#Maria Markham

[svaartpractice]

MFA AP Students in "Sympoietic Encounters: Making With in the Sixth Great Extinction" at SVA

“Sympoietic Encounters: Making With in the Sixth Great Extinction,” co-curated by Maria Markham (AP ‘24) and SVA Curatorial Practice student Yindi Chen features work by MFA AP students Melanie Elyse Brewster, Dana Donaty, Maria Markham, Grace McCoy, Josh Stein and Jerry E. Strohkorb. The exhibition opens at the SVA Gramercy Gallery on January 26. Advance registration required.

[thelaurenshippen]

Hello. Would you please publish the full cast and crew list for Bridgewater, including those who are credited for additional voices? The IMDb entry appears incomplete. I am really excited for season two.

hello!!! SO sorry for the delay on this, but I wanted to wait until the whole season was out as there were some spoilers in the full cast list. but here it is, the entire cast of Season 2 of @bridgewaterpodcast

Jeremy Bradshaw - Misha Collins Anne Becker - Melissa Ponzio Thomas Bradshaw - Alan Tudyk Vipin Khurana - Karan Soni Olivia Hoskins - Sabra May Shelley Hoskins - Hilarie Burton Morgn The Legend Tripper - Tricia Helfer Peyton Blake - Nondumiso Tembe Captain Haddock - Wil Wheaton (hi @wilwheaton!!) Katie Franks - Victoria Grace Maria Bautista - Cheryl Umaña Sophie - Greta Gould Lee Jansen - Monte Markham Alden Jansen - Charlie Bergman Spencer - Daniel Dorr Cindy - Shelby Young Kevin - Adam O'Byrne Dr. Edwards - Stephen Guarino

Additional voices by: Terryn Westbrook, Nikki McCauley

[audiofictionuk]

New Fiction Podcasts - 26th August 2024

Welcome to the Brass Eagle Audio Drama The Brass Eagle Tavern has been whispered about for as long as anyone can remember. They say that - somehow - the tavern seems to move locations. Amara and Ellis are two strangers who find themselves at the tavern's door. Where will it take them, and just who is the tavern's strange Keeper? https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240816-02 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/f84a2fec/podcast/rss

The Department Of Midnight Audio Drama Award-winning writer, Warren Ellis, blends folklore, horror and mystery in this dramatic science fiction series. Dark matter makes up 85% of the universe. Recent scientific theory suggests that dark matter is information - a fifth form of matter - and that we can wake it up. But waking it up can let dark things out.  James Callis is Dr. John Carnack. Five years ago, his experiment with dark matter went horribly wrong. Now he works for the Department of Midnight, investigating dangerous dark matter experiments that all seem to be based on leaked papers from his own research. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240820-01 RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2332254.rss

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The Lorekeeper's Library DnD podcast Audio RPG Welcome listener, to the Lorekeeper's Library. Grab a mug of your favorite beverage and sit down in this ancient archive of fantastical tomes and tales telling stories from across many fascinating and vast worlds. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240820-02 RSS: https://media.rss.com/thelorekeeperslibrarydndpod/feed.xml

Nexus Audio Drama This story involves a pair of cousins in a remote town in Alaska. Desmond and Warren own a fishing company and their business is already in jeopardy, as rival fishing companies move in on their territory. Facing this, along with other struggles, the two men can't seem to catch a break. Our story begins as they suddenly find themselves thrown into a struggle against powerful supernatural forces, whose motives are a mystery. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240821-01 RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/nexus-podcast

Tales from Ravenwood Audio Drama A series of scary stories from the town of Ravenwood. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240821-02 RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/tales-from-ravenwood

Everything is News Audio Drama A darkly satirical take on the ‘Centrist Dad Podcast’ genre.After losing his seat at the 2024 General Election, troubled former Tory cabinet minister Tom Dudley-Brown joins forces with sociopathic BBC grande dame Julia Markham to offer an unorthodox weekly take on domestic and international politics – while gently promoting the agenda of their employers at sinister production company Omerta Media. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240815-03 RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/everything-is-news

FLASH FORCE! Middle-Aged Women Superheroes Save Democracy Audio Drama Five Broadway women in a Helplessness Therapy group are suddenly transformed into Superheroes by a mysterious accident in the Columbia University physics lab next door. Led by their octogenarian therapist, Frieda, they learn to use their new superpowers to battle the evil organization, ORWELL, bent on destroying Democracy worldwide. All while pursuing personal growth. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240819-01 RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/deborahgracewiner/feed.xml

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"Lágrimas De La Luna (Tears of the Moon)" Audio Drama My Telenovela Audio Drama Skit I've been working on. Thank you Jenny Barrett ("Lunita"), Reny Amoros ("Carmen") , Vanessa F. Garcia ("Maria") and K Beau Foster ("Don Joaquin") for sharing your amazing talents with me. (I play both the "Narrator" and "Enrique") https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240821-03 RSS: https://media.rss.com/lagrimasdelaluna/feed.xml

The Last Excelsior | Clear Skies Audio RPG Join The StreamPunks as they boldly go where no one has gone before in their thrilling live stream of Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition! In "The Last Excelsior: A Clear Skies Adventure," our intrepid crew embarks on a high-stakes mission aboard the starship Excelsior, navigating through uncharted territories and facing unforeseen challenges. Watch as our players immerse themselves in the rich lore of the Star Trek universe, bringing to life the excitement, camaraderie, and moral dilemmas that define this iconic series. With a mix of strategic gameplay, character-driven storytelling, and dynamic role-playing, "The Last Excelsior" promises to be an epic journey filled with unexpected twists and thrilling encounters. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240820-03 RSS: https://feeds.transistor.fm/the-last-excelsior-clear-skies

Viewing Audio Series Audio Book An original audio fiction thriller series. Written, Directed, and Produced by John Fitch III.After a supernatural experience, a young street artist at the end of his rope goes to work for a fossil fuel billionaire as a psychic viewer but must fight his way out when he discovers that his employer is embroiled in a deadly conspiracy. Inspired by true events. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240819-02 RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2396519.rss

WAKE UP: A Slingshot Story Audio Drama The journey to space begins inside the mind. Ezra Keaton is a candidate for the Odyssey Project, a mission to retrieve a source of renewable energy from Saturn’s moon Titan that could save life on Earth. But he’s started experiencing frightening hallucinations that may link back to the Project. The sudden, inexplicable death of a colleague spurs him to investigate, but how can he uncover the truth if he can’t trust his own mind? https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240823-01 RSS: https://feeds.simplecast.com/T5DTgOV4

SADISTIC Audio Book Launching September 19. All Original. All Horror.  All Connected. All Year. All Written by Jon Saks. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240822-01 RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2386456.rss

Bobby Dangerously Presents: The Decker Northcutt Case Files Audio Book I write and narrate "The Decker Northcutt Case Files”. It’s a Detective crime noir / neo noir, supernatural horror series. Follow Decker Northcutt as he investigates strange happenings in Lakeview city. I also write and have guest narrators on my Decker Northcutt Universe series. These stories connect to the main cases, as they have characters that are briefly mentioned in the main case stories. Please Subscribe to catch all of my episodes. If you like old time radio, audio books, film noir, neo noir, crime, horror and the supernatural, Radio Drama, then this is for you! https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240817-02 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/fa05b554/podcast/rss

On the Shoulders of Giants Audio RPG It is 1648. Much is happening in the Republic of Seven United Netherlands, as Spain has finally recognised its sovereignty. Yet throughout the province of Drenthe stand the silent sentinels of an ancient past: the Dolmen. These megalithic landmarks have endured as the world around them shifted and changed; a tangible mystery of humanity's earliest chapters. While most believe the Dolmen are remnants of the Flood or the work of the devil, one priest by the name of Johan Picardt has a theory of his own. A theory he would have confirmed, and he knows just the way to do that: with the aid of three witches. Join us as we explore the stories of these three women accused of witchcraft, who are given the chance to prove their innocence by assisting Picardt on his quest to learn the origin of the Dolmen. As they do so, they connect with a past self they had no idea about. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240815-04 RSS: https://feeds.podcastics.com/podcastics/podcasts/rss/7526_b564c3b850c22722d69276d11bfb0b17.rss

Dark Tales Uncovered - Zombie water Audio Book In a near-future world, a catastrophic contamination of the global water supply turns those who drink it into mindless, violent zombies. The story follows Sarah, a former scientist, and her small group of survivors as they struggle to find a way to reverse the damage and save what's left of humanity."Zombie Water" is a gripping tale of survival, sacrifice, and the relentless human spirit in the face of overwhelming odds. It explores themes of betrayal, the cost of heroism, and the lengths to which people will go to protect the ones they love in a world gone mad. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240822-02 RSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/6267327/episodes/feed

Ryde Audio Book Riley Parker decides to do ridesharing as a side gig, so he signs up to drive on a popular ridesharing app called Ryde, but when he starts working the night shift, strange things start happening, and he begins to question the forces behind the app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240729-05 RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/ryde

Stories with Pris Audio Book A wondrous adventure of storytelling written, produced and narrated by Priscilla Folarin. Stay tuned for bi-weekly short stories ranging from fantasy, thrillers, horror and more! https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240819-03 RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/storieswithpris/feed.xml

15 Minutes of Fun Audio Book Have 15 Minutes? Come, let’s have some Fun! https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240715-07 RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2375808.rss

Shuffle! Audio RPG Hello! Welcome to our podcast channel. Mainly focusing on ttrpgs, here you will find our actual play campaigns as well as various one shots! We are shooting to produce at least 1 episode of SOMETHING at least once a week. Right now we are currently producing 2 simultaneous campaigns in "Tales From the 12 Mystic Seas," 2 fantasy stories set in the original world of the 12 mystic seas, and ran using "Shuffle!" the ttrpg system produced by us and currently in development. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240819-04 RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/fa1457d0/podcast/rss

Tales From My Box Audio Book Short original horror stories. Written and produced by Jordan A. Thomas. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240816-03 RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2387688.rss

Dil Radio Audio Book Boy meets girl on the first day of college. He's a writer, she's an actor. A story begins. Six months later, you're his audience for his still incomplete love story with "Dil". How will his story end? https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240821-05 RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/dil-radio

She Wrote Plays Audio Drama She Wrote Plays reimagines forgotten works by women playwrights as audio dramas. Produced by WTJU and UVA Drama. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240821-06 RSS: https://pinecast.com/feed/she-wrote-plays

Mr. Jack Audio Drama El joven padre Scott Becker, junto con sus hijos Madison y Connor, emprenden un viaje familiar a la vieja casa del abuelo después haber sufrido la triste pérdida de la madre de los chicos. Lo que suponía ser un viaje placentero, se convierte una travesía llena de misterio cuando la pequeña Madison encuentra una extraña puerta de color verde dentro de la casa, además de recibir el mensaje de un inquietante personaje. https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240823-02 RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/66c906b60a2cb050da5ad408

Route 6.6 Audio Drama You've heard of space operas, but it's about time we had a space hootenanny! Route 6.6 is a workplace comedy podcast set in a remote space truck-stop. But being remote doesn't mean it's boring - between the space bandits, the crashing semis, and the naked human running around, it's a wonder the crew of the Crater Cafe are ever able to get their day jobs done! Route 6.6 is a Goblin Booth Productions podcast. Check out the rest of the family here. Featuring a full voice cast and original music, we hope you enjoy your trip down Route 6.6! https://audiofiction.co.uk/show.php?id=20240819-05 RSS: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/route6point6

[kwebtv]

Character Actress

Adele Mara (born Adelaida Delgado; April 28, 1923 – May 7, 2010)  Actress, singer, and dancer, who appeared in films during the 1940s and 1950s and on television in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1955 Mara appeared as Sarita on the TV western Cheyenne in the episode "Border Showdown." In 1958, Mara played Maria Costa in the Bat Masterson episode "Double Showdown" with Gene Barry. In 1961, Mara appeared as a nurse with Cesar Romero on CBS's The Red Skelton Show in a sketch titled "Deadeye and The Alamo". About this time, she guest-starred on the NBC Western series The Tall Man with Clu Gulager, as well as three episodes of Maverick (one with James Garner and Jack Kelly and two with only Kelly), and episodes of Laramie, Tales of Wells Fargo with Dale Robertson and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp with Hugh O'Brien. She also appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "House Guest" in 1962.

Her other television credits include:

The Lone Wolf

Adventures of the Falcon

Big Town

Soldiers of Fortune

Studio 57

The Millionaire

The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin

Conflict

Meet McGraw

The Magical World of Disney

Casey Jones

Tales of Wells Fargo

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

77 Sunset Strip

Markham

Stagecoach West

Dante

The Red Skelton Hour

Bringing Up Buddy

Lockup

Bachelor Father

Thriller

The Tall Man

 Cool Million

Wheels

(Wikipedia)

[ianchisnall]

Wheelchair calls from a member of the House of Lords

On Wednesday this member of the House of Lords asked two questions relating to Wheelchair issues and the same Minister responded to them. The person who asked the questions is Philip Hunt who is a Labour on the House of Lords and he is the Deputy Leader of the House of Lords. The Minister who responded is Nick Markham who was born in Haywards Heath so he will be very aware of Maria Caulfield who…

[heavenlyyshecomes]

Misc readings pt. 9

Interpretation of dreams, paromita vohra, mumbai mirror

The original goths: why women write gothic horror, the book habit

My grandfather's cult, nathaniel g. moore, toronto life

Our lives happen in restaurants, new york times

Love’s contradictions: catullus on the agony of infatuation, armand d'angour, psyche

The skeletons at the lake, douglas preston, the new yorker

YouTube's lo-fi music streams are all about the euphoria of less, jason parham, wired

On memorizing poetry, connie pan, bookriot

How the clouds got their names and how goethe popularised them with his science- inspired poems, maria popova, brain pickings

Crush, larissa pham, believer

Century old marathi-hindi kirtans get revived in mumbai, mohua das, the times of india

The crow whisperer, lauren markham, harper's magazine

Mugger much love from a one-armed priest, excerpt from wild and wilful: tales of 15 iconic indian species by neha sinha

stopping the void: ottilie mulzet on how her adoptive heritage lead her to a life of and in translation, the paris review

How facebook got addicted to spreading misinformation, karen hao, technology review

The new gwen stefani is a lot like the old one, anne helen peterson, buzzfeed

How a secret european language ‘made a rabbit’ and survived, martin puchner, psyche

The trouble with charlotte perkins gilman, halle butler, the paris review

The limits of the lunchbox moment, jaya saxena, the eater

How the new yorker fell into the “weird japan” trap, ryu spaeth, the new republic

Camping the canon: matthew lewis, milton & the monk, colin broadmoor, blood knife

Why contemporary women artists are obsessed with the grotesque, tess thackara, artsy (article has graphic images)

Haphephobia, olly nze, the audacity

The anxiety of influencers, barett swanson, harper's magazine

My octopus girlfriend, sophie lewis, n+1 mag

Nigella lawson wants everyone to experience the (thoroughly guilt-free) pleasure of food, nigella lawson, lithub

[sshannonauthor]

Hi Samantha! I know you get a lot of asks about book recs on here, but I'm here to ask if you have any recommendations for queer short stories?

I don't actually read a lot of short stories, but I can recommend you some queer novellas/short novels, if that's helpful?

A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson

Bad Ideas\Chemicals by Lloyd Markham

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

In the Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard

The Seafarer's Kiss by Julia Ember

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo

[perfectdisastcr]

💗 i would like a list of all 3 million potential pairings please 🙈

my god, i would love to take the time out of my day to give that to you, and just know that we can ship literally anybody and everybody because that’s all we ever do in the first place and you know how much i love doing that with you too. my favorite writing partner everybody, bre is hands down the best partner in the whole world, and i’m lucky enough to be able to have her at all. she’s mine and i’m never going to let her go because i love her so much! she’s literally the best thing to ever happen to me and i know i wouldn’t be here through the shitty times and all without her! everybody better go follow her right now and send her all the love i swear to god, because she’s the only person on this hell site that shows me the attention that i deserve! also that list of potential pairings is below the cut, and don’t say i didn’t warn you. 👀

send 💗 if you’re open to the possibility of a romantic ship eventually happening between our muses

all these characters are up for shipping with all your characters:

alex gardiner (paul rudd) alexander hamilton (lin-manuel miranda) alex mullner (brant daughterty) alice liddell (madelyn cline) alisha khara (jameela jamil) annie abel (luna blaise/anya chalotra) antonia moreno (victoria justice) apollonia levine (anastasia karanikolaou) arthur pendragon (niall horan) ashley spinelli (ursula corbero) aspen rhodes (sofia black-d'elia) astrid porter (karlie kloss) audrey ramirez (selena gomez) august khalil (rami malek) axel turner (charlie weber/skeet ulrich) aziz hassan (riz ahmed) bailee rose (jenny boyd) bambi prince (lachlan watson) barbie roberts (kate upton) barley lightfoot (michael clifford) beatriz velasco (camila cabello/diane guerrero)  beau hester (froy gutierrez) beck collins (joe keery) bellatrix lestrange (carmela zumbado) belle dubois (margaret qualley) belle summers (candice king) berliouz bonfamille (alex fitzalan) bernard davenport (gavin leatherwood) billie groves (kiana lede/emmy raver-lampman) billy hargrove (dacre montgomery) bindi culver (meg donnelly/rachel mcadams) bo-peep ‘bo’ patterson (amanda seyfried) brady gardiner (nathaniel buzolic) brielle stewart (alexandra daddario) bronwyn pierson (madelaine petsch) buzz lightyear (paul mescal/chris pine) calliope jung (phillipa soo) camille aguilar (jeanine mason) carl fredricksen (tye sheridan) celeste quintana (rosalia/maite perroni) chandler armstrong (iwan rheon) cinderella tremaine (lily james) clementine ahn (jamie chung) cliff egan (stephen amell) colleen lowell (jodie comer) connor catrell (thomas doherty) copper slade (nick jonas) cordelia goodwin (ryan destiny/candice patton) coriander thompson (dacre montgomery/chris evans) cornelius robinson (simon baker) cruella de vil (melanie martinez) cyrus quinney (owen joyner) daisy vaughn (isabella gomez/aimee carrero) dakota atkins (amber midthunder) dale monks (keiynan lonsdale) dalton davis (harris dickinson) daniela ‘dani’ costello (becky g/eva longoria) dash parr (jaden smith) delilah diaz (camila cabello/diane guerrero) delphine washington (antonia thomas) delta montgomery (manu gavassi) denver koch (thomas elms) devon montgomery (iain de caestecker) diego hargreeves (david castaneda) dorcas meadowes (ariela barer) dory blau (julia louise-dreyfus) duke blaise (ashley graham & matthew daddario — reincarnated)  duncan traeger (zac efron) edmund whittaker (richard madden) edwin orwell (nicholas galitzine) elena flores (jenna ortega) eleonora moretti (benedetta gargari) eleven (millie bobby brown) elio montgomery (noah schnapp/brendon urie) elisabeth ‘elsa’ andersson (candice king) elliott murdoch (kj apa) eloise thompson (taylor hill/zoey deutch) elwood leith (sam claflin) emerson wheaton (beau mirchoff) emily sondheim (eve fraser) emmy silverstein (nat wolff/michiel huisman) ericka ‘ricki’ santos (danna paola) esmeralda guybertaut (priyanka chopra) everest sorenson (adam driver) ezekiel ‘zeke’ bauer (neels visser) fa mulan (awkwafina) felix dawson (lukas gage) ferris rockwell (joshua bassett) five hargreeves (aidan gallagher/rob raco/john mulaney) florence prata (barbie ferreira) flynn rider (jacob elordi/steven r mcqueen) frank castle (jon bernthal) gabrielle dupres (louriza tronco) genevieve rizzo (troian bellisario) gill moorish (harrison ford) godwin vivar (diego boneta) grainger anslow (justin hartley) grant wesley (keanu reeves) griffin price (liam hemsworth) guinevere ‘gwen’ flores (ester exposito/ana de armas) gulliver kennedy (robert sheehan) gunner mccoy (miles heizer) halston krogen (nick robinson) hamish duke (thomas elms) harper graves (sydney sweeney) harry potter (alberto rosende) harvey wolff (joaquin phoenix) hawke bradbury (brenton thwaites) helen parr (megan thee stallion/kerry washington) hendrix palmer (mark fischbach) henley howell (dylan everett/paul wesley) henrik nilsen (herman tommeraas/chris evans) hercules sabri (aubrey joseph) hermione granger (quintessa swindell) holden krogen (jack falahee) holly la stella (olivia holt) honey lemon (irene ferreiro) hudson reid (jaeden lieberher/paul mescal/james mcavoy) irving reid (matty healy) isobel evans (lily cowles) jacoba ‘cobi’ abernathy (geraldine viswanathan) jake bennett (joe jonas) jake breckenridge (landon liboiron) james potter (noah centineo) james ‘sully’ sullivan (hozier) jane porter (zoe sugg) jasmine agrabah (naomi scott) jessica jones (krysten ritter) jim hopper (david harbour) johanna ‘jo’ gardiner (carlson young) josefine olive (lili reinhart/maika monroe) joseph ‘joey’ carnegie (chris o'dowd) juliette russo (camila mendes) juno nicks (gideon adlon/linda cardellini) justin miller (michael b. jordan) keaton green (charlie plummer/austin butler/alexander skarsgard) keifer fry (nathan parsons) kennedy sutherland (florence pugh) khalid farid (mena massoud) kiernan jost (jack barakat) kiki penn (natalie alyn lind)  kim possible (karen gillan) kit dempsey (aaron taylor-johnson/michael sheen) kristoff bjorgman (ben hardy) kuzco inca (tommy martinez) lady alvarez (camila cabello/diane guerrero) lake montgomery (jace norman/casey deidrick/jeff goldblum) lazarus (sean teale/tom ellis) lennox wells (billie piper) leonardo ‘leo’ light (armie hammer) levi wesley (gerard butler) liam wheaton (lucas lynngaard tonnesen/dominic sherwood) lilac montgomery (sophia lillis/deborah ann woll) lila pitts (ritu arya) lilo pelekai (courtney eaton) lola carver (carla gugino) macy merritt (kylie jenner) madeline hawkins (rowan blanchard/kaylee bryant) madison bloomfield (gwyneth paltrow) maggie wheaton (virginia gardner) maria deluca (heather hemmens) mariana de la cruz (victoria justice/salma hayek) marianne darden (elizabeth olsen) marisol torres (alexa demie/salma hayek) marlene phan (brianne tju) matilda franks (brooke markham) matthew murdock (charlie cox) max tian (chloe bennet) mckenzie whitman (danielle rose russell) megara creon (ashley moore) melanie carter (brenna d'amico/zooey deschanel) melody burns-newman (camren bicondova) mercutio bellini (giancarlo commare) merida dunbroch (bree kish) michael ‘goob’ yagoobian (dylan o’brien/andrew scott) mickey hader (shawn mendes) miguel rivera (diego tinoco) mike wheeler (finn wolfhard) mildred ‘millie’ brantwood (stella maeve) milo martinez (itzan escamilla/tyler posey) milo thatch (jason ralph) minerva ‘minnie’ winslett (jenna coleman) mischa locklear (jenny slate) moana motunui (auli'i cravalho) molly wheaton (saoirse monica jackson/kristen bell/kristin chenoweth) monet bugg (annie murphy) mordecai ‘cai’ baird (joseph morgan) murray bauman (brett gelman) nadja (natasia demetriou) naomi phillips (hunter king) natalie fuller (krysten ritter) nate gardiner (tom holland/thomas hayes/joe keery/adam scott) nemo fisher (nick robinson) nick novak (jon bernthal) nick wilde (jake johnson) nina baxter (laura harrier) nolan van ness (louis hynes/benjamin wadsworth) nymphadora tonks (kennedy walsh) odessa barnes (inanna sarkis) osbourne russo (oliver jackson-cohen) otis richardson (finn jones) owen monroe (zachary levi) paloma katz (brittany o'grady) paxton gardiner (douglas booth) pearl turner (maia mitchell/aubrey plaza) penny proud (sarah jeffery) perdita ryan (alisha boe/zoe kravitz) perrie wheaton (ariela barer/jessica alba) peter pan (rudy pankow) peter pettigrew (alex lawther) phil mcdermot (leo howard/dylan o’brien) phineas flynn-fletcher (michael provost) piper donahue (millie bobby brown/katherine langford/felicity jones) pippa mei (amy okuda) pollux isola (camila mendes) portia sadler (hayden panettiere) prairie gallagher (lucy boynton) quaid ‘q’ wright (jake gylenhaal) quinton saunders (jamie dornan) rain montgomery (nick jonas) ramona montgomery-wallis (lana condor/ashley park) reed knightley (arthur darvill) reign fentworth (madison bailey/vanessa morgan) reno thames (joshua bassett) richie tozier (finn wolfhard/bill hader) river montgomery (jack griffo/tyler blackburn) robin buckley (maya hawke) roger holtz (ben platt) roger radcliffe (aaron tveit) romy reyes (carmela zumbado) ronald ‘mac’ mcdonald (rob mcelhenney) roosevelt banks (spence moore II) rowan burke (andy biersack) roxanne sutton (lady gaga) rush mccoy (cody fern) russell montgomery (ian harding/hugh jackman) russell montgomery II (jack dylan grazer/timothee chalamet/adam brody) sable rosales (catherine bascoy) saint fentworth (reece king) sally finklestein (marina ruy barbosa) salvador ‘sal’ mendoza (jorge blanco) samson gardiner (cole sprouse) sandy diamandis (christina hendricks) sawyer bell (penn badgley) seamus kennedy (aria shanghasemi/michael sheen) seb seif (zeeko zaki) selena hada (camila cabello/diane guerrero) severus snape (rob raco) shawn taggart (ben barnes) shay strauss (chris wood) shia zoheir (rami malek) shiloh young (devery jacobs) shiri madani (inbar lavi) simba king (john boyega) sloane shapiro (diana silvers/linda cardellini) sofia ramirez (camila cabello/camila mendes/morena baccarin/fluvia lacerda) stefani vidal (louriza tronco) stella romero (adria arjona) steve harrington (joe keery) stevie wagner (anne hathaway/jennifer garner) sutton reiser (katherine langford/kat dennings) tandy hawthorne (giorgia whigham) tanner cohen (ross lynch) tarrant ‘mad hatter’ hightopp (hale appleman) tarryn fischer (giorgia whigham/perry mattfeld) tatum barton (ben schwartz) teddy flood (james marsden) tex navarro (bad bunny) thad abraham (dylan sprouse/chris evans) the handler (kate walsh) thomas gardiner (felix mallard/paul rudd) tierney kennedy (maisie williams) timothy ‘tigger’ trigger (jeremy allen white) tinker bell (sabrina carpenter) tj lieberman (armie hammer) tommy burns (will poulter) topher larkin (alexander hogh andersen) trey turner (jonathan daviss) ursula celia (normani/lizzo) vaughn abel (max greenfield) veronica lodge (camila mendes) vidia viento (emma dumont) vivica lang (madison pettis/tessa thompson) wanda cowell (brenda song) warren wentz (robert pattinson) wendell langston (link neal) wilbur robinson (david mazouz) winnie knox (sophie turner/jessica chastain) wren green (alexander calvert) wynona winstead (sarah hyland/cristin milioti) xander talbot (g-eazy) york pemberton (heather baron-gracie) yusef barlas (zayn malik) zack abrams (alex fitzalan) ziggy (taron egerton) zoey matthews (olivia munn)

[doubleattitude]

JUMP Dance Convention, Dallas, TX: RESULTS

High Scores by Age:

JUMPstart Solo

1st: Mikaela Florez-’Stop Go’

2nd: Mackenzie Glover-’Suddenly’

3rd: Audrina Mossembekker-’Fields of Gold’

4th: Arianna Claxton-’Ride’

5th: Avery Redus-’Lost Boy’

6th: Zephira Duran-’Little Weaver Bird’

7th: Nora Davis-’Broadway Banana’

8th: Symone Armijo-’Rotten To the Core’

Mini Solo

1st: Braylynn Grizzaffi-’Path5′

2nd: Sophia Gil-’Film Credits’

2nd: Anna Holley-’Reminisce’

3rd: Landry Silas-’Cheek to Cheek’

3rd: Allie Plott-’The Path’

4th: Lexus Natalie-’Alternate World’

4th: Winter Eberts-’Dreamlike’

5th: Harper Ducale-’Change Is Everything’

5th: Ashley Otano-’Dark Matter’

5th: Kinsley Oykhman-’Life Could Be A Dream’

5th: Carolina Sterkel-’Thoroughfare’

5th: Kalista Greer-’Yesterday’

6th: Zoey Claxton-’Moonlight Sonata’

6th: Noah Johnson-’Scanner’

6th: Channing Embry-’Whatever Lola Wants’

7th: Denise Torres-’Drag Shift’

7th: Presley Nava-’Pure Imagination’

8th: Cora Woodhouse-’Pulling On A Thread’

9th: Avery LeSaicherre-’Hide and Seek’

9th: Patience Hughes-’Weird People’

10th: Dennis Paul Haggerty-’Beautiful Dream’

Junior Solo

1st: Laci Stoico-’Mibiso’

2nd: Graham Johnson-’New Shoes’

3rd: Lilly Allen-’Femme Fatale’

3rd: Ciana Ciulla-’Nana’

4th: Zoe McDonald-’U Can’t Touch This’

5th: Kortlynn Rosenbaugh-’Concentration’

5th: Colby Rich-’I Lie’

5th: Jazlyn Quintero-’The Deep End’

5th: Lincoln Blakely-’What I Came To Do’

6th: Kanon Greer-’To The Sky’

7th: Caroline McGowan-’Everything Evaporates’

7th: Makaia Roux-’Everything I Wanted’

7th: Kenlie Winsett-’Patterns of The Tides’

7th: Carolyne Knutson-’Peace’

7th: Campbell Thurow-’You Can’t Touch This’

8th: Jade Bontron-’A Night In Paris’

8th: Jocelyn Nguyen-’I’m Not Myself’

8th: Ava Mogote-’Somewhere Over The Rainbow’

8th: London Campayno-’Valis’

9th: McKenna Markham-’Shrine Tooth’

9th: Nyah Jackson-’Slow Meadows’

9th: Stella Eberts-’Valley’

10th: Addison Haggerty-’Ghost In The Wind’

10th: Scarlett Petty-’Stars’

10th: Kylie Carter-’The LOOK’

Teen Solo

1st: Garris Munoz-’Enlightenment’

1st: Avery Lau-’Fear of the Unknown and The Blazing Sun’

1st: Hudson Pletcher-’Forged Imitation’

2nd: Sarah Kate Kurzius-’Charmed’

2nd: Ava Miller-’Tarnished’

3rd: Carmen Beiner-’Dyonisis’

3rd: Braylon Browner-’Run From Me’

3rd: Sabine Nehls-’Shout’

4th: Beth Anne McGowan-’Heart Is As Black At Night’

4th: Ella Williams-’The Garden’

5th: Macie Krause-’Menace’

5th: Dasha Vishnyakova-’Partita’

5th: Caroline Belknap-’Sonata De Le Muerte’

5th: Kali Knewitz-’Wake Up Your Eardrums’

6th: Kathryn Martinez-’Another Brick In The Wall’

6th: Gianna Garwacki-’Epiphany’

6th: Sophie Bishop-’La Mamma Morta’

6th: Isabel Reese-’Spectral Density’

7th: Ella Hendricks-’Ella and Ella’

7th: Faith Stoner-’Solids’

8th: Brielle McCoy-’My Brightest Diamond’

8th: Trinity Kelly-’Sorrow’

9th: Sofia Ramirez-’Long Train Running’

9th: Peyton Koepke-’On The Horizon’

9th: Natalya Toirac-’See how they run’

9th: Jillian Sims-’Shadow Journal’

10th: Dru Neal-’Bringing Back A Past’

10th: Caitlyn Herrin-’Hour After Hour’

10th: Macy Orvis-’Look At Me’

10th: Mia Miller-’Only The Voices’

Senior Solo

1st: Jackson Roloff-Hafenbreadl-’FOUR’

2nd: Ruby Castro-’For You’

2nd: Paige Mcmanaman-’Vienna’

3rd: Jordan Apodaca-’Standing Over The Horizon’

4th: Chloe Lopina-’In Love In Vein’

4th: Lainey Myers-’You Are The Reason’

5th: Raegan Davidson-’After That’

5th: Raegan Stafford-’With All My Love’

6th: Peyton Winsett-’Distortion’

6th: Emily Fluker-’I Will Follow’

6th: Clara Gough-’Snow Queen’

6th: Haley Beck-’Upside’

7th: Karsyn Kelly-’Don’t Make Me Over’

7th: Gracie Lee-’Love of My Life’

7th: Cahntal Le-’Tear Jerker’

7th: Jonah Tran-’Unburdened and Becoming’

8th: Elise Knecht-’Corps’

8th: Emma Sucato-’Memories’

8th: Haley Bogdon-’The Mourning’

8th: Kylie Sicillan-’Time & I’

9th: Emmalyn Mackaron-’San TOI’

10th: Ella Berner-’Grief Point’

Mini Duo/Trio

1st: HYPE Dance Studio-’American Boy’

2nd: HYPE Dance Studio-’G.I.R.L’

3rd: Centre for Dance-’Faith’

Junior Duo/Trio

1st: Artistry In Motion Performing Arts Center-’Cringe’

2nd: Dance Company of Wylie-’Machine’

Teen Duo/Trio

1st: Next Step Dance-’Georgia’

2nd: The Pointe Performing Arts Center-’Listen’

3rd: South Tulsa Dance Co-’Strangers In The Night’

Senior Duo/Trio

1st: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Tea For Two’

2nd: Texas Academy of Dance-’Do The Sacred Mass’

JUMPstart Group

1st: Next Step Dance-’Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’

2nd: Next Step Dance-’Boy From New York City’

3rd: Next Step Dance-’Milly Rock’

Mini Group

1st: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’We Love to Bebop’

2nd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Strings’

3rd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Ain’t Your Mama’

Junior Group

1st: Kim Massay Dance Productions-’Dance With You’

1st: The Pointe Performing Arts Center-’Send In The Clowns’

2nd: Kim Massay Dance Productions-’Image Deconstructed’

3rd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Letters To’

3rd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Threads That Bind’

Teen Group

1st: Next Step Dance-’Maria Bonita’

2nd: Next Step Dance-’A Women Left Lonely’

2nd: Kim Massay Dance Productions-’Herd of Defense’

3rd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Wish We Could Turn Back Time’

Senior Group

1st: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Embraceable You’

2nd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’A Human, A Light’

3rd: Kim Massay Dance Productions-’Can You Hear That?’

Mini Line

1st: Next Step Dance-’The Chain’

2nd: Next Step Dance-’Spring’

2nd: Next Step Dance-’Sweet Dreams’

2nd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’We’ve Got a Ways to Go’

3rd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’The Ladies of the Wild West’

Junior Line

1st: Next Step Dance-’Mi Mujer’

2nd: Next Step Dance-’Opening’

2nd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-‘Salute’

3rd: Next Step Dance-’Vogue’

3rd: The Pointe Performing Arts Center-’We Are The Ones’

Teen Line

1st: Next Step Dance-’Tarantella’

2nd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Dead Hearts’

3rd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Where Is My Body’

Senior Line

1st: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Devour’

2nd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Invocation of Lust’

JUMPstart Extended Line

1st: Next Step Dance-’Ridin Dirty’

2nd: Next Step Dance-’Hey Diddle Diddle’

3rd: Next Step Dance-’Rock Star’

Mini Extended Line

1st: Next Step Dance-’Runaway Baby’

2nd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Footloose’

Junior Extended Line

1st: Next Step Dance-’Bridge Over Troubled Water’

2nd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Flatline’

3rd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Don’t Stop’

Teen Extended Line

1st: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’American Pie’

1st: Next Step Dance-’Snowing’

2nd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Overture In A’

3rd: Next Step Dance-’Technologic’

3rd: Kim Massay Dance Productions-’You Know Me’

Senior Extended Line

1st: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Hotel California’

2nd: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Sexy Crazy’

Mini Production

1st: Next Step Dance-’42nd Street’

2nd: Next Step Dance-’Game On’

Junior Production

1st: Next Step Dance-’Let It Cook’

2nd: Next Step Dance-’Everlasting Love’

3rd: The Pointe Performing Arts Center-’Wanna Rock’

Teen Production

1st: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Goodnight’

2nd: Next Step Dance-’All That Jazz’

3rd: The Pointe Performing Arts Center-’RELAX’

Senior Production

1st: Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’CRUNK’

High Scores by Performance Division:

JUMPstart Tap

Next Step Dance-’Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’

JUMPstart Hip-Hop

Next Step Dance-’Milly Rock’

JUMPstart Jazz

Next Step Dance-’Boy From New York City’

JUMPstart Lyrical

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Gypsy’

Mini Jazz

Next Step Dance-’Knock On Wood’

Mini Tap

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’We Love to Bebop’

Mini Contemporary

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Strings’

Mini Ballroom

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Ain’t Your Mama’

Mini Ballet

Next Step Dance-’Spring’

Mini Lyrical

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’We’ve Got a Ways to Go’

Next Step Dance-’Sweet Dreams’

Mini Hip-Hop

Next Step Dance-’Game On’

Junior Jazz

Kim Massay Dance Productions-’Dance With You’

Junior Lyrical

The Pointe Performing Arts Center-’Send In The Clowns’

Junior Ballet

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-‘Salute’

Next Step Dance-’Opening’

Junior Contemporary

Next Step Dance-’Mi Mujer’

Junior Tap

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Letters To’

Junior Specialty

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Marquises’

Junior Hip-Hop

Next Step Dance-’Let It Cook’

Junior Ballroom

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Don’t Stop’

Teen Contemporary

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Goodnight’

Teen Specialty

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Dead Hearts’

Teen Jazz

Next Step Dance-’Technologic’

Kim Massay Dance Productions-’You Know Me’

Teen Lyrical

Next Step Dance-’Snowing’

Teen Tap

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’American Pie’

Teen Hip-Hop

Next Step Dance-’#FreeBritney’

Kim Massay Dance Productions-’Roses’

Teen Ballet

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Overture In A’

Teen Ballroom

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Distortion’

Teen Musical Theatre

Next Step Dance-’All That Jazz’

Senior Contemporary

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Hotel California’

Senior Specialty

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Evermore’

Senior Tap

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Embraceable You’

Senior Lyrical

High Attitude Dance Academy-’Because You Loved Me’

Senior Ballet

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Completely Gone’

Senior Jazz

Eminence Dance Complex-’Cold Hearted Snake’

Senior Ballroom

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Sexy Crazy’

Senior Hip-Hop

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’CRUNK’

Best of JUMP:

JUMPstart

Next Step Dance-’Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Gypsy’

Mini

The Pointe Performing Arts Center-’Where The Light Gets In’

Next Step Dance-’42nd Street’

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’We Love to Bebop’

Junior

Next Step Dance-’Mi Mujer’

Kim Massay Dance Productions-’Dance With You’

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Threads That Bind’

The Pointe Performing Arts Center-’Send In The Clowns’

Teen

Kim Massay Dance Productions-’You Know Me’

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’American Pie’

The Pointe Performing Arts Center-’A Destination’

Next Step Dance-’Snowing’

Senior

Kim Massay Dance Productions-’Can You Hear That?’

Next Step Dance-’Half the Man’

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Hotel California’

Best In Studio:

Next Step Dance-’Snowing’

Kim Massay Dance Productions-’Can You Hear That?’

The Pointe Performing Arts Center-’A Destination’

Prodigy Dance and Performing Arts Centre-’Hotel California’

[abearcorner]

My Favorite books and reading list for parenting

Sebagai seorang ibu yang baru, sesungguhnya sangat galau dan was-was nantinya apakah bisa menjadi ibu yang baik, bisa mengasuh dan membesarkan anak dengan baik, bisa jadi contoh yang baik dan yang paling penting bisa memahami anak secara optimal. Karena kebanyakan masalah yang terbentuk antara orang tua dan anak (setelah dia beranjak remaja dan dewasa) adalah komunikasi dan kurangnya pengetahuan orang tua tentang apasih sebenernya yang dirasakan dan diinginkan anak saat itu. Karena sebagai orang dewasa gabisa dipungkiri kalo pola pikir kita berubah. Jadi close minded dan sedikit merasa selalu betul dan tau apa yang dirasakan anak karena sudah melewati asam garam kehidupan. Well mostly that is true, every parents has been through tough times but that doesn't guarantee that you can understand everything. Krn dalam perjalanan hidup itu, setiap orang punya cara dan sudut pandang yang berbeda dalam menghadapi segala hal. Begitu juga dengan anak kita.

Please note that : every child is a different and unique individual. Ga bisa disamain sama si A si B si C atau sama diri kita sendiri. Dan ternyata, koneksi itu dibentuk sejak lahir! Saat lahir kita sama bayi kita sama-sama belajar untuk saling memahami. So don't miss out those precious moment :)

Jadi... begitulah. Si gita degdegan dan was-was banget menghadapi ini. Pokonya pasti maunya yang terbaik buat anak, tapi belum tau caranya. Selain belajar dan bertanya ke orang tua saya dan mertua beserta teman-teman saya yang udah duluan jadi ibu, saya mulai mencari-cari buku soal parenting yang diharapkan bisa membantu untuk lebih memahami anak dan tips and trick mengenai parenting dan perkembangan anak. Karena ya, (setelah nanya-nanya ke orang sekitar dan observasi) setiap orang tuh punya cara yang berbeda-beda dalam mendidik anak. Malah jadi bikin makin bingung. Jadi baiknya baca buku yg sesuai dengan preferensi kita ditambah insting alami kita sebagai orang tua aja udah paling bener (menurut saya).

So here is my favourite books and i will recommend this to anyone who's asking me for some advice (pede banget si git, baru juga seumur jagung jadi ibu)

1. The Baby Book by dr. Sears

This is a holy grail for every new parents. A must read, a must have. Nyesel banget dulu ga baca ini sebelum melahirkan. Mulai nemuin ini setelah direkomendasiin sama kakak ipar dan setelah menghadapi masalah per-ASI-an yang bikin galau dan stres.

Akhirnya ngepurchase buku ini dari online shop yang ngejual soft copy buku gitu. Dan ya Allah, alhamdulillah banget dikasi tau ada buku ini. Lengkap banget dong. Dan bacanya sesuai kebutuhan lagi (kita lagi ngadepin masalah apa). Fyi buku ini ditulis sama dokter anak yang udah senior banget dikalangan ngurusin anak dan beliau sendiri juga punya 6 anak wew.

2. The Wonder Weeks by Van der Rijt

Awal mulanya ini direkomendasiin sama salah satu senior. Dan udah nyari hardcopy bukunya tapi abis dan mahal banget wkwk. Karena financial masih dihemat-hematin buat kebutuhan yang lain jadi ditunda dulu aja.

Sampailah pas usia 4-5 minggu tuh Thifa so cranky gituloh. Udah cek popok, abis mimik, tapi masih ga mau bobo. Maunya digendong terus. Sampe pusing ini kenapa, apa ada yang sakit atau kenapa. Ternyata ada yang namanya wonder week, masa dimana bayi lagi growth spurts dan dia jadi lebih aware sama lingkungannya, jadi masih ngerasa asing. Makanya jadi cranky dan biasanya frekuensi minum asinya meningkat karena lagi masa-masa pesat pertumbuhan. Akhirnya purchase ini pdf buku ini deh. Ada aplikasinya juga ternyata.

3. Buku Anti Panik Mengasuh Bayi 0-3 Tahun by Tiga Generasi

Nah. Alhamdulillaah saya dapet ini dari hadiah seorang sepupu. Pas dibaca sekilas kok ya isinya singkat-singkat banget ya (krn biasanya saya suka baca yg banyak tulisannya) trus mikir lagi kenapa sih bukunya sampe direkomendasiin banyak orang?

Akhirnya yaudahlah di baca-baca ajalah itu secara skimming krn ya sesingkat itu. Sampai suatu hari chipa lagi cranky banget dan udah ngelakuin segala cara tapi masih nangis-nangis. Lalu teringatlah sama salah satu poin di buku ini yang judulnya "cara menghadapi bayi yang menangis" yaitu salah satunya dengan naik turun tangga. Akhirnya dicobalah sama si babanya chipa dan WOW! Langsung dieeeeemmm. Langsung anteng dong.

Jadi ya saya lanjutin lagi baca buku ini. Memang ringkas, tapi to the point dan bermanfaat banget kok informasinya. Cocok buat ibu-ibu yang baru melahirkan dan emang ga punya banyak waktu untuk baca. Recommended!

4. Peaceful Parents, Happy Kids by dr. Laura Markham

Wah ga bisa ngejelasin gimana seneng dan leganya akhirnya nemuin buku ini. Ngajarin kita banget gimana caranya sabar dan meningkatkan kualitas hubungan kita sama anak. Kalo misalnya kita merasa lelah atau emosinya terpancing sama suatu hal, berarti sebenernya itu adalah masalah yang dulu kita hadapi waktu kecil yang belum selesai sampai sekarang. Jadi gampang ke trigger sama hal-hal tertentu. Ngajarin kita gimana caranya damai sama diri sendiri. Bukunya ditulis sama dokter psikiatri nih. Jadi emang tepat sasaran banget isinya.

5. Happy Little Soul by Retno Hening

Buku parenting pertama yang saya punya. Bahkan sebelum nikah, disaat ini lagi booming-boomingnya. Beli cuma karena ikut-ikutan. Waktu itu juga belum tau banget sama Retno Hening dan Kirana, belum follow akun ig nya juga.

Dan ga bisa ga terharu tiap baca chapter buku ini :""""'")

Jadi ngerasa dilunakan dan dilembutkan hatinya sama caranya Retno Hening bertutur kata dan menjelaskan. Buku yang ngajarin kita tentang kasih sayang yang tulus antara orang tua dan anaknya.

Two thumbs up buat Ibuk, berhasil membuat saya menyadari bahwa lelahnya seorang ibu serta merta akan langsung hilang oleh kehangatan dan ketulusan yang dihadirkan oleh anak-anaknya. Dan saya yakin tidak mudah untuk mendidik anak menjadi anak yang baik budi dan mulia akhlaknya, tempat orang tuanya melepas penatnya. Terima kasih sudah memotivasi untuk berjuang membentuk keluarga kecil yang hangat dan tulus.

Sedikit kutipan dari bukunya :

Ibuk : Kirana, ibuk lagi sedih.

Kirana : Sedih? Ibuk sedih kenapa?

Ibuk : Ibuk kangen sama Ibuknya Ibuk...

Kirana : *puk puk puk ibuknya, senyum* Kan ada Kirana

Langsung berkaca-kaca bacanyaaaaaa

😭😭😭😭😭

6. How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin

Overall ini baguus. Ngajarin kita gimana caranya memulai pendekatan montessori untuk mendidik anak. Tapi, saya ngerasa agak susah fokus pas baca buku ini. Karena ga terlalu dikelompokan gituu pembahasannya, jadi saya suka bolak-balik halamannya untuk mengulang membaca informasi yang saya butuhkan.

Notes : tapi saya baca buku ini pas lagi hectic magang dan pasca melahirkan jadi emang jiwanya aja kali ya yang enggak fokus wkwkwk

7. Montessori Todler by Simon Davis

8. Montessori di Rumah Seri : 55 Kegiatan Stimulasi Bayi, 55 Keterampilan Hidup dan 55 Kegiatan Matematika by Elvina Lim Kusumo

9. Sehat Lezat by dr. Tiwi

Iniii bukunya bagus banget. Buat yang galau dan bingung sama apa yang bakal dilakukan pas babynya udah masuk 6 bulan, sila sila dibaca. Ini tuh tipe buku yang ruled by book (apa ya suka ngasal ngasi istilah). Intinya aturan baku mpasi itu ada semuanya disini. Mengenai feeding rules, informasi gizi dan jadwal makan. Lengkap banget pokonyaaa.

Tapi.... bukunya lumayan tebel, bahkan buat saya tipenya suka baca buku tebel aja effort banget baca ini. Halamannya juga gede-gede dan isinya tulisan haha kebayang gasi banyak bacaannya?

Luckily, this book comes with booklet. And this is my holygrail for MPASI. Karena ya semacam intisari dari bukunya gituloh. Lengkap, singkat, padat. Yang paling seneng tuh, jadwal mpasi jg dicantumkan disini. Untuk namatin bacanya pun ngehabisin waktu lama jadi ini selalu jadi acuan saya kalo misalnya sewaktu-waktu ragu akan suatu hal tinggal comot buku ini di meja. Recommended deh pokonya!

ps : saya juga udah pernah ketemu sama dr. Tiwinya sendiri dan enak banget diajak komunikasi :D

10. Rahasia Masa Kanak-Kanak by Maria Montessori

Ini recommended banget. 5 stars.

Reading list :

1. The Whole Brain Child

2. How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen - A Survival Guide to Life with Children Age 2 -7

3. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk

4. Absorbent Mind by Maria Montessori

5. No Bad Kids

6. 78 Resep MPASI dr. Meta

7. Tanya Jawab Nutrisi di 1000 Hari Pertama Kehidupan dr. Meta

8. Positive Discipline A to Z

9. Teach Me to Do It Myself

10. What to Expect the First Year

11. Montessori from the Start

[jessicafurseth]

Reading List, The Little Year double edition

“Nothing happens until something moves.” - Albert Einstein

[Image]

*

Letter of recommendation: Framing [Durga Chew-Bose, The New York Times]

Why we make resolutions, and why we fail [Maria Konnikova, The New Yorker]

In 2020, the internet was all wrong [Stella Bugbee, The Cut]

"Our brain is a planning and future-anticipating organ so we can experience loss not just about what has gone from our past or present but what has potentially gone from our future too." It's okay to grieve the time you have lost this year [Marisa Bate, Refinery29] 

"Simple, repetitive, semi-creative tasks like kneading dough and chopping dill are supposed to thaw us when we’re frozen with existential dread, to ground us in the tactile world, to give us a sense of power and control over the small universe of the cutting board and the stovetop. This makes sense, I know it’s true, and I guess I remember living it, and believing it. But lately it feels awfully far away. I don’t want to re-center myself by being mindful while I peel a head of garlic for the hundred-and-thirtieth day in a row." The joylessness of cooking in the pandemic [Helen Rosner, The New Yorker] 

"The hypnotic quality of ambient content creates a false sense that whatever it presents is a neutral condition, a common denominator, though it is decidedly not." On the rise of ambient TV [Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker]

What can hunter-gatherer societies teach us about work, time, and happiness? [Derek Thompson, The Atlantic]  

How the pandemic has rewired our brains [Paula Cocozza, The Guardian]

Turns out, ageing is pretty good [Xochitl Gonzalez, The Cut]

Why relief feels so good [Markham Heid, Elemental]

"It took divorce to make my marriage equal" [Lyz Lenz, Glamour] 

“She kept jamming the machine: The more stories broke about ‘bad’ things she did, the more people seemed to double down in her favour.” Thanks to 'The Crown', I finally understand Princess Diana [Lili Loofbourow, Slate] 

"Mister Rogers' enduring appeal" Luke and I watched the Tom Hanks film on Mister Rogers and it pierced through every ounce of cynicism [Tom Junod, The Atlantic]

Meet Erika Thompson, the internet's favourite beekeper [Ariel Knutson, The Kitchn]

"In a dating context, taking yourself seriously means knowing what you want and asking for it. Taking yourself seriously also translates as setting boundaries and maintaining them." I cannot stress this enough [Rachel Thompson, Mashable] 

The social life of forests [Ferris Jabr, The New York Times] 

On prenatal genetic testing and the future of Down Syndrome [Sarah Zhang, The Atlantic]

On reading Astrid Lindgren's wartime diaries [Rachael Maddux's Vanitas]

What if instead of calling people out, we called people in? [Jessica Bennett, The New York Times]

What does history smell like? [Sophie Haigeny, The New York Times]

The "You're Wrong About " podcast. Want to distract yourself  from all the high-stakes cr*p with some fantastically well-told tales about some things that don't much matter anymore, but are intriguing and will thoroughly hold your attention? This podcast has you covered - special mention to their rehabilitation programme of fallen women of the 90s. 

[sinsbymanka]

The Viscount’s Muse (NSFW, Smut Ahoy)

Post DAI - Maria Cadash finds the Viscount’s smut and gets... inspired. This can also be found at AO3! Smut is under the cut. Thank you @tuffypelly for the inspiration!

“Sod it all.” Maria mumbled under her breath, collapsing in Varric’s desk chair. It groaned as if it too thought the situation hopeless. 

“My lady?” The steward asked blandly, stopping his long recitation of matters needing her attention. 

“Sorry, keep going.” She waved him on, glaring at her husband’s desk. “The Comte de Launcet wants what again?” 

The steward continued his droning and Maria listened with only half an ear. Varric’s latest serial, The Murderous Magpie, had been more of a hit that anyone could have dreamed. His next Hard in Hightown, according to all the critics and a rabid fan base. Who couldn’t love a daring, rakish heroine from the streets framed for countless murders of mighty nobles by a shadowy faction with nefarious motives? 

It was transparently based on Bea Cadash of course, but beyond their little circle, nobody else had made the connection. Bea herself actually picked up a copy, read the whole damn thing,  then wrote a real honest-to-goodness letter critiquing it in detail. Maria herself usually got mere notes, laced with profanity, from Bea. A letter was nearly unheard of. 

So, of course, both Varric’s editor and publisher were breathing down his damn neck for the next chapter. Because her husband, of course, didn’t have enough things spinning on his many plates. Ruling the city, managing both their affairs with the guild, raising their daughter, making sure the little operation trying to track Solas down at the Gallows didn’t collapse while Maria vanished into the crossroads for months…

She’d been gone too long the last time she left. Poor Varric must have been drowning in it all. She swallowed the thought guiltily and brushed aside the neat stacks of papers on his desk impatiently. She promised she’d read it before he sent it off but she couldn’t sodding find it. She was about ready to push it to tomorrow when she seized upon a neat stack of Varric’s handwritten notes in a drawer.

She lifted them triumphantly and let her eyes scan the page. 

Mariele’s plump lips opened in greedy anticipation, silver eyes flashing dangerously beneath the black lace of her mask. Viktor already felt himself swelling to attention under her hungry, predatory gaze. She looked as if she’d swallow him whole. A lesser man would fall to her whims immediately… 

Oh for the love of Andraste and all their bleeding ancestors, Varric must have finally given into Cassandra’s urging to write the next chapter of Swords and Shields. Set in Orlais, by the sound of it. Amused, Maria flipped to the next page. 

Her nimble fingers undid his trousers before he could even protest and the bard dropped to her knees in a rustle of pale silk. The moonlight in the garden turned her skin to pearl and marble, turned her hair to flickering crimson flame. She released his heavy manhood into the night, wrapping slender fingers around it and letting her pink tongue dart out over those tempting, kiss swollen lips. 

Viktor couldn’t help himself. He dropped his hand to the bare shoulders exposed by the wispy gown, traced his thumb up the pale, white scars accenting her silken skin. 

“Mariele…” He shuddered under her expert fingers. “Sweet Andraste…” 

“Oh,” The beautiful creature purred. “But I’m so much sweeter.” 

Crimson hair. Silver eyes. Scars climbing up her shoulder. Mariele and Viktor. She wondered if she’d make it through the rest of the draft to find out Mariele only had one blighted arm after losing the other to freak elven magic shenanigans. 

“My lady?” The steward asked, taking in her sudden, frozen posture. “Is everything quite alright?” 

“Of course.” She answered mechanically. “Tell the Comte we can’t assist him at this time. Where is the Viscount at the moment?”

“Meeting with the shipbuilders guild, my lady. Then luncheon with some merchants from Antiva, contract negotiations with the city of Markham, and then you’ve both accepted an invitation to a dinner hosted by one of the Merchant Guild’s…” 

Perfect. She’d been considering cheerfully murdering him, witnesses be damned, but a Merchant’s Guild dinner would be far, far worse than death. “We haven’t sent our regrets about not attending yet?” 

“I believe your plan was to feign an emergency.” The steward remarked wryly. “Fire in the kitchens was next in your rotation of excuses.” 

“We’ll save that for the next one. Please send a note to my husband stating we’ll be attending the guild dinner. I’ll meet him there.”

“Are… are you certain?” The steward asked, agog. Maria shuffled all the papers in the drawer into a neat stack and leaned back in Varric’s chair. She lifted her eyes to the steward and raised one eyebrow. 

“Did I stutter?” She asked sweetly, the tone dripping honey and venom. 

“No! No, ma’am.” He added, gulping nervously. 

“And can you ask the Hawkes if they’ll keep my daughter for the evening? I think we’ll be returning late.” Maria lifted the first paper to her eyes in clear dismissal and watched with a rather large amount of amusement as the steward scuttled away. 

Varric, Varric, Varric… she thought with no small degree of hidden fondness. If this had made it to his publisher, she’d shave his chest hair off herself, but deep down she knew it hadn’t. He’d been naughty, though. That wasn’t in doubt. 

He’d missed her. So he’d written smutty literature starring them. She could already tell it was absolutely awful. And glorious. She couldn’t wait to tell Cass. 

xx

At first, Varric thought his wife had been kidnapped and the note sent under duress. After all, the only person who hated guild dinners as much as he did had to be Maria. After he’d managed to ascertain that, yes, she did indeed order the steward to send it, he’d assumed it was a joke.

Until he went searching for her and saw his finery laid out neatly on the bedspread, a command if he ever saw one. After that, he desperately tried to track her down, but as usual if Maria didn’t want to be found, nobody could find her. The only one who could, their precocious daughter, had already been shuffled to Hawke’s to spend the night. That, of course, meant Maria was indeed deadly serious about attending the guild dinner. 

With absolutely no other explanation offered, of course, because she was the most maddening woman he’d ever met. 

He took his time making it over to the quarter, showing up rather later than fashionable. Shocked, skeptical expressions latched onto him as soon as he entered the hall. Followed, immediately, by a bronto’s charge of dwarves in his direction. Complaints. Flattery. Threats. Varric reached for a glass of wine, immediately wished it was something stronger. He was going to absolutely murder Maria for putting him through this. Particularly since she was nowhere to be found. Clearly, she needed a distraction for something and decided this was the best one she could offer up. 

“The price of parchment is outrageous!” A dwarf growled, spittle catching at his beard as he worked himself into a proper frothing rage. “The tariffs at the harbor are bleeding us all dry. If you can’t allow free trade, I’ll…” 

“Surely the young mistress is getting a bit old to be unbetrothed.” A woman with elaborate, heavy braids sighed. “It isn’t good for a girl’s reputation to…” 

Their Sunshine was barely five and not for sale regardless. For the love of…

“There you are.” 

Oh thank fucking Andraste. Maria’s good arm slipped into the crook of his easily, her lips curved up in wicked, sinful amusement. “Having fun?” She asked, far too sweetly. 

He shot her a pained glare even as her mere presence caused everyone to wisely take one step back. Despite the elegant gown and the pretty braids in her hair, Maria’s every move screamed lethal grace. No guild seat or crown could ever quite make her reputable in the eyes of the very worst of Kirkwall. 

And tonight, apparently, Maria had no plans for appearing even slightly respectable. Her gown was nearly the same color as her hair, blazing ruby red among the dull, drab colors of the guild. It dipped scandalously low, displaying her cleavage with delicious perfection. The thin straps fell off her slender shoulders in wisps of chiffon. The silk bodice curved and clung to her wicked figure like a glove. 

Varric’s mouth went dry as he took her in and he nearly forgot how annoyed he was. Nearly. 

He dropped his lips to her ear and bit back the smug satsifaction at the nearly imperceptible shiver his breath sent through her. “This is not my idea of a good time, Princess.” 

She laughed, low and soft, the ripples sending heat right into his belly. “Come dance with me then.” She challenged, tossing her head back proudly. 

Anything to get away from this crowd of vultures, besides, he never could tell her no. “As my lady demands.” He smoothly slipped his other arm around her waist, admiring the way the silk warmed with the heat of her skin underneath it. The crowd around them parted with muttered, muted disappointment pierced with disapproving glares. 

The ballroom floor itself was full of nothing but awkward, gawking teenagers. After all, dancing was for the young. And humans, of course. Certainly not for respected members of the guild and their stolid, unimpressed wives. The ones Maria outshone without any effort. 

The youths scattered before them, ducklings before swans. Varric took Maria’s hand and stepped back, bowed over it, then placed a searing kiss on the back of her palm. Because he wanted to, (dammit he never could resist that red dress) he pressed another even more desperate one on her fingertips. 

Her lips tipped up, amused in spite of herself, and then she slipped into the space between his arms like she was meant to be there, like it was made only for her. Her hand rested lightly within his and she pressed her delectable breasts against the silk of his tunic. “There’s a disappointing number of buttons done up on this shirt, Varric.” She whined quietly. 

“Hey, you picked it. Thought you were trying to tell me to show some decorum.”

“Never.” She sighed happily. “How can I possibly flaunt you when you’re hiding your best assets?” 

He chuckled, squeezed her fingers within his and dropped his voice low. “For fucks sake, Maria, why are we here?” 

“We were invited.” She replied, gray eyes widening innocently in her face. “Ages ago, remember?” 

“I tend to block out those invitations. Makes them easier to ignore.” Varric’s fingers traced the stiff boning of the gown at the flare of her waist. “You’re not going native on me, are you?” 

“Dressed like this?” Maria asked, laughing as Varric spun her under his arm. He caught her securely and she pressed even more firmly against him, a predatory smile dancing on her lips. “The Guild wouldn’t even know what to do with me.” 

They never did. Fools, every single one of them. “You were awfully late arriving. Suspiciously late.” He pointed out.

“I was on time, actually.” She purred, delighted with herself. “You were the late one, serah. I took advantage of your appearance to extricate myself from a rather lascivious Master Dace and explore all the hidden little nooks and crannies in the garden.”

He groaned and dropped his face into the coiled braids framing her face. She smelled like honey, cloves, cinnamon. A unique and beguiling scent that clung to her no matter what. “So you sacrificed me to snoop around for something.” 

“In a manner of speaking.” She agreed, nuzzling into his neck, her breath warm against his jaw. “I read something very interesting today and this was the only way to get to the bottom of it while ensuring the guilty party squirmed a little.” 

“Nobody’s listening, Princess.” He chuckled and jabbed his chin at the empty dance floor and the disapproving crowd miles away. “Don’t spare the salacious details. I demand to be entertained if I’ve got to be shoved into this bucket of rats.” 

Maria hummed lightly under her breath, her smile wicked and sharp as diamonds out of the corner of his eye. The music stopped, but he tugged her more tightly to his form and waited for the next song to strum up. As soon as it, Maria lifted her lips to his ear. “I’ll try to remember what I read. You’ll have to make allowances if it’s not verbatim. It got me rather… hot under the collar.” 

Was it his imagination, or was there a slight, breathy undertone to that statement? It of course could mean that she’d been furious by whatever she’d discovered, some nasty little guild secret. Maria’s temper meant there was a pretty good chance he’d be needing to have blood cleaned up off of some surface… 

But when she purred the words, he pictured a rather different kind of heat. One well suited to the red dress she wore. 

“I was in the study upstairs.” Maria recounted quietly, little puffs of air against his overheated skin. “Looking for that next chapter of your serial, the one that definitely isn’t based on my sister. I never did find it.” 

“That’s because it’s on the desk in the library.” He supplied less than helpfully. 

“Good to know.” She laughed. “Instead… well, I’ll just tell you what I found at your desk.” 

He made a mental note that he needed to remind the messengers, again, that guild correspondence went right into the rubbish bin. “All ears, Princess.” 

“Let me think…” Maria trailed off, her thumb lightly tracing his palm as they glided smoothly, thoughtlessly, together. Easily in tune with each other, just the way they always were. “It started…”

He waited, eager and amused at her drawing it out. It had to be damn good if she was taking such care to tell the story. 

His amusement vanished almost instantly as the words began to pour from her lips, hot and filthy in her sultry, smoky voice. 

“Mariele had many a man in her time as a bard, surely. A woman of her exquisite beauty didn’t lack for lovers on cold, lonely nights. But Viktor was no fumbling knight. It had been years since he left his sinful, boisterous exploits behind him, but his deft, practiced fingers remembered exactly how to turn a beautiful woman into a puddle of pure, uncomplicated need…” 

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. 

“Forget the steps, Varric?” His wife teased dangerously as Varric very nearly stumbled to a stop in the middle of their dance. She took over leading, eyes sparkling with danger. “Your sinful, boisterous exploits a thing of the past?” 

He was a dead man walking. She’d brought him here to torture him before she shot him. Probably with his own crossbow. “I can explain.” He protested weakly. 

“I’m not done.” Maria’s imperious voice brooked no argument. “I forget the next part. But I clearly remember this bit…” 

He groaned, tried to beg her to stop, but she didn’t heed him at all. “Viktor nearly forgot what it felt like to have a nubile young lady on her knees, but Mariele could hardly be called a lady, particularly with his steel between her perfect, plump lips. ‘Is this what you wanted?’ Viktor asked, twisting his fingers in the crimson braids she wore. The only answer was Mariele’s pleased, throaty moan…” 

Maria twitched her hips to the side threateningly and Varric pressed hard up against her to hide the effect her words were having on his own cock. His filth spilling from her lips was… sweet Maker, he hadn’t known he could want her more than he usually did. “Maria…” 

“My favorite part went…” Maria paused and brought her lips closer to his ear until he could feel their feather light touch as she whispered. “Viktor ripped the delicate silk covering her glistening mound, too crazed by her teasing grin and wicked silver eyes to do anything but plunge his sword into her snug sheathe and…” 

His breath whooshed out, leaving him dizzy. His hands dug into the silk covering her hips and he struggled to think past the liquid arousal running through his blood. “How dead am I?” He asked weakly. He could feel her wicked grin against his neck. 

“What happened to no kissing and telling, Varric?” She asked lightly. “Does Cassandra really need to know about the birthmark on my…” 

“Fuck, it wasn’t for…” Varric couldn’t think. Her perfume was too heady, her eyes sparking, mouth curled up dangerously just the way he loved best, and he couldn’t stop thinking about his cock in her mouth, her warm wet heat… 

“It was just for you?” Maria’s words sent shivers up his spine and she untangled her hand from his to twist her fingers through his loose hair. “Your dirty little secret when I’m gone? Dreaming up what Mariele and Viktor get up to in elaborate Orlesian gardens…” 

“Yes.” He confessed as she rolled shamelessly against him. He could barely hear the music over the pure, screeching need thrumming in his veins. He missed her, Maker he missed her when she was gone. All he could do was spill out the things he wanted to do to her while he waited for her to come back and warm his heart, share their bed, send his entire life into chaos and…

She pulled away and beamed into his face, flushing prettily pink under her freckles. She traced her fingers from his neck, over his jaw, down his chest and hummed thoughtfully under her breath while her eyes sparkled with mirth and… 

Lust. An inferno of roaring lust. 

Maybe she’d kill him, but it would be the best kind of death. 

She twisted her fingers with his again and turned, hiding his bulging cock strategically with her skirts while she dragged him off the wooden dance floor. Varric chuckled breathlessly as he followed her right through the crowd. Several guild members attempted to approach, but thought better of it as the Viscount and his wife slipped into the evening air of the gardens. He couldn’t see her face, but he’d seen Maria march into enough battles to know exactly what it looked like. 

He wouldn’t get in her damn way either when she was a woman with one thing on her mind. 

Thank the damn Maker that one thing was him. 

She shoved him into a dark nook, one she’d clearly scoped out for this purpose alone. It was hidden by a tall hedge and the soaring walls of the mansion behind them. As soon as the shadows enveloped them, Varric reached for her like a man starving, pressed her hard against the stones looming above them. “Minx.” He growled against her lips. “You’re a menace, Maria. You brought me here just to…” 

She brought her one arm up to her generous bosom and pulled something from the bodice, something dark and…

Lace. A lace mask just like the one in his filthy smut. Varric’s cock doubled in size and he reached out with unsteady fingers to pluck it from hers. Her grin was as smug and self-satisfied as a cat who’d eaten a canary, but his imagination was already on fire. “Turn around, baby.” He directed softly. 

“Is Viktor rather bossy, then?” She asked, but she turned and he gently fit the mask over her eyes, tying it with a simple knot over her braids. He dropped his hand to gently run his knuckles down the line of her neck, lower over the dip of her spine. He dropped his mouth to kiss down her right shoulder, tracing the scars that were left there, the remaining marks of the anchor that nearly…

Nearly, he reminded himself. But she survived, she was here, and she was warm, willing, pliant under his large hands when they settled over her waist. She tipped her head to the side to look over her shoulder at him, silver eyes shining in the moonlight, framed to the best effect by the black lace just like he knew they would be. 

She fluttered her lashes, the perfect imitation of an Orlesian coquette, and smoothly turned, dropping to her knees in one sinuous motion. His stomach knotted itself as her fingers reached to undo his laces with one efficient tug. 

“And what information am I trying to seduce out of you, my lord?” She asked in an almost flawless Orlesian accent, ruined only by the hint of her reckless laugh under the surface. “I couldn’t quite glean…”

“I’ve got to admit, Princess.” He saw stars, fought to keep his voice even, as her nimble fingers circled his cock. “The plot was secondary.” 

“Oh really?” She stroked him with her one hand, nothing but a light, teasing touch. “You know, some people read for the plot and skip these steamy scenes.” 

Those people must not have a damn pulse, but before he could retort, her lips opened and the sheer anticipation made him groan, thoughts fleeing as his mind was erased by warm, wet, sweet, sweet bliss and…

“Shit.” He swore, one hand steadying himself on the stone above her, the other twisting in her elaborate braids. He watched her mouth stretch around his girth obscenely, her eyes flicking from the task at hand to meet his and hold them as she worked to take his cock into her mouth inch by torturously slow inch. 

The sight alone was almost enough to make him cum. He ran his thumb over her cheek, voice unsteady, praise falling from it effortlessly. “You’re so beautiful. I love my cock in your mouth, baby. Sweet Andraste, Maria…” 

She laughed, a little bubble of it that brought something warm and bright to life in his chest. She pulled back, cock slipping from her swollen lips, eyes wicked and teasing. “She may be sweet.” She answered pertly. “But I’m sweeter.” 

His cheesy line from his smutty story. He laughed as well, but it tapered off into another long moan as she resumed her work. She slid him almost to the hilt inside her mouth, fingers wrapping around the last inch or so she couldn’t quite fit, slicking him with her saliva as she began to bob her head. 

“Maker I miss this when you’re away.” He continued, watching with worshipful zeal as she licked and sucked. His voice trembled with lust and awe. “It’s all I can think about at night. All I want. It isn’t enough to imagine your lips around me, isn’t enough to think of warm and wet your sweet cunt gets…”

She moaned around his length and the vibrations had him seeing stars. He curled his hand against the stone into a fist and watched her, the great rise and fall of her chest, her shining eyes on his framed by the sexy black lace. She sucked eagerly and his heart thumped unsteadily, liquid heat pooling in his groin. He tugged gently at her braids. “I want you. I want all of you, Maria baby please…” 

The wicked glint in her eyes resurfaced and she hummed around his length. Varric’s hips bucked in spite of himself and he tried, valiantly, to fight the urge to do it again and again until he spilled down her throat. She was ruthlessly driving him insane, playing into his fantasies, his desires, and he couldn’t…

She squirmed, shifting on her knees, and Varric knew she had to be as affected as he was, knew she had to be as needy and desperate. Perhaps more, in fact, since she’d been planning this little encounter all damn day without his knowledge. If Varric thought this would happen every time they came to one of these dinners… 

“Did you touch yourself?” He asked in a low growl. “Reading all that smut, knowing how bad I wanted you, what I wanted to do to you? How hot under the collar did it make you, Princess?” 

He could just picture her on their bed, legs spread, ass in the air and fingers dancing between her legs while she brought herself off to his words. 

She pulled off of him with an obscene plop, her lips shimmering with saliva, his cock shining the same way. She smirked up at him, that crooked little smile that belonged only to him. “Maybe a little.” 

Too far gone to be gentle, he grabbed her by the upper arms and hauled her to her feet, shoving her roughly back against the hard stone. Her fingers grabbed for the fasteners of his tunic, undoing them, sending at least one of them snapping, a button falling to the ground as she whimpered, his mouth devouring hers. She nipped his lip in sweet revenge and he began to pull up her skirts, rucking them around her hips and lifting her by her spread thighs. 

“Yes.” She keened, nails gouging his shoulder as she arched her back, pressing the creamy tops of her breasts to his greedy mouth. He wanted them out of the bodice, wanted her naked and in their bed begging for him as a fair turnabout for this little trick, but first…

First, he was going to fuck her thoroughly against this wall. 

His fingers felt the sopping wet lace of her smalls and tore through them in a moment, the shredded fabric falling in pieces to the grass. She laughed again, but he captured it with his mouth and her arm twisted around his neck, holding him to her as he thrust smoothly inside her. 

Her cunt clenched down on him, muscles rippling with his sudden entrance, but her thighs curved around his waist, scrabbling for purchase, the hard heels of her boots urging him on as they pressed against the small of his back. 

“Tease.” He growled, moving from her lips to nip lightly at her exposed throat as he started a bruising pace, making sure to thrust right into the spot he knew she loved so much. “Wanton little…” 

“You love it.” She bit the lobe of his ear. “And you deserve it. Writing that terrible, amazing smutty…” 

One particularly brutal thrust made her words drop away into a pure, animal moan of need, one that changed into his name as he tightened his grip on her ass. “Strong criticism from someone who wanted to reenact it.” 

She giggled, caught out, pressing an almost sugary kiss to his jaw. “I had a thing for Viktor.” 

Be still his heart. This woman. This amazing, wonderful, insane woman of his. He captured her lips with his own again, tenderly this time, even as his furious pace continued and Maria shuddered in his arms, muscles tightening, body going rigid. 

“Wait.” He muttered against her lips, liquid heat pooling in his spine. “Wait, baby. Wait for me, please Maria…” 

“Varric…” She half sobbed his name in desperation, but that was all it took. His movements became stiff, wooden, his cock swelling inside her. This tipped her over the edge and she half wailed her approval, milking him of his seed and burying her head into his shoulders, trembling against him. He thrust deep one final time and pressed his lips against her temple, mind going hazy at the edges as he spent inside her welcoming body. 

He lowered Maria back to the ground, both of them leaning against each other, too drained to stand. The garden was quiet. No sound but their ragged breathing. Varric wondered exactly how many of the Merchant’s Guild illustrious members had heard them. At least, he thought smugly, it had been a fine performance. 

And since they’d made a brief appearance at an event, they were free and clear of the guild for months.

“Do you think they’ll finally kick us both out?” Maria asked quietly with a satisfied giggle. 

Varric huffed weakly in return. “Doubtful. They’d never risk making us so damn happy. Poor Sunshine’s gonna inherit both those seats and spend the rest of her days cursing us both.” 

Varric bent to retrieve the scraps of lace on the ground, but she stopped him. “Don’t.” She ordered, eyes shimmering with mischief. “Leave them. I want to hear about their reaction tomorrow.” 

He laughed and settled on doing his trousers back up while she leaned against him, unsteady as a drunk. He kissed her forehead sweetly and wrapped his arm around her waist. 

“I unlocked the gate back here.” Maria snuggled into his shoulder. “And I told the kitchen staff to leave the side entrance open.” 

“You think of everything.” Varric murmured, smoothing her gown back over her hips. 

“Not everything.” Maria smirked in the moonlight, rightfully smug. “This was, after all, your idea.” 

Varric softened, pulling her tightly to his side as they wandered down the pristine garden paths in the darkness.  “But you, as always, are my muse.”

[love-only-exists-in-books]

I know which life is my real one now, no matter what happens. It’s the one with you. For some reason, knowing that even one person knows my story makes things different. Maybe it’s like the poem says. Maybe this is my way of not going gentle. I love you.

Ky Markham to Cassia Maria Reyes Allie Condie: Matched

[soracities]

i absolutely adore you and your blog! do you have any recommendations (besides your posts obviously) for a beginner, like what would be the the books/poems/collections etc you think everyone should read? thank you!

I have no idea when this was sent so I’m very, very sorry for how late this is.

As far as recommendations go, I’m very, very careful about “should read” – it is  highly nebulous and entirely subjective territory and it really depends on what exactly it is you’re looking for–I took it as gospel when I was younger and a lot of my early experiences with the literary canon were incredibly unfulfilling (and also, very isolating) as a result. I don’t know what you’re into, either, so I can really only give you what I’ve loved or learned most from which is definitely not a prescriptive ‘should’.

In any case, I made a previous list here that I hope helps, at least as a starting point. It focuses on works of classic fiction (both older and contemporary) which might be a good place to begin with, but if you’d prefer something more specific just let me know and I’ll try my best.

For poetry, I think anthologies are probably the easiest way to discover and build your own tastes because they’re so varied, so maybe try the following:

A Book of Luminous Things (ed. Czesław Miłosz )

Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times (ed. Neil Astley)

The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry (ed. Ilya Kaminsy)

Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English (ed. Reina Whaitiri, Albert Wendt, Robert Sullivan)

The Poetry of Arab Women (ed. Nathalie Handal)

Hinterland: Caribbean Poetry from the West Indies and Britain (ed. E.A. Markham)

The various volumes of the Oxford and Norton Anthologies might also be useful

And as for individual collections and non-fiction, I think the following are all worth a look–it’s far from exhaustive (and like I said, I have no idea what you like at all), but they’re the ones I started with / found most accessible (either in terms of style or substance or just general feeling), so hopefully you might find something you like too, or at least find paths you can branch off from:

Poetry (collections)

Sonnets and Elegies (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Leaves of Grass (Walt Whitman)

Crush (Richard Siken)

Where the Sidewalk Ends (Shel Silverstein)

Bright Dead Things, Ada Limón

The Captain’s Verses / Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (Pablo Neruda)

The Essential Haiku, Versions of Basho, Buson and Issa (ed. and trans. Robert Hass)

The Trouble with Poetry (Billy Collins)

What the Living Do (Marie Howe)

Loose Woman (Sandra Cisneros)

The Wild Iris / Averno (Louise Glück)  

Wild Geese: Selected Poems (Mary Oliver)

The Black Unicorn (Audre Lorde)

The Dream of a Common Language (Adrienne Rich)

The World’s Wife / Rapture (Carol Ann Duffy)

What Is This Thing Called Love? / Tell Me (Kim Addonizio)

The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu

Selected Poems (Nizar Qabbani)

100 Poems (e.e. cummings)

Without an Alphabet, Without a Face (Saadi Youssef)

A Tree Within (Octavio Paz)

Almond Blossoms and Beyond / Memory for Forgetfulness: August, Beirut, 1982 (Mahmoud Darwish)

Selected Poems / Songs and Ballads (Lorca)

Rose (Li-Young Lee)

The Cinnamon Peeler: Poems (Michael Ondaatje)

Poems and Prose (Christina Rossetti)

Helen of Troy (Sara Teasdale)

Bride of Ice (Marina Tsvetaeva)

Collected Poems (Langston Hughes)

Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (Emily Dickinson)

Collected Poems (Anna Akhmatova)

Collected Poems (Sylvia Plath)

Collected Poems (Lucille Clifton)

The War Poets (the most famous: Wilfred Owen  / Siegfried Sassoon, but maybe try Sidney Keyes if you can find him)

The Romantics (Keats / Shelley / Wordsworth / Coleridge / Byron / Blake)

Essays and other non-fiction:

Letters to a Young Poet (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Upstream (Mary Oliver)

Ways of Seeing (John Berger)

Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays (Zadie Smith)

A Field Guide to Getting Lost / The Faraway Nearby (Rebecca Solnit)

Sister Outsider: Essays (Audre Lorde)

The Fire Next Time / Notes of a Native Son (James Baldwin–or honestly, anything by him)

Reborn: Journals and Notebooks / As Consciousness Is Harnessed into Flesh: Journals and Notebooks (Susan Sontag–and if that settles well maybe her essays afterwards)

A Room of One’s Own (Virginia Woolf)

Plainwater: Essays and Poetry (Anne Carson)

The Souls of Black Folk (W. E. B. Du Bois)

Like I said, this is by no means exhaustive, and I’m not big into ‘should’ ( if anyone has more recommendations though please add them on!). At the end of the day, I think literature is a deeply personal experience and you ought to feel free to follow it wherever it takes you. If you want to gain better literary fluency or a deeper of understanding of a time period/art movement/culture then that’s a completely different thing, of course, but otherwise my best advice is to just feel your way through it and follow what resonates most with you. My only real ‘should’ is to read as widely and freely as you can, search out voices that don’t sound like yours or whose worlds are completely different to the one you live in, and to find what comforts you, what confronts you (equally important), what makes you question and what gives you answers and also, more than anything else, what you enjoy.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Happy reading, anon x

[verdigrisdeep]

Nine people I’d like to know better

Thanks for tagging me @incurablescribbler​

1.) Favourite Colour(s): Dark blue ( midnight blue), Dark red, black and purple

2.) Top 3 Favourite Ships: Jaime and Brienne, Betty and Daniel (Ugly Betty), Helen Huntingdon and Gilbert Markham (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)

3.) Lipstick or chapstick: Neither, vaseline petroleum jelly is better for me

4.) Last Song: Taisetsuna na mono by Yoshida Jungo (from Kyo Kara Maoh season 3)

5.) Last Movie: Kill Bill Volume 1 & 2

6.) Currently Reading: Unfinished Tales by Tolkien, Maria-sama Ga Miteru light novels by Konno Oyuki and Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Tagging the following wonderful people: @captain-americas-assbutt, @hardlyfatal