8 Spotlight 14/2019 IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Fotos: Paul Quayle/Alamy Stock Photo; Maile Wilson; Yamtono_Sardi/iStock.comIt’s OK to be vulnerable: That’s the idea that has
made Brené Brown rich and famous. Brown
is one of the world’s most successful self-
help gurus, and she’s the subject of a
new Netflix special: The Call to Courage.
An introvert by nature, she told En-
tertainment Weekly, “Oh, my God! The
Netflix special is vulnerability to me. ...
The billboards, the press stuff — that’s
really hard for me.”
Born in San Antonio, Texas, Brown, 54,
has a PhD in social work. She’s a research
professor at the University of Houston and
has been studying vulnerability, courage, shame,
and empathy for much of her life. She wanted to communicate her ideas
to more people, and not just academics. So, in 2007, she wrote her first
book, called I Thought It Was Just Me. Since then, she has written five New
York Times bestsellers and held talks around the world.
Brown’s most famous talk, however, is the TED Talk she gave in 2012,
called “The Power of Vulnerability.” It has been watched more than 50
million times online and is one of the five most-watched TED Talks.WHO EXACTLY ISBrené Brown?
EASY USunreleased [)Vnri(li:st]
, unveröffentlichtbillboard [(bIlbO:rd]
, Werbetafel, Reklametafel
shame [SeIm]
, Schande, Schamgefühlestuff [stVf]
, Material, Zeug
vulnerable [(vVlnErEb&l]
, verwundbarBRITAINThe power of a
song
EASYLast Christmas, a
romantic comedy
starring Emilia Clarke,
Henry Golding and
Emma Thompson, is
about a woman who
wants to be a singer
and who loves the pop
star George Michael.
Named after a song
that was a hit in 1984,
when Michael was
still part of the duo
Wham!, the film includes other George Michael
melodies, as well as a previously unreleased song
at the end.
The film’s director, Paul Feig, told the BBC that
this song is from an album Michael was working
on when he died in late 2016 at the age of 53.
“It’s just an absolutely amazing song that I’m so
excited the world is going to get to hear now,” FeigTexts by Talitha Linehan and Claudine Weber-Hofbooster rocket
[(bu:stE )rQkIt]
, Startbeschleuniger
deter [di(t§:]
, abschreckenhamlet [(hÄmlEt]
, sehr kleines Dorf
proclaim [prE(kleIm]
, verkündenrenaissance [ri(neIs&ns]
, Wiedererwachen,
Wiedergeburt
unlike [)Vn(laIk]
, anders alsWALESSet me free
MEDIUM
If you are in Wales and see graffiti proclaiming “Cofiwch Dryw-
eryn”, be advised: there are signs of a small, but increasingly vocal
Welsh movement for annibyniaeth, or independence.
“Cofiwch Dryweryn” is Welsh for “Remember Tryweryn”, and
was painted in protest on a wall near the village of Llanrhystud
in 1966. The motto was inspired by the creation in 1965 of a res-
ervoir, for which the eponymous Welsh valley was flooded. The
water went to the English city of Liverpool. The Economist quotes
Jan Morris, a famous Welsh writer, on the event: “The fact that
the hamlet of Capel Celyn stood in the middle of the site did not
deter them: nor did the fact that it was one of the very Welshest
parts of all Wales.”
A recent renaissance of “Cofiwch Dryweryn” graffiti reflects the
rising level of Welsh anger towards UK politics. Unlike Scotland,
where independence is a serious political issue, the movement
for it in Wales is small. That it is being talked about at all is some-
thing Adam Price of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party,
puts down to the “booster rocket” of Brexit.