Two things have kept me busy in the past few months: new employment and Star Trek. Reengaging with past Star Trek series (mostly Deep Space Nine and Enterprise) has reminded me how much the franchise has affected my life as well as inspired several Star Trek-themed blog posts). So I came across The Klingon Art of War (not an affiliate link), I was curious about whether it would be a similar-themed leadership guide for nonprofits and social enterprise as Wess Roberts’ Make It So: Leadership Lessons from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Although it is less didactic than Make It So, Star Trek – The Klingon Art of War functions as a smart, savvy reworking of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Organized into ten “principles” with related stories, Klingon Art of War serves less as a practical leadership guide and more of a metaphorical exploration into leadership strategy. (In fairness, author Keith R.A. Candido’s intention was focused on highlighting Klingon history and lore, not focusing on business leadership). However, recontextualizing Sun Tzu’s theories through a Klingon perspective provides an easier way to understand. (Especially given the high prevalence of “honor” in Klingon society which could easily be translated into “integrity” in our present times).

Even for those working remotely (like me) and dealing with COVID-19 related issues, The Klingon Art of War provides some strong ideas about personal conduct. Despite harsh-sounding phrases like “Choose Your Enemies Well” and “Always Die Standing Up”, Star Trek – The Klingon Art of War promotes a positive, straightforward approach to handling matters. Even the book’s main narrative conceit – a Klingon scholar describing his reaction to these stories – provides insight into how text can be interpreted and misinterpreted. As much as Sun Tzu’s The Art of War focused on strategy and winning every battle, Star Trek – The Klingon Art of War focuses on personal integrity and perceptions of situations. Although it isn’t a substitute for other resources, Star Trek – The Klingon Art of War provides a metaphorical exploration of living with integrity.

For Star Trek fans, The Klingon Art of War also provides some great background on Klingon culture and society within the series. Several appendices explain Klingon weapons, a practical application of Klingon principles, and understanding a historical context. Although it may seem frivolous to give meaning to tie-in literature, Star Trek – The Klingon Art of War cannot help but feel appropriate during this time. With several Star Trek series attempting to deconstruct Trek lore, The Klingon Art of War (published in 2014) reconstructs Klingon lore into a great mix of insightful tie-in literature and practical guide.

I highly recommend Star Trek – The Klingon Art of War for nonprofit and social enterprise leaders, Star Trek fans, and people looking for an entertaining diversion.

For now, though, I am now considering taking Klingon language lessons thanks to this book.

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Sia is a gorgeous, sweet, gentle and shy six-month-old, blue-eyed Siamese kitten looking for a loving guardian.

Sia rubs against you, licks your hand, but gets nervous at times and hides. She lets you hold her in your arms and she gets along just find with other cats.

She is very well-behaved in the home, uses her litter box and is an indoor-only cat.

Sia was being fed in a family’s backyard in a feral colony. She was trapped, but while shy, she is not feral.

She is spayed, has all her claws. She is vaccinated for rabies and distemper, microchipped and dewormed.

To meet and possibly adopt Sia, please contact [email protected] for an adoption application.

Her adoption fee of $175 benefits the Friends of Petraits Rescue. She is being fostered in Chicago.

I am a firm believer in God. I believe he works in unpredictable ways and as much as talking about religion can result in controversy, I feel as though writing about my faith in God is a very healthy way to stay connected to God and may even connect some other believers to my writing. 

As of a few days ago, I am officially a college student. I just moved into my single dorm at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and these past few days have been nothing like I thought they would be. For starters, it’s been a lot harder to make friends than I originally thought. Not saying this is the case for every new college student. In fact, as I’ve been walking around campus, it appears as though most people have already found their posse. I didn’t necessarily think that moving to campus was going to result in a flock of people swarming around me desperate to be my friend, however, in a sense, I did think that. Mostly because these past few months leading up to moving away all anybody could seem to say about it is that college is the best place to meet people. Hell, studies show that most marriages and lifelong friendships derive from meeting on campus and college roommates! 

But for me, I’m not what you consider a social butterfly. I say hi to the wrong people in the elevator and I put oreos on my roommates beds crossing my fingers they’ll invite me to a party. As far as trying to meet people, I wouldn’t say I’ve gone above and beyond and really put myself out there but I also can’t say I haven’t tried. The truth is, these past few days haven’t really been all about meeting people, partying (which I have no desire due to the pandemic), or anything sociable for that matter. I’ve found that these past few days have taught me an independence I never thought I had. 

For you downtown Chicagoans, this’ll sound like a piece of cake. But for a suburbs girl who’s never gone without a car, a meal, or 24/7 parental surveillance, being on my own and walking hours to get to places has really helped me realize how appreciative I’m becoming and how much more rounded I still need to become. 

I must admit, these past four days, I didn’t really like my roommates. The two of them have been stuck like glue ever since they met a few days ago and I just feel like the weird girl they secretly hate that lives in the single room. When they first moved in, I tried breaking the ice with them, but there was a sense of extreme awkwardness to our conversation. So I left it at that. I felt as though even after the oreos, buying them batteries, and helping them move furniture, they just didn’t want to be my friend. So I have been shutting them out. Until this morning after an awkward bathroom encounter (because the three of us share a bathroom) I felt encouraged to ask if they ever wanted to hangout. And to my surprise, they said they’re having just as hard of a time meeting people as I am. With that being said, we’re going to have a movie night. This is where I believe God comes in. I prayed that I’d meet someone today. And sometimes the answer is right in front of you. 

Today won’t feel so hopeless as I walk a half hour to walgreens.

Hey everyone, Welcome back! We are so excited to have you back with us for more fashion fun. If you haven’t already, please remember to subscribe with us so that you are notified each time we drop a new blog.  Also, we’d love feedback! Feel free to leave us a comment to tell us what you think of our featured looks and or tell us what you’d like to see next. All  the styling in this blog was done by http://Www.fancylikemommy.com Photos were taken by Thomas of TK photography Chicago! To book your next photography session visit https://www.tkphotographychicago.com/

Adidas Track suit 

Adidas remains a classic street wear brand, and we can never get enough. Here, the Heath Dolls are rocking the classic red two piece track suit with the signature stripes down the pant and jacket. We added a khaki colored vest for a high fashion flair reminiscent of the way actress/singer Zendaya wore in the photo below. Let us know what you think of this look!

Shirt Dress
Orange seems to be a top color pick of the Summer and we can see why!  The Heath dolls are not afraid to take risks with fashion and here they did just that. To accomplish this look, we turned a boys  dress shirt into a to die for shirt dress channeling  the beautiful singing artist  Ciara! For the belt, we cut mommy’s black infinity belt in half and each took a side. We completed the look with black calf boots. Tell us in the comments if you think we nailed it!

Tie Dye
Tie Dye for the win! Everywhere you turn your head these days you see this old school yet fun pattern. From A list celebs like Kylie Jenner to babies at daycare it’s being rocked. Here The Heath Dolls recreated a fun red and neutral two piece Tie Dye set rocked by Kylie Jenner. To pull off this look, we had to think outside the box. We turned what was once a two piece pant set into a skirt set in less than 5 minutes! To create the banded top we wrapped the pants around our top half and pinned into place. The original long sleeve shirt was worn as the skirt. To hide the arms we tied them around the back to make a cute bow. We loved how this cane out. Let us know what you think!

Oversized Coveralls

Let’s face it, when it comes to street wear coveralls are at the top of the list especially oversized ones. The Heath Dolls recreated the talented artist Tiana Taylor’s Look worn at her recent album release party. In fact, not only did she rock the look all her guest did as well. Let us know what you think of this recreation in the comments.

Caramel is a beautiful, young friendly tortie.

Her fosterers write: “She’s been very friendly with us as well; sat on our laps all night and let us pick her up. She is definitely a very sweet and cuddly one!”

She has been spayed/vaccinated. Carmel has tested positive for FelV, so can only live with other FelV positive cats. She can life safely with dogs and other pets, however.

To meet Caramel, write to us at [email protected] !

Hyde Park Cats is a local, all-volunteer group dedicated to helping stray and homeless cats in and around Chicago’s Hyde Park. We received our 501(c)(3) status in 2014 and have had over 1,200 adoptions since our founding in 2008. See all our adoptable kitties on our webpage: http://hydeparkcats.org/adopt/

All of our cats are in loving foster homes, which means the cat you adopt will be familiar with the sounds, smells, and movements of life in a home and accustomed to living with humans. He or she has been interacting on a daily basis with people who know this particular cat intimately, and the foster mom or dad can tell you all about the cat’s individual personality, habits, preferences. You can’t judge a cat by its cover! And while we can’t predict the future or know everything about a cat, we can help you choose the cat who is right for you. We have an adoption application and an adoption fee, $125 for the adoption of one cat, or $250 for a pair. This fee goes towards covering their vet costs. All cats adopted out by us are neutered/spayed, micro-chipped, tested for FIV/FeLV, and treated with Revolution.

I never thought I was a great singer, so I hesitated before I joined a choir a few years ago. But it was for a good cause — my congregation’s High Holiday services — with a limited yearly engagement. Even though I can’t read music, I was sure that if I stood next to an alto who knew what she was doing, I could stay on pitch. Plus, it was a convivial group. Go to a choir party, and you’ll see what I mean.

With services reimagined in this pandemic year, I figured I’d be singing along mutely on Zoom. Instead, I ended up recording myself for a virtual choir. Doing so meant I had to conquer technological challenges — involving earbuds, Photo Booth, and a case of beer — only to discover that I have a truly terrible singing voice.

Here’s how it went down. Our congregation hires ringers — a choir director and four professional singers — to enhance our amateur group. This year, working remotely, that talented core of pros recorded their solos and then laid down a track so that the rest of us could add our voices.

To record ourselves we needed two devices, one so that we could listen to the recording via earphones and another to make a video of ourselves singing along. Thinking I’d record myself with my phone, I tried, and failed, to sync my earbuds to my desktop computer to hear the track. When that didn’t work, I decided to do things the other way around. I used my phone, already in an intimate relationship with my earbuds, to tune in to the track.

But how to record myself? Google informed me that my iMac has a power I had never tapped: Photo Booth. The app records stills and videos and issues a retro 3-2-1 warning before recording begins. Problem solved.

With that worked out, a new problem emerged. Singing is best done standing, and when I stood up, the little green light above the screen lined up with my diaphragm. Angling the screen up wouldn’t work, because we had been instructed to stand close to the recording device to capture the sound at full volume, but that would have distorted the video. The solution was the case of beer. Placed beneath my computer, it raised it to the perfect height.

Pretty slick setup, if I do say so myself. And thus I heard myself sing for the first time. My disappointment was profound. Caterwauling would be too kind a description. Even with pitch-perfect voices inside my ears, I couldn’t land a note. I deleted the recording and tried again. And again.

I used my MasterClass subscription to take a voice lesson with Christina Aguilera, who reminded me that a cup of hot tea would soothe my vocal cords. I practiced outside and far apart from a couple of choir members who live nearby. Eager to get the case of beer off my desk, I gave it one last try. Still awful, but I needed to put an end to this. I sent in my recording with permission to mute my audio and just show my smiling face — except that I wasn’t even smiling as I struggled to look at the lyrics.

But here’s the miracle of a choir. The whole truly is greater than the sum of its parts. When I watched the video of the entire choir singing together from boxes stitched together on the now familiar patchwork of Zoom, I heard harmony. I couldn’t make out my voice — and I had been assured that despite my permission, I would not be muted. All I heard was the beauty of communal song, more powerful than any aria. Time to crack open one of those bottles of beer.