Category: Literature

Literature broadly is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of which has been transcribed.

READING IN THREE KEYS: How to Write a READING RESPONSE

Active reading involves looking at the text in more than one way.  For your reading responses write using these three “keys,” or methods, of analyzing what you have read: 

Reading responses in this class generally vary from 250 – 400 words. The length required will be specified on the assignment.

 

 Sometimes you will be asked to post your reading response to the Discussion Board and then follow-up with a response to one of your classmate’s postings. You may respond in any of the three “keys.”  A sample response building on a previous posting might start off with a sentence like this: “I agree with David that advertising objectifies women by portraying them as dehumanized objects, but I wonder whether women benefit from that objectification in any way?”  You can build your ideas on comments others have made.  And feel free to keep chatting with each other.

How Should You Write Your READING RESPONSE?

 

Why Do It?

The reading response gives you an avenue to invite yourself into the written text and to make a connection with it. In many college courses you will be assigned to write papers about subjects with which you have no personal interest. Reading responses help to generate connections between the reader and text.

 

How?

The key to writing a compelling academic paper for any college course is being able to forge a personal connection on some level with your subject. You must care in some way about your subject, or else your writing will be lifeless, and your instructor, a human being, will have read a re-hashing of the facts of his/her course a million times before. Or, forget about writing for a college course. What about writing a report in the workplace?  What about proposing a new idea to your boss?  Such careful awareness of audience and tailoring your writing to a specific audience is an aspect of successful writing we’ll work on in this course.  However, you can’t even get to the point of getting someone else to care about what you are writing if you don’t care yourself.

 

That doesn’t mean you should only write about subjects that interest you.  On the contrary, half of the battle in writing a successful paper is coming up with an idea on a topic which is usually of little interest to you—finding an angle or connection through which you can approach or examine the text. What does it remind you of? Why do you respond emotionally? Or why do you not respond? Ask questions to find avenues into a piece of writing.  The creativity involved in continually forging such difficult connections will help you develop into a writer who can grab a reader’s attention by approaching a topic or subject through your own unique personal lens, that is, by looking at something through an angle no one else can see. 

 

Through active responding to reading, and examining your responses, you can learn to practice new approaches of interpretation to common themes.  Many of the ideas you generate in the reading responses will prove useful when you sit down to write the short essays (or maybe even your research paper).

KodiSoftware Download For Free | Top sites


Let’s start with knowing that what is Kodi software and why one should have it.

What is Kodi software?

Initially released in 2002 [as Xbox media play], in 2003 [as Xbox media centre]. Kodi software application is developed by the XBMC Foundation, Kodi is a free and open-source media player software application, it’s a non-profit technology consortium. It’s a 10-foot user interface with television and remote controls.

With a view of most streaming media such as podcasts, music, videos and views from the internet, one can access all Common digital media. These are some of its platform PowerPC, IA-36, ARM and x64(x84-64). Available in 12[75 including incomplete translations] language. HTPC it’s is a multi-platform home-theater PC application. Kodi is highly customizable so allow it’s users to stream media content via online services such as Crackle, Amazon Prime Internet Videos, Pandora Internet Radio, Spotify and Youtube.

The later version of kodi has a (PVR) graphic front and end. All these available advantages make Kodi a great software to be utilized.

 Let’s now dive into how to download Kodi for free.

Already millions of people are enjoying this great software for free. Kodi is running on the most common processer architectures, iOS, Android, MOS X and Windows operating systems.

How to download : select your platform

As Kodi supports a large range of devices and operating systems, it is multi flavour. Simply select your platform in which you want to install Kodi on and enjoy Kodi.

 

9 best vegan Omega-3 Supplements (2021) per Dietitians.

If you don’t have fish on your meal menu doesn’t mean you can’t get all the benefits of omega-3.

Omega-3 is also found in many plant foods, like chia and hemp seeds, in algal oil too. But mostly it is found in fish oil in significant levels.

For your vegan friends, there are plenty of options who wants to intake omega-3 and all of EPA, ALA L AND DHA.

About that author- Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling, a journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist who is best known among us for his novel the jungle book, was an eminent  20th century writer. Kipling became the youngest person and till this date is the youngest person to receive the award in 1907, at the age of 41.

Life  

Rudyard Kipling was born in 1865, in Mumbai, India, which was a British colony during that time. He was born to John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Kipling. His father was an artist and an architect who used to work at an art school in Mumbai.

He spent his early childhood in India as an Anglo-Indian and at the age of 6 went to Britain and was vaguely perplexed with his identity, a topic he lightly touches on in his later work. In Britain, Kipling did not live with his parents; instead they left both Rudyard and his younger sister with a foster family. During this time, the couple that were looking after the siblings did not treat him very well. In his autobiography Something of Myself for My Friends Known and Unknown, which was published posthumously , Kipling looks back at this period of  his life with dread. Kipling felt abandoned and isolated throughout his childhood. First he was abandoned by his parents and then he was neglected in his foster home too.

In 1877 Kipling’s mother returned to England and pulled her children out of that foster home. The very next year, he was sent to the United Services College in Devon, where students would be prepared for the army. 

Career 

Towards the end of the school, Kipling dropped out as his family did not have enough money to send him to college so instead his father secured a job for him in India and worked as an editor and a journalist for a newspaper. This was the beginning of his journalistic career. It was in India that Kipling started to publish his collection of short stories. He published Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888 and he published 6 volumes of short stories which included soldiers Three, The Phantom Rickshaw; between 1887 and 1889. By the end of this decade, Kipling gained so much popularity that he was being considered one of the best prose writers of his time.

He left India in 1889 and went to San Francisco during this journey he met The Adventures of Tom Sawyer writer Mark Twain.

In 1892, he married Caroline Balestier and the couple lived in America before moving to England. In this decade Kipling he produced work that he is most known for, like  The Light That Failed in 1891, The Jungle Book in 1894, The Seven Seas  in 1896, a collection of poems,  Captains Courageous in 1897.

In 1907, at the age of 41, he became the youngest and the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. Kipling is thought to be an imperialist; his ideology at that time and even during this time is not accepted by people  and has been long criticized for the same. However, he was a very popular writer of his time.

About that author- Charles Bukowski

“We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”

This very famous quote by Charles Bukowski gives us an idea about the kind of individual he was. He was the kind of poet who wrote whatever was in his heart, whenever it was. He always spoke about a part of himself that exists inside us all but we choose to silence it. Bukowski, afraid of that part, still chooses to give it a voice through his poems.

Life 

Charles Bukowski was a German-American poet, writer known for the violent imagery he tries to depict with his writing. Bukowski left his home in Los Angeles to move to New York to pursue writing. In New York he took up a lot of odd jobs so that he could continue to write, but he did not see much success during that period of his life.

Career 

Charles Bukowski published his first story, titled  “Aftermath of a Lengthy Rejection Slip” in 1944, at the age of 24 in a magazine. He published another story titled “20 Tanks from Kasseldown” about 2 years later in 1946, but unfortunately he failed to make a breakthrough and was left disappointed. Bukowski wrote a lot, was published too little and received even less recognition. This led him to quit writing or rather take a break from writing in the year 1946.

Now, one could say that Bukowski did not do anything during his hiatus but I disagree. During these years Bukowski gathered material for his future work. He moved back to Los Angeles and lived the life of a hippie and wandered around the country staying in cheap places. He would travel. drink alcohol and observe. The observations are talked about in his later published books.

Bukowski talked about the harsh and crude reality of existence and is known for his raw and bare writing.

After a hiatus of almost a decade, Bukowski got back to writing. In the mid 1950s he was hospitalized for a fatal bleeding ulcer. After being released from the hospital he started to write poetry, at the age of 35. Charles Bukowski, in 1957 married Barbara Frye, who later died in India. This incident resulted in Bukowski going back to alcohol and writing poetry.

By this time, Bukowski’s poems were published in literary magazines. But still he was unable to see the success he very much deserved. In the 1960s, he published a lot of poems and short stories and only tasted success in his 50s.

Bukowski spent more than half of his life writing and not seeing any considerable amount of success. He did not give up, in fact there was no point in him giving up because he was not one of the writers who wrote to achieve success, he wrote because he was extraordinarily in love with his art. He did not try to be a writer, in fact he didn’t try to be anything but true to himself and his work. He did not force himself to write, evident by his decade long hiatus. He thought that there had been too many writers in the past who forced themselves to try, whereas in his opinion if you truly love an art form you wouldn’t have to try, it would come to the artist. In his opinion if you had to try to be or do something you shouldn’t try at all. Even his grave has the words “don’t try” engraved on it.

He died in 1994, due to leukemia after living an adventurous and fulfiled life. 

Popular doha’s by India poet Kabir with meaning

What is Doha in English ?

Doha is a lyrical verse format which was extensively used by Indian Poets and Bards of North India probably since the beginning of the sixth century A.D.

Bura jo dekhan main chala, bura na milya koye
Jo mann khoja apna, toh mujhse bura naa koye.

Meaning in English
This Doha of Kabir ji is about observing one’s own mind.  He says that when he went on to search for the bad guy or the evil person in the world, he could not find the evil person anywhere.  Then he looked within himself, within his own mind and then found the real evil person that lived in his mind.  Ultimately Kabir says that when I looked inside me I could find that nobody was more bad or evil than me.

Kal kare so aaj kar, aaj kare so ab
Pal mein parlay hoyegi, bahuri karega kab.

Meaning in English
In this Doha Kabir has clearly tried to explain the human tendency of laziness and procrastination.  It is a known fact that we all tend to postpone matters. Generally many of us are indecisive and given a choice,  we would like others to be doing the work and we simply enjoy to take rest.  Here Kabir emphasizes that we have to take care of present moment and don’t wait for the things to be prolonged.  If we delay, many things may not be achieved and anything may happen any moment. So let us take care of each and every moment.

Bada hua toh kya hua jaise ped khajur
Panth ko chhaya nahin phal lage ati dur.

Meaning in English
Kabir in this Doha says that what is the use of being big or rich if you can not do any good to others. He gives an example of palm tree. Palm tree is very tall , but it is of no use to a traveller as it cannot provide shade. And it bears fruits at the top of the tree. So no one can eat easily.

Sain itna dijiye jamein kutumb samay
Main bhi bhukha naa rahun sadhu naa bhukha jaye.

Meaning in English

Kabir in this Doha requests God to give that much only so that he can feed his family and if any guest comes he should be able to feed him and honour him,. The inner meaning here is , one should only have what he needs . There is no use of having too much.

Matti kahe kumhar se tu kya rounde moye
Ek din aisaa aayegaa main roundunga toye.

Meaning in English

In this Doha soil tells to the potter (pot maker) , today you think that you are kicking me and kneading me with your feet . There will be a day when I will do the same to you what you have done to me. The inner meaning id that after death everybody will be below the soil or earth.

Guru Govind dau khade, kake lagun payen
Balihari Guru apne, Govind diyo milay.

Meaning in English

In this Doha Kabir says that a Guru ( Teacher) and the God are standing infront of you , then whose feet you will touch and give honour? Then he says that Guru deserves the first right to get the honour as he  affectionately teaches to know God by giving knowledge . Therefore the importance of Guru is more than the God.

About that author- George Orwell

George Orwell, best known for his novels “Animal Farm” and his dystopian novel “1984”. He was known for a dystopian world he could create through his imagination. His writings, in a sense were also satirical, criticism towards institutions that held power

Childhood

Born on june 25, 1903 Eric Arthur Blair wrote some of the best dystopian novels under the pen name George Orwell. He was born in Motihari, India. His father worked for the Indian Civil Services. His mother Ida Blair grew up in Burma. A year after Eric was born his mother took him and his sister back to England. Eric had 2 sisters and he was the middle child. He was sent to a boarding school, excelled academically and even secured a scholarship in school.

He did not come from a financially sound household and therefore could not go to a university to study further. So instead he left for Burma (a British colony back then) in 1922 to serve in the Indian Imperial police. 5 years later he resigned from the Imperial Police to go back to England in order to chase his dream of becoming a writer. But Burma left him inspired, inspired enough to write a novel about it entitled “Burmese Days”. His experiences in Burma shaped his perception of writing to a certain extent.

Career 

After leaving Burma, he spent some time with his family and also lived in the slums of London and Paris, working odd jobs, he even washed dishes at hotels in Paris. He collected all of these experiences and wrote them down in his first well recognized  work “Down and Out in Paris and London” published in 1933 under the pen name George Orwell. This work of his provides insights about the life of the impoverished and the working class in that economy. 

Orwell’s second piece of work “Burmese Days” published in 1934 gives it’s readers a tour of Burma under British rule. This novel surrounds the grim facets of colonialism that he himself first handedly lived through.

His stories contain an alienated character, a character who feels a little detached from the environment. This alienation parallels his feelings during childhood and perhaps even his adult life.

Orwell published books in the next few subsequent years including “A Clergyman’s Daughter” in 1935, “Keep the Aspidistra Flying” in 1936, a rather political novel.

Orwell’s writings became political due to political movements involving imperialism and the uprising of the communist ideology.

Orwell left for Spain in 1936 to fight in the Spanish civil war where he suffered some serious injuries. At the time, his wife, Eileen was taking care of the publishing of his next book “The Road to Wigan Pier ” (1937). In mid 1937 Orwell came back to London and was later diagnosed with tuberculosis. His time in Spain was one that he expresses in his novel “Homage to Catalonia”. During WWII, he was working as a journalist at the BBC, a job that he left in 1943. Later working as an editor for a newspaper which led him to be known as a fine journalist.

In 1950, about a year after “1984” was published, he died due to Tuberculosis, granting the world some great work to read.

REGARDING CORRECT CERTIFICATE FROM EDUINDEX

From few days I am writing emails to give me certificate of date 16 june to 16 july. since month of july i am doing so but AGAIN and AGAIN I am rcieving wrong certificate. I need to prepare summer internship report. i cant attach wrong certificate. This is my last option to write here. I am in a complusion otherwise I would have not written here.

Its my humble request to everyone who is reading it please like . So that it can come in front of the team.

And if team you are reading this please prepare a certificate from the 16 june to 16 july. In my offer letter too you have mentioned same date. COMMENT ME IF YOU HAVE PREPARED. I WILL SEND U DETAILS.

I am quite depressed with such an unlawful behaviour.

To kill a mockingbird summary

To kill a Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee. The book was published in 1960 and was successful right away. It was Harper Lee’s first novel which sold more than 30 million copies all over the world and was also given the Pulitzer Prize. This novel is a classic among and outside of the bibliophiles for some very valid reasons. Let’s explore them

Plot

The story is set in a fictional town of Maycomb in Alabama and narrated by a 6 year old girl, Jean Louise Finch, the daughter of a righteous and virtuous lawyer Atticus Finch. 

The story begins with Jean Louise and her brother Jeremy Finch talking about their esoteric neighbour Boo Radley who never went out of his house and that fascinates the Finch siblings yet they are scared of him too much. It revolves around the adventures of the Finch siblings in the beginning.

These adventures are followed by some worries that rain down on the finch household by virtue of a case their father is working on, the case of Tom Robison, an African-American fellow who is accused of rape of a young white girl Mayella Ewell. Atticus Finch is fighting in favor of Robinson. This story is set up in the 1930s, when discrimination against African Americans was prevailing, a good evidence of that is provided in the book when different churches are mentioned for the white and African American people. Because Atticus was fighting for Robinson, he was looked down upon by the people of Maycomb, especially some of the more powerful figures of the town. Atticus Finch and his children are threatened all this while but he didn’t deter, he refused to step down until Robinson was given a chance, but he didn’t stand a chance.

The trial takes place and Tom Robinson is convicted of raping the girl even though all odds favor him. He is pronounced guilty because of the color of his skin. Nevertheless, an African American man being given the chance to explain himself was a huge leap for that town, all because of Atticus’s determination and skill. This case affects the finch siblings as well.

A deeper look

At first glance, the story seems about the escapades of Jean Louise and her brother Jeremy Finch but after a close look one will discover that this novel explores more profound issues in Maycomb which parallels the issues that 20th century and to some extent even 21st century America faces. First and foremost it addresses racism, in not the best of ways but you can’t blame the author considering the times it was written in. it doesn’t deal with racism nor does it offer any solution to deal with it. It simply mentions the bizarre laws that existed or rather lack of any laws. Understanding is a thing that Atticus does very well, he possesses the ability to understand even his enemies even When a mob is about to attack him. “A mob’s always made up of people, no matter what” is what he says to his children when talking about the same incident. His empathy is something that keeps the readers wondering.

It touches on the subject of gender roles and how Jean Louise who was a tomboy was told by her aunt to act ladylike. And it talks about subjects that can only be realized when you read and think about it yourself

About that author James Baldwin

An American essayist and novelist, born in 1924 in Hampton, James Baldwin who addressed the issue of race in 20th century america. He grew up poor, in a black ghetto and in the 1930s, during a time when racism encompassed the whole of America and Baldwin too was subjected to it all his life.

His work revolves around the racial and social issues that existed in 20th century america.

Early life

James Baldwin never knew his biological father who was a drug addict, owing to this reason his mother left his father and moved to Harlem where she gave birth to James baldwin. Baldwin was the eldest to his 8 siblings. Baldwin figured out his affinity toward writing at an early age and was exceptional at it too. He wrote his first article when he was only 13, this article was published in his school magazine. Throughout his teenage years Baldwin published short stories and essays in local literary magazines. In his young teenage years Baldwin was a youth minister at the church. Bldwin was a devout christian, this could be because his father was a baptist minister. In later years of his life, he refused to being religious however his religious attitude shaped his perception to a great extent.

Throughout his life he faced incidents of racism, some of which he addresses in his work as well. 

Career

In 1943, he moved to Greenwich village to pursue literature and work with other writers and literaries. During his time at Greenwich he was also able to secure a writing fellowship. At this time Baldwin’s short stories were being published and not in local but well recognized and reputed magazines.

About 3 years later Baldwin emigrated to France under another fellowship where he would not be treated with the racist remarks of the American and would be able to make a name for himself beyond his african -american community. In France he was met with his sexual conflict and hoped to come to terms with it and understand it better.

Work

Baldwin wrote his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain which was published in 1953. a near autobiographical novel which revolves around a young teenager growing up in Harlem, New York and his relationship with his father and the church. The book deals with several issues that prevailed in america. It talks about racism, poverty, Harlem, New York, basically all the things that Baldwin endured in his childhood are mentioned in this work through the eyes of another character.

Giovanni’s Room, was his second novel released in 1954, which deals with the sexul ambivalence of a man, and his relationship with other men  living in paris. Homosexuality was a tabboo during that time and who else could have talked about a topic so contreversial if not Baldwin.

Baldwin’s subsequent novels Another Country and Tell Me How Long The Train’s Been Gone, talk about race and homosexuality.

James Baldwin is known for his thought inducing essays. He had the ability to write about an issue giving the reader another highly intellectual way to look at it. In addition to being an important literary figure of the 20th century he was also an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement.

Baldwin in 1987 died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France due to stomach cancer leaving his work enriched with revolution behind.

About that author- Sylvia Plath

If the moon smiled, she would remember you. You leave the same impression of something beautiful but annihilating.

This quote is from one of my favorite Sylvia Plath poems “The Rival”. 

If you read Sylvia Plath you would find that her poetry wasn’t about the beauty that surrounded her, the fruity aroma of the garden flowers or blistering sun shining on her face or the wind sweeping her way. No, it was about none of that. Her poetry style was confessional.

LIFE

Sylvia Plath was born on october 27 of 1932 in Boston Massachusetts. She was a poet and a novelist who shaped American literature to a great extent. Plath published her first poem at the age of 8 in an American newspaper under the children’s section.From then on Plath went on to write  and publish multiple poems in different magazines and newspapers. At the age of 8 Plath also faced a great deal of personal loss, her father passed away due to untreated diabetes. Her father was also a subject for a lot of her poems that she wrote in her later years.

Plath was a good student, she excelled in academics and attended the Smith’s College in Massachusetts. Plath also suffered from depression, which she elaborates in her poems. She underwent electrocution therapy for her depression. We are talking about the year 1950, when mental illness was not a socially acceptable concept. No points for guessing that the electrocution therapy did not work in fact it made matters worse for plath. In 1953, at the age of 21, the feeling of which she describes in one of her works as “blissfully succumbed to the whirling blackness that I honestly believed was eternal oblivion.” plath made her first suicide attempt by taking her mother’s sleeping pills. After this incident she remained in psychiatric care for months. 

Career 

In 1960, Sylvia Plath released a collection of her poems, entitled the colossus and other poems.. In this collection she talks about death, suicide, her father, and her depressive periods and thoughts.

Sylvia Plath’s poetry wasn’t particularly happy and that is because it was confessional or even autobiographical in a sense and Plath herself was deeply depressed. Here is an excerpt from one of her poems called Lady Lazarus;

“Dying is an art,

like everything else. 

I do it exceptionally well. 

I do it so it feels like hell. 

I do it so it feels real. 

I guess you could say I’ve a call”.

If it wasn’t clear until now, then these lines give us an idea of the intensity of torment that her own mind was subjecting her to.

Marriage and the aftermath

Plath married Ted Hughes, a poet and writer in 1956. They had 2 children together. The two later separated in 1962. The couple did not have a great relationship, some controversy and rumors surrounded Hughes even after Plath’s death.

During the last few years of her life Plath published exceptional work, some of the best work ever written. This vey period of Plath’s life is the one that shaped literature and inspired the future confessional poets. Plath poured her heart out on the pages during these years. She published a novel “the bell jar” in 1963 which did exceptionally well. But her career was cut short when at the age of 30, in 1962 after what is described as “a burst of creativity” she took her own life. Her posthumously published collection of poems “Ariel” also attracted a lot of readers and to this day transcends her.

Top Non-Fiction Books of 2021 far till now

“Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know” by Adam Grant

Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist who studies how people find motivation and meaning. In this book, Grant encourages people to not only learn from being wrong, but explore how it makes us feel. He examines why we’re uncomfortable “thinking again,” how we can develop greater introspection, and how we can teach others to think again in a way that is often more productive than getting everything right the first time. This book encourages readers to overcome overconfidence and embrace not knowing everything.

“How To Avoid A Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need” by Bill Gates

Backed by ten years of research, Bill Gates uses this book to explain why and how we must work towards a goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions. Split into three main parts, Gates describes the environmental fate we currently face, the ways in which technology can function to help us reduce or eliminate our greenhouse gas emissions, and an accessible, well-defined plan by which all individuals, corporations, and governments can abide to reach this goal. This read is urgent and practical, an ambitious plan but one that is optimistic about the future of our environment. 

“Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted” by Suleika Jaquad

In a trans formative story that grips readers from the first pages, we meet Suleika Jaquad in the summer after graduating from college with a world of opportunities ahead of her. After a swarm of strange itches, inescapable exhaustion, and a flurry of tests, Suleika is diagnosed with leukemia just before her 23rd birthday. After four years in a hospital bed, Suleika finally beats cancer to find a new set of challenges ahead of her: How to live rather than survive. Full of emotional truths, this is a story of heartbreak and triumph from a survivor with a chance to begin again. 

“Broken (in the best possible way)” by Jenny Lawson

Jenny Lawson is a popular blogger known for her sarcasm and unique outlook on life. She’s been open about her struggles with depression and her mental health journey and, with this book, encourages readers to humanize and destigmatize mental health in her own notoriously hilarious ways. With a series of funny anecdotes, Jenny hopes readers feel less alone in their own experiences with depression and anxiety, especially in a time where more people are struggling with their mental health than ever before. 

“Crying in H Mart: A Memoir” by Michelle Zauner

Michelle Zauner explores growing up Korean American, feeling the high expectations of her mother, and bonding with her grandmother over late-night food in Seoul. As she grows into adulthood, she feels more and more distant from her Korean heritage — until her mother is diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Forced to reconnect with her identity, Zauner offers the truest look at her most difficult days, portraying every bit of grief and conflict mixed with stunning food descriptions.

“Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019” edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain

This is a chronological account of 400 years of previously silenced Black history in America. Curated by two historians, this book begins with the arrival of 20 enslaved Ndongo people in 1619 and continues to tell stories of slavery, segregation, and oppression over 80 chapters. There are also celebrations of African art and music, a life-changing collection that concludes with an essay from Alicia Garza on the Black Lives Matter movement.

“A Swim in a Pond in the Rain” by George Saunders

George Saunders teaches Russian short stories to MFA students at Syracuse University, focusing on what makes stories great, what fiction can tell us about ourselves, and the ways in which literature reflects our world today. This book is a version of his class, using Russian short stories across seven essays to demonstrate how relevant great writing still is. This book is highly accessible, abandoning complex literary concepts in the search for more straightforward answers, making it a perfect new publication for those who loved Stephen King’s “On Writing”. 

“The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos” by Judy Batalion

This is a nonfiction book that reads like a thrilling historical fiction novel, a previously forgotten story of Jewish women who became resistance fighters in World War II after watching the Nazi destruction of their communities and the murders of their family members. The author is the granddaughter of Polish Holocaust survivors, transporting readers to 1939 where Jewish women bribed German soldiers, paid off guards, hid revolvers, and bombed train lines to fight for the freedom of their people.

“The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together” by Heather McGhee

Heather McGhee is an economist who explains how racism and white supremacy have negative social and economic effects on white people, too. She uses the concept of “zero-sum” (the idea that progress for some comes at the expense of others) to introduce her own new concept: The Solidarity Dividend, an idea that progress is felt amongst all when people come together across race and achieve what cannot be done alone. Heather uses historical examples and individual stories to explain how racism against minorities has had negative consequences for everyone, and to offer real solutions for a better future.

“Aftershocks: A Memoir” by Nadia Owusu

“Aftershocks” is a memoir from a woman who was raised all around the world, struggling to understand all the pieces of herself. Nadia Owusu’s memoir is a beautifully written story about a complicated earthquake of a young life and understanding the aftershocks of trauma and vulnerability. When Owusu’s mother abandoned her at two years old and her father died when she was 13, she was raised by her stepmother, unable to shake the feelings of loneliness. Her story is a weave of memoir and generational history, a journey of understanding the compilation of experiences and cultures that comprise an identity. 

“You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism” by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar

Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar are sisters who collaborated to create a compilation of what seem like absurdly unreal stories of racism, yet are all true and sometimes regular experiences for Black people. Told with hilarious sibling banter, the sisters swap stories of people mistaking them for Harriet Tubman, putting their whole hand in their hair, and their interaction with a racist donut store owner. Amber and Lacey shed light on these ridiculous moments of racism with which Black people can commiserate and others can learn from.

“Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York” by Elon Green

This is a true crime book about the Last Call Killer, a serial killer who targeted gay men in New York in the 1980s and ’90s. Because of the high murder rates, the AIDS epidemic, and the sexuality of the victims, the Last Call Killer had been mostly forgotten despite the graphic and horrifying nature of the murders. This book traces the decades-long search for the murderer while also sharing the stories of the victims and the resilience of the gay community. 

About that artist- francis bacon-2

Saying that Francis Bacon’s life was tragic would be an understatement. He went through a great deal of emotional and mental trauma. 

Tough love

In the 1950s Bacon was moving around a lot, living ephemerally he became romantically involved with and that was Peter Lacy who was an English pilot. His relationship with Lacy was toxic in every way, shae and form to say the least. Their love was fervent and extremely passionate that perfectly enveloped the vicious and destructive side it possessed. Bacon was somewhat of a masochist and Lacy, the opposite. Peter lacy would beat Bacon and abuse him throughout their relationship. Now, an ordinary person would have been appalled by the actions of peter lacy, but this was bacon he was no ordinary man. He loved Lacy with all his might, he was obsessed with him and was blinded by this very love that was, inch by inch devouring his very existence. In fact it was so destructive that once, Lacy threw him out of the window of his house over an argument they had. Bacon’s face was disfigured owing to the assault on him by Lacy. This also affected Bacon’s artisan.

Around this time Bacon’s paintings changed dramatically, his style was much more different than the one’s he made previously.

Evolution of his work

The paintings he made in the 50s were characterized by the use of a combination of blue, black and green colors which could be attributed to the changes occurring in his life.

Francis Bacon’s series of seven paintings Man in Blue I-VII, 1954 shows men in black suits present in a murky, grey almost alien landscape seemingly estranged and bewildered.

His paintings Two Figures, 1953 and Two Figures, 1953 see two men in a rather strange setting with one on top of the other. These paintings vividly point towards the relationship between him and lacy.

A few years later lacy moved back to morocco and bacon followed him there. Francis Bacon had achieved a lot more by this time. He held multiple exhibitions and his paintings were being displayed in reputed museums and art galleries. Just before one of his exhibits in London, he was told that Lacy had passed away. This deeply scarred him.

After a little while he met George Dyer, and became involved with him too, who was a subject for a lot of his subsequent paintings. His relationship with Dyer was not as eventful as his previous relationship except just a few incidents. Dyer was found dead in the bathroom of a hotel where Bacon and Dyer were staying. His painting figure at a washbasin, 1976 resembles a man lying in the bathroom which could be about Dyer.

Over the next years Bacon’s work kept on evolving and his paintings became more polished but his desires didn’t falter. He continued to act the way he used to. In 1992, Bacon succumbed to a heart attack. His art was esoteric and he still maintained that cryptism in his art even though there was a lot that he was going through beyond his colors and canvas.

ABOUT THAT ARTIST- Francis Bacon-1 

A lot of you might think of the philosopher, but that is not who we are going to talk about in this article. 

There was another Francis Bacon, who was named after the philosopher and British Chancellor who, as the artist’s father claimed, was their ancestor born in 1909 in Dublin, Ireland an artist known for his unorthodox, borderline disturbing paintings.

A lot of his paintings were portraits of faces disfigured from some form of emotional suffering which his life was certainly full of. He derived inspiration for his paintings from an array of landscapes. For example he derived inspiration for one of his paintings from a nurse screaming in the movie battleship potemkin molded with his own fascinating imagination.

Humble beginnings 

Bacon was asthamatic and from a young age was very much in touch with his feminine side, his homosexuality was beginning to transpire and his family, especially his father considered it an abomination and Bacon, at the age of 16, was dismissed from his house. He went to London afterwards, where he did a couple of odd jobs just trying to make ends meet. Francis Bacon later started living with an art connoisseur, in France whom he met at an exposition. It was in France where the idea of becoming a painter started to grow on him. The Spanish painter Pablo Picasso was a major influence for Bacon, he was extremely in awe of the way Picasso’s ability to imagine and the uncanny geometry he used, the fragments of which can be slightly seen in Bacon’s work.

Early career 

Francis Bacon completed his first painting called crucifixion in 1933 and this brought him some success. But things did not run so smoothly for him after his artistic debut, his career saw a decline from here. His subsequent paintings did not receive critical or commercial success, instead his paintings were being criticised at this time.

Bacon did not release any of his work to the public for a while after this. During this time he was extremely self critical of his work, and was dissatisfied with almost all of it until he released his painting Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion in 1944 at an exhibition which enticed a lot of attention back to him. From this point onwards Bacon saw substantial success.

Bacon went on to make paintings such as Painting, 1946, Head I, 1948, Head VI, 1949 and perhaps his most famous, a painting inspired from Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. 

All his paintings till now had very similar color scheming, he used quite dark, gloomy colors for a lot of his work and all of them possess an enigmatic whiff to them. His paintings seem like a hybrid of something so familiar yet something that can still manage to evade one’s imagination.

During all this while Bacon’s transformation could be seen through his paintings, his work was evolving as the years passed by and was being deeply affected by his personal experiences as one would expect.