Music! Greek singing

The Amalgamation Choir “Live At The Library”. The singers are spot on with rhythm and harmony, and the director Vasiliki Anastasiou is fun to watch. Filmed live in Cyprus Library. All four videos are worth watching, but if you're short on time, my favorite is the third one Tis Trihas to Gefyri. Also there's a 27 minute Roadtrip video with singing and interviews.

Hymn to the Sun - by Mesomedes of Crete. An ancient Greek hymn, with English translation. Singing starts around :45.

I sent my singing teacher the Amalgamation choir link a couple of months ago and said that I want to be able to do what these women are doing, and now I'm in a choir! Interesting how these things work sometimes. Her teaching and support definitely contributed to making it possible.

By the way, Juliana Graffagna does Skype/Zoom lessons for Balkan and Georgian singing and other kinds of singing, and I recommend her highly. She's knowledgeable, kind, a skilled teacher, and a fantastic singer.

Browsing tags and comment policy

Hi! If you're here for the public links and stories, happy browsing! I also added a music tag.

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I wrote some books about healing from trauma!

Wellspring of Compassion: Self-Care for Sensitive People Healing from Trauma
Welcome to support and comfort whether you are new to healing or an old hand, whether the trauma is long past or ongoing.

Presence After Trauma: Reconcile with Your Self and the World
This book is a non-judgmental companion for your healing process after the initial crisis is over.

Embodying Hope: Living in Difficult Times with a Difficult Past
We embody hope when we keep moving forward, one stubborn step after another, and when we take shelter for protection and rest.


How to make a post sticky, for future reference, and anyone else who's wondering.

Links: psychology

Book Review: All Therapy Books by Scott Alexander. "Previous forms of therapy have required years or even decades to produce ambiguous results. Our form of therapy can produce total transformation in five to ten sessions! Previous forms of therapy have only helped ameliorate the stress of symptoms. Our form of therapy destroys symptoms at the root!"

What Doesn’t Motivate ADHD Adults to Follow Through by Marla Cummins. "Trying to force yourself to work tops my list of strategies that don’t usually work for adults with ADHD." Instead, engineer your environment, create interest, and be willing to tolerate discomfort.

Being-with the being-without : relational focusing with substance misusers (PDF) by Alan Tidmarsh. A somewhat technical article on "how therapeutic relationship and therapeutic focusing might live in the same space, speak the same language and support each other." It spoke to me about what I'm finding in my own practice: being present as a fellow vulnerable human is crucially important to helping traumatized people heal.

Dying to Leave, Trying to Live: My Depression Journey by John Pavlovitz. A succinct description of living with suicidal depression. Includes resources at the end: "Note: If you're struggling with depression, desire to self-harm, or suicidal thoughts, talk to someone at the National Suicide Prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Help can also be found here and here and here now."

What kind of thinking makes you good at strategy & tactics? by yhlee. Fascinating comments, including a link to INTJ Personality Type – The “Strategist” which is interesting to me as a (reportedly rare) female INTJ.

Does news coverage of traffic crashes affect perceived blame and preferred solutions? Evidence from an experiment by Tara Goddard, Kelcie Ralph, Calvin G. Thigpen, Evan Iacobucci. Readable summary of research, with important points on how language affects attribution of blame when a car driver kills a pedestrian. "Even subtle differences in editorial patterns significantly affected readers’ attribution of blame and choice of punishment. Shifting from pedestrian-focused to driver-focused language reduced victim-blaming and increased perceived fault of the driver. A thematic frame ("10th fatality this year") significantly increased support for infrastructure improvements."

Making Sense of Autogynephilia Debates by Julia Serano. "1) The theory (and the evidence against it) in a nutshell, 2) Trans women’s objections to the theory (on top of it being incorrect), and 3) So who still believes autogynephilia theory, and what are their rationales?"

In fandom, please be careful about how negative you are, and how you are negative. by xparrot. "tl;dr: make squee, not war?" Thoughtful post, and ongoing discussion in comments.

How My Wife Can Stand Me by John Scalzi. Heartwarming recipe for a long, functional, loving marriage.