FEAST OR FAMINE

  Broken Glass: A Young Girl Named Ginger – sex, drugs and gambling on love in today’s Cambodia by Utara Norng (2010) is set in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, from 1975 to the 2000s.   It is based on the true story of a mother and daughter, narrated by each of them alternately. Both of them are known to the author Utara Norng, and remain anonymous.    Both women are survivors. Mother Malis is a survivor of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1979: the three years, eight months and 20 days that changed the country. Sixteen-year-old daugther Ginger is a survivor of the late 1990s and 2000s when gangs and guns ruled Phnom Penh.    Of her children, Malis says Ginger is the smartest and strangest. They disagree, argue, and fight. In a world where Malis fought to survive, she chose life. It seems that her bar-working, modeling (or sex working) daughter is associating with the wrong crowd and choosing to spiral downwards to addiction, crime, abortions, ...

  The town hall of the 6 th  arrondissement in Paris is hosting an exhibition highlighting the artistic talents of people with disabilities during Disability Month.    From 1-30 June 2023, students from the ULIS classes of the Montaigne Collège will have their artworks on display. The RESOLUX association, in partnership with the ASEI association, is also presenting drawings by participants visiting their day activity centre and the ESAT des Beaux-Arts.   MARTINA NICOLLS MartinaNicollsWebsite    I     Rainy Day Healing    I    Martinasblogs    I     Publications     I     Facebook    I    Paris Website    I    Paris blogs    I   Animal Website    I   Flower Website   I   Global Gentlemanliness SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES    Martina Nicolls is an Australian author and in...

  Slumber Party Wars  by Melanie Marks (2011), set in America, is the comedic story of a 12-year-old girl trying to fit into her new school. This is a novel for 9-12 year olds.   Nicole is forced to attend her first day in a new school with red itchy eyes. She swallows  a contact lens, doesn’t have her glasses with her, and continues to have many embarrassing blunders hour after hour. Absolutely nothing goes right for her – she is trying too hard to be ‘the new really cool kid.’   On the second day at the new school, she is hospitalized, and on the third day ... Each day is a comedy of errors.    Eventually, she steadies and is headed in the right direction, even making friends. But not for long. A mean trick starts ‘the wars’ –  the sleepover conflicts – the slumber party wars!   The characters are not well-developed and I found Nicole, the main character, to be too scatty and annoying, with poor dialogue, and too much internal rum...

To celebrate the Year of Children in Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstan National Federation of UNESCO Clubs exhibited the artworks of children and youth in Almaty from 29 September to 2 October 2022. It was part of the larger UNESCO international project called  The Planet of ART – 2022 . It showcased artwork from more than 50,000 children from 45 countries in which they expressed their vision of the world through creativity.    A selection of the children’s artwork from Kazakhstan is exhibited in the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in April 2023.  The Planet of ART – 2022  is   dedicated to the Great Silk Road and is held as part of the celebration of the Year of Children in Kazakhstan, the 30 th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s admission into UNESCO, and the 75 th  anniversary of the founding of the Clubs for UNESCO movement.   This Paris 2023 exhibition presents selected artworks of the Kazakhstan finalists and winners of the project who were chosen under the ...