Voice to the voices

Throughout decades, different genres of music have drifted in and out of the popular ear. No matter what music you listen to, the lyrics and messages are perceived by your brain and affect how you look at the world. A study done by Donald Saucier at Kansas State University found that people who listened to patriotic songs, like the Star-Spangled Banner, became less empathetic and more close-minded due to the strong nationalist message. In contrast, people who listened to songs that they associate with their childhood, like the Itsy Bitsy Spider, reported becoming more prosocial, and empathetic and generally reported more accepting attitudes towards other people. Between 90 and 95 per cent of mental activity takes place outside of our conscious awareness. This is called subconscious priming, and it has been shown to dramatically influence human behaviour. Subconscious activity heavily impacts day-to-day behaviours from the emotions someone feels to their satisfaction with life. Once thi...

  I grew up in a cult and a very strict, physically, and mentally abusive family. I wasn't allowed to have friends out of that community, and for that, I was heavily bullied by the other kids. I was not allowed to listen to certain types of music or follow any artistic inclinations. Being part of the LGBTQ+ community is prohibited and punishable with exclusion from the community, including family members, which is what happened to me. Art has always been a gateway for me, a portal for me to ‘escape’ the place where I was. Since I was little I used to create stories in my head and put them down on paper, write rhymes, and express how I was feeling at those particular moments. Creating art has always kept me company and lifted my spirit in those dark moments. My novels, like all my writing, come from a place of truth and real-life experience, and of course a lot of heart. I want to share Joshua Bane's story, this fantastic superhero, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, goes through...

It was a dark Sunday at the end of January, not yet evening but already dark. You know, one of those depressing winter days in England, where daylight seems a distant memory and the sun a rude joke. I was working on taking my lazy multitasking to the next level – meaning: sitting on the sofa in the same position for at least four hours, watching TV with one eye and surfing social media with the other, pretending I am working on notforvanity.com – when something popped up in my Twitter feed. A guy, named Jonathan Cerruto – an Italian surname, maybe New York? I asked myself – shares a tweet. I thought it was one of those ‘shameless self-promo hashtags meant to help fellow authors but, most of the time, only end up in likes and retweets. This one, though, felt different, genuine for once: Jonathan’s words were along the lines of ‘hi guys, l am a writer too and I know the struggles of getting something out there, so help me to help you. I’ll start: here’s my book. Have a look at it and I w...

The palms are getting wet. Your forehead is covered in sweat. Baby, please hold me tight. It's just you and me, in the middle of the night. My eyes are rolling back. I totally lost track. Of what day it is, if I look pretty or messy. What I know is that I don't want you to stop, or feel sorry. I am admiring all your glory. I can see the stains on the floor, there are a few spots. This is our slot. Your breath smells of Smirnoff. A drop of sweat falls from your cheek. All this grinding is making me weak. I can taste it on my lips, it's salty and I like it. You are looking right through me, I can feel it. Feel it. Feel it. Get it. Drown in it. The room smells of love and tobacco. I looked at you, you are staring at me. "What do you see when you look at me?" "Everything that I wanted to be" I know this cannot last forever. You are giving me a fever. We are getting high in our slow Mambo. Our breathing is accelerating, can you hear the rumble? Slow down, slo...

  Engaging with fantasy can  stimulate creativity and boost vocabulary . It may help some children develop better self-regulation skills. It might even enhance their working memory performance, and — under some conditions — help them discover creative solutions to problems. Is reading fantasy good for the brain? Recent neuroscience research suggests that you might look to the library for solutions;  reading literary fiction helps people develop empathy, theory of mind, and critical thinking . When we read, we hone and strengthen several different cognitive muscles, so to speak, that is the root of the EQ. Why is reading fantasy important for adults? Without dreams, without fantasy, we become shells of our potential selves. Fantasy is therefore important to mental well-being, particularly for the young adult reader.  It provides a momentary escape, a release.   It helps increase the potential of one's imagination to solve life's problems .

Poetry can  provide comfort and boost mood during periods of stress, trauma and grief . Its powerful combination of words, metaphor and meter helps us better express ourselves and make sense of the world and our place in it. Why are poems so powerful? Poetry is great at asking questions, destabilizing and making us look at things differently, incorporating a diversity of voices of ways of thinking . That's what poetry is for. So it's a very powerful medium for diverse voices to speak and for other people to then listen to those voices. How does poetry benefit the reader? Reading poetry  helps children with voice, pitch, volume, and inflexion . While these are mainly functions of speech, they're also incredibly important for children learning to read. Poetry can teach young readers about speech patterns, which can give them cues to the words on a page.

In the 11th century, a Japanese woman known as Murasaki Shikibu wrote “The Tale of Genji,” a 54-chapter story of courtly seduction believed to be the world’s first novel. Over 1,000 years later, people all over the world are still engrossed by novels — even in an era where stories appear on handheld screens and disappear 24 hours later. What exactly do human beings get from reading books? Is it just a matter of pleasure, or are there benefits beyond enjoyment? The scientific answer is a resounding “yes.” Reading books benefits both your  physical  and  mental health , and those benefits can last a lifetime. They begin in early childhood and continue through the senior years. Here’s a brief explanation of how reading books can change your brain — and your body — for the better. Reading strengthens your brain A growing body of research indicates that reading changes your mind. Using  MRI scans , researchers have  confirmedTrusted Source  that reading involves...