Sunday 5 February 2017

January to February: New Year's Reprieve

Dear all,

It feels strange to write on the first day of February about January, but that's what it has become. Things have been through more transition, which has bumped forward some tasks. That's how life seems sometimes. We make great plans for ourselves, only to find some cosmic force wants to prevent us from staying on track. So what does it all mean? Are we destined never to change?

I recently pondered what it means to create and follow our New Years resolutions. Does anyone ever follow them? What does it mean if we fail? It became the topic of this month's lead article, New Year's Reprieve. We are so quick to judge ourselves, that if we didn't succeed, it must be our failure as human beings. In essence, it could be, but the reason is not one to reprimand ourselves, only learn, re-evaulate and re-develop our motivation and maintenance of the journey. This month I wanted to feature the idea that being competent is not about who we COULD be or SHOULD be in order to be powerful enough to solve all our problems, or complete all our tasks. Instead, I wanted to talk about the strengths in choice, reducing knee-jerk reactions and avoid the fantasism we often fall into. You don't have to be a warrior to win a battle.
Article at: http://wesaytheysay.com/?id=214

The other articles we are featuring this month are:

The Pregnancy Project
This story is a few years old, but it never ceases to make you wonder how much power one person can have. Gabby Rodriguez was a girl on a mission - she just didn't know how far her plan would go. What started out a project for her social science class ended up a nation-wide, world-wide consideration. Being of Latin background, she was sick of hearing that she'd end up pregnant before college, and decided to confront the biases that existed. Her goal was to fake a pregnancy and document the change of opinions she faced within her community. What became blatantly obvious was that those around her became her boundaries, not just the "impending pregnancy" itself. The result became an American-wide acknowledgement of the negative contexts that pregnant teenagers face.
Article at: http://wesaytheysay.com/?id=148

Weight Loss Joke Loses Support
With all the fads and diet plans out there, it was only time before a satirical book came out to mock them all. However, it was not regarded as amusing as the author planned. He soon found himself amongst all sort of haters who thought the book was serious. So is humour with limits? Are weight and diet jokes really the faux pas? Where do we have to show care in how we present humour? I sought to find out.
Article at: http://wesaytheysay.com/?id=204

One month into the new year makes me wonder what the rest of the year will bring. Will there be new shining lights, or the same daily interactions we're used to? Only time will tell. Closing January, ready to start February, the month of romanticism, and the hope of April's chocolate endeavours.

My best wishes for the coming month,

The editor.