blog life
It's funny how, even when you been out of school as long as I have, September is always a time of new beginnings. Whether it's the start of a new fiscal year or a new solar year, like it is for me, since my birthday is in late August, or just that natural sense of renewal that comes with the beginning of each new season. This year, I'm celebrating another kind of new beginning with a brand new web site, hosted on Squarespace.
Talking about the generations
I've been listening to The Fourth Turning is Here (2023), an audiobook by Neil Howe, who co-wrote the bestselling book Generations (1991) with William Strauss. The pair wrote a few other books together but Generations is the most well-known. In it they described their theory of recurring generational cycles in American and Western history.
Pinktober 2024
This year I'm going to be joining a tradition started in 2009 by artist Jake Parker, which you can read all about at Inktober.com. Jake Parker started Inktober to challenge himself to grow his drawing and inking skills and to improve his discipline, since the heart of the challenge is 31 days, 31 drawings.
The Astrology of LOST
The classic TV series LOST premiered 20 years ago, in 2004. This week, we're doing a deep dive into the speculative astrology behind some of the most beloved (and in some cases, reviled) characters in television history.
Fear and Coasting
Wow, is there anything less clickbait-y than existential dread? This one is probably just for me, but here we go... I've been reading Cintra Wilson's substack, Cintra Wilson Feels Your Pain, after recently rediscovering her for the third time in my life.
The Astrology of Friends
I recently had the opportunity to record a couple of fun episodes of the Starzology podcast with a couple of excellent guests, exploring the speculative astrology of two classic TV shows, Friends (1994-2004) and LOST (2004-2010). You can listen right now to the Astrology of Friends, featuring me, my mother Sionanne O'Neill and our good friend, Bo Wutzke.
From introvert to interviewer
Everyone is interesting, you just have to ask the right questions. I came to this realization about 20 years ago when I joined what seemed to me at the time a huge software company of around 150 people. Over the decade that I worked there, I was their sole internal communication specialist, newsletter writer and resident interviewer of everyone from the mailroom to the CEO.
Book Tour: The Love Shelf
A couple of nights ago my partner and I were in the dairy aisle of the grocery store shopping for ingredients for dinner when the lady in front of us turned around, took us in from head to toe and exclaimed, "Oh my god, you guys have amazing energy. You're going to grow old together. I can see it. I'm psychic."
Annie Jacobsen: The Devil is in the Details
One of my favorite authors is Annie Jacobsen. For anyone who doesn't know her work, she's an American investigative journalist and author as well as a 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist and television writer. She was recently interviewed by Joe Rogan about her latest book, Nuclear War: A Scenario. She was previously interviewed on his show in 2019 about her other books, and she has also appeared on the Lex Fridman podcast as well as many others.
Politics and propaganda
I've gone through a couple of extreme phases of caring and not caring about politics and the state of the world. I was raised by idealistic hippies, one of whom fled the United States during the Vietnam war to protest the draft and as a result I was born in Canada but raised partially in the United States.
The Mind and the Brain
I'm absolutely fascinated by how the human brain works, and many of the books I own are some variation on this theme, from Malcolm Gladwell to V.S. Ramachandran, Oliver Sacks, Jill Bolte Taylor and a myriad of other doctors, historians, scientists and popular science writers.
An ode to certain '80s excesses
Continuing my book shelf tour, this week brings us to the first shelf containing graphic novels. There are several such books on my shelves, mostly X-Men or related titles, like the excellent Elektra Assassin, about which I still harbor dark fantasies that one day some brave filmmaker will take up the challenge of bringing this cult classic to the big screen (or streaming, I’m fine either way).
I heart New York
Continuing the tour of my bookshelves, we’ve reached the grey shelf, and one of the standouts for me here is a huge, gorgeous coffee table book called New York: Portrait of a City by Reuel Golden, which chronicles the history of NYC from its very beginnings to just after September 11, 2001. The photos are nothing short of incredible, and when Rodger brought it home for me over a decade ago, it made me fall even more deeply in love with the city that at that point, I had never seen in person.
Books, part 2: the Power of Personality
Although most of the books I read these days are audiobooks, certain types of information are just better consumed visually; obviously graphic novels and art books, but also astrology. My collection of astrology books dates back to the first one I ever bought at the age of 12, which was Linda Goodman's Love Signs.
Book tour, part 1: Nostalgia
Anyone who knows me, or listens to the Starzology podcast, knows I read a lot of books. These days, it's mostly audiobooks from the library (shout out the Libby app!) so I can listen to them while I'm doing other things... skating, biking, shopping, working out or trying to fall asleep.
How I became a roller girl
Like many kids who grew up in the '80s, I learned to roller skate around the age of 10. My first pair of skates were several sizes too big for me, purchased at a yard sale in Sedona, Arizona. They were stiff white leather like figure skates, with no stoppers, and hard wheels that made a sound like gravel being pulverized, but I loved them.
Iara, Brazil's mythical enchantresses
In Brazilian folklore, Iara, also known as Uiara or Yara, is a captivating and enchanting figure associated with water, particularly rivers and streams. She is often depicted as a beautiful, seductive mermaid or water nymph with long, flowing hair and enchanting eyes.
Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt
Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt, twin sister of Apollo and daughter of Zeus and Leto. She rules the moon and childbirth, motherhood and virginity, wild animals and hunters. She is best known for her association with the wilderness.
History's hotties: an irreverent list
Beauty has a powerful effect on the human nervous system. Although beauty neither shelters nor nourishes us in any literal sense, the primitive human desire to seek it out, possess it and create it is undeniable, among the most deeply ingrained of psychological drives.
Blodeuwedd, Welsh goddess of Spring
Blodeuwedd is the Welsh goddess of Spring, created by the sorcerer Gwydion and his brother Math. Her name means "flower face," reflecting her origin and nature. She was crafted from the blossoms of wild flowers oak, broom, and meadowsweet and brought to life to serve as the wife of Lleu, Gwydion's nephew, circumventing his mother's curse that he would never marry a mortal woman.