.npr.org/2013/04/08/176570621/cursive-club-tries-to-keep-handwriting-alive>.

Nascimento, Michelle. “COLL300 Research Paper Survey: Handwriting”. February 25, 2016. <https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-RT69VT9W/>

Skibbe, Lori E., et al. "Beyond the Pencil: Expanding the Occupational Therapists' Role in Helping Young Children to Develop Writing Skills." The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy 2.1 (2014): 5. Web.

Sulzenbruck, Sandra, et al. "The Death of Handwriting: Secondary Effects of Frequent Computer Use On Basic Motor Skills." Journal of Motor Behavior 43.3 (2011): 247-251. SPORTDiscus. Web. 16 Jan. 2016.

Vi, Supon. "Cursive Writing: Are Its Last Days Approaching?" Journal of Instructional Psychology 36.4 (2009): 357-359. Education Research Complete. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

Asian, Portuguese, Same Thing?: How Mother’s Love Their Daughters in Mysterious Ways By Michelle Nascimento

2016-04-20T14:58:00.001-04:00

The Joy Luck Club (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Asian, Portuguese, Same Thing?:

How Mother’s Love Their Daughters in Mysterious Ways.

The Joy Luck Club takes the reader on a journey to discover many different aspects of what family life is like for a first generation Americans through the mother daughter relationship. These experiences are not just limited to Asian Americans however, and could be considered true for immigrants from other countries as well. This book resonates with the author, who is a first generation American with family coming over from Portugal in the early 1970s. Amy Tan describes the mother daughter relationship with acute accuracy, and in that relationship one finds a strong matriarchal familial obligation hidden below the surface.

Communication between the mother and daughter in the stories that compose The Joy Luck Club is nil. Both parties hid their true selves from each other via lack of communication. On the part of the mother, and a common theme for all the mothers in the the story, she does not share the trials and tribulations she had once endured in China. The mother keeps this information from the daughter in order to shield and protect her. The daughter in return cannot understand what life was like in China first hand and when growing in an American society, she easily and unknowingly takes her mother’s struggles for granted. The daughter is sympathized with at first because the mother is incapable of understanding the complex feelings of the daughter who is lost in two different cultures. According to Souris, “The Chinese woman is full of good intentions and hopes for that daughter. But her relationship with her daughter is characterized by distance and lack of communication”. It is not until the story of the mother is told that she is finally sympathized with. The mother, at first seems cruel in her actions or or intentions for her daughter, until we learn later that there are very good reasons for the mother’s actions.

Coincidently, it is in this behavior that we are able to discover the mother’s true obligation and intentions for her daughter. Even if the mother’s idea of motivating the daughter could be viewed as abuse to others. For instance, this author was repeatedly called “fat” by her own mother, who had the intention to keep an eye on her daughter’s weight and teach her daughter self control. This caused the daughter to grow up to develop Body Dismorphic Disorder, a cause for much anxiety. However, today, if the mother is asked about her tactics or this disorder she would surely state: “But she isn’t fat” in that she was successful in her endeavor. Asian culture also uses shaming as a form of motivation to accomplish a certain goal in an act of negative reinforcement. The author understands from personal experience that the Portuguese culture partake in this act of shaming as well. Souris states that, “Without knowing this, it is more likely that the shaming behavior some of the mothers of The Joy Luck Club engage in to control their children will result in a reading that blames those mothers for inappropriate behavior. As a consequence of the misunderstanding, such a reader would not grant those mothers the sympathy for which they qualify.” To many, this type of behavior could be viewed as abusive, however in the mother daughter relationship that is present in Tan’s work, the reader eventually comes to realize the mother’s motives. It is through the mother’s motives that one is able to see that she treats her daughter this way out of love. The reader discovers that something has happened during the mother’s past, the mother does not want that same future for her daughter and will at all costs act to prevent history from repeating itself.

Perhaps, the reader of The Joy Luck Club finds that the mother daughter relationships present in Tan’s work are like those of their own as well and not just limited to first generation Americans. Of course, everyone only has their own experiences to go by, but Wood states “The Joy Luck Club is important because the text resists an essential representation of "authentic origin," or an essential notion of what it means to be Chinese”. It is the belief of the author that although written from a Chinese American point of view the mother’s present here are not just Chinese mothers and could very well be Portuguese mother’s as well.

In conclusion, one will find a very strong relationship between mother and daughter in The Joy Luck Club, even if that relationship is hidden under a layer of disdain, the strength and respect still remain on part of the daughter and a strong familial obligation on the part of the mother. Amy Tan should be commended for her work of identifying and describing the mother daughter relationship so potently and perfectly.

Works Cited

Souris, Stephen. "Only Two Kinds of Daughters": Inter-Monologue Dialogicity in the Joy Luck Club." MELUS 19.2 (1994): 99. ProQuest. 25 Feb. 2016.

Wood, Michelle Gaffner. "Negotiating the Geography of Mother-Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan's the Joy Luck Club." The Midwest Quarterly 54.1 (2012): 82,96,10. ProQuest. 25 Feb. 2016.

12.31.2015

2016-01-14T15:36:00.001-05:00

I think I am the same person that I have ever been. I mean, I can't really remember being different from who I am now. I can't really remember the voice in my head sounding different than the way it does now. I have always been this way. I have always been who I am, not who I have become. People say that you “become” a woman or that you “come into your own”. I think that person they think you become is always deep inside of you. You don't become anyone you just slowly shed the outer layers. The layers upon layers of insecurities and naivete. If you are lucky you shed ignorance. It's all there to begin with if you dig down deep enough. Shovel all the shit away and you're in there staring back at yourself. Telling yourself, “Hello old friend, I have been here all along. Why didn't you come sooner?” That person waits for you patiently to shovel all the shit. It watches you through all your struggles. For some that person is hopeful and kind and believes you will unearth it one day. That person is lucky and will break free one day to embrace herself. That person helps you dig her free. For others that person fills in all the gaps of any progress you make until an inevitable self destruction occurs. That person is unlucky. That person never stood a chance against herself and buries herself alive. That person is a bitch. That person was never meant to be.

Humans are on the constant voyage of search. Whether it be for money or love or themselves, as if any one of those things would make a difference in the end. Nothing makes a difference in the end. The end is the end. Swift, dark, beautiful nothingness where continuously you cease to exist. Our lives are but a mere spec of dust in scheme of things. Yet we spend our time searching instead of living. Our lives have become the search. From the moment we are born we search for air, food, comfort and love. As we cling to life we search for faith, hope in the after life, forgiveness and relief. That is the way it has always been done. Other than the tangible, these figments of our imagination are neither here nor there. They are not necessary for human life to occur or carry out and continue. Yet since the dawn of our time they have been present.

Romantics search for the definition of love to make it more tangible. Scientist search for the answers to questions that will make our world more understandable. Historians search the memories of years past. All of which create timelines to aid us in adverting disasters for our future. All of which we ignore and carry on with disregard. Down into the rabbit hole we all go. Holding hands and skipping along the way. No one will be saved. Each and every one of us will perish. Only our emotions tell us that it matters how and that it matters why but those too can quickly die. Emotions changing from one day to the next so effortlessly and sometimes against your will.

Treasury Time! Let's talk about Palmistry!

2015-12-05T13:04:00.002-05:00

Palmistry

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misanthropy creation

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Guest Bloggers Needed!

Misanthropy Creation is currently searching for Guest Bloggers!

Perks:

Directions:

Set it & Forget it: Quick and Easy Crock Pot Meal

Pot Roast for Days!

Ingredients:

Pot Roast

Mushrooms

Onions

Carrots

Sweet Potatoes

Minced Garlic

Olive Oil

Beef Bullion

Directions:

Chop all veggies.

Smother meat in olive oil.

Poke holes in meat with knife and insert garlic in holes.

Place meat in crock pot.

Surround meat by veggies.

Cook on HIGH for 8 hours.

Make Up Tips with Faith: How to Highlight & Contour

My adorable friend Faith has a YouTube channel full of make up tips. If you have not subscribed to Faith's channel please do!

In this video Faith teaches us how to Highlight and Contour.

Here are my video recap take aways!

Bronzer vs. Contour Powder

Finishing Powder and Technique

Highlighter

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11 Pics for an Authentic 90s Style Comeback!

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12.31.2015

Treasury Time! Let's talk about Palmistry!

Palmistry

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