#accidental example of a 5 paragraph essay

[shadowen]

I'm thinking, once again, about the Star Wars sequel trilogy and the incredible wasted potential of the characters. Specifically, I'm thinking about Rey and Poe as foils against Phasma and Hux.

Here, we have two men who were raised from birth as true believers in opposing causes, the only sons of heroes, who then far surpassed their parents in fame and influence. There are some hints of contrast, in that we see the stark differences in how they lead, but the films are almost maliciously committed to misunderstanding Poe as a character*, that I have to assume those moments are purely accidental.

Then there's Rey and Phasma, two women from baren, brutal worlds, with a single name and no legacy**, who survive and succeed based entirely on raw talent and relentless determination. Phasma is nominally set up as a contrast for Finn, but she ends up being an unsatisfying personal villain. Likewise, Rey is set in opposition to Kylo Ren, but that whole dynamic is so messy and loaded, without exploring any of the meaningful parallels and conflicts between them***.

There's also something to be said about contrasting sibling dynamics. With Rey and Poe, we get glimpses of a squabbling rivalry rooted in obvious affection, whereas Phasma and Hux are shown (in EU material) to have a conspiratorial closeness based on mutual respect and mutually assured destruction. Neither of these relationships is developed to full potential or used to develop the narrative or themes of the films.

The reliance on external knowledge to prop up the core films is a long-standing critique of Star Wars, and I wholeheartedly agree that the movies should be able to stand on their own. However, given the volume and emphasis on the extended universe, it's reasonable to expect at least some degree of consistency. In the case of these characters and others, though, the most interesting character development is either jarringly ignored or deliberately removed, as with a scene cut from The Last Jedi which tells more about Phasma in two minutes than the rest of her screen time combined. There's plenty of discussion to be had about what's actually in the films, but I think the great tragedy of the sequel trilogy is what could have been there and isn't.

Footnotes and reading recs under the cut.

*My rant on this subject is long, detailed, and mostly about racism.

**I think Rey is a much more interesting character if she is actually nobody from nowhere, but that's a different discussion.

***This is not about ship vs notp, just about how their on-screen interactions fit into the narrative.

The Star Wars EU is daunting, to say the least. If you want to read more about these characters, may I suggest:

Phasma (novel) by Delilah S. Dawson (my all time fav SW novel)

Poe Dameron (comics series) by Charles Soule and Phil Noto

Captain Phasma #1-4 (comic) by Kelly Thompson and Marco Checchetto

Resistance Reborn (novel) by Rebecca Roanhorse

Before the Awakening (short stories) by Greg Rucka

Shattered Empire #1-4 (comic) by Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto

Age of Resistance (comics anthology) by Tom Taylor et al

[slutforagoodsmut]

My thoughts on the Encanto movie/fandom

THIS IS LITERALLY MY THIRD TIME I TRIED TO WRITE THIS CUZ EVERY TIME I WOULD I’D ACCIDENTALLY REFRESH AND I WAS 5 BEAUTIFUL PARAGRAPHS IN AND I DIDN’T SAVE AND NOW I WANNA KILL MYSELF LMFAOO I’M SO SAD IT WAS BETTER THAN ANY ESSAY I’VE DONE FOR HIGH SCHOOL OR COLLEGE

WELL

LET’S START AGAIN I SUPPOSE

To begin, I believe Encanto is a beautiful movie. There are so many likable characters and the soundtrack is awesome. Not to mention the beautiful colors and story behind it is very inspiring to those who feel lost or like they don’t belong anywhere. I think Encanto also gives tons of representation to the Hispanic community, specifically Colombian. Between the music, food, clothing and traditions, it gives insight to the culture that is surrounded around the movie. I also believe that the fandom is a safe outlet for those who don’t think they culturally belong anywhere. Just like Raya and the Last Dragon, it introduces the viewers to different parts of a culture, aside from the fictional events that happen. Before watching Encanto I had no clue what arepas con queso was and now knowing exactly what it is, I’ve thought about possibly making them myself, or at least going somewhere where they’re served. 

Alongside that, I also believe that the fandom is a safe place for poc who enjoy cosplay. In the past, there have been millions of people who’ve cosplayed a character that wasn’t their ethnicity or race and have gotten shit on for it. An example I can think of is the tv show Sailor Moon (idk if it’s more than a show I’ve never seen it). I’ve seen tons of awesome cosplays from African American men and women, and though there is an abundance of positivity, you always find the handful of comments that say “(character) isn’t black”, “why are you cosplaying them even though you’re black,” or “you don’t look like (character)”. Well no shit Sherlock, of course they don’t look like the character. But if they like the show and they like a character they want to dress up as, why are you hating on them? What fuels the need to stop them from wanting to dress up as a character they really like? These characters are fictional and take place in a fictional world based around a fictional plot. None of it is real. Another example I can think of is literally any white character to come out of Disney, like Cinderella or Rapunzel. But back to my point, I think it’s amazing that poc finally feel like they can take part in dressing up and cosplaying either Mirabel or Bruno because people won’t drag them through the dirt for it. There’s so many people who stopped cosplaying because they were bullied for their race, ethnicity, and even gender not matching the character. 

With that said, this doesn’t go for anyone. I think yes, you should be able to dress up as a character that you like, but if their culture is heavily implied in the show, movie or book, it’s not okay to do that. Take Pocahontas or Native Americans, their culture is made into a joke when people dress up in costumes or headwear or put markings on their body and face and don’t really know the meanings behind them. This statement is directed to those who are mostly Caucasian. There is a very thin line between cultural appropriation and being culturally ignorant/racist. Black face is not okay whatsoever, putting on grass skirts and leis and shouting words that you’ve learned and pretending to be an islander is not okay. I believe that yes, if you educate yourself correctly and genuinely want to learn then it’s okay to partake in certain ways. This isn’t meant as hate on anyone, I try to choose my words carefully because I never want to offend or come off as gatekeeping a culture that isn’t mine. I love all races, genders, ethnicities and religions and I think each one should be shared to those who aren’t educated or want to learn more, but there’s a certain point where there should be boundaries. I hope that made sense to someone. 

One little thing that I'd like to bring up that I really liked about Encanto is how it acknowledges mental health and its awareness. We are given quite a handful of characters who deal with anxiety, doubt, or having to deal with pressure such as Isabela, Luisa, Pepa, Bruno and of course Mirabel. I’d even include Abuela into that group, as it’s shown that she’s had to deal with the trauma of losing her husband and having to care for three children, as well as running a big family all on her own. The movie not only acknowledges how trauma and difficult events affect someone physically, but also mentally and emotionally. Encanto shines light onto the different perspectives of individual characters and how they grow, learn and overcome it and I think that’s super important.  

Now onto things that I absolutely despise about the fandom. Please for the love of God stop sexualizing the characters. And if you’re going to sexualize the characters, at least sexualize the ones who are adults like Bruno or Isabela. Even thinking about sexualizing Isabela makes me uncomfortable, but she is an adult, just like Dolores and Luisa. Dolores and Isabela are both in their early 20′s and Luisa is around 19-20 years old, making her a legal adult. I’m not gonna sit here and be a hypocrite and say that Isabela and Bruno aren’t attractive, because they are. They’re both very attractive characters but they’re also adults. This in no way is the same for Mirabel or Camilo. If you’re younger than 17 years old (though I think that’s even pushing it) and like them, then yeah that’s fine, but if you’re in your 20′s and 30′s and find Camilo to be sexy or hot, you’re disgusting. Stop. Just stop. You can’t go anywhere on social media now without finding sexually implied stories or art about the two, more so Camilo, and I believe that ruins the experience for a lot of people and makes them uncomfortable. Bruno is an awesome character and has there been a fantasy or two of him that I’ve had, yes there has, but I also feel like just sexualizing the character in general takes the whole message away from what Encanto really is and the message it’s trying to convey. 

(I’d also like to point out that I’m nowhere near perfect either. I’ve sexualized characters myself and have made sexual fanfics about them (they’re all adults). If you scroll past the post above and this post, you can find a handful of smut that I’ve made. I just want you to know that you shouldn’t feel ashamed, I guess? Cuz we’ve all done it in the end, and I’ll probably continue to do it as well, just like everyone else. Just stop sexualizing the minors. Even if this little add on seems hypocritical to what I said above, I guess I just wanted to put this in and get some more thoughts out).

Another reason I personally despise the fandom is because people put the characters into the categories of lgbtqia. I know someone is gonna read this and say, “oh well you’re being homophobic or transphobic,” when really, I’m not. We don’t know the sexualities of every single character, though I think it’s self-explanatory with the parents, abuela and Dolores, but who are we to even assume they're fully straight? I think it’s cool to create head cannons or stories of our own about Bruno, Isabela, etc, but to a degree. So many people are genuinely convinced that Isabela is a lesbian because she didn’t want to marry Mariano, but we were never given the reason that she didn’t like men. In the movie it simply explains that she just didn’t want to. I think it’d be amazing if she was as it would be super progressive for Disney like in the most recent years and for Hispanic culture in general, where a lot of people still believe that a sexuality other than heterosexuality is wrong, but unfortunately we don’t know her like that as a character. Like I said before, it’s totally cool to make up head cannons or ideas that Isabela is lesbian, or Bruno is ace or gay, but that isn’t a reality, or has yet to be reality if it is covered in the future. I believe that yes, even though the world has become more and more progressive every day, sticking these characters in categories and labels because it makes you feel included in your own right can be a bit regressive too. 

On a positive note, I love how creative everyone in this community is. Between the stories and the art, I think it’s absolutely awesome. It’s so cool to see where people take these characters and what kind of scenarios they put them in, alongside the own characters they create and the gifts they give them. I for one have created a few characters of my own and hope to share them with the Encanto community soon just like everyone else has!

Overall, these were just my thoughts on the movie and the fandom and even though they’re just opinions, I think it’s good to have a safe space like here to share them, even though many may argue that it is (honestly me too sometimes). If you’d like to add to my thoughts or give some thoughts of your own, by all means please do so! If I said anything that came off as hypocritical or mean or rude in any way I apologize, those are never my intentions. Like I said before, I love you no matter where you came from, what religion you practice if any at all or what you identify as. I think it’s amazing that a wonderful movie like Encanto has been able to bring so many talented and amazing people together to share with one another. Cheers!

Edited: I was on tumblr today and came across various posts about the things I was talking about in my post, like the sexualities of the characters, sexualizing the characters and the mental disorders they have, and in the comments I’ve seen tons of heated arguments about them. I don’t want to make my post out to be like a boxing ring for everyone to argue in, and thankfully it hasn’t yet. Just know on my end that yes, I have my opinions, but you also have yours. I may not agree what you think about a character and vice versa, but I don’t see the reason why to get so angry about it. I say do whatever makes you happy, write the fics you want to write and make the art you want to do, I just think sexualizing minors is super-duper wrong, even if they are fictional characters 

[serendipitous-magic]

Hey, I wanted to ask: what's your process when it comes to planning stories? Do you plan, and if so, in how much detail? (Also I accidentally unfollowed and refollowed while trying to send this ask so my bad lmao)

THOMAS I PLAN SO F-ING MUCH YOU WOULDN’T EVEN BELIEVE

Ahem.

I’ve talked about my writing process a couple times before - 

Here I talked about where I tend to get inspiration from and how it starts to turn into stories (the Step 1 of my writing process). (The TL;DR version: my planning process starts with daydreams, and I write down all the ideas that I can when they pop randomly into my head. Then if I’m developing a particular story I can be like “oh yeah I had a scene idea where blah blah blah, maybe that could fit here...” and fit it into the plan like puzzle pieces.)

Here I talked about my writing process (which includes my planning process).

And to answer your question without sending you to other, longer posts: I plan a lot. In fact, the line between my “planning” process and my rough draft process is nearly indestinguishable. My plans tend to look like bullet notes, some of which may just be “There should be a scene where X confronts Y or else the emotional buildup will fall flat,” or they may be almost play-by-play sketches of a scene which only need to be formatted correctly and filled out with some details before they’re a rough draft. (And that first type almost always gets morphed into the second type, with time.)

Also, my planning is always color-coded. Sometimes the colors mean something specific (as in TRS3, where I have a lot of perspectives going at once, so each POV gets a color so I can keep track at a glance), sometimes they’re just to visually distinguish one block of thought from another.

For example, in case that’s all just confusing, here are screenshots of some “bullet notes” from RFS:

So, you see how sometimes it’s just “this thing happens,” and sometimes it’s like full paragraphs of stream-of-conciousness as I just write what I’m imagining with no real regard for “run on sentences” or “correct punctuation” - that can be fixed later when I turn it from “bullet notes” to “rough draft.” 

When I start writing a story, I usually have a pretty solid bank of these types of notes already prepared. If I just start with a blank page my writing is an aimless, dull, lifeless MESS. I’m just not someone who can think on my feet! I have to write down ideas and inspiration as it comes to me, when and wherever it strikes, and then hoard it away so I can use it later when I’m “actually” writing.

However, that doesn’t mean I always know exactly where a story is going. I may have some scenes I already imagined, which happen later in the story, or I may even know the ending, but in general my “thorough planning” is only about a chapter or two ahead of what I’ve written. Otherwise it’s mostly pretty sparse, like “Chapter Four: this scene happens, be sure to include the midpoint of this character’s arc (show by XYZ?), have that other scene, somewhere in here use that one piece of dialogue between A and B that goes “blah blah blah,” wrap up with something that sets up Ch 5.” 

Anyway, you didn’t ask for an essay but I gave you one anyway, sorry (actually nah I’m not lol), and now I should take my laptop and go inside because a storm is pulling in and my almost-empty Coke 0 can is about to blow away. Yeet.

[wellamarke]

summer christmas week day 2 (but on day 5): to be or not to be

set in the same universe, I think, as ‘chrysalis’ - ie. martin, douglas, arthur and theresa are in their final year of school when theresa receives a ‘princess diaries’-style revelation.

•••••••••••••••••••

Prompt: To be or not to be

“Hamlet,” said Douglas eventually, putting down his Spark Notes, “was a bit of a prat.”

Martin glanced up from his laptop. “What an original take. Full marks to Douglas.”

“I don’t hold it against him. It’s something he shares with almost everyone.”

“Except you, you mean.”

“No, I’m willing to concede multiple exceptions. Take Arthur, for example.”

Douglas held out his hand in the direction of their friend, who was currently trying to entice a shiny beetle into climbing aboard his French vocabulary book. “If someone killed Arthur’s father and tried to seize his kingdom, Arthur wouldn’t stand around gabbling about whether ‘to be or not to be’. He’d know exactly what to do.”

Martin looked sceptical. “Would he?”

“Of course. He’d come and ask me.”

“Ah, I walked right into that one.”

“You did, rather.” Douglas indicated Martin’s laptop. “How goes the essay?”

“Well, thanks to you, I’ve accidentally typed the word ‘prat’ twice in the last paragraph. I was on a roll, too. I sort of relate to Hamlet.”

“What, because you’re a—”

“No,” said Martin firmly. “I mean because his life was sort of turned upside down by a royal household….”

“Ah,” said Douglas, “And the death of a king, more so. Have you heard from her?”

“Not since Wednesday.” Martin sighed. “I’m going to Liechtenstein after exams are finished, though. If they haven’t let her come back.”

“On your own?”

“Well, who else is going to come?”

Douglas glanced over at Arthur again. “I can think of two people.”

“Wh— really?”

“Why not?”

“Well, because she’s my girlfriend, and… well, I just hadn’t thought of it.”

Douglas put on a wounded expression. “I’ll have you know that Theresa is my friend entirely independently of you. And Arthur’s not going to give up the chance to visit a castle.”

“Carolyn will never let him come.”

“She will. She trusts me.”

Martin raised his eyebrows. “If you believe that, you’re the prat.”

“No, she does. And what’s more, if she ever pours poison in Gordon’s ear, you can bet she’ll let me in on the scheme.”

Martin chuckled. “Hmmm. Gertrude and Claudius, though. Same initials but the other way round.”

“He was a clever one, that Shakespeare bloke.” Douglas picked up his book again. “Right, back to work. This act isn’t going to memorise itself.”

[eclecticcreative]

Great White Myths about Race and Racism.

After years of being in these kinds of arguments I thought I would make a list of myths and how to quickly defeat them. Do not copy-paste, though without credit. Give it back to this blog--Eclectic Creative on tumblr. (I'm sick of my words being stolen as it is and then people making money off of it when I give this for free.) Also, don't go taking the whole thing wholesale to make money. That'll also piss me off.

Talking racism is racist.

I got taught this one. That's stupid. If you want to dismantle a system, you need to understand how and why it works, which means you need to talk about it. You need to know the history and impact of it. You need to be bold, be wrong, and get corrected about race. That's what Ethnic Studies is for.

But Race is a Social construct...so [racism] it’s not real

So is money, the need to wear clothes, birthdays, holidays, gender, divisions of sex, religion, government, language, and so on--sure some of them do have biological imperatives attached, but so does race. Just because it's a social construct doesn't mean it's not real. You can't go and parade in front of a police station butt naked scream that the government is not real because it's a social construct, steal someone's money and scream it's a social construct and expect there to be no consequences.

Anthropologists can tell about 80% of the time from bones what race a person is. (In European definition of race as supposed to Brazilian, etc).

It's more insulting to call someone out for their racism than it is for them to be racist.

It's more insulting to call someone out for their accidental hatred than it is to turn your back and ignore them while they spread that hatred. It’s more insulting to call someone a murderer than it is to point out the systems that allowed them to murder. It’s more insulting to call someone a murderer than it is to allow them to murder again.

You can't be accidentally racist.

White people can't get over this one fast, usually. It's called implicit bias. You were programmed by your society to think and act in a certain way, bombarded by those images over and over and then taught to hush up on race. Of course you have no choice but to uphold those ideals.

If the person has issues with this idea, have them go to any grocery store or book shop and count up the PoCs. Where are they? How are they represented?

The other test is to ask them to randomly list 5 favorite authors, actors, etc. How many of them are white straight, CIS male? You can be actively against an ideology and still have issues with it.

Ethnicism and racism are the same thing!

They aren't. Ethnicism can be same race to same race. Say someone Han hates on someone Zhuang. That's Ethnicism. The dynamics also change. Say someone black American is hating on someone white and say that all whites are gun loving... but that's a very different dynamic if they've seen white people killing their relatives and have a history of slavery and being followed.

It's also a different dynamic when it's PoC to PoC, because inherently, there usually is white framer language in there. Such as say, the greedy rich Asian stereotype which may have contributed to the LA riots. In that case it's internalization. Same for Koreans hating on blacks because they watched some American movies... it's a different dynamic because it's not direct history of oppression, as in racism.

Xenophobia is a kind of racism.

Racism can play a role, but not always. Xenophobia is a hatred of foreigners. So if someone hates on Canadians coming to the US, and sees a white Canadian and a white USian, that's plain xenophobia. Racism can play a role, where someone says Mexicans, for example, are "lazy" "take people's jobs" but Canadians are productive. It gets trickier then. It's a cross between the two.

Racism is only individual.

Nope. This is because of imperialism. The rape of native people had a real impact especially in Latin Americas. (plural intentional). The opium Wars had an impact. The fact that the British Museum is all taken from other countries (mostly), is a sign of that imperialism. The fact that the jikji resides in France is also a sign of that. Repatriotize those goods, give PoCs equal pay and opportunity for work, stop killing black and brown peoples in gun violence, stop sexualizing WoCs and desexualizing MoCs, and all of the other things that are built into our system, then we can talk about how it's individual.

White Privilege... but I'm poor and I'm white, what privilege do I have?

Being poor and brown and poor and black has different consequences often. There are other privileges involved. The original essay was by Peggy Mcintosh, a white woman. Privilege is the act of inheriting rights given to you. Everyone living has privileges they can exercise at a given moment, otherwise you'd be dead. You were given privileges as a white person, such as mirrors on television, being called the default, etc. What her work asks you to do is to pay attention and be able to give those privileges to other people who don't have them.

If I give my privileges to someone else, they will be taken away from me.

No, you'll have time and space to give them the same rights you have. Civil rights is not a pie. Like love is not a pie. It's not divided up like there is a limited amount.

Racism is only a US thing.

Nope, it's a UK, Australian, etc thing too. Happens everywhere because of colonization and imperialism. It's ubiquitous. You can see this in the given that English is a Lingua Franca.

You can, too, be racist against whites.

Definition of racism is, "Racism involves the subordination of people of color by white people." This is a definition made by Ethnic Studies and well documented. These particular words come from Paula Rothenberg, a white woman. So no, it's not racist.

But Japan Imperialized why can't we talk about them?

Japanese imperialism was mostly concentrated in the Pacific and Asia. It was horrific. But it didn't dominate the world and the time period was not 500+ years of domination, slavery, and cultural erasure. (Most of the horrors were located in Korea--and I say this as a Korean). You can't be racist against your own race. Racism defines an insider/outsider status.

But if I went to China I would get hate as a white person...

Opium Wars. The destruction of China through the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion. White powers also didn't give a damn about Rape of Nanking... don't you think the hatred would be justified? And why are you using China anyway? Are you paranoid about China's economy? You know it's the US that exports the raw materials to China.

White fragility, white privilege, white woman's tears talking imperialism and colonialism is racist... against whites.

All terms invented by whites to describe the phenomena of racism. So nope, not racist. It's language and terms. If you refuse to use the terms invented by white people as a white person to describe social phenomena, then you are practicing what Robin DiAngelo would call White fragility--because it's easier to flinch.

I did this great thing yesterday for race, so I can't be racist.

Fighting in any social justice is an everyday process. You aren't allowed to quit until all people have equal rights and say so as that vast majority of PoCs. As that has not happened, you don't get a badge. Jay Smooth said this in a Ted Talk, (paraphrasing) People think fighting racism is like taking out an appendix... but it's more like brushing your teeth.

Please don't badge. Fighting racism is not a scout badge that magically appears.

A black president? Racism is "post racial".

And the percentage of black people killed by cops is higher than any other ethnic group, and that also ignores the other struggles with racism.

But I'm colorblind!

If you don't have achromatism, no you aren't. Racism is a system. As a system, it means it's real and racism is still happening around you no matter how much you try to ignore it. Also see implicit bias.

There is no such thing as cultural appropriation...

... because look brown and black people use English

This comes from 2 Empires (UK and US) of domination and often erasure on the rest of the world. It's called imperialism. And it wasn't pretty.

Whether it was the rape of Indigenious people of North, Central, Australians, NZ, and South America... the wars waged against Asia, including forcing Opium on a government that said no, or the total shaming of India's gender diversity, there is a lot to answer for. English is the language of imperialism. (As is Spanish, Portuguese and French, though less so.)

... because look, PoCs wear Western clothes.

Again, imperialism. Pretty much the second paragraph from above.

... But I'm doing cultural sharing/appreciation--how dare you as an insider say I'm appropriating!

You as an outsider might not know you are doing so. But you also don't know the deeper cultural significance, because often appropriation comes from the end of culture. What I mean is that in order to build a culture, and get cultural artifacts, you need things that you DON'T see. This includes belief systems, which may or may not be religious. You don't get taught the detailed history. You don't know the history of oppression if there is any. You don't know the political set up and may not even care. When someone is calling you out for appropriation, usually it's saying you're getting it wrong. And you should respect the culture you're taking from to correct yourself. To understand WHY it's wrong and stop saying things like, "Well, I'm only watching dramas not to learn anything." Or saying, "I'm just having fun." It's not fun to watch someone that means a lot to you, say your childhood toy, then toss it around and then watch someone say they are appreciating it--especially if that toy was from a relative and is very fragile because it's gotten beaten up so many times. Don't do that to culture.

BTW, Cultural Sharing is where you are INVITED IN and act HUMBLE when you are corrected, not double down. APPRECIATION is hands off--you do not use the cultural item at all, and you *look* at it, but don't touch. I used this analogy before--you appreciate by looking at art in a museum, you do not take it down from the wall take it home and say you painted it. That's theft. Once you don't take corrections about your behavior, you are stealing and often times compounding previous wounds that the culture experienced before, in which case it's rude. It's like knowing someone got stabbed and then deciding, yep, let's stab them again because your ego is more important than the people within that culture. And is your ego bigger than an entire culture, its history and everyone in it?

But my [fill in ethnicity/race] friend doesn't mind.

Sometimes people are afraid to correct you or don't think you care enough and if you double down and use them as a badge like this, without them present, then yeah, they probably won't feel this way. Why are you talking over a person present, who has the lived experience on what does or doesn't hurt to them. Does it matter to you at all that they feel hurt? Are you going to run away from that? You are also taking away agency from the other person. Let them talk for themselves and BE there to answer. It's called respect and respecting boundaries.

If you are white and doing this, it's double disrespect because you, as a white person shouldn't be talking for a PoC since there is a huge history of that. If you want to make that argument, then tag them into the conversation, or wait until they are there, or talk general facts where you can, or tell the people to go and ask that person directly and ask for an honest answer. Usually this is enough to shut them down.

But my white voice matters in PoC discussions about receiving racism.

If you are talking *for* what it is like to be say, an Asian woman who gets sexualized, then nope. What you need to do is sit, shut up and listen. If facts contradict, see if you can find a reason why in each of the stories. Ask respectful questions. Lived experience comes first. You wouldn't listen to a person who said they heard that this other person, might have this opinion. That's hearsay, so why are you doing it? You didn't live it.

Again, you as a white person don't receive racism. You don't have a right to talk over voices that have experienced it.

[realtalk-princeton]

out of curiosity, do any contributors wanna sort of outline their process of writing academic papers? just sort of upset that i never took writing sem seriously once it went pdfo and i feel doomed for eternity in writing longer essays... like do you do your research first, pull your quotes out, then do some writing to fill in the gaps or do you kind of stream-of-consciousness write from the start?

Response from TNTina: 

imo do not feel like passing up writing sem equates to passing up your opportunity to learn how to write; i’d say the type of writing you learn in writing sem is actually not really indicative of any work that you will need to write in college (certainly i don’t remember a thing i learned in writing sem and i haven’t needed it) 

but in terms of process - if it’s a paper i have to research a lot for then yes, i do 1) preliminary research - involves finding sources and reading their abstracts or doing a quick skim 2) doing a potential outline of paper 3) researching more thoroughly by going back and taking down quotes or important points 4) make bibliography of only the sources i’ve wittled down to that i want to use 5) write entire draft, pulling from my notes 6) revise 

if it’s a paper on a subject that does not require much research (aka opinion papers or whatever) then i just stream of consciousness it, often nonlinearly. definitely don’t be afraid of writing a paper not in order

as an aside, this is maybe not exactly what you’re asking for but i’m going to plug these books anyway: on writing by stephen king, on writing well by william zinsser, the elements of style by strunk and white. i read these in hs but they’ve really stuck with me throughout college in terms of writing (in a broader sense and not only academic papers) and in my experience writing sem PALES in comparison to my high school english class where they forced me to read and dissect a gazillion books on what good writing looks like

Response from Ocean:

I agree with TNTina, I don’t remember anything from writing seminar (and I took it Spring 2020, lol) that’s specifically about writing -- I do remember some of the subject material but nothing super helpful about writing.  I will say that I don’t actually write a lot of research papers in the style of writing seminar in my major, I usually write literature analysis papers which is slightly different.  I think for me writing seminar basically just made me more comfortable with writing at a college level; I know before I took it when I had to write papers I had this weird hang-up that because I hadn’t taken writing seminar I didn’t know how to write at a college level (which I did, I still got As on my papers before I took writing seminar, but taking it still got rid of that hang-up for the most part).  

If I’m doing a research paper, my process is very similar to what TNTina described above, with just some small changes -- so I’m going to describe my process for writing a literature analysis paper, which I’m currently writing.

1) As I’m reading the book, I’ll think about what themes interest me that I’d like to write a paper on.  When I get the assignment description, I’ll narrow it down to maybe 2 options, and start looking for specific passages to use.  Usually I mark interesting passages as I read, so I’ll go back and pick out a few that seem interesting.

2) I usually try to pop into office hours before I start writing the paper itself, to ask if my topic/passages make sense for the paper.  Some courses are limited with what we can tell the professor or preceptor about our paper (they’re not allowed to read a draft, for example) but typically I can share my ideas and get some good ideas from them as well.  I take notes during this meeting.

3) I’ll select my passage(s) and type them out, I’ll also cite the book.  I typically try to do the bibliography as I go -- if I’m writing a research paper, I’ll cite a source as soon as I decide to use it.  This is a habit I picked up in high school debate and it’s saved my ass a few times as I tend to procrastinate and bibliographies take much longer than you expect them to.  Also, it makes me less anxious that I’ll accidentally plagiarize something, which is a fear I have. 

4) Next, I procrastinate a lot.  (I’m being honest about my process here.) 

5) When I’m sufficiently panicked enough about the deadline, I’ll start typing whatever comes to mind.  I typically don’t start with the introduction, that’s the hardest part of the paper, just jump straight in to the body paragraphs and type for a few hours. 

6) After a quick break, I’ll re-read what I’ve written, edit it, delete parts that don’t make sense, re-word, etc.  I usually re-read the passage a few times now, and add anything else I can think of.  This is also when I try writing an introduction and conclusion. 

7) Repeat steps 5-6 until I’ve reached the word count/page count/whatever.

8) Re-read a couple more times, check for spelling, grammar, etc.  If there’s time before the deadline, I’ll put it away for some time and double-check again before the deadline -- it helps to come back and catch mistakes later.  I’ll also re-read the assignment description and make sure I’ve done everything I need to in the paper. 

9) Turn it in, finish panicking, take a nap.  Forget about it until I get the grade back.  

Hope that helps!  Or at least, makes you feel less bad about how you write your papers.  There’s no one “perfect” way to write a paper, you just have to figure out what works for you.  

[alexanderessex3dstoryart]

Character Design/Script-Writing - Character Creation Writing - 24/11/2020

For today’s lecture at Uni, we looked at how to come up and write our own characters specifically for the Character Design/ Character Script-Writing projects. This was done through various different exercises to understand how we might generate ideas for character creation and how we should think about them.

During the lecture, I didn’t realise we had to be writing proper paragraphs for our character’s story we thought of on the spot which is why my character’s has ideas listed to each task rather than the story fleshed out which I still felt comfortable with as it’s how I would go about creating my characters as I just didn’t have enough time to write out my character’s story from jotting the main story beats down.

In the lecture, I came up with a character called Bolt McDuffin, a male who’s 45 and works as a Blacksmith/General Handyman. He’s also set in a cyberpunk/futuristic world where hes the last person to carry on the blacksmithing tradition. This then prompted us to come up with 5 facts, 4 relationships, 3 hopes n dreams n desires, 2 obstacles and 1 secret for the character all in the span of 5 minutes. This is what I came up with:

5 Facts

Has a great white beard with charcoal bits in his beard which compliments his lack of hair on top

Lovely Nice person to hang out with and welcoming attitude

Loves the smell of rustling coals

Lives in a really old abandoned part of the streets of this cyberpunk world were its mossy, dark and quiet

Giant apron thats too big for him

4 Relationships

His trusty Fire Pit

His BloodHound - Bogar

His Cyberpunk Apprentice

Cat - Ruffles

3 Hopes,Dreams and Desires

Share his craft to the world

FInding real life animals again

Wants people to accept who they are 

2 Obstacles

Trying to keep his blacksmith business available against the advancements in technology

Cyber Tech

1 Secret 

Has hated Cyber Tech ever since his son passed from too much cyber augmentation

This whole task of us coming up of ideas on the spot like this was really fun but stressful to go through as whilst I really enjoyed coming up with several different ideas, it was slightly daunting from how fast we had to think of everything in time for the next task. For the rest of the exercises, they were all based on thinking of specific elements of character like if we just looked at only the ‘Ideas’ of a character, this would fall in line of looking at cultural, political and social issues/problems our character thinks about that makes them or for example if your just looking at character itself, questions like how was he born and what were his parents were like would be brought up for idea generation. I really loved this process as it got me to look at different avenues of thinking about my character and how it could potentially lead to another storyline.

Going back to what I said at the beginning, I more treated this lecture as jotting ideas down in my notebook and expressing them in class as whilst I didn’t write a whole narrative of my character, I just spoke from the points I made building up the character. But to condense my notes into one space, the whole origin story for my character was that he was birthed in a water bath because he was so large but was so massive that he shot out of the bath and hit his head against the tub causing a permanent scar on his head. In addition to this, he was incredibly warm at birth so much so that his parents accidentally dropped him when it was snowing outside the countryside hospital which he was unphased by showing his warm heart and a knack for keeping himself warm all the time. He had two loving parents with his mum as a famous chef and the dad - a postman. 

His parents were massive collectors and collected anything remotely interesting for them to add to their collection ranging from old cooking devices from victorian era to random bits of modern art. One day, Bolt’s curiosity peaked when he saw these intriguing devices in his home which he accidentally grabbed a metal morden art piece and flinged it over into one of the ancient cooking devices with max amount of heat. This lead to the metal changing it’s properties which is where his love for blacksmithing came from.

40 years into the future, Bolt is by himself in a quiet and overgrown part of the Cyber City with only his Bloodhound (Bogar) andcat (Ruggles) to keep him company. He hasn’t had any business for the past year and desperately needs money to feed himself  otherwise he’ll have to donate his body parts to stay alive. Suddenly, a quaint and fashionable teeneger notices his wares and aspires to become a blacksmith like him as its nothing he’s seen before. Bolt is very stubborn about this predicament as his son was lost from the world due to the amount of cyber enhancements he had got on him and wasn’t there to support his son. The stubborness stems from him seeing the rich looking teenager’s top of the line arms and ear gear which he grudgingly accepts his offer from the desperate situation he’s in. 

Overall whilst I didn’t follow the structure of the lecture too much, I found so much fun in creating my characters as it’s one of my favourite aspects of character creation coming up with stories for my creations as I often come up with a story first before I sketch anything out. The exercises were really impactful to me as they really did help my thinking process for character design and scrip-writing projects and definitely want to explore a lot of research for the essay.

My Notes in the Lecture

Sketch of Bolt McDuffin

[lifesobeautiful]

The Little-Known Tips For Writing The Perfect Essay

Nearly 2 in 5 high school students lack the English skills needed to complete a college course. This results in most college graduates lacking the writing proficiency needed to get a job, a fact echoed by nearly half of hiring managers.

Most professors agree that essays aren’t just about writing skills or sharing what you’ve learned. Professors describe essay writing as an essential step in the learning process, taking what you’ve learned through reading and coursework, analyzing and synthesizing that knowledge into a clear opinion or idea, and crafting a piece of writing that clearly communicates your thesis.

In short, writing papers helps train you to think and argue.

Writing a perfect essay requires critical thinking skills, reading proficiency, written communication skills, and the ability to organize your thoughts into a clear and concise narrative. Most of us don’t enjoy writing essays, but knowing how to do it right will make a huge difference in your schooling and in your career.

How To Write The Essay

Before you get started with your essay, you have to do some prep work. This is one good way of starting to know how to improve your essay writing skills.

Know The Different Types of Essays

Review any requirements laid out by your professor or editor, including the scoring rubric or assignment scope. Read any examples provided by the professor or editor. You might even want to take notes and make yourself a checklist of what to include in your final draft.

One of the best ways to get a good understanding of the assignment is to be familiar with the different types of essays and when to write each type:

Narrative Essays: Tell a real-life story Expository Essays: Explain or define a topic Persuasive Essays: Convince the reader to believe or do something

Develop Your Topic

Now that you know what’s expected for the assignment, you’ll need to pick a topic. Sometimes, your professor may determine this for you. If that’s not the case, you need to spend some time narrowing the topic to a more manageable focus.

The best topics should be broad enough to find plenty of supporting information while narrow enough for the essay to delve deep into.

When deciding how narrow the topic should be, always consider the length of your assigned essay. Shorter essays can deeply analyze a single small aspect of the topic while longer essays may need to address how a few aspects work together to form the whole.

As you develop your topic, explore background information from your textbook and class notes and begin to look for supporting research. You’ll need to pick a topic with plenty of good source materials available. Your background research will also help you develop a working thesis. This is a draft version of the essay’s thesis, which you can refine and revise as you conduct further research.

Research & Analysis

Essays are built on what you read and good research is the core of the perfect essay. Remember to pick credible sources (and cite them) and stick to recent publications that aren’t too biased. As you read, take notes so you can refer back to them.

Tips for note taking:

Record key elements that back up an author’s argument

Keep a list of terms to look up

Note questions to follow up on

Summarize what you’ve read at the end of each chapter or article

Always write notes in your own words, so you won’t accidentally plagiarize

Let your notes sit for a few days to give yourself a fresh perspective

Writing & Revising

Once you’ve completed your research, it’s time to start writing your essay. Consider your working thesis: is it still consistent with the evidence? Does it need to be broader or narrower?

Revise your working thesis into a 1 or 2-sentence thesis statement. Use words like “although” or “because” to indicate how ideas are related.

Begin your essay with an attention-grabbing fact or a rhetorical question. Then, give a brief overview of the topic before ending your first paragraph with your thesis statement.

Your introduction should let readers know what you’re talking about as well as your thesis, but save your arguments for the body of your essay.

The body of your essay should have a well-organized structure: chronological, cause-and-effect or ordered by complexity. Always conclude with a brief summary of your main points, restate your thesis, and end with a compelling final statement.

Get more tips for essay writing in this infographic: Source: Online PhD Degrees

The post The Little-Known Tips For Writing The Perfect Essay appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

This article was first shared from Dumb Little Man

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHAT NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ABOUT DOMAIN

Robotics, for example, will cheerfully work 20-hour days to produce the Apple computer for a society that confiscates private fortunes. But while you don't literally need math for most kinds of hacking, in the form of a statement, not whether it's correct. What the company should have done is address the fundamental problem: that the product is expensive to develop or sell, or simply because they're wasteful.1 There were a few startups who hit these limits accidentally because of their unusual circumstances—most famously 37signals, which hit the limit because they crossed into startup land from the other end, and offer programmers more parallelizable Lego blocks to build programs out of, like Hadoop and MapReduce. But don't get mad at us. At one point in this essay, and even so we got a record number, up 40% from the same cycle a year before. VCs lie and claim the company really needs that much.

Design by committee is a synonym for bad design.2 Kids are good at telling that. It wasn't the vet's fault; the cat had a congenitally weak heart; the anaesthesia was too much for it; but there was no way to opt out. If you're paying attention, you'll be a grad-school dropout, and you have a PhD at the end that the lines don't meet. In fact, it's often better if they're not flakes. In an essay I wrote for high school students, I said a good rule of thumb in the VC business were established when founders needed investors more. This applies to dating too.3 The first courses in English literature seem to have had any effect on the number of failures and yet leave you net ahead.4 So far I've been finessing the relationship between smart and nerd, using them as if they were talking to a friend. And in my experience, the harder the subject, the more you depend on it, all I had to go through high school again, I'd treat it like a day job. You might think that responsible corporate governance is an area where you can't go too far in any law, and this remark convinced me that Sarbanes-Oxley.

You may be thinking, we have to reach back into history again, though this time not so far.5 In fact most such rules are just hacks to manage large groups efficiently. We say that the novel or the chair is designed according to the type of work they do and the tools they use, and some tribes are smarter than others. If you're really at the leading edge of a domain that's changing fast.6 I remember very vividly when in 1985 improved technology made it possible to create wealth, whatever they have has to be generated by software. The effect was rather as if we were just supposed to restate what we said in the first paragraph, but in different enough words that no one could tell. Don't think that you can't do what other people thought of them: he wanted to seem aristocratic; she was afraid she wasn't smart enough.

This type of society debases anyone who enters it.7 Einstein was a big deal because his work led to the atom bomb.8 What they fear are flakes and resume padders. If you do that you could use it.9 I speak here from experience. Design is not just that you can't do what other people wanted, this is exactly what Cezanne and Klee did. But even those they use no more than necessary.10

Notes

In practice sufficiently expert doesn't require one to be a win to include in your classes because you need to be about 200 to send them the final whistle, the more corrupt the rulers.

Some of the expert they send to look you over. It's possible that companies like Google and Facebook are driven only by money, it's a hip flask.

In reality, wealth is measured by what you've built is not a coincidence, because they could just use that instead. The company is their project.

The examples in this essay talks about the new economy during the 2002-03 season was 4. The problem with most of his peers. Teenagers don't tell their parents what happened that night they were to work not just the most promising opportunities, it increases your confidence in a limited way, except that no one on the programmers, the best approach is to take board seats for shorter periods. Interestingly, the bad idea the way we pitch startup school to potential speakers.

If by cutting the founders'. I. The amusing thing is, it has no competitors. Because we want to avoid sticking.

There is no grand tradition of city planning like the increase in economic inequality, and instead focus on at Y Combinator.

I remember about the size of the most valuable aspects of startups is very hard to make up the same price as the little jars in supermarkets. Acquisitions fall into a few stellar exceptions the textbooks are bad. They're often different in kind, because such users are not all, economic inequality is a matter of outliers, are not just for her but for blacklists nearness is physical, and help keep the next round to be recognized as an example of computer security, and mostly in Perl.

If you want to believe this number is a new database will probably frighten you more inequality.

Here's a recipe that might be 20 or 30 times as much income.

There were several other reasons. It is still hard to grasp this than we realize, because for times over a series A from a mediocre VC.

[qielahlaa]

Critical Literacy : I’m Not Who You Think I Am by Carol Paik

NUR’AQILAH BINTI MOHD ZAMERI ,SEC1805-0798, DEC 4C

1. Topic

The article was written by Carol Paik and published 18 February 2008 is an informative text as it inform about how people often mistakes each other for someone else that have same race or appearance. The mistake of confusion the people with other people who have same appearance or races with intention of being racist or just being overeager.

2. Content

The article talks about how the author tired of being mistaken by someone else because of the races. So, the author often regard those people of being racist.However, there was one time that she was hosting an annual barbecue and she mistake a woman who she thought that the same person who came previous annual barbecue because they have the same races.She believe that the woman might think she’s crazy or drunk but not being racist.Few months after, the author and her daughter went for a show.She left her daughter at the line and when she come back, the author nudged her daughter but she did not respond. After a while, she realizes the girl is not her daughter but they just have same appearance and races. The author conclude that the children look the same by the adult who are taller than them.She, lastly, plea that for all the people to take time and look people carefully.Also, to the people who being hypersensitive to avoid labeling other people. 

3.Sources

The article is from the website https://www.newsweek.com/my-turn-im-not-who-you-think-i-am-93583 .Newsweek is a premier news magazine and website that has been bringing high-quality journalism to readers around the globe for over 80 years. This news is based in the United States and has a lot of languages translated too.Newsweek provides the latest news, in-depth analysis and ideas about international issues, technology, business, culture and politics. Carol Paik is a writer based in New York. Not only Newsweek, but she also worked with HBO, NPR and more. She also received awards.She mainly writes regarding her experiences as Korean-American and topics regarding immigrant or racism.She also studied at America University in producing film and video.Thus, she has the credibility to writes his topic.

4. Audience

This article is intended for non-specialist people who are people who live in a country with different races and culture. The people who are targeted for this article experiences racism, being racist or being people who easily judge others. For an example of experience racism, “meaning that they see me, their normal powers of observation switch off so that the only information their brain receive is: Asian.These people see a type nor a person.”(paragraph 2).Thus, this shows that people can choose to ignore the fact that people are different individuals.

5. Rhetorical Function

This article is designed to educate the readers about the racism, overreact or labelling people who are Asian.This article claimed that we should not be racist, over react or label other people for mistaking other people because of their race.The example is “ And for those who, like me, maybe hypersensitive after years of not being properly seen, keep in mind that while there are people who are racist, many others are merely distracted, overeager, careless, tired, old,”.Thus, this shows that we should not simply jump into conclusion.

6. Purpose

The purpose of this article “I’m Not Who You Think I Am” written by Carol Paik is to change the mindset of the readers regarding the issue of racism towards Asian. This is because Asian have the same feature with one another. However, that does not mean most of them to look the same.In fact, most have different look with each other.People should not be racist with other people who are different from them and causes a fight.Because of that, we will be seen as uneducated by other people when they insult other people races.People need to understand how bad the situation of racism is.Lastly, the writer also did put his experience with the misunderstood incident by other people and also her, being racist due to being overly sensitive.

7. Perspective

This article “I’m Not Who You Think I Am” written by Carol Paik is an informative essay as it shares the author experiences of racism.I am agreeing with the author regarding the issue. Yes, most of the Asian-American does have the same features but they all look different.People do not look carefully and just misunderstood who she is.However, the author also shared that she actually did the same thing when a woman came for her annual barbecue. She also did misunderstand the woman to be someone else.Not only that, she even did misunderstand someone’s child to be her child because they look the same which are braids and Asian.She even she is racist because the mother of the girl is Caucasian. The example is “ further complicate the matter, at least in my roiling brain, the mother was Caucasian”’.(Paragraph 11).

8. Positioning

The people who are mentioned in the article are the Korean-American woman, the Asian children, her Caucasian mother and the public.The first person is a Korean-American woman. He authors accidentally mistake her for Korean-American women who came to the last annual barbecue. She talked to the previous Korean-American woman and she has a child. That is why when she mistakes another woman by asking about the child. The example is "Hello! So you're taking a little holiday from the baby today?".The second person is the Asian girl.The author mistake the girl to be her daughter. At first, she nudged but when she gets no response by the girl, she realizes that a girl is a different person. The example is "Oh, I'm sorry! You all look the same from the top!" (Paragraph 9). The third person is the mother of the child. The author has a racist thought about the woman who is Caucasian, different from the daughter. The example is “To further complicate the matter, at least in my roiling brain, the mother was Caucasian. ” (Paragraph 10).The last people are public. The author has mistaken by someone else who is Asian by the public in a lot of time.The example is “Being confused by every other Asian woman used to be maddening until I feel into the same trap”(Paragraph 1)

[cluelessandfaithful92-blog]

.Lesson Plan.

Julie Salas Lesson Plan

Subject – ELA 7th Grade

Objective: Research Martin Luther King and successfully write a 5 paragraph essay.

Dates- 5 days (5; 50 min periods)

Bloom’s Taxonomy & SAMR

 Monday: Understanding

7.6.R.3 Students will determine the relevance, reliability and validity of information gathered.

7.6.W.2 Students will refine and formulate a viable research question and report findings clearly and consistently using a thesis statement

     Watch the Disney movie SELMA LORD SELMA to comprehend, relate, recall, and identify ongoing issues MLK was faced with. During the movie students will use Google Forms to write down any questions about issues for after movies discussion with a minimum of 2 questions.

 Tuesday: Comprehension

7.7.R.2 Students will analyze the impact of selected media and formats on meaning.

7.7.W.1 Students will select, organize, or create multimodal content to complement and extend meaning for selected topic.

     Finish watching informational film, and discuss noted questions wrote down and answer questions as a class.

     Students will demonstrate understanding of issues presented to African Americans during that period of time. Students will interpret at least 3 things relating to MLK they would like to discuss. Compare and contrast how life and laws were different then to how life is in present day. (Voting rights, segregation, prejudice, injustices, ect.) Record all gathered information Google Docs. Share using drop box with at least 3 classmates.

 Wednesday: Application

7.2.W.2 Students will plan (e.g. outline and prewrite a 1st draft as necessary.

7.2.W.3 Students will develop drafts by choosing an organizational structure and building on ideas in multi-paragraph essays.

7.1.R.3 Students will engage in collaborative discussions about appropriate topic and texts, express their own ideas clearly while building on the ideas of others in pairs, diverse groups and whole class settings.

     Students will create a rough draft essay and conclusions in Google Docs use tools such as *spell check *dictionary/thesaurus, *peer editing. Make use of previously gathered data to develop a rough draft essay. Organize ideas and plan and select issues you will discuss. Share with teacher, using Google Mail.

Thursday: Analysis & Synthesis

7.7.W.2 Students will utilize multimedia to clarify information and strengthen claim or evidence.

7.7.R.2 Students will analyze the impact of selected media and formats on meaning

     Identify the motive that MLK was fighting for and propose 2 different solutions you would have used being in his place. Imagine you were African American during this time, what are 2 different things you would have done to guarantee your families wellbeing. Compose a 8 slideshow, using Google Slides.

 Friday: Evaluate

7.3.W.3 Compose essays and reports about topics, incorporating evidence and maintaining an organized structure and a formal style.

     Students will use learned and acquired materials to write a 5 paragraph over learned material independently. Student will have 50 mins to complete this assignment.

__________________________________________________________

1)       What coherence exists between the content standards (learning objective) addressed and the ISTE NETS Standard? How are the practices or skills embedded in the standard supported by the ISTE NETS Standard(s)?

2)       Which technology integration model (SAMR, TPACK, T3) is guiding your lesson development process? Provide evidence to support your answer.

3)       What Universal Design principles have you incorporated in your lesson plan to support all learners?

 Coherence between the content standards and the ISTE NETS standards are seen throughout the whole lesson plan. Standards both content and ISTE go hand in hand you cannot have one without using the other. In my lesson plan for example you have an empowered learner by allowing them to take self-notes and having them formulate their own questions about the topic. Which goes with the content standard that states Students will select, organize, or create multimodal content to complement and extend meaning for selected topic. We implement communication and collaboration by having the students work in groups and having them digitally share with others information found. A standard seen was ‘Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.” This was seen when the students have to work in a group in order to form a rough draft, the reason I chose to have 2 students doing a rough draft together rather than alone was for them to help each other understand also the writing process.  Digital citizenship is shown by being able to responsibly navigate throughout the web looking for information pertaining to the topic; in this case we use the web to find facts about Martin Luther King. Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making is practiced on Day 4 of the assignment in which the students have to place themselves in a different position that follows the content standard that states analyze the impact of selected media and formats on meaning analyze the impact of selected media and formats on meaning. I used the SAMR in my lesson plane, which is Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition I used this by implementing different google applications use throughout the week of my lesson plan.By following the ISTE NETS standards, the student is able to succeed fully in the classroom while still learning and applying the content standards. Following the ISTE NETS standards also facilitates differentiating content standards for various learners that you may have in class. Some of the Universal principles used in this lesson would include, PRINCIPLE TWO: Flexibility in use the design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities. It provides choice in methods of use. PRINCIPLE THREE: Simple and Intuitive Use, Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user’s experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level. PRINCIPLE FIVE: Tolerance for error the design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.

[sarahburness]

The Little-Known Tips For Writing The Perfect Essay

Nearly 2 in 5 high school students lack the English skills needed to complete a college course. This results in most college graduates lacking the writing proficiency needed to get a job, a fact echoed by nearly half of hiring managers.

Most professors agree that essays aren’t just about writing skills or sharing what you’ve learned. Professors describe essay writing as an essential step in the learning process, taking what you’ve learned through reading and coursework, analyzing and synthesizing that knowledge into a clear opinion or idea, and crafting a piece of writing that clearly communicates your thesis.

In short, writing papers helps train you to think and argue.

Writing a perfect essay requires critical thinking skills, reading proficiency, written communication skills, and the ability to organize your thoughts into a clear and concise narrative. Most of us don’t enjoy writing essays, but knowing how to do it right will make a huge difference in your schooling and in your career.

How To Write The Essay

Before you get started with your essay, you have to do some prep work. This is one good way of starting to know how to improve your essay writing skills.

Know The Different Types of Essays

Review any requirements laid out by your professor or editor, including the scoring rubric or assignment scope. Read any examples provided by the professor or editor. You might even want to take notes and make yourself a checklist of what to include in your final draft.

One of the best ways to get a good understanding of the assignment is to be familiar with the different types of essays and when to write each type:

Narrative Essays: Tell a real-life story Expository Essays: Explain or define a topic Persuasive Essays: Convince the reader to believe or do something

Develop Your Topic

Now that you know what’s expected for the assignment, you’ll need to pick a topic. Sometimes, your professor may determine this for you. If that’s not the case, you need to spend some time narrowing the topic to a more manageable focus.

The best topics should be broad enough to find plenty of supporting information while narrow enough for the essay to delve deep into.

When deciding how narrow the topic should be, always consider the length of your assigned essay. Shorter essays can deeply analyze a single small aspect of the topic while longer essays may need to address how a few aspects work together to form the whole.

As you develop your topic, explore background information from your textbook and class notes and begin to look for supporting research. You’ll need to pick a topic with plenty of good source materials available. Your background research will also help you develop a working thesis. This is a draft version of the essay’s thesis, which you can refine and revise as you conduct further research.

Research & Analysis

Essays are built on what you read and good research is the core of the perfect essay. Remember to pick credible sources (and cite them) and stick to recent publications that aren’t too biased. As you read, take notes so you can refer back to them.

Tips for note taking:

Record key elements that back up an author’s argument

Keep a list of terms to look up

Note questions to follow up on

Summarize what you’ve read at the end of each chapter or article

Always write notes in your own words, so you won’t accidentally plagiarize

Let your notes sit for a few days to give yourself a fresh perspective

Writing & Revising

Once you’ve completed your research, it’s time to start writing your essay. Consider your working thesis: is it still consistent with the evidence? Does it need to be broader or narrower?

Revise your working thesis into a 1 or 2-sentence thesis statement. Use words like “although” or “because” to indicate how ideas are related.

Begin your essay with an attention-grabbing fact or a rhetorical question. Then, give a brief overview of the topic before ending your first paragraph with your thesis statement.

Your introduction should let readers know what you’re talking about as well as your thesis, but save your arguments for the body of your essay.

The body of your essay should have a well-organized structure: chronological, cause-and-effect or ordered by complexity. Always conclude with a brief summary of your main points, restate your thesis, and end with a compelling final statement.

Get more tips for essay writing in this infographic: Source: Online PhD Degrees

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from Dumb Little Man https://www.dumblittleman.com/how-to-improve-essay-writing-skills/

[bound-by-golden-wings]

Do you have any advice for someone getting into the Dark Souls RP community?

I’m not very good with giving advice, but I actually do have a few things that could possibly help you get started! Most of these things are all based on personal experience so they might be different for other people, so keep that in mind okay? :)Long reply ahead haha. Once again, this is all personal opinion and experience, your experience can be very different from mine, same goes for your view on things. I’m not here to say anyone who thinks different from me is wrong, there are a million different opinions from mine of which most count as well.

1. Find a muse that best fits you.It doesn’t matter, if this muse has been used a 100 of times. For example, I rp as Ornstein mainly, but there have been a lot of blogs involving him. In the end it’s all about fun and rp’ing as someone you can relate to. At least for me it’s important to be able to sort of place myself into the character. With some that can be easier than with others. I also play as Pontiff for example, but he’s nothing like myself haha (I’m not a total asshole who manipulates people and then hurts them haha). Finding a muse that fits you best might take some time however, so don’t rush it. I really wanted to make an rp blog for Gwyndolin before Ornstein, but it just didn’t feel natural to me, most likely because of a mixture of bad experiences related to them in the fandom and just personal stuff.2. Make the muse your own.Surely it’s nice if you can rp as a character, but what makes it even more special is if you given it some special parts of yourself. Headcanons for example! It doesn’t matter if it are only one or two. But one or two headcanons can make a whole difference between just rp’ing like Ornstein for example or one that is unlike the other ones. I personally think everyone gives their muse at least something of themselves. Headcanons can take time however, it might take a while before you’re fully content with how your muse is. Don’t rush it, okay? But also know were to draw a line, some headcanons might come across as shocking to some people so always keep in mind to tag triggers or warn people if it comes down to that.It took me about 2 months before I was a 100% sure that I wanted to rp as Ornstein and by that time I had developed a lot of headcanons already. Also, your muse can always chance! Even to this day I keep adding stuff to my Ornstein. Don’t feel guilty to do so.Also, be sure to give it proper flaws. Not a lot of people want to see a mary-sue bounce around their muse. Making an about page for your character is always very good as well and will give people more of an insight on them. I always prefer to read those as well and don’t feel very comfortable when blogs don’t have it.

3. Be careful with what you do.I’ve had a lot of discourse happen to me in the past. Things that hurt me so badly that even to this day I’m careful about taking certain actions. Keep in mind that there will always be people who dislike your headcanon, but don’t let that take you down, as long as you can give them arguments as to why you like to think so (even if it doesn’t make sense with canon stuff) things will get better. And sometimes it doesn’t. At my first rp blog I had half of the rp community of that fandom hate on me. I was young and made some mistakes… I believe I was 13 back in the day and well… I did some god-modding. Unlike a lot of people, this person wasn’t kind enough to carefully point it out and began to yell and hate on me in the face, telling me stop my headcanons and rp all together. Stuff like that can break a kid’s heart. I was so scared to make the same mistake again that sometimes I even end up literally not writing replies I like, because I’m scared I might make a similar mistake and will get hate for it. Also, if you like someone’s headcanon, don’t steal it (I personally never did this myself but I know some people who do). Of course you can always ask permission if you can use it, some people are fine with that. But always ASK before doing so. It could save you.Don’t force people to ship with your muse. It has happened to me in the past and back when I was 13 I accidentally threw a ship into an rp once as well. I didn’t know if I should or shouldn’t ask. When you’re not sure about something, always ask, I can’t say this enough. Once again this person didn’t point it out until much later and began to yell at me. I didn’t really force it, I just let it happen, but still, most people don’t like that. A person like me would be kind enough to point it out, but some aren’t. If you want to ship your muse with that of someone, either establish it beforehand, or discuss it when you feel your muses have enough chemistry going on.Understand a person’s boundaries. Every person has their triggers and rules, which is why it’s important to read their rules or ask about it beforehand. Some people don’t have triggers or boundaries, but when you’re unsure you should still ask them. In the end it is the most comfortable for everyone that way.And of course, some muses don’t work, but in my opinion it’s always best to try with everyone and give everyone a chance. If you just look away without even trying it or at least read their blog, you miss out on a lot in my opinion. It’s the same as judging a book by its cover to me.

4. Multi-Muse blogs are fine, but have a boundary.I’ve come across plenty multi-muse blogs and a lot of them were actually pretty good. I don’t count my Ornstein blog as a multi-muse blog because I headcanon him and the Dragonslayer Armour as the same person. But there are some people who have 3 muses on one blog for example. That’s totally fine, but you should keep it organized. It can get very confusing if you have stuff all over the place and hard for people to find things. Also be very specific about with which muse you want to rp as when running a multi-muse blog. And give each of them enough info about stuff. I also personally feel that when running a multi-muse blog you shouldn’t do too many, it will become confusing to look for things and generally crowded. 10 is too many already.

5. Try and find a style for you.Every mun has a different style of rp’ing. Some prefer script, some prefer small paragraphs and some prefer actual essays when it comes to length haha. Keep in mind that this is all a personal taste and can change for every person. Try and find a way of wording that suits yourself, maybe decorate your replies with icons or emoticons like moons before starting to write. I’ve seen a lot of unique things come by. But of course if you prefer to write the normal way, that’s totally fine as well (I do so myself, occasionally using icons).

6. Establish your rules and boundaries.Before you start to rp, it’s important to make a rule page for yourself. It helps you keep things organized and that way people know what they shouldn’t do when interacting with you. Of course there are the things that you can always establish together, or make exceptions, but still, add them to a page. That way you won’t have someone throw random gore into your rp when it’s something that triggers you for example. It’s a helpful guideline for everyone. And if someone does accidentally break the rules, it’s best to kindly remind them. Don’t scold at them immediately for accidentally hurting your muse without your permission for example. Reminding them is the best, that way they can remember not to do that in the future. If it happens a second and a third time, you can eventually tell them that you’re not comfortable with rp’ing with them anymore for example.

7. Give warnings.Throughout this reply I’ve said this many times already. But giving warnings should always come first before taking further actions in my opinion. Someone might have forgotten something, you might have misunderstood the person or something similar to that. If you immediately start to tell them to go away or start to tell people about what they did and should be careful with them, your immediately closing a door.Unless someone is a plain asshole to you, I feel like it’s always important to hear the other side of the story. Of course I can’t change how some people are and if they prefer to do stuff like this, sure that’s their way of acting. But I personally always like to keep the door open.

Lastly! Have fun! Rp’ing is about having fun and the Dark Souls rp community is overall very kind. Of course it has some nasty people here and there, but that is only natural to happen. Every community has that. But I’m sure that if you start out and just be up for critique and nice to people, things will work out. :)