Friday, 9 August 2013

På kunstnerisk oplevelse hos Børnekulturhus Ama’r

Det nybyggede Børnekulturhus Ama’r byder på kunstneriske oplevelser til børn fra 0 til 18 år. Oplevelser, som styrker børnenes kreativitet, sprog, koncentration, kommunikation og hukommelse. Huset, som er skabt af børn og for børn.
Af Olena Denysyuk (09.03.2013)


”Det skæve hus” på Amager med arkitekten Dorte Mandrup i spidsen.
Foto: Olena Denysyuk
”Pas nu på, lille skat! Hold fast! Hvor er det fint, det du kan, dygtig!” siger den lidt nervøse, men stolte mor, mens hun kigger på en klatrevæg som strækker sig fra stueetagen til 1. sal i en 45 graders vinkel. En lille kravlende abe klatrer, griber, kaster sig, lander, hopper, råber ”grib!”, mens hun kaster sit lille tøjdyr, en kat ned fra toppen. Hun glider hurtigt ned for at tage en tur til. Der er også børnestemmer i et andet lokale: ”se min lanternelampe”, ”nej, hvor er den fint”.”Vent til den blive lidt tørrere, så kan du godt lege med den”.
Velkommen til ”det skæve hus”, et hus på Amager, hvor kreativiteten bogstavelig talt hænger i luften.  En mørk og kold blæsedag i marts, kan hurtig blive til en til en farverig og sjov ”miniferie–for–alle–børn”.
Huset byder på begivenhedsrige oplevelser, frit leg, billedværksted, musik, dans, koncerter og meget mere. En ”skole” med usynlig og synlig undervisning i kreativitet, uden rammer, uden programmer, uden specifik undervisning. Kun et tema, som er ”Kærlighed” i år, der skal gå igennem alle værker.

Thursday, 11 July 2013

How to Deal with the Emotional Crisis in a Calm and Cool Way?

If people were to choose a planet, where they prefer to live on, they will have two choices. The one planet will be orbiting around facts, details, systems, and laws – “real things”. The second one will be orbiting around abstract dimenions, feelings, and creative ideas- the “intangible things”. If the planets were to exist- there would be never ending devastating crises. Not because one planet is better, than another one, but because people from different planets will display and absorb the emotional response to situations differently. The name for the crisis would be The Emotional Crisis.

So how to deal with the crisis in a calm and cool way?

By Olena Denysyuk
The failure to understand the dimensions of feelings has its own price: loss of friends, husbands, good deals, goodwill – frankly speaking almost everything that involves human interaction. The consequent outcome of this failure might eventually further accelerate the misperception or misjudgment of human behavior/nature/incentives on the longer run. The effect is even worse, when we choose to stay hooked on being right (a topic for separate post) or see things from a limited/subjective standpoint  to the point that it actually turns into emotional stupidity – you would form your own delusional perception of reality.

In general, I think, feelings and emotions are a challenging subject to discuss, as it is more subjective, than anything. Sometimes ourselves and not only surrounding people fail to understand our emotional states. 
Our brain catches the “tangible and intangible information”, selects only the necessary information, process and analyses it, and consequently send signals to react. Due to different personalities, experiences, genes, brain anatomy, status quo, as well as social and family status, the same information will result in different outcomes at different times, as well as the same information will result different actions in different people. So there is no black or white, right or wrong, bad or good in people’s behavior- there are millions of dimensions on how our brain will catch, select, process and analyze this information. Besides, we are all different in our emotional intelligence and experiences; therefore we have different capacities to grasp the emotional side of the game. So her it comes: conflicts, stress, anxiety and emotional distress.



Monday, 1 July 2013

WHAT DOES CREATE TRENDS?:About the book by Malcom Gladwell, "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make Big Difference "

Malcom Gladwell, "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make Big Difference "


Sometimes small things can make big differences. All you have to do is find the hidden buttons to these small things, which actually have the power to act big. Let’s look at the case of epidemics, let’s find the hidden mechanisms that originate and sustain the trends and social epidemics.






By Olena Denysyuk
 I have often been asking myself, why do we love to follow trends, that, at first glance, we might not like? But which, we might like it later?
 
In this regard, I chose to read the book  by Malcom Gladwell, "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make Big Difference ", a book  about what makes ideas infectious, what messages can spread the ideas, and how to start and sustain social epidemics and trends. It didn’t answer exactly my question.  
 
 
And when I read the book, I was thinking of giving it only 2 stars on Goodreads. But by reaching the end, anyway, it earned one extra star.   
With all respect to journalism, I was initially a little disappointed that a book about trends/epidemics (sociology, in broader terms) was written by a journalist. I might have been spoiled by the most intelligent book by Daniel Kahneman, "Thinking, Fast and Slow", as it was written by an expert. He managed to deliver his study of psychology and sociology not only reliably, but also amusingly. 
 
It's not that there is something wrong with Gladwell’s ideas and hypothesis, but I presume I am a bit critical towards his choice of arguments and research material-some of it seems weak to me, and he even sharpened some of it to fit into his own ideas. So I wonder why the book was so recommended by so many clever people.
 
 It's not that ORIGINAL, NEITHEIR ACADEMICALLY nor SCIENTIFICALLY. Here, the book had lost one star.
 
But soon after, I realized, it is rather good entertaining book - within the fields of marketing, but not human behavior or economics, as I originally thought it would be. And the book is even a bit thought-provoking and brain-teasing, I admit. The lost star found its way back!  

Saturday, 15 June 2013

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Review and Reflections) OR HOW TO THINK OUT OF THE BOX?

What caused the death of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Poverty? Dictatorship? Ignorance towards his people?  What do you think? A little hint: In 1966, one year after Ceaușescu had become the Communist dictator of Romania, he made abortion illegal in order to increase the population.

By Olena Denysyuk

The reform had an effect: within one year of abortion ban, the Romanian birth rate had doubled. The lives of these babies were miserable, being born by poor and young mothers, who would otherwise have chosen abortion. These babies were more likely to become criminals. On Christmas Day of 1989, Ceaușescu learned from his mistakes the hard way. With a bullet to the head. From the people of his nation, tired of living in poverty. People, who probably wouldn’t be born if not for the abortion ban- the ban that gave him a bullet to the head- NOT the poverty, NOT the ignorance. The brutal mistake of 1966, which he was not prepared for.

This is one of Freakonomics’ examples of novel thinking- by looking deeper, finding the root of the cause, rather than focusing on generally accepted truth. This is a case of how to think out of the box.

So what is Feakonomics about?


Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Hvem kan hjælpe mig med at sige RØDGRØD MED FLØDE uden at jeg brækker min tunge?

Min drøm er at blive økonomisk journalist…
Derfor knokler jeg med grammatik. Jeg brækker min tunge på nye ord. Jeg afprøver nye vendinger. Jeg præsterer, på vilkår med indfødte danskere. En tilstedeværelse, hvor jeg konstant er udenfor min sproglige tryghedszone. Men jeg knokler alligevel. Uden støtte og anerkendelse er det bare lidt sværere.

Af Olena Denysyuk

I 2005 var jeg på praktik med et markedsføringsprojekt på Radisson SAS Hotel i Kolding. Alt gik godt. Men da jeg spørger, om jeg kan få et sommerjob som receptionist, sagde HR manageren ”Vi vil ikke irritere vores gæster med din accent”…

Når jeg åbner min mund, ved jeg, at jeg desværre ikke er en del af ”flokken”. Så tænker jeg, at jeg SKAL skynde mig at bevise, at min accent ikke er et handikap. Bare fordi jeg har en accent, er den ikke en gyldig grund til, at min troværdighed skal falde. Eller grund til at vælge beskæftigelse, hvor sproglige kompetencer ikke er afgørende for ens succes.


Wednesday, 8 May 2013

Interest Rate: Money with a Discount Harms the Economy More Than Necessary


The European Central Bank, followed by Danmark’s Nationalbank, has started pushing interest rate down with primary goal to stimulate the economy growth in the euro zone and Denmark.  However, loose monetary policy in time of crisis can also have a negative effect: it stimulates over-pessimism, under-investment and high unemployment.

By Olena Denysyuk

On 2 May 2013, The European Central Bank has announces that “The interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the Eurosystem will be decreased by 0, 25 percentage points to 0.50%, starting from the operation to be settled on 8 May 2013.”  The next day, Denmarks Nationalbank has announced a reduction by 0, 10 percentage point and therefore reaching a new record low: in attempt to pull the euro economy out of the recession (seen from the graph).

 I fear a rather damaging – more than fixing- effect on the economy.


Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Anmeldelse af teaterstykket ”Sig noget! Når døden bliver en del af livet”


”En frustration der æder mig op. Hiver mig væk fra alt jeg elsker, hvem tør jeg stole på? Døden rammer alle, ordene forsvinder. Intet andet end vrede. Sig noget. (I skulle ha´sagt noget)?”



Af Olena Denysyuk

Døden. Sygdom. Angst. Tabu.

De fire ord kunne have været overskrifter til de personlige fortællinger, som bliver fortalt af unge og voksne på Betty Nansens teaterets scene. Tretten modige mennesker står på scenen og deler deres smerter, ondt i kroppen , psykiske stress, pres i brystet eller søvn paralyser, der var og til dels stadig er en del af deres liv. Alt sammen som en konsekvens af, at have mistet et nært familiemedlem som barn.  En mor, far, bror, søn, eller søster. I dag siger de noget gennem teaterstykket ”Sig noget! Når døden bliver en del af livet ”, som er deres historier om døden og livet.