author: Emura
name: Rebecca
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2007/09/01
date added: 2007/09/30
shelves: borrowed, manga
review:
Sep 302007
author: Robert Lynn Asprin
name: Rebecca
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2007/09/01
date added: 2007/09/30
shelves: borrowed, fantasy
review:
Sep 302007
The short version of this story is if you need a freelance teacher, trainer, writer, or editor, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
The long version of this story is that with so much pressure on our kids to succeed, working in a extracurricular teaching center (and paying the bills off that paycheck) is becoming more challenging.
My blogs have actually all been suffering for the past couple of weeks while I’ve tried to figure out how to resolve this situation.
If we can get the pages working on this blog, then I’ll put up a page to help everyone understand what I can do for them (Basically, if you need something taught, either by a teacher or a written document, there’s a very good chance I can help you.) Otherwise, like I said, contact me with potential projects.
“Oh, look! She’s reading again.”
“Poor thing. Although…without a man, I guess she has to think for herself.”
Once upon a time, it was frowned upon for women to read. They simply weren’t wired right for thinking and education, so why waste their time with silly things like books? Women needed time to focus on their music and needlecraft.
Times have changed. Women refuse to be discounted like that anymore…and yet we keep getting movies that reinforce this. Part of me says, “Oh, they’re just trying to create the when of the story.” The other part of me screamed last night while watching the newest Barbie (who has never been a positive female role model) movie, “Not when the ‘when’ really doesn’t matter!”
In Ever After, it was appropriate for the “women shouldn’t read because it would lead to them thinking” scene because it’s clearly set in a period of history where that was how people actually thought. The same thing is true for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Both are set in times when women had to fight for their right to be educated if they wanted to read.
The Island Princess, however, is set in a timeless setting. There is nothing to suggest an assumed time period at all, and yet the villain makes comments on women, reading, and the combination of the two leading to a woman thinking, which is pointless in her opinion.
The sad part is, the only reason I think this actually got to me last night is because in this day and age, I keep finding myself tutoring a lot of girls who are just killing time in high school until they meet a rich man who will turn them into a trophy wife. That’s seriously all they want or expect for life. They haven’t considered actually finding a career of any sort. They worry about me because I don’t have so much as a boyfriend, and have no desire to have children.
2007, and there are honestly girls who’ve more than likely grown up on these Barbie movies, on settingless movies where it’s dangerous for women to think for themselves.
Why can’t we seem to move away from this?
Sep 232007
It’s that time of the week again. Time to see what remnants are hiding out in Reader.
This week, it’s going to be a little weird because there are some posts being held onto as reminders. For example, the new version of OpenOffice came out this week. I’m holding on to one of the fifteen announcements I got to remind me I need to update my system. (Maybe that will take care of the little LaTeX hiccup I’m having.
I’m also holding onto a post letting me know that yesterday morning’s GX episode (where a favorite character returned to the fold looking all scruffy) is available for download. I’m not actually planning to download it from that post, though. It’s there as a back-up in case the other group that creates GX torrents (and does it a hair better) doesn’t get the episode posted. (I’ve been known to spend Fridays working on various projects and listening to GX. It’ll be easier once I’m finally able to get a hold of the DVDs!)
There are also a pair of links I want to check out. For some reason, I’m holding on to the post to remind me, instead of moving both into Todoist, where they’re far more likely to be picked up on a daily to-do list. One of the deals with simplifying social networking, and the other covers networking in an information age.
The last is an updated list of freelancing sites. Things are getting uncomfortable at work hours-wise, so I have to do something to make up for it…with my wacky schedule.
So, this week’s link dump is really more of a to-do list than a link dump. I wonder why I’m not just dumping it all into Todoist…
Sep 232007
According to my goodreads account, I’ve been reading a lot lately (a book or two each week, not counting manga). I guess that shouldn’t surprise me. At the beginning of August, I sat down with the list of books I wanted to read and hunted them all down in a local library system. On one hand, I cleared out almost the entire “writing” section of my list (yes, my list is broken down by topic or genre). On the other, I’ve spent so much time reading that very little writing has actually been accomplished.
Yesterday, I finished Writing for Comics with Peter David, and turned to an empty shelf. Everything on hold with the library is either about Montessori education, is a Myth book by Robert Asprin, or is one of a handful of Rush CDs. My “to-read” list still has some books left in it, too! (And I need to go in and add some more.)
The point is, I have read all the writing books I wanted to read (at the moment). Instead of hiding behind “learning my craft”, I can now return to “developing my craft”.
It’s a bit weird.
I’ll be forcing myself to take a more active role in another of my creative outlets. I’ve landed a gig teaching jewelry design at a local Michael’s. They want me to come in later this week and create the pieces that will serve as examples of what can be learned in the class.
At first, I didn’t worry too much about it because the last time I was up for a teaching job at Michael’s, I created a curriculum. I pulled that out after I got off the phone Thursday and choked. The curriculum, which was supposed to be a bunch of technique-driven projects, is far better suited to become a how-to guide on jewelry design.
I’ve been scribbling ideas in my jewelry notebook off and on all weekend, but I think it’s going to come down to listing the techniques I know, and then building a project list from them.
This week will definitely be a practicum week.
Sep 202007
I’m not really sure when it happened, but I’ve become nearly obsessed over the strengths of blended storytelling. Maybe it took root when my best friend told me I had to start reading manga, and was encouraged when someone else loaned me Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. (I’m spending this week reading Making Comics and Reinventing Comics, both just as good, even if little of it pertains to what I’m actually interested in.)
Maybe something clicked when I was reading Beyond Bullet Points and trying to develop a video tutorial for Dead Bunny. (I really need to figure out what I can fix on that, and then decide what has to happen to fix the things I can’t fix.) I understand reading anything related to Richard Meyer’s Multimedia Principles can do that to a person.
At some point, I’ve become interested in how words and pictures come together to tell a story. The problem is: I can barely draw stick figures (If someone badgers me, I’ll try to remember to scan the collection and get it online.), so I can’t actually fully explore this on my own.
I know from teaching that touching on multiple modalities leads to more impacting learning experiences, and gives the student a better chance of learning the material. I get the feeling that’s my ultimate goal in trying to understand how the written word and art come together to state their message, but I haven’t had much of a chance to just sit down and think on it.
Sep 202007
author: Emura
name: Rebecca
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2007/09/01
date added: 2007/09/20
shelves: borrowed, manga
review:
author: Scott McCloud
name: Rebecca
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2007/09/01
date added: 2007/09/20
shelves: borrowed, graphic-novels, manga
review:
Sep 202007
As a five-time participant (three-time winner) in National Novel Writing Month, I can tell you that silencing your inner editor is the best thing you can do for your writing. In fact, NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty’s No Plot, No Problem has this fantastic button in the book that says, “Take My Inner Editor,” along with its partner, “Give Me Back My Inner Editor,” toward the end of the book.
Yes, during the month of November, my inner editor goes on walkabout while I agonize over putting 50,000 words in a semi-coherent fashion onto a document.
During the rest of the year, my inner editor has this bad habit of looking over my shoulder while I write (or do anything creative, actually). He reminds me that I have Syrus Truesdale out of character, or that Joey Wheeler would never say something I’ve made him say. He’s positive my darling Kazuki isn’t nearly as angsty as I portray him. (Actually, that much is true. Kaz is worse, but I don’t do angst well.) My inner editor is also hugely critical of Dead Bunny. Apparently, a combination of text and images will not actually make sense to some poor struggling math student out there. I really have to ignore him some days just to get my work done, usually by placating him, “Let me get this done, and then I’ll let you have your way with it,” or, “I don’t need it to be perfect. I need it to be out of my head.”
That second one is true. No first draft should ever be expected to be perfect. It’s the chance to write down what you’re thinking. The editing stage, where you beat your idea into something pretty, should be its own separate activity. I almost have my inner editor convinced of this. He still drops in while I’m working, though.
My inner editor is a real jerk, come to think of it. I’m glad to be rid of him every November!
