#but what if I became an art major in this virtual little world?

[brick-van-dyke]

Me: I'm gonna write when I get home

Also me: I'm feeling A Bit Sad so I'm gonna play Sims instead

[neekachui]

As of June 1st, 2024, I have completed my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation! 🐝 This post is a little different from my usual art posts, but I simply wanted to share since it’s a pretty big thing that has happened in my life to have happened recently. I know I could just copy and paste one of the versions of my little spiel posted on the other pages I have, but what’s the fun in that, especially if I have more room to share here? Technically I already had a little speech here, almost ready to post, but it ended up not saving, so I’m going to try to recover what I can from my memory ,:0 (Also I feel like this is so much longer than my past little speeches on this combined, but I feel pretty good getting it all out once again ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

The past four years have definitely been a rollercoaster for me, and in so many ways. I started attending virtual classes while also being registered to an entirely different campus for my first two years, since a lot was happening in the world a few years ago—and still kind of is now, but that’s a whole other topic. Anyways, I eventually ended up transferring from Atlanta to Savannah by the end of that period, as it was overall a more beneficial option in several ways, and it wasn’t until my third year that I would finally attend classes in person. But even so, my third year still had me feeling a little out of place. I did attend class, but I feel like I had limited myself by wearing a mask a majority of the time. To put it simply, I feel like every year I had spent with this college, I was finding a new persona or side of myself, and while it did feel weird, they eventually helped me learn more about myself as well. When it was finally my senior year, it felt like I had somewhat of a blank slate, since I don’t think people recognized my face without the mask, or at least that’s what it felt like? I decided to make the most out of my final year, and while I would definitely do some things differently, I think I was successful in achieving that goal for the most part.

Overall, I feel like I had learned so much with each new experience. My last year was mainly made up of working on my senior capstone film, an adult comedy 2D-animated 3-minute short film, which I will definitely share more on in the near future hopefully. I was the last to join the crew towards the end of my junior year, but moving past the stress of finding a project to work on, I was grateful to have found all these new people specifically. They made it so that I really looked forward to show up to class, and even the people who signed up as extra help were also very fun to work with. Honestly, there was never a dull moment with them and I’m proud of what we had achieved in the school year. Of course, I met so many people outside of capstone as well. I still was a little shy still, I feel, since my ability to be more social would reset(?) from time to time, but if I even had a short conversation with you, or simply witnessed your presence, especially since I was surrounded by so many unique personalities on the daily, I am very grateful with the impact you have had on my time here, no matter how big or small.

In the end, I definitely grew more independent. From living alone, with the exception of a roommate and a kind neighbor who helped me every now and then, to familiarizing myself since Georgia was pretty new and different to me altogether. Savannah can also be a little scary sometimes compared to the familiarity of my own home, but I had taught myself to navigate with the help of the school’s not-so-perfect bus system and walks through the small city I en eventually became comfortable with. I didn’t have the luxury of a car or a bike that may have made travels a little smoother in retrospect, but I also grew to like taking in my surroundings whenever I could, since Savannah was fairly pretty. I had grown to like my new “normal”, so it feels a little weird that it’s all over? I don’t exactly remember how I had come to find SCAD, but I’m happy I made the choice to come here as I think it helped me grow closer to an even better version of myself. I definitely still have more room for growth, but I’m proud of what I had done in the past four years and the fact that I had come to allow myself to open up to new people and experiences, which did help me in my journey as a whole. I don’t have any specific plans or know what’s to come, but whatever it may be, I hope to make the most of it. There is so much I want to do, but for now I will be taking my time to rest and recover from the pretty big workload from all my classes over the years, while also continuing to express myself through my art and trying to build my social presence a little more!

*TLDR; I graduated college and while I’m surprised to have made it to another pretty big milestone in my life, I wanted to share some of my thoughts. I’m not sure if anyone is actually reading this, but another thing I had learned was sharing to some extent made me feel better rather than the past me who would usually keep everything bottled up to myself. I also am the kind of person who thinks a lot and doesn’t usually get the opportunity to share or put my thoughts together as I feel I kind of just go through whatever happens. I did journal for some time, but school work took my priority, so maybe I can get back into it soon. But if you did read this, I appreciate you <3 Whether you’re an incoming college student, or someone I’m already acquainted with/have seen my work before, I’m happy you saw my page in some facet. I’ve always loved art and hope to share more of my own personal work moving forward, as I love to draw inspiration from my own life and interests, in addition to trying to get involved in other projects whether related to animation or not. Thank you for coming to my not-T3D Talk! + Congrats to anyone else who has also graduated recently or reached a pretty big achievement in their lives :D

[sorinethemastermind]

Pinned Post

metas & theories | Edits & AMVs | Fics & AUs | Spotify

Hiya you can call me Soren / Thief till I figure out what my name is. This is the blog of someone who knows very little about themself other than their fandom so expect changes to everything except my level of nerdiness, which will only continue to grow. I aspire to someday be an androgynous, whimsical autumn fairy, but right now I'm only human. Either way, I prefer they/them pronouns.

I'm a virtual assistant by day, aspiring author also by day because sleep is important and I have the bedtime of a grandma despite being in my twenties. I love stories more than anything in the whole wide world (other than my family, love yall). So on this blog expect to get heavily, and regularly, inundated with Dragon Prince fics, edits, and theories.

I'm not a hater, so please don't come at me with that negativity. I'm trying to keep the vibes good in my little corner of the internet. I ship a lot of ships and I have a lot of headcanons, so be aware of that. You don't have to interact with any that you don't like, but let's keep it positive regardless.

I do take fic and edit requests, and my ask button is always open, so feel free to message me stuff. I will usually try to reply because I'm chronically online. However I've also always got at least 27 irons in the fire at once (specifically that number) so if I reply super duper slow it's not cause I hate you or anything, it's just cause I suck at time management.

I am a witch so if you're mean to me I will put a hex on you. You've been warned.

hub blog (chaotic) | image library

My Tagging System

➭ Spoilers = tdp s[#] spoilers ➭ Season Theories = tdp s[#] theories ➭ Arc Theories = tdp arc [#] theories ➭ Correct Theories = theories that became fact

➭ My Favorites = favs ➭ My sis' stuff = S is for Superb Sister ➭ Mutuals = [name] ➭ Masterposts = masterpost ➭ To Listen = to listen ➭ To Read = to read

Characters & Content ➭ Characters = [character name] tdp ➭ External Sources (comics, short stories, ect) = [source title] ➭ Ships = [ship name] ➭ Episodes = [#]x[#] ➭ Seasons = S[#] ➭ Arcs = Arc [#] ➭ Interviews / Cast & Crew / Tweets = behind the scenes ➭ Conventions = [con abbreviation] [year]

➭ Soren, Rayla, Callum, & Ezran = dragang ➭ Soren, Callum, & Ezran = soren & the broyals ➭ Rayla, Callum, & Ezran = rayla & the broyals ➭ Callum, Ezran = broyals ➭ Bait, Hat, Jellybug, & Sneezles = baitlings ➭ Soren, Claudia, Viren, Lissa, (sometimes Sir Sparklepuff) = magefam ➭ Rayla, Runaan, Ethari, Lain, Tiadrin, (sometimes Stella) = moonfam ➭ Janai, Karim, Khessa, Amaya, (sometimes Gren and Miyana) = sunfam ➭ Callum, Ezran, Harrow, Sarai, Amaya, (sometimes Damian) = crownfam ➭ Soren & Ezran = the knight and his king ➭ Soren & Claudia = lost sibs ➭ Soren & Viren = the failed son ➭ Ezran & Zym = another brother ➭ Claudia & Viren = what you taught me ➭ Harrow & Viren = like a brother ➭ Claudia & Aaravos = like a daughter ➭ Viren, Harrow, Sarai, & Lissa = once upon a better time

Organization of Analysis ➭ Metas / Analysis Posts = thoughts & theories ➭ Big Metas = major meta ➭ Smaller Metas = mini meta ➭ Headcanons = headcanons ➭ Unorganized Thoughts = inside the mind of a me ➭ Theories / Predictions = theories & predictions ➭ For Later Reference = thinking time Creative Pursuits ➭ Memes: crownguard soren's comedy hour ➭ Incorrect Quotes: incorrect quotes ➭ Edits: tdp edit ➭ Edits (music): tdp lyric edit ➭ Edits (ship series): tdp ship edit ➭ AMVs = amvs ➭ Gifs = gifs ➭ Phone Wallpapers = tdp phone wallpaper ➭ Computer Wallpapers = tdp computer wallpaper ➭ Profile Pictures = tdp icons ➭ My Fanart = my art ➭ Fan Art = A is for Amazing Artists ➭ Moodboards = tdp moodboard ➭ Playlists = tdp playlist ➭ Cosplays = tdp cosplay ➭ My Cosplays = my cosplay

Parallels & Topics of Analysis ➭ Parallels = tdp parallels ➭ Rayla & Soren = parallels: warriors of the heart ➭ Claudia & Soren = parallels: the son and the moon ➭ Claudia & Rayla = parallels: squeeze it out of them ➭ Viren & Soren = parallels: however dangerous ➭ Viren & Claudia = parallels: however vile ➭ Callum, Viren, & Claudia (sometimes Aaravos) = parallels: mages were his prey ➭ Callum & Viren: parallels: I would do anything ➭ Callum + Viren & Ezran + Harrow = parallels: and you should stand next to me ➭ Harrow & Ezran: parallels: the king my father was ➭ Viren & Runaan = parallels: I had become a monster ➭ Karim & Viren = parallels: a path to restore our strenght ➭ Ezran & Claudia = parallels: I know you understand ➭ Callum & Claudia = parallels: not anymore ➭ Rayla & Sarai = parallels: there is no monster to slay ➭ Aaravos & Claudia = parallels: because I too had a daughter ➭ Claudia & Leola = parallels: unique and quirky ➭ Viren, Claudia, & Soren = parallels: hearts of cinder ➭ Truth & Lies: truth & the half moon ➭ The Cycle & Destiny = theme: destiny is a book ➭ Dark Magic & Corruption = theme: snakes & monsters ➭ Death & Rebirth = theme: with my eyes open ➭ Love & Sacrifice = theme: a song of love and loss

My Campaign for Arc Three ➭ All Campaign Posts = for the saga ➭ Fandom Events = fighting for the saga ➭ Countdown Posts = countdown for the saga ➭ Moodboard Series = reflection for the saga ➭ Showdowns = showdown for the saga

CommunityContent TDParc3Week | Snake Boi Callum Week 3.0 | SorvusWeek2024 |

➭ Posts I'm tagged in = thanks for the mention! ➭ Replies to Asks = thanks for the ask! ➭ Replies to my Asks = thanks for the reply! ➭ Fandom Events = fandom event ➭ Brackets / Votes = showdown ➭ My Fandom Events = my fandom events ➭ About the Fandom = the greatest fandom

Fanfic Content Aftermath Fic | Remnants Fic | The Book of Destiny fic | Foundations Fic | Two Birds on a Wire fic | Dragon Falls fic | Call the Darkness fic | it's quicker and easier to eat your young fic | the book of destiny fic | Dragon Falls AU | Primal AU | ➭ Under 1K words (oneshot) = drabble ➭ Under 5K words (oneshot) = ficlet ➭ Over 5K words (oneshot) = fanfic ➭ Standalones = oneshot ➭ Smut = sandwhiches ➭ Gore = an ancient and disturbing practice ➭ All Modern AUs = modern au ➭ My Fics = my fic ➭ Co-Written Fics = co-written fic ➭ Other's Fics = W is for Wonderful Writers ➭ Six Sentence Sunday = six sentence sunday ➭ WIP Wednesday = wip wednesday ➭ Writing Prompts = writing prompt list ➭ Writing Prompt Replies = thanks for the prompt! ➭ Fics about a certain ship = [ship name] fic ➭ Fics about a certain character = [character name] fic Each of my fanfic universes will also have a specific title under which all of them are filed. You can find more information on my fics here

[mcbrownartapp]

Virtual Sketchbook #1

1.) Five facts about Jackson Pollock and his work Autumn Rhythm No 30:

Jackson Pollock made his first “drip” or “action painting” in 1947, where he lays the canvas on the floor and used multiple methods of applying paint including drips, splatters, and brushworks from above.

Another one of Pollock’s paintings (No. 5, 1948) became the world’s most expensive painting of that time selling in May of 2006 for 140 million dollars.

Pollock had a movie Oscar winning movie made about him titled, “Pollock”.

Autumn Rhythm No. 30 was bought for $20,000 from Pollock’s estate following his untimely death at the age of 44 in 1956.

Autumn Rhythm No. 30 is currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

My first thoughts when looking at Autumn Rhythm was that it seemed chaotic and a little overwhelming. Having little exposure in art and not fully comprehending intentions when it comes to abstract work, I felt like I wasn’t understanding what the artist was trying to convey. But the more I looked at it, I began to see the flow and movement in the patterns of paint. After researching the art piece and its creator, Jackson Pollock, I have come to learn that what I first saw as chaos is the opposite. Pollock purposefully and intentionally made each stroke, splatter, and drip the way that he wanted, making the abstract painting a uniquely beautiful piece or artwork.

Autumn Rhythm (No. 30) Jackson Pollock

2.) This is from a picture from a coloring book my mom finished while she was receiving treatment at Moffitt Cancer Center. She had just undergone a bone marrow transplant that required a very potent dose of chemo that left her unable to talk, walk, stand or do much else. She was, however, able to create the picture. She was fighting for her life and was still able to put bright, hopeful colors into it. This was an incredibly difficult time for my family and despite the odds, my mom pulled through and beat leukemia. I have this up in my room as a reminder of the strength it took to get through that time and to always try to look on the bright side.

3.) My name is Mary. I am a 29-year-old Caucasian female (recently turned 29, 30 is still aways away 😊).  I am from Fort Wayne, Indiana. My family used to vacation in Siesta Key and always dreamed of living in Florida. We finally were able to move to North Port in 2018. My favorite thing to do when I don’t have much going on is puzzles. My friends call me an old lady because I would rather stay in doing puzzles than go out most times. I have been a bartender/server since I was 19, which is long enough. I am very ready to finish college and begin on a new career path. A unique part of me is that I aspired to be a professional photographer, specializing in landscapes, architecture, and animals. My original major at SCF was Digital Photography, but after I became pregnant with my first child in 2022, I decided to switch to a more stable profession in the medical field. I hope taking Art Appreciation will allow me to learn more about my creative side and I can continue pursue photography as a hobby.

4.)

[frankhightower]

If I became a billionaire (at each stage of my life)

Today's journal is a bit different, and arguably not art related. It's just something that's been bugging me and I need to get off my chest.

I've written before what I would do if I suddenly became a billionaire right now, and what I would’ve done if that had happened when I became of age (you don’t need to read those to understand this, just know they exist). Today I want to explore what I would’ve done if I’d become a billionaire at different stages in my life, because the answer is always the same:

There’s this problem I’m noticing… how is nobody working on it?!

age 6: The missing words problem

I noticed quite early on that I had a lot I wanted to say, I just didn’t have the words to say, and there was no way to help me find those words. Here I did learn the reason: adults tend to assume that kids’ thoughts are just simpler.

If I’d become a billionaire at this age (after, let’s be honest, buying a few toys) I would’ve put my resources towards this problem. There would’ve been an avalanche of books with things like “So you’re not happy but you’re not sad but you don’t like it? That’s called ‘unhappy’. Oh, you’re disappointed by how stupid that word is and now feel a little angry too? Welcome to ‘upset’!” and with things like “Does it feel like there’s a song that forces you to think about it again and again and you can’t stop? That’s called ‘getting it stuck in your head’.”

age 8: The licensing problem

Another thing I noticed early on is that companies are terrible with licensing. I first noticed it with Talespin where Don Karnáge’s popularity (recurring villain) was glaringly obvious if you ever saw a kid watch the show (he was the only one kids would imitate in the playground!) But Disney never capitalized on this. There was never a Don Karnáge movie or series or even toys while the series was running (okay, fine, there was 1 action figure, but the stores always stocked less of him than the others and he was stupid expensive, while Molly which honestly no one cared about got 3 action figures in 3 price ranges and a McDonald’s Happy meal toy!)

Then I noticed it with The Magic School Bus, which started pointing me to the cause of the problem: every decision had to be funneled through just the 2 authors!

But what finally made me realize this was a major problem was The Disney Store. Probably the most obvious idea for a global store chain ever, but no one could do anything with the idea except stare at Disney very intently and hope that would will them into doing it themselves (you have no idea how hard it was to get Disney merch in the early 90s! Virtually no stores carried it, and even with access to the internet and paper catalogues there was no way!) I would be in college before a Disney Store made it to me because simply contacting Disney was a hopeless mess! And I looked back and every IP holder ever was just that bad at being contacted. Surely someone could step in and fill the niche?

…And then there was Pok��mon. I’ve mentioned you simply couldn’t get a Pokémon hat during the height of pokémania, it was not one of the “approved” products. This is when I realized: fans could do it (but it would take about a decade before they did). All they needed was a way for the company to give them the OK and, if they were successful, they would eventually be able to mass-produce it. Wouldn’t we live in a much better world if companies operated like this instead of decrying trademark and copyright violations left right and center?

And sure, some things would still get shut down. If you’re basically porting Pokemon Red to play in the browser (which was probably the most searched for thing at the time) the parent company is probably going to say no, the whole point is to play it on a Gameboy. But wouldn’t it be worth it for all the stuff they could now say yes to?

age 10: The housing problem

I noticed there was a global housing problem at this age and no one was talking about it (we’re talking late 90s/early 2000s here). I also realized the problem was not that there wasn’t enough square miles of city space dedicated to housing, it was just bad housing! I was already playing SimCity by this point, so I knew the solution was a) to densify and b) to put jobs and shops closer to the housing. But I didn’t want to turn every city on Earth into Lower Manhattan; I saw in the shrinking malls, a huge potential. Here was a single structure with well defined spaces where everything was in walking distance, was centrally located, and was car-accessible (sometimes with customer loading bays on the higher floors!) A lot of them also have dedicated office spaces. How hard would it be to turn at least some of those offices into apartments (which also had the advantage of requiring less parking and therefore freeing up even more space)? The small town/friendly neighborhood feel people kept saying they missed was all-but guaranteed!

Of course, the people who move in here would leave “bad housing” behind. Those you could turn into Lower Manhattan, since then you’ll have “missing middle mixed use” housing spread out at de-facto random!

age 12: The media bubble problem

I also noticed early that people were retreating into their own little bubbles with their own little opinions, worlds, and facts (harmless ones at this time like whether it was best to brush your teeth 2 vs 3 times a day but still worrying). This was still the age of cable, so what you were getting was “the Nickelodeon tribe”, “the Cartoon Network tribe” and *shudder* “the HBO tribe” and I could see this wouldn’t stop. Bubbles would get smaller and smaller until everybody was, essentially, alone, validated only by someone they could find on the other side of the world that happened to consume the same content. What would I have done with my riches to combat this? It’s quite simple: bring back the TV guide. The first step to stepping out of your bubble is knowing what exists outside of it.

I was “poor” (I couldn’t afford cable) so I wasn’t a member of any tribe. But because I overheard the names of the shows and channels, I could search the internet for them and still, well, have friends. But I could see this mechanism was unsustainable and that many people were already being isolated for not having caught on to this new way of doing things. Someone had to make it explicit! …No one ever did.

age 14: The digital divide

This was a problem that was talked about a lot in the early 2000s but no one did anything about (not in any serious way anyway). The problem was that, like Literacy vs. Functional Literacy, it’s not enough that you can sit at a computer and know that the mouse controls it, you need to know how to use the computer. What does Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V do? Which programs can I draw in? What do and don’t I need a Wacom-style tablet for? There was a lot of questions people had about technology that, honestly, made their lives difficult and no one was seriously tackling.

Unfortunately, there was no easy solution to this except hire a lot of people to tutor every one of them, personally, as some sort of pseudo-government program. Today, sure, you could probably define some software that detects when you don’t know how to use Ctrl+C and just tells you, but back then that was a little underdeveloped (*cough* Clippy *cough*). You would need to hire and train a lot of people to tutor everyone who needed to be brought in, and that would cost a lot of money. Maybe a billion dollars.

This problem was eventually considered to solve itself when smartphones became compulsory for things like …oh… taking the plane or paying for utilities… but we could’ve solved it so much earlier, so much better.

age 16: Literature's "missing middle"

Here’s a problem I don’t think is seriously being tackled yet: there’s Children’s books (picture books), there’s Young Adult books (Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, etc), and there’s Adult books (self-help, classical literature, etc). There’s “chapter books” for children to transition into young adult books …But there is no large genre to pick from for Young Adults to transition into Adult books. Surely there’s writers out there who are capable of such a feat, but are just lacking the resources?

And further, “Chapter books” are a uniquely English-speaking phenomenon and only exist because, wait for it, a lot of resources were poured into it in the past. Surely the genre can be, dare I say, kickstarted in other languages in a similar way?

age 18: Youth credit

So I start college and get a scholarship and a bank account it can be deposited into. Surely that means I now have access to credit? Psyche! Of course not! I was made to wait until the end of my Junior year before any bank would give me any form of credit. I have a lot of opportunities I missed because I was, like, $10 short which I’m sure I could’ve put on credit if I’d had one!

At this time, Muhammad Yunus was making headlines for pioneering “microcredit”. He realized NINJAs didn’t need houses, they needed small bits of aid for small investments that would slowly lift them out of poverty (as a personal example, I own a bicycle, but for years I couldn’t use it because I didn’t have a bike lock to tie it up with when I got anywhere. As soon as I was able to afford one, I was able to bike to the store of my choice, buy my own food, and therefore eat healthier, and therefore feel better, and therefore be more productive, and, yes, make more money!)

It didn’t take a genius to put the two together and realize young people needed such “microcredits” too. Such a thing had the potential to move the economy enough to get us out of the global financial crisis! (Could they just blow it all on video games? Sure, but remember the bubbles, that gives them access to a “tribe” which also has the potential of making them “feel better and therefore more productive”!)

…apparently, though, it did take a genius, because no one did it, no matter how much I “stared at them intently hoping that would will them into doing it.”

age 20: Adult friend-making

I noticed very quickly that, as an adult, it’s very hard to make friends. Still a student, I was able to find some clubs that I was interested, but I never became friends with the people there. (For one, they all seemed to assume I must have a car, which… look at the last one. For another, they wanted “drinking buddies”…I wanted someone to have a sober conversation with, and not just because my body can’t handle alcohol well!)

Even if I had, I could see there was no such clubs available once I graduated. What was I going to do, found “the anime club” for adults? Build a school playground for grownups? That would take like a billion dollars!

age 22: Student secretaries

Students need help. No not like that; again, it’s always the little things. Sometimes it’s someone you can ask to Google something for you while your hands are occupied. Sometimes it’s just… someone you can reliably tell “remind me to [blank]”. Friends, family… they never remember. They aren’t paid to.

The service does exist, it’s called a remote assistant, but it’s intended for, well, older people, which makes it expensive.

I realized this thing used to exist. “Upperclassmen” would be assigned a “Freshman” that would help them with little tasks like “return this library book for me”, while the “upperclassman” would explain, well, all the things people take for granted you “know” in that campus, such as where to get a friggin’ drink of water! I can’t tell you how much I suffered as a newbie just trying to get water!

Okay, tangent over. The point is the relationship is temporary because the upperclassman is supposed to graduate, so even if it does cease to be mutually-beneficial, it’s short-lived.

Reintroducing such a program (especially in multiple campuses) would need some kind of backing… some kind of sponsorship… some kind of… billion dollars.

age 24: Art tagging

As I began my first incursion (though not my first attempt) into the online art world, I realized just how terrible the art sites were. Surely by now there would be some kind of “just drop in” service for your art that automatically does part of the work for you? Sure, it can’t write your thoughts on your art, but surely image recognition was at the point where the art could be tagged automatically for things like setting, species, or colors?

No, of course not. Now that it’s been about a decade, we know no one was serious about this, they just wanted AI art.

age 26: Legal directory

Accepted for a masters scholarship, suddenly I had a lot of questions: How do I apply for one of those big credits? What international treaties affect me? What even is notarization and why does my grade report need it?

The problem is, simply, that I had no one to ask. I still don’t. (I mean, someone who actually knows, not just throw it out on the internet or hope my parents coincidentally had the same problems). Surely there’s a business opportunity just… answering people’s basic legal-adjacent questions and telling them “these are the people in your area that can help you”? Why isn’t this a normal thing yet?

age 28: The things you should "know"

New town, new university… and I realized there was a lot of things people expect you to just “know”. My biggest gripe was: my big-city DMV requires you to make an appointment, while college-town DMV was walk-in only. It took me six months—six months—to get a straight answer out of anyone on this regard and I’m still upset about that!

But I was, overall, doing fine. It was still a city, I know cities. Some even-smaller-town people were having a bit of trouble adapting to the “city” but, eventually they got it.

It really hit me how bad it was when winter came and the exchange students from the tropics started panicking. No one had told them about thermal underwear. Or hot drinks. Or wind chill. Or hats. They were spending all their money on Hollywood-movie-style coats and at a loss why they “weren’t working”. They were expected to just “know”.

So if one billion dollars were to fall in my lap at that point? I’d come up with a guidebook. There was a lot of guides that had been very helpful when coming to this new college, but none about these specific things. I’d also probably do an extra year, but the guidebook would’ve been first.

age 30: Infrastructure resilience

No one was talking about the “crumbling infrastructure” (at least not yet), but I could see it and saw it was a global problem and I was worried. At this point, I knew I needed to worry for myself first, so I focused on getting APCs to survive blackouts, storing water to survive water cuts, and learning to use WiFi Tethering to survive internet outages (and a good thing I did!) But I knew a lot of people didn’t know about these things. They didn’t even know APCs existed. But what could I do? I was barely able to afford the 2 APCs I did get (though, by my math, we needed at least 5). Some kind of massive battery backup program would require like a billion dollars!

Riches really are wasted on the rich.

[zenruption]

LSD--The Woke Drug

The United States is not alone in its drug policy, but we and the rest of the world need to rethink our approach to drugs. Recent years have yielded some progress in that marijuana is now legal in the majority of states in some form or fashion (ahem, Idaho!). However, there is still much to change and learn. We tend to accept that people wanting to explore higher consciousness risk severe criminal prosecution. We spend little time trying to understand the potential value in certain substances and we ignore the harm in others. We’ve allowed ourselves to be hypnotized into thinking that drugs like LSD and fentanyl belong in the same conversation. They don’t. Drugs like LSD don’t have lobbyist, like pharmaceuticals, so reversing their legality is a longshot.

LSD suffered the same ostracization that “woke culture” is now experiencing. And it makes sense in a way, because using psychedelics is definitely a method for becoming “woke”. This author doesn’t use the term pejoratively, however. What could be better than awakening in a world full of sleepwalkers who are just fine with destroying the planet, letting our children murder each other with assault rifles and prescribing medications to numb us to this nightmare? Yes, I’ll choose woke.

LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) is a powerful hallucinogenic drug that was first synthesized by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in 1938. The creation of LSD was a result of Hofmann's work on synthesizing the active compounds in ergot, a fungus that grows on rye and other grains.

Hofmann was working for the pharmaceutical company Sandoz (now Novartis) at the time, and his goal was to synthesize compounds that could be used as vasoconstrictors or drugs that constrict blood vessels. In the course of his work, he synthesized lysergic acid, a compound found in ergot that had been known for many years to have psychoactive properties.

Hofmann was intrigued by the possibility of using lysergic acid as a psychiatric drug, and decided to synthesize a more potent derivative of the compound. He created LSD by combining lysergic acid with diethylamine, a common laboratory reagent, and isolating the resulting compound.

Initially, Hofmann was not aware of the hallucinogenic properties of LSD, and it was only later, while testing the drug on himself, that he discovered its powerful effects. On April 19, 1943, Hofmann inadvertently ingested a small amount of LSD and experienced vivid hallucinations and altered perceptions that lasted for several hours.

Following the discovery of its psychoactive effects, Sandoz began to distribute LSD to researchers and psychiatrists for use in clinical trials. The drug was initially used in psychotherapy to treat a range of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, and alcoholism.

However, LSD soon became popular outside of clinical settings, and its recreational use grew rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly among young people seeking new forms of consciousness exploration. The drug's popularity was fueled by its association with the counterculture movement, and LSD was often used in the context of musical performances, art exhibits, and other cultural events.

Despite its initial promise as a therapeutic tool, LSD was eventually banned in many countries due to concerns about its safety and potential for abuse. Today, LSD is classified as a Schedule I drug in the United States, meaning it is considered to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use.

Although it is considered to have a high potential for abuse, there is virtually no evidence of that. What is known is that it isn’t an effective “truth serum” like sodium pentothal, but it provided a truth of sorts, but not one useful in interrogations. In fact, it is the truth that is revealed that puts it in the naughty category because the truth it reveals is that of the woke.

[m-r-levine]

The setting for Malados is the same world and time period as La Mala Suerte, except stretched over some 800+ miles of landscape further west of the central village and ruins.

Near the center of the map, the red X for what is currently called thetalita nueva is roughly where the arc of La Mala Suerte takes place. The red dotted lines are major trade routes. The path Teca and Vishan take in Malados is entirely informal, but more or less passes between roca de vela and crosses the upper end of Rio Sangria just south of cuidad de la puerta del sol, skirting the borders of tierra de amaneceres carmesi near one of the upper branches of rio rubicundo.

The land is very near what our own earth would have looked like in The Southwest™️ circa 1830s - that is, somewhat significantly less deforested and not the overgrazed and strip-mined landscape we know today.

I have been working in this world for almost five years now and have basically made a virtual nest from piles and piles of real-world reference art and narratives (largely ink and watercolors as well as photos of surviving artifacts and living history/experimental archeology projects from museums and private collections) from the whole region from the late 17th through early 19th century. The aesthetic is pretty firmly rooted in the very real material culture of northern Mexico in the decades shortly after the independence from Spain.

Aaand then I diverge from it in the specific political sense, in religion and philosophy and magic. That part I struggle to explain to anyone and the attempt just feels like

…but in a physical sense, I imagine the clothes and tools and technologies in that world would evolve in much the same ways as our own, because really I only gave them a little magic… and declared much of the folklore and myth and superstition and religious experience to be really actually literally real for them. Including the power to animate fossils as semi-autonomous guardian beasts. What is more terrifying than the reality of finding mammoth bones in the creek? The idea that they could stand back up and trample you.

Of course in the extremely troubled beta process it became clear that some… things… I took for granted as Common Knowledge For The Target Audience in our own world are far more regional and specific than I thought, so that’s… a thing I will need to address at some point, somehow. Trying not to think about those challenges at present since it has a tendency to derail my ability to draft anything at all.

Writing is hard. 😅

Let’s discuss the setting of your story! If it’s modern world, what is the town of city like? What’s your favorite way to describe the aesthetic? If it takes place in a made-up location or a fantasy world, tell us a bit about that, too!

[ladyjaja]

entry 3 ... the lobby of castle conejo 1/2 ~ the bookstore .. talking about virtual books

here is what you see when you enter the castle.. three doors.. lets disregard the blue door for now and learn about whats behind the red doors.. starting with the door on the left

the bookstore has all the virtual books that conejo has produced, and theyre all for free, theres a LOT here...

the room is optimized for reading right there, as all the books on the shelf contain a book you can attach to yourself.. appearing as a HUD!

yes.. all the books in here can be read anywhere.. you can also rez them in-world.. about 3 landimpact and the books are fully readable

the book was created using the NekoToys BOOK ( located here --> https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/NekoToys-BOOK-Copy-Transfer-OK/15323559 ) .. if you want to make your own books.. they have copy and transfer permissions, i recommend it, as its easy to use ^,,^

like i said, all these items are free.. the first shelf matches the poster infront of it, these are all the CONEJODIGEST issues, CONEJODIGEST is a magazine organized by me that contains news of things that happened in conejo as well as contributions from friends in conejo.. these are the most important distributions in the bookstore..

theres 5 issues, they all have a lot of stuff, they were created within two months of eachother usually.. most of them are available to read in pdf format here --> https://casaconejo.info/conejodigest/directory.html .. theres a wide range and i guess you can learn a lot about conejo through them if you know nothing, even if you know everything about conejo its enjoyable.. they contain the issue itself and two posters each, you can put these posters in the walls of your home, and these posters appear around homes in conejo itself too

 these are very proud products of conejo.. conejodigest on its own could warrant its own post.. but im trying not to get too ahead of myself.. a LOT of things warrant their own post around here

i havent been able to produce new issues of conejodigest because they are stressful for me, since i make a majority of the pages its a lot of work and i became very busy with working on my visual novel that i didnt have time for the digest, or even big scale events besides conejobeat, because its the one event im not the sole organizer for ^,,^; .. regardless i am not leaving the digest in the dust.. and eventually a new digest will emerge.. when i feel like it!

the second shelf has more individual things.. most importantly a wafa plush, probably the most useless bookstopper ever and only there for cuteness and because i love it.. and then also 3 books.. left to right:

the conejo island official info miniguide: this book was created to give people a rundown of conejo stuff, some of the info in it is outdated, like the map (note: a lot of maps around conejo are outdated, for a while i just gave up keeping up because conejo was changing so much geographically.. but i guess now is a period of calm? nothing has changed.. yet im scared to make a map in belief that it will jinx it and the virtual tectonic plates will attach or remove another 1024sqm parcel) it holds up for its purpose..

yayebunny volume 1: this is a little picture zine of photos osa & i took of a stuffed bunny i take everywhere, these are all irl photos.. this is really cute and probably the only not really conejo related book here..

holy conejobeat official artbook: the most recent and most ambitious conejobeat, holy conejobeat had a lot of artwork attatched to it, this is an artbook initially distributed during the event that contains all holy conejobeat related artwork,  theres art by my closest friends in here as many of my own paintings

last and least (cuz it isnt a book) is the heartlovepowertemple free cd item that i gave away the day heartlovepowertemple came out .. it doesnt contain the actual VN, its a decorative cd with custom textures all over.. its really pretty, if you want it in your house.. and next to the shelf we see the conejopress poster, which gives details for those interested in submitting their own books to the library

[1vintage]

Ocean Vuong on Metaphor

below is a transcript of an Instagram story from Ocean Vuong, available here in his story highlights under Metaphor.

Q: How do you make sure your metaphors have real depth?

metaphors should have two things: (1) sensory (visual, texture, sound, etc) connector between origin image and the transforming image as well as (2) a clear logical connector between both images. 

if you have only one of either, best to forgo the metaphor, otherwise it will seem forced or read like “writing” if that makes sense.

~

a lot of ya’ll asked for examples re:metaphor. I can explain better if I had 15 minutes of class time (apply to UMASS!). But essentially, metaphors that go awry can signal a hurried desire to be “literary” or “poetic” (ie “writing”), which can lose traction/trust with a reader. in other words, a metaphor is a detour—but that detour better lead to discoveries that alter/amplify the meaning of what is already there, so that a reader sees you as a servant of possibility rather than someone trying to prove that they are a “writer.” One is performative, the other exploratory. In this way, the metaphor acts as a virtual medium, ejecting the text’s optical realism into an “elsewhere”. But this elsewhere should inform the original upon our return. otherwise the journey would feel like an ejection from a crash rather than a curated journey toward more complex meaning.

example:

“The road curves like a cat’s tail.”

This is a weak metaphor because the transforming image (tail) does not amplify/alter the original. The transfer of meaning flattens and dies. Logic is weak or moot: A cat’s tail does not really change the nature of the road. You can certainly add to this with a few more expository sentences which might rescue the logic—but by then you’re just doing cpr on your metaphor.

Sensory, too, is weak: a cat’s tail has little optical resemblance to a road other than being curved (roads are not furry, for one.)

So this is 0 for 2 and should be scrapped. (Just my opinion though! Not a rule!)

okay so what about:

“The road runs between two groves of pine, like the first stroke of a buzzcut.”

this is better. the optical sensory of the transforming image (a clipper thru a head of hair) matches well with the original.

but the logic feels arbitrary. again it doesn’t substantially alter the original.

in the end this is just an “interesting image” but not strong enough to keep I’d say.

Now here’s one from Sharon Olds:

“The hair on my father’s arms like blades of molasses.”

Sensory connector: check. A man’s dark hair indeed can look like blades (also suggestive of grass) of molasses.

Logical connector: check. the father is both sharp and sweet. Something once soft and sticky about him (connotations of youth) sweets, has now hardened the confection no longer fresh etc.

It’s an ambitious metaphor that is packed with resonance. In other words, it does worlds of work and actually deepens the more you dit with it. A metaphor that actually invites you to put the book down, think on it, absorb it, before returning. a good metaphor uses detours to add power to the text. poor metaphors distract you from the text and leave you bereft, laid to the side.

lastly, the prior examples are technically “similes” but I believe similes reside under the umbrella of metaphor. although a simile is a demarcation, ie: this is “like” that. but this is “not”, ontologically, that.

however, I think something happens in the act of reading wherein we collapse the “bridge” and the mind automatically forges synergy between the two images, so that all similes, once read, “act” like metaphors in the mind.

but again this is all subjective. you might have a better way of going about it.

Another very ambitious metaphor is this one from Eduardo C. Corral:

“Moss intensifies up the tree, like applause.”

This is a masterful metaphor, risky and requires a lot of faith, restraint, and experience to pull it off.

Difficult mainly because we now see a surrealist “distortion” of the sensory realm: origin IMAGE (moss) is paired with transforming SOUND (applause).

There is now a leap in comparable elements. But the adherence to our two vital factors are still present.

Sensory: moss, though silent, grows slowly (the word “intensifies” does major work here becuz it foreshadows the transforming element). Applause, too, grows gradually, before dying down.

Logic: the growth of the moss suggests spring, lushness, life, resilience, and connotes anticipatory hope, much like applause. In turn, applause modifies the nature of moss and imbues, at least this moss, with a sense of accomplishment, closure, it’s refreshment a cause for celebration.

God I love words.

~

I’ve gotten so many responses from folks the past few days asking for a deeper dive into my personal theory on metaphor.

So I'm taking a moment here to do a more in-depth mini essay since my answer to the Q/A the other day was off the cuff (I was typing while walking to my haircut appointment).

What I’m proposing, of course, is merely a THEORY, not a gospel, so please take whatever is useful to you and ignore what isn’t.

This essay will be in 25 slides. I will save this in my IG highlights after 24 hrs.

Before I begin I want to encourage everyone to forge your own theories and praxi for your work, especially if you’re a BIPOC artist.

Often, we are perceived by established powers as merely “performers,” suitable for a (brief) stint on stage—but not thinkers and creators with our own autonomy, intelligence, and capacity to question the framework in our fields.

It is not lost on me, as a yellow body in America, with the false connotations therein, where I’m often seen as diminutive, quiet, accommodating, agreeable, submissive, that I am not expected to think against the grain, to have my own theories on how I practice my art and my life.

I became a writer knowing I am entering a field (fine arts) where there are few faces like my own (and with many missing), a field where we are expected to succeed only when we pick up a violin or a cello in order to serve Euro-Centric “masterpieces.”

For so long, to be an Asian American “prodigy” in art was to be a fine-tuned instrument for Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven.

It is no surprise, then, that if you, as a BIPOC artist, dare to come up with your own ideas, to say “no” to what they shove/have been shoving down your throat for so long, you will be infantilized, seen as foolish, moronic, stupid, disobedient, uneducated, and untamed.

Because it means the instrument that was once in the service of their “work” has now begun to speak, has decided, despite being inconceivable to them, to sing its own songs.

I want you, I need you, to sing with me. I want to hear what you sound like when it’s just us, and you sound so much like yourself that I recognize you even in the darkest rooms, even when I recognize nothing else. And I know your name is “little brother” or “big sister,” or “light bean,” or “my-echo-returned-to-me-intact.” And I smile.

In the dark I smile.

Art has no rules—yes—but it does have methods, which vary for each individual. The following are some of my own methods and how I came to them.

I’m very happy ya’ll are so into figurative language! It’s my favorite literary device because it reveals a second IDEA behind an object or abstraction via comparison.

When done well, it creates what I call the “DNA of seeing.” That is, a strong metaphor “Greek for “to carry over”) can enact the autobiography of sight. For example, what does it say about a person who sees the stars in the night sky—as exit wounds?

What does it say about their history, their worldview, their relationship to beauty and violence? All this can be garnered in the metaphor itself—without context—when the comparative elements have strong multifaceted bonds.

How we see the world reveals who we are. And metaphors explicate that sight.

My personal feeling is that the strongest metaphors do not require context for clarity. However, this does not mean that weaker metaphors that DO require context are useless or wrong.

Weak metaphors use context to achieve CLARITY.

Strong metaphors use context to SUPPORT what’s already clear.

BOTH are viable in ANY literary text.

But for the sake of this deeper exploration into metaphors and their gradients, I will attempt to identify the latter.

I feel it is important for a writer to understand the STRENGTHS of the devices they use, even when WEAKER versions of said devices can achieve the same goal via different means.

Sometimes we want a life raft, sometimes we want a steam boat—but we should know which is which (for us).

My focus then, will be specifically the ornamental or overt metaphor. That is, metaphors that occur inside the line—as opposed to conceptual, thematic, extended metaphors, or Homeric simile (which is a whole different animal).

My thinking here begins with the (debated) theory that similes reside under metaphors. That is, (non-Homeric) similes, behave cognitively, like metaphors.

This DOES NOT mean that similes do not matter (far from it), as we’ll see later on, but that the compared elements, once read, begin to merge in the mind, resulting in a metaphoric OCCURRENCE via a simileac vehicle.

This thinking is not entirely my own, but one informed by my interest in Phenomenology. Founded by Edmund Husserl in the early 20th century and later expanded by Heidegger, Phenomenology is, in short, interested in how objects or phenomena are perceived in the mind, which renewed interest in subjectivity across Europe, as opposed to the Enlightenment’s quest for ultimate, finite truths.

By the time Husserl “discovered” this, however, Tibetan Buddhists scholars have already been practicing Phenomenology as something called Lojong, or “mind training,” for over half a millennia.

Whereas Husserl believes, in part, that a finite truth does exist but that the myopic nature of human perception hinders us from seeing all of it, Tibetan Lojong purports that no finite “truth” exists at all.

In Lojong, the world and its objects are pure perception. That is, a fly looks at a tree and sees, due to its compound eyes, hundreds of trees, while we see only one. For Buddhists, neither fly nor human is “correct” because a fixed truth is not present. Reality is only real according to one’s bodily medium.

I’m keenly interested in Lojong’s approach because it inheritably advocates for an anti-colonial gaze of the world. If objects in the real are not tenable, there is no reason they should be captured, conquered or pillaged.

In other words, we are in a “simulation” and because there is no true gain in acquiring something that is only an illusion, it is better to observe and learn from phenomena as guests passing through this world with respect to things—rather than to possess them.

The reason I bring this up is because Buddhist philosophy is the main influence of 8th century Chinese and 15th-17th century Japanese poetics, which fundamentally inform my understanding of metaphor.

While I appreciate Aristotle’s take on metaphor and rhetoric in his Poetics, particularly his thesis that strong metaphors move from species to genus, it is not a robust influence on my thinking.

After all, like sex and water, metaphors have been enjoyed by humans across the world long before Aristotle-- and evidently long after. In fact, Buddhist teachings, which widely employ metaphor and analogy, predates Aristotle by roughly 150 years.

Now, to better see how Buddhist Phenomenology informs the transformation of images into metaphor, let’s look at this poem by Moritake.

“The fallen blossom flies back to its branch. No, a butterfly.”

When considering (western-dominated) discourse surrounding analogues using “like” or “is”, is this image a metaphor or a simile?

It is technically neither. The construction of this poem does not employ metaphor or simile.

And yet, to my eye, a metaphor, although not present, does indeed HAPPEN.

What’s more, the poem, which is essentially a single metaphor, is complete.

No further context is needed for its clarity. If context is needed for a metaphor, then the metaphor is (IMO) weak—but that doesn’t mean the writing, as a whole, is bad. Weak metaphors and good context bring us home safe and sound.

Okay, so what is happening here?

By the time I read “butterfly,” my mind corrects the blossom so that the latter image retroactively changes/informs the former. We see the blossom float up, then re-see it as a butterfly. The metaphoric figuration is complete with or without “like” or “is.”

Buddhism explains this by saying that, although a text IS thought, it does not THINK. We, the readers, must think upon it. The text, then, only curates thinking.

Words, in this way, begin on the page but LIVE in the mind which, due to limited and subjective scope of human perception, shift seemingly fixed elements into something entirely new.

The key here is proximity. Similes provide buffers to mediate impact between two elements, but they do not rule over how images coincide upon reading. One the page, text is fossil; in the mind, text is life.

Nearly 5000 years after Maritake, Ezra Pound, via Fenolosa, reads Maritake’s poem and writes what becomes the seminal poem on Imagism in 1912, which was subsequently highly influential to early Modernists:

“The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals on a wet, black bough.”

Like Maritake, Pound’s poem technically has no metaphor or simile. However, he adds the vital colon after “crowd,” which arguably works as an “equal sign”, thereby implying metaphor. But the reason why he did not use “are” or “is” is telling.

Pound understood, like Maritake, that the metaphor would occur in the mind, regardless of connecting verbiage due to the images’ close proximity. We would come to know this as “association.”

Even if the colon was replaced by the word “like,” the transformation, though a bit slower, would still occur.

In fact, when I first studied Pound years ago, I had trouble recalling whether this poem was fashioned as a simile or not—mainly because the faces change to fully into blossoms each time I try to recall the poem.

Now, let’s look at a simile that, to me, metaphorizes in the same way as the examples above, in the line we saw before from Eduardo C. Corral:

“Jade moss on the tree intensifies, like applause.”

The origin/tenor image (moss) is connected to the transforming element (applause). This metaphor suggests, not an optical relationship, but a BEHAVIORAL one.

Both moss and applause are MASSES that accumulate via singularities: grains of moss and pairs of hands clapping to form a larger whole.

By comparing these two, Corral successfully suggests that moss grows at the RATE of applause, creating a masterful time lapse effect. Applause speeds up the moss growth, connoting rejuvenation, joy and refreshment. That something as mundane as moss deserves, even earns, jubilance, also offers a potent statement of alterity, that the smallest flourishing deserves celebration, which in turn suggests a subtle yet powerful political critique of hegemony.

The poet, through the metaphor, has recalibrated the traditional modes of value placed on the object (moss).

And no other context is needed for that.

You might disagree, but when I read Corral’s line, I don’t SEE an audience clapping BESIDE the moss. I see moss growing quickly to the sound of clapping. Although the simile is employed, the fusion of both elements completes the action in my mind’s eye.

Like Maritake and Pound, metaphor has OCCURRED here—but without “metaphor”.

HOWEVER, the simile is still VITAL. Why?

Because the transforming element is abstract (applause) and looks nothing like moss. We don’t want moss to BE applause, we want the nature of applause to inform, imbue, moss.

The line, I feel, would be quite poor if it was formed sans simile:

“Jade moss is applause on the tree.”

The “is” forces transposition, which is here akin to slamming two things together without mediation. We also lose the comparison of behavior, and are asked to see that moss BECOME applause, which doesn’t have the same meaning as the original.

So, although the simile fuses into metaphor (via association) in the mind, such a metaphor would NOT have been possible without the simile.

Similes matter greatly—as tools towards metaphor. Why?

Because (thank god) our minds are free to roam.

To summarize, one of the central strategies (and, to an extent, purposes) of the Japanese Haiku is to juxtapose two elements to test their synergy. This impulse is grounded in Shinto and Buddhist concepts of impermanence and structural malleability. That is, all things, even ideas and images, are subject to constant change—and such change is the most pervasive nature of perception.

The Haiku then becomes the perfect medium to test such changes. This principle is of central importance to me because it is rooted in non-dualistic (or non-binary) thinking.

The poem becomes the theatre in which fixed elements can be transformed, their borders subject to being dissolved, shifting towards something entirely new—to “create”, which is the Greek root to the word “poet.” The metaphor, then, is more like a chemical, whose elements (like hydrogen and oxygen), placed side by side, becomes water.

In this way, Buddhism’s influence on my work and, specifically, my use and understanding of metaphor, is a foundational QUEER praxis for alterity.

The reason why I emphasize the malleability of simile’s impact is that, although syntax and diction can aide a metaphor towards its more luminous embodiment, the ultimate key to its success is you, the observer.

YOU have look deeply and find lasting relationships between things in a disparate world.

In this sense, the practice of metaphor is also, I believe, the practice of compassion. How do I study a thing so that I might add to its life by introducing it to something else?

At its best, the metaphor is what we, as a species, have always done, at OUR best: which is to point at something or someone so different from us, so far from our own origins and say, “Yes, there IS a bond between us. And if I work long enough, hard enough, I can prove it to you—with this thing called language, this thing that weighs nothing but means everything to me.”

In the end, it is less about how you set up your metaphors (you will eventually find a way that suits it and you) but more about how you recognize your world. THAT is not easy to teach—it comes with patient practice, with a committed wonder for a world that at times might be too painful to look at. But you must and you should.

Good metaphors, in the end, come from writers who are committed to looking beyond what is already there, towards another possibility.

This calls that you see your life and your work as inexhaustible sites of discovery, and that you tend to them with care.

That’s it. That’s the true secret to a strong metaphor: care.

Lastly, I want to recommend the work of BIPOC poet and theorist, Thylias Moss, who discovered the Limited Fork Theory, a theory which suggests that the mind engages with the world, and especially with ideas, including text and art, the way the tines of a fork engage with a plate of food.

That is, only so much can be held on the work/mind with each attempt to consume, and that no “work” can be possessed in its entirety, which I find happily congruent with Lojong.

What a wonderful anti-imperialist and forgiving way to engage with our planet and its phenomena. Thank you, Mrs. Moss!

And thank YOU for sticking around through my little seminar.

I hope this has been helpful. Again, this is just my 2(5) cents! Now I’m going to sleep for four days.

In the meantime, me-ta-phors be with you.

—O

[angeldcgs]

from the way miriam seemed to shrink away from his praise and reassurance, gideon could tell she wasn’t used to being the center of attention. probably felt more comfortable in the safety of the shadows, which is exactly where she’s found herself on stage; standing off to the side, nearly in a corner, overshadowed by two guys with obvious charisma, but a lack of that special spark he was looking for. a lack of the right body parts, too— it didn’t take a genius to see that gideon’s roster of artists were overwhelmingly women, and it didn’t take a genius to deduce why that might be. trying to manage miriam while she was still under the watchful eye of those two pesky pseudo-big brothers of hers would be like herding cats. “i wouldn’t be here if i didn’t see something in you, you know that right? if i didn’t think you had what it takes… my time is very valuable, miriam, this space—“ he gestured to the studio around them, with its state of the art sound board and a recording booth that had housed some of the biggest legends as they recorded some of their biggest hits. “do you know how much it costs to rent this out for an hour?” nothing for him, considering gideon now owned the whole studio after a major acquisition that firmly solidified him as a titan in the music industry, but for miriam? she would’ve had to sell all her worldly possessions just to come close to meeting the fee. so she should feel honored to be here for free, to be here with him; to be here at all. and he was sure she knew that. it could be intimidating, having such a powerful man as your private audience, let alone standing in the very spot grammy winning records were made, especially if you weren’t already confident in your abilities as a solo artist, so gideon was trying to do whatever he could to make her feel at ease. her nerves were showing through in her performance, and no amount of vocal warm-ups could fix that; though he’d tried to soothe her anxieties with encouragement and his welcoming presence, alcohol could certainly help speed up the process. after a drink or two she’d be more relaxed, more suggestible, and less inhibited, her brain a malleable lump of clay he could shape to his liking. it almost reminded him of his teenage years spending hours playing the sims in his mother’s basement, obsessing over his little virtual dolls, and reveling in the power that came from controlling their lives completely. but they weren’t real, and so that satisfaction became completely eclipsed once he learned how to make people his marionettes. not just women, either, he sought to control everyone around him, it was just the extent of his omnipotence that varied when his goal morphed from domination to full possession. “it’s nothing too fancy,” he shot her a warm smile, absolving her of her ignorance. “just carbonated water, really.” only his was imported from portugal, and cost about as much as a bottle of dom perignon. as miriam would soon come to find, gideon surrounded himself, and, by extension, his protégés, with decadence and excess, spoiling them with all the luxury the world had to offer in order to get them hooked on this lifestyle that only he could provide. “not the way i used to be. you should’ve seen me in my twenties— i don’t even think i remember the majority of 2013.” he could feel her watching him, her gaze like a laser boring right through his skin, but he kept his focus on preparing their drinks. from the mini fridge, he pulled out the ice cube tray from the little freezer compartment and dropped one in each glass. they were the big fat square type, elegantly sitting in the center of the glass while gideon poured the gin, eyeballing it rather than using a shot glass to measure, before he filled the glasses the rest of the way with the clear bubbly liquid. finally, he graced her with his gaze, affectionate and soft, handing over one glass before raising his to clink. “cheers.”

to have so much attention on her was strange, but not unwelcomed. she was used to being in the background and had grown to love her shadowy home but if someone claimed to see special things in her, wouldn't it be wrong to deny them the chance to try and bring those things out for the rest of the world to see? it wasn't that no one had seen her talent before gideon, but more so that no one had ever believed in her quite as loudly. her bandmates had always been nice, yet gideon claimed she could be the next big thing under his supervision, that she had star potential the likes of which he hadn't seen in a long time. it was one thing to be respected, it was an entirely other to be admired, and miriam couldn't help but crave the latter. "i guess so..." it was so easy to be hesitant when she was treading unexplored waters, even when she had a guide as patient and kind as he was. if anyone could help her find her sound then it was him, and it wasn't like she was committing to anything big by making a song, she was still in her band and for all she knew, maybe they'd make something they could come to feature on it and it wouldn't have to be a big deal! the point, which she knew but was trying to avoid thinking about too much, was that gideon believed she could shine brighter out from behind her bandmates, so encouraging them to come play on the song was a pointless idea, but it made her feel better to think about. she toyed nervously with her fingers as she watched him stand up and move past her, the short stubs of her bitten nails dug into her pale skin in an attempt to push her out of her tendency for daydreaming. the relief of not having to listen to the tuned screech of her voice for a moment longer washed over miriam and she nodded eagerly, she was more than happy to just sit with gideon and soak up his eura, that of a man so much wiser and intelligent than she could ever hope to be. it was evident that even in their short time knowing each other, he was the real deal. he knew more about music than she could ever hope to, all she really did was strum a guitar and hope for the best but he knew about the industry and all the fancy terminology, in a world full of wannabes it was nice to be in the presence of something real. nervously, she rose from her seat and made her way over to him. "i've never had tonic before." she confessed quietly, like it was something embarrassing. "usually just have juice, or, i don't know, jude had us shotting things straight a lot of the time." it was cheaper that way, he had claimed and miriam had never thought about arguing with him. gin and tonic felt classy, the sort of drink she would have imagined herself drinking when she was a kid picturing herself mature and successful. it made sense that someone as well-established as gideon would drink something she saw as so elegant. she leaned against the wall and eyed the bottles curiously for a moment before her gaze returned to his face. it was impossible to ignore how handsome he was, it'd be like trying to ignore the sun on a summer's day but miriam had been trying to push it to the back of her mind. they were there for music after all, not to fluff up her stupid little crush. "you much of a drinker, gideon?"

[redantsunderneath]

On Analysis Part 1 - Hermeneutics and Configurative reading (the “what” part)

“Without turning, the pharmacist answered that he liked books like The Metamorphosis, Bartleby, A Simple Heart, A Christmas Carol. And then he said that he was reading Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Leaving aside the fact that A Simple Heart and A Christmas Carol were stories, not books, there was something revelatory about the taste of this bookish young pharmacist, who ... clearly and inarguably preferred minor works to major ones. He chose The Metamorphosis over The Trial, he chose Bartleby over Moby Dick, he chose A Simple Heart over Bouvard and Pecouchet, and A Christmas Carol over A Tale of Two Cities or The Pickwick Papers. What a sad paradox, thought Amalfitano. Now even bookish pharmacists are afraid to take on the great, imperfect, torrential works, books that blaze a path into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters. Or what amounts to the same thing: they want to watch the great masters spar, but they have no interest in real combat, when the great masters struggle against that something, that something that terrifies us all, that something that cows us and spurs us on, amid blood and mortal wounds and stench.” ― Roberto Bolano, 2666

Much of the background for this post in particular comes from Paul Fry’s Yale lecture course about the theory of literature.  This is a great starting course for interpretation and textual analysis and, yes, film and TV shows are text.

In futzing around with this stuff, what am I doing?  Less charitably, what do I think I’m even trying to do, here? Many feel that applying theory to art and entertainment is as pretentious as the kind of art or entertainment that encourages it. It’s understandable.  Many examples of analysis are garbage and even people capable of good work get going in the wrong direction due to fixations or prejudices they aren’t even aware of and get swept away by the mudslide of enthusiasm into the pit of overreach. That’s part of the process. But this stuff has an actual philosophical grounding, so let’s start by looking at the stories history of trying to figure out “texts.”

Ideas about the purpose of art, what it means to be an author, and how it is best to create go back to the beginning of philosophy but (outside of some notable examples) there is precious little consideration of the reception of art and certainly not a feeling that it was a legitimate field of study until more recently. The Greeks figured the mind would just know how to grok it because what it was getting at was automatically universal and understanding was effortless to the tune mind. But the idea that textual analysis should be taken seriously began with the literal texts of the Torah (Rabbinical scholarship) and then the Bible, but mostly in closed circles.

Hermeneutics as we know it began as a discipline with the Protestant Reformation since the Bible was now available to be read.  Sooooo, have you read it? It’s not the most obvious or coherent text.  Reading it makes several things clear about it: 1. It is messy and self contradictory; 2. A literal reading is not possible for an honest mind and isn’t advisable in any event; 3. It is extremely powerful and mysterious in a way that makes you want to understand, your reach exceeding your grasp. This is like what I wrote about Inland Empire - it captures something in a messy, unresolvable package that probably can’t be contained in something clear and smooth. This interpretive science spread to law and philosophy for reasons similar to it’s roots in text based religion - there was an imperative to understand what was meant by words.

Hans-Georg Gadamer is the first to explicitly bring to bear a theory of how we approach works.  He was a student of Martin Heidegger, who saw the engagement with “the thing itself” as a cyclic process that was constructive of meaning, where we strive to learn from encounters and use that to inform our next encounter.  Gadamer applied this specifically to how we read a text (for him, this means philosophical text) and process it.  Specifically he strove to, by virtue of repeated reading and rumination which is informed by prior readings (on large and small scales, even going back and forth in a sentence), “align the horizons” of the author and the reader.  The goal of this process is to arrive at (external to the text) truth, which was for him the goal of the enterprise of writing and reading to begin with.  This is necessary because the author and reader both carry different preconceptions to the enterprise (really all material and cultural influences on thinking) that must be resolved.

ED Hirsch had a lifelong feud with Gadamer over this, whipping out Emanuel Kant to deny that his method was ethically sound.  He believed that to engage in this activity otherizes and instrumentalizes the author and robs them of them being a person saying something that has their meaning, whether it is true or false.  We need to get what they are laying down so we can judge the ideas as to whether they are correct or not.  It may be this is because he wasn’t that sympathetic a reader - he’s kind of a piece of work - and maybe his thheory was an excuse to act like John McLaughlin.  He goes on to have a hell of a career fucking up the US school system

But it’s Wolfgang Iser that comes in with the one neat trick which removes (or at least makes irrelevant) the knowability problem, circumvents the otherizing problem, and makes everything applicable to any text (e.g. art, literature) by bringing in phenomenology, specifically Edmund Husserl’s “constitution” of the world by consciousness. It makes perfect sense to bring phenomenology into interpretive theory as phenomenology had a head start as a field and is concerned with something homologous - we only have access to our experience of <the world/the text> and need to grapple with how we derive <reality/meaning> from it.  Husserl said we constitute reality from the world using our sensory/cognitive apparatus, influenced by many contingencies (experiential, cultural, sensorial, etc) but that’s what reality is and It doesn’t exist to us unbracketed. Iser said we configure meaning from the text using our sensory/cognitive apparatus, influenced by many contingencies (experiential, cultural, sensorial, etc) but that’s what meaning is and It doesn’t exist to us unbracketed.  Reality and meaning are constructed on these contingencies, and intersubjective agreement is not assured.

To Iser, we create a virtual space (his phrase) where we operate processes on the text to generate a model what the text is saying, and this process has many inputs based on our dataset external to the text (not all of which is good data) as well as built in filters and mapping legends based on our deeper preconceptions (which may be misconceptions or “good enough” approximations).  Most if this goes on without any effort whatsoever, like the identification of a dog on the street.  But some of it is a learned process - watch an adult who has never read comics try to read one.  These inputs, filters, and routers can animate an idea of the author in the construct, informing our understanding based on all sorts of data we happen to know and assumptions about how certain things work.

This is reader response theory, that meaning is generated in the mind by interaction with the text and not by the text, though Stanley Fish didn’t accent the “in the mind part” and name the phenomenon until years later. Note that Gadamer is largely prescriptive and Hirsch is entirely prescriptive while Iser is predominantly descriptive.  He’s saying “this is how you were doing it all along,” but by being aware of the process, we can gain function.

For those keeping score:   1. Gadamer, after Heidegger’s cyclic process at constructing an understanding of the thing itself, centers on a point between the author and reader and prioritizes universal truth. 2. Hirsch, after Kant’s ethical stand on non instrumentalization, centers on hearing what the author is saying and prioritizes the judging the ideas. 3. Iser, after Husserl’s constituted reality, centers on configuring a multi-input sense of the text within a virtual (mental) space and prioritizes meaning.

Everything after basically comes out of Iser and is mostly restatement with focusing/excluding of elements.  The 20th century mindset, from the logical positivists to Bohr’s view that looking for reality underlying the wave form was pointless, had a serious case of God (real meaning, ground reality) is dead.  W.K. Wimsatt and M. C. Beardsley’s intentional fallacy, an attempt to caution interpreters to steer clear of considering what the god-author meant, begat death of the author which attempted to take the author entirely out of the equation - it was less likely you’d ever understand the if you focused on that!  To me, this is corrective to trends at the time and not good praxis -  it excludes natural patterns of reading in which the author is configured, rejects potentially pertinent data, and limits some things one can get out of the text.

Meanwhile formalism/new criticism (these will be discussed later in a how section) focused on just what was going on in the text with as few inputs as possible, psychoanalytics and historicism looked to interrogate the inputs/filters to the sense making process, postmodernism/deconstruction attacked those inputs/filters making process questioning whether meaning was not just contingent but a complete illusion, and critical studies became obsessed with specific strands of oppression and hegemony as foundational filters that screw up the inputs.   But the general Iser model seems to be the grandfather of everything after.  

Reader intersubjectivity is an area of concern.  In the best world, the creation of art is in part an attempt to find the universal within the specific, something that resonates and speaks to people.  A very formative series of David Milch lectures (to me at least) proffer that if you find a scene, idea, whatever, that is very compelling to you, your job is to figure out what in it is “fanciful” (an association specific to you) and how to find and bring out the universal elements. But people’s experiences are different and there be many ideas of what a piece of art means without there being a dominant one. So the building of models within each mind leaves a lot to consider as the final filtered input is never quite the same. There is a lot of hair on this dog (genres engender text expectations that an author can subvert by confusing the filter, conflicting input can serve a purpose, the form of a guided experience can be a kind of meaning, on and on ad nauseum)

The ultimate question, you might ask, is why we need to do this at all.  I mean, I understood Snow White perfectly fine as a kid.  There’s no “gap” that needs to be leaped.  The meaning of the movie is evident enough on some level without vivisecting it.  The Long answer to what we gain from looking under Snow’s skirt is the next episode.  The short is: 1. You are doing it anyway.  That Snow White thing, you were doing thhat to Snow White you just weren’t conscious of the process.

2. It’s fun. The process only puts a tool of enjoyment in your arsenal.  You don’t have to use it all the time.

3. You’ll see stuff you like in new ways.  The way Star Wars works is really interesting!

4. It may give dimensions to movies that are flawed or bad, and you might wind up liking them.  Again, more to love.

5. It is sometimes necessary to get to a full (or any) appreciation of some complicated works as the most frustrating and resistant stuff to engage with is sometimes the most incredible. 

6. It reinforces your involvement in something you like.  It makes you more connected and more hungry, like any good exercise.

7. You can become more aware of what those preconceptions and biases are, which might give you insights in other areas of your life.

[arcticdementor]

Stefanie Gray explains why, as a teenager, she was so anxious to leave her home state of Florida to go to college.

“I went to garbage schools and I’m from a garbage low-income suburb where everyone sucks Oxycontin all day,” she says. “I needed to get out.”

She got into Hunter College in New York, but both her parents had died and she had nowhere near enough to pay tuition, so she borrowed. “I just had nothing and was poor as hell, so I took out loans,” she says.

This being 2006, just a year after the infamous Bankruptcy Bill of 2005 was passed, she believed news stories about student loans being non-dischargeable in bankruptcy. She believed they would be with her for life, or until they were paid off.

“My understanding was, it’s better to purchase 55 big-screen TVs on a credit card, and discharge that in a court of law, then be a student who’s getting an education,” she says.

Still, she asked for financial aid: “I was like, ‘My parents are dead, I'm a literal fucking orphan, I have no siblings. I'm just taking out this money to put my ass through school.”

Instead of a denial, she got plenty of credit, including a slice of what were called “direct-to-consumer” loans, that came with a whopping 14% interest rate. One of her loans also came from a company called MyRichUncle that, before going bankrupt in 2009, would briefly become famous for running an ad disclosing a kickback system that existed between student lenders and college financial aid offices.

Gray was not the cliché undergrad, majoring in intersectional basket-weaving with no plan to repay her loans. She took geographical mapping, with the specific aim of getting a paying job quickly. But she graduated in the middle of the post-2008 crash, when “53% of people 18 to 29 were unemployed or underemployed.”

“I couldn't even get a job scrubbing toilets at a local motel,” she recalls. “They told me straight up that I was over-educated. I was like, “Literally, I'll do your housekeeping. I don't give a shit, just let me make money and not get evicted and end up homeless.”

The lender Sallie Mae at the time had an amusingly loathsome policy of charging a repeating $150 fee every three months just for the privilege of applying for forbearance. Gray was so pissed about having to pay $50 a month just to say she was broke that she started a change.org petition that ended up gathering 170,000 signatures.

She personally delivered those to the Washington offices of Sallie Mae and ended up extracting a compromise out of the firm: they’d still charge the fee, but she could at least apply it to her balance, as opposed to just sticking it in the company’s pocket as an extra. This meager “partial” victory over a student lender was so rare, the New York Times wrote about it.

“I definitely poked the bear,” she says.

Gray still owed a ton of student debt — it had ballooned from $36,000 to $77,000, in fact — and collectors were calling her nonstop, perhaps with a little edge thanks to who she was. “They were telling me I should hit up people I know for money, which was one thing,” she recalls. “But when they started talking about giving blood, or selling plasma… I don’t know.”

Sallie Mae ultimately sued Gray four times. In doing so, they made a strange error. It might have slipped by, but for luck. “By the grace of God,” Gray said, she met a man in the lobby of a courthouse, a future state Senator named Kevin Thomas, who took a look at her case. “Huh, I’ve got some ideas,” he said, eventually pointing to a problem right at the top of her lawsuit.

Sallie Mae did not represent itself in court as Sallie Mae. The listed plaintiff was “SLM Private Credit Student Loan Trust VL Funding LLC.” As was increasingly the case with mortgages and other forms of debt, student loans by then were typically gathered, pooled, and chopped into slices called tranches, to be marketed to investors. Gray, essentially, was being sued by a tranche of student loan debt, a little like being sued by the coach section of an airline flight.

When Thomas advised her to look up the plaintiff’s name, she discovered it wasn’t registered to do business in the State of New York, which prompted the judge to rule that the entity lacked standing to sue. He fined Sallie Mae $10,000 for “nonsense” and gave Gray another rare victory over a student lender, which she ended up writing about herself this time, in The Guardian.

Corporate creditors often play probabilities and mass-sue even if they don’t always have great cases, knowing a huge percentage of borrowers either won’t show up in court (as with credit card holders) or will agree to anything to avoid judgments, the usual scenario with student borrowers.

“What usually happens in pretty much 99% of these cases is you beg and plead and say, ‘Please don't put a judgment against me, I'll do anything… because a judgment against you means you're not going to be able to buy a home, you’re not going to be able to do basically anything involving credit for the next 20 years.”

…

The passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 was a classic demonstration of how America works, or doesn’t, depending on your point of view. While we focus on differences between Republicans and Democrats, it’s their uncanny habit of having just a sliver of enough agreement to pass crucial industry-friendly bills that really defines the parties.

Whether it’s NAFTA, the Iraq War authorization, or the Obama stimulus, there are always just enough aisle-crossers to get the job done, and the tally usually tracks with industry money with humorous accuracy. In this law signed by George Bush, sponsored by Republican Chuck Grassley, and greased by millions in donations from entities like Sallie Mae, the crucial votes were cast by a handful of aisle-crossing Democrats, including especially the Delawareans Joe Biden and Tom Carper. Hillary Clinton, who took $140,000 from bank interests in her Senate run, had voted for an earlier version.

Party intrigue is only part of the magic of American politics. Public relations matter, too, and the Bankruptcy Bill turned out to be the poster child for another cherished national phenomenon: the double-lie.

…

Years later, pundits still debate whether there really ever was an epidemic of debt-fleeing deadbeats, or whether legislators in 2005 who just a few years later gave “fresh starts” to bankrupt Wall Street banks ever cared about “moral hazard,” or if it’s fair to cut off a single Mom in a trailer when Donald Trump got to brag about “brilliantly” filing four commercial bankruptcies, and so on.

In other words, we argue the why of the bill, but not the what. What did that law say, exactly? For years, it was believed that it absolutely closed the door on bankruptcy for whole classes of borrowers, and one in particular: students. Nearly fifteen years after the bill’s passage, journalists were still using language like, “The bill made it completely impossible to discharge student loan debt.”

…

The phrase “Just asking questions” today often carries a negative connotation. It’s the language of the conspiracy theorist, we’re told. But sometimes in America we’re just not told the whole story, and when the press can’t or won’t do it, it’s left to individual people to fill in the blanks. In a few rare cases, they find out something they weren’t supposed to, and in rarer cases still, they learn enough to beat the system. This is one of those stories.

…

Smith’s explanation of the history of the student loan exemption and where it all went wrong is biting and psychologically astute. In his telling, the courts’ historically sneering attitude toward student borrowers has its roots in an ages-old generational debate.

“This started out as an an argument between the Greatest Generation and Baby Boomers,” Smith notes. “A lot of the law was created by people railing against draft-dodging deadbeat hippies.”

He points to a 1980 ruling by a judge named Richard Merrick, who in denying relief to a former student, wrote the following:

The arrogance of former students who had received so much from society, frequently including draft deferment, and who had given back so little in return, accompanied by their vehemence in asserting their constitutional and statutory rights, frequently were not well received by legislators and jurists, senior to them, who had lived through the Depression, had worked their ways through college and graduate school, had served in World War II, and had been paying the taxes which made possible the student loans.

Smith laughs about this I didn’t climb the hills at Normandy with a knife in my teeth just to eat the debt on your useless-ass liberal arts degree perspective, noting that “when those guys who did all that complaining went to school, only rich prep school kids went to college, and by the way, tuition was like ten bucks.” Still, he wasn’t completely unsympathetic to the conservative position.

…

This concern about “deadbeats” gaming the system — kids taking out fat loans to go to school and bailing on them before the end of the graduation party — led that 1985 court to take a hardcore position against students who made “virtually no attempt to repay.” They established a three-pronged standard that came to be known as the “Brunner test” for determining if a student faced enough “undue hardship” to be granted relief from student debt.

Among other things, the court ruled that a newly graduated student had to do more than demonstrate a temporary inability to handle bills. Instead, a “total incapacity now and in the future to pay” had to be present for a court to grant relief. Over the course of the next decades, it became axiomatic that basically no sentient being could pass the Brunner test.

…

In 2015, he was practicing law at the Texas litigation firm Bickel and Brewer when he came across a case involving a former Pace University student named Lesley Campbell, who was seeking to discharge a $15,000 loan she took out while studying for a bar exam. Smith believed a loan given out to a woman who’d already completed her studies, and who used the money to pay for rent and groceries, was not covering an “educational benefit” as required by law. A judge named Carla Craig agreed and canceled Campbell’s loan, and Campbell v. Citibank became one of the earlier dents in the public perception that there were no exceptions to the prohibition on discharging student debts.

“I thought, ‘Wait, what? This might be important,’” says Smith.

By law, Smith believed, lenders needed to be wary of three major exceptions to the non-dischargeability rule:

— If a loan was not made to a student attending a Title IV accredited school, he thought it was probably not a “qualified educational loan.”

— If the student was not a full-time student — in practice, this meant taking less than six credits — the loan was probably dischargeable.

— And if the loan was made in an amount over and above the actual cost of attending an accredited school, the excess might not be “eligible” money, and potentially dischargeable.

Practically speaking, this means if you got a loan for an unaccredited school, were not a full-time student, or borrowed for something other than school expenses, you might be eligible for relief in court.

Smith found companies had been working around these restrictions in the blunt predatory spirit of a giant-sized Columbia Record Club. Companies lent hundreds of thousands to teenagers over and above the cost of tuition, or to people who’d already graduated, or to attendees of dubious unaccredited institutions, or to a dozen other inappropriate destinations. Then they called these glorified credit card balances non-dischargeable educational debts — Gray got one of these “direct-to-consumer” specials — and either sold them into the financial system as investments, borrowed against them as positive assets, or both.

…

Smith thought these practices were nuts, and tried to convince his bosses to start suing financial companies.

“They were like, ‘You do know what we do around here, right?’ We defend banks,” he recalls, laughing. “I said, ‘Not these particular banks.’ They said it didn’t matter, it was a question of optics, and besides, who was going to pay off in the end? A bunch of penniless students?”

Furious, Smith stormed off, deciding to hang his own shingle and fight the system on his own. “My sister kept saying to me, ‘You have to stop trying to live in a John Grisham novel,’” he recalls, laughing. “There were parts of it where I was probably super melodramatic, saying things like, ‘I'm going to go find justice.’”

Slowly however, Smith did find clients, and began filing and winning cases. With each suit, he learned more and more about student lenders. In one critical moment, he discovered that the same companies who were representing in court that their loans were absolutely non-dischargeable were telling investors something entirely different. In one prospectus for a trust packed full of loans managed by Sallie Mae, investors were told that the process for creating the aforementioned “direct-to-consumer” loans:

Does not involve school certification as an additional control and, therefore, may be subject to some additional risk that the loans are not used for qualified education expenses… You will bear any risk of loss resulting from the discharge.

Sallie Mae was warning investors that the loans might be discharged in bankruptcy. Why the honesty? Because the parties who’d be packaging and selling these student loan-backed instruments included Credit Suisse, JP Morgan Chase, and Deutsche Bank.

“It’s one thing to lie to a bunch of broke students. They don’t matter,” Smith says. “It’s another to lie to JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank. You screw those people, they’ll fight back.”

…

In June of 2018, a case involving a Navy veteran named Kevin Rosenberg went through the courts. Rosenberg owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and tried to keep current on his loans, but after his hiking and camping store folded in 2017, he found himself busted and unable to pay. His case was essentially the opposite of Brunner: he clearly hadn’t tried to game the system, he made a good faith effort to pay, and he demonstrated a long-term inability to make good. All of this was taken into consideration by a judge named Cecilia Morris, who ruled that Rosenberg qualified for “undue hardship.”

“Most people… believe it impossible to discharge student loans,” Morris wrote. “This Court will not participate in perpetuating these myths.” The ruling essentially blew up the legend of the unbeatable Brunner standard.

Given a fresh start, Rosenberg moved to Norway to become an Arctic tour guide. “I want people to know that this is a viable option,” he said at the time. The ruling attracted a small flurry of news attention, including a feature in the Wall Street Journal, as the case sent a tremor through the student lending world. More and more people were now testing their luck in bankruptcy, suing their lenders, and asking more and more uncomfortable questions about the nature of the education business.

In the summer of 2012, a former bond trader named Michael Grabis sat in the waiting room of a Manhattan financial company, biding time before a job interview. In the eighties, Grabis’s father was a successful bond trader who worked in a swank office atop the World Trade Center, but after the 1987 crash, the family fell out of the smart set overnight. His father lost his job and spiraled, his mother had to look for a job, and “we just became working class people.”

Michael tried to rewrite the family story, going to school and going into the bond business himself, first with the Bank of New York, and eventually for Schwab. But he, too, lost his job in a crash, in 2008, and now was trying to break the pattern of bubble economy misery. However, he’d exited Pennsylvania’s Lafayette College in the nineties carrying tens of thousands in student loans. That number had since been compounded by fees and penalties, and the usual letters, notices, and phone calls from debt collectors came nonstop.

Now, awaiting a job interview, his phone rang again. It was a collection call for Sallie Mae, and it wasn’t just one voice on the line.

“They had two women call at once,” Grabis recalls. “They told me I’d made bad life choices, that I lived in too expensive a city, that I had to move to a cheaper place, so I could afford to pay them,” Grabis explains. “I tried to tell them I was literally at that moment trying to get a job to help pay my bills, but these people are trained to just hound you without listening. I was shaking when I got off the phone, and ended up having a bad interview.”

Two years later, more out of desperation and anger than any real expectation of relief, Grabis went to federal court in the Southern District of New York and filed for bankruptcy. At the time, he, too, believed student loans could not be eliminated. But the more he read about the way student loans were constructed and sold — he’d had experience in doing shovel-work constructing mortgage-backed securities, so he understood the Student Loan Asset-Backed Securities (SLABS) market — he started to develop a theory. Everyone dealing with the finances of higher education in America knew the system was rotten, he thought. But what if someone could prove it?

The 2005 Bankruptcy Act says former students can’t discharge loans for “qualified educational expenses,” i.e. loans given to students so that they might attend tax-exempt non-profit educational institutions. Historically, that exemption covered almost all higher education loans.

What if America’s universities no longer deserve their non-profit status? What if they’re no longer schools, and are instead first and foremost crude profit-making ventures, leveraging federal bankruptcy law and the I.R.S. code into a single, ongoing predatory lending scheme?

This is essentially what Grabis argued, in a motion filed last January. He named Navient, Lafayette College, the U.S. Department of Education, Joe Biden, his own exasperated judge, and a host of other “unknown co-perpetrators” as part of a scheme against him, claiming the entirety of America’s higher education business had become an illegal moneymaking scam.

“They created a fraud,” he says flatly.

…

Grabis doesn’t have a lawyer, his case has been going on for the better part of six years, and at first blush, his argument sounds like a Hail Mary from a desperate debtor. The only catch is, he might be right.

By any metric, something unnatural is going on in the education business. While other industries in America suffered declines thanks to financial crises, increased exposure to foreign competition, and other factors, higher education has grown suspiciously fat in the last half-century. Tuition costs are up 100% at universities over and above inflation since 2000, despite the 2008 crash, with some schools jacking up prices at three, four times the rate of inflation dating back to the seventies.

Bloat at the administrative level makes the average university look like a parody of an NFL team, where every brain-dead cousin to the owner gets on the payroll. According to Education Week, “fundraisers, financial aid advisers, global recruitment staff, and many others grew by 60 percent between 1993 and 2009,” which is ten times the rate of growth for tenured faculty positions.

…

Hovering over all this is a fact not generally known to the public: many American universities, even ones claiming to be broke, are sitting atop mountains of reserve cash. In 2013, after the University of Wisconsin blamed post-crash troubles for raising tuition 5.5%, UW system president Kevin Reilly in 2013 admitted that the school actually held $638 million in reserve, separate and distinct from the school endowment. Moreover, Reilly said, other big schools were doing the same thing. UW’s reserve was 25% of its operating budget, for instance, but the University of Minnesota’s was 29%, while Illinois maintained a whopping 34% buffer.

When Alan Collinge of Student Loan Justice looked into it, he found many other schools were sitting atop mass reserves even as they pleaded poverty to raise tuition rates. “They’re all doing it,” he said.

In the mortgage bubble that led to the 2008 crash, financiers siphoned fortunes off home loans that were unlikely to be repaid. Student loans are the same game, but worse. All the key players get richer as that $1.7 trillion pile of debt expands, and the fact that everyone knows huge percentages of student borrowers will never pay is immaterial. More campus palaces get built, more administrators get added to payrolls, and perhaps most importantly, the list of assets grows for financial companies, whether or not the loans perform.

…

“As long as it’s collateralized at Navient, they can borrow against that,” Smith says. “They say, ‘Look, we've got $3 billion in assets, which are just consumer loans in negative amortization that are not being repaid, but are being artificially kept out of default so Navient can borrow against that from other banks.

“When I realized that, I was like, ‘Oh, my god. They’re happy that the loans are growing instead of being repaid, because it gives them more collateral to borrow against.’” Smith’s comments echo complaints made by virtually every student borrower in trouble I’ve ever interviewed: lenders are not motivated to reduce the size of balances by actually getting paid. Instead, the game is about keeping loans alive and endlessly growing the balance, through new fees, penalties, etc.

There are two ways of approaching reform of the system. One is the Bernie Sanders route, which would involve debt forgiveness and free higher education. A market-based approach meanwhile dreams of reintroducing discipline into student lending; if students could default, schools couldn’t endlessly raise costs on the back of unlimited government-backed credit.

Which idea is more correct can be debated, but the one thing we know for sure is that the current system is the worst of both worlds, enriching all the most undeserving actors, and hitting that increasingly prevalent policy sweet spot of privatized profit and socialized risk. Whether it gets blown up in bankruptcy courts or simply collapses eventually under its own financial weight — there’s an argument that the market will be massively disrupted if and when the administration ends the Covid-19 deferment of student loan payments — the lie can’t go on much longer.

“It’s just obvious that this has become a printing money operation,” says Grabis. “The colleges charge whatever they want, then they go to the government and continuously increase the size of the loans.” If you’re on the inside, that’s a beautiful thing. What about for everyone else?

[chelsie-carson]

Life at Lock Downton Abbey! DIY hairdos, Delia's cottage pie and a beard that would make Carson weep – Jim Carter and his wife Imelda Staunton on how they've been coping

Jim Carter and Imelda Staunton are pondering their remarkably different approaches to grooming while they've been under lockdown. 

Jim, best known as Downton Abbey butler Carson, has spent his time staying well away from the razor and is now sporting a luxurious beard and a thick mane of wavy grey locks. 

'My hair's getting longer and longer,' he chortles. 'I'm reverting to my hippie roots!'

His wife meanwhile, Harry Potter and Vera Drake star Imelda, who joined her husband in the Downton cast in last year's movie, admits to taking DIY action to maintain her appearance.

'I cut my own hair the other night and it was rather successful,' she says proudly.

 'You did a good job, love. I'll do the back for you one day...' Jim jokes.

It's not hard to see why these two have one of the most successful marriages in show business. Their quick and easy banter reveals a charming affection that's tangible even over the telephone.

Incidentally, telephones are where the pair have been drawing the line recently with communication. 

'We both hate technology and we're not very good at it,' says Jim, 71. 

 He and Imelda, 64, who met during a stage production of Guys And Dolls in 1982 and married a year later, are staunchly opposed to the video-calling apps like Zoom that have been helping people stay socially active during lockdown.

'We don't feel the need for it,' he says. 'I'm enjoying making phone calls rather than sending emails, having the luxury of a long conversation, not shovelling out information.'

Jim's also been writing letters and postcards to old acquaintances, including one to a 'school friend from 60 years ago', as well as being ultra-neighbourly. 

He and Imelda have been looking out for a lady who lives alone on their street in Hampstead, north London, delivering her freshly cut flowers from their garden.

'A couple of times now she's trotted around here and left us croissants on the step for our breakfast in return. Isn't that fabulous?' says Jim. 

'We all need to look out for each other, that's the message.'

It's this ethos that underscores a charity project the couple have been backing – a recording of Mariah Carey's ballad Anytime You Need A Friend by the Breathe Harmony NHS choir. 

The single features staff from London's Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals, including frontline nurses, doctors and porters, plus more than 100 volunteer singers and musicians from 12 countries. 

Each singer joined in virtual rehearsals before submitting their performances on their

'It's an international message of positivity and hope,' says Jim. '

At the end of their shifts they're playing it in hospitals to staff and patients, and people are finding it moving and uplifting.'

'What's moving is someone singing in a choir when they're absolutely on their knees,' adds Imelda. 

'These people have been saving lives then going off to sing, and it's been therapeutic for them because they're not having to make decisions, they're not on a knife edge. 

'They're just connecting with their emotions and having a release through song.' The track was produced by Mike King, who has worked with musicians such as Mark Ronson and Boy George. 

Proceeds from the single, which Mariah herself has tweeted her support for, saying it 'brought her to tears', will be shared between Mike's MyCool Music Foundation and Breathe Arts Health Research, which tries to bring a bit of joy to patients and staff alike through music, magic and dance.

Jim and Imelda became patrons of the latter five years ago after throwing their weight behind Breathe Magic, a series of summer camps for children with cerebral palsy and brain injuries that help them develop motor skills and independence. 

The couple usually end up on stage as stooges for the mini magicians. 'It's the best show in town,' says Imelda.

For Jim, himself a keen magician, the rewards are abundant. 'If you want to cry, go to a Breathe Magic show to see these children overcoming quite complex difficulties,' he says. 'The joy is heartbreaking.'

The couple have no complaints about how their lives have been under lockdown, and acknowledge that their garden means they are more privileged than most. 

Plus, quite by chance, a week before the restrictions were imposed their actress daughter Bessie and her flatmate moved in because their flat was being redecorated. They've been there ever since.

'It's been lovely,' beams Jim, who says that Bessie, 26, seen recently in the ITV drama Beecham House, and her pal do the lion's share of the shopping. 

'It's playing to my strengths because I'm not the world's greatest shopper. We've all been slotting into our little domestic routine.'

Imelda, meanwhile, has been doing most of the cooking.

 'I'll be doing a Delia cottage pie tomorrow,' she says, which sparks an enthusiastic 'Ooh!' from Jim. 'The secret is cinnamon, that's all I'm saying.'

Imelda has also been occupying herself with rehearsals for a BBC revival of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads monologues series. It first aired in 1988, and is now being rebooted at Elstree studios in accordance with government social distancing guidelines. 

But like the majority of actors, Imelda and Jim have been mostly left high and dry by coronavirus. Her next project, a new production of Hello, Dolly!, was due to open at London's Adelphi Theatre in August but is now on hold indefinitely. 

She refuses to complain though. 'There are people dying,' she says. 

'People risking their lives to go to work. So at the moment the arts will have to wait in line.'

There has been much talk about a Downton Abbey movie sequel. 

The 2019 film, which came four years after the last episode aired on TV and starred Imelda as the Queen's lady-in-waiting, scooped £136m at the box office last autumn.

'I think everybody would be up for another,' says Imelda. 'It did well all over the world and you want to do things that give people pleasure, so why not?'

Although Imelda feels positive that the arts business will recover, it's a waiting game for now. 'We're keeping ourselves happy and relaxed,' she declares. 

Jim has 'rediscovered cycling' and is delighting in the freedom of the new normal. 'I haven't been putting pressure on myself to achieve this or that. 

'If I want to read a book in the afternoon, I do it with an easy conscience,' he says. 

'Take some of that compulsion out of your life and, if you can, relish every day.'  

Anytime You Need A Friend is out now. For more information visit breatheahr.org.

(x)

[davidmann95]

Superman’s 10 Best of the ‘10s

Good Miracle Monday, folks! The first third Monday of May of a new decade for that matter, and while that means that today in the DC Universe Superman just revealed his secret identity to the world on the latest anniversary of that time he defeated the devil, in ours it puts a capstone on a solid 10 years of his adventures now in the rear view mirror, ripe for reevaluation. And given there’s a nice solid ‘10′ right there I’ll go ahead with the obvious and list my own top ten for Superman comics of the past decade, with links in the titles to those I’ve spoken on in depth before - maybe you’ll find something you overlooked, or at least be reminded of good times.

A plethora of honorable mentions: I’m disqualifying team-ups or analogue character stories, but no list of the great Superman material of the last decade would be complete without bringing up Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye #7, Avengers 34.1, Irredeemable, Sideways Annual #1, Supreme: Blue Rose, Justice League: Sixth Dimension, usage of him in Wonder Twins, (somewhat in spite of itself) Superior, from all I’ve heard New Super-Man, DCeased #5, and Batman: Super Friends. And while they couldn’t quite squeeze in, all due praise to the largely entertaining Superman: Unchained, the decades’ great Luthor epic in Superman: The Black Ring, a brilliant accompaniment to Scott Snyder’s work with Lex in Lex Luthor: Year of the Villain, the bonkers joy of the Superman/Luthor feature in Walmart’s Crisis On Infinite Earths tie-in comics, Geoff Johns and John Romita’s last-minute win in their Superman run with their final story 24 Hours, Tom Taylor’s quiet criticism of the very premise he was working with on Injustice and bitter reflection on the changing tides for the character in The Man of Yesterday, the decades’ most consistent Superman ongoing in Bryan Miller and company’s Smallville Season 11, and Superman: American Alien, which probably would have made the top ten but has been dropped like a hot potato by one and all for Reasons. In addition are several stories from Adventures of Superman, a book with enough winners to merit a class of its own: Rob Williams and Chris Weston’s thoughtful Savior, Kyle Killen and Pia Guerra’s haunting The Way These Things Begin, Marc Guggenheim and Joe Bennett’s heart-wrenching Tears For Krypton, Christos Gage and Eduardo Francisco’s melancholy Flowers For Bizarro, Josh Elder and Victor Ibanez’s deeply sappy but deeply effective Dear Superman, Ron Marz and Doc Shaner’s crowdpleasing Only Child, and Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine DeLandro’s super-sweet Mystery Box.

10. Greg Pak/Aaron Kuder’s Action Comics

Oh, what might’ve been. In spite of an all-timer creative team I can’t justify listing this run any higher given how profoundly and comprehensively compromised it is, from the status quo it was working with to the litany of ill-conceived crossovers to regular filler artists to its ignominious non-ending. But with the most visceral, dynamic, and truly humane take on Clark Kent perhaps of all time that still lives up to all Superman entails, and an indisputably iconic instant-classic moment to its name, I can’t justify excluding it either.

9. Action Comics #1000

Arguably the climax to the decade for the character as his original title became the first superhero comic to reach a 1000th issue. While any anthology of this sort is a crapshoot by nature, everyone involved here seemed to understand the enormity of the occasion and stepped up as best they could; while the lack of a Lois Lane story is indefensible, some are inevitably bland, and one or two are more than a bit bizarre, by and large this was a thoroughly charming tribute to the character and his history with a handful of legitimate all-timer short stories.

8. Faster Than A Bullet

Much as Adventures of Superman was rightfully considered an oasis amidst the New 52′s worst excesses post-Morrison and in part pre-Pak, few stories from it seem well-remembered now, and even at the time this third issue inexplicably seemed to draw little attention. Regardless, Matt Kindt and Stephen Segovia’s depiction of an hour in the life of Superman as he saves four planets first thing in the morning without anyone noticing - while clumsy in its efforts at paralleling the main events with a literal subplot of a conversation between Lois and Lex - is one of the best takes I can recall on the scope on which he operates, and ultimately the purpose of Clark Kent.

7. Man and Superman

Seemingly geared on every front against me, built as it was on several ideas of how to handle Superman’s origin I legitimately hate, and by a writer whose work over the years has rarely been to my liking, Marv Wolfman and Claudio Castellini’s Man and Superman somehow came out of nowhere to be one of my favorite takes on Clark Kent’s early days. With a Metropolis and characters within it that feel not only alive but lived-in, it’s shocking that a story written and drawn over ten years before it was actually published prefigured so many future approaches to its subject, and felt so of-the-moment in its depiction of a 20-something scrambling to figure out how to squeeze into his niche in the world when it actually reached stores.

6. Brian Bendis’s run

Controversial in the extreme, and indeed heir to several of Brian Bendis’s longstanding weaknesses as a writer, his work on The Man of Steel, Superman, and Action Comics has nevertheless been defined at least as much by its ambition and intuitive grasp of its lead, as well as fistfuls of some of the best artistic accompaniment in the industry. At turns bombastic space action, disaster flick, spy-fi, oddball crime serial, and family drama, its assorted diversions and legitimate attempts at shaking up the formula - or driving it into new territory altogether, as in the latest, apparently more longterm-minded unmasking of Clark Kent in Truth - have remained anchored and made palatable by an understanding of Superman’s voice, insecurities, and convictions that go virtually unmatched.

5. Strange Visitor

The boldest, most out-of-left-field Superman comic of the past 10 years, Joe Keatinge took the logline of Adventures of Superman to do whatever creators wanted with the character and, rather than getting back to a classic take absent from the mainline titles at the time as most others did, used the opportunity for a wildly expansive exploration of the hero from his second year in action to his far-distant final adventure. Alongside a murderer’s row of artists, Keatinge pulled off one of the few comics purely about how great Superman is that rather than falling prey to hollow self-indulgence actually managed to capture the wonder of its subject.

4. Superman: Up In The Sky

And here’s the other big “Superman’s just the best” comic the decade had to offer that actually pulled it off. Sadly if reasonably best-known for its one true misfire of a chapter, with the increasing antipathy towards Tom King among fans in general likely not helping, what ended up overlooked is that this is a stone-cold classic on moment of arrival. Andy Kubert turns in work that stands alongside the best of his career, Tom King’s style is honed to its cleanest edge by the 12-pager format and subject matter, and the quest they set their lead out on ends up a perfect vehicle to explore Superman’s drive to save others from a multitude of angles. I don’t know what its reputation will end up being in the long-term - I was struck how prosaic and subdued the back cover description was when I got this in hardcover, without any of the fanfare or critic quotes you’d expect from the writer of Mister Miracle and Vision tackling Superman - but while its one big problem prevents me from ranking it higher, this is going to remain an all-timer for me.

3. Jeff Loveness’s stories Help and Glasses

Cheating shamelessly here, but Jeff Loveness’s Help with David Williams and Glasses with Tom Grummett are absolutely two halves of the same coin, a pair of theses on Superman’s enduring relevance as a figure of hope and the core of Lois and Clark’s relationship that end up covering both sides of Superman the icon and Superman the guy. While basically illustrated essays, any sense of detached lecturing is utterly forbidden by the raw emotion on display here that instantly made them some of the most acclaimed Superman stories of the last several years; they’re basically guaranteed to remain in ‘best-of’ collections from now until the end of time.

2. Superman Smashes The Klan

A bitter race for the top spot, but #2 is no shame here; while not quite my favorite Superman story of the past ten years, it’s probably the most perfectly executed. While I don’t think anyone could have quite expected just *how* relevant this would be at the top of the decade, Gene Yang and Gurihiru put together an adventure in the best tradition of the Fleischer shorts and the occasional bystander-centered episodes of Batman: The Animated Series to explore racism’s both overt and subtle infections of society’s norms and institutions, the immigrant experience, and both of its leads’ senses of alienation and justice. Exciting, stirring, and insightful, it’s debuted to largely universal acknowledgement as being the best Superman story in years, and hopefully it’ll be continued to be marketed as such long-term.

1. Grant Morrison’s Action Comics

When it came time to make the hard choice, it came in no small part down to that I don’t think we would have ever seen a major Golden Age Superman revival project like Smashes The Klan in the first place if not for this. Even hampering by that godawful Jim Lee armor, inconsistent (if still generally very good) art, and a fandom that largely misunderstood it on arrival can’t detract from that this is Grant Morrison’s run on a Superman ongoing, a journey through Superman’s development as a character reframed as a coherent arc that takes him from Metropolis’s most beaten-down neighborhoods to the edge of the fifth dimension and the monstrous outermost limits of ‘Superman’ as a concept. It launched discussions of Superman as a corporate icon and his place relative to authority structures that have never entirely vanished, introduced multiple all-time great new villains, and made ‘t-shirt Superman’ a distinct era and mode of operation for the character that I’m skeptical will ever entirely go away. No other work on the character this decade had the bombast, scope, complexity, or ambition of this run, with few able to match its charm or heart. And once again, it was, cannot stress this enough, Grant Morrison on an ongoing Superman book.

[beyond-far-horizons]

hi! i just saw your post about writing out headcanons for your aol fanfic and YES!!! If you did write them out I’d definitely be interested ❣️

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?! Seriously no-one is around from the old fandom and I feel so alone lol.

Ugh just had the worst 24 hours with a plumbing disaster and now I need to do the 'covid clean' post workman visit so not quite in the best place to do this but will try. Also there will be spoilers for the fic obv but with the way life is going who knows when im going to be able to post that!

Age of Legends headcanons for my fanfic.

Ilyena is an Aes Sedai (this has been implied by Word of Jordan)

She's around Moghedien's age, maybe a little older, between her and Mesaana so around 250- ish mid Collapse at the time of the fic and 300ish at her death (about 100 years younger than LTT, Barid Bel and Elan Morin.)

She specialises in Ter'angreal making (thanks to that great post someone made years ago and also because I love ter'angreal and would totally specialise in this if I could. She is also an artist who paints both physically and with the One Power.

Her hero is Jorlan Corbesan that Rand mentions to Cadsuane in TOM(?) He didnt die in the Sharom Trajedy as per canon and still leads the Centre for Ter'Angreal Studies along with several eminent Aes Sedai. Ilyena is not part of this elite group yet but her brother Talen was. Talen's tragic death going through the Rings ter'angreal (the one the Wise Ones use) before it was properly tested pre Sharom deeply affected Ilyena causing her to withdraw from her ambitous pathway and also from intimate relationships although she has a wide circle of friends being a very gregarious person.

Talen's death is a mystery but what is known is that he was very close with Elan Morin Tedronai pre Collapse. They were actually a couple despite many people side-eying how someone so bright and people-loving could be with someone known for his detachment and rationality. (Spoiler Elan Morin is sabiosexual and virtually asexual in my fic but when he falls, he falls hard.)

Elan Morin is a Dreamer (this is key to the story and I think RJ would have gone this way). @neuxue I think you had this headcanon too?) He heads up a secret Ajah within the Aes Sedai focused on the increasing dire Dreams and Foretellings that have amassed since just before the Sharom Tragedy. He has impounded any Ter'angreal that may have precognitive functions. Graendal (cant find her AOL name whilst on my tablet) is also part of the Ajah as she was treating some of the first Dreamers driven mad and suicidal by their visions.

Barid Bel Medar has been friends with Ilyena for decades and is a kind of mentor to her. He is also deeply in love with her but doesn't press the matter out of respect. They have a strong friendship and unspoken chemistry. She is unsure of her feelings for him mainly because of her reluctance to become involved in relationships and also because....well the guy is very intense! Even when he's on the Light he's intense. She feels like she'd be consumed by him...but would that be a bad thing??

Lews Therin has not yet met Ilyena but he has been virtually lifelong friends with Barid Bel and by friends I mean blood brothers/ shonen rivals. The competition is ingrained by now. He is one of the Rods of Dominion, currently outshining Barid Bel as the Spire of Paraad Disen (but not by much).

The world has been increasing racked by unrest and violence but no-one knows why. Riots, plagues, droughts have increased and faith in the current order is waning. This is excerbated by various cults such as The Promise of Freedom and various high profile figures calling for a new order and casting doubt on Aes Sedai and the egalitarian system. Even Chora trees are starting to be suspected as pacifers etc.

There is harsh disagreement about how to deal with these things in the Hall of Servants and World Government as minor wars have started to break out and people call for peacekeeping forces including channelers (unthinkable a few decades before).

Barid Bel, whilst highly respected as a leader and tactician, has also come under a shadow as he is increasingly being held up as a guru of warfare having discovered and popularised the subject about a century ago (ironically he was just looking for a way to distinguish himself against LTT and back then it was just interesting historical research that became a very popular series of books and lectures. )

Ilyena comes up with a way of both clearing her friend's notoriety and helping him gain control over the situation (not to mention tweaking the nose of the great Lews Therin who she doesnt really approve of give all Barid Bel has said about him over the years). She proposes a grand exhibition - The Art of War where they can showcase warfare to draw interest and then show people why it was a bad idea (no spoilers here but I got some cool things planned!) It is at this gathering alot of the major players meet - a Web of Destiny!

Ilyena and Mierin know each other independently which I won't spoil. Ilyena feels she has been unfairly treated over the Sharom Tragedy. Barid Bel is not a fan of Mierin, both because he takes Lews Therin's side and because he's never quite forgiven her for her dismissive behaviour towards him at the Academy when he maaaay have had a crush on her.

As an aside Barid Bel and Duram Ladden (Be'lal) trolling Lews Therin over Mierin and Ilyena is hilarious to think about. My Be'lal is turning out to be a really fun character as opposed to the non entity Moiraine took care of in Book 3.

At some point I just want Barid Bel and LTT to put their rivalry aside and get roaring drunk together somewhere. I think they really did have a close friendship at one point (mainly because it would hurt all the more with the angst and then the betrayal and in fiction Im here for that!)

[aboutcaseyaffleck]

Actor Casey Affleck Reflects On The Past And 'The World To Come'

The last time I saw Casey Affleck was after an 8:30 a.m. Sundance Film Festival screening of “Manchester by the Sea,” which left my colleagues and I so emotionally drained we were pretty much useless for the rest of the day. Affleck finds this very funny. “Oh man, that’s awesome,” he laughs. “That was a tough screening. At Sundance I’m usually just going to sleep at 8 a.m.” We’re talking on the phone a few days after the festival’s virtual premiere of his latest movie, “The World to Come,” which made its Sundance debut last month under very different circumstances. “It’s so strange doing these things sitting in front of your computer,” he sighs.

Directed by Mona Fastvold, “The World to Come” is a powerful period piece about a forbidden love affair between pioneer women played by Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby, set in upstate New York during the early months of 1856. Affleck produced the picture, in which he plays a supporting role as Waterston’s uncomprehending husband, and he did his best to soldier through a crowded Zoom Q&A after the Sundance screening, with results pleasant enough, but nonetheless missing that in-person festival magic. “I used to love going to film festivals and talking to journalists and seeing all the movies and talking to other filmmakers,” he laments. “Sitting here alone in a little office in my house is such a drag. But it was nice to know that the movie was getting seen, at least.”

While big brother Ben plays Batman in studio pictures, Casey has exhibited a restless independent streak ever since he was a student at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. (Our ninth-grade classes competed against each other in the Mass. High School Drama Guild Competition. His won, perhaps unsurprisingly.) A longtime friend of the Brattle Theatre and former creative advisor for the Independent Film Festival Boston, the younger Affleck has always seemed more at home in indies. Not a lot of actors would follow an Oscar-winning role in “Manchester by the Sea” with a microbudget art film like “A Ghost Story.” But then his internalized, minimalist acting style is often at odds with the concerns of contemporary blockbusters. There’s a weird dissonance watching something like Disney’s hokey Chatham sea adventure “The Finest Hours,” with Affleck going full Montgomery Clift while surrounded by CGI silliness.

“The World to Come” is the most ambitious project yet from Affleck’s Sea Change Media, which partnered with Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon’s legendary NYC indie institution Killer Films for the arduous production that began with a conversation between Affleck and novelist Ron Hansen nearly a decade ago. “When I did ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ I got to know Ron Hansen, just because I loved the book so much. Ron has a very unique talent for writing 19th century language. He’s just from another era. I asked him if he had something he wanted to work on together, and I thought he would send me one of his things. Instead, he sent me this story by Jim Shepard. It was beautiful. I said, why don’t you and Jim write the script? And they took about six years, but it came together beautifully. Good things come to those who wait, I guess.”

The film eventually shot in Romania with a break built into the schedule to accommodate the changing seasons that are so crucial to the movie’s rugged, outdoor textures. “We were way out in Transylvania, out in the mountains,” Affleck explains. “We were just in some valley and they built a couple of farmhouses. I like being far away in a new place. It makes you feel outside of your life. And I love working in weather. There are so many aspects of moviemaking that are artificial, but when there’s extreme weather, it’s real. I did this Disney movie about a boat rescue, and it was, like, December in friggin’ Quincy and they were just soaking us with water every single take. There’s not a lot that you have to quote-unquote act. You’re just standing there, teeth-chattering, shivering, just being.” This reminds me of the scene in “Manchester” when he and Lucas Hedges have an argument walking in the blistering cold and can’t remember where they parked. “I forgot about that one,” he laughs.

I’d never say so on the phone, but I consider Affleck’s performance as Lee Chandler in “Manchester by the Sea” among the finest I’ve seen in my 22 years of reviewing films, worthy of discussion alongside Brando’s Terry Malloy in “On the Waterfront” in its aching, inchoate longing. Lee holds his grief somewhere very private and dear, as if to begin to forgive himself would be an act of betrayal. The movie nails a gruff, emotional constipation popular among men of a certain stripe, especially in New England. (My mother offered my favorite review of the film: “Why don’t they just talk to each other? Jesus, this is like watching you and your father.”) Words don’t come easily to most of Affleck’s movie characters, but he chafes at the description of them as inarticulate. “It’s funny, I find the characters in ‘Manchester’ to be sometimes very articulate,” he argues. “There’s misunderstandings, but they end up communicating what’s inside.”

“The World to Come” is rife with such mixed signals and miscommunications, about which co-star Katherine Waterston raved during the Zoom Q&A after the Sundance screening. “It was so much fun to play the scenes with Casey,” she said. “A lot of these scenes are written as dances, where somebody tries to reach out and engage and they’re misunderstood. Inarticulacy is a very interesting thing to see in film. The failed attempts. Failed communications. It’s actually fun to play those things. You don’t know what the other person’s going to throw at you. It keeps it really alive on set. Mona and I felt if we had the money we could have kept shooting this thing for months, because the scenes were so much fun to explore.”

Affleck agrees. “When Katherine’s character writes in her journal or she starts talking to Vanessa, they have this beautiful, expressive way of speaking to each other,” he enthuses, whereas his character “says what he’s gotta say in as few words as possible. He’s very brusque and curt, which I enjoyed. The way that he talks is the communication equivalent when he gives her a birthday gift of sardines and a tin of raisins.”

Indeed, her increasingly florid diary entries — originally intended as a ledger to keep track of the farm’s monthly expenses — become the heartbeat of the film, providing an emotional release otherwise suppressed by the rigid formality of the era and the ugly drudgery of day-to-day farm life. “The World to Come” is ultimately a movie about the need to share our stories, and how through telling them we make sense of ourselves. As producer Koffler explains in the press notes, “Part of the film’s vision is to dramatize a very basic human impulse: to create, to connect, to say ‘I was here, and I mattered.’”

This has become a recurring theme in Affleck’s recent work. In 2019, he wrote, directed and starred in “Light of My Life,” a little-seen but strikingly tense post-apocalyptic road movie about a father and daughter hiding out in the wilderness after a pandemic has wiped out most of the women in the world. The film begins with Affleck telling the little girl a bedtime story that runs almost 13 minutes and sneakily sets up the movie’s major themes. Then in last month’s well-acted but regrettably soggy “Our Friend,” he starred as real-life journalist Matthew Teague, whose soul-baring Esquire story about his wife’s struggle with cancer became a national phenomenon.

“Matt Teague wrote that article and then wanted it made into a movie as his way of processing everything that had happened,” the actor elaborates. “You transform pain into other things as you go through life. That was all him working through it. I like stories about storytellers and I like stories within stories. Obviously, I wrote and directed a movie that starts with a 12-minute bedtime story. I love that. I know that other people don’t love it as much as I do, so I have to be careful about it.”

That kind of love led to last summer’s “Stories From Tomorrow,” a project initiated during lockdown by Affleck and his schoolteacher mom Christine, encouraging children to send in poems and short stories to be read on social media by celebrities like Matt Damon and Jon Hamm, as well as his “The World to Come” co-stars Waterston and Kirby. “That was something I started out at the very beginning of the quarantine as a small project to encourage kids to write creatively, because I know it can be a great way of processing anxiety and working through feelings that you aren’t really talking about or aren’t aware that you’re having. It wasn’t something I thought would go on forever; once the kids are back in school that ought to be where they should be doing all that kind of work. But while they were sitting at home, I thought it would be a good way to get their attention off the awful news and into something more imaginative. And I also got a chance to read all these super-cool stories! Really creative stuff that kids sent from all around the world.”

Finally, as a Boston publication it would be dereliction of duty not to mention the hysterical Dunkin Donuts commercial parody from when Affleck hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2016, so dead-on in its depiction of a local 'regulah customah' that on one of my critics’ poll ballots that year I tried to nominate the sketch for Best Documentary. Alas, the performer shoots down a pet theory I’ve been hanging onto ever since, that the dirtbag Boston guy in the Bruins hat is secretly a grown-up version of Affleck’s scene stealing, bug-swallowing Morgan from “Good Will Hunting.”

“I hadn’t thought about that, dude. That’s really funny. It never crossed my mind." He pauses before confiding, "I wasn’t that great on SNL… I just wasn’t all that funny on the skits, because it’s live and you’re reading the cue cards and it was my first time. But when we went to make that little pre-recorded short film of the Dunkin’ Donuts ad, I really felt like that was my wheelhouse there. I could’ve played that character in a movie. I could have gone to work and played him every single day, and I would have had a blast. That was really fun to do. I would love to do another one of those. That would be funny to see that character again.”

I bet that guy’s got some stories.

“The World To Come” is now in theaters and will be available via video on demand Tuesday, March 2.

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