Latest news with #healing
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
What Kept You? by Raaza Jamshed review – an extraordinary debut full of ritual and poetry
What Kept You opens in death: fires are raging through the Sydney hills, where Jahan lives with her husband, Ali. The revelation that she is grieving her nani's death follows shortly afterwards and, a beat later, we learn she has recently suffered a miscarriage. In the early pages of her extraordinary debut, Raaza Jamshed warns the reader this is not a story of clean endings and tidy miracles. This is a novel full of ritual and poetry. A type of witchcraft, and of healing. 'Perhaps, that's what I'm trying to do here – to build a staircase out of words, to climb towards you to the sky or descend into the grave and lie down beside you,' Jahan writes of her nani. This is a novel that sits comfortably in the grey areas between the literal and the figurative; between overcoming grief and being overcome by it. It exists between two worlds – not unlike Jahan herself, who grew up in Pakistan, raised by her nani, before fleeing, as a young adult, to Sydney. In Pakistan, Jahan's nani kept a watchful eye on her, mapping out the shadowy motivations of the world around them through story and superstition. But as an adolescent, Jahan begins to rebel against the stories she has been told, wanting, as all young people do, to find her own narrative, and her defiance brings her closer to danger. Her recollections start to form a second narrative: we begin to learn the reason she couldn't stay in Pakistan, and the night she did something that has haunted her in the years since. Jahan tries to find herself between the stories of her mother, who believed in the predictable arcs of conventional romance, and those of her nani, who spoke of dark things hiding in the shadows. She struggles to identify with either. This disconnect is amplified by her life in Australia, a country where she both belongs and doesn't, where she has found a friend and a husband who accept her but never seem to fully understand her. There's a sense that everyone in this story holds themselves at arm's-length from each other, preventing true intimacies, although their relationships are underpinned by genuine care and concern. Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning In first-person narration, Jahan addresses her nani throughout. Early on, a facilitator at a grief circle tells her to write for 14 days to a person with whom she has unfinished business: 'You write and write and write. And when you're done, you don't back-read the letter. You burn it.' And even though this seems to fly in the face of her nani's belief in the power of stories spoken aloud and shared, the idea takes root in Jahan. There is a sense across the novel's 15 chapters that we are reading her response to the writing assignment, as she processes the unfinished business she had hoped to leave in Pakistan; the business that keeps her from returning to visit her nani, even upon her death. Alternating between her recollection of the past and the immediate crisis in the present, these chapters are in part a confession and in part Jahan's attempt to gain control over her own story. Jamshed peppers her text with Urdu and Arabic phrases. She leans into the slippage of words, delighting in the poetry and double meanings found in translation. For example, Shamshad (nani's name) 'implicates itself in the English 'shame' in the first half but swiftly escapes it in the Urdu 'happiness' of the second'. The pleasure for the reader is twofold: Jamshed's expression is a joy to read, treading carefully between poetry and prose; and thematically, the careful unpacking of words and meaning adds complexity, indirectly critiquing the loss of identity and language that occurs through the flattening process of western colonisation. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Towards the end of the novel, as the fires close in around her and Jahan nears the climax of her recollection of the past, she picks through the half lies and truths that she has told herself over the years. Finally, she lands on this: 'All I wanted to be was a girl who was not afraid.' Has she succeeded? In some ways, she has outrun the fears that kept her in place throughout her adolescence, but there is a sense that these have been replaced by something just as dark and unforgiving. What Kept You? is tightly crafted and rich in poetic metaphor, but the real satisfaction for a reader lies in its complex portrayal of grief and growing up. By rejecting either of the fixed narratives that Jahan's matriarchs have prescribed her, Jamshed imagines a space in which grief and hope might coexist. Ultimately, her question is not how to outwit fate, but how to make peace with uncertainty. What Kept You by Raaza Jamshed is out now through Giramondo ($32.95)
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Courtney Stodden marks one week of sobriety by posting pin-up bikini photos that flash her sunburn
Courtney Stodden has been sober for one week. The blonde bombshell said on Instagram that she is proud for how far she has come as she looks forward to 'week two.' 'Sober journey, healing, summertime, calm,' read the model's hashtags. The 30-year-old reality TV star also showed off her fresh red sunburn from a day by her swimming pool in Calabasas. 'This is your reminder to use SPF,' she added in her caption. The former child bride was modeling a skimpy light purple string bikini that left little to the imagination. This comes after she talked about how her much-older first husband Doug Hutchison - a 65-year-old actor whom she calls her former 'groomer' - got her started on drinking alcohol when she was very young. The Washington native said he would drink 'bottle and bottles of alcohol' a day and pushed her to drink too so he could 'control' her. But these days Stodden does not want to feel 'out of control,' so she is staying away from the booze even if the journey is challenging. The cover girl also noted that many of her friends are not happy that she has decided to be sober as they won't know what to do with 'healthy' Stodden, but she will stick with her plan no matter what and won't take up drinking again just to please her pals. 'If people don't get it, then maybe they shouldn't be around,' said Stodden who wore a beige bra with two Van Cleef & Arpels necklaces. The caption read: 'The painful truth.' Earlier this week the former teen bride told that she is 'very happy with the decision' as she works on her 'sobriety journey and overall health.' 'Giving up alcohol also helps with my mental health,' Courtney, who has recently signed on for a new Lifetime biopic, shared. 'I feel better without it.' The wife of movie producer Jared Safier then explained that she had reached for drinks when she felt stressed by fame. The former child bride was modeling a skimpy light purple string bikini that left little to the imagination 'Alcohol was my escape for years, but it turned into a trap,' shared Stodden to 'I used it to survive trauma, but it ended up making me feel more lost and ashamed. This breakup isn't just with a substance—it's with a version of myself I'm ready to leave behind. 'At some point, blacking out stopped being cute. I used alcohol to deal with pain, but all it did was make things messier—and make me louder in all the wrong ways. I'm finally cutting ties. Alcohol and I? Total toxic ex energy.' More Americans are abstaining from alcohol consumption. This trend is particularly noticeable among younger adults, who are increasingly embracing a 'sober curious' lifestyle, according to Time magazine. She has told that tying the knot with 65-year-old A Time To Kill actor Doug Hutchinson was a bad move and she won't pretend otherwise; seen with Doug in 2013 Stodden broke the news of her newfound sobriety on Instagram on Tuesday as she began, 'Alcohol, I'm breaking up with you. It's been a toxic relationship for years. 'Something I used to cope, to escape, to survive. But it's hurt me more than it's ever helped me—publicly and privately,' wrote the siren. 'Last night was the last time. I'm done letting it control me. I'm done feeling sick and ashamed. I want to be fully present in my life. I want to face my past, my trauma, and my current reality with clear eyes and real strength. To those who understand this battle—thank you.' Stodden also shared: 'Please respect my space as I walk this new path. It's not easy, but it's necessary.' The pinup model who resembled Marilyn Monroe also wrote: 'This is something I've gone back and forth about posting. But my life has always been so public and this is a big part of my healing.' Hugh Hefner's ex-girlfriend Crystal Hefner commented, 'I am so proud of you. I haven't drank since 2009 and it's the best thing. Life is so much brighter and happier without the poison bringing me down. You got this.' Stodden replied, 'Soul sis❤️.' Former talk show host Ricki Lake added, 'You got this.' This comes after Courtney shared her feelings on her tragic teenage bride story after her 14 year wedding anniversary. The beauty told that tying the knot with A Time To Kill actor Hutchison was a bad move and she won't pretend otherwise. She was just 16-years-old when she married Hutchison, who was 51 at the time, at a Las Vegas wedding chapel in 2011. 'It stays with me, the pain, I won't stay quiet,' she told adding Doug was 'emotionally abusive.' The model then said: 'My voice is my power and for every voice silenced, I'll shout louder. And I won't ask for permission to do what's right. Not anymore. I speak for that little girl within.'
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
What Kept You? by Raaza Jamshed review – an extraordinary debut full of ritual and poetry
What Kept You opens in death: fires are raging through the Sydney hills, where Jahan lives with her husband, Ali. The revelation that she is grieving her nani's death follows shortly afterwards and, a beat later, we learn she has recently suffered a miscarriage. In the early pages of her extraordinary debut, Raaza Jamshed warns the reader this is not a story of clean endings and tidy miracles. This is a novel full of ritual and poetry. A type of witchcraft, and of healing. 'Perhaps, that's what I'm trying to do here – to build a staircase out of words, to climb towards you to the sky or descend into the grave and lie down beside you,' Jahan writes of her nani. This is a novel that sits comfortably in the grey areas between the literal and the figurative; between overcoming grief and being overcome by it. It exists between two worlds – not unlike Jahan herself, who grew up in Pakistan, raised by her nani, before fleeing, as a young adult, to Sydney. In Pakistan, Jahan's nani kept a watchful eye on her, mapping out the shadowy motivations of the world around them through story and superstition. But as an adolescent, Jahan begins to rebel against the stories she has been told, wanting, as all young people do, to find her own narrative, and her defiance brings her closer to danger. Her recollections start to form a second narrative: we begin to learn the reason she couldn't stay in Pakistan, and the night she did something that has haunted her in the years since. Jahan tries to find herself between the stories of her mother, who believed in the predictable arcs of conventional romance, and those of her nani, who spoke of dark things hiding in the shadows. She struggles to identify with either. This disconnect is amplified by her life in Australia, a country where she both belongs and doesn't, where she has found a friend and a husband who accept her but never seem to fully understand her. There's a sense that everyone in this story holds themselves at arm's-length from each other, preventing true intimacies, although their relationships are underpinned by genuine care and concern. Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning In first-person narration, Jahan addresses her nani throughout. Early on, a facilitator at a grief circle tells her to write for 14 days to a person with whom she has unfinished business: 'You write and write and write. And when you're done, you don't back-read the letter. You burn it.' And even though this seems to fly in the face of her nani's belief in the power of stories spoken aloud and shared, the idea takes root in Jahan. There is a sense across the novel's 15 chapters that we are reading her response to the writing assignment, as she processes the unfinished business she had hoped to leave in Pakistan; the business that keeps her from returning to visit her nani, even upon her death. Alternating between her recollection of the past and the immediate crisis in the present, these chapters are in part a confession and in part Jahan's attempt to gain control over her own story. Jamshed peppers her text with Urdu and Arabic phrases. She leans into the slippage of words, delighting in the poetry and double meanings found in translation. For example, Shamshad (nani's name) 'implicates itself in the English 'shame' in the first half but swiftly escapes it in the Urdu 'happiness' of the second'. The pleasure for the reader is twofold: Jamshed's expression is a joy to read, treading carefully between poetry and prose; and thematically, the careful unpacking of words and meaning adds complexity, indirectly critiquing the loss of identity and language that occurs through the flattening process of western colonisation. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Towards the end of the novel, as the fires close in around her and Jahan nears the climax of her recollection of the past, she picks through the half lies and truths that she has told herself over the years. Finally, she lands on this: 'All I wanted to be was a girl who was not afraid.' Has she succeeded? In some ways, she has outrun the fears that kept her in place throughout her adolescence, but there is a sense that these have been replaced by something just as dark and unforgiving. What Kept You? is tightly crafted and rich in poetic metaphor, but the real satisfaction for a reader lies in its complex portrayal of grief and growing up. By rejecting either of the fixed narratives that Jahan's matriarchs have prescribed her, Jamshed imagines a space in which grief and hope might coexist. Ultimately, her question is not how to outwit fate, but how to make peace with uncertainty. What Kept You by Raaza Jamshed is out now through Giramondo ($32.95)
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
After His 14-Year-Old Son Disappeared at Sea, Dad Shares 1 Thing He Continues to Do 10 Years Later (Exclusive)
Phil Cohen honored his son, Perry, and the memories they shared together in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE one decade after his disappearance on July 24 Phil Cohen has kept the spirit of his 14-year-old son, Perry, alive in the decade after his disappearance at sea. Grieving, unexpectedly, was the transformative key to the father of one's healing, and an unforeseen process he transparently shares online that has resonated — and helped — millions of other people find purpose after going through profound loss. "It's funny how your body remembers," Cohen tells PEOPLE exclusively in the days leading up to the 10-year anniversary of his son's disappearance. "You start to feel certain things... Even though I recognize them, you still feel them." "But at first, it absolutely destroyed me. Just completely," he continues. "I had no idea what to do. The only people I've lost to this point were my grandparents. Didn't really know them well, so I didn't know grief. Then all of a sudden, I lost the most precious person in the world." Perry and his friend, 14-year-old Austin Stephanos, left the coast of Florida for a fishing trip in the Atlantic Ocean on July 24, 2015. They were last seen departing from the Jib Yacht Club and Marina in Jupiter Inlet Colony. Later that day, they were reported missing. Then, a search that had covered nearly 50,000 square nautical miles from Jupiter to the North Carolina coast began, one that turned out to be one of the most extensive searches in U.S. Coast Guard history. Their boat was eventually found capsized off the coast of Bermuda. The boys, however, were nowhere to be found. Still, Cohen tells PEOPLE that he doesn't know "exactly what happened" to Perry and Austin. Without answers, the grieving process was incomprehensible. "When things like this happen, your brain has to make some kind of story," he says, looking back. "I didn't know. Did he get hit in the head when the boat flipped over and just drown right there?... Did he float until he couldn't anymore? Did he suffer? Did he get eaten by a shark?" "For a parent to have to even think about their child in any of these scenarios is ridiculous," he adds. Then, a sign presented itself to Cohen, a suggestion that would be unimaginably hard, but simultaneously healing in part. His oldest of two brothers, Rich, approached him two weeks after Perry's disappearance and said, "Let's go in the ocean." "'There's no way,'" Cohen, still emotional at the thought, remembers. "I was lying down on that couch just crying. Sorry. Even now, it's like you put yourself right back and boom." Then came the sign: Perry's voice. "Immediately in my spirit, I just heard Perry be like, 'Come on. Don't be like that. Just stop,'" Cohen recalls, courageously adding, "And then, so we did." Cohen has since recounted that day on his social media platform, "The Grief Guy," a reinvention of his identity online where he transparently details his own experience and emotions with the intent of helping others. The clip is his most-viewed to date. After Cohen confronted the ocean head-on, physically submerging himself in the sea that took his son, a wave of relief came over him. "I actually felt better going through that... This whole grief thing, you can't outrun it," he says, noting that "the monster gets smaller" when facing it. While the thoughts that swirled through Cohen's head were loud, he tells PEOPLE that he was "introduced to this world of silence" at the same time. "People are so afraid to talk about it. You feel isolated. Literally, I lost friends and family." "I've had people say to me, 'Phil, it's too sad for me to be around you'," he shares. Today, Cohen's built a community online that's given him — and others — a voice to express themselves openly in the wake of tragedy, a platform for those who are seeking direction amid uncharted waters after teaching himself how to do the same. "It's been a long journey," he says. "I believe that we're always most powerfully positioned to serve the person that we once were. Everybody was somewhere... People just want hope." While Cohen credits "mindfulness, resilience and faith" as a few tactics that've helped him continue on, he tells PEOPLE among the most comforting are the subtle reminders that keep Perry's spirit alive to this day. Saying his name is one of them, which Cohen breaks down in detail on his TikTok. "If someone you love is grieving, say their person's name," he begins the clip, adding, "Because I can tell you with 100% confidence and conviction you saying their name won't break them. It's you not saying it that's breaking them." So that's just what Cohen does. "If something comes up and I'll mention Perry's name, I do it for me. I don't do it for anybody else," he tells PEOPLE, noting, "Sometimes people get awkward, but now the people who know me and love me are cool with it. They'll ask me about it." Sharing memories and retelling stories, too, are a few other ways Cohen connects with Perry today. "I talk to him all the time when I see things that remind me of him," he shares. Baseball, in particular, brings up one of Cohen's "fondest memories" with his son, who enjoyed the sport ever since he was young. There's one specific moment, however, that's not only cemented in the proud dad's mind but also evokes a warmth that he forever feels at the thought. "A couple of years I was coaching the team, and there was a park not too far from where I lived in Florida," Cohen shares. "Bottom of the night thinning," he continues, setting the scene. "We were down by two runs, playing against the rival team It was like one of those games where all the parents are standing on their feet." "Perry gets up to the plate, and I could totally picture him digging in and standing there looking at the pitcher and smacks the home run," Cohen remembers. "The whole place erupts. I'm standing off to the side, not behind home plate... and his whole team's standing around home plate." "Like ESPN, I expect Harry to jump into this pile of high-fives and cheers — but he didn't," he recalls, choking up. "He ran past all of them and jumped into my arms, and I remember thinking ... 'Oh, man'." Still, the proud dad says, "I could feel that hug," 10 years later. Read the original article on People Solve the daily Crossword
CBC
a day ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
As Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson reunite, here's why it might just heal millennials
Hark, do you hear it? It's faint. Barely a whisper over the non-stop global catastrophes, two decades of unprecedented times, multiple economic downturns, robots, the realization we should already be saving for retirement, random joint pain and looming perimenopause. It is the sound of elder millennials healing. Late Monday, actor Katie Holmes announced on Instagram that she and fellow Dawson's Creek alum Joshua Jackson would be reuniting to film a three-part movie called Happy Hours. Not only will this be the first time they've worked together in more than 20 years — and not only is Holmes writing and directing — but the pair will be playing on-screen love interests. "Working with Josh after so many years is a testament to friendship," Holmes wrote on Instagram. Cue an entire generation feeling their feelings, especially as photos have started to emerge of the duo filming in New York City — laughing together, Holmes with that same old Joey face scrunch, Jackson with that confident Pacey smirk. "Friends I regret to inform you that I am unable to be normal about this," one fan wrote on Instagram's threads Tuesday. "You know you triggered an entire generation with this post," someone else said in response to Holmes' Instagram post. "Elder Millennial minds are exploding right now," commented another. Why are millennials buzzing over this? To understand why this reunion means so much to people of, er, a certain age, we need to take you back to a simpler time. Arguably a better time, when we gathered around the television on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to watch a bunch of hot, unusually self-aware teenagers come of age and find love in a cosy seaside town. From 1998 to 2003, teen television drama Dawson's Creek had an absolute chokehold on millennials, their collective hearts captured by a series-spanning love triangle involving girl-next-door Joey (played by Holmes) and troubled Pacey (played by Jackson). You were either Team Pacey (and correct) or Team Dawson, the eternal optimist played by James Van Der Beek. In the end, after much heartache and angst, Joey and Pacey wind up together — and in the final tear-jerking montage, quite literally, and somehow not cheesily, sail off into the sunset. The love triangle became the central momentum of the show, and many viewers followed that journey at the same time that they were coming of age from teens to young adults themselves, said Zorianna Zurba, a pop culture expert and professor at Humber Polytechnic in Toronto. "To see that charisma and that bond 20 years later, in part I think it conjures up all that hope that we had for them, and plus maybe that hope we had for ourselves as we were all struggling with our early relationships," Zurba told CBC News. "I think that potentiality, and that sort of hope for the future, is maybe what is the healing part of it for millennials. It's that finally we're being given something to hope for. Something that is uplifting, that is a possibility." Other experts have suggested "narrative psychology" is why we're so invested in this journey. According to the American Psychological Association, this is the idea that people's experiences and memories are shaped by stories. "Once the narrative ends, part of us wants that story to continue.... This satisfies our brain's desire for narrative closure and continuity," psychotherapist Dana Moinian told Harper's Bazaar in a story published Wednesday. About Happy Hours and representation The synopsis for Happy Hours, posted to IMDB, could be considered music to Team Pacey's ears. "Former sweethearts cross paths years later and rekindle their connection, balancing careers, family duties and personal dreams while rediscovering what they once had — and what they could become." The feature film trilogy is a "character-driven dramedy," according to Deadline. Production for the first film is kicking off this summer in New York City. While there's certainly a nostalgia element at play, millennials — who are generally approaching middle age and no longer the main focus of pop culture — are craving representation, Zurba said. A few recent hits, like Netflix's Nobody Wants This, have also leaned into this market with romance stories for people in their 30s and 40s. But the current excitement is likely only partially about the project itself. As many fans have pointed out, Holmes and Jackson — who briefly dated in real life during production of Dawson's Creek — are both currently single. Canadian-born Jackson and actor Jodie Turner-Smith divorced in 2023. Holmes and actor Tom Cruise divorced in 2012. "I think the potential for two divorcees with children to come back together after 20 years apart gives us that kind of reflection of where we're at, culturally, and also a nice twist on an old classic," Zurba said. "It's that potential for a happily ever after."
