"Write now is good."

A view of a hidden conversation

Amanda Baggs is autistic. She gave up speaking in her early 20s, yet she types 120 words per minute. She has creative a rich life for herself online where she can express herself clearly and comfortably.

This is her video "In My Language", which has gone completely viral. It has been viewed 467,320 times on YouTube since she uploaded in January 2007. The first four minutes show her singing and speaking in what she describes as her language. The last four minutes feature narration: it's Amanda's writing spoken by her DynaVox.

Get ready to have your view of what conversation and language is expanded vastly.

Article link: "The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know" from Wired.com

A blend of mind, body, spirit and store

On PSFK, I've posted today about a home decor and carpet store transforming part of its showroom into a spa and theater to feature Indian culture for a month.

The store will present an incredibly impressive speaker series with many big names. Writers, visionaries, musicians, filmmakers, and artisans are all heavily featured.

A store is doing this? Is this is a sign of things to come? It really caught my attention because it is so unusual. The store features items from India, and they are not its primary inventory. It is a local store with a few others around the country, and it has flexibility to tap into an interested market and try to educate and enlighten.

Now if only some big store would feature a regular writers series, featuring published and unpublished authors...I love it when the small cafes do it, but I believe that artists and writers are cultural treasures and should be treated as such. The larger community should promote and support them regularly.