Noel Duan

    5 Feb 2012

    I also find that if you ask someone in an interview, “Are you a morning person?” the truth always flickers across their face, no matter what they say.

    (via The New York Times)

    4 Feb 2012

    Feelings feelings feelings

    I am deeply frustrated because my generation did not break this economy but every day, I see my peers working themselves to death trying to do everything possible to compensate. We’re told that it’s harder to find jobs in this economy so just-accept-this-unpaid-internship-and-move-back-home-with-mom-and-dad. We’re told that we’re ungrateful and lazy and unrealistic, but how can the older generation accuse us of these things when they tucked us into bed at night, telling us that we can be anything we want to be when we grow up?

    I used to dream so big, but now I worry more than I dream. I tell myself that education will change everything, but I see so many 20-somethings who are overeducated and underpaid.

    My eyes glaze over when adults lecture me about my unrealistic expectations and my “petty” dreams. The way I see it, I did not ruin this economy. I am not to blame for this economy. And I, like so many of my peers, am just trying to hold onto those childhood dreams and hopes. When did “you can be anything you want to be” become “you are not good enough”?

    3 Feb 2012

    An education

    I feel that there are few careers that allow you to directly spark and shape the world (yes, yes, I’m sure you, brilliant reader, could name quite a few, but still…), which is why I become sick to the stomach when teachers from my high school die. When you’re 16 years old and you just got in a fight with your parents because you crashed the car and your SAT score doesn’t look good enough and you’re convinced that your friends could care less about you, you probably don’t want to draw cell membranes or sit in class discussing the Civil War. But then, all you need is that one teacher who sets on fire that inner spark within you that wants to learn more, and that can change your entire life.

    I’ve been thinking about education a lot lately, because even here in Paris, I can find no greater joy than the tireless passion of academia. I don’t know why I become so happy when I’m sitting in class, but I know it wouldn’t have been possible without the foundation set by my high school teachers. I still remember the first time I shamelessly ran to my locker after school so that I could plunk down and finish The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

    And with that, I say, RIP Ms. M — I am a little less heartbroken because I look at my Facebook newsfeed and I see the products of your labor continuing to strive for great things in college and for the rest of their lives.

    28 Jan 2012

    26 Jan 2012

    29lives:

    kevinless:

    This is Ulyana Sergeenko’s DEBUT collection. 

    This is so me. You may as well wrap it up and tie it with a bow for me.

    (Source: riseabove-aseriesofcycles)

    24 Jan 2012

    benglert:

    Found this in the process of educating Midori on Bay Area hip-hop. It is simply one of the best things ever, I have no words. Just watch.

    God bless America (especially the yay area).

    23 Jan 2012

    farankrentcil:

Stop apologizing for being smart.  Sexy is not a dirty word.  (A Tale of Two Issues.)

    farankrentcil:

    Stop apologizing for being smart.  Sexy is not a dirty word.  (A Tale of Two Issues.)

    22 Jan 2012

    21 Jan 2012

    “We are the girls with anxiety disorders, filled appointment books, five-year plans. We take ourselves very, very seriously. We are the peacemakers, the do-gooders, the givers, the savers. We are on time, overly prepared, well read, and witty, intellectually curious, always moving… We pride ourselves on getting as little sleep as possible and thrive on self-deprivation. We drink coffee, a lot of it. We are on birth control, Prozac, and multivitamins… We are relentless, judgmental with ourselves, and forgiving to others. We never want to be as passive-aggressive are our mothers, never want to marry men as uninspired as our fathers… We are the daughters of the feminists who said, “You can be anything,” and we heard, “You have to be everything.”

    Courtney Martin (via air-light-time-space)

    I guess what frightens me, is how much this hits home.

    21 Jan 2012

    Did you know Nicolas Flamel was a real person? Paris teaches me something new every day.

    Did you know Nicolas Flamel was a real person? Paris teaches me something new every day.

    17 Jan 2012

    amcorm:

Well the highlight of my first day of school, Mom, was obviously when I sat down to drink a Diet Snapple and eat a Luna Bar before class and to my right was Sarah Jessica Parker. Duh.

Why am I not on campus?

    amcorm:

    Well the highlight of my first day of school, Mom, was obviously when I sat down to drink a Diet Snapple and eat a Luna Bar before class and to my right was Sarah Jessica Parker. Duh.

    Why am I not on campus?

    16 Jan 2012

    futurejournalismproject:

AP: Next Stop, North Korea
The AP opens first Western news bureau in North Korea.
Via the Associated Press:

The Associated Press opened its newest bureau here Monday, becoming the first international news organization with a full-time presence to cover news from North Korea in words, pictures and video.
In a ceremony that came less than a month after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il and capped nearly a year of discussions, AP President and CEO Tom Curley and a delegation of top AP editors inaugurated the office, situated inside the headquarters of the state-run Korean Central News Agency in downtown Pyongyang…
…The bureau puts AP in a position to document the people, places and politics of North Korea across all media platforms at a critical moment in its history, with Kim’s death and the ascension of his young son as the country’s new leader, Curley said in remarks prepared for the opening.
“Beyond this door lies a path to vastly larger understanding and cultural enrichment for millions around the world,” Curley said. “Regardless of whether you were born in Pyongyang or Pennsylvania, you are aware of the bridge being created today.”
Curley said the Pyongyang bureau will operate under the same standards and practices as AP bureaus worldwide.
“Everyone at The Associated Press takes his or her responsibilities of a free and fair press with utmost seriousness,” he said. “We pledge to do our best to reflect accurately the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as well as what they do and say.”

Image: Associated Press President Tom Curley, left, and Korean Central News Agency President Kim Pyong Ho hang the Associated Press Pyongyang sign on the door to open a new AP bureau in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday Jan. 16, 2012. Via the AP.

    futurejournalismproject:

    AP: Next Stop, North Korea

    The AP opens first Western news bureau in North Korea.

    Via the Associated Press:

    The Associated Press opened its newest bureau here Monday, becoming the first international news organization with a full-time presence to cover news from North Korea in words, pictures and video.

    In a ceremony that came less than a month after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il and capped nearly a year of discussions, AP President and CEO Tom Curley and a delegation of top AP editors inaugurated the office, situated inside the headquarters of the state-run Korean Central News Agency in downtown Pyongyang…

    …The bureau puts AP in a position to document the people, places and politics of North Korea across all media platforms at a critical moment in its history, with Kim’s death and the ascension of his young son as the country’s new leader, Curley said in remarks prepared for the opening.

    “Beyond this door lies a path to vastly larger understanding and cultural enrichment for millions around the world,” Curley said. “Regardless of whether you were born in Pyongyang or Pennsylvania, you are aware of the bridge being created today.”

    Curley said the Pyongyang bureau will operate under the same standards and practices as AP bureaus worldwide.

    “Everyone at The Associated Press takes his or her responsibilities of a free and fair press with utmost seriousness,” he said. “We pledge to do our best to reflect accurately the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as well as what they do and say.”

    Image: Associated Press President Tom Curley, left, and Korean Central News Agency President Kim Pyong Ho hang the Associated Press Pyongyang sign on the door to open a new AP bureau in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday Jan. 16, 2012. Via the AP.

    15 Jan 2012

    “People sterilized against their will under a discredited North Carolina state program should each be paid $50,000, a task force voted Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. This is the first time a state has moved to compensate victims of eugenics. The governor appointed panel recommended that the money go to verified, living victims and the legislature still has to approve the payments. Between 1929 and 1974, North Carolina sterilized more than 7,600 individuals in the name of “improving” the state’s “human stock.” By the time the program ended, the majority of those who were sterilized fit a similar profile: they were young, black, poor women. “I just want it to be over,” 57-year-old Elaine Riddick, told the AP. She was sterilized when she was 14 after she gave birth to a son who was the product of rape. “You can’t change anything. You just let go and let God.” Riddick, who’s seen in the video above, said she was surprised that the task force recommended $50,000 instead of $20,000. (Earlier reports announced the victims would get anywhere between $20,000 and $50,000.) Some say the big victory here is that the state acknowledge they were wrong. “It’s not really about the money,” said Melissa Hyatt, whose stepfather was sterilized. “It’s about the suffering and the pain.”

    NC Panel: Sterilization Victims Should Get $50K (via honeyandsun

    )

    They always leave this out of the history books.

    (Source: cocothinkshefancy)

    15 Jan 2012

    Ashley Olsen in vintage Christian Dior couture, Met Ball 2011
Everything about this is perfect to me. Puffy sleeves? Check. Cream and black palette? Check. Petite Olsen? Check. Danielle Nachmani, what a wondrous stylist you are.

    Ashley Olsen in vintage Christian Dior couture, Met Ball 2011

    Everything about this is perfect to me. Puffy sleeves? Check. Cream and black palette? Check. Petite Olsen? Check. Danielle Nachmani, what a wondrous stylist you are.

    6 Jan 2012

    4.0

    I’m going to reward myself with working harder. 2012, you’re only going to get better.