@seanbala@mas.to
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

seanbala

@seanbala@mas.to

Former #ReligiousStudies student in #Chicago. Interested in #religion, #philosophy, #ethics, #culture, #environment, #ecology, and #community. Currently working in #HigherEd.

Other Tags: #Episcopal #Episcopalian #Ecotheology #Books #Folklore #Travel #Fantasy #History #Solarpunk #ScienceFiction #SFF #Bookstadon #Bookmaking #Musicals #Theater #India

Love exploring new cultures, interesting ideas, and meeting new people!

"If only I may grow - simple, firmer, kinder, warmer." Dag Hammarskjold

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

anirvan, to random
@anirvan@mastodon.social avatar

This is incredible

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/4/modis-bjp-loses-majority-in-india-election-shock-needs-allies-for

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@anirvan

Ab ki baar 400 paar? :blobcatsadreach:

jendiagammon, to scifi
@jendiagammon@wandering.shop avatar

I am a Nebula Award finalist, and the Nebula conference is this week. My book, THE INN AT THE AMETHYST LANTERN, is nominated for the Andre Norton Nebula Award for younger fiction (young adult in this case). So what's the book about? I've got you covered: https://jendiagammon.com/2024/03/18/about-the-inn-at-the-amethyst-lantern/

#Nebulas2024 #NebulaAwards #scifi #fantasy #yabooks #books

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@jendiagammon For those looking at the post above, I just started reading "The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern" (finally) and it is a really a lot of fun! A very imaginative world with unique visuals. It has especially fantastic use of colors - I feel like the images in my mind are vividly painted as I read. I am a big #Solarpunk fan but this is my first #Lunarpunk work and I'm quite digging the vibe. Many more things to say but will save them for when I'm finished!

seanbala, (edited ) to chicago
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

Sounds about right.

I've lived in this neighborhood for about five years.

This is one of a series of local hand made candles at a booth in an artists gallery in Andersonville.

All of the candle feature common neighborhood stereotypes.

Chicago is a city of neighborhoods that like to make fun of each other.

EDIT - Look at it for more laughs: https://chicagowickstop.com

medievalindianhistory, to random
@medievalindianhistory@mastodon.social avatar

Folio from a quintet of the poet Amir Khusrau depicting the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya of the Chishti order and three attendants, Delhi Sultanate period, c. 1450, NMAA, Smithsonian. Such a wonderful portrayal of image and text, evocation of poetry and mysticism.

Miniature of Nizamuddin Auliya being made during that time shows that he had a great status & following among the Delhi Sultans & the people.

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@medievalindianhistory When I was teaching at a university in India, we used to take students to the neighbourhood around the dargah of Nizamuddin to do research projects. One of my favorite spots in Delhi....

seanbala, to climate
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

A rare moment when a video title is not clickbait. Great report from DW Planet A on energy system inefficiencies. I've wonder whether talking more about efficiency and waste to climate skeptics might bring them on board with green policies. Personally, I don't care how we do it, as long as we get to the same end result of a more sustainable world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVJkq4iu7bk

@dw_innovation

sheepnik, to random
@sheepnik@toot.wales avatar

Now that the last chicken has reached its new home, I can share this, which is all the chickens I've made. When I started my first chicken 3 months ago, I didn't realise I was going to make 6 in a very short time. Thank you all for humouring my obsession these past few months. I'm going to take a break now, but maybe I'll make another one if there's someone who really needs one.

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@sheepnik These make me incredibly happy - I want one! 🤗

Thanks for sharing ❤️

lowqualityfacts, to random
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

It's one of my favorite traditions.
https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@smilingheretic @lowqualityfacts Don't forget the hot dish!

razumasu, to LongReads
@razumasu@me.dm avatar

What’s the longest book you’ve ever read and did you enjoy it? #LongReads #EpicBooks #books #reading

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@razumasu Probably right about the Lord of the Rings but I'm going to mention "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" but Susanna Clarke. I read it while recovering from pnumonia in college during my senior year. I read only that for one week. It was amazing. And an amazing experience to completely immerse myself in a single thing.

scotlit, to literature
@scotlit@mastodon.scot avatar

Ian Rankin Investigates: Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

Currently on the BBC iPlayer: Ian Rankin investigates Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde”. Rankin traces the roots of this story, which stretch back to Stevenson's childhood. Grave-robbers, drugs & prostitution all play their part, as Rankin's journey takes him into the dark streets of the city that inspired the tale: Edinburgh.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qyzv

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@scotlit

This sounds great. Will add it to my queue for the week!

coachtony, to random
@coachtony@me.dm avatar

Hotel lobbies are under appreciated places to work. Sarah and I went to the Fairmont in SF for a writing retreat. She's working on a novel. I'm working on a board letter and marketing announcement.

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@coachtony Very true. One of the good ones in #Chicago is the Chicago Athletic Association - it has an attached hotel now. Amazing fireplaces, wood paneling, and you can just sit there for hours!

Here is a photo I took last year: https://pixelfed.social/p/seanbala/660121843016042381

sarenaulibarri, to solarpunk
@sarenaulibarri@wandering.shop avatar

Happy one-year birthday to ANOTHER LIFE, my novella about reincarnation! @StelliformPress brought this to life one year ago today. Many thanks to everyone who has bought, read, or reviewed it!

A Spanish translation is coming soon from Crononauta, and a Catalan translation from SF Fábula. 🥳

https://www.stelliform.press/index.php/product/another-life-by-sarena-ulibarri/

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@sarenaulibarri @StelliformPress

Amazing news about the translations! Congrats! 🤗

seanbala, to cs
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

Very random thought....

I am on my Windows computer so much for work that when I get off, I really just want to do something not on a computer. I realize that I now associate Windows with work and it doesn't feel like something fun or enjoyable. It doesn't feel personal to me.

I've been trying to figure out why lately I've had trouble with personal projects and perhaps this might be a small part of the answer.

#Computer #Tech #Technology #Windows #ShowerThoughts #Work #WorkLife #OS

seanbala, to chicago
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

A dangerous thing to see when walking by the craft beer shop on my way home. Tried a taste of Dovetail's new pils - I think I might have to go try it more at their brewery around the corner.

#Chicago #NorthCenter #Illinois #Ravenswood #Beer #Beers #CraftBeer #Dovetail #Brewery #Shop #smallbusiness #Shoplocal #DovetailBrewery @beersofmastodon

A white sign on a sidewalk reads "Dovetail Beer Tasting!" in black, bold letters.

grumpasaurus, to Indiana
@grumpasaurus@fosstodon.org avatar

So what is there for breakfast by the airport in

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@grumpasaurus REALLY Sad Ass Salad!

mloxton, to random
@mloxton@med-mastodon.com avatar

There is a whole genre of people who play music to animals, and it is probably one of the better features of our species

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYD42BXbjFg

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@mloxton Really needed all of these today ❤️

seanbala, to random
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

A six-week general election? How quaint....

Love from America!

#UKPol #USPol

CountBinface, to random
@CountBinface@mastodon.world avatar

It’s meant to be.

seanbala, (edited )
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@CountBinface And should we win today, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American Holiday. It will be the day when the nation of Britain declared in one voice "We WILL take out the trash!" - today, we celebrate our Bindependence Day!!" (cue swell of patriotic music)

hugo, to random
@hugo@assemblag.es avatar

fabricated cell lines.

https://www.science.org/content/article/hundreds-cancer-papers-mention-cell-lines-don-t-seem-exist

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@hugo I always go back to the idea that in the UK under the Coalition government of the early 2010s, they said that faculty had to publish a certain number of article to keep their jobs. So what people started doing was dismembering book projects and submitting the chapters as articles. I don't know I always found it somewhat ridiculous.

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@hugo Yeah. I work a public higher ed institution so I know all to well.

Politics and higher ed is a joke. I feel like in the UK you have a bunch of Oxbridge graduates talking about how terrible elite higher education is.

In the US, you have many members of Congress with Ivy League degrees decrying their former schools as full of out-of-touch elites.

liztai, to tech
@liztai@hachyderm.io avatar

When Iived in Australia, I realised that we Malaysians had access to more advanced tech. Our laptops, smartphones etc were more advanced.
When I was a journalist who would travel overseas to interview people - Asian journalists always had the slickest voice recorders. We were using MP3 recorders while the Western journos were still using tape.
I don't think it's because we r smarter; I think we dare to copy & improve while co's in the West are more protective & possessive of their #tech. 1/2

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@liztai Interesting point! I also noticed in Asia that some technology was way more advanced. I've thought one thing is price point - many Asian markets (because of cost sensitivity) need to innovate more with less (jugaad). The market is less sclerotic than it is in the West. One of my favorite things in India was that the Supreme Court ruled that textbook copyrights are invalid because students have a right to get information. So you have massive copier stalls outside of big universities.

LifeTimeCooking, to random
@LifeTimeCooking@mastodon.au avatar

Good morning beautiful people. My gift to you today... Put it in your pocket and take it with you.

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@LifeTimeCooking

Morning, Ganga - will pocket this for tomorrow my time.

Hope you are having a good weekend!

sundogplanets, to random
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social avatar

I am talking o a reporter about this in a couple hours: https://regina.ctvnews.ca/from-outer-space-sask-farmers-baffled-after-discovering-strange-wreckage-in-field-1.6880353

This is about an hour away from my farm, so this'll be a fun conversation, and yet another great opportunity to tell a lot of people about what a huge problem we have with unregulated commercialization of orbit. (Also I just redid my slides for my public talk next week, this is going in!)

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@sundogplanets Just want to say that this thread has been one of the most epic I've read on Mastodon. Thank you so much for keeping everyone informed about this story!

MisuseCase, to random
@MisuseCase@twit.social avatar

In any discussion of degrowth there will be at least one white man who brings up “overpopulation” as if degrowth isn’t about letting us all live on the planet with a sustainable ecological footprint.

Then the white man gets mad when you (well, I) bring up the fact that his line of thinking naturally leads to doing at least one U.N. definition of genocide.

(Yes it is pretty much always a white man.)

/1

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@maruey @MisuseCase I was listening to the In Our Time podcast on @BBCRadio4 about Bertolt Brecht and those conversations are PRECISELY what he wanted to happen among actors in his plays. In fact, for some of his more experimental works, the play was not the important thing but the process of creating it with the actors to raise consciousness.

1/2

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@maruey @MisuseCase @BBCRadio4 One of the main points in Epic Theater (Brecht's theater technique) is to emphasize artificiality and constructed nature to make sure the audience and actors are less complacent, and that they go from the work with a new understanding of the world, and as a basis for action. So in Urinetown, you have actors breaking the fourth wall to address the audience, talking about how they are in a musical, etc...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001yj9q

#theater #brecht #musicals

2/2

Em0nM4stodon, to random

New People of Mastodon :mastodon:​✨

Know that Saturdays on Mastodon are in fact Caturdays :ablobcatnod:​

If you have a cat,
please caticipate by sharing pictures (with alt-text) of your cutie friend with us and using the hashtag Caturday!

We need more cats! :blobcatalt:​

MORE CATS! :blobcatflip:​

:blobcatrainbow:​

seanbala,
@seanbala@mas.to avatar

@Hawaii @Em0nM4stodon

Latterday is unusually inspired - bravo!

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • megavids
  • thenastyranch
  • rosin
  • GTA5RPClips
  • osvaldo12
  • love
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • khanakhh
  • everett
  • kavyap
  • mdbf
  • DreamBathrooms
  • ngwrru68w68
  • provamag3
  • magazineikmin
  • InstantRegret
  • normalnudes
  • tacticalgear
  • cubers
  • ethstaker
  • modclub
  • cisconetworking
  • Durango
  • anitta
  • Leos
  • tester
  • JUstTest
  • All magazines
    •