organisation
personal entries
stem posts
literature posts
languages posts
general application advice
DEAR READER
sheepfilms
todays bird

Andulka
art blog(derogatory)
Monterey Bay Aquarium

roma★
No title available

@theartofmadeline

★
will byers stan first human second

Discoholic 🪩
dirt enthusiast
noise dept.
d e v o n
hello vonnie
RMH
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Aqua Utopia|海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
taylor price

seen from United Kingdom

seen from Malaysia

seen from T1

seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from Netherlands

seen from Germany

seen from Malaysia

seen from Germany

seen from United Kingdom

seen from Singapore

seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia

seen from Germany

seen from Malaysia

seen from Malaysia
seen from Austria

seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
@neuropharmarchive
organisation
personal entries
stem posts
literature posts
languages posts
general application advice
easiest way to write a paper on literally anything :
1. leave your intro and conclusion for the end, I mean it don’t try to write your intro until the end, just trust me.
2. figure out your main point and get at least three defensible (credible) reasons to argue that point.
3. start your body like this:
introduce what you’re gonna say. Provide evidence (citation). Connect it to the bigger picture. Show your understanding. [add in transitions for fluff]
-> sentences for each if you need your paper short, paragraphs for each of you need your paper long
4. then rinse and repeat
5. need to add in other sections like a rebuttal or gaps in the literature? do the same paragraph format :
intro sentence. main discussion (citations as needed). connection to bigger picture. show your understanding.
6. now write your intro :
first get the readers attention, idc how just hook em. what the hell are you talking about? why does it matter beyond your main point? what do you want the reader to be thinking about as they read your paper? what is your main point? summarize your evidence.
-> again sentences = short, paragraphs = long & transition statements for fluff.
7. the conclusion is basically the introduction but ordered differently and use different wording - you can literally just copy and paste what you wrote in the intro, use a thesaurus and rewrite it.
What the hell were you talking about? what evidence did you give? what was your main point? why does it matter in a broader scope? What did you want the reader to think about?
Language Apps Suck, Now What?: A Guide to Actually Becoming "Fluent"
The much requested sequel to my DL post that was promised almost a year ago.
I'm going to address all of the techniques that have helped me in my language learning journeys. Since 95% of these came from the fact that in a past language learning mistake, they are titled as my mistakes (and how I would/did things differently going forward). For those that read to the bottom there is a "best universal resources" list.
Disclaimers:
"Fluency" is hard to define and everyone has their own goals. So for the purpose of this post, "fluency" will be defined as "your personal mastery target of the language".
If you just want to pick up a bit of a language to not sound like a total foreigner on vacation or just exchange a few words in a friend's native language, feel free to ignore what doesn't apply, but maybe something here could help make it a little easier.
This is based on my own personal experience and (some) research.
hi, i made a database on notion of a bunch of resources, online archives, journals and so on i frequently use for research!!
not all of these are open access/free, and some might be through a library membership (but most are open access) but the idea of this was more to get the names and links of resources in one place so things don't slip through the cracks
it's a work in progress and i'll keep adding more as i find them/think of them but in the meantime here we are
Tales of Times Forgotten articles on ancient polytheism, atheism, witchcraft, Christianity, & other historical topics everyone should read
Misconceptions about the Witch-Trials
Debunking the So-Called “Dark Ages”
Was Giordano Bruno Really a “Martyr for Science”?
Who Was The First God?
Did Ancient “Pagans” Really Worship Nature?
Was the “Green Man” Really an Ancient Pagan Deity?
Misconceptions about the Library of Alexandria
Modern Stereotypes About Ancient Civilizations
Ancient Greek Misogyny
Why Did The Patriarchal Greeks And Romans Worship Such Powerful Goddesses?
Did the Ancient Greeks Really Believe in Their Myths?
Did the Ancient Greeks Ever Climb Mount Olympos?
What Evidence Is There for Atheism in Ancient Greece?
No, the Romans Did Not Just “Steal” All the Greek Deities
What Was the Conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity Really Like?
Things That Did Not Cause the Fall of the Roman Empire
No, Transgender People Are Not a Sign of Cultural Collapse
Christian Adaptation of Pagan Iconography
Greek Writers Quoted in the New Testament
No, the Christian Cross Is Not Based on the Egyptian Ankh
Just How Pagan Is Christmas Really?
No, Santa Claus Is Not Inspired by Odin
The Long, Strange, Fascinating History of Santa Claus
The Origins of the Christmas Tree
The Not-So-Pagan Origins of Easter
No, Easter Is Not Named After Ishtar
No, Groundhog Day Is Not of Ancient Pagan Origin
Here’s How We Know the Canonical Gospels Were Originally Anonymous
Lucifer Is Not a Name for Satan!
Was Jesus Copied Off the Egyptian God Horus?
Was Jesus a Communist?
What Does the Genesis Creation Story Mean?
Is Everyone Really Born an Atheist?
No, There Isn’t a Conspiracy to “Hide the Truth” about Ancient History
Who Are The Illuminati Really?
The Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis Is Racist and Harmful
The Truth about Atlantis
What Do Conservatives Really Mean When They Talk about “Western Civilization”?
The "Hero's Journey" is Nonsense
Jordan Peterson Does Not Understand Mythology
Jordan Peterson Does Not Understand Ancient Languages
No, Public Universities Aren’t Dominated by Evil Atheist Professors Seeking to Destroy Students’ Faith
frgive me if u've posted abt it before, tumblr search and all, but do u have any advice for finding cool stuff on the archive? like any tricks for searching keywords or smthn? i've been wanting to look into disability on the early web :)
when using the search bar, try plugging things in using these:
creator:"CREATOR HERE" or subject:"SUBJECT HERE" will bring you specific results. there are also subject tags in the sidebar here:
through using these filters you can really narrow down subject matter/material.
for your topic, you could search subject:"disability" or "disability studies" etc.
also, if you know any particular scholars who talk about this stuff, you can put creator:"AUTHOR NAME" or author:"AUTHOR NAME".
here's a link to the tag (disability studies) pictured in the above screenshot
narrowing down by year might be helpful for you particularly, looking at things from the 90s will give you a perspective on early internet age takes on disability...etc
also, next to the search bar is a 'favorite' button–to bookmark your page or the collection you're viewing, hit that, then you can view it later in your account...yayyy
ANOTHER WAY is to use a searchbar like google/duckduckgo/etc
by plugging in the "site:archive.org" after my search query i filter my results.
OKAY hopefully that is helpful
refseek.com
www.worldcat.org/
link.springer.com
http://bioline.org.br/
repec.org
science.gov
pdfdrive.com
Japanese Language Reading Resources
I needed to put all my reading resources in one place lol
Tadoku - free books from beginner to advanced aimed at language learners. The books from level 0 - 4 contain furigana.
YomuJP - More free japanese graded reading material. N6 is the easiest and N1 is the hardest. Contains audio, furigana and pictures.
Jgrpg Sakura - Japanese graded reading material. You need to create an account first though
Watanoc - Web magazine aimed at language learners in easy japanese. N5-N3. Contains audio, pictures and you can hover over unknown words to reveal the meaning.
Soseki Product - This website is dedicated to the works of Natsume Sōseki and it's also aimed at language learners so there's furigana, audio and translation. These novels are from the 1900s so it might be a bit difficult but I think it's really fun
MeikaSensei - Blog posts aimed at beginners. There's beginner versions and intermediate versions of the same post. Contains furigana
Bunsuke - Contains excerpts from books with translations and vocabulary lists. Also has links to the books used. Made by a fellow language learner :)
Ehon - Picture books aimed for 0-6 year olds. Doesn't seem to contain kanji. Some books contain audio
Lingual ninja - This website is for learning hiragana/katakana/grammar/vocab/kanji but it also has a folktales section that contains audio, vocab lists and optional furigana. There's also youtube videos of each story available
yomou syosetu - Over a million free novels! I believe a lot of it is user-submitted works
Syosetsu - Similar to the above.
Bookwalker (jp) - You can read the first few volumes of manga for free here. There's also light novels and doujinshi
Aozora Bunko - digital library that contains a lot of out of copyright books
Note - User submitted posts about various topics
Easy NHK News - News in easy japanese. Contains furigana.
NHK News - The news. In Japanese
Apps
Pibo - Picture books aimed at children
Todaii - Aimed at language learners. News with furigana and pop up dictionary.
Satori Reader - Paid
Yomu Yomu - First 3 chapters are free on every story
If you have any more recommendations, tell me!
Things I look for in history books:
🟩 Green flags - probably solid 🟩
Has the book been published recently? Old books can still be useful, but it's good to have more current scholarship when you can.
The author is either a historian (usually a professor somewhere), or in a closely related field. Or if not, they clearly state that they are not a historian, and encourage you to check out more scholarly sources as well.
The author cites their sources often. Not just in the bibliography, I mean footnotes/endnotes at least a few times per page, so you can tell where specific ideas came from. (Introductions and conclusions don't need so many citations.)
They include both ancient and recent sources.
They talk about archaeology, coins and other physical items, not just book sources.
They talk about the gaps in our knowledge, and where historians disagree.
They talk about how historians' views have evolved over time. Including biases like sexism, Eurocentrism, biased source materials, and how each generation's current events influenced their views of history.
The author clearly distinguishes between what's in the historical record, versus what the author thinks or speculates. You should be able to tell what's evidence, and what's just their opinion.
(I personally like authors who are opinionated, and self-aware enough to acknowledge when they're being biased, more than those who try to be perfectly objective. The book is usually more fun that way. But that's just my personal taste.)
Extra special green flag if the author talks about scholars who disagree with their perspective and shows the reader where they can read those other viewpoints.
There's a "further reading" section where they recommend books and articles to learn more.
🟨 Yellow flags - be cautious, and check the book against more reliable ones 🟨
No citations or references, or references only listed at the end of a chapter or book.
The author is not a historian, classicist or in a related field, and does not make this clear in the text.
When you look up the book, you don't find any other historians recommending or citing it, and it's not because the book is very new.
Ancient sources like Suetonius are taken at face value, without considering those sources' bias or historical context.
You spot errors the author or editor really should've caught.
🟥 Red flags - beware of propaganda or bullshit 🟥
The author has a politically charged career (e.g. controversial radio host, politician or activist) and historical figures in the book seem to fit the same political paradigm the author uses for current events.
Most historians think the book is crap.
Historical figures portrayed as entirely heroic or villainous.
Historical peoples are portrayed as generally stupid, dirty, or uncaring.
The author romanticizes history or argues there has been a "cultural decline" since then. Author may seem weirdly angry or bitter about modern culture considering that this is supposed to be a history book.
The author treats "moral decline" or "degeneracy" as actual cultural forces that shape history. These and the previous point are often reactionary dogwhistles.
The author attributes complex problems to a single bad group of people. This, too, is often a cover for conspiracy theories, xenophobia, antisemitism, or other reactionary thinking. It can happen with both left-wing and right-wing authors. Real history is the product of many interacting forces, even random chance.
The author attempts to justify awful things like genocide, imperialism, slavery, or rape. Explaining why they happened is fine, but trying to present them as good or "not that bad" is a problem.
Stereotypes for an entire nation or culture's personality and values. While some generalizations may be unavoidable when you have limited space to explain something, groups of people should not be treated as monoliths.
The author seems to project modern politics onto much earlier eras. Sometimes, mentioning a few similarities can help illustrate a point, but the author should also point out the limits of those parallels. Assigning historical figures to modern political ideologies is usually misleading, and at worst, it can be outright propaganda.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. "Big theory" books like Guns, Germs and Steel often resort to cherry-picking and making errors because it's incredibly hard for one author to understand all the relevant evidence. Others, like 1421, may attempt to overturn the historical consensus but end up misusing some very sparse or ambiguous data. Look up historians' reviews to see if there's anything in books like this, or if they've been discredited.
There are severe factual errors like Roman emperors being placed out of order, Cleopatra building the pyramids, or an army winning a battle it actually lost.
When in doubt, my favorite trick is to try to read two books on the same subject, by two authors with different views. By comparing where they agree and disagree, you can more easily overcome their biases, and get a fuller picture.
(Disclaimer - I'm not a historian or literary analyst; these are just my personal rules of thumb. But I figured they might be handy for others trying to evaluate books. Feel free to add points you think I missed or got wrong.)
Big difference between using end notes and not citing sources at all, and neither should be in the yellow flag category. It may not be to personal taste to not have foot notes (honestly I prefer foot notes too), but citing with end notes is perfectly valid scholarship and is absolutely a green flag. On the other hand, under citing or not citing references at all is a MASSIVE red flag.
How To Get Free Books On Folklore
I do not believe in gatekeeping knowledge, so this post will be sharing how I get all my folklore books for free, legally.
To explain, when a book gets over a certain age and the copyright is not upkept, it falls under “public domain.” When that happens, many different websites will provide those books as a free download.
This is not restricted to one type of book, either. You can grab anything from Sherlock Holmes to history books, to folklore, and more.
If you are looking for a specific book, you may have to check more than one source, so I suggest bookmarking more than one website.
Example Websites:
Internet Archive
Project Gutenberg
Google Books
Open Library
Electric Scotland (Scottish books)
Sacred Texts
National Library of Scotland: Ossain Collection
Forgotten Books
Hathitrust
For me when I download a book, I then upload them to my Google library so that I can use the search functions as well as bring up the books anywhere, but a popular PC option isCalibre.
If you are interested in Scotland-specific folklore, I do have some suggestions of books you can start with.
Scottish Folklore Books:
(link) A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures by Katharine Briggs (1976)
(link) Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs by James M. Mackinlay (1893)
(link) Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1900)
(link) The Peat-Fire Flame: Folk-Tales and Traditions of the Highlands and Islands by Alasdair Alpin MacGregor (1937)
(link) Notes on Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland by Walter Gregor, M.A. (1881)
(link) The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W.Y. Evans-Wentz (1911)
(link) Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the South-Western District of Scotland by J. Maxwell Wood (1911)
(link) Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell (1902)
(link) Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs by James M. Mackinlay (1893)
(link) Folk-Lore From The West of Ross-Shire by C.M. Robertson (1908)
(link) The Fairy Mythology / Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries by Thomas Keightley (1850)
(link) Popular Tales of the West Highlands by John Francis Campbell (1862)
(link) Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales by Sir George Douglas
(link) The Scottish Fairy Book By Elizabeth W. Grierson (1918)
(link)
(link) Popular Superstitions of the Highlands By W Grant Stewart (1823)
Free Language Media Resources
I found some places where you can find content in the language you're learning. Most of these places have multiple languages, I'll note if some are better for certain ones.
Youtube: obviously. Look up "comprehensible input" plus the language you're learning, or "podcast" or "learner podcast" plus the language you're learning, or look up shows like "Chinese Drama" or simply the name of the show in the language such as if you want to watch cdrama Ultimate Note type in "终极笔记" or if you want to watch Goodbye My Princess then search by the Chinese title which is "Dong Gong" (and yes you can search by pinyin sometimes with English Keyboard, if you don't have a Chinese Keyboard and can't type hanzi). You can find Japanese let's plays by simply searching the title of the game in Japanese plus "実況" or "実況プレイ" or in all kana "じっきょうプレイ," so for example for a Kingdom Hearts Japanese Lets Play you'd type or paste into Youtube's search bar "キングダムハーツ実況." You can find target-language/language-you-know translations with audio in 100-1000-5000 sentence clusters, you just look up language plus "1000 common words in sentences" (type in the language you want the translations so type that in Spanish if you want Spanish translations) along with the language you're learning in the language you just type'd translation (so type "Korean" if you searched in English words, type "coreano" if you searched in Spanish words). Those videos are basically free Glossika equivalents. You can find so much on Youtube, you could probably learn a language just from Youtube stuff if you had to. I recommend the app NewPipe as it's easy to install on your phone, has no ads, and you can turn off Youtube's new AI dub feature. Or use Youtube ReVanced app, where ads are also blocked, and you can turn off the AI dub feature if you follow a fix-ai-dub tutorial like I did. Or on Regular Youtube app, you should be able to click Settings on a video you're watching, then click 'audio track' and change to 'original audio' to get the AI dub turned off. But I'll be honest I haven't used regular Youtube app in years.
Tubi: FREE app, website, on TVs and phones and game consoles so you can watch on your TV if you want. Has ads, but I find their timing and duration less annoying than actual cable now or regular youtube ads. Has some foreign language stuff! I found cdramas like Oh My General, Story of Yanxi Palace, My Heroic Husband, Under The Skin, Three Body, some jdrama BLs like Candy Color Paradox, Mr Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss, My Personal Weatherman, and some kdramas I know I loved like The Guest, Psychopath Diary, The Crowned Clown. There's also some Spanish, French, German, and Russian shows and movies I found. As I live in the US, a LOT of Spanish stuff is on there (and is true for Netflix as well - Spanish dubs of English language shows are probably the easiest to find on streaming platforms in the US). Tubi in particular had a sizeable amount of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese shows, along with very large amounts of Spanish shows/movies, and at least some stuff in other languages. I have been using Tubi for it's live TV feature, where it has several Spanish language channels so I can just turn on Spanish TV channels without having to think about what to watch.
Pluto: another FREE app, website, on TVs and phones and game consoles so you can watch on anything you want! Has ads, but I find their timing and duration less annoying than actual cable now or regular youtube ads. Less international offerings than Tubi, but it has some. As I'm in the US, same sizeable amount of Spanish content, especially TV channels on it's live TV feature (they have Comedy Central Espanol so all those shows in Spanish, Naruto and The Walking Dead en Espanol, UK MISFITS EN ESPANOL which I just found today I LOVE that show, and several reality/documentary TV channels which I find are good practice as usually what's being talked about also has visuals directly related - like the survive in Alaska shows, the romance shows, the true crime shows). I think Pluto has Slightly Better Spanish live TV channel variety. As for other language stuff though... if you search in Pluto, search by language like "espanol" "francais" "zhongwen" and "spanish" "french" "mandarin" "cantonese" to find shows/movies. The search seems to show varying results depending on which term you use, but I am finding some media for all of those languages... and also English content involving those countries. So searching is a challenge at times.
AntennaPod: an app on Androids (I am not sure if it's on ios) for saving Podcasts in one place (if you don't have Spotify or Apple Podcast, and I don't have those). Benefits - it's free, you can stream or download episodes, you can search online for ALL the podcasts you listen to on various platforms and save them all in THIS app. I think you can fast forward past ads too, but I haven't tried. The app doesn't inherently seem to have ads, just plays whatever ads the podcast had put in themselves. I did have my English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin podcasts all open in a ton of tabs on my phone web browser and bookmarked in youtube. Now I have them ALL saved in AntennaPod in one place, and can close some tabs! I still save stuff in youtube though, when I want the podcast videos to help visually understand stuff (like for some Spanish and Mandarin podcasts). I think AntennaPod is free open source software. It's been great since I found it.
Hoopla: if you belong to a library, check if your library has Hoopla app membership included. Mine does. Hoopla has SO MANY books, audiobooks, shows, movies, music, in tons of languages. A LOT of the first Mandarin audiobooks I listened to, I found in Hoopla and just checked out for free. Also good for COMICS, in any language, and I read a lot of English comics and English translated manga in Hoopla. All free to check out, as it's an extension of your library membership basically.
Libby: same deal as Hoopla above - some libraries have a membership, you can check out free stuff in multiple languages if your particular library paid for access to that media in Libby. All free.
Bilibili.com: you should be able to search the site on a computer with Chinese Keyboard (type hanzi) logged out, and watch or listen to things. If you can figure it out, you can make an app account on your cell phone, I figured it out years ago but don't know how to log back in so I've been coasting on 'permanently logged in' for a while so I can bookmark stuff and so Bilibili app saves where I'm at in a given video so I can continue where I left off. But if you can't get the app to work, searching in Chinese ON your computer logged out WILL get you access to all the same videos I can access. A TON of free audiobooks, audio dramas, Mandarin dubbed cartoons and anime, Mandarin dubbed shows from all over the world, you search for it and you'll probably find it. Also lets plays, reaction channels, vloggers, fanvideos and fanedits of books and shows, you can find japanese shows IN japanese and Indian shows in their original language, you can find English and Korean shows in their original language free, you can find English audiobooks free. You basically just NEED to know how to search in Mandarin. If you can search using Mandarin search terms (here's my post on Basic Chinese Search Terms), you can find almost anything on Bilibili. Lately I've been enjoying the Mandarin dub old niche anime on there, and some japanese musicals. If you do make an account, Bilibili is great at recommending stuff like you've been watching, so my account is nearly ALL BL jdramas and cdramas, danmei audio dramas based on novels by authors I have been listening to, Mandarin dubbed anime, danmei audiobooks, and Mandarin dubbed jdramas and English mystery/crime solving/supernatural shows. It used to be all Disney cartoons and movies Mandarin dubbed a few hundred hours ago, when I was mostly relying on cartoons to learn more basic words.
Search in Mandarin (if you know it): Oh also? If you have never searched Google, Microsoft Edge, DuckDuckGo etc. in Mandarin, try if you know the words in Mandarin. So many FREE books, audiobooks, audio dramas, shows, movies, not just in Mandarin but in many languages, if you search with Mandarin search terms! 免费 mianfei is the word for "free" so you can search in all Mandarin translation "Skins BBC episode 1 English online free" and you'll find it! That's how I found the show to stream online free recently. Or search "daomubiji nanpaisanshu xiaoshuo zaixian mianfei" (in English it is: The Lost Tomb/DMBJ NPSS novel online free) and you'll FIND the novels for DMBJ. You want fanfiction instead? Search for that! The Mandarin internet still has a ton of free stuff that is now quite hard to find if you search in English. For finding any language content, if you know Mandarin try searching using Mandarin words. If you can search using Mandarin search terms (here's my post on Basic Chinese Search Terms), you can find nearly anything online free.
Khan Academy: free lessons in multiple languages, if you want to learn something while listening to your target language. I recommend searching in a search site like Google.com "khan academy espanol" or whatever language you're learning, in the word for the language that language uses, so you can find THAT language's version of the Khan Academy site.
Project Gutenberg: has a lot of free books online. I have not found much use for this site except finding old English books, but I know it has books in other languages.
Archive.org: the GOLDEN TIER of finding OLD language learning textbooks online free, just by searching "learn" or "grammar" or "nature method" or "Textbook" along with the language you're learning, and narrowing search terms. I found all of the old Nature Method textbooks I've used on Archive.org, and a lot of other cool stuff. Sometimes you have to only search the language like "spanish" or if trying to find say old Spanish history books, or French fiction books, you'll need to either know the title or leave that blank and use 'filter by' language and pick the language's books you're looking for. Also great for finding old media, I've found older anime I'd been meaning to find both IN only Japanese, and in English sub or dub.
Great news! JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month.
https://www.jstor.org/action/showLogin
hello! hope the new year is treating you well (so far!) i decided i wanted to read more in translation this year, especially poetry, and i was wondering if u had recommendations for works translated into english (or french) from living or 20th century poets. it’s not a strict preference i just really want to expand my horizons ! anyways i love your blog it’s a much appreciated resource ❤️
Hi! Aw, that’s such a lovely idea. Honestly I mostly read English-writing authors (you must have noticed...) but I do have a few things to recommend.
• Rainer Maria Rilke’s works, most notably Sonnets to Orpheus and Duino Elegies trans. by Martyn Crucefix, but also The Book of Hours trans. by Babette Deutsch.
• Twenty Poems of Anna Akhmatova, trans. by Jane Kenyon, though I also like Stanley Kunitz’s take, and Marina Tsvetaeva’s Selected Poems, trans. by Elaine Feinstein.
• Odysseus Elytis’ What I Love, trans. by Olga Broumas, and my favourite The Sovereign Sun, trans. by Kimon Friar, who also translated Sodom and Gomorrah by Nikos Kazantzakis. Also, C. P. Cavafy’s The Complete Poems, trans. by David Mendelsohn or Poèmes, trans. by Marguerite Yourcenar (what??) and Constantin Dimaras.
• Federica Garcia Lorca’s A Season in Granada, trans. by Christophe Maurer, and Octavio Paz’s Collected Poems, trans. by Eliot Weinberger, others (including Denise Levertov and Elizabeth Bishop) and Octavio Paz himself. Also, Kelly Martínez-Grandal’s Zugunruhe, trans. by Margaret Randall, and of course Jorge Luis Borges’ Selected Poems, trans. by several translators (among others, W. S. Merwin and John Updike.)
• Speaking of W. S. Merwin, he translated a lot of poems, spanning centuries and languages, and he’s a beautiful translator; I’d recommend his Selected Translations.
• Edith Södergran’s We Women, trans. by Samuel Charters, and Matilda Olkinaitė’s Matilda, trans. by Laima Vince.
• Adonis’ Selected Poems (trans. by Khaled Mattawa) and Saadi Youssef’s Without An Alphabet, Without a Face (by Khaled Mattawa too).
• I’m also thinking of Women of the Fertile Crescent: An anthology of Modern Poetry by Arab Women. You can find a lot of beautiful excerpts on @soracities blog.
• I know it’s not 20th century, but I have a soft spot for modern translations (some more interventionist than others) of classic poetry. My very favourites include Anne Carson’s If Not, Winter (obviously), Mary Barnard’s Fragments of Sappho, Renée Vivien’s Sapho, Marguerite Yourcenar’s La Couronne et La Lyre, Emily Wilson’s The Odyssey, Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf, Kenneth Rexroth’s 100 Poems from the Japanese (some of them you can find in this one—though be careful! Sometimes Rexroth claims he’s translating for shits and giggles when he’s really the writer, like in The Love Poems of Marichiko), A. K. Ramanujan’s The Interior Landscape: Classic Tamil Love Poems and the gorgeous Andal’s Autobiography of A Goddess, trans. by Priya Sarrukai Chabria and Ravi Shankar.
• In the same vein, though they’re plays rather than poems, I’d recommend Oliver Py’s very cheeky take on Shakespeare’s Roméo et Juliette, and Anne Carson’s Bakkhai (Euripides) and An Oresteia (Aiskhylos, Sophokles, Euripides).
Aaaaand... that’s that! Sorry, this is severely lacking in contemporary poetry, but I hope this helps—oh and happy new year to you too ♡
STEM resources🔬🪐🦠
Resources for STEM subjects ▪︎ A-levels ▪︎ IB ▪︎ University entrance exam prep ▪︎ STEM book reviews ▪︎CV help
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Articles to read
Sideroblastic anaemia
Rabies
Arctic Springtail
Topology
Story of the atom
Allergies
Genetic diagnosis with AI
unique ways to learn foreign languages
Hi it’s werelivingarts and I’m back with some unique tips on learning foreign languages. I love learning Mandarin and Korean, and my foreign friends absolutely love it when I try to speak with them. ✨
Learning languages is tough but really fun. Remember that you need to set goals, such as by the end of today, I will finish studying the alphabet, not the simple “getting fluent” goal. It’s okay when things you first say are gibberish because you will certainly get better by learning your mistakes.
Here are just some extra weird ways to help you learn: ● Use region-specfic social media (Weibo for Chinese, Kakao Talk for Korean, Tuenti for Spanish, etc) ● Narrate in other languages as you commute (e.g. the mysterious man who wears brown cap-toe Oxfords just get his cats turn left and is now entering the supermarket) ● Read newspaper and magazine ● Change your phone language ● Get help from your native speaker friends ● Take notes in other languages
P/s: Do you have any useful methods to learn foreign languages? If yes, please share it down here 🤩⬇️
Adulting 101: how to live alone as a student
Disclaimer: I live in the UK so this mostly applies to uk students, although some of the stuff I mention are just general life tips
Keeping your home clean
A mop, a vacuum cleaner, white vinegar, washing up stuff and microfiber cloths are all you need (do some research on how to use white vinegar for cleaning)
Very basic home cleaning: dust off dirt from surfaces and vacuum clean & mop the floor. Get rid of limescale in the shower (tap, glass shield, pipes) and on your sinks. Clean your toilet (seriously that’s one way of checking if a place is clean or not). Wipe any kind of surface like windows, kitchen countertops, tables etc. There, the house is already quite clean, not so difficult eh?
Do some cleaning regularly, try to wash your dishes right after using them instead of leaving them in the sink, don’t let laundry pile up, empty your bin (seriously it’s nasty if you leave it full for a long time, you’ll get mold), learn how to wash your clothes properly (best thing is to wash everything at 30C and air dry, I only wash sheets and towels at 60-95C) so your clothes last longer
Set a 10 min timer daily to do any tidying in your flat. You’d be surprised how as little as 10 min can make a big difference
Food
ALWAYS make a list before going to the shops and stick to that list as much as possible
Learn how to cook very simple meals: have a portion of carbs, vegetables and protein (animal or not!), that’s already a healthy meal!
One word: Mealprep!!! It saves you so much money, it’s much healthier economically and physically than buying food out every lunch!! Take time out on your Sundays to make 4-5 lunches. I usually make 4 and have a day I allow myself to buy something nice! You can even meal prep your dinners. When i cook at night I make a big portion that would last 2-3 dinners. Takes me the same amount of time as cooking one portion so might as well make lots!
Save the Earth, reuse plastic bags or bring your own bags (a great way of using all those free tote bags that are piling up)
Rent, bills, money
Always pay all your bills in time. You do not want any surcharges.
Don’t be scared to fight lettings agents, energy companies etc. It’s not because you’re a student that you’re easy prey for them.
Don’t be afraid to say no to things when it’s out of your budget. For example, say you’re looking for a place to live with potential flatmates. Make sure you state how much you can pay in rent and don’t hesitate to speak up when things get too expensive. Worst case scenario you can always find new flatmates lol