#but we still also have a full course load and a research project and workshop commitments and (for those that need it) language classes

[waugh-bao]

[peachnewt]

Midnight Snack - Playing House

Fluff to the max. Intimate times between two men insinuated but not graphically described in text.  Deep kissing is present.  Skip between the &&& if you prefer to not read it.  The Getting In Deep series and it’s short stories are my own creation.  Do not steal or alter.  

 Papers, magazine cutouts, and equations sat in piles on Will's desk.  Will, headless of the slippery magazine paper that threatened to kiss the ground, kept taking notes from his screen.  

When Reese arrived, he was surprised to see Will at work before everyone else in Main Tech.  

"Getting a head start on a case?" asked Reese.  

"No."  Will tabbed his screen and frowned.  "I'm helping Louis find a house."  

"Really?" Reese wondered how far Louis and Will had gotten in their relationship.  "Why would he want to move?"  

Reese walked around Will's desk to look at the screen.  

When house hunting, most people imagine realtors, property tax, curb appeal, square footage, and zoning issues.  The average challenges one would find on HGTV shows.  Reese expected to see Zillow listings, or Homefinder.  He hadn't expected Barbie's Malibu Dream Home from Toys-R-Us.  

Reese blinked, wondering if the morning caffeine had yet to kick in.  "A dollhouse?"  

Louis walked into Main Tech with two mugs.  "Yeah, because everything I found is, in Will's words, "dinky plastic trash"."

"They don't even have it proportioned right.  I did the calculations," said Will, scrolling through the preview images of other child- sized dollhouse.  "The bathtub is right next to the door, who does that?"  

"Those things are meant for playing with, not living in," said Louis, nursing his second cup of coffee and handing Will his tea.  They had spent the last half hour descending into a research spiral of toy sites looking at houses and miniatures.  Louis began thinking this was actually worse than real house hunting.  

"I have a civil engineering degree, I'm allowed to be offended," said Will.

"You would be offended at the construction of a gingerbread house."  

"Those are for decoration and eating.  It's not the same thing."  

"One moment.  I feel like I need a little bit of clarification."  Reese struggled to catch up with the train of thought Louis and Will had gotten on, apparently leaving him behind at the station.  "Louis, why are you in the market for a dollhouse?"  

Louis sat and spun his chair to catch the slipping pile of magazine clippings.  "Because some nights I'm sleeping in a shoebox on Rachel's desk."  

There had been nights when Louis was too exhausted to switch back from his tiny sized self and had to sleep in Rachel's office.  His "room" consisted of a shoe box with a tiny flat pillow for a mattress, a linen square for a blanket, a charging stand for his large sized phone, and a rectangle hole for a door.  

"I feel like a kitten awaiting adoption by the side of the road," Louis continued.

"I see.  I wouldn't mind sleeping in a shoebox on Rachel's desk," said Reese, a dreamy look in his eyes.  

Beni, carrying a dozen doughnuts in one hand and a RockStar energy drink in the other, paused as she entered Main Tech.  "I think I need context."  

***

Ten minutes later, Beni had been pulled into the communal craze of looking up tiny dollhouses.  They pulled up everything from antique houses made in the 1950s, to Lego replicas of Hogwarts.  By a stroke of a keyword during Beni's search, she hit the mother load with DIY Dollhouse kits sold on specialty hobby sites.  They ranged from Modern loft apartments, to Chinese homesteads complete with a throne room.  They even had miniature cafe's with tiny pastries.  Each dollhouse listing came with a video on how to construct it.  Of course, with a specialty hobby, it came with a specialty price.  

"It's a friggin' bed," said Louis, gesturing to the miniature furniture on the screen. "How hard is it to make a proper bed for at 1/24th scale that isn't going to cost a fortune?  That's what... eight popsicle sticks?"  

"If you want quality at that size then you are going to pay what its' worth," said Reese. "What is more expensive, a Rolex, or a bedside clock?"  

Will pulled up a video with a house similar to a few of the magazine cutouts.  "Most of these do-it-yourself kits use either hot glue or E6000.  Not keen on having a building kept together with hot glue."  

Louis grunted, mesmerized by large hands setting up a tiny living room.  "Are we spiraling again?"

"Yes, but it's a very satisfying spiral."  

Louis, Will, Reese, and Beni gathered around one screen, tallying the pros and cons of certain designs, and pulling up more DIY dollhouse videos.  

When Cetz arrived at Main Tech, he saw four of his agents picking out dollhouses.  

Cetz felt a headache coming on.  "Know what.  I don't need context.  Meeting in ten."  

**

Eventually Louis picked a DIY kit for a cabin that put him back sixty dollars.  It arrived a week later and Louis set up shop in a spare workroom at the Watch.  He proceeded to burn his hand with a hot glue gun while trying to assemble the walls.  Will approached with ice, tweezers, and a small tube of craft glue.  They finished the small dwelling in an afternoon.  

Half of the tiny furnishings, flower pots, pictures, cute figurines of boats, never made it into the cabin.  They were pasted together for posterity to say it had been finished, and they left in a heap by the dwelling.  None of the furniture went where it was supposed to; Louis didn't trust the stairs to hold if he walked up to the second floor.  The bed ,made of thin wood, looked better than the tiny pillow in his shoebox.  If nothing else, it looked more like a bed.  It looked like a dwelling meant for a human. It even had lighting he could turn off and on with a switch at the bottom of the display platform.  

Louis stood back from the cabin and cracked his back.  His fingers had nearly been glued together while applying wallpaper, and his eyes ached having to look through a magnifying glass.  Will clicked on the light to the house.  They looked proud of their creation, showing it off to Beni, Reese, and Rachel when they came by.  

"It's a good starter home," said Rachel, handing Louis a bag of coffee grounds with a bow taped on it. "Happy housewarming."  

Louis grinned.  The cabin itself was slightly wider than his shoebox but twice as tall, and the platform it stood on was as big as a desk blotter.

"I want one," said Beni, flipping the switch on and off.  

"Make your own," said Louis.  

"I will!" said Beni, a spark of competition in her eyes.  "I'll make one so nice you'll want to sleep there instead!"  

Reese, enticed leaned over. "Care to make a wager?"

The next day, Beni and Reese also ordered DIY dollhouses.  

Louis vowed to never set foot in any of their deathtraps.  

Will vowed to make sure neither of them burned their fingers or used adhesives that could cause respiratory distress.  

While Beni and Reese awaited their kits, Louis ended up exhausted after a long day of testing, and unable to switch back to normal size.  The first night in his new, self-made home.  Rachel left him on her desk, the shoebox on one side, and his cabin on the other.  Louis stumbled wearily to the cabin.  When he laid down on the bed he immediately regretted the thin bit of padding he had mistaken for a mattress.  It had looked fluffy enough when he had glued the stuffing down.  He dragged the cheap pillow out of the shoebox and into the cabin.

Will found him the next morning splayed akimbo on the cushion, wrapped up in the thin "bed spread" like a croissant.  

"Bed not work?"

"I could feel beads of dried glue under the mattress."  Louis snuggled tighter into the pillow until Will coaxed him onto his palm and into the lab to "grow up".  

Louis had been so miserable with the construction of his tiny bed, he actually looked forward to Beni and Reese's dollhouses

The two kits arrived and Will made sure the construction was a surprise to Louis, warding him from the workshop as Beni and Reese unpacked their kits with child-like glee.  

They wondered if the two former thieves ever got something like a dollhouse in their younger years.

Instead of cranking out the houses in an afternoon, Beni and Reese took half hours off between shifts to work on them.  Both seemed to find contentment in their distraction.  After a week, they were finished.  

Reese had constructed a gothic themed Victorian home with a tiny staircase hidden behind a bookshelf full of miniature books.  Several windows were painted to look like stained glass.  And the bed was a four-poster with a canopy.  His pride had been renovating the kitchen area to have a tiny fridge that actually worked and held tiny shots of pudding he had made himself. And on one wall he had put up a tiny grandfather clock, made with a working clock face.  

"Somebody likes their gothic," said Will as he squinted to see inside the hidden staircase. "Good detail."  

"Classic taste is good taste."  

Beni had gone modern with a split level house.  White on silver furnishings with touches of neon purple and one of the accent walls for a workout room consisted of an entire mirror.  The bed was covered in multiple pillows, each a shade of gray or white.  Her pride was adding a slide from the top level to the bottom, the landing cushioned with a layer of cotton balls.  

"Very playful," said Will.  

"Got most of the style stuff from a Home & Garden magazine.  But who wouldn't want a slide in their house?"  

Louis shrunk, bypassed all the fancy additions and special furnishings, shooting like a tired arrow towards the beds.  First the canopy bed, then a gray bed with all the pillows.  

Louis groaned in defeat. "It's still not comfortable enough."  

However, he did try the slide, the hidden stairs, and the pudding in the tiny fridge.  Beni and Reese then made Louis promise to shrink them so they could experience the houses themselves.  

Will eyed the beds and the shoebox a warm glow coming to his eyes.  It had been a while since he had done a construction project.  

***

The magazine clippings came back out; Will organizing different furniture pieces and photos from Architectural Digest.  Over the next month, between date entry and retrieval missions, Will peppered Louis with random questions.  

"Dark stain or light?"  

"Oriental, log cabin, industrial, modern?"  

"How much do you cook verses eating out?"  

"Do you like gardens?"  

"How about koi ponds?"  

"Silk sheets or cotton?"  

"How do you not know the answer to that?" said Louis, setting aside another patent.  "Cotton."  

"I mean if you won the lottery and could afford anything, silk or cotton?" said Will.

"Still cotton."

It wasn't until Will pulled Louis over to look at a blueprint that he caught on to what Will had been doing.  

"Are you designing a custom dollhouse for me?"  

"Kinda.  I'm not an architect, but I thought I could make you something more than a shoebox or a DIY kit."  A light blush bloomed on Will's neck.  "I want your input on it.  You'd be sleeping there after all."  

"All I want is a better bed," said Louis.  "I respect that little pillow, it's gotten me through some rough nights, but I want a real bed."  

From the blueprint it looked similar to some of the custom DIY dollhouses the three of them had constructed.  Everything from the steps to the sofa had equations measuring out its diameters so it would match Louis' stature when he shrunk.  Multiple chambers, the front wall of the house on a hinge so the insides could be exposed or not, a set of stairs, all on a platform with an outside space with a...

"Is that a gazebo?"  

"Yep," said Will. "Do you want a pond or a pool?"  

"It's a place for me to sleep when I have to stay the night, fanboy," insisted Louis.  "You don't have to go all out with this.  I just wanted something better than a shoebox."  

"But I want to."  

Louis smirked. "Feeling a little competitive after Beni and Reese made their own houses?"  

"...little bit."

"I thought so." Louis brushed his lips to the side of Will's mouth, leaving a coffee ghost of a kiss, and grabbed Will's empty mug. They both needed refills.  "Have at it, fanboy.  Surprise me.  Just... no koi pond.  Especially no koi; those suckers can get huge."  

***

A month later Will led a blindfolded Louis to Rachel's office.

"Are we there yet?" asked Louis.  

"One moment." Will let go of Louis' hands with a squeeze.  "Stay here.  No peeking."  

Louis heard the flicking of switches and the opening of a door.  

"Okay, you can see."  

Louis peeled off the blindfold.  Rachel's office was dimmed, the majority of the light coming from another dollhouse. His jaw dropped.  It spanned half of Rachel's desk.  The house was modern, mostly white trimmed in dark blue and splashes of red.  Like most of the DIY dollhouses the insides were exposed for "play", but this one had a full roof and a panel that acted like a door to the whole front half of the house.  However, the house only took up a third of the platform.  

Behind the house stood a stately garden of green moss, flat pebble paths, and a gazebo overlooking the rise of real seedlings from a small herb patch.  In the center of the garden rose a bonsai strung up with tiny lights like a Christmas tree, and a swing.  The bonsai stood small in comparison to a regular sized shrub, but to an almost three inch human, it would look like a grand tree.  

Louis came closer, leaning in to see the tiny details of the dollhouse.  "How in the world did you do something like this?"  

"Civil engineer, remember.  A lot of my college projects were making models of infrastructure.  That and a lot of model kits."  

Louis motioned to the hinged front of the house.  "Can I...?"  

"I made it for you, yes!"  

Louis opened the front of the house to an open floor plan, tiny lighting, bits of shiny tile, and dark stained furniture.  The DIY houses had similar plans, but this one seemed polished, more real than play.

"Cetz and Reese helped assemble most of the house," said Will.  "Beni picked out the bonsai."  

"The furniture." Louis gently picked up the coffee table from the living room.  I weighed heavy in his hand, not balsa wood or cardboard.  "Those aren't popsicle sticks.  How the hell did you...?"  

"I have some crafty friends on the con circuit that were willing to do some detailed commissions. A lot of it was 3D printed, but the finer furniture was done by hand.  Not a hot-glue stick in sight."  

Louis set down the coffee table and took a closer look at the kitchen.  "Those drawers actually pull out?"  

"Yep."  

"The sink... holy shit there is actual water."  

"Yeah, actual plumbing. We'll have to do the dishes by hand, no dishwasher that size.  But there is water in the kitchen area and the bathroom, both connected to a gallon water heater under the desk."  

Louis noted the "we".  One of them washing while the other dried with the tiny towels and the tiny drying rack. A domestic image he never thought he'd get in real life.  Well, really tiny life.  

"Reese installed his patented snack fridge, I see," said Louis.

"Snacks are a must," said Will.  "Fully stocked with bits of cheese, chocolate, pudding, and a slice of pepperoni. Eating like borrowers."

"Every window has curtains."

"And blackout curtains if you need some dark space."

A refuge, Louis realized.  If I need space or time and I'm stuck, I don't have to feel like a lab rat.  

"That's actual leather on that couch," said Louis, dragging his mind back to the house tour.

"I could afford a quarter yard of real leather."  

Louis saw two charging ports for phones set into the wall so the screens could act as a television. He could imagine the movie nights. One giant kernel of popped corn between them.  

"The doors actually shut and lock?" asked Louis.

"Tiny magnets in the door and door frame.  Also..." Will pointed to where the front of the house closed, hiding the view of the inside.  "Push a latch here, and the whole front of the house will lock from the inside so you can have privacy."  

Louis reopened the front of the house.  He followed the line of sight from the living room, up the stairs, to the bedroom. Dark wood furnishings and soft gray upholstery.  The bed looked neat and tidy as a stuffed envelope, lined in silvery blue and deep red pillows.  

"I made the bed."

"Like you folded the sheets or you made the bed and bed frame personally?"  He had to ask because it seemed Will had been willing to spin his own thread for the sheets.

"Both.  Took a couple of live video tutorials for the frame. No craft glue, or double sided tape. Half a drop of wood paste, tiny dove joints, and teeny finishing nails.  I know you said cotton, but I got denier microfiber silk fabric for the sheets so the thickness is comparable what you would have at normal size."

Louis pressed a finger down on the tiny bed, eyeballing the measurements.  "California King?"  

"Yep."  Will skipped over the fact he had carved by hand a bed definitely made for two.  "Cut the mattress out of memory foam."  

Louis examined the rest of the bedroom.  Interesting that Will had included a washbasin and washcloths when there was an en suite bathroom.  No closet or wardrobe, instead an empty trunk lay at the foot of the bed.  Louis wouldn't need changes of clothing since whatever he shrunk with would have to grow back with him.  The lamp on the bedside table gave a golden glow.  When he opened the bedside cabinet he found a few extra amenities that made the back of his neck heat up.  

Will's bashful look said it all.  

"Wow." Louis cleared his throat, trying to draw his mind away from the bedroom.  The gesture of it all struck him deep.  Will and he still lived in separate places.  Will had made a place for them to be together.  A home that belong to them, not one or the other.  

Okay.  No tears.  Suck it up.

Louis sniffed, needing a distraction.  "So, random question, what was the most expensive thing in this whole house?"

"Well, parts of the electrical plan and plumbing nearly cost me my patience."  

Louis snickered, pulling Will in by the back of the head to kiss his temple.  "Your poor brain.  Let me guess, the leather couch?"  

"Nope.  Made from scraps.  Very cheap."  

"The tiny fridge?"

"The way Reese made it, no.  It cost me a dozen maple bacon doughnuts and a cheesecake."  

"The bonsai. Gotta be the bonsai."  

"Actually the bonsai was the second most expensive thing.  But Beni did some good bargaining."  

"Really?"  

"Mh hm."  

"What was the most expensive then?"

Will touched the fine sheet on the bed.  

"The bed?" said Louis.

"The sheets," Will clarified.  

"How are a tiny set of sheets that expensive?!"

"When you include express shipping from Japan."  

"Fanboy!"  

"You said the bed was the most important thing, so I made sure it got the right stuff!"  

Laughter took over when Louis refused tears.  He hugged Will closed, his nose brushing into hair that still smelled of soap.  

"C'mere.  Thank you.  I can't believe you went so far for this."  

"I wanted to," murmured Will into Louis' neck, leaving a soft touch of breath.  

Will had wanted to give him a home.  Louis wanted Will to know he was home.

&&&

It sent a shiver down Louis' back, making his belly flutter.  He leaned back on the desk until he sat on it, his thigh close to pushing off a pencil box.  Then he pulled Will by the hips until he stood between his legs, chest to chest. Louis curled his head under Will's neck. Will's hands draped across Louis shoulders as if a buoy to a drowning man and breathed in deep.  Warmth surrounded them like an atmosphere growing around a new planet.  

Louis looked over at the house and smirked.  He wouldn't mind spending the night, if he had company.  

"Wanna test out the bed?" said Louis, pulling back.  "Make sure it's up to your standards?"  

"You mean you want to see if you can wreck the bed," said Will.  

"I know I can wreck you on the bed; if I can wreck the bed with you, bonus."  

The blush at Will's neck charged over the hinge of his jaw and conquered his cheeks and nose.  Louis knew by experience the blushing army had already conquered collarbones and sternum.  He planted the final flag of victory by drawing Will's head down for a kiss, deeper than the rest.  Will relaxed into his embrace like a puddle needing earth to sink into.  Their chests expanded wider with each breath, trying to catch each other in the air around them to pull into their lungs and keep.

Will pulled back, nipping Louis' jaw.  "I dropped the bed, twice."  Nip.  "Survived both times."  A kiss on the chin.  "I'd like to see you achieve what my clumsiness and gravity could not."  

"That a challenge?"  Louis bent his head down, pressed his lips around Will's Adam's apple, and sucked.  

Will moaned, his voice buzzing against Louis' mouth.  Louis pulled Will in by the shoulders as he leaned back further onto the desk, and then focused on the light.  In a breathless flash, they both sat on the desk, just short of three inches tall. After a moment to orient themselves, and calm down enough to get to their feet, they both ran to the door of the dollhouse.  

 The bed did not break. Though they tried.  

 They collapsed under sheets of light silk, catching their breath as sweat cooled on their aching bodies. Will had been wise to include a wash basin, thought Louis.  He didn't want to go all the way to the bathroom for a washcloth.  

&&&

Will tucked himself into the curve of Louis' body.  "So... home sweet home?"  

"Maybe." Louis leaned down and kissed right below Will's sternum, tasting heated skin.  "I've got a home here too."  

Oh, that blush would not go away for hours now.  

"Yeah, you do," whispered Will.  

A well deserved exhaustion overtook them.  

 Louis woke before Will. Making sure Will kept dreaming, Louis scurried out of the house and over to the side of Rachel's desk that still held the cabin.  To the side lay the pile of extra frills that had come with the DIY house; bits of potted plants, fake books and posters.  He picked up a piece of thick printed cardstock about the size of a large postage stamp, and carried it back to Will's house.  It had been a miscellaneous bit of inspirational word art one could find in any furnishing or poster aisle at a craft shop, but it seemed very appropriate.

"Where there's a will, there's a way".

Louis set it by the front door of the new house and then went back in.  He would see if Reese had put anything in the tiny fridge that could help construct a breakfast in bed.

---------------

 If you enjoyed this short, consider buying me a ko-fi!  

[superlinguo]

Linguistics jobs -  Interview with a Communications Consultant

It’s the final linguistics job interview for the year! And we’re finishing on a high note, with Sabine Harnau. Sabine set up From Scratch, a communications consulting firm grounded in linguistic research. Being the boss of your own organisation has its perks, not least of all what Sabine puts on her business cards. You can follow From Scratch on twitter (@scratch_posts) or check out the website (from-scratch.net) for more examples of Sabine’s work.

What did you study at university?

I studied in Germany, where higher education is (mostly) free. This was when Germany still had its own degree structure — before the introduction of the Bachelor/Master system. So I always struggle to translate my “state exam” degree. When you compare the required credits, exams and thesis papers, it's equivalent to an M.A. — perhaps with a bit more breadth rather than depth. At the time, I was planning to teach English and German at grammar school level, so my degree covered anglophone and German-speaking literatures, cultural studies and linguistics from the pre-medieval times to the present day. In tune with the German school curriculum, I focused my linguistics courses on syntax, orthography, translation, sociolinguistics and second language acquisition. And, of course, educational studies to help me share that knowledge with young people aged 10–19. That's a lot of ground to cover, and so I spent 7 years at university and another 2 at teachers' college, using all my available free time to teach at school. Luckily, a state programme allowed me to take on long-term substitute teaching roles with full responsibility and pay (pro-rata), so I was able to gain loads of teaching experience before I had even left university.

What I loved most about my degree was applying the linguistic angle to literary criticism. For example, I really enjoyed tracking the effects of heroin on Renton's way of speaking in Trainspotting. And my thesis paper about poetry competitions combined literature and linguistics, too. That kind of perspective is still present in my current work — it's so much fun!

What is your job?

I run a communications consultancy called From Scratch. As the founder, I got to choose my own job title, and I got to indulge my love of puns! So according to my business card, I'm a Head Scratcher. Which is true — and leads to much more interesting conversations than "managing director".Day-to-day, I work with companies that want to improve the way they speak and write to their customers. A lot of this work involves multilingual copywriting, training teams and consulting on communications strategy. For example, a company might want to improve customer satisfaction with the way their contact centre handles complaints, and I'll teach tailored training workshops that will help them write better.Or there might be a mis-match between a company's website copy and the way people decide whether they want to buy that product at all. So I use UX ways of working to develop a messaging strategy and create new copy.

We work mainly with companies that stand for strong ethical values, and our clients are often creative businesses — transforming their industry or enabling customers to make things ‘from scratch’. This means their customers are likely to have special support requirements: some might question the ethics of a business decision, others may be stuck on a craft project. There’s more at stake in those conversations than in your typical account management or shipping query, so one focus of our work is building trust and conveying warmth and competence via the right language.  

From Scratch also brings together a network of foreign-language writers, coaches and other experts so we can support companies as they grow and expand into new markets.

How does your linguistics training help you in your job?

Saying this will make me feel like a rapper dissing her peers, but: having worked in customer communications for years, I've seen a lot of unfounded platitudes being passed off as great revelations. I just don't think that anyone's business will really take off because they hear that “customer service is an attitude, not a department”. On the other hand, there's loads of linguistic research that isn't easily available to businesses. When I started From Scratch, I did so with the aim of connecting linguistics, educational theory and business. My degree helps me make research findings accessible to non-linguists. For example, interactional sociolinguistics can teach us a lot about why certain customer service phone calls don't go well. And I'm able to do a lot of proofreading with confidence because I studied orthography and punctuation in a way that a non-linguist probably hasn't. But it's also a matter of trust: I speak English with a slight German accent, so my degree reassures clients that I know my onions before they've even put me to the test!

Do you gave any advice do you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?

Don't study any topic just because you think it might come in handy in your future job. That future job may not even exist yet — and you'll probably change your mind about it a couple of times anyway! Study what interests you. Career profiles are more flexible than we expect, and your enthusiasm will make you successful.

Any other thoughts or comments?

Two things come to mind:

1) I wish computers had been more interesting when I started university. Had I started a few years later, I would probably have focused much more on linguistics and tech.

2) Copywriting is a funny business: there's so much emphasis on creativity and so little on linguistics. As writers, we all want to make words work harder. Why don't we talk more about how exactly to achieve that, and why?

Previously:

Interview with a Linguistic Project Manager at a Language Tech Company

Interview with a Data Scientist

Interview with a Librarian

Interview with a Text Analyst

Interview with a User Experience (UX) Researcher

Interview with a Study Abroad Facilitator

Interview with The Career Linguist

Check out the Linguist Jobs tag for more interviews

[earnxmoney-blog]

Small Business Ideas from Your Home..

Learning How To Make Money.The Definitive Earn X Money Guide To Earning Money While You’re On The Learning How To Make Money Online.

Small Business Ideas from Your Home..

You Can Do Right Now!

Freelance Writing..

This is perhaps the cheapest business to start in terms of overhead.

If you’re reading this on a computer, you’ve got what you need to become a freelance writer—at least in terms of equipment.

The key to freelance writing is never to stop selling yourself.

Don’t get complacent once a project comes in—always look for the next one. Network like crazy online and in person.

Ask for press passes to events in the field of your choice.

Attend writing workshops and writer meet-ups; they happen everywhere.

There are loads of job listings for freelancers on major job boards, and you can always advertise your services (and look for work) on craigslist or LinkedIn.

Social-Media Specialist..Everybody’s on social media, which is both a blessing and a curse for the would-be social-media specialist.

On one hand, every organization that sells anything needs a presence on social media, so the market for experts is huge.

However, there is also no shortage of social-media experts—or people who think they’re experts, anyway.

Graphic Design..But for those in position to do it, starting a graphic-design business offers an enormous opportunity—just remember to be creative with your business model and do something nobody else is doing.

Personal Computer Training..Believe it or not, a lot of people still don’t know how to use Microsoft Office (especially PowerPoint).

Small Business Ideas from Your Home..

You might already know enough about basic software applications to teach other people how to use them and set up your own computer-training operation.

Web Design..Like graphic design, Web design requires skills that can take years to acquire and perfect.

Managing Social Media..Many millennials have an advanced understanding of social media platforms.

Turn your knowledge into cash by offering social media management services.

You might be surprised what local businesses will pay.

If you want to follow your entrepreneurial spirit but you’re low on cash, don’t give up – use these ideas to get you started without breaking the bank.

You can launch a business for little initial investment and with a bit of luck have it take off.

If Amazon.com can start in a garage, so can your next big idea.

Doggie Bed and Breakfast..You love dogs? You’re good at taking care of them? You want to open a dog-boarding business? Just make sure you’re prepared.

Sure, it’s a great opportunity, and it’s totally doable—with some planning.

Make sure you know your local zoning laws and, perhaps more importantly, make sure your neighbors would be OK with some extra noise and activity around your place.

Then, let the veterinarians, pet-shop owners, groomers and other providers of pet services that you’re in business.

Try to hook up with a large local employer—a hospital, perhaps, or a university—and see if you can pick up multiple clients there at once.

A friend in Oregon followed those steps and now runs a successful dog-boarding operation.

Selling on eBay..Believe it or not, eBay is now more than two decades old, but it’s still the most viable platform for setting up a home-based business online.

Big success stories have been around for years now, but there is an enormous amount of competition on the site.

Perhaps most importantly, though, would-be eBay moguls need to specialize.

Just throwing junk online won’t work.

Sellers need to know what they want to sell and how they’re going to market it to their audiences.

Again, competition is fierce, so research, preparation and strategy are critical. (For reference, eBay itself provides an extensive guide to selling on the site.)

Photography..Of course, photography can take many forms, from photojournalism to portrait photography to general-interest stock photography.

You’ll most likely go for either setting up a studio in your home or taking pictures for use as stock photos, as true photojournalism requires years of experience and almost never involves actually working from home. Keep in mind that stock-photo sites work on a revenue-sharing model, so simply selling pictures to one is unusual.

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You can start selling T-shirts, hoodies, tote bags and more in absolutely no time. But bear in mind that people buy shirts based on what’s on them.

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Food Truck BusinessPeople who love to cook or experiment with food usually dream to have their own restaurant. But unless and until someone is lucky enough to get funding during the initial stage, not everyone can afford to make such a big investment. Well, don’t get disheartened.

If you are short of money then opening a food truck business can be one of the best business ideas with low investment.

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All you need to make an initial investment to buy a food truck. Having a food truck business is also a great way to figure out whether people are liking your food or not. And if you are lucky enough to get a great response.

you may think of converting your food truck business into a restaurant business.

Coffee ShopOver the past few years, the coffee industry has seen rapid growth. Earlier people go to coffee shops to spend some quality time with their loved ones.

But today, people are conducting their official meetings there. If you yourself a ‘coffeeholic’ then convert your love and passion for coffee into a profitable business.

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When it comes to coffee shops menu design, custom mugs design, and ambiance plays a very important role. Take the help of graphic designers for menu design.

BakeryStarting a bakery business is one of the most successful home-based businesses available today.

If you enjoy baking and got skills not only to create tempting food but also visually appealing, then this can be one of the best startup ideas. You can also tie-up with retail shops to sell your products in their stores.

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Looking For a Business Logo Design?We have helped thousands of business owners from all around the world with their graphic design needs such as logo design, website design, social media posts, banner design, and much more.

Cooking ClassesDo you love cooking? Do you make food so scrumptious that your loved ones can’t stop praising about the food and the presentation? If the answer to these questions is yes, then it means that you are a great cook.

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Starting cooking classes is also one of the great business ideas from home. Just like fast food joint, this business too requires minimum capital investment, and once you start gaining popularity, you can always start your own training center.

Online TutoringThe online tutoring service industry is growing rapidly with the continued development of technologies and widespread usage of the internet. Individuals who don’t have time to attend full-time classes have started taking the online classes.

Decor Business If you are looking for creative small business ideas, then this can be a great option for you. You may either choose to have a home decor business or office decor business. Both have a great scope in the current market and the future as well.

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Clothing BoutiqueThere are individuals who have a great eye on fashion, who can create different styles by using any patterns, who can make some look fabulous at any occasion. If the person sounds like you, then you should consider your passion for fashion into a business.

Become A Social Media ConsultantLarge corporations and business firms can easily hire a full-time staff coordinator or corresponding agency to run their Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts, but smaller businesses frequently have to manage their own marketing for social media.

But, because they have a great number of other responsibilities, many times business owners are too overwhelmed or busy to spend a lot of time on developing their social media approach.

As a consultant for social media, you can effectively steer them in the right direction concerning ideal tactics, implementing schedules, and posting content regarding their target audience. Therefore, as their business grows, so will yours. Check out our new Instagram Tools guide to see how you can increase your client’s audience.

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[a-louisephotography-blog]

Lets get on with it then...

So this year is gonna be a step up from last year, we have a lot more work but also a lot more freedom with what we shoot. At first the work load was quite daunting but after planning and making a time table to go off its seeming more and more do-able by the day. I am as equally exited as I am nervous.

We have three different modules going on, PEP210, PEP220 and PEP260 

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Module Description PEP210 Genre:

In this module I will be exploring genre through shooting a 12 part portfolio. Building on my skills from level 1 with digital cameras, speedlites and ranger kits. I will be expected to take each brief and develop it, making it my own. 

In this module I will be introduced to a diverse range of press and editorial photography genre. Developing a portfolio of work that encourages professionalism and introduces me to the conventions of each genre and its relevant context. With support from a range of tutors, the tutorials system and my own research I will be encouraged to cover a wide range of subject matter outside my initial interest areas. This broadening of experience will help inform my decisions in PEP240 your first negotiated portfolio.

Students will apply photographic technique and skill to achieve genre-specific outcomes. Applied skills will include:

• a range of photographic techniques and formats • post production • use of flash • editing and image selection

The Brief

12 Part Portfolio 80%

For the first semester you will be exploring various types of image that will inform your understanding of genres in Press & Editorial Photography. You should research and develop each part of the portfolio simultaneously; some can be shot immediately some you will have to wait for a specific event. On an average week you could be shooting as many as six parts of the portfolio or as few as one. You will bring all work in progress to each tutorial for guidance from tutors and peers. Towards the end of the module, you should start collecting your work into your best examples of each image type or genre in preparation for deadline. You should have multiples of each of the 12 parts to choose from during the picture editing workshops.

1: News/Event picture.

Single image to illustrate a hard news or soft news story, or an image from an event. To be supported with an extended caption of up to 150 words.

2: Mini Feature

3-7 images picture story that would appear in a magazine of your choosing. 

3: Observed Portrait

Portrait obtained through watching, observing. Available light only.

4: Lit portrait - Interior  

A formal portrait, where you control everything and light the subject with reflectors and/or a flash head.

5: Lit Portrait - Environmental

A formal portrait taken outside in daylight using more than one flash head to balance and control everything in the image

6: Sports picture.

An action image from a sporting event (not a practice). Any sport, any action.

7: Group photograph.

A picture of a minimum of 5 people arranged and positioned by the photographer to best effect. You must use an artificial light source, either as fill or as main.

8: Music photograph.

Archetypal 'First 3 songs no flash' type music picture from a gig.

9: Food:

A photograph showing any food or food process as still life, well presented and lit.

10: Product

A photograph showing any product/s, or still life, well presented and lit. I.e could be technology, flowers or shoes etc.

11: Creative standalone. ­

Your chance to photograph anything in the entire universe beautifully and creatively, with the potential for the image to stand alone in a publication. Creative and technical abilities at the forefront here.

12: Fashion photograph.

An image from the world of fashion, anything from studio, to location, to catwalk to backstage.

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Law, Ethics and Human Rights

In this module you will be covering applicable areas of media law, journalism ethics and the influence of human rights law on the world of Press and Editorial Photography. You will be given a thorough grounding in your rights as a photographer as well as exploring your ethical responsibilities as a professional photojournalist. This will be a forum for debate and will use current events to spark lively discussion and bring this subject to life.

The Brief

2000 Word Critical Essay (60%)

Group Seminar Presentation (40%)

The Essay:

Conditions: A4 formal layout, bound, 2000 words (tolerance 10%), illustrated, fully referenced, with bibliography of referenced material and further reading on the following topic:

Select, research and explore an assignment or body of work by an eminent photographer of your own choice whose project has been subject to moral/ethical and/or legal and intellectual issues around the production of this particular body of work. Your task is to look at the challenges and problems that might have been experienced in the planning, pre production, generation or publication/exhibition of the work. Moral, ethical and legal considerations should be at the heart of this essay rather than aesthetic considerations around the work you have selected. 

The Presentation:

 In your assigned groups and working to the topic number corresponding to your group, work together to research and produce a 60min seminar presentation to your peers about one of the following nine topics, which represent key areas in law, ethics and human rights. How you structure your presentation is up to you, but you must incorporate case studies and images and be prepared for group discussion and a formal delivery. This is your opportunity to share your knowledge with your peers so remember that this presentation must be engaging and in-depth enough to sustain interest over an hour. Some of you may be on placement during the presentation portion of this module, but you are expected to fully participate with your group and contribute to the final presentation.1. Copyright & Rights to Use2. Defamation3. Street photography and incidental inclusion4. Image Manipulation5. Photography and obscenity6. Child Photography7. Privacy and Surveillance 8. How Audience Response has brought change to a photographer or publication9. How Social Media Impact has changed photographers approach to moral and legal issuesConditions:You can use all forms of presentation and communication software available on the computer in the seminar room.You should balance the workload and delivery between all members of the group.Your presentation needs to be no less than 50 minutes long and no longer than 60 minutes.

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                                            Pep260 Multimedia

Pep260 Audio Visual Multimedia   Brief 1 The title of the brief is: 

PEOPLE AND PASSION.

You are to find, research and produce a 3-5 minute piece around the title of the brief.

Your piece must contain both of the following:

Documentary quality audio.

Industry standard photography. 

And which can also include:

Moving image (video).

Text.

Images sourced from elsewhere, ie archives, but remember ©.

Music…see © warning above.

Anything else which strengthens the piece (ie animation)

You may collaborate with others to produce this piece, but the collaboration must be from outside the course.

I have left the brief wide open apart from the module title. The title is there to help you with the quality of the work, because if you tap into someone’s passion, you will almost always find a story, and the story will be stronger as a result. All content must be shot and collated for this specific task.

You must treat your audio with as much respect and effort as the images, and vice versa. If you are to include video, I expect the same level of effort and quality in the capture. I am making no other technical or aesthetic restrictions, but please see the assessment criteria below.

I would suggest you find two voices around the same story, possibly from different viewpoints, possibly the same. Any more than two voices gives potential for confusion in the final piece. That is not a hard and fast rule however, just a suggestion from experience.

You are free to use any software you care to on this, whether that be iMovie, FCP, Premiere, Audition etc.

The final piece needs to be in a movie format such as mp4, mpeg, quicktime etc, You must post your final work to your own account on Vimeo. Setting up your own account is free, simple, and allows you to embed your work wherever you wish. Remember that the environment in which your work sits can add significantly to the content/narrative. Consider building a page to host the work, i.e. on medium.com.

Minimum submission guidelines: 1280 (wide) x 720 pixels (tall)

Remember…this is all about the story. Stay tight to the title. I don’t expect your production skills to yet rival those of a professional, but I expect you to try. You can however all impress me with your choice of story, and how you construct it.

DELIVER A SENSE OF PERSON AND A SENSE OF PLACE.

Pep260 Audio Visual Multimedia Brief 2 Project title:  Hidden Cornwall.

You need to produce a self contained 3-5 minute multimedia piece.

Your content must include video, shot by you.

Your own content must be all shot digitally.

Your video content must be shot and delivered in Full HD(1920x1080pixels) Use any tools available to do so…ie you could shoot in 4k raw if you wanted, but you would have to render back down to HD. I recommend against doing so however. No upsizing of video content, ie do not shoot in 720 then render up to HD.

If you include still photography content, render this down to HD for output.

You are free to use any software you care to on this, whether that be iMovie, FCP, Premiere, Audition etc.

The final piece needs to be in a movie format such as mp4, mpeg, quicktime etc, You must post your final work to your own account on Vimeo.

Theme: Hidden Cornwall.

Any story/subject is possible, within the broad theme above.

Avoid clichés, stereotypes, tropes. This is important. Hence the word hidden.

This is an exercise in finding and thinking about content as much as delivering it. Read everything local, from brochures to newspapers, books to flyposters. Pick up flyers, read notice boards, try to imagine what you find into the production of your multimedia, for example, you may have a great story, but the subject may not lend itself to audio, or conversely, your story may sound great but not image well.

Consider your own interests and future hopes. You may wish to make this a commercial exercise, an artistic one, a journalistic one. Whatever you decide, remember the theme.

Show the audience a Cornish story rarely seen. Maybe it’s food, maybe it’s politics, poverty, wildlife, graveyards, coves, the elderly, volunteers, farming, education, industry, religion, horticulture, obsession, desire, craft, design, charity, fostering, pollution, innovation, research, energy, distillation, beauty, architecture, landscape or employment. Violence, addiction, love and support. Think hidden, undiscovered, unique, new to the viewer. Find the dispossessed, the voiceless. Mine literature, film, archives, people, Tell me unheard tales of the sea, the land, the people, history. And, always, listen. This is a brief, and far from exhaustive list.

You must deliver strong audio, strong imagery and strong content. Remember that when contemplating your idea.

Think small, intimate, achievable. If you want to tell a big story (such as the economy, employment, poverty etc) consider telling it through the voice of just one or two people.

All content from this project will be collectively online under the url www.hiddencornwall.uk, therefore your work will be seen publicly and also be seen amongst that of your peers. This should help focus your mindset and approach. It will also grow year on year to provide an archive of hidden Cornwall content.

[lady-divine-writes]

Klaine fic - “All the Beautiful Pieces” (Rated NC17)

Blaine Anderson is spending the summer after graduation flipping houses with his brother for Cooper’s total home renovation show. The show features the worst houses Cooper can buy, with Blaine playing the role of lackey so that Cooper can torture him in front of his viewers. The last house Blaine has to renovate is an original Victorian House in San Diego, CA, which is in terrible condition. But this house turns out to be more than just another job. It was once owned by a famous Vaudeville ventriloquist by the name of Andrew Smythe. It houses a very interesting collection of items - among them, two life-sized puppets. Blaine isn’t sure exactly why, but he’s drawn to them - especially to the one with the beautiful blue eyes. He convinces Cooper to give him the puppets, and Blaine starts to restore them. In the course of the restoration, Blaine finds out that neither puppet is simply a run-of-the-mill puppet, and Andrew Smythe was hiding a secret that will be the key to saving two lives.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Chapter 5 (6811 words)

Blaine pulls up to the house at a quarter after ten. It looks exactly the way he left it, horrendous paintjob and all, but with the addition of a U-Haul truck parked by the curb, and a grown man wearing a navy blue polo and retro 1980s acid wash jeans staring in at the window with his hands pressed to the glass. From the back, he looks like an oversized Cabbage Patch kid, but in the reflection of the window, he more closely resembles a young Karl Marx with the iconic frizzy beard.

“Blaine,” the man plaintively moans. “Blaine, where are you? Open the door…”

Blaine shakes his head when he sees him, chuckling at his woeful wail. Blaine parks in front of the house, but the man doesn’t notice, focused as intently as he is on the living room full of toys, visible through the curtains that Blaine neglected to pull closed the night before.

“Gary!” Blaine calls out as he steps out of his minivan. “Have some self-respect, man.”

“Blaine!” Gary exclaims. He spins around, face glowing with childlike excitement, but his voice tinged with exasperation at being kept waiting. “You can’t leave me out here with all those toys inside, begging for me to take them away from this awful house.” Gary presses his ear against the glass. “I can hear them, Blaine,” he says as Blaine approaches the door. “They’re saying Gary…come rescue us, Gary. We need you…”

“I’m sorry,” Blaine says, sorting through his key ring for the correct key. “I got held up.”

“Yeah” - Gary flashes a knowing grin and a wink - “your brother told me all about it. Getting into the puppet biz, huh, Blaine?”

Blaine makes a disgusted face and turns away from Gary to unlock the door. “Jesus Christmas! You, too?” Blaine pushes the door in as far as he can. He grabs a broken ottoman to prop it open.

Gary walks in behind Blaine, but stops inside the doorway, his eyes wide with awe, his jaw dropped, a hand raised to cover his heart.

“I can’t…I can’t believe it,” he says dramatically, staring at the heaps of toys and the stacks of boxes. “It’s…it’s amazing.”

“Yeah,” Blaine agrees, pulling his webcam out of his pocket and switching it on, “and this isn’t even half of it.”

Gary whimpers. Blaine trains the camera on his face.

“It’s like a dream come true,” Gary whispers, wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye.

“Snap out of it, Gary.” Blaine snaps his fingers in the air above the webcam. “You have to do your spiel.”

Gary startles out of his trance at the unpleasant noise.

“Right, right…” He tugs down on the hem of his polo to straighten out the wrinkles (not that it does any good, or that they matter compared to the mustard stain on his collar) and looks into the camera. “When should I…”

“Now,” Blaine says, launching straight into the segment. “Hello, guys, gals, and Internet pals (Cooper’s tagline; Blaine had nothing to do with it). This is Blaine Anderson, coming to you from day 2 of our renovation. I’m here with our good friend Gary Shepton…” Gary gives the camera a timid wave, his eyes bouncing between Blaine and the webcam, unsure where to look even though they’ve done this several times before already “…and he’s going to be appraising the toys in the house. Gary, please tell our viewers what exactly it is you’re going to be doing while you’re here.”

“I’m going to start off by photographing and cataloging,” Gary explains. He pulls an iPad mini tablet out of his back pocket and holds it up. He accesses an empty Excel document and shows it to the camera. “When I’m done, I’ll load up the toys that I can sell immediately into my U-Haul and take them to my shop. In the interim, I’m going to send Cooper a detailed inventory of all the toys, their conditions, and their estimated values.”

“How will you get that information?” Blaine asks, again taping filler for Cooper to use in case he runs a few minutes short of his time slot.

“I use Google Goggles and other appraisal specific Internet surfing software to help me research the items I’m looking at fairly quickly. One photograph and I can bring up the information I need.” Gary switches to a program on his tablet and turns on a demo that illustrates the technique. “It makes researching a lot easier and more accurate. It can also put me in contact with other appraisers who have encountered the same items, who might have some insight that could be useful. Cuts down on the possibility of accidentally dealing in counterfeit merchandise.” Gary smirks. “I wish I had this five years ago, I’ll tell you what. Would have saved me a ton of money on my AT&T bill, tracking that information down one phone call at a time.”

“We have rooms and rooms full of toys in this house. How long do you think that’s going to take?” Blaine asks, his question a veiled way of finding out how long they’re going to be there.

“Most of the day, if I’m lucky,” Gary says with a dreamy sigh.

Great, Blaine thinks, hoping that Kurt and Sebastian don’t get too bored watching old movies all day long.

Yup, bored puppets. Because that’s a definite possibility.

“Okay,” Blaine says, switching off the webcam while trying not to sound too disappointed. “I have some things to do in the house and some phone calls to make. If you need me, just holler.”

“Will do,” Gary says, his attention already drawn to a stack of vintage Barbie dolls in the far corner.

Blaine watches him go, shaking his head at the odd man.

“Have fun,” he says, watching Gary put on a pair of white cotton gloves and get to work.

***

Unlike dealing with Cooper’s other project houses, which were a simple matter of calling in a clean-up crew to get rid of the garbage and occasionally coming across a gem or two that they could sell, this house is a complicated mishmash of treasures and antiques, coupled with the fairly typical, grotesque trash. Blaine needs to pull out his whole metaphorical Rolodex of contacts for this project. He needs to find someone to unload the heavy tools in the basement, someone else to appraise the sports memorabilia upstairs, and he needs to order a temporary storage unit for the furniture. Authentic Victorian furnishings are highly coveted, which makes them hard to locate, and ultimately expensive when you find someone willing to part with them. He intends on keeping anything he can salvage and repurposing it for the renovation.

The upstairs bedrooms are going to be the easiest rooms to renovate by far. It’s a given that Cooper is going to want to sell the baseball pennants and the bat, and probably the opera posters, too. There’s a huge market for those vintage posters, especially ones in mint condition with bright colors like these posters have. But the furniture will stay.

A pit blossoms in Blaine’s stomach at the thought of dismantling Kurt’s bedroom.

Blaine had originally thought that the workshop in the basement where the puppets were made was the heart of the house. After he saw the bedrooms, he realized he was wrong. The upstairs rooms, so well-tended, adorned with carefully chosen mementos – those rooms are the heart of the house.

Blaine feels sick at the idea of tearing that heart apart.

But he has Kurt, he reminds himself. He saved Kurt…and Sebastian…and that’s all that matters.

Yes, all that matters is my burgeoning insanity and a future on tabloid talk shows, he acknowledges ruefully.

Blaine heads down the hallway to the dining room, smiling to himself when he hears Gary chirp in triumph at some amazing doll-related discovery.

“They had the whole Bob Mackie for Barbie collection? Sweet!”

Blaine heads up the stairs to the next level, but bypasses the bedrooms, opting to start in the attic. They spent practically no time up there yesterday during the walkthrough. Blaine wants to get a better look at the neat stacks of boxes and the furnishings that were kept up there. He knows he’ll have to deal with those latent memories in the bedrooms eventually, plus the possibility of another fantasy involving Kurt, so for now, he’ll start with the easy-to-handle stuff.

Blaine switches the webcam to still-camera mode as he heads up the last flight of stairs. There doesn’t appear to be a light switch up here, but sunlight floods in through a large circular vent in the outer wall, making the whole room warm and bright.

Blaine puts on a pair of his own protective gloves and examines the furniture items stored up there closely – a stand-up lamp with what looks like a Tiffany shade; another table lamp with a pleated, cream-fabric shade, sitting on a squat, cherry wood end table that had most likely been in the living room at some point; four chairs that belonged to the dining room table downstairs; and a matching pair of Queen Victoria wing chairs, upholstered in a cream fabric imprinted with gold ivy leaves.

Blaine photographs each piece, mentally fixing where he wants to put them in the house. He wonders if Kurt would have liked one of those wing chairs in his room, or maybe the stand-up lamp next to his sewing machine while he worked. What kinds of clothes did he sew? Did he make outfits for himself, or did he maybe make clothes and sell them?

Or perhaps he worked in the theater, designing costumes. Those posters in his room could be from performances he worked on.

Blaine smiles, imagining Kurt as a student at McKinley, working on the costumes for the musical Blaine starred in his junior year – West Side Story. They could have chatted while Kurt took his measurements, discussed what outfits Kurt could see Tony wearing during certain scenes and why. What insights might he have had on Tony and Maria’s motivations, and how would he have portrayed that through their costumes? Blaine always felt that the people in charge of wardrobes on certain television shows understand the characters better than the writers do sometimes. What would Kurt have to say about that?

Blaine moves the standing lamp into better lighting while he daydreams of afternoons spent with Kurt after school, talking over fittings between rehearsals. Blaine could picture himself asking Kurt to help him run through his lines while he built up the nerve to ask Kurt out on a date…provided, of course, that Kurt liked guys that way. Blaine can’t shake the feeling he did. Blaine sighs. Didn’t he get on Cooper’s case for making assumptions about the sexual identity of the person who inhabited Kurt’s room? Blaine doesn’t want to be a hypocrite, but for some reason he can’t help doing the same thing. Everything he sees, everything he touches is a clue to who these people were, the same as in every house, but with Kurt…there’s an impression Blaine gets that has nothing to do with the posters or the sewing machine. It’s like he feels Kurt in this house. A part of him is there, telling Blaine about him; things that Blaine wouldn’t otherwise infer from the stuff lying around. But it’s not as simple as that, either. This impression of Kurt, it’s not passively hiding in individual objects, waiting to be uncovered. Blaine feels like it’s following him, guiding him, the same way he did when he first went down to the basement.

Whatever secret this house holds that has to do with Kurt, it wants to be revealed.

Blaine repositions the lamp shade so that the sunlight streams through the dark glass and takes a picture. He’s all set to take another picture when, out of the corner of his eye, he spots peculiar markings along one side of the boxes. Blaine pockets his webcam and walks over to take a look. He runs a gloved finger over one line of writing. It’s difficult to read because whatever marker had been used to write this has bled into the cardboard, but a skeleton of the words remains.

Blaine has seen this before. He wishes he had brought one of the photographs from the album at the beach house with him to compare against. He had thought about carrying Kurt’s picture in his pocket, but he didn’t want to ruin it. These nearly unreadable words, hastily scribbled by a hand that probably didn’t spend too much time writing, look identical to the writing on the backs of the photographs.

Blaine tears into the first box. The interlocking flaps, softened by age and dampness, pop up with little effort. The very top of the box is layered in newspaper, faded where the inch-wide seam between the loose flaps exposed it to sunlight but otherwise intact. Blaine digs through the pages, catching sight of conflicting dates. The newspaper on top is the most recent, albeit from about thirty years ago, but a few layers down the dates get older. Beneath them, Blaine finds a wealth of leather bound books. Blaine lifts the ones on top to peek underneath.

Yup, more books.

Blaine frowns.

A lot of people collect vintage books. That’s not unusual. It just seems too normal for this house. Blaine isn’t sure what he expected to find in this box, but it wasn’t boring books. Blaine picks one up anyway to examine it.

At least Cooper will be thrilled. He has a guy in L.A. who buys rare books, and considering all the other collectibles in the house, these books are probably first editions.

Blaine opens the cover and turns to a random page.

January 18th –

I’ll never get used to the weather in Seattle. Always so wet, always so dreary. I much prefer the California coast with its sunshine and warmth. And the ocean. God, I love the ocean. If only we could find a place to settle down there where we all can be happy. I miss you guys. Every day I miss you guys. I’ll never forgive myself for missing the most important day of our lives…and I did it again. But I’m trying to make a new life for us, doll, and when I break into the big time, it’s going to be the best of the best for the Smythe family.

Blaine stops reading. He looks at the black leather cover, the spine bare except for a gold embossed number – 1915.

These aren’t just books, Blaine realizes. They’re journals.

Blaine reaches into the box and looks at the books again, each one similar, each with a different year embossed along the spine – 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919…

It doesn’t seem like there’s an end to them. Blaine returns the book, pulls the box down from the stack, and goes for the next box. The flaps spring open as if they have been waiting years for someone to come along and find them, and a strong smell escapes.

A burnt smell, like coals left over after a barbecue.

No newspapers cover these. Blaine picks up the first journal on top. The date on the spine is worn flat and almost too difficult to read. He traces his finger over it, revealing an imprint of the number 1932. Blaine examines his glove covered digit. The cotton is stained black by a layer of fine ash. He raises the book to his nose and takes a tentative sniff.

It smells like a fireplace.

Blaine looks the journal over thoroughly. The gold rind on the pages is singed, and parts of the leather cover are burnt. Blaine opens the book to a page in the middle.

November 24 –

It’s Thanksgiving Day, but there’s nothing to be thankful for. Everything is gone. All of it, my entire life, gone. I would bring you all back if I could. I would trade everything that I said and did to make it all right again.

The paragraph cuts off there with a long, violent swipe of black ink cutting across the page, leaving an impression so deep that the tip of the pen sliced through the paper. Blaine turns the page to look for another entry but there’s nothing. No entry for November 25, none for November 26, no other entries for the rest of the month. Blaine keeps flipping the pages, but the book is blank until Christmas Day.

December 25 –

Merry Christmas to all those I love who are no longer here with me. I feel your presence every day, haunting me, but it’s not the same.

That’s the last entry for the remainder of the year.

Blaine stares at the blank page labeled December 31st.

It seems so empty, so final.

Blaine wishes there was something written there – anything. Something that tells him that despite it all, despite this obvious pain, life continued on and good things happened.

Blaine turns back to the beginning of the journal, to the earlier entries for the year.

February 14 –

It’s Valentine’s Day, and I miss you so much that I don’t think that I could even begin to tell you. I made your favorite dinner, bought a bottle of that God awful wine you loved so much, and ate alone. Well, not alone. Kurt was here with me. I love that boy and I appreciate his company, but it wasn’t the same as having you here. Meanwhile, Sebastian went out drinking…again. He takes a little too much after me, I’m afraid. He’s going to get some floozy knocked up, and then what? He’ll get chained down with a brood of simpering brats and no future. That’s not what you wanted for him, and it’s not what I want for him, but he doesn’t listen to me.

The sad thing is that I’m past the point where I think I care anymore.

Blaine feels his throat tighten as he reads on, blowing through a bunch of pages, letting the book lead him to where he should read next.

March 6 –

Everyone is telling me to pack it in. They tell me that it’s over, but I refuse to believe it. So maybe the work isn’t out there the way it was, but we’ve suffered dry patches before. The audiences will come back. Once they realize these talkies are just a gimmick, they’ll return. They always do. They’ll be begging us to perform for them, and we’ll be able to name our price. The money will flow in ten deep, I’m sure…but if they don’t, what will I tell my boys? How do I tell them it’s over? That the world thinks we’re finished?

“What?” Blaine asks the book, thumbing through the pages and hoping he’ll magically stumble on the answer. “What’s over?”

Blaine scans the pages, but he’s overwhelmed by the amount of entries and the nearly indecipherable script. He looks at the boxes stacked in front of him. There are six total. They can’t all be full of books, can they? Did whoever wrote in these journals write one for every year of his life?

There’s only one way to find out. Blaine would have to read through them all.

The boxes are going home with him.

Blaine repacks the box and hoists it into his arms.

It’s a treacherous trip down the narrow stairs with this box of books he’s carrying, but as with the puppets, there’s a compulsion within him to see this through. Whatever went on here, these books are a clue he’ll need to solve the mystery. He can’t leave them behind.

Blaine walks into the dining room and shuffles across the floor, down the hallway and into the living room, which has become emptier now that Gary has started loading the dolls into his U-Haul. Less clutter means more room for the house to breathe. The atmosphere in the downstairs level already seems lighter.

Blaine carries the box out to his minivan. He balances it between the door and his leg in order to fish his keys out of his pocket and open the back hatch. He puts the box in his trunk, shoving it over as far as he can to one side to make room for the others. He doesn’t shut the hatch completely before rushing back inside for another box.

“How’s it goin’, Gare?” Blaine asks as he blows past the man heading toward the front door, his arms laden with pink boxes. Blaine asks the question, but doesn’t stop to wait for an answer.

“I never want to leave,” Gary calls after him.

Blaine grumbles to himself, “Well, you’re gonna.”

One by one, Blaine carries the boxes of books down to his van, eager to go through each box and unlock whatever secret these journals may hold.

As he carries the last box through the living room, he remembers that he’s supposed to be filming Gary working, and to a lesser extent, himself.

“When I come back in, I need to film you, Gary,” Blaine yells to the man unloading the toys in the downstairs bathroom.

“Whatever floats your boat,” Gary replies. “By the way, I think your brother is going to be really happy with the numbers I’m going to send him.”

“That good?” Blaine asks, stopping for a moment out of curiosity.

“Oh, yeah,” Gary says. “Most of this stuff is going to be no problem to move. I have a guy who’s looking for half the stuff I’ve found already, and he’s willing to pay higher than market price. I think he’s reselling them in Japan or something. He’ll probably get ten times as much over there.”

“Wow,” Blaine says, genuinely impressed.

“Yeah. If I were you, I’d ask for a raise.”

Blaine swallows. Too late for that, he thinks. God knows he could have used the money, too. But he’s not about to unload on Gary – not about this.

“I’ll do that,” Blaine says instead and heads out to his van.

All six boxes fit, shoved against each other tight without a single centimeter of space between them. The rear of his minivan sinks about a foot beneath the weight.

He closes the trunk, intent on heading back into the house right as a silver Lexus pulls up to the curb. Blaine doesn’t recognize the car and waits to see who it is. Maybe a neighbor stopping by to see what the activity is about. Blaine hasn’t met anyone from the neighborhood yet, which seems peculiar. Not one lookie loo. Not a single nosy neighbor.

The Lexus parks in front of Blaine’s Honda, nearly bumper to bumper. The driver’s door opens and a woman steps out, but she doesn’t acknowledge Blaine. She may not even realize that he’s standing there with the way she has her gaze honed in on the house in front of her. When she stands completely, she’s an inch or two taller than Blaine. She’s dressed to intimidate in a tailored, aubergine suit. A billowy, white shirt underneath the jacket lends an air of femininity to her starched ensemble. She has sleek, auburn hair styled in a bob that falls an inch above her earlobes. Her tan looks artificial – too perfect, too even, and a touch too orange, but everything about her appearance has been meticulously thought out. She seems put together with exceptionally clean angles, from the razor cut of her hair, to the severe downturn of her mouth and her sharp, pointed chin.

“So, it finally sold,” she says, shaking her head with blatant disapproval. “I almost didn’t believe it when I heard.”

“Uh, may I help you?” Blaine asks. He walks toward her, reaching for his webcam, but the scowl on the woman’s face causes him to reconsider whether or not he should record this conversation for his brother’s show. She turns only her head and looks Blaine over from head to foot with an unamused half-smile/half-frown playing on her lips.

“I don’t know,” she says curtly. “Can you?”

Blaine jerks back at her impolite and, frankly, adolescent response. “I probably can if you tell me…”

“My name is Catherine Dorst,” she interrupts. “I’m a liaison for the San Diego Historical Society, and I’m curious to know what the new owners have planned for this house.”

“I’m Blaine Anderson.” Blaine offers the woman a cordial smile and his hand. She looks him over again and scoffs, turning back to the house.

“Okay,” Blaine starts, pulling his hand away, “well, we plan to bring the house back to its original design,” he says confidently. “We’re going to keep all the original structural details and…”

“We?” she interrupts again with a smirk, examining Blaine shrewdly. “You and who else? I mean, how old are you? Twelve?”

“Uh, no,” he says, ducking his head and adopting what tries to be a polite smile. He doesn’t take too much offense since looking younger than his age is a boon in his chosen profession. “Cooper Anderson bought the house for his home renovation show. I’m his brother. I’m in charge of the renovation.”

Her eyes pop open, still glaring at him, but with an excited expression on her face.

“Cooper Anderson?” she asks. “The Cooper Anderson?”

Blaine sighs. Oh boy. A fan.

“The one and only,” he says, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“I’ve seen him on TV,” she says, straightening her suit and fussing with her hair. “Is he here?” She starts up the walk as Gary walks out with another armload of dolls, humming to himself and laughing at odd intervals. She glances at him with a grimace but keeps on walking.

“No,” Blaine replies, tailing after her, “he’s not here. He’s in L.A.”

She stops short and stares at the open door, deciding whether or not it’s worth going inside and checking for herself. When she spots Gary walking back to the house, brushing grey dust off the legs of his jeans, she comes to the conclusion that risking similar damage to her $1200 suit isn’t worth it.

“Shame,” she says, turning back around and heading for her car. She crooks a finger over her shoulder, summoning Blaine to follow. “The Historical Society has been trying to buy this house for a while now, but I guess it just wasn’t in the stars.” She opens her passenger side door and pulls out a leather briefcase. Resting it on the roof of her Lexus, she dials the combination to the lock. When the lid snaps open, she pulls out a manila file full of paperwork. “Since this is a historical point of interest, we have some recommendations for the renovation, a list of materials we ask that you use, a request form to put the address of the house on our tour list…”

“What list?” Blaine asks, taking the papers that she thrusts in his direction.

“Our website lists the addresses of authentic Victorian houses in the county for people to drive by and look at. You’re not required to add the Smythe House to the list, of course, but that doesn’t mean people won’t find you and drop by anyway. At least if you are listed on our website, people will have to abide by the rules we lay down to protect your privacy.”

Blaine’s eyes flick up from the papers in front of him. “Smythe House?”

“Andrew Smythe,” Catherine says. “He bought this house back in the mid-30s.”

Smythe. The same name that’s on the Little League jersey in the bedroom upstairs.

“Who was Andrew Smythe?” Blaine asks, giving Catherine his undivided attention.

She rolls her eyes. “Did you even Google this house before you started tearing into it?” she asks bitterly.

“I only first saw it yesterday,” Blaine says, trying not to sound too defensive. “And I haven’t torn into it. We’re in the process of clearing it out. I intend on taking my time to get this renovation right. I was actually planning on dropping by your offices myself later on this week for some advice.”

Catherine stands up an inch straighter, visibly impressed. “Well then…Andrew Smythe was one of the last great Vaudevillians of his time,” she explains with a smidgen more respect, but for him or for Andrew, Blaine doesn’t venture a guess, “as well as one of Vaudeville’s staunchest supporters.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Catherine shuts her briefcase and puts it back in her car, closing the door to lean against it while she speaks. “He was one of those precious few who were holding on with both hands, waiting for Vaudeville to make a revival.” She crosses her arms, and her eyes go slightly unfocused, recalling a memory. “Vaudeville took a lot from Andrew, like it did from other performers.”

Blaine has a feeling he knows what she’s referring to, but he asks anyway. “What did it take?”

Catherine gazes over Blaine’s head at the house with a sorrowful look in her eyes before she answers. “His wife,” she says heavily, “and his sons.”

“He had sons?” It’s both a question and a declaration. Blaine is stitching up the clues he already knows, adding Catherine’s confirmation to the seams.

“Yes. Two. Though there was speculation that one of them wasn’t his son.”

Blaine narrows his eyelids at the woman staring past him at the house. “Were their names…Kurt and Sebastian?”

Those names seem to snap her out of her haze, her eyes shooting down to meet his. “Yes, they were.” She smiles. “It looks like you may have done some homework after all.”

Blaine is about to mention the puppets in the basement and the journals from the attic, but he holds his tongue. He doesn’t want Catherine asking to see them…or possibly to take them. This house was declared a historical landmark before Cooper bought it. According to the auction company he purchased the property from, everything inside the house belongs to him, but if it has historical significance, can Catherine claim it? Blaine is iffy on the legalities of their situation, so he says nothing. He’s not willing to part with his puppets – to part with Kurt - or these new clues that he’s found.

“Look,” Catherine says, her turn to break Blaine from his thoughts, “I apologize if I’m being a little touchy about this, but we were supposed to be the first ones contacted when the owner died. We were poised to buy this house, but the bank moved straight to auction and we were never informed…”

Catherine’s comment strikes a chord – something Blaine read in the paperwork his brother sent him that doesn’t match up to Catherine’s story about Andrew Smythe owning the house.

“Okay, but what I don’t understand is” - Blaine interrupts this time, feeling an ease to do so - “my brother bought the house at auction, but the owner prior to the bank is listed as…Terry? Tricia?”

Catherine shakes her head as a breeze picks its way through her auburn bob, blowing a few strands in her face. “Teresa,” she corrects, brushing the hair from her eyes. “Teresa Calhoun. She was named on the deed to the house as his niece.”

“So, Andrew had a sister?” Blaine asks hopefully, interested in finding a living relative who might know the story of Andrew and his sons.

“No, Andrew Smythe had no other family according to public record. I don’t think she was a blood relative. Vaudeville performers were a tight knit group. I think Teresa was dumped off on Andrew because there was no one else to care for the girl, and he couldn’t say no. But by that point, he didn’t quite have all his ducks in a row, if you catch my drift, and with good reason.” Catherine sighs. It’s a fretful sound. “I don’t think he sent her to school. I don’t think she even left the house.”

Catherine pauses, watching Gary emerge through the front door while Blaine stands by quietly, waiting for her to continue.

“Before Andrew died, he tried to make arrangements for Teresa, but she had no other relatives, and she couldn’t live on her own. Without a guardian, she would have been committed. So he contacted us, and we worked together to have the house declared a historical landmark.”

“I heard Victorian houses were a hot commodity out here,” Blaine interjects.

“They are, but being a historical landmark, she would be safe to live out the rest of her life here. There were some requirements with regard to the house’s upkeep that Andrew still had to fulfill. We had discussed plans for turning the house into a Vaudeville museum eventually, but Andrew died before we could finalize the paperwork. After that, Teresa wouldn’t answer the door when we came by, and she never picked up the phone.” A veil of longing clouds Catherine’s eyes. “You know, Andrew bought this place pretty much right after his sons died. I think it was a way for him to try and start over. Maybe he was considering starting another family. I don’t know. But I hope whoever buys this house knows what it’s worth.”

“I’ll make sure my brother finds someone worthy of it,” Blaine says. The moment the words come out of his mouth, he commits them as a vow. Usually Blaine doesn’t concern himself with who buys the renovated houses off of his brother once he’s done with them, but he can’t let just anyone buy this house…not now.

“See that you do,” Catherine says with a wink, extending a hand his way. “It was nice meeting you, Blaine.”

Blaine takes her hand and shakes it. “It was nice meeting you, too.”

She smiles at him, takes one last look at the house, and then climbs back into her Lexus. She starts the engine, but doesn’t pull away from the curb. She rolls down her passenger side window and leans across the seats.

“Oh, Blaine? One more thing.”

“Yes?”

“We still have an exhibit down at our main offices on the history of Vaudeville in San Diego, but we are desperately short on any actual artifacts. If you come across something in there that you think you can part with, would you give me a call?” Catherine reaches into her glove box, pulls out a business card, and hands it through the window to Blaine.

“Sure.” A spark of possessiveness lights in Blaine’s chest, almost as if she had asked for his puppets outright. “Anything in particular you’re looking for?”

“Anything really,” she says with a non-committal twist of her lips. “Posters, costumes…if you guys find Sammy, and your brother is willing to part with him, I’d be extra special grateful.” Her words sound oddly suggestive, but Blaine lets it go.

“Sammy?” Blaine scrunches his nose.

“Andrew’s puppet,” Catherine clarifies. “His main puppet, I should say. After Andrew left Vaudeville, no one saw Sammy again. I would love to see him resurface.”

“So, Andrew Smythe was a ventriloquist.” Blaine reads the words on the business card before sticking it in his back pocket. “Were Kurt and Sebastian ventriloquists, too?”

“Sebastian was” - Catherine sits up in her seat, preparing to drive - “or his dad was training him to be. People say he wasn’t all that good at it.”

“And Kurt?”

“He sang. He was a countertenor - a rare talent. He would have been a headliner, too, only…” Catherine glances down at her steering wheel. “Well, I think you can guess.”

“Yeah. I can guess.”

Catherine raises a hand and waves at Blaine. Then she turns her Lexus around in the cul-de-sac and drives away.

Blaine stares at the papers in his hands. Every day at this house is going to be a new adventure in pain and heart break; he can feel it. Now along with Andrew and his sons, he can add the mysterious Teresa to the mix. But even with this new information, he has more questions and less answers than he did before. He stows the paperwork Catherine gave him in the van and returns to work, eager to wrap things up for the day and go already.

“Hey! I uncovered the fireplace,” Gary says, gesturing to a space in the far corner of the living room when Blaine re-enters the house.

“Fireplace? Oh, yeah…” Blaine had seen the chimney from the outside, but for some reason the idea of the house having a fireplace hadn’t occurred to him. A working fireplace will definitely tack higher digits to Cooper’s asking price. But that hollow recess in the living room wall made of soot baked bricks, the corpses of dead birds piled where logs normally would be, immediately brings to mind the burnt journal currently sitting in his trunk, waiting to be read. And he’s dying to read it. He groans, knowing he can’t leave until Gary is done with his work.

There’s got to be a way to get him to move faster.

Blaine spends the rest of the afternoon slogging through the busywork that he didn’t get done the day before. He makes his phone calls, schedules more appraisers to come down to the house, and orders a storage unit for the furniture. Then he putters around with Gary, taping him for Cooper’s show. He gets the brilliant idea to help him move the dolls to the U-Haul so he doesn’t just sit around and count the hours before he can return to the beach house and Kurt.

It’s a little before seven in the evening before Gary has to call it quits for the day, his eyes crossing every time he tries to read the print on another pink box. He begs Blaine for the opportunity to come back tomorrow and finish with the lot.

Blaine needs Gary to sell the toys. Did Gary really think Blaine would say no?

Blaine waves to Gary, watching the box truck pull away with its haul. Blaine is glad that those toys will find new homes, but seeing them go feels like carving away at the spirit of the house. But without them littering the floor, Blaine gets a better idea of what the house looked like when it was new. It wasn’t a glorified storage unit or a junk pile. It was a home, and this one might have been more full of hope than any Blaine has ever seen. It was supposed to be a way to start over.

Blaine wonders how far Andrew Smythe really got with that goal.

He peeks over at his trunk, filled with boxes of journals that might answer that question, ready to travel to the beach house.

That’s a lot of reading he’s got ahead of him.

Blaine starts locking up, making sure that the curtains are drawn this time around before he leaves to deter any other curious eyes, but just as he’s about to throw the deadbolt, he has a thought. He unlocks the door and heads back in, jogging upstairs to the bedrooms. He goes into Kurt’s room and retrieves the suit from the bed.

This suit was made for Kurt, and Blaine is eager to see him in it.

It still astounds Blaine how this suit seems so brand new, like it could have been made yesterday.

Blaine brings the fabric to his nose and sniffs it.

It even smells new; not like it’s ever sat in mothballs, even once. Blaine’s mother had inherited dresses of her grandmother’s that had been stored improperly in mothballs after she passed away. His parents had those dresses professionally repaired, but no amount of dry cleaning could get that odor out. It adheres to the fibers, embeds itself there.

But this suit simply smells like fabric.

Blaine examines it. He admires the weave and the stitching. Then he turns his attention to the rest of the room – the bed, the sewing machine, the dress form, the posters… Everything in here was tailored for Kurt, the way the other room was decorated specifically for Sebastian.

Everything looking brand spanking new…new and unused.

Blaine thinks over his conversation with Catherine, and as her words repeat in his head, he pulls the suit close to him, hugging it tight to his chest.

If Andrew Smythe bought this house to start over after his sons died, that means Kurt and Sebastian were never in these rooms.

Sebastian likely never wore that jersey, never saw that signed baseball bat or those pennants hanging on the wall.

Kurt never used the dress form, nor the sewing machine, even though the bobbins are full and the needle threaded.

They never opened their wardrobes, never slept in their beds.

Blaine gulps down the pit that’s been bouncing around in his stomach all day.

Kurt and Sebastian never set foot in this house.

This isn’t a bedroom he’s standing in.

It’s a shrine.

[ollybenson]

Evaluation

Olly Benson

Curiosities Evaluation

Introduction

This FMP ‘Curiosity’ is the first time that I have been presented a brief where I have been able to largely dictate pretty much every aspect leading up to an outcome as well as the outcome itself. This was an exciting challenge to me as it allows me to explore aspects of graphic design and 3D that interests me most, showcase my skills I have learnt throughout the past 2 years as well as continue to develop these skills even more. 

Given that the name of this brief is ‘Curiosities’, the only real guideline is that the project has to be based around something we are curious about. This guideline is very flexible as with the correct explanation in my blog I could have based my project around whatever I wanted.

While being able to work so loosely to no specific theme was seen as a exciting idea in my eyes, I did consider that there could be a number of negatives to working in this way. For example, I think  it would be very easy to lose the general sense of direction at any point throughout the project. I imagined that it could be very easy to get lost or confused leading onto more confusion and an eventual break down. Along with this, without the help of a tutor I felt as though it could be very easy to conduct the wrong/unnecessary research with no clear theme. 

My initial idea for this project was to base my theme around architecture. This is because I am strongly interested in architecture and it is the field of work that I desire to study at university. To explore this, I planned to create something 3D using at least 2 different materials such as wood, plastic or metals, as well as create some digital Illustrations to compliment my 3D outcome. I started to look at architects such as Malevich and Le Corbusier and this gave me the idea to create a modern 3D model of a building that had a removable roof and moveable modern furniture. However, this idea is very similar to my ‘Glitch’ project where I created a series or geometric, futuristic models of building along with some 2D digital Illustrations that showed a 360 degree view of one of the models. Whilst that project was probably my most successful one, in terms of what grade I got up to that point, I think it was important that I don’t just replicate it as it wouldn’t show that I am able to create work with a variety of approaches and styles, and would ultimately make my portfolio quite boring. Also looking at the timeframe I had, I think it was quite unrealistic that I would be able to create the model as well as the separate pieces of furniture to a high enough level.

Considering this, I wanted to focus my project on a certain field of architecture so that I could learn about new processes that I could eventually go on an use when I go into Foundation next year followed by university.

At our trip to the Design Museum, I got a collection of pictures of visually creative chairs each made with different materials; wood, plastic and cardboard. I was really interested in how these chairs were made and the thought process behind designing them. Additionally, we were asked in class to choose from our pictures of this trip and create some Illustrations in the style of Michael Craig-Martin. For this task I chose the picture I had taken of these chairs. This is what kickstarted my project ‘Graphic Chairs’.

Research and Influences

To generate some initial ideas, as a class we each collected 10 objects from a list of 30 given to us in a list. These were objects such as; something brand new, a house plant, 5 words to describe us. The reason behind this was to look at these objects and generate mind maps consisting of what ideas these objects gave us. For example I looked at an ice cream scoop shaped as a cow, this gave me the ideas of; children toys, looking at kitchen utensils in a graphically interesting way, dairy products (advertising, branding), infographics about food/sugar etc. Breaking down 10 different objects like this, creating mind maps and sketching, allowed me to generate loads of different ideas that I could have potentially explored for my FMP.

When we collected all the 10 objects, we inserted them into a display box that we had created ourselves that would be a visual representation of the contents within our proposal. I created my box mainly out of wood, but I also applied metal sheets around the outside of my box. These sheets I had tempered with before I applied them. This showcased that one of my strongest areas was in the RM/ WMP workshop. My box came across rather gothic as I added a chain and lock to the front of it, this gothic style wasn’t something I had initially aimed to go for as it isn’t my favourite styles. Despite this I think my box worked quite successfully. 

Along with this, I created a few different mood boards that visually explored graphics that interest me; Clothing/Street wear, Advertising, Architecture and Sports. While this didn’t necessarily generate loads of ideas, it allowed me to identify what styles interest me most and made me consider how I could use my personal styles and interests to adapt my developments and outcomes throughout ‘Curiosity’. 

As I was initially hoping to base my project on architecture, I went on to research renowned architects such as Malevich, Le Corbusier and Eliot Noyes. I looked at their different styles and approaches to architecture and asked myself questions such as; What Is more important; purpose or aesthetic? How can I combine both visuals an practicality to create something interesting? How can I use simple forms to create something visually complex?

What is more appealing; simplicity or complication? These are good questions to ask as even if my project change direction to something like advertising, these questions would still be just as relevant. 

After this, we went to the Design Museum in London. This trip opened my eyes to all the different types of design such as street signs, architecture (materials and styles), gadgets (phones, typewriters), chairs and furniture. Most noticeably, chairs. I gathered a collection of visually unique and interesting chairs. At this point, I knew I wanted to base my project around architecture but I wasn’t exactly sure what area specifically. I think this trip was the strongest influence on my project as it opened my eyes to chair design and how it can actually be quite interesting when you think creatively. Before when I thought of chairs, I would think of something very simple with four legs that looks very generic. However once I saw the chairs on display at the museum I thought about all the different ways you can make a chair look interesting. Chairs are a vital part of buildings as well as our every day lives, so they still link in with architecture and would still be viable to put in my portfolio when applying for architecture courses for university. 

Going to the museum was also important for my project as It was my first piece of primary research, as it was important that I hadn’t conducted all of my research over the internet using secondary sources. Once I had decided to base my project on chairs, I researched using books such as ‘Design as art’ by Bruno Munari that showed me a variety of sketches of chairs, exploring different shapes, lines and styles. Along with this, books such as ‘Design as architecture’ - Marcel Breuer, and ‘How to design a chair’. In previous projects I hadn’t used books for research as much as I should have and these books were very influential when I was sketching and designing my final chair, so in conclusion I think I am going to look to use books more than I have in previous projects.

When I was considering the composition of my chair, I researched famous chair designers such as Marcel Breuer and Charles and Ray Eames. Charles and Ray Eames were very influential on my project with their use of ply wood. Before when I would think of plywood I would think it was a very rough and messy looking wood. However if it is used correctly It can look very polished. Charles Eames used the process of moulding plywood using heat and moisture, however I didn’t have the equipment necessary to do this. Despite this, I still wanted to use plywood cause I liked the finish it gave. Along with this, plywood was a good option as the college have an abundance of it. Generally, plywood is quite cheap, so that means my chair would be very versatile and cost friendly.

To gather more ideas when I was designing my chair, I asked a number of students around class to simply ‘Draw me a chair’.That was my only instruction to them as I wanted them to draw their initial interpretation of a chair whether it be simple or complicated. This allowed me to compare the designs and analyse what styles and shapes people favour over others. This research was also vital as it was another piece of primary research.

Along with this, I looked online at unique chairs made from unorthodox materials such as rope, old cans or bottles and even full-sized chairs made from purely cardboard. This allowed me to consider the practicality of my chair but also how can I make it stand out? Could I realistically make it out of random materials? During this research, I messaged one of the designers on Instagram called Tom Price whom created a chair solely from rope that he had moulded a chair seat out of using a metal chair-shaped former which he heated with a combination of heaters and hot air guns. While I found out that It would not be possible for me to do this, It still inspired me to use a material like rope in my chair as it gave it a unique appearance.

Finally, during the construction of my chair I researched a number of processes of chair making. This includes different joining methods; What looks the best? What are the strongest? What is easiest to create? Along with this I researched different methods of wood sculpting and sanding; the artist Haroshi opened my eyes to a different type of sculpting that I had never thought of before. Additionally, I researched the different types of varnishes/finishing oils to eventually determine which one I would apply to my finished chair. 

Throughout the project my research was quite consistently evidenced on my blog complimented with mind maps breaking down different artists quotes, approaches to design and aspects of their work that I put into my production file. Along with this I had sheets that allowed me to compare the work of multiple chair designers, looking at what I think work well or not, allowing me to come to a conclusion on the design or my chair. 

I have been able to develop my critical thinking in all areas, but especially on the design of chairs which is an area of architecture that I hadn’t explored before. This will prove to be beneficial to me in the future where I will be able to showcase my skills in chair design in any job or course I do in years to come.

Experimentation and Development 

First of all, as a class we completed 3 workshops that allowed us to experiment with different areas of Graphic Design such as typography (using different materials), screen printing (Inspired by Robert Rauschenberg) and also letter press (Inspired by David Carson). These workshops were important as they ensured that our projects were open to a variety of processes and not just our one idea that we want to do. They also gave us a number of artists that we could research and look at their approaches to graphic design, even if it wasn’t relevant to our final idea, It was still important to have a open mind. 

When I decided to base my project on chairs I decided to create a variety of 3D experiments of models of chairs. To do this I used a large variety of materials such as cardboard, polystyrene, wood, metal and plastic. This allowed me to experiment with these materials and figure out which are most practical when creating a chair, but also which looks more effective than others. I went on to conclude that wood was the most practical material to use especially in the time line that I had. These experiments were also very important as they allowed me to explore different forms of chairs. 

Further developments of these chairs included spray painting one of the wooden models and one of the polystyrene models. This was very beneficial to me as I have never spray painted before so I have learnt a new process. But I have also learnt that It may not be the best type of paint to apply to my chair as it has quite a shiny un natural appearance. Along with this, I decided to slightly burn one of the wooden models so that It had black burn marks around it. I think this worked very successfully as it added character to the model and made it quite visually interesting to look at compared to before. However this is also a process that I would have to be careful with if I was applying it to my final piece as once you do it there is no going back.

One of the new skills I learnt during this project was using the Hot Wire Tool in the RM room that Is used to slice through polystyrene. I quite enjoyed using this tool and was happy that I was able to learn something new whilst also generating ideas. However my polystyrene models weren’t very good as I wasn’t very good at using this tool. It has given me room to expand and develop on though when I go onto foundation as I would be quite interested in exploring sculpting with polystyrene, eventually going onto sanding it down to create smooth but precise details. 

Alternatively, I created lots of sketches exploring different designs. I have a page consisting of simple geometric shapes, then a page consisting of generic chair forms. And then pages consisting of abstract shaped chairs using weird materials such as plastic tubes.  From simple forms using basic shapes to quite complex designs; I was able to think of an idea that was inspired by The Eames, Tom Price and my own ideas that I am very happy with and proud of.

In class we was introduced to Michael Craig Martin, an artist who creates loads of simple 

Illustrations exploring the shapes and lines of simple objects. This style interests me as I am intrigued by how he is able to make something so simple work so effectively.

At first, I wanted to also have a Illustration in the style of Michael Craig Martin that I could potentially install behind my chair in the exhibition that I would imagine would have complimented my chair quite nicely. However I did not have time to do this as I just about finished my chair on the day it was hand in, so I didn’t have time to take a picture of my chair then create a high quality digital illustration of it. 

Once I had created a couple sketches of my final design before I started reading it, I decided to create a accurate digital sketch of my idea to present to Dave and the technicians in the work shop. I had done this as I thought this would be a much clearer way to show people my idea where as a sketch has the potential to be confusing. I annotated it with measurements that I based on chairs within the college. I decided to make my chair slightly larger than normal to ensure comfort as if the base of the seat isn’t wide enough it could seem more narrow than normal considering it is made from rope.

I was initially told I could either use MDF, plywood or try buy some wood myself to bring in. However I was running out of time so was hoping to use a wood that the college already had. To buy my own wood could cost me a lot of money as well. So my choice was between plywood or MDF. To experiment, I created the base of my chair 2 times using either one of these woods. I concluded that plywood was far more attractive to the eye and it would require less cutting out of wood as MDF is a lot thinner. This means that it is less likely that I would make a mistake.

The development of my final piece took roughly 2-3 weeks to finish. This included cutting out all the the strips of wood using the chop saw, laminating the plywood together, inserting dowels to ensure strength, piecing the wood together to overlap the corners, then sanding each individual piece of wood using 6 different types of sandpaper to ensure a really smooth finish, piecing all the pieces together, painting over it with finishing oil with 2 layers and finally applying the rope. 

I thought that I used my time creating a body of work quite efficiently as I was able to create a wide variety of experimentations along with a refined outcome that is supported by the research and the development throughout the project. 

Solution

I think the message of my project is that although chairs are very often overlooked and considered mundane by most people, they have the potential to be very visually exciting and in my opinion can bring a whole room together in terms of appearance and function. Different aspect of chair design such as form, material and size can all come together to create something that can draw people in that originally may have no interest in them before. For instance, before this project I don’t think I had ever really looked at and considered the forms of different chairs. It wasn’t really an area that I had any interest in before. However, since I have done my research and thought of loads of different ideas and eventually created a refined outcome, chair design is something that I am now very interested in. Every time I look at a chair I will consider its practicality against its appearance/ function over form.

My initial curiosity into architecture has drawn me into a more specific area of architecture that I will now be able to say that I have experience with. Along with this once I had conducted my research on chairs, my curiosity into the use of different materials and styles has allowed me to create a design that I believe is unique. I feel as though the use of laminated ply wood has worked very effectively. When I was initially told that I could either use MDF of plywood I was quite disappointed as my impression of these woods were that they both looked quite messy and cheap. However plywood can look very good when sanded down and laminated. The appearance of my piece is very much catered towards my personal style. I also think the use of soft cotton rope as the base of the chair has worked quite successfully as this rope is very soft and stretchy. 

One of the negatives of my chair is that it rocks very slightly. If I had more time I would sand the bottom of the chair down so that It is all completely flat so that it wouldn’t rock. 

Another one of the negatives of my project is that I haven’t worked tightly to a plan. As I have been quite busy outside of college, I haven’t been able to create a strict time plan to allow me to consistently finish off my blog posts and experimentations. My blog posts have been something I have gone on to push aside as I have developed my final outcome. 

Along with this, I feel as though I could have generated more experimentations building up to deciding my decision on what I am going to base my FMP on. Apart from what we had done in workshops I feel as though there wasn’t much experimentations in my own time that explore different aspects of graphic design. 

Some of the successful part of my project are that I feel as though I have created a creative chair that could catch the eye of some people. Considering that I had no history with chair design before this project, I am quite proud of my outcome and the different processes that I have learnt throughout. Along with this, I have created something that I can put into my portfolio when applying for university or jobs in the future. 

To analyse the effectiveness of my chair, I plan to apply my chair in real life situations such as dining rooms, class rooms or offices to see what environments they fit in. From here I could give out a peer feedback sheet and ask my peers to choose which one works most effectively. Alternatively, I could email my chair to a professional architecture firm to get their feedback.

Overall, I think I can get more positives from this project than negatives. I have learnt a lot of new skills both technically and in terms of how to build and follow a project that I have largely created myself. I have really enjoyed this project and would probably consider it my favourite one during this course. 

Throughout the past 2 years I have learnt loads of new skills, both technical graphic skills as well as general life skills. These practical skills include; a strong understanding of the majority of tools on digital packages Photoshop and Illustrator. These are programmes that I had never used before and now I would say I would be able to teach someone quite a lot if I need to. Along with this, my confidence with my general sketching skills have improved greatly. Even before this project I would have said that my sketching was one of my weakest areas which is concerning considering sketching is a large part of architecture. Throughout this project I have taught myself to sketch freely without putting too much pressure on myself to make the sketch accurate. This had allowed me to create a large quantity of sketches that prove to be a great foundation the the planning of my chair and my project as a whole. Additionally, I have also improved a huge amount with my resistant materials skills. Before starting this graphics course, I had never really worked on materials such as woods or metals. Now I have created a fully functional chair that (to me) is aesthetically appealing and unique. 

Along with these technical skills, I would say that my general confidence has grown a huge amount over the past 2 years. I am now able to successfully hold group conversations with people, brainstorming ideas. This will prove to be hugely beneficial to me in the future as a huge part of being an architect is being able to discuss ideas with clients, responding to them and generating something that works with everyones best interests.

It is hard to say which one of these skills are most important as all sketching, resistant materials and confidence skills are a huge part of architecture. They will all prove to be very beneficial to me as I go on to develop and refine these skills next year on the foundation course, 4 years after that at university and then when I eventually go on to full time employment, hopefully as an architect.

[artscampaigns-blog]

That’s it! After five years, I am finally leaving UAL and Arts SU. It’s an incredibly emotional moment and I promise I won’t have too much wine and cry (ps. I already have).

These past five years have completely changed me as a person (good to see UAL deliver on its strategy to provide a “transformative education” innit), I’ve learned and grown and been challenged and met more people than ever before, from all over the world and a variety of backgrounds. For the past two years, I’ve had the most exciting and satisfying job imaginable, where no two days look the same, and it’s been amazing working with fantastic people and seeing real change happen.

Although it’s not always fun and games. Sometimes it involves sitting in long meetings, having to say unpopular things to men two to three times my age and on up to ten times my pay.  Dealing with condescending remarks, often being spoken over and dismissed. Trying to be in all 13 UAL sites at once and being forever jealous of campus universities.

And sometimes it involves dropping a cheeky banner, defacing some NSS posters and spending a night in the Chelsea Green Room.

I’ve caused some trouble but I also found some powerful allies, built and maintained strong relationships with trade unions, and, most importantly, met and collaborated with absolutely incredible student activists.

I have also worked with the most amazing sabbatical team in the history of sabb teams. We’ve been a family, a united front and a powerhouse, I love each of them to bits and and I’m pretty damn sure we’ll remain friends forever.

We’ve achieved loads of good stuff together but here are just some things I’m particularly proud of this year:

Making UAL freeze the fees for continuing home and EU students

Running a strong NSS boycott campaign, with overall response rates falling by 21% - despite the university spending £50 000 to promote the fee-rising, education-marketising survey! Well done to all involved.

Organising Arts SU Refugee Week and supporting a student-led campaign for increased financial support for asylum seekers - securing £25 000 scholarships plus accommodation costs for eight postgraduate students, and 25 fee waivers!

Organising Green Week events across the colleges and being involved in producing UAL’s award-winning sustainability strategy.

Responding to Brexit, Trump and the awfulness of 2016 with a project called Love & Rage - a powerful exhibition about resistance bringing together home and international students, and a series of creative events happening alongside it.

Ensuring that workshops in Camberwell remained open for some of Easter break, despite an initial plan to close them.

Campaigning against job cuts at CCW and to make sure that consultations with students are an integral part of any decisions made regarding the new CCW strategy.

Spending hours in meetings arguing against compulsory attendance - and securing an attendance policy that focuses on supporting, not punishing students.

Running a visible and vibrant voter registration/get out the vote campaign which I’m sure contributed at least a bit to the increased youth and student turnout in #GE2017.

Getting UAL to create a working group, with student representation, with a focus on the costs of study. We are currently working on the following projects (many of them will be completed and in place by the start of the next academic year):

* Policies about announcing course costs in advance, including cost information on assessment briefs and including discussions about affordability in course validation and re-validation processes.

* Guidance for course teams about ways to reduce hidden costs and make course projects more financially accessible.

* Reducing the price of printing and adopting an online submission policy for text-based work (so you won’t have to pay to print a hell lot of papers and travel to a college just to drop them off like it’s 1995.)

* Running swap shops and recycling initiatives, helping students exchange materials, and introducing permanent recycling spaces.

* And last but not least, I’ve been trying to get UAL to introduce a hardship fund for international students, as current support only covers home students. I will be passing on this campaign and the research i’ve done to my successor and hopefully we can have another victory soon.

I’ve also been heavily involved in national campaigns and encouraging students to do the same, repping Arts SU in NUS structures and running in a national election which I lost beautifully.

But Students’ Unions are not just full-time officers: Arts SU is made up of thousands of students who dedicate their time to organising events, running and supporting campaigns, improving their courses, colleges and communities, holding us and the university to account. You are the ones who made all the good stuff happen, so thank you.

Next year, I’ll be doing a Masters in Political Sociology at LSE but I’ll certainly still be popping in to say hi and check out exhibitions. Stay creative, stay naughty, keep in touch, I love you.

[amyperkins]

Level 4 | Visual Thinking | Evaluation

Truthfully, I have enjoyed this project however more so in certain areas than others.  I found this project more difficult to start off. Probably because I was letting my worries and lack of inspiration get in the way of progress and not letting my ideas flow freely, but I got into the swing of it quite well after that.  Upon reflection, I can now see the exact point at which I became more confident, and had more clear ideas to share in tutorials.  My project came to life after the talk that George Beverley gave us.  I believe this talk was invaluable to me.  This presentation and the one-day brief was useful in providing me with tips for how to generate ideas.  I feel that it also gave me an opportunity to step back from my project and have a day working on a different mini brief, which recharged mind and unlocked other aspects that I may not have considered exploring before.  This project has aided the development of my technical skills.  The workshops taught by Scott were great and I really enjoy being able to then work on animating my own poster with the skills and knowledge that he has passed onto me.   We got to dabble in software that I was unfamiliar with initially, such as After Effects, and how we can interlink the use of softwares like Photoshop and Illustrator with it to created different styled animations.  I will most certainly be wanting to use After Effects again in other projects if I get the chance to and look forward to discovering what abundance of tools and effects it has to offer.  Regarding my poster designs, I believe the limited colour scheme and simple, yet large text work well together.  I was worried that they seemed too plain.  Perhaps they would have been even better if I had considered introducing textures to the text or behind the text as a sort of shadow effect.  Now I know for next time that that is something I could play around with in greater depth.  I think the white text aids the posters as it is bold yet still allows the ballet pose to be the most shocking and dramatic aspect on the page. After all, the ballet is what is being advertised.  I am happy opting for vivid tones as the background; this works well in my opinion.  They are attention grabbing and suggest a cheerful, contemporary mood to the posters.  The critique was very helpful for me to move forward with my project.  I was quite nervous as to what people would say about my work at this stage, but the feedback was so positive and only gave a few amendments which would make the posters feel more complete and like a series. I enjoyed seeing my work printed out, full size and in the flesh.  This made it so much easier to analyse each of the sections.  I could immediately see what problems there were with the spacing, image to text sizing ratios, readability and simply, if all three designs worked well as a series.  In the next project I will be doing this a lot more so that I can constantly be reviewing and critiquing my work as I go along.  An area I know I need to improve is file organisation.  I am determined that this will be a strength in the next project.  Trying to find the right file has been an added frustration to my project planning and progression.  I know this is unnecessary and comes down to organisation and management skills, which is not my strongest area. I need to get back into the habit of making named folders and putting everything I document into those as I go along - I know I will benefit from this in the future.  Joining the Vis Com course, and therefore being introduced to the project a little later was not a massive issue for me luckily, and I managed to understand the project specifications comfortably.  Perhaps this is partially down to the fact that I feel this course is a better fit for me and so far, throughout this project I have been appreciating the structure and organisation of the course.  However, I feel that this may have made me fluster at the beginning, when we were showing ideas in group tutorials. I was slightly daunted and thought that I needed to catch up with loads of research and I focused on having quantity rather than the quality of my ideas so I was not pleased when I did not have much to go on when it came to my turn.  Next time I will take my time to come up with my own ideas as a priority.  Once I have ideas with substance I can research them further and, in my experience, other inspirations tend be stumbled upon along the way as well, which is half the fun. I did not entirely understand the concept of setting up a blog, as I had never made anything like this before but it has gradually grown on me.  As well as having sketchbooks on the go, I found it hard to transition from documenting research in a sketchbook with experimentations and inspiration, to uploading them to the blog instead.  Nonetheless, in future I will now know what kind of things are expected of me to be put on a blog. Next time I will stand by the logic that it is better to put everything up if I am not sure and then make amendments later if needs be, rather than not uploading very often and risk losing a sense of continuity and order.  As I look back through my project it probably would have benefited from more analogue experimentation.  Although, the sketches of my initial poster ideas, created using oil pastels, were very helpful for me.  I drew out my internal imagery and could see them on paper and from there I could created the designs in InDesign and adjust the placing of elements, such as the dancer pose, logo position, scale and typeface.  I could see that the layout of my design and the odd structure of the bus side advertisement would not compliment my design compositions.  The adshell and billboard layouts are much more favourable here.  Overall, I believe that this ballet project was a success and that I achieved the brief. I have certainly taken a lot away from these studies.   I look forward to the next challenge; working in an improved and more organised manner with many more skills and experiences to build upon.

[findmoneycoach]

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[bonduniversity]

From Ireland to the Bond Institute of Health and Sport

University of Limerick Sports and Exercise Science students Sinead O’Reilly and Ethan O’Brien chose to complete their internship at the Bond Institute of Health and Sport. Wrapping up their six-month Gold Coast experience, the pair share their journey from Ireland to Bond. 

Where it all started...

In October 2017, we, as students of Sports and Exercise Science in the University of Limerick, began applying to intern programs across the globe.  This is a compulsory component of our degree in order to give students some experience in fields they may pursue in the future and takes place in the second semester of third year lasting 6-8 months. There is a number of internship programs available to us varying from strength and conditioning based to research based to a mixture of everything. With both of us being very keen to leave our small island and explore this diverse, extravagant plant we applied to all the intern opportunities abroad. We should mention that we knew each other from being in class together but not on personal bases before coming to Australia and so had been applying to the programs alone with the expectation of having to go alone. After interviews and phone calls, we received news from Bond that the two of us had been offered a place in the internship on the Gold Coast which would begin in January 2018. We now had each other to bounce ideas off in terms of accommodation, visas and flights which made to process so much easier.

Arriving in Australia

Sinead: Leaving home for me was nothing out of the ordinary. I had done a good bit of traveling in the past and really only spent the holidays at home since beginning Uni so I was used to being away. However ‘away from home’ in Ireland is nothing more than a five hour drive away! I was a little nervous due to the fact I didn’t really know what to expect in Australia and was interested to see how I would deal with being away from my family, friends and, most importantly, dog for 8 months with a 10 hour time difference (I still joke with my sisters that it’s like time travel and I can see the future when I call home). I flew to Istanbul and Singapore first staying there for a week with a friend from home who was on exchange at a University there so I didn’t experience too much jet lag when I arrived in Australia. When flying into the Gold Coast Airport I was lucky enough to have a window seat and it was, to me, a scorcher of a day. I remember seeing all the mountains and rainforests in the hinterland and thinking how I never expected Australia to be this green. When I stepped off the plane I was hit with a gush of hot air which at first I thought was just from the engine of the plane but quickly realised it wasn’t. I was informed it was 28 degrees yet still only 7 am. It felt so good to get some warmth on my bones and a bit of colour in my pasty white skin. I don’t do well in the cold and rain which is funny coming from someone from Ireland however after a few weeks of double the standard Irish summer temperature I was longing for a bit of cool air! For the next few days I hung out enjoying the warm water and waves the Gold Coast has to offer while I waited for Ethan to arrive.

Ethan: After three excruciatingly long flights I finally touched down on the Gold Coast. Stepping off the plane into the heat of the Australian summer felt like the beginning of a holiday to me. I was lucky to find a place to live close to Bond prior to my arrival on the Gold Coast with some very friendly Australians. Over the course of my first week here I explored the Gold Coast and its never-ending beaches. Being able to swim in the sea without a wetsuit was a luxury compared to the icy ocean back home! The initial few days were a bit of a culture shock to say the least. Being this far away from home was very new to me and adjusting to the time difference with the jet lag was difficult enough. But, before long the homesickness wore off and I settled into the nice, easy-going lifestyle of the Gold Coast.

Beginning at Bond University

After settling in and gaining our bearings our new home, it was time for us to start our placement at Bond. On our first day we got our access cards and went on a tour of Bond’s lovely campus and got to see some of its great facilities. Afterwards, we went to the Bond Institute of Health and Sport to get set up with a desk/computer and to meet all the staff and PhD students. Everyone was very friendly to us and keen to get us involved with various projects going on. We also got to meet our supervisor and discuss our goals and what we hoped to learn during our time here. Our role during our placement at Bond was research assistants. This meant we were going to aid in the writing of research papers and help out with various research projects at the Institute

Opportunities and learning at Bond

Over the past six months we have both assisted and participated in many learning opportunities in a wide range of areas. One of our main projects while we have been at Bond has been acting as research assistants for one of the PhD students which involved collecting data and organising sessions with women AFL players. The study involves measuring many physiological and fitness components of women AFL players in order to determine if there factors which are consistent among elite players, if there is a certain ‘body type’ within positions and if any of these measurements link to injury status in the next few months. Assisting with this study allowed us to develop our organisational skills, perform tests in areas of flexibility, strength and speed while also getting to work with teams from elite level to recreational.

With strength and conditioning being an area of big interest for both of us, we decided to do the ASCA level 1 course in March as recommended by our supervisor. This course gave us a new insight into strength and conditioning and also reinforced knowledge we had learned in class back home. From here, in order to receive our qualification, we observed and assisted a number of strength and condition coaches in sports such as rugby and swimming.

Another key project we participated in was the research and writing of a systematic review. Started by the Interns from last year, we continued the research process and completed the writing of a systematic review on the effects of resistance training of hand tremor. Although this process was at times tedious we are proud that we finally finished it and will now be included in a published paper.

As part of our internship we attended weekly meetings with the Sports Science master students and discussed topics such as ‘talent identification’, ‘research procedures’, ‘best practice in Sports Science’ ‘data collection, analysis and presentation’ ‘ women in sport’ and ‘planning/decision making’. Guest speakers who were experts in the topic of that meeting attended and discussed with us their experience around the topic in sport. We learned a lot in these meeting that will help us with our final year projects next year when we return to Ireland.

From attending the above meetings we got the opportunity to use the GPS units within several sports at Bond including AFL, rugby and wakeboarding. With the GPS units being new and no one knowing how to work them we acted as trail researchers and assisted the Tech guy to smooth out any problems with them. Analysing the GPS data was really interesting as we saw links between how the distance covered and max speed ect. This data was then given to coaches in order to manage player load.

Aside from all the projects mentioned above we also got to participate in workshops, attend PhD confirmations, test athletes at the NRL TID day and observe the Irish men’s rugby team strength and conditioning sessions before their game in Brisbane which made Sinead very happy!

Travelling around Australia

During our free time we wanted to see and experience as much of Australia as we could. Over the last few months we have met people from all over Australia and the rest of the world, we’ve travelled far and near and we’ve experienced many aspects of Australian culture.

Although we’ve only being on the Gold Coast for a brief six months it feels like a new home to both of us. On our days off we would do day-trips to many of the beautiful national parks, mountains and waterfalls surrounding the Gold coast. Other times we drove up and down the coast to some other great spots such as Byron Bay and Moreton Island. For some of our bigger trips we flew to Sydney and Melbourne and spent a few days exploring the cities and all the great places each had to offer. The highlight of our travels so far would have to been the Great Ocean Road. Over the course of one weekend, we rented out a van with a couple of our friends and we road tripped along the Great Ocean Road. We saw some of the most impressive beaches, cliffs and locations that we’ve ever seen before. It was a once in a lifetime experience to say the least.

We were also very lucky to be in town for this year’s Commonwealth Games. Getting to watch the build-up and excitement before the Game and then to be able to experience the Comm Games in full flow amazing. We got tickets to see several of the events including the athletics, the women’s rugby and the triathlon. The atmosphere and the craic we had at each event was unforgettable.

On top of all the places we’ve visited around Gold Coast and Australia we’ve also had enjoyed great experiences here. Whether it be surfing in Burleigh, trying out acai bowls (never heard of them until we came here!) or just hanging out with our newfound friends. More recently we got to watch the Irish men’s rugby team play Australia in Brisbane. Sadly we lost but being surrounded by so many green jerseys made us feel as if we were at home.

All in all, we’ve had an unbelievable time here in Australia and working at Bond. We’ve gained some invaluable knowledge and work experience here at Bond as well as some great friends and life experiences.

Written by Sinead O’Reilly and Ethan O’Brien 

Find out more about studying Exercise & Sports Science at Bond. 

[oovitus]

Weekend Reading, 5.6.18

On Friday, I was honored to be a part of a conversation titled “Hot Topics in Eating Disorder Treatment,” hosted by Castlewood Treatment Centers and Balanced Eating Disorder Treatment Center here in New York City. The workshop’s moderators were Tammy Beasley and Melainie Rogers, both registered dietitians who specialize in ED treatment.

One of the topics under discussion was whether or not vegans can and should be treated in high-level, in-patient care. Tammy and Melainie invited me to share about my own recovery and relationship to veganism; I also shared a sample, 4,000 kcal outpatient meal plan.

For years, it has been the policy of many ED treatment centers not to accommodate vegan diets (vegetarianism is usually OK). This leaves vegan patients in the position of making potentially painful dietary choices or trying to “go it alone” with their care. I have the sense that many treatment providers are starting to question whether this stance is tenable, given a rapidly expanding vegan population in the US. Yet there’s very little research available to inform how vegans would be treated at higher levels of care, and many ED dietitians lack familiarity with plant-based diets and the foods that are available within them.

I was candid about the fact that I’ve never experienced in-patient care myself and that my ED preceded my veganism; in other words, I don’t have much perspective on re-feeding as a vegan eater. But I do feel that veganism has been an integral part of my healing process. I had regained physical vitality by the time I transitioned from being vegetarian to vegan, but I hadn’t yet made peace with food. Veganism animated my choices with a sense of purpose, compassion, and connection to life, and it turned out to be the cornerstone that I needed.

Veganism wasn’t a cure: it was part of a much bigger process of healing and self-examination that was only possible with extensive therapy and support. And I understand that the lifestyle that has been so healing for me can be a trigger or a hindrance to other people with restrictive histories. Melainie noted that vegetarian diets often serve as “smoke and mirrors” for the disease, and of course it’s important to acknowledge this, creating the necessary vigilance around it.

But I know that my experience with veganism isn’t singular, either, and my intention in sharing at the workshop was to acknowledge my own story and others. For those who are already firmly rooted in a vegan lifestyle when the ED develops, I believe that dedicated, well-researched vegan treatment options would serve as a compassionate expansion of the healing space. If I’ve learned anything about ED recovery, it’s that the process looks very different for each person; all the more reason for us to pave all of the pathways with informed guidance and support.

The workshop’s other two topics were the “language landmine” of eating disorder treatment—the fact that words like “healthy” are now loaded with complex meaning that hits each person differently. How can practitioners speak fluidly while also being mindful of language and its power? I loved this discussion; it gave me so much to think about as a blogger and a future RD. It reminded me how important it is to establish and clarify the meaning of words and phrases with my clients, rather than assuming that my own definition holds for the person I’m working with.

The final topic was bariatric surgery as a part of ED treatment. Another speaker detailed how surgery gave her the space and relief she needed to address Binge Eating Disorder and its role in her life. It was interesting to observe all of the mixed feelings about surgery and its complications in the room; the main concern voiced was that psychological and ED screening prior to surgery is often inadequate. The speaker made clear that her recovery, like mine, wouldn’t have been possible without therapy. But for her, therapy and its associated processing was only effective after the surgery helped to regulate her appetite.

The workshop left me with two main takeaways. The first is that ED treatment, along with all dialogs about food and body, is endlessly complicated. Much as practitioners might wish to be above reproach in how they treat, the reality is that we’re bound to make mistakes and to confront our own biases and judgments along the way. Better to be brave and keep doing the work, acknowledging that missteps will happen, than to shy away from it. This is an important lesson, especially since many RDs have ED histories of their own and may struggle with lingering perfectionism.

The other message I left with is one that I’ve felt in my heart for a long time, which is that we can create space for a multitude of recovery options without feeling the need to endorse any one of them as being exclusively valid. Nutrition is a science, but dietetics practice deals with people, and people are varied. Much as I believe that it’s important to collect research and data about ED treatment, using it to inform best practices, I also feel strongly that it’s important for providers to remain open to the possibility of new treatments. This includes treatments that aren’t appropriate for some or even most people with EDs, but may prove life-saving to others. A willingness to revise or broaden understanding is what science is all about.

It’s been a long time since I’ve opened up about recovery in an unfamiliar setting, and I definitely left the workshop feeling vulnerable. I worried that I hadn’t articulated my story clearly enough, and I felt as if there was so much more to say about the complexities of veganism and recovery. But it was in keeping with the spirit of the day to believe that speaking up, even if I did it imperfectly, was better than not speaking at all. And I’m really grateful to Melainie and Tammy for having created such a welcoming, courageous space for me and others to do that in.

I’m now just over a week away from my graduation, feeling exhausted but relieved that there’s an end in sight. Here are the recipes and articles I’ve been peeking at this week.

Recipes

Spring is here! And this lemony mint pesto potato salad is a perfect way to welcome it.

I can never have too many sloppy lentil recipes.

I love the idea of cauliflower rice in a big old pot of stew! Susan’s red lentil and cauli rice soup is genius.

Those ginger miso sweet potatoes, though.

I think I know what my first post-graduation baking project will be!

Reads

1. Nothing surprising here, but good to see it publicized: there are still significant nutrition knowledge gaps in medical training in the US.

2. Positive associations continue to emerge between Mediterranean-style eating patterns and protection of cognitive function.

3. On a similar note, nutrition researcher Walter Willett continues to call attention to the potential of meatless diets to prevent prevalent chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes.

4. It seemed appropriate that, right after Friday’s workshop, I found Roxanne Gay’s article on the choice to have bariatric surgery. It is a deeply personal meditation on a topic that often evokes strong feelings and opinions, and I think it’s brave of her to share her experience.

5. While we’re on the topic of courage: Olympic athlete Jana Pittman is speaking out about her 15-year battle with bulimia.

Anytime I’m part of a dialog about EDs, bodies, and food, I’m reminded of the strong cloud of shame that surrounds these topics for so many of us. I send love and gratitude out to any person who’s willing to speak, share, and shine a light.

Till soon,

xo

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[platforms2017-blog]

Meeting Producers

To consolidate our knowledge of producing with professionals in the same field, we met with local producers from the North East. We picked three producers whose job titles and backgrounds were each very different, allowing us to cover a wide range of the way producers work professionally and the different responsibilities each one had. We prepared questions relating generally to producing, as well as their specific journeys and fields of work now. These are the local Producers we met:

Morag Iles - Company Producer for Unfolding Theatre

Carole Wears - Owner of Carole W Productions

Verity Bartesch - Producer for Northern Stage

Question 1. How did you get into producing?

Morag- I went to Royal Holloway University to study Contemporary Performance Practice, and throughout my first few years I wanted to be a performer. The more I got through the degree I realised I’d fallen out of love with performing but wasn’t sure what else to do. I became a director for a while because I liked having ownership and still loved the arts. I also became a restaurant manager which gave me managerial skills, so I went to do an MA in Arts Management at Newcaslte University with the Tyne Theatre Fellowship.

Carole- I worked at Live Theatre as Front of House Manager for 22 years, but at the same time co-founded and was the Artistic Director for Prague Fringe Festival. I’ve always had the idea that in theatre, the most important thing for an audience to have at a show or a festival is an amazing night! And the artists of course! At Live I got the option to take redundancy so I took the leap! I’m currently self funded, I’ve had two unsuccessful Arts Council bids, but I ran my first season last year. My aim really was to bring a new audience to Alphabetti Theatre, but because I didn’t have any funding I just had to use any means possible to promote the shows!

Verity- I did Drama and Arts Management at De Montfort in Leicester which is now a complete degree in Arts and Festival Management. But really doing that degree gave me a taste for the management side of things. Throughout Uni I did work experience at theatre offices and the city council arts office. I also dabbled in different areas like facilitating, doing the Curve course for ‘young facilitators’. Eventually, in my third year I made a theatre company with some friends and we tried to put on a few shows and stuff. We also tried to set up a venue above a pub which took off more than the company did really! I ended up doing all the admin, finance and stuff so was producing and didn’t really realise it.

Question 2. Did you always want to be a producer?

M- No! I didn’t even really know what it was. I think there’s a lot more focus and exposure on producers nowadays than when I started.

C- I dabbled within the Prague Fringe, but I never really got the chance to do it at Live. Prague Fringe was the first Fringe Festival in Eastern Europe and 15 years later we’ve now got a full impact report and have inspired so many more festivals to start up in that area of the world which is great!

V- It really did come from all the work transitioning from uni. We tried to make the company and venue more professional, so we refurbished it and tried to gain a reputation. It’s still running now! I stayed until January 2016. I had a few jobs at different theatres and Spark Arts Festival in the ticket offices and bars. Curve in Leicester had a Stage One Producer Apprentice which I managed to get on, which was the best thing that happened. I need one here! I built my way up through the ranks and eventually left and came to Northern Stage.

Question 3. What is your favourite part of being a producer?

M- Making things happen! And working with artists that try to challenge norms. But I guess that’s a hard question because there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ approach to producing. Everyone produces differently and has different ways of doing things. For example I don’t produce work for tour, we have specific touring producers at Unfolding [the theatre company that Morag is based at two days a week].

C- Making people happy! For me it isn’t about making money, it’s the experience and the networking. I love to keep things intimate. We have the opportunity to expand Prague but I just love to make sure the artists feel that they have a full audience. I don’t want them to only have two people in because there’s a show on at the same time in this massive festival. I really care that everyone enjoys themselves and feels thought about! I’m yet to find a way to make a living out of this, I’m re-submitting my second Arts Council Bid for my second season as you’re allowed to do that so fingers crossed!

V- With work that we’ve produced in house, seeing the show and knowing it was worth it. The process from starting the show all the way through to opening night is so long, that when you finally see it, it does feel so worth it. I also love getting to see everything that goes on behind the scenes! I find it so interesting.

Question 4. Could you describe the type of work you produce?

M- We make participatory theatre using a creative process that is for, by, and with the participants. We use surprising combinations of people but we never let that happen in isolation, we always use community engagement. I feel the work we make is joyful! We celebrate people. Sometimes the work does deal with darker subject matters too but we find a way to transcend those stories and find the joy in their lives.

C- I’m not a creative producer! I haven’t made any shows from ‘scratch’. I love programming, finding artists with work with their own ideas, that I add value to by having them give workshops surrounding the work they make. If I’m honest, I want everything to just be a good night out. I believe you can tell a good story in an hour so I like ‘Fringe Type’ shows. I’ve not got many years of experience but I’m really committed to this and I’m honest about it which makes people trust me.

V- There’s two distinct areas for me, producing shows in house like we recently did Alice in Wonderland, where I get told by a director what the show will be and I get the rights and then get given a budget and the parameters of each show. This part is a lot about people and money, along with saying no when people ask for things! Basically in this role, anything that isn’t someone else’s job, is yours. The other side is receiving touring work, so programming, and marketing shows that aren’t made by Northern Stage but are performed here. 

Producer Specific Questions

After asking the same opening questions to each producer to get a feel for the way in which they saw their role, we then asked specific questions targeted at Morag, Carole and Verity and their companies. Below are a selection of these questions and their responses.

Specifically for Morag. How did you get involved in freelancing for so many different companies?

I get bored easily! I like to have my finger in loads of pies. I could possibly say that a flaw of mine is I say yes to too much. Everything excites me! I get myself into lots of different roles. Every time I meet new people I take on new opportunities. I don’t underestimate the background I had though, I was very fortunate that my parents could support me in a way that allowed me to do lower paid work when I was starting out.

Specifically for Carole. Do you work with anyone else? How would you say being in charge of the company alone compares to working as a team?

The company bears my name [Carole W Productions] which I like to think shows that if I’ll put my name on the work alongside theirs, they should trust me with everything that I do. I essentially do work alone, but I like to think that people like Lydia and Becky are on my team as they do favors for me all the time! Working alone means that I have an amazing amount of creative space, but in my old job working as a team definitely paid better!

Specifically for Verity. What kind of work did you produce before working at Northern Stage?

While I worked at Curve it was really different. We co-produced huge musicals with big commercial producers, as well as ‘straight’ plays. We don’t really do that here [Northern Stage] except for The Last Ship which we’re doing right now. We also had an input to Pink Sari Revolution which was the first time I’d had a commission involved with the research and development process. That’s something we do a lot actually, we commission research and development projects for them to sometimes not even end up as a show. 

Evaluation

We found meeting with these producers did really prove the point that Morag made in the first interview, that there is no one size fits all for the role of a producer. It’s a role that is really adaptable, and Verity made the point that in this role you do have to know the ins and outs of everyone’s job, even just a little bit, so that when a lighting designer comes to you for money for a gel, or a costume designer asks for money for fabric; you can warrant saying no if you know there is a cheaper or easier way of completing a task. 

Reference List

Bartesch, V. (2018) Conversation with Katie Wright and Polly Aconley, 12 February.

Iles, M. (2018) Conversation with Katie Wright and Polly Aconley, 6 February.

Wears, C. (2018) Conversation with Katie Wright and Polly Aconley, 6 February.

[autobizupdate]

Self-steering Volvo Truck set to Increase Brazil's Sugar-cane Harvest

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, June 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Volvo Trucks has developed a new self-steering truck that can become a significant productivity booster for Brazilian sugar-cane growers. The truck, which is used to transport newly harvested sugar-cane, is steered with great precision through the fields in order to avoid damaging the young plants that will form the following year's crop. At present, about four per cent of the crop is lost as young plants are run over and the soil is compacted by moving vehicles. This can translate into tens of thousands of US dollars in lost revenue per truck per season.  

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: http://ift.tt/2s6HBYZ

The automatic steering ensures that the truck is on the right course and distance to the harvester in order to avoid damage to the plants and compaction of the soil.

Video: http://ift.tt/2s6HBYZ

In Maringá, an hour's flight west of São Paulo, the Usina Santa Terezinha Group produces sugar and ethanol from its own sugar-cane crops. In the past growing season, the company's huge fields have served as a test area for a prototype vehicle from Volvo Trucks. The truck was developed to examine how automated driving can make it possible to avoid damage to soil and crops, thus boosting revenues. The potential for bigger harvests is significant - up to ten tonnes per hectare per year.

"With the help of Volvo Trucks' solution we can increase productivity, not just for one single crop but for the entire lifecycle of the sugar-cane plant, which lasts five to six years," explains Santa Terezinha's Finance and Procurement Director, Paulo Meneguetti.

At present, sugar-cane is brought in from the fields using harvesters and manually controlled trucks, which drive alongside each other at a low speed. When a truck is fully loaded and drives off to empty its load, the next one moves up next to the harvester and the procedure is repeated. The big challenge for the truck driver is to match the speed of the harvester and at the same time concentrate fully on driving in its tracks, so as not to trample the nearby plants that will become the following year's crop.

Volvo Trucks has solved the problem with a driver assistance system that automates steering. It ensures that the truck always maintains exactly the right course when it drives to, alongside and away from the harvester, so that the plants are not damaged by trampling. With the help of GPS receivers, the truck follows a coordinate-based map across the sugar-cane field. Two gyroscopes ensure that not only the front wheels but the entire vehicle is steered with great precision, to prevent the truck from veering more than 25 mm laterally from its set course. When loading, the driver can choose to regulate speed with the help of the vehicle's cruise control, or to accelerate and brake manually. Since the driver is released from the burden of the concentration-demanding and tiring high precision steering process, it is easier to remain focused and work in a more relaxed and safe way throughout the shift.

"With this solution we will soon be able to significantly increase the productivity of our customers in the sugar-cane industry. At the same time, we will improve their drivers' working conditions and safety. This in turn will make the job more appealing, and make it easier to recruit and maintain drivers," says Wilson Lirmann, President of Volvo Group Latin America.

This summer the research project will transition into the product development phase, with more vehicles being field-tested. After that, the solution can be expected to become commercially available in the foreseeable future. Already this year Volvo Trucks Brazil will offer its VM customers in the sugar cane industry an advanced GPS-based map-reading system that gives the driver far better scope for maintaining a predetermined course, even though actual steering will still be handled manually at this stage.

The self-steering truck being used for sugar-cane transport is one of Volvo Trucks' research and development projects for automated vehicles. Tests are currently under way on an autonomous truck for mining operations in the Kristineberg Mine in northern Sweden, and an autonomous refuse collection truck is being tested in Gothenburg, Sweden. The aim is to evaluate how systems with different degrees of automation can contribute to higher productivity, a better working environment, and improved safety.

Facts  

Vehicle: self-steering Volvo VM configured for sugar-cane transportation.

Automation: System with features such as GPS receivers, dual gyroscopes (IMU), stepper motor unit for steering, and driver display.

LINK to high-resolution images LINK

LINK to film LINK

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Press images and films are available in the Volvo Trucks image and film gallery at http://ift.tt/2ltOkoF

Volvo Trucks provides complete transport solutions for professional and demanding customers, offering a full range of medium to heavy duty trucks. Customer support is secured via a global network of more than 2,000 dealers and workshops in more than 120 countries. Volvo trucks are assembled in 15 countries across the globe. In 2016, more than 102,800 Volvo trucks were delivered worldwide. Volvo Trucks is part of Volvo Group, one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks, buses and construction equipment and marine and industrial engines. The Group also provides solutions for financing and service. Volvo's work is based on the core values of quality, safety and environmental care.

Note to Editors:

A picture accompanying this release is available through the PA Photowire. It can be downloaded from http://ift.tt/1qQDYPz or viewed at http://ift.tt/10ti725 or http://ift.tt/yqDhN3 .

For further information, please contact: Fredrik Klevenfeldt Director Public Relations and Social Media Volvo Trucks Tel: +46-31-322-1106; email: fredrik.klevenfeldt@volvo.com 

Read this news on PR Newswire Asia website: Self-steering Volvo Truck set to Increase Brazil's Sugar-cane Harvest

[leonardchang]

Harvardwood Interview

By Nicole Torres

Born in New York City and raised in Long Island, Leonard Chang largely credits his love of literature to his mother. Growing up, Chang read a majority of her English and American novel collections which she had brought with her from Seoul to America.

While his amateur writing career began at the age of seven writing long letters to camp friends, his ‘aha’ moment, the moment he knew he wanted to be a writer, came in high school during a memorable interaction with his best friend Joe. Perhaps during a conversation about their futures, Joe remarked that he wanted to be a writer and a lightbulb went off in Leonard’s head. He thought, “You can do that?” and from that point on the seed of desire to become a writer was planted in his brain. During high school, the two of them embarked on a mission to co-write a novel together, and while Leonard remembers it as “youthful, ambitious, and terrible,” he also remembers it as “damn fun to write.”

After studying at Dartmouth and interning with the Peace Corps, the next stop on his professional journey was Harvard. Leonard notes that the best thing about Harvard for his writing career was the time and space it provided him to work on his writing. He lived off-campus, recalls spending more of his time in cafes and bookstores than in classes, and impressively completed his first novel while he was still an undergraduate. This freshman effort he also remembers as “youthful, ambitious, and terrible, but damn fun to write.”

After Harvard, Leonard received a scholarship to attend the MFA program at University of California Irvine. Although the program was incredibly competitive, Leonard remembers his time there fondly as a great growing and learning experience that provided him with access to and the ability to learn from world-renowned writers. Not quite ready to leave at the program’s end, Leonard elected to remain an extra year and worked as a teacher while completing what would become his novel The Fruit ‘N Food, which won the Black Heron Press Award for Social Fiction and is taught at universities around the globe. Not too shabby for a first novel.

The Fruit ‘N Food was just the beginning of an impressive array of award-winning novels that would follow, including Dispatches from the Cold, a popular and critically-acclaimed noir trilogy, Crossings, and Triplines. Many of his books have been translated into several languages and are taught in courses throughout the world.

In addition to his accomplishments in literature, Leonard has also made a name for himself in television. His initial foray into television was largely inspired by the television revolution brought about by shows like The Sopranos, The Wire, and The Shield— just a sampling of the many shows he watched while he was living and writing in Oakland. Inspired by the great content and writing on these shows, his decision to break into Hollywood was almost impulsive.

He recalls, “I made the decision very quickly, literally giving away everything in my apartment, loading my trusty Honda Civic with my computer and rock-climbing gear, and driving down to Los Angeles to housesit for a friend while I began writing TV pilots.”

Soon after arriving in Hollywood, Leonard searched for communities of like-minded individuals. He quickly came across Harvardwood and the Harvardwood Writers Program. At the time, the program had just begun and he jumped on board immediately, participating in its second workshop. It was certainly time well spent, as one of the pilots he wrote during the workshop ended up becoming his main writing sample and was eventually optioned by Fox. As Leonard puts it, that was the beginning of his career in television.

Since breaking into Hollywood, Leonard has worked on shows such as Awake and Justified, and has written several screenplays. The latest show for which he is both writing and producing is Snowfall, which centers around the birth of the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles. The show takes the perspective of a varied assortment of Los Angeles characters and Leonard explains, “It’s our attempt to personalize and reveal stories about Los Angeles that haven’t been fully explored before, and despite the content, we tried very hard to focus on the characters and their real or constructed families—we looked for authentic people beyond some of the hackneyed stories about this world.”

But despite all his success in the television arena, Leonard has not left his novel writing days behind him. He also has a new novel coming out, The Lockpicker, which is a crime thriller that centers around two brothers. He spent a great deal of time researching the criminal elements of the novel, speaking to a number of professional criminals, and learning the ins and outs of burglaries and lockpicking. It was an effort that paid off, as early reviews of the novel are heralding its attention to detail and realistic criminal elements.

Asked about whether he has a preference for television or novels, Leonard maintains that he does not. To him, they are very different experiences and he explains, “Novels are very much a singular and personal experience, whereas TV is more collaborat[ive] and almost familial; some of the friends I’ve made in TV will be life-long. When you spend 8 to 10 hours a day with writers working on a show, a natural camaraderie develops, and I’m grateful for some of the friends I’ve made. This is what a lot of new writers don’t necessarily understand about TV—it’s not just the writing; there’s a communal aspect to making TV that requires more than just being a great writer: you need to be a part of a family.”

At least for the immediate future, Leonard seems to be focusing on television and film, and he is working on a multitude of different projects. When asked what is up next for him he replies, “I’m still a part of Snowfall(we’re done shooting the first season but are still editing), and I’m working on a few different TV projects in various stages. Some projects I’ll pitch; others I’ll write on spec; others I’ll work with directors or producers. At this very moment (literally today): I prepped a pitch based on a memoir about a stripper and sex worker; I met with comic book creators about adapting their comic book for TV; I read a draft of a feature screenplay which I was hired to do a revision for and which the first writer did another great draft; I worked on a spec pilot; and I’m prepping for a meeting with a director who wants to direct a TV version of a feature, which I hope to adapt. So I move from project to project, which is fun.”  Just a simple day in the office.

The number of projects on his plate might seem overwhelming to some, but hearing him describe his work ethic it comes as no surprise. Aspiring writers often hear the advice, ‘write every day’, and he certainly takes that adage to heart. Leonard writes every day, and he has been doing so since high school. These days, a typical day for him starts very early, around 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. If he’s on a show he heads straight to the office, and if he’s not on a show it’s gym first and then off to write. And he keeps at it all day, with the occasional meetings and calls interspersed between. As Leonard acknowledges, such discipline might seem “punishing” to some, but not if one enjoys the process of writing as much as he does.

That does not mean that everything he writes is publisher or screen-ready. Rather, Leonard emphasizes how often much of what he writes he ends up throwing away immediately afterward. He explains, “Then I look at what I’ve written and usually throw it out. But each draft gets honed and crafted, and the more I write and throw out, the closer I get to finding the jewel amidst the choss.”

He recommends the same process to aspiring writers, “If you want to write, you should be writing—and writing every day. No excuses. I know everyone has busy and full lives, but if you really want to write and have a creative life, then you must prioritize it. Forget about the Muse and being inspired to write—it’s a skill, a craft, a muscle, a way to see the world, and the more you do it the better you get. Here’s where you start: give yourself a daily goal. Write one page a day. It doesn’t have to be good. In fact it will probably suck, but that’s okay. Because if you write one page a day, then in 30 days you have a half-hour script; 60 days you have a hour pilot; four months you have a feature; nine months you have a novel. Then you throw it out and start over. And guess what, in another few months you have a better version. But more importantly you find your rhythm, your routine, and you begin to understand how important writing is to your life, and then the product becomes less vital than the process, and everything from there is gravy.”

This final statement gets at the core of Leonard’s motivation and writing philosophy. His own personal motivation for writing is that he enjoys the process so much, and he does not place as much emphasis on the finished product. Of course he wants his work to be genuine and authentic and resonate with the reader, but at the end of the day he writes for himself. His test? The following question: “Will I work on something even if no one but me will read it? If the answer is yes, then I do it. Writing is not just a job or a profession—it is very much a way of life for me; it helps me assimilate and process the world around me.”

This philosophy is something he shares with some of his favorite writers. In reading their biographies Leonard noticed a theme: “What struck me about many of my favorite writers is that even if they suspected they would never be successful or famous or rich, they couldn’t not write.”

He continues on to recall a particularly memorable anecdote. “When Faulkner was in his 30s he was getting rejected by everyone. He thought his career was over. He literally thought he would never be published again. His previous novels [had] failed, either commercially or creatively. But rather than demoralizing him, it liberated him. He wrote: ‘One day I seemed to shut a door between me and all publishers’ addresses and book lists. I said to myself, Now I can write. Now I can make myself a vase like that which the old Roman kept at his bedside and wore the rim slowly away with kissing it.’ And he then went on to write one of his greatest novels, The Sound and the Fury. That always struck me as the key. Now I can write. That’s the feeling you should always aspire to. F— everyone else. Now I can write.”

http://www.harvardwood.org/mp201705