WRITING CULTURE 2012: Film, Food & Beyond

Emma
Photo Credit: © 2012 Kari Whitehead Photography. Emma’s Facebook Page.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein

A lot of the times the world is a hard place to survive in. As a college (read: stressed out) student I am always looking for inspiration and anything that will let me know the world is actually a great place to live in. Today, I found a little piece of world goodness in Emma Whitehead and her heroic story.

Picturing a 7 year old usually means imagining dolls, cool rollerblades, and the typical “but I really  need (insert toy name here)“. Emma is a beautiful 7 year old girl who, unfortunately, has spent more time in the hospital than in Toysrus. She’s not your typical 7 year old because she’s extraordinary.

Why #CoolKidsRead this: It’s beyond amazing to see a warrior, and someone with so many desires to live, at such a young age. Emma is a girl who fell asleep being 6 years old and woke up being 7 years old a week later, hopefully with leukemia forever in her past.

Check out NYT article on Emma and how her own T-Cells turned her life around.

The Holidays are stressful. In a perfect world there’s no Holiday Stress just snow, hot cocoa and Michael Bublé’s Holiday album.  And, yet, despite my wishful thinking all I get on the East Coast is 60 degree weather piled on by stress.

If you’re a post-grad you’re probably stressed about the Holidays (i.e.. Can I ask for rent money for Christmas?), if you’re college student your thoughts are revolving around finals and whether you have enough Ramen noodles to last you through the week, and if you’re younger than that you’re probably traumatized at the fact that Taylor Swift is dating 1/5 of One Direction (the Harry 1/5).

Well, if this isn’t a time for a much needed laugh I don’t know when is. Today’s laugh comes courtesy of an amazingly hilarious Conan O’Brien penned Vanity Fair piece.

#CoolKidsRead this because, I mean, for one it’s Conan O’Brien. Also, sometimes you just need a good natured laugh about the end of the world and how stand up comedians take a huge part in it. 

Check out Conan O’Brien’s Vanity Fair piece here.

Given the quote on the top of the page, it seemed only right that my first blog post try to persuade you to read The Fault In Our Stars. 

Here’s the thing. I know what you’re going to say…that it’s a young adult book. Technically, it is. If you search the book on Barnes & Noble it’s teen fiction, on Google it’s young adult literature, and on Amazon it’s 14 and up. Just consider yourself in the ‘up’ category, you won’t regret it.

I consider myself a YA expert (Sarah Dessen, anyone?), I love to read them and find nothing wrong with it, but given my expertise I feel obligated to tell you: this is not just a young adult book. The Fault In Our Stars is so much more. It was the first John Green book I picked up and I didn’t put it down until it was done. That has to say something right? 

Well, here’s my 60 second pitch on why you should really, really, really, pick up this book.

#CoolKidsRead this because it’s a story about people going through a whole lot and doing it with enough wit and laughs that you don’t feel like you need a bowl of ice cream to cry into while their story is told.