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theglobalbusinessmagazine-blog · 5 years ago

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YOUNGEST INDIAN ENTREPRENEURS

FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF THE YOUNGEST IN LIST TO BE THE BEST OF TOMORROWS LEADERS, SHAKERS AND MOVERS FOR INDIA — A LIST OF YOUNGEST INDIAN CEOS AND ENTREPRENEURS IN INDIA

Ritesh Agarwal — Age 26

Ritesh started his entrepreneurial journey when he was 17 years old. He dropped out of college and launched his first start‐up Oravel Stays Pvt. Ltd. in the year 2012. Oravel was designed as a platform to enable listing and booking of budget accommodation. Being an avid traveler, he soon realized that the budget hospitality sector lacked predictability. Therefore, he pivoted Oravel to OYO Rooms in 2013 with the key proposition of offering affordable and standardized accommodation. Ritesh Agarwal has benefited the society in more than one ways. He has also managed to achieve what most of the people only think of. Below listed are some of the accomplishments of this teenager. He has been named among the top 50 entrepreneurs by the TATA first dot awards in 2013. Finalist of the global student Entrepreneurship Awards India. He has been named one of the 8 hottest teenage startup founders in the world by a BusinessInsider in the year 2013. He is the World’s youngest CEO at 17

Shravan and Sanjay Kumaran — Age 17 & 19

Shravan and Sanjay, siblings aged 17 and 15 respectively are the youngest upcoming entrepreneurs of India. Together, they are the brain behind GoDimensions. The aim of the company is to develop a simple technological solution for the digital world. They are the youngest Mobile Application Developers in India. When asked about how they managed to achieve this feat, the brothers responded by saying “reading books and solving the problems given to them”. These two develop applications for both, Android as well as IOS platforms. \”We’ve always believed that we must do something for society,\” says Sanjay, on the thinking behind their latest app GoDonate, which facilitates the donation of food to local charities that would otherwise go to waste. \”In Central Asia itself, about 500 millions tons of food is being wasted each year,\” says Shravan. The dynamic duo has already developed 11 apps which have about 60,000 downloads across 60 countries! In 2017, they were listed in Forbes 30 Under 30.

Arjun Rai — Age 20 years

Arjun is the CEO of OdysseyAds and was always said to be highly inspired by TV shows like ‘The Oprah Show’ and ‘The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch’ and thought for ideas which changed the way of advertising and marketing in the tech space and today with the help of social platforms like LinkedIn, he met with other entrepreneurs who helped him to broaden his horizon and become one of the youngest and successful entrepreneurs in his field and he started working towards his company in 2009 and today he is the CEO of OdysseyAds.

Farrhad Acidwala — Age 23 years

Starting at the just age of 16 by borrowing 500 bucks from his father for buying a domain name he started building a web community particularly devoted to aviation and aero-modelling. After the website took off to success, he sold the community for a pretty high return. Today, Farrhad is the CEO of a web development, marketing, advertising and branding company called Rockstah Media. Despite being a very young company of 3 years, it has its own team of developers, marketers and designers across the globe and have marked its success in corporate. He had been featured in several best under 30 business leader rankings.

Rohan M Ganapathy (Age 27 years) & Yashas Karanam (Age 25 years)

Rohan and Yashas, are the young men behind the brand Bellatrix Aerospace, a company that have received their first high profile order from ISRO couple of years ago. Their order was for a satellite propulsion system and the company is now working on ambitious CHETAK, a 2 stage launch vehicle, which is planned to be aired by 2023. It is really a difference made by these entrepreneurs to get into such complex and challenging business industry at such young age and made a mark of their own

4. Deepanjali Dalmia — Age 28 years

Deepanjali is a young woman who represent ‘beauty with wisdom’, who took the leap of faith by quitting her top dollar job with E&Y in New York and decided to work for women’s health segment in India. She heads Heyday Care that produces organic sanitary pads made out of bamboo fiber and corn. She visions the product as effective, cheap and safe, making them perfect for women who either don’t have access to sanitary pads or don’t realize the harmful impact of ingredients in the regular off the shelf products and is a major social change maker in India

Kavita Shukla — Age 31 years

Kavita is the founder of FreshPaper which keeps the produces fresh for longer hours than today’s conventional methods. She has patented her innovation. FreshPaper was in a handful of co-ops and farmers’ markets by 2012, when Whole Foods placed a big order for two regions. Today the product is sold in groceries nationwide, and in over 35 countries fulfilling Kavita’s global aspirations.

Jeffin Ani Johns — Age 29 years

Jeffin is a young entrepreneur who chose to take the path of entrepreneurship instead of lucrative corporate job after his MBA. His entrepreneurship journey started in 2012 with an online reselling platform business and have ventured into several startups later. Currently, Jeffin Ani Johns is a serial entrepreneur major known for being the CEO & co founder of leading consulting firm BrandKeeda, a brand which have helped several micro startups to create their own brands through various innovative methods. He had been featured in several best under 30 business leader rankings. Despite being a very young company and young entrepreneur he have gained over 150 clients in over 3 countries and have been nominated to represent the country in several international startup summits.

Arushi Jain — Age 26 years

Arushi Jain is the founder of StayHappi Pharmacy. The idea behind starting StayHappi Pharmacy was to ensure that everyone in the country gets quality medicine at an affordable price. The brand aims to serve humanity and build its offline channels where it could reach consumers/patients and provide them with the authority to make a smart choice and choose the right medicine at a reasonable cost. It is a noble initiative, effectively marrying business acumen with human compassion. It is directed at one of the most pressing concerns of the society today, ie., availability of affordable and quality medication to all those are in need; a true societal cause to it very core. Arushi is planning to open around 2,000 more stores in different locations by 2020. As our aim is to offer medicines to the people across India at affordable prices without compromising on the quality of the products, we will continue to strengther. Being young also Arushi have made it into headlines of corporate world with her achievements in recent years

Amir Rao — Age 31 Years

Amir is a studio director at Supergiant Games. He also a co-creator of role-playing action video game Bastion which has won many awards and so far, as sold around 2.2 million copies. Amir tries to create continuous innovation in his business to stay ahead in his game

Pranav Yadav — Age 30 years

Pranav is the CEO of Neuro-Insight. It is a neuro-marketing firm that has designed and developed brain mapping technology to understand and improve the quality of commercials on TV. Pranav Yadav is an inspirational entrepreneur decided to make a difference in his industry

Bala Sarda — Age 28 years

Bala Sarda is the founder of Vahdam Teas, a brand which is even appretiated by global personality Oprah. Founded In 2015 By Bala Sarda, a fourth-generation tea entrepreneur, Vahdam Teas’ mission is to build a global tea and superfoods brand. With direct sourcing from estates across India and local distribution in key markets like the US, Vahdam is India’s largest premium homegrown tea brand for the world. At the age of 23, Bala started Vahdam Teas and in 4 years, it has taken India Tea to the global stage under a grown label and also build the world’s truly vertically integrated global brand, with its subsidiaries and presence in the US and Europe. He had been featured in several best under 30 business leader rankings.

Kshitij Marwah — Age 31 years

Kshitij Marwah is a design master who is yet to hit 35 but has made a big impact with his cutting edge ventures. First with MIT Media Lab India Initiative and then Tesseract Inc, he made waves in the industry. The latter saw him get on the fast moving Make In India wagon and has led to innovative products that have become the talk of the town. Voxel, first holographic headset for Smartphones and Quark 360, the smallest 360 degree virtual reality camera have brought him and his company much acclaim and even made to forbes list

Neil Mehta — Age 31 years

Neil is the founder of Greenoaks Capital which is an investment firm. At present, he is managing around $600 million by investing in various industries ranging from insurance to e-commerce. Prior to Greenoaks Capital, Neil was responsible for global special situation investments in Asia for OPG Ltd., a Hong Kong-based investment firm financed by a fund managed by D.E. Shaw & Co., L.P. Neil previously invested in private businesses in the general business and technology sector at Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors. Neil holds a BSc from The London School of Economics.

Trishneet Arora — Age 25

At the age of 25, Trishneet Arora is an author, a self-described friendly hacker and the founder and CEO of cyber security startup TAC Security Solutions. The India-based company performs Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing for corporates identifying weaknesses in their cyber security. He has received funding from angel investor Vijay Kedia and support from former VP of IBM, William May. In 2017, Arora was listed among the 50 Most Influential Young Indians by GQ Magazine, while August 25, 2017 was proclaimed Trishneet Arora Day, by the Mayor of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Akash Shukla — Age 30

Akash Shukla is the co founder of Uprise India Foundation, a one of a kind and highly appreciated venture. “Uprise India Foundation provided the platform for women who are trying to achieve their entrepreneurial dreams. Women who will enrol with the program would be getting 360 business training, support & guidance for making their dream career successful. Any women can enrol irrespective of any business/profile, any women who own start-up, SME’S or two individual professionals,” shared Dudeja.

Under the initiative, Uprise India will organize monthly workshops in distinct towns to train women entrepreneurs. Their goal is to cover maximum metro cities and other important commercial enterprise towns of India. Notably, more than 100 women entrepreneurs were addressed at the conference.

Uprise India Foundation is an initiative taken by Akash Shukla along with his co-founder, to help women make their diverse identity in the world. Talking at the event, Shukla said, “In today’s time, we are missing the mindset of seeking out new knowledge and challenges and most importantly, we are missing long term development plans.” He had been featured in several best under 30 business leader rankings.

Abhishek Singh — Age 24

Abhishek Singh is the founder of Rankethon. The venture was created from his vision as from childhood he used to spend hours in a home-made lab and try various things. This urge to work in a state-of-art-lab which was his passion paved ways to make the venture. Rankethon is in a way a realization of the dream. Since 2014, he had been conducting number of program linked to this sector across the country in different level.

Rankethon provide high tech industry oriented lab at the student’s convenience point’s right from school to colleges. A-cadre college pass out student learns basics from them, after they are asked to solve problems by using their core engineering skills. Later, they are deployed in top companies. With all this, we also provide webinars from professors & professionals at top companies.

Future plan of Abhishek when asked was that he is launching an online program called HomeRancho where students can get the complete training in a pre-designed portable lab at their doorstep in a completely practical manner. Currently, stalwarts in online education are doing at theoretical level but we want to give complete practical exposure to students in this segment, here we are in process to raise the funds to implement this at a next level.

Vaibhav Khandelwal — Age 28

Vaibhav’s is the Co-Founder & CTO, Shadowfax. He holds a graduate degree from IIT Delhi and his tech venture, Shadowfax, which he co-founded in 2015, at barely 23 years of age is one of leading ventures in their space.

Being is a problem solving entrepreneur by nature, he found logistics to be a challenging sector and decided to solve problems in to create his opportunity.

Shadowfax is a logistics platform which is a unique combination of technology and people to provide the last mile logistics service. Vaibhav is the tech genius and he uses technology as a medium of interaction with people. Vaibhav firmly believes that technology can solve many big problems. He had been awarded several national recognitions for his venture

Deepak Ravindran — 25

Deepak Ravindran is the Co-founder and CEO of Innoz Technologies. He is considered one of the youngest entrepreneurs of India who successfully co-founded and is currently running three companies who provide services of mobile messaging; Innoz, which is having a mission to connect the unconnected people by providing offline services through Innoz which is the world’s largest offline search engine along with SMS.

Another one is Quest, which is a mobile messaging platform which is used in 500+ startups to send offline SMS, and most recently is Lookup, an app which provides the conversation between customers and retailers so they can chat too, funded by Khosla and Biz Stone.

Recognized as one of the outstanding innovators under 35 by MIT Technology, And one of Asia’s 21 emerging leaders under 40 according to Asia Society.

Sarvesh Shashi — Age 25

All of 25 years of age, Sarvesh Shashi is the youngest CEO in the yoga and wellness fraternity. Sarvesh believes in the philosophy of consciousness through yoga and the emotion of happiness that stems out of yoga practices. He wants to spread this yoga happiness to thousands. At a young age of 21 he gave up a bright career in his father’s sprawling businesses and set out to touch the lives of many with yoga. Hence he is fondly called The CEO among Monks by many.

Disclaimer :: All content are not owned by us and have been collected from various public sources and we shall not be responsible for any claims regarding same. For removal of content write to [email protected]

#business #youngest #entreprenuerlife #entrepreneur #youngestentrepreneur

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archiveacademics · 5 years ago

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Introductions and Definitions

Hello and welcome to Archive of my Academics the site where I, Chris, Master’s student at the University of Arizona and self identified nerd, attempt to dive into fanfiction culture to understand it better.

I should start with a little background. I’ve always been a fan of things (Harry Potter, Twilight for half a second, the MCU, and Yuri!!! on Ice to name a few) but I don’t necessarily know that I’ve always participated in fandom (though that depends on your definition of fandom, which I’ll get to in a second.) Don’t get me wrong, I’ve written fanfic before, but I was never super participatory in whatever culture and conversation might have been going on in my fandom, aside from following a few tags on Tumblr, and maybe a few specific accounts I found by searching those tags. I never even read much fanfic, to be completely honest. Only four or five in recent memory.

Given all of that you might be asking yourself, “Chris, why did you agree to explore the topic of fanfic for class for a whole semester? It doesn’t even seem like you’re all that invested in it.” And that, dear reader, is where you are wrong. I absolutely adore the few fanfics I read, and I really enjoyed the few that I’ve written. I’m just...not a joiner. My social circle has always been small and that pertains to my online presence as well as IRL. But just because the volume of my participation is low does not mean my enjoyment of and investment in the community is.

So with that out of the way, let me get to the main event.

What the heck is fanfic anyway? Definitions are important, a way to place borders on subjects so I don’t lose my mind amidst a pile of miscellaneous academia and the internet. To that end I’m going to attempt to define “fanfic”, a task which turns out to me much more herculean than I’d originally thought.

Let’s start with the easiest definition first:

Merriam-Webster saves the day again. What would we do without the dictionary?

Well, for one thing, we might have less discourse regarding the difference between fan fiction and fanfiction. (I’ll be referring to it as fanfic for the duration of my study.)

Back to the definition. This one from the dictionary was lacking, to me. It doesn’t capture the complexities of the genre. Would you just define romance as books about people in love? Or science fiction as books about time travel? No, the definitions are more nuanced. So, too, is fanfic. So I moved on and left the dictionary behind.

In “The Promise and Potential of Fan Fiction”, Stephanie Burt explores what fanfic can mean to a wider audience. She quotes Francesca Coppa, author of The Fan Fiction Reader who defines fanfic as “creative material featuring characters [from] works whose copyright is held by others.” This definition is definitely narrower, but is it right? That would mean every canonical/in universe novel written about Star Wars but not by George Lucas would be fanfic, which isn’t quite true either.

I think the best answer to this question can from the podcast Fansplaining. In 2017 Flourish Klink (who’s name makes me want to write a short story about a witch who lives in a cozy cottage in the woods drinking tea with her cats, but that’s neither here nor there) and Elizabeth Minkel posted a survey asking their listeners what fanfic actually is and boy howdy did their listeners respond! Over 3,400 people answered a few multiple choice questions then held forth in long answer form on what fanfic meant to them.

The answers ranged from funny to serious, from hard lines to soft edges. Some find, like the dictionary, that any story written by a fan is fanfic. Some think that fanfic must be written by someone active in the fandom. Others maintain that you must receive no money for your work. Some, like Elizabeth herself in the episode where the two hosts discuss the survey, hold that it’s all about intent. Did you intend to write a transformative* story about the characters you love so dearly? Congratulations, you’re a fanfic author!

By some of these definitions I have written fanfic, while by others I haven’t. Is this the part where I should introduce the shrug emoji and move on with my life? Maybe, but I want to offer a few more thoughts first.

Part of defining fanfic means defining the term fandom, and even the term fan itself. In another episode of the podcast, Flourish and Elizabeth debate the definitions of both terms. Is fandom comprised of only people who interact with each other about the topic in question? That would mean lurkers (which I kind of consider myself to be) aren’t really part of it? But they’re still fans, as long as they like the thing, right? Or do you have to interact with the fandom (even just lurking) to be considered a fan? Would someone living on an ice floe with a copy of Pride and Prejudice really be considered a fan if they couldn’t at least stand at the border of the community and see what’s going on?

The answer the two come to, which I fundamentally agree with, is that it’s all in the intent. If you like the thing and you think you’re a fan, congratulations and welcome to the tribe! The fandom is yours for the taking! But just like the geographical kingdoms of yore, fandom is comprised of many counties, each with their own culture and interpretation. And there are many fandoms, not just media fandoms but sports and bands and inanimate objects (yes, there is a candle fandom.)

So there it is. A confusing, not at all settled definition of fanfic. But a definition is not the thing. A definition doesn’t necessarily tell you what the thing means. So that’s what I’m going to spend the rest of the semester trying to figure out. What is fanfic, what does it mean to the people who write it and read it, the people who laud it and denigrate it?

I’ll leave you with this section from Burt’s article, describing what fanfic can be:

“What is fan fiction especially, or uniquely, good at, or good for? Early defenses presented the practice as a way station, or an incubator. Writers who started out with fanfic and then found the proper mix of critique and encouragement could go on to publish “real” (and remunerated) work. Other defenses, focussed on slash, described it as a kind of safety valve: a substitute for desires that could not be articulated, much less acted out, in our real world. If women want to imagine sex between people who are both empowered, and equal, the argument ran, we may have to imagine two men. In space.

It’s true that a lot of fanfic is sexy, and that much of the sex is kinky, or taboo, or queer. But lots of fanfic has no more sex than the latest “Spider-Man” film (which is to say none at all, more or less). Moreover, as that shy proto-fan T. S. Eliot once put it, “nothing in this world or the next is a substitute for anything else.” It’s a mistake to see fanfic only as faute de mieux, a second choice, a replacement. Fanfic can, of course, pay homage to source texts, and let us imagine more life in their worlds; it can be like going back to a restaurant you loved, or like learning to cook that restaurant’s food. It can also be a way to critique sources, as when race-bending writers show what might change if Agent Scully were black. (Coppa has compared the writing of fanfic to the restaging of Shakespeare’s plays.)

Fanfic can also let writers, and readers, ask and answer speculative and reflective questions about our own lives, in a way that might get others to pay attention. What will college be like? What should summer camp have been like? How can an enemy become a friend? Should I move to Glasgow? What would that be like?”

What would that be like? I’m going to take some time to find out.

*I’ll be discussing the meaning and importance of the word “transformative” in the one of my next posts. Something to look forward to!

#fanfic #fanfiction #academic #library #master's degree #definition #Fansplaining #introduction #fandom #fan

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mcsinternetcelebrity · 6 years ago

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What is an Internet Celebrity Anyway?

The book starts by stating ‘influencers are the epitome of internet celebrities’ (pg 1) and this sets the tone for the book. Influencers are defined in the dictionary as ‘someone who affects or changes the way people behave, for example through their use of social media1’. This is key as I believe this is what comes to most people’s mind when thinking of internet celebrities – Instagram famous people who sell products to their many followers and attend events for brands. This is a new sort of fame, as Abidin explores in this first chapter, as well as the idea that internet fame is much broader than this initial idea of people on Instagram with lots of followers that most people think of. In one book review, a good example is given of the level of fame influencers have, discussing ‘Tanacon’ which occurred in 2018. A twenty year old YouTuber created her own convention when she was unhappy with VidCons treatment of her in previous years and the whole thing was a disaster.2 The fact thousands of people attended the event which some see in hindsight as doomed to fail due to lack of planning and a small venue, shows the level of notoriety and fame that internet celebrities can gain online in the current media landscape, as well as the trust that ‘fans’ have in these people to not exploit this attention, which is not always the reality.

Referring to ‘influencers’ for now, it is an interesting phenomenon that internet fame is so prolific in contemporary society. Abidin discusses this in reference to traditional celebrities such as Hollywood actors, and how traditional fame comes from skill or social position such as singing or being the president of America. She then refers to Turners theory that once the media and public takes interest in famous people for things other than their initial skill they are known for, they become celebrities3. This is obviously not the case with all internet celebrities, however many sectors of internet celebrity do derive from a talent still. For example, make up influencers are known for their artistic ability. This then transfers to success when people begin following the person for who they are, beyond their abilities. Continuing with the make up example, people become invested in the personality behind the skill and this is reflected in the success of so called ‘drama channels’ dedicated to these non-traditional celebrities, the way TMZ or E! create the persona of traditional celebrities. The most successful make up influencers, who have earned literal millions of pounds being internet famous, are known beyond their ability to produce content and fans care about their personal lives. This mirroring of traditional celebrity and internet celebrity is something not discussed in too much detail in the book, as rather there is more of an overview of traditional fame before moving onto internet fame.

While I understand that this section is not trying to analyse the difference between internet celebrities and traditional celebrities, I believe it is interesting that Abidin chooses to create a completely different section for the two types of fame as in contemporary society I believe this gap is not large and there is huge overlap. Continuing this chapter chronologically, the author outlines further types of celebrities such as ordinary people as celebrities, reality TV celebrities and eventually landing on internet celebrities. Placing traditional celebrities first in the chapter and internet celebrities last implies a huge shift when in my opinion the main shift is simply the factor of technology in many cases. Abidin discusses some merging of the two, but there is still a clear distinction implied. Even in her final chapter about influencers, she chooses to talk about the structure of the job and the social implications, but does not refer back to her first chapter where a clear differentiation between traditional celebrities and influencers was made, likely because she wants to discuss a range of internet fame and some of these categories are wholly different to traditional celebrities, such as eyewitness viral stars. The idea of microcelebrities, as discussed in the book, fits many internet celebrities who display themselves online ‘authentically’ to connect with the audience. Abidin states that traditional celebrities have separation from their audiences – but is this true in reality? While their fame doesn’t stem from online platforms, most traditional celebrities will have social media and utilise it to speak to their fans and make money very often for example posting photographs on Instagram and tagging companies. This is the same way internet celebrities communicate with their fans make money, except their presence is often wholly online and not in films or on TV for example. Microcelebrity is discusses in some literature as the act of self branding4 which is highly relatable to internet celebrities but also traditional celebrities who obviously choose to portray themselves in particular way, as seen in the fact that public relations and celebrity management are sectors which have existed long before internet celebrities came to be. Chris Rojek defines a celebrity as ‘the attribution of glamorous or notorious status to an individual within the public sphere’5. While there are many levels of internet celebrity, the top, most popular ones fit this definition pretty accurately in my opinion. Jake and Logan Paul for example have seventeen million and eighteen million subscribers respectively on YouTube alone, yet have much notoriety outside of this huge following too. In fact, both brothers frequently make mainsteam news as traditional celebrities would, showing the gap between the two types of celebrities is not as large as the first chapter of this book implies. In fact, some literature goes as far as to say that influencers and online celebrities have surpassed traditional celebrities in terms of their ability to connect with audiences and become part of pop culture, which shows an interesting idea as to where our future is heading with ideas of fame and notoriety6.

1https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/influencer

2 https://www.clereviewofbooks.com/home/2018/9/21/internetcelebrity

3 Graeme Turner Understanding Celebrity 2013 second edition

4https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2016.1218292

5 Chris Rojek Celebrity 2001

6https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=engl_176

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discoursecommunityproject-blog · 8 years ago

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The Impact of the Tumblr Discourse Community on the Harry Potter Series

Since the first Harry Potter book was released in 1997, the series has been a cultural phenomenon. Thousands of people lined up to purchase each new book and see each new movie. They dressed up for premieres, bought all different types of merchandise, even held Potter-themed weddings. The franchise is considered “one of the most financially and culturally successful enterprises in entertainment history” (Brummitt, 2016, p. 114). Despite the fact that the final book in the series came out ten years ago and the last movie was released six years ago, Harry Potter still thrives and remains relevant in pop culture, as evidenced by the success of the 2016 stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Now the question is, how has Harry Potter retained, even grown, its fanbase over time? I will argue that the discourse community surrounding the Harry Potter series – aka the “Harry Potter fandom” – has allowed the series to maintain popularity over time, even after the conclusion of the book and movie series.

Background

Let’s start with the obvious question: what is a fandom? A fandom refers to the collective and active groups of superfans surrounding any given topic. Often, these fandoms have unique names and those in the Harry Potter fandom call themselves Potterheads. Potterheads are an extremely large and diverse group of fans stretching around the globe.

Potterheads make up their own discourse community both in person and online. Though there is significant overlap between the “physical” and online Potterhead discourse communities, for this essay I will focus on the online discourse community, specifically that of Tumblr. As Catherine Tosenberger (2008) writes, the online “Potter fandom is an invaluable repository of the creative and critical responses of the series’ most dedicated and engaged readers” (p. 200). The fandom uses their discourse to contribute to the fandom and the series as a whole. Fan contributions to the Potter universe–whether fanfictions, parties, or blog posts—keep Harry Potter relevant, even years later.

Method

I focused on the website Tumblr for this project. While the fandom is active on many different websites, Tumblr is the central hub of fandom activity. To take advantage of the Tumblr platform, I incorporated it into my project, highlighting examples of the Potterhead discourse community. I utilized the “tag” feature to group different genres of discourse into the blog. As Power states, “Built-in audiences… are linked by the ever-crucial tagging element” of Tumblr (2014, p. 91), and thus tagging is essential for the discourse community. The goal of this project is to submerge the reader into the Harry Potter discourse community on Tumblr.

Why Tumblr is the Fandom Hub

Tumblr has gained widespread popularity due to “its accessibility to users and the important factor of community interaction” (Yunus & Salehi, 2012, p. 388). Essentially, Tumblr easy and customizable. One user can have as many blogs as they want, and typically each blog centers around a unique fandom or theme. Thus, it is easy to follow and interact with blogs connected to specific interests. Longtime Potterhead Jacqueline Gordon states that Tumblr “lends itself to fandom discourse” compared to other social media sites that are “geared towards self-promotion” (personal communication, 2017). Blogs are generally anonymous and tend to focus on the blog’s content, not the blogger. Compare this to websites like Facebook and Instagram where each profile is entirely centered around a person. Furthermore, the tagging feature allows users to easily search for posts relevant to their fandom community. Additionally, “many Facebook and Instagram posts that focus on the Harry Potter fandom borrow content directly from Tumblr, often in the form of screenshots” (J. Gordon, personal communication, 2017). While there are many Harry Potter posts on various websites, most of them come back to Tumblr.

Beyond setting up a prominent presence for discourse on Tumblr, the fandom has developed its own vocabulary unique to the discourse community. Potterheads naturally incorporate unique vocabulary and phrases into otherwise common genres, creating their own language. People take words created for the series and add deeper meanings to them that people not in the fandom would never know. An outsider may understand the difference between a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, but they don’t question the greater meaning behind these things. Does Dumbledore symbolically represent death in the Peverell story? Should the relationship between Barty Crouch Jr. and his house elf be considered healthy or hostile? Was Harry justified in using unforgivable curses? The fandom takes words that were created and only used in the Harry Potter series and uses them to discuss greater and more important topics in the fandom.

Combining its unique fandom vocabulary with Tumblr’s specific website features, the fandom perpetuates Harry Potter’s relevance by creating different genres to appeal to a wide range of community members. I identified six main genres in the community: memes, informative posts, photosets, fanfictions, headcanons, and Q&As.. All of these genres incorporate the fandom’s unique forms of discourse. Though these genres are still very much unique to the Potterhead community, they help the series to stay relevant by recognizing a spectrum of fans, from those who know lots of details about the series to novices.

The first genre, memes, appeal to by far the widest audience. Memes are comedic photos with written captions and are usually just for entertainment. These posts are often found on other social media platforms and though they require that the viewer have a basic understanding of the Potter universe, they lack the same depth as some of the other genres I will discuss. They are brief, clever, and “shareable” and make the discourse community visible to those less invested in it.

Like memes, informative posts and photosets appeal to both highly invested and less-invested fans, but are not generally comedic. Informative posts simply contain facts both about the series and about other things in the fandom. They can be anything from logistics related to an upcoming fandom event to descriptions regarding a character in the story. It is common for them to look like an announcement or a list. This genre is used by the vast majority in the fandom. Photosets are mainly picture collages mixed with limited discourse. Any words are usually used to describe the photos. These generally appeal to a wider variety of Potterheads, those who may not know every Potter factoid but have a basic understanding of the series and vocabulary surrounding it. Additionally, these photosets generally are formed out of images from the movies, making them more recognizable to those who are less familiar with the books.

For those more involved in the series and the discourse community, fanfictions and headcanons offer a niche. Fanfictions are fan-authored stories based upon the Harry Potter franchise. These can be very loyal to or stray heavily from the book. Some may take place at Hogwarts and some may take place at an ordinary “muggle” high school. Headcanons are similar to fanfactions in that fans create unique content based off of the series, but these headcanons are usually short (2-5 sentences). It’s common for a headcanon to be a made up conversation between two real characters. Unlike informative posts and photosets, fanfictions and headcanons appeal to a somewhat different audience, those who are more invested in the fan community.

And lastly, for those most dedicated members of the fandom, Tumblr’s built-in Q&A feature appeals to them.. Users can ask a blog owner a question and when the owner responds, the entire Q&A is posted to the blog. In the Harry Potter fandom, these questions usually have to do with a person asking another about their views on something. Q&As generally cater to the most intense Potterheads, those who spend time and energy thinking out plot nuances and theories and debating them. Again, if you look in the top right corner of this Tumblr blog, there is a button for “Tags”. From that, select any of the genres listed and you will be shown examples of that genre.

These various genres allow for different views and interpretation of the series. Potterheads can add in their own ideas and opinions of the series through the genres. One extremely interesting example that I would like to highlight is a headcanon. The first example in the headcanons section of my blog is a photoset. Somebody reimagined aspects of the series to take place in the present day instead of the early 1990s. This is one individual reimagining the series literally keeping it relevant to modern times. The genres on Tumblr offer a place for fans to contribute to the series and also allow access to any level of fan. Instead of creating an insulated group of super-fans, the various genres

How Tumblr Has Increased Harry Potter’s Popularity

We’ve talked about Tumblr Potterheads as a discourse community and also why Tumblr is a hub for fandom activity. But the community on Tumblr has done more than just house fandom activity: it has helped the fandom grow overtime, even after the end of new books and movies. One reason is that the posts, blogs, and conversations on Tumblr are constantly increasing. So there is more information out there in the fandom. Members into the fandom are increasing because people can see new content. These unique ideas blending together allow the series to grow over time. Essentially, the series grows with the audience. The more that the fandom contributes to the series over Tumblr, the bigger the series becomes. Whatever the background of the Potterhead, whether grizzled, old fan or just a Harry Potter moviegoer, Tumblr offers something for everyone, from shareable memes to outlandish headcanons.

Even more importantly, these fandom members on Tumblr insist on new content. They want to see new angles in the series and what happened to characters after the books ended (epilogues). When persistent enough, these new angles have the chance to continually shape the series. After the series ended, author J. K. Rowling “announced that Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore was gay” (Tosenberger, 2008, p. 200). Fans are torn as to whether or not this is actually canon in the series. It is common belief that “Dumbledore’s homosexuality… may be connected to her awareness of slash fans” (p. 201). Slash fans are members of the fandom who actively seek out homosexual relations in characters in the book. Not only did these fans help the series stay relevant in pop culture through engagement in the discourse community, but it is possible that fan pressure pushed the author to alter her vision of the story.

The Harry Potter fandom is its own discourse community because members communicate largely over social networking. They use vocabulary and diction that are unique to the Harry Potter series. People reading their blog posts that are outside of the fandom would not know what is trying to be communicated. Tumblr is essential to the Harry Potter discourse community as most other social media websites refer back to Tumblr. The fandom’s various genres allow for personal interaction with Harry Potter content. This allows for a constant growth in information about Harry Potter to spread, thus making the series relevant even after it has ended. What’s more, the Potterheads’ influence upon the Harry Potter series expands to people even outside of the fandom. When utilized properly, Tumblr acts as a great hub for any fandom, or even any group of people with shared beliefs. It is easy to spread your ideas across a wide variety of audiences. If there is enough noise behind you, you may just influence something great, as Potterheads did with Dumbledore’s sexuality.

References

Brummitt, C. (2016). Pottermore: Transmedia Storytelling Authorship in Harry Potter. The Midwest Quarterly, 58(1), 112-132.

Power, J. L. (2014). Tumblr. Journal of Access Services, 11(2), 91-96.

Tosenberger, C. (2008). “Oh my God, the Fanfiction!”: Dumbledore’s Outing and the Online Harry Potter Fandom. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, 33(2), 200-206.

Yunus, M. M., & Salehi, H. (2012). Tumblr as a Medium to Improve Students’ Writing Skills. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 8(1), 383-389.

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richardmperry88 · 5 years ago

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15 Absolute Must-Reads for Women Working in Tech

Let’s face it, ladies. The tech industry has been a boy’s club for far too long.

But times are a-changin’!

Even though women have a long history in the industry, it’s taken decades to get a seat at the table. Today we’re developers, team leads, and CEOs. Of course, there are still miles to go in the march for equality. But with women around the world raising their voices to make tech companies more inclusive, it’s hard not to get just a teensy bit excited for the next generation of female go-getters.

If you want to be a part of this positive change — and help other women succeed alongside you — you’ll need a game plan.

We’ve got you covered.

Looking beyond Sheryl Sandburg’s Lean In (required reading for aspiring women in any field), we’ve rounded up 10 must-read books, blogs, and more for women in tech. Add these to your reading list (or blog feed) for a dose of tech news, opinions, career and leadership advice, and solidarity from women like you.

Related: The State of Women in Tech

15 Must-Reads for Women in Tech

1. Innovating Women: The Changing Face of Technology

“Where are all the women?”

This is the question technology and entrepreneurship researcher Vivek Wadhwa considered at the TechCrunch Crunchies Awards in 2009 — at the nudging of his wife, Tavinder, who was the first of the two to notice a deep gender gap at the Oscars of the tech world.

Inspired by that experience, Wadhwa joined forces with journalist Farai Chideya and set out to take a look at women in tech (and the lack thereof), the challenges they face, and why they are needed in the field in their book, Innovating Women.

Yeah, our first women-in-tech book recommendation originated with a man. But don’t worry!

Acknowledging that he wasn’t exactly qualified to speak from the heart on this issue (and wanting to avoid mansplaining), he crowdsourced funding and worked with female contributors, ranging from former Google VP Megan Smith to venture capitalists to startup CEOs to middle managers.

A collection of stories, interviews, and essays from hundreds of leaders around the world in STEM careers, the book shares the experiences of various women in technology and entrepreneurship. It’s also a book about innovation and an exploration of the most creative (female) minds in the field. It shows what women are doing to close the gender gap in the field, what contributions women are making in their fields, offers encouragement and advice to women who want to enter and succeed in tech, and shares how women tackle an unbalanced work environment.

It’s a great read if you’re looking for a feel-good book that shares inspiring stories and ideas.

2. Girl Code: Unlocking the Secrets to Success, Sanity, and Happiness for the Female Entrepreneur

If you’re a lady with an entrepreneurial itch, Girl Code is your book, whether you want to build a side hustle or the next social media empire.

But don’t read for advice on how to start up a startup or how to create and run your business — author Cara Alwill Leyba digs a little deeper into the foundations of what makes a good entrepreneur, and specifically, a good and successful female entrepreneur. She takes a look at how to build confidence, brush yourself off after failure, ignore the haters, and avoid jealousy of other people’s success.

Central to her book is the importance of women supporting other women in their goals and entrepreneurial endeavors.

“In today’s competitive marketplace, the fiercest thing a female entrepreneur can do is to support other women,” Leyba asserts.

The ultimate girl-power guide for entrepreneurs written with a “girlfriend-to-girlfriend” voice, Girl Code is full of helpful advice and support for your entrepreneurial endeavors.

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3. The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took Measure of the Stars

You’ve probably seen (or read) Hidden Figures, the story of the Black women who worked as “computers” for NASA, running the math that powered the first rocket launches that sent astronauts to the moon.

The Glass Universe runs in a similar vein: think ladies, space, science, and an unhealthy dose of gender bias. Author Dava Sobel highlights the sadly unknown and under-appreciated role of women in the history of science by exploring the lives and legacies of women who worked in the Harvard College Observatory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

These students — math whizzes, astronomy buffs, physics majors — were among the few women at the time to have the opportunity to work in science and technology. Their contributions included groundbreaking work in studying, documenting, and photographing the stars in the night sky and lead to the creation of the first academic fellowships and research grants for women in the sciences.

The struggles of these women in a male-dominated field — much more lopsided than it is today — will feel familiar. But more than that, this book will make you immensely grateful for all the brave women who paved the way for your generation and mine.

4. Hardball for Women: Winning at the Game of Business

Hardball for Women is a classic — an oldie-but-goodie updated, as the newest edition boasts, for the “post-Lean In era.” This book asserts that women are not men — duh — and the rules and tactics that help a man get ahead may, sadly, be detrimental to a woman, thanks to subconscious gender biases.

For example, an assertive man may be rewarded, while an assertive woman may be considered lacking in social skills. Because advice given to and by men may not always be helpful to a woman looking to advance in her career, author Tammy Hughes tailors leadership guidance specifically for women.

While not specifically focused on technology fields, Hardball is written for women who work in male-dominated careers — or, at least, a male-dominated office. The author coaches women who want to get ahead in their careers and develop leadership skills to be aware of gender biases and how men and women behave differently in the workplace, and how to use that information to their advantage. Hughes aims to help women promote themselves and use language, verbal and nonverbal to be assertive and effective in communicating.

Overall, this book looks at the challenges men and women face in working with each other and how they can work together to create a balanced workplace culture.

5. SheGeeks.net

Tech entrepreneur and writer Corvida Raven started blogging as a 19-year-old college student and has since drawn attention (and awards) to her blog, SheGeeks.net. She’s known for blogging about social media, tech gadgets, and more — and for her trademark style of writing about tech in “plain English,” which she says draws on her days helping family members with computer problems.

For an introduction to her style and ethos, check out her post about inclusion in technology and browse around her Instagram and Twitter accounts. In 2009 Raven was named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Technology, and she’s worked in social media and more with General Motors, FastCompany, and TED.

Check out SheGeeks for no-nonsense reviews of new technology, social media how-tos to beef up your online presence, and for easy-to-read articles you can forward to your non-techie friends (and hopefully help another woman spark interest in the field).

Related: 30 Ways to Be an Ally for Women in Tech

6. Women of Silicon Valley

Inspired by the on-the-street photos and meaningful interview snippets of Humans of New York, college student Lea Coligado set out to find the female powerbrokers of Silicon Valley.

On “Women of Silicon Valley,” hosted on both Medium and Facebook, Coligado interviews women professionals in technology, uncovering surprising anecdotes and advice — and sometimes showcasing the good, the bad, and the ugly of the real world of women in tech.

For example: Pinterest’s Tracy Chou described facing “blatant sexism . . . so outright as to be comical,” while Sara Mauskopf of Postmates described becoming the first woman at her company to have a baby: “Now that I’m pregnant, I am more driven than ever to make something of myself, if for no other reason than to prove it can be done . . . working with such awesome and supportive colleagues definitely makes my ‘trailblazing’ easier and enjoyable.”

Quick-to-read Q&A profiles are posted regularly, so be sure to look through the archives and give Women of Silicon Valley a follow — and maybe submit a friend for consideration to be featured on the blog.

7. Women in Tech: Take Your Career to the Next Level with Practical Advice and Inspiring Stories

This book starts readers off with a sad statistic: in 1984, 38 percent of computer science degrees were awarded to women. Not too shabby for the “olden days.”

But fast forward to 2010, and that number dropped to 10 percent. While other fields like law and medicine are attracting more women, the tech field, says author Tarah Wheeler Van Vlack, is failing. She blames (spoiler alert) a cultural unconscious gender bias, and sets out to do her part to make the tech industry more appealing and less mysterious for women.

Women in Tech combines practical career advice and personal stories from female entrepreneurs and tech professionals to motivate, inspire, and show women what a career in the field is like and how to succeed in it. Guest writers include Brianna Wu of Giant Spacekat and Angie Chang of Women 2.0 (another women-in-tech blog worth a follow).

Geared toward women who are considering jumping into tech, this book is a great read if you are just launching your career, or if you are looking for a boost further up the career ladder. Or you may want to get a few copies of this book to pass on to your mentees or women you want to encourage into the field. Bonus: this book started off on a Kickstarter campaign — it doesn’t get too much geekier than that!

8. The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage

Did you know that the world’s first coder was a woman?

Ada Lovelace, born in 1815, was the only legitimate daughter of the poet Lord Byron — and one of the first computer scientists. Her mother, determined to make sure Ada never became a head-in-the-clouds poet like her father, had her tutored solely and extensively in science and math.

At age 17, Lovelace teamed up with Charles Babbage and envisioned a machine that can calculate and envision anything — numbers, music, words — and she even wrote a sample computer program for it. While the machine was never built, her notes were referenced by engineers creating the first computer.

In The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, author Sydney Padua turns Lovelace’s story into an exciting graphic novel that’s mostly accurate — well, other than envisioning an alternate ending in which the duo succeed in building their computer, which never actually happened.

This steampunk-esque novel is an adventure through the early history of modern tech — and while it takes liberties with reality (ahem), it’s filled with notes that keep you grounded in the “real” history.

Interested in a more straightforward history featuring the pioneering work of Lovelace? Walter Issacson’s The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution frames a history of the tech world with Lovelace’s story, tracing its influence to the present day.

9. Tech Diversity Files

As a woman, do you ever feel a bit out of place in so-called “tech culture”? Tech Diversity Files is a blog about inclusivity in tech hosted on Medium with a handful of contributors, all looking to expand the vision of a programmer or coder as a twenty-something white male living off Hot Pockets and foosball.

Women in the tech field might start with this article by entrepreneur, professor, and developer Rachel Thomas. The gender disparity in tech is not, she argues, a pipeline problem, but because it’s a field that can be genuinely hostile to women who make it there. She describes how she fell in love with programming — but not with “tech culture,” so much that she considered leaving the field, which “would have been devastating, but staying was tough.”

Thomas continues: “I’m not the stereotypical male programmer in his early 20s looking to ‘work hard, play hard.’ I do work hard, but I’d rather wake up early than stay up late, and I was already thinking ahead to when my husband and I would need to coordinate our schedules with daycare drop-offs and pick-ups.”

“Kegerators and ping pong tables don’t appeal to me. I’m not aggressive enough to thrive in a combative work environment. Talking to other female friends working in tech, I know that I’m not alone in my frustrations,” Thomas says.

Check out Thomas’s article for stats, problems, and solutions for both men and women to help close the gap — and make sure to poke around and follow the rest of Tech Diversity Files for conversation and stories about inclusivity in tech.

Related: 3 Ways to Debug Tech’s Diversity Gap

10. Recode.net

Where do you go for the latest in tech news? Mashable, Gizmodo, and Wired are great sources — and regularly tackle issues of gender and inclusivity in the field, and they feature female writers and bloggers.

But if you haven’t already, add Recode.net to your list.

While not specifically geared just for women, its founder and executive editor, Kara Swisher, is a powerhouse woman in the tech world. Swisher is a longtime tech journalist who previously wrote articles and a tech column for the Wall Street Journal. After leaving the Wall Street Journal, Swisher founded Recode as a source for tech news.

She’s the tech writer most followed by other US techies, so adding her work to your regular reading list would put you in good company. And while not technically the written word, don’t forget to check out Swisher’s podcast, Recode Decode, for more news, interviews, and discussion.

11. Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change

In 2012, Tawainese-American investor and activist Ellen Pao sued Kleiner Perkins, the then-leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm, in a gender discrimination lawsuit. In the lawsuit, she called out her former employer for workplace discrimination and retaliation against women and other minority groups. Pao tells her powerful story in Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change, shining a light on the homogeneity issues in the tech industry.

As the former interim CEO of Reddit, Pao is also credited for forcefully trying to change the company’s status quo, banning revenge porn and unauthorized nude photos on the social platform and shutting down parts of Reddit over online harassment.

Not only that, Pao helped found Project Include, an award-winning nonprofit aimed at promoting more diversity and inclusion in tech. Named “the face of change” by Time magazine, Pao is an author to follow if you want ideas on how to build a more inclusive future in Silicon Valley (and beyond).

Related: The State of Women in Tech

12. Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One

If you’re thinking about taking on a new role at your company or maybe even considering an entirely different career path, pick up Jenny Blake’s Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One.

A former career development program manager at Google, Blake uses the Pivot Method to show you how to find new opportunities and use what’s already working for you to guide your next career move.

Want to eventually be your own boss? This book will guide you in transitioning from your current gig to a new, more adventurous opportunity — as long as you’re willing to pivot.

Winner of the Axiom Best Business Books award in the careers category, Pivot led to the Pivot Podcast, listed by CNBC as a top career advice podcast and named one of the top 20 female-hosted business podcasts by Entrepreneur. These days on the podcast, you can find Blake chatting about the COVID-19 crisis in the series “Pivoting Around a Pandemic.”

13. STEMinist.com

Created by software developer Ann Hoang in 2010, STEMinist.com features profiles on women in — you guessed it — Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math. After reading an editorial in Glamour magazine in 1997 entitled “Women, wake up about computers!”, then 21-year-old Hoang registered for Computer Science 101 and taught herself how to build a website.

The intersection of social justice and tech inspired Hoang to take action — STEMinist aggregates stories of women in STEM with the hopes to “increase the visibility of women in STEM; promote and elevate the perspective of women in these traditionally underrepresented fields; encourage younger women and girls to pursue careers in STEM; capture a social media snapshot of what’s trending for women in STEM.”

Although there hasn’t been a new STEMinist profile in a couple of years, it’s still easy to get lost in the multitude of fascinating and insightful interviews with women from all over the country. Featuring everyone from student researchers to data scientists to engineers and entrepreneurs, these profiles highlight women’s top accomplishments, biggest inspirations, advice for future STEMinists, and lots more.

14. BlackWomenTalkTech.com

Black Women Talk Tech was founded in 2017 by Fundr co-founder Lauren Washington, Nexstar co-founder Esosa Ighodaro, and TresseNoire co-founder Regina Gwynn — with the simple goal of connecting Black women in tech. With more than 500 founders of business and tech companies and 10 chapters of national and international “mastermind groups,” this organization actively works to provide Black women the knowledge and tools it takes to build big-business brands.

“Black Women Talk Tech is a collective of Black women tech founders who have a unique understanding of the challenges we face and the advantages we bring in the industry. We’re here to identify, support, and encourage Black women to build the next billion-dollar business.”

Through a variety of events and initiatives, Black Women Talk Tech focuses on supporting Black entrepreneurs looking to grow in tech. In February, they held an immersive three-day conference called “Roadmap to Billions” and are currently offering COVID-19 resources and a relief fund for founders.

Related: What it’s Like to Be a Black Woman in Tech — Q&A with Kaya Thomas

15. Women of Color in Tech: A Blueprint for Inspiring and Mentoring the Next Generation of Technology Innovators

It’s no secret: There needs to be more diversity in tech. In Women of Color in Tech, Susanne Tedrick offers practical advice and inspiring stories that will help you develop the tools and mindset you need if you’re a woman of color — whether you’re simply considering working in the industry for the first time or struggling to get ahead.

By breaking down specific issues that may be challenging for BIPOC women, Tedrick proves that today’s tech careers can be fun — and aren’t limited to coding jobs — if you are able to build a professional network of reliable mentors who understand your goals and struggles. With the right guidance and support, it’s possible to overcome the obstacles that often prevent women of color from pursuing (and sticking with) careers in tech.

Aimed specifically at BIPOC women, this book has great advice for female innovators looking to take their career to the next level. With the right communication, public speaking, and networking skills, Tedrick argues it’s possible to break through barriers and build a rewarding future in tech.

Honorable Mentions

Hungry for even more reads, digital or otherwise? Check these out!

The Secret Loves of Geek Girls: A graphic novel anthology (including contributions from Margaret Atwood and Trina Robbins) about the passions, plights, and love lives of geeky girls who code.

Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy: After the unexpected loss of her husband, Sheryl Sandburg, Facebook COO and author of Lean In, explains how to develop resilience in the face of difficult times.

Melinda Gates on Medium: Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft guru Bill Gates, focuses her philanthropy (and her blogging) on girl power. Start with her post on five badass women of science.

Femgineer: The blog and digital innovation education platform created by Poornima Vijayashanker, a Mint.com founding engineer, to help techie entrepreneurs from all backgrounds build companies and products.

— Reporting by Sara Atwood and Ellice Soliven

The post 15 Absolute Must-Reads for Women Working in Tech appeared first on Website Guides, Tips and Knowledge.

from Website Guides, Tips and Knowledge https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/must-reads-for-women-in-tech/

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limejuicer1862 · 5 years ago

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Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Julene Tripp Weaver

is a psychotherapist and writer in Seattle. She has three poetry books: truth be bold—Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS, No Father Can Save Her, and a chapbook, Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manager Wails Her Blues.

She is widely published in journals and anthologies. A few online sites where her work can be found include: Riverbabble, River & South Review, The Seattle Review of Books, HIV Here & Now, Mad Swirl, Anti-Heroin Chic, Writing in a Woman’s Voice and in the Stonewall Legacy Anthology.

Find her online at http://www.julenetrippweaver.com/

or Twitter @trippweavepoet.

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

After my father’s death, before I turned twelve, I started to record my dreams and write in a journal. Writing helped during this difficult time, I was bereft. In my fantasy life poets were cool and I longed to be around people who were different. After my mother moved us to the city, I signed up for an evening poetry class at a local college in Queens. I was barely a teenager, and had to depend on my uncle to drive me. He had a bias against poets, the whole way there he yelled about beatniks sitting on floors, saying he worked hard to provide chairs for his family to sit on. I had a poem in my pocket and was terrified. The adult poets talked about poets I didn’t know. I felt like an outsider and realized I needed to understand more. Because of the lack of support, I didn’t go back to that group. Getting back to poetry took a long time, I had to move away from my family and become financially independent.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

When I was finally living on my own, I started investigating the writing world. Living in Manhattan I found classes at the Y and signed up. I read Peter Elbow’s books on writing. Finding other writers was helpful, I joined a group of women poets for feedback. Then I joined a local chapter of the Feminist Writers’ Guild; we brought in May Sarton to read, and they sponsored me to travel to a conference in Chicago where I gave my first public reading. Judy Grahn’s poetry inspired me, I wanted to write feminist poetry to change the world. Audre Lorde was well known and I learned she taught at Hunter College. I applied to CUNY so I could study with her and got a Bachelor degree with a double major of Creative Writing and Women’s Studies. I’d say Judy Grahn’s book, The Work of a Common Woman, had the most influence, she was such a strong lesbian feminist and I was in that community.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

When I started my journey as a poet I was unaware of the cannon. Audre started us out with an e.e. cummings poem, but she didn’t teach the older poets. She had us writing and workshopping our poems, reading and going to readings and journaling our impressions. I’ve done much catch-up. A few of the older male poets I admire include William Carlos Williams, William Stafford, Charles Simic, James Tate, Russell Edison, Richard Hugo. A generation in between when poetry was already moving away from rhyme to free verse. And with some of these it is their books about writing poetry that I love. I’ve read Gerard Manley Hopkins, Shakespeare sonnets, and some of the older poets, but I’m not drawn to their work.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I do not have a routine. Writing means a lot of things; writing new work, editing work, sending out work, composing collections, writing about the work (as in this interview), taking time to do nothing, applying to programs, residencies, grants. There is so much it’s overwhelming. And I easily get overwhelmed. So I’ve learned to be not too hard on myself for what I could be doing at any given moment. I spend far too much time on social media. But I keep a journal that I then cull work from. Plus, I write other genres: memoir and essays, for a few years I wrote articles for a health corner column in a newsletter.

5. What motivates you to write?

It’s a drive to the page, there were periods I did not have that drive and I just existed, lived life, worked and had fun with friends or a partner. Then there are periods where my writing ramps up: I take a class, begin to focus on a particular project, get excited about a call or networking. The newest thing I’ve done with a friend is to start a reading series at a local café once a month. It’s been more stressful than I anticipated. When my last poetry book was published I dedicated over three years to promote it.

6. What is your work ethic?

My first career as a laboratory technician lasted fourteen years; I worked at one lab for over eight years. Then I went back to school and had odd jobs that included my own business cleaning apartments in New York City. After that I did secretarial work, moved to Seattle and went back to school for a Masters in counselling. With that degree I worked for twenty-one years in AIDS services, eighteen of those years for the same agency in different capacities. I work hard and steady. I write hard, too, when I write. Semi-retired now, I have a small private therapy practice and my goal is to devote more time to writing, but I’m also the president of my condo Board. Responsibility and service are a big part of my work ethic, as is doing work from love, which I did working in AIDS services for twenty-one years. When I worked where they had a union I was a rep, and I’ve been part of two union negotiations.

7. How did the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

This is impossible to answer because I’m not sure how the books I loved as a child influenced my writing today. I read Heidi eight times, and all the Nancy Drew mystery novels.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

There are so many excellent authors! I have to say two I’ve worked with: Louise DeSalvo, I found her when I started Hunter College. She taught a different literature class each semester and I took every class of hers I could. She was a brilliant Virginia Wolf scholar with a PhD in the Deconstruction of Literature. Generous and supportive of her students she bestowed confidence. She constantly had new books coming out in different genres,. Two of her books I keep ready at my fingertips: Writing as a Way of Healing : How Telling Our Stories Transforms our Lives, and The Art of Slow Writing: Reflections on Time, Craft, and Creativity. She also has several memoirs, academic books, fiction and an anthology she edited of Italian American women. She died in October 2018. The other writer is Tom Spanbauer, he trademarked Dangerous Writing. I love his book The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon, so when I heard he was in Portland teaching Dangerous Writing workshops I wanted to study with him. For a year I went back and forth to Portland for several workshops and love his way of teaching. He is open and vulnerable, providing a safe space to write dangerous things that are hard to get onto the page. I’ve read each of his novels, and from him learned even though I am not a fiction writer, what I write has value. There are many other excellent poets and writers I admire.

9. Why do you write, as opposed to doing anything else?

Well I consider myself an artist, and have called myself a health artist. Of all the arts, writing is what I’ve spent the most time to develop. I’ve taken art classes and I practice movement work. I discovered Continuum in 1988 and it has changed my life several times. For ten years, from 1997 to 2007, I ran workshops that combined Continuum movement and writing after taking Emilie Conrad and Rebecca Mark’s Poetry in Motion Intensive. Emilie was the founder of Continuum Movement, she died in 2014. In my workshop we experimented with breath, audible breath and movement that perturbed our interior world, then listened and allowed hand-to-page exploration. From my first Poetry in Motion I started what became a large body of writing about my work in HIV/AIDS.

10. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

The best advice is to read a lot of poetry. There is so much good poetry available and you learn by the process of reading a wide range. Also, take classes and find a group where you get together and read your work out loud, then exchange feedback. Or find a group where you use a prompt, write for a timed period then go around and read what was written, either with no feedback or only positive. You’ll begin to get more fluid putting pen to page. It’s best to read it right away without worrying or thinking about it too much. If you have good mentors along the way and the right support I don’t think an MFA is so important.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

I’m working on a hybrid memoir and searching for publishers that will answer directly to an author as a first step. As a hybrid form it includes journal excerpts and dreams. I hope to have a my early health essays included in an addendum.

On my to-do list is to develop my next poetry manuscript and start sending it out. But first I need to form an arc from my many poems written in the past several years. Each book birth takes a lot of energy and my last book promotion has been slowly winding down; although I will be on a panel at AWP2020 in San Antonio related to that book reading my poetry.

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Julene Tripp Weaver Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.

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