Lilian Nattel's Blog, page 58
February 26, 2011
autistic teen uses iPad, laptop to communicate
"So I had a cool interview with a Toronto Star Newspaper reporter. I'm not sure when the story printing or how long it is. The only thing I'm sure of is how cute the photographer was. So cute. I talked to them about autism & I was showing off how easy it is to talk with wordQ and my Ipad. Doctors and scientists are only partly going to help autism technology and innovators are going to bring autism to the next level."
How does a non-verbal, 16-year-old autistic girl communicate?
Go back to the opening paragraph.
Carly Fleischmann wrote it. When she was very young, her parents were warned she would probably have to be put into an institution. But this autistic teen is now very capable of communicating. And she does so regularly, with wit, wisdom and typical teen chutzpah — via Twitter, Facebook, email and her website, carlysvoice.com, where she posted news of her interview with the Star.
via thestar.com
This is a fascinating story about a girl who was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. Through intensive (40 hrs a week) behavioural therapy beginning at age 4, by age 10 she was able to communicate through writing. Now, at 16, she's in a gifted English class and has her own website, carlysvoice.com.
Filed under: Miscellany
the turtle gps: earth's magnetic field
In 1996, a loggerhead turtle called Adelita swam across 9,000 miles from Mexico to Japan, crossing the entire Pacific on her way. Wallace J. Nichols tracked this epic journey with a satellite tag. But Adelita herself had no such technology at her disposal. How did she steer a route across two oceans to find her destination?
via blogs.discovermagazine.com
Another great article from Ed Yong on how turtles find their way across long distances.
Filed under: Miscellany
the over-representation of lesbians in comedy
is this a "just so" story or science? Interesting comments on it. http://ow.ly/43Z8O
Filed under: Miscellany
February 25, 2011
to write as a woman is political
For now, though, I guess I would say the female body and its experiences is my war, the war I do know of and the legislative attack on the female body is where I want to start to stand my political ground as a writer.
via htmlgiant.com
This is a thought provoking and thoughtful essay about being a writer and female. I had to stop reading partway through to post the link because I'm that keen to share it. Read the whole thing at the link above. Okay now I'm going back to finish it.
Filed under: Concerning, Interesting Tagged: female writers
old photo re-enactment
take the pose of your teenage self, click, compare the shots. Examples here. Funny, poignant. http://ow.ly/43Azt
Filed under: Fun Tagged: photography
10 of the best: fictional poets
I only dare include bad poets in my fiction. http://ow.ly/43AmO
Filed under: Literary Tagged: Guardian's 10 best
Today I forgot my blog
and I forgot myself while writing, thinking of characters. Then I swam and the water was warm. Outside, snow.
Filed under: Personal Tagged: river of stones
February 24, 2011
Leonard Cohen on poetry and music
From new public archive, interview & reading. Tell me, doesn't he look like Spock? http://ow.ly/42QJU
Filed under: Miscellany
Percy Julian, an African-American Pioneer in Chemistry
Born in 1899, Percy Julian was a famous African-American chemist who, among many other accomplishments, was best known for synthesizing medicines from plants, particularly involving the manufacture of cortisone. It's hard now for us to realize what a new wonder drug cortisone was in the early 50′s. People with arthritis, who were completely crippled. Until Julian and others figured out how to synthesize it cheaply, an ounce of cortisone cost a 100 times as much as an ounce of gold.
Among his many accomplishments, as a young man he'd earned his PhD in Europe while also enjoying a whirlwind of society, wine, women and hanging out with Jewish intellectuals.
Some years later, when Julian had established his own business, he faced an unexpected obstacle. The supply of plant materials (yams) that he needed from Mexico was being blocked by another company, which bribed Mexican authorities. Desperate, broke, he thought he'd reached the end of the road. Just at that time, this occurred:
And then a strange thing happened. There was a knock on the door, and in came a man named Abraham Zlotnik, a man that I had helped out of Hitler's Germany. Abe said he was sure the yam grew in Guatemala, and he volunteered to make an expedition for me. I told him I was broke, ruined. I didn't know when I could pay him back. But he said, "You've already paid me back."
The yams were obatined, and from that time Julian's labs became successful and Percy Julian became a multi-millionaire, the richest African-American of his time.
Percy Julian had had his share of obstacles and hurdles due to racism. He overcame
Percy Lavon Julian
them through talent and persistence, and in the 1960′s he was a leader who put his resources and gifts into the civil rights movement. But the story that touched me the most was this side note of his life that involved hands reaching across continent, race, religion and time to help one another and in so doing help millions of people who take cortisone for granted.
He was a man of courage, inventiveness, intelligence, and eloquence. This is what he said about his graduation:
At commencement time, my great-grandmother bared her shoulders, and she showed me, for the first time, the deep scars that had remained from a beating she had received when, one day, during the waning days of the Civil War, she went through the Negro quarters and cried out, "Get yourselves ready, children. The Yankees are coming. The Lord has heard our prayers!" And then, proudly, she took my Phi Beta Kappa key in her hand and said, "This is worth all the scars."
He rather reminds me of another eloquent African-American. I think Percy Julian would be much pleased about the White House's current residents.
Filed under: Interesting, Uplifting Tagged: Percy Julian, synthesizing cortisone
Lilian Nattel's Blog
- Lilian Nattel's profile
- 133 followers
