![\"Fiona](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.aligncenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/newsletter11-saga-staples-vaughan.jpg?resize=700%2C394\")
Drawing by Fiona Staples for Saga: Book One<\/a><\/span>\nIn this mid-summer edition of Align Center, we have four articles on kindness, deforestation, the psychology of donations and religion in surfing, followed by a superb long read for all the hikers out there. Then turn the music up for the podcast recommendation, what I’m digging of late, and finally a call out for you to join me in a fun challenge.<\/p>\n
\u25e6 selected words<\/h1>\nYour Three Feet of Influence<\/a><\/h2>\nDo you ever wonder what you, as one person, can do to change the world in our increasingly troubled times? A beautiful story about the impact of simple acts of kindness in everyday moments.
\nonbeing.com (5min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nPaying People To Not Chop Down Trees<\/a><\/h2>\nIn 1997, a controversial approach to slow down deforestation began in Costa Rica to pay villagers not to cut down their trees. This practice was replicated in other poor countries where the majority of deforestation occurs, and was so successful that it sparked a scientific team to create a study with a randomized trial of 121 villages in Uganda. The program was wildly successful, and similar programs are showing that this method is one of the most cost effective solutions to curbing carbon emissions.
\ntheatlantic.com (5min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nPsychic Numbing: The Compassion Paradox<\/a><\/h2>\nA 2014 study by researchers at the University of Oregon found that charitable donations are greatest when there is only one child in need, and as the number of victims increases, compassion fades. This psychological effect is known as psychic numbing and helps explain why large-scale human suffering continues despite humans being predisposed to helping each other. The researchers found that this irrational indifference is due to three psychological obstacles, which, with awareness, can be overcome.
\nvox.com (14min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nIs Surfing More Sport or Religion?<\/a><\/h2>\nIt’s logical that surfing’s popularity has grown as fast as the spirituality movement \u2014 surfers revere the ocean and respect its power in a way that many reserve only for deities. Where else can you experience solitude without the loneliness? Scientists are beginning to discover how these feelings of awe, unity, grace and love are manifested while riding the waves. Contrast the waits between waves with a short burst of intense effort, and then finally surrendering to the wave, and it’s no wonder surfers treat their sport as a meditation.
\ntheatlantic.com (10min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 listen in<\/h1>\nSong Exploder with Norah Jones<\/a><\/h2>\nIt’s been fifteen years since her debut album, Come Away With Me, and only Adele’s 21 has sold more in that time. The daughter of a concert producer and famed Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, Jones was immersed in music early and often. Witness her growth as an artist and dedication to the craft as she breaks down Day Breaks, from her sixth solo album of the same name.
\nSongExploder.net (15min podcast)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 eat well<\/h1>\nGinger Cashew Cauliflower<\/a><\/h2>\nRemember back in early 2016 when cauliflower prices spiked to $7 a head, the same as a pound of grass-fed ground beef? Conditions have been much more favorable this year, leading to a surplus at the moment. Here’s a quick, forgiving recipe to put all of it to use.
\nVegKitchen.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 read slow<\/h1>\nGoing It Alone – Solo Hiking the Appalachian Trail As A Minority<\/a><\/h2>\nHiking the 2,190 mile Appalachian Trail solo is a daunting task physically and mentally \u2014 but hiking it as a queer black woman through long stretches of Trump country adds layers of complexity beyond most hiker’s field of vision. When your trail goes directly past remnants of segregation like a hostel flying a Confederate flag, racist trail graffiti and strangers telling you “Black’s don’t hike”, typical worries of the solo hiker become overshadowed by an always-present fear \u2014 not of deadly animals or dangerous terrain \u2014 but by threatening people. This story asks the question, who is the wilderness for?
\noutsideonline.com (18min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 current read<\/h1>\nSaga: Book One<\/a><\/h2>\nAn epic love story set across warring planets, with pages sprinkled with magical spells, ghostly apparitions, eight legged bounty hunters and alien sex (lots of it). It’s strikingly imaginative, or creepy and super weird depending on your point of view, but it works. Book One contains the first 18 chapters of this Image Comics Harvey award winning tale, but the best part of this compilation is saved for last. Process nerds will love the 46 bonus pages of concept sketches and the author’s actual story notes. Writer Brian K. Vaughan and illustrator Fiona Staples take you on a journey into their creative process by sharing 22 full scripts, each starting with a description of each panel and the dialogue, followed by the artist’s pencil sketches, and then how it is transformed into the final artwork. A window into a collaboration between two of the best in the business.
\nSaga: Book One (#1-3) on GoodReads (504p book \/ 18 issue compilation)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 dig this<\/h1>\n
What I’m digging lately (all free, except the movie is on Netflix):<\/p>\n
\n- Requiem for the American Dream<\/a> – Noam Chomsky reveals the causes of the growing inequality of our era in his final long form documentary interview, partially funded by Kickstarter (YouTube trailer<\/a> \/ 75min movie on Netflix<\/a>).<\/li>\n
- Google Street View in Space<\/a> – Take a virtual visit of the International Space Station!<\/li>\n
- Apple’s Free Course<\/a> – Apple releases their Swift app development curriculum for free on iBooks, a course that will also be offered at six colleges this fall (on iTunes<\/a>).<\/li>\n
- Newsletter Discovery<\/a> – Want to preview newsletters before giving up your email? Or discover new ones by interest? GetRevue does just that, for free.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u25e6 humble thought<\/h1>\n\n
Do you ever wonder what you, as one person, can do to change the world in our increasingly troubled times? A beautiful story about the impact of simple acts of kindness in everyday moments. In 1997, a controversial approach to slow down deforestation began in Costa Rica to pay villagers not to cut down their trees. This practice was replicated in other poor countries where the majority of deforestation occurs, and was so successful that it sparked a scientific team to create a study with a randomized trial of 121 villages in Uganda. The program was wildly successful, and similar programs are showing that this method is one of the most cost effective solutions to curbing carbon emissions. A 2014 study by researchers at the University of Oregon found that charitable donations are greatest when there is only one child in need, and as the number of victims increases, compassion fades. This psychological effect is known as psychic numbing and helps explain why large-scale human suffering continues despite humans being predisposed to helping each other. The researchers found that this irrational indifference is due to three psychological obstacles, which, with awareness, can be overcome. It’s logical that surfing’s popularity has grown as fast as the spirituality movement \u2014 surfers revere the ocean and respect its power in a way that many reserve only for deities. Where else can you experience solitude without the loneliness? Scientists are beginning to discover how these feelings of awe, unity, grace and love are manifested while riding the waves. Contrast the waits between waves with a short burst of intense effort, and then finally surrendering to the wave, and it’s no wonder surfers treat their sport as a meditation. It’s been fifteen years since her debut album, Come Away With Me, and only Adele’s 21 has sold more in that time. The daughter of a concert producer and famed Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, Jones was immersed in music early and often. Witness her growth as an artist and dedication to the craft as she breaks down Day Breaks, from her sixth solo album of the same name. Remember back in early 2016 when cauliflower prices spiked to $7 a head, the same as a pound of grass-fed ground beef? Conditions have been much more favorable this year, leading to a surplus at the moment. Here’s a quick, forgiving recipe to put all of it to use. Hiking the 2,190 mile Appalachian Trail solo is a daunting task physically and mentally \u2014 but hiking it as a queer black woman through long stretches of Trump country adds layers of complexity beyond most hiker’s field of vision. When your trail goes directly past remnants of segregation like a hostel flying a Confederate flag, racist trail graffiti and strangers telling you “Black’s don’t hike”, typical worries of the solo hiker become overshadowed by an always-present fear \u2014 not of deadly animals or dangerous terrain \u2014 but by threatening people. This story asks the question, who is the wilderness for? An epic love story set across warring planets, with pages sprinkled with magical spells, ghostly apparitions, eight legged bounty hunters and alien sex (lots of it). It’s strikingly imaginative, or creepy and super weird depending on your point of view, but it works. Book One contains the first 18 chapters of this Image Comics Harvey award winning tale, but the best part of this compilation is saved for last. Process nerds will love the 46 bonus pages of concept sketches and the author’s actual story notes. Writer Brian K. Vaughan and illustrator Fiona Staples take you on a journey into their creative process by sharing 22 full scripts, each starting with a description of each panel and the dialogue, followed by the artist’s pencil sketches, and then how it is transformed into the final artwork. A window into a collaboration between two of the best in the business. What I’m digging lately (all free, except the movie is on Netflix):<\/p>\n
\nonbeing.com (5min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nPaying People To Not Chop Down Trees<\/a><\/h2>\n
\ntheatlantic.com (5min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nPsychic Numbing: The Compassion Paradox<\/a><\/h2>\n
\nvox.com (14min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nIs Surfing More Sport or Religion?<\/a><\/h2>\n
\ntheatlantic.com (10min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 listen in<\/h1>\n
Song Exploder with Norah Jones<\/a><\/h2>\n
\nSongExploder.net (15min podcast)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 eat well<\/h1>\n
Ginger Cashew Cauliflower<\/a><\/h2>\n
\nVegKitchen.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 read slow<\/h1>\n
Going It Alone – Solo Hiking the Appalachian Trail As A Minority<\/a><\/h2>\n
\noutsideonline.com (18min read)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 current read<\/h1>\n
Saga: Book One<\/a><\/h2>\n
\nSaga: Book One (#1-3) on GoodReads (504p book \/ 18 issue compilation)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u25e6 dig this<\/h1>\n
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\u25e6 humble thought<\/h1>\n
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