Conferences for Bloggers

I've never heard of these conferences but they look like an awesome way for bloggers to network and gain new skills:

June 20-23: International Food Blogger Conference

The International Food Blogger Conference began in 2009 and now attracts 200+ food bloggers, writers, and digital media influencers with great passion for the industry. Events include food tours and sessions covering technology, social media, and blogging 101. “Lightning Talks,” fast-paced presentations from fellow attendees, are returning for the second year. IFBC19 takes place at the Centennial Hall Convention Center in Juneau, Alaska.

June 27-29: TravelCon

TravelCon is “the place to learn the business of travel media.” Boost your skills in video, photography, writing, and blogging. The conference has an impressive lineup of speakers to cover industry best practices and what’s buzzing right now in the travel industry. The event takes place at Westin Copley Place in Boston.

June 27-30: SHINE

SHINE is an invite-only conference for fitness, wellness, and nutrition social influencers. Attendees will experience a mix of workouts, networking, and breakout sessions covering topics like content creation and industry trends. Anyone interested in attending can fill out an application on the event website. The conference takes place in Anaheim, Calif., during the Idea World Fitness Conference.

July 15-17: MozCon

MozCon brings together industry leaders from search engine optimization (SEO), mobile, local search, and more. Attendees will learn tactics for ranking higher in search results and have plenty of opportunities for networking. The three-day event takes place in Seattle.

https://mediablog.prnewswire.com/2019/06/04/blogger-conferences-june-2019/

Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

One by one Kya's family leaves her--her mother, her siblings, her beloved Jodie, and lastly her alcoholic and abusive father. Kya, whom the town  calls "the marsh girl," learns to rely on herself and turns to the marsh for comfort. 

While its difficult to fathom how she can do this, Kya learns to provide food for herself by bartering with a local bait shop owner, Jumpin'. She hides from anyone wanting to send her to the local school but eagerly learns to read from a local boy, Tate.

Shunned by the inhabitants of Barkley Cove, Kya learns to hide as skillfully as a deer. Part of Kya, however, still yearns to connect with the townspeople.

Maybe that's why she falls for Chase, the confident local rich kid who motors a flashy boat. By this point, Tate has also abandoned her--he has gone off to college. 

Kya believes Chase's lies--that he loves her and intends to marry her. Only later will Kya comprehend the depth of his deception and it nearly destroys her.

This is an incredible story with many plot twists that keep readers guessing. 

Mired with Kya's story is the story of the town itself and its prejudice towards her. When Chase turns up dead, the sheriff automatically accuses Kya.

Since childhood Kya has collected feathers, shells, and other marsh specimens. Just as Kya uses her intelligence to scientifically catalog her marsh specimens, Kya will use her intelligence to safeguard what she believes rightly belongs to her.  

This debut spent many weeks on the New York Times best-selling list and will soon become a major film.

The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen

Bowen's historical novel, The Tuscan Child, is a gratifying read. 

Joanna and her father, Sir Hugo, couldn't be more different. After his death, Joanna is startled to find a love letter to a woman in Italy. 

Intrigued, Joanna goes to San Salvatore in Italy, to discover more about her father's life. She knew he had crashed while serving in World War II but she had not known the exact location, San Salvatore, a hill town in Tuscany.

Though there are no hotels in San Salvatore, Joanna finds a comfortable place to stay. She feels at home with Paola's family until a strange event occurs. Someone has drowned one of the local men in the well near Joanna's rented room.

Police think Joanna, a foreigner, is suspicious, even though she insists she has nothing to do with the man's murder.

Renzo, the son of a rich landowner in San Salvatore, has a connection to her father and the woman he names in the letter, Sofia Bartoli. Is he the "beautiful boy" her father mentions in the same letter?

The novel takes many twists and turns and Joanna learns what's true and what's false. 

At the Corpus Christi festival she beings to see Renzo in a new light.  Though she does not trust Renzo, something is drawing her and him together.


This is a charming World War II story with light intrigue and light romance.

Still I Rise

Here's hope for a gray day.

 

Still I Rise

By Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.


source:  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46446/still-i-rise

Ultra Processed Foods

An article from the NIH directors blog reports the finding that ultra processed foods lead to weight gain.

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2019/05/21/ultra-processed-diet-leads-to-extra-calories-weight-gain/

Several online commenters wondered why a list of ultra processed food was not included. As it turns out, Cooking Light, has a February 2019 article on that topic.

https://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/nutrition-101/what-is-ultra-processed-food

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Set in New York, My Name is Lucy Barton, is a psychological portrait of a woman who has survived a terrible upbringing of cruelty and poverty. 

At the start of the novel, Lucy, who is temporarily hospitalized, received visits from her mother. Lucy is grateful for the visits and grateful for the doctor who seems to genuinely care for her. 

Underneath the mother's kindness, however, there is an undercurrent of cruelty. Lucy is the only one who has successful escaped her humble beginnings in Amgash, IL. 

Lucy has gone to college and become a writer but she still experiences loneliness and disconnection. Once after Lucy has her first baby, she calls her mother. Her mother, however, refuses to accept the charges for the collect phone call.

This novel is set in the 1980s before cell phones and smart phones. Another crucial part of the novel is the AIDS epidemic; Lucy feels a connection with outcasts and with the neighbor who is dying. 

The brothers and sisters she left behind in Amgash feel some resentment for Lucy, who made it out of the rural community. Those themes are explored in Strout's award-winning short story collection,  Anything is Possible. 

Lucy discovers she will always be connected to  her family even though she has left them and started life anew elsewhere. 

The Chrysler building on the cover makes sense.

The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton

This is a novel that pulls readers in immediately because there’s so much at stake for Yasmin and her daughter, Ruby. The pair hope to rescue Matt, Yasmin’s husband and Ruby’s father, from an outpost in Northern Alaska that burned to the ground. 

Despite a terrible childhood, Yasmin has found the love of her life in Matt whose adventurous spirit matches her own. Even with a few challenges–like her daughter’s disability and Matt’s tendency to wander, Yasmin believes in his love. 

Police, however, have decided there are no survivors. Refusing to give up hope, Yasmin and Ruby make their way North by convincing a truck driver to take them to DeadHorse. From there they hope to take a taxi plane to Anaktue. 

Yasmin takes matters into her own hands when he becomes ill; she drives the truck herself across dangerous icy roads.Fans of psychological suspense will love Lupton’s foray into the world of ice trucking. This is a complex novel about motherhood, disability, and ethical choices. 

On one hand, Yasmin has felt that becoming a mother (especially a mother to a child who is so vulnerable) has made her invisible:

“It shocked her to realize that for years she’d felt bland, dull even to herself. Around her, everyone else’s characters were clearly defined, the borders of their personalities etched sharply, but not hers. She’d had tasks and chores and love for Ruby, huge love for her, but how would she have described who she was? Somewhere along the line she’d lost the idea of herself.”

Thus, the mother’s dangerous quest to find her husband is also quest to find her lost self. Yasmin endures the bitter cold of the Dalton highway, a possible stalker and the hazards of trucking during a storm.

Equally brave, Ruby decides how and when she’ll use her voice. Despite her mother’s repeated requests that she use her real voice, Ruby uses “Voice Magic” and twitter. In one courageous move at the end, Ruby uses this technology to thwart the evil doers who wish to harm her family.