#it’s also possible that the current cultural relevancy is contributing to my thought process here but still

[nofacednerd]

I know it’s probably Not That Serious and maybe even unintentional but I think it’s really interesting that Superman has always been a metaphor/allegory for the Jewish diaspora while in MAWS, you can interpret Brainiac as a metaphor for zionism

[feralphoenix]

NO ONE IS HAPPY WITH THIS: Leitmotif & Sound Palette In “Sealed Vessel”

whats UP hk fandom i am back with—“more picante takes?” WOW YES HOW DID YOU KNOW!!!

CONTENT WARNING FOR TONIGHTS PROGRAM: today we are discussing the hollow knight boss fight, and all that entails for all the characters involved. relatedly this post does not have anything nice to say about the pale king, so if you’re very protective of his character, you may want to skip it.

FURTHERMORE, i would like to iterate that this essay is working from a place of compassion for ghost, hollow, radiance, AND hornet, because every single one of them is miserable at this point in the game and doesn’t want the events of this boss fight to be happening at all. this post is not an appropriate place to dunk on ANY of them. if you want to do that, please do it elsewhere.

thanks for your understanding.

ALSO, AS USUAL: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i��m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of radiance and the moth tribe’s backstory is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay, ty

NO ONE IS HAPPY WITH THIS: Leitmotif & Sound Palette In “Sealed Vessel”

A while back @grimmradiance​ made a lovely essay about comparing and contrasting Hollow’s moveset in their Hollow Knight and Pure Vessel boss fights and using what can be gleaned from the differences to speculate about their psychology. (This essay is currently their pinned, but I’ll attach a link in a reblog.) It is extremely good, and it made me want to look at the Hollow Knight boss fight my own self through one of my own areas of expertise, meaning music!

As we are all well aware, Christopher Larkin's soundtrack to Hollow Knight rules ass. There are two specific ways in which it rules ass that are relevant to this essay: Leitmotif, and sound palette.

Quick rundown for folks who aren’t familiar with these terms: A leitmotif is a melody associated with a character or event or mood that's incorporated into songs in different ways based on what's happening in the story. Undertale is an example of a game with an incredibly strong use of leitmotif that’s really only possible because Toby Fox is both the composer and the game creator, so he can synchronize the subtleties of the writing with music and scene scripting too.

The phrase “sound palette” can have a lot of meanings, but in this case I’m using it to refer to specific instruments or groups of instruments that are associated with certain characters. If you’ve watched Steven Universe and seen interviews/production commentary by its composer team Aivi & Surasshu, you’ll hear them talking about part of their approach to scoring episodes being how each main character is represented by certain instruments: Steven with the triangle wave, Pearl with jazz piano, and so on.

Hollow Knight is a small team project rather than a one-person show, so Christopher Larkin can’t go quite AS over-the-top with leitmotif integration as Toby Fox can on simple virtue of Team Cherry having to communicate what they want to him. But Larkin is Hollow Knight's sound designer as well as its composer, so he folds leitmotif and character sound palette together with striking use of stems to create a very immersive and cinematic musical experience that enhances HK’s story and gameplay.

This brings us back to the track Sealed Vessel, which has EXTREMELY tight and cinematic sound design and uses leitmotif and sound palette to not just sock players in the feelings during a charged and dramatic boss fight, but also tell us a lot about what Hollow and Radiance are experiencing emotionally, especially with the gameplay in mind.

So, let’s play the soundtrack version of Sealed Vessel (and some other stuff) and talk about what’s going on in the game during it!

You may want to get out your copy of the OST or visit Christopher Larkin’s Bandcamp page so that you can listen along.

LEITMOTIF & SOUND PALETTE

Before we actually get into analyzing Sealed Vessel, let’s talk about the involved characters’ leitmotifs/sound palettes so we know what we’re listening for.

Both of these things are easiest to identify when characters have a distinct theme song. Ghost does not. However, the main theme of Hollow Knight (see: the title track, Hollow Knight) is used as a leitmotif for the vessels as a whole. Most pieces involved with a vessel character include this leitmotif somewhere. For instance, you can find this leitmotif and variations on it in Broken Vessel’s boss theme. The Vessel leitmotif is led by a cello solo here, so we can identify that the cello is the central part of Broken Vessel’s personal sound palette.

When the Vessel theme is associated with Ghost in specific, it tends to be performed by viola and/or piano, as it is on the title track and in other places like the opening cinematic.

Moving on to Hollow, their specific sound palette is established not in Sealed Vessel but in Pure Vessel, their pantheon boss theme. (Sealed Vessel was composed first, since the Godmaster DLC didn’t drop until over a year after HK’s initial release, meaning Pure Vessel was reverse-engineered/extrapolated from relevant parts of Sealed Vessel. But we’ll get into that later!)

The major instrumental fixtures in Pure Vessel are choir and tubular bells (i.e., those dramatic vertical fellas that sound like church bells or a carillon), with some soft background instrumentation: bass drum, woodwinds (appropriately led by flute in the main melody’s “falling motion” - flute is the centerpiece of TPK’s sound palette), strings, and high/mid brass. Hollow’s overall sound palette has a very Christian choir-esque sound (in the Pure Vessel theme this is very idealized and saintly: soft and slow and tragic) and the beginning of their leitmotif has a very distinctive climbing melody that mirrors their ascent from the Abyss. The Unbearable Vesselness Of Being leitmotif is absent from the Pure Vessel track.

Meanwhile, Radiance’s boss theme is a very fun expression of her character upon which Larkin evidently went ham. Her sound palette is expressed through full orchestra (plus choir and pipe organ) that has a special emphasis on the bass part of the brass section, which does not see much use in the HK soundtrack. Her leitmotif has also got cute and distinctive touches: It’s full of triplets to match her tiara-looking antennae, and also has a repeated “fluttery” pattern of background sixteenth notes as countermelody, often spiraling downwards.

The majority of the piece is loud and bombastic and in a minor key to play up the “resplendent and terrible” wrathful aspect of herself Radi is pushing during this section of gameplay, a very quintessentially moth intimidation tactic: Try to look as scary as possible to keep your enemies from messing with you, since you’re not built for fighting. These blasts of intensity from the brass section match Radiance’s strategy of Overwhelm You With Bullet Hell Spam To Make Up For Lack Of Battle Experience/Poor Aim. But in between said intensity spikes you can hear traces of softer instrumentation and major key, little glimpses of a gentle warmth we can otherwise only infer from her backstory and the implications of Moth Tribe lore.

0:00 - 0:41 - OPENING AMBIANCE

The Sealed Vessel track begins with the ambiance of the Black Egg Temple’s interior: The faint tones of the glowing seals we hear when we pass by them, the only light in a pitch-black world besides the floor lighting up under Ghost’s feet.

Then a slow string tremolo fades in, slowly growing louder. In the track new notes join the tremolo progressively, while in-game a violin joins the anticipatory chord every time you snap one of Hollow’s chains. Which, may I say: A+++++++ sound design!!!!!! Rules ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The tremolo reaches a peak in dynamics - all three characters present are extremely tense - and then cuts off to allow for Hollow’s boss battle opening, i.e. Radiance screaming. Team Cherry kindly demarcates each phase of the battle with a Radi yell.

0:43 - 1:39 - PHASE 1: HOLLOW ON AUTOPILOT

Phase 1 opens immediately with Hollow’s leitmotif in bells, but with brass, piano, and percussion backing them up; grand and tragic. In the background the bass section of the orchestra's strings flutter in a repetitive pattern of 16th notes, i.e. Panicky Radi Noises. The violins harmonize with Hollow's leitmotif as it climbs, but then join the rest of the string section in fluttering 16th notes, transmuting what in Pure Vessel is the flute leading Hollow back down (8th notes) to a slightly louder “a” from the backseat.

In actual gameplay, the only attacks Hollow uses are their basic nail skills. Building on grimmradiance’s analysis of the window their attacks provide to their psychology, and pairing that with the Pure Vessel leitmotif booming over the metaphorical loudspeakers, we can tell that this is Hollow reacting automatically to a threat the way that their father trained them to. Their conscious mind might still be making dialup noises at Ghost’s sudden reappearance jumpscaring them with murky childhood guilt and trauma, but that’s only let muscle memory take over. Slash, parry, charge and thrust. Their time spent at bee bootcamp (which we can assume because Hornet was trained at the Hive and Hollow’s form while nail fighting is identical to hers on their shared moves) has served them well.

Radiance, meanwhile, has frozen completely for this combat phase, and contributes nothing here except the anxiety of the string section.

As the strings continue to go “a” the piano (Ghost) and woodwinds harmonize on something between Hollow’s personal leitmotif and the Vessel leitmotif in the backdrop.

However at around 1:29ish, the key changes, building into an overall color change for the Sealed Vessel piece.

1:39 - 2:15 - PHASE 2: SHE’S AS SCARED OF YOU AS YOU ARE OF HER

In actual gameplay, the part of Sealed Vessel used for phases 1 and 2 of the Hollow Knight fight is the Entirety of 0:43 - 2:15, possibly because there’s no easy transition spot like there is between phase 2 and phase 3. But the changes to Hollow’s moveset are clearly tied to this specific part of the piece.

Phase 2 is where Radiance pushes herself past her freeze response and starts trying to hit Ghost. Hollow gains two attacks here, which we can tell are Radi because they’re often accompanied by her crying (a softer and more abbreviated sound than her full scream): These two attacks are the Infection blob blast and the Light/Void pillar attack that hits for a full 2 masks damage (which appear to be Radi’s take on Hollow’s Pure Vessel-exclusive moves, their grabby tentacles & silver knife pillars respectively).

In the Sealed Vessel track, this part of the piece is almost entirely Radiance’s fluttering. The strings start by following the descending motion of Hollow’s leitmotif but in 16th notes, then ratchet up to start spiraling down again while straying further from Hollow’s leitmotif. This section ends in a back and forth between hard blasts in a one-two-(rest)-one-two-three pattern and gasps of fluttering between, with piano and low brass building behind it. Eventually the nervous fluttering of the strings becomes less frequent between the blasts: Radiance is inexperienced with fighting and very very afraid, but she’s also FUCKING PISSED and prepared to defend herself.

The OST version of the piece punctuates the break between the first half of the piece and the second with Radiance’s scream.

2:16 - 4:04 - PHASE 3: “I’M HELPING! :)” SAID HOLLOW; “HOLY SHIT PLEASE DON’T,” SAID LITERALLY EVERYONE

Phase 3 opens with Hollow stabbing themself repeatedly, a movement pattern they repeat throughout the phase. It is shocking the first time you see it, and never stops being horrible and sad no matter how many times you do this part of the fight.

Here, Hollow’s mind has finally come back online after their own freeze response, and they choose to destroy themself and bequeath the duty of sealing Radiance to Ghost. Even if they can’t be the one to make their father proud, they can still make sure their directive gets carried out.

Radiance knows exactly what they’re up to and why, and she reacts to this by completely losing her head and mashing buttons in a panic. This is something we see out of her at the ends of her boss fights too, where she’s feeling too threatened and afraid to do anything but spam optic blasts. In the Hollow Knight boss fight this manifests in two horrifying-looking but easy-to-avoid new attacks: The Infection blob sprinkler and the ragdoll.

Ghost does not react visibly because we're in gameplay, but their horror and grief at their sibling’s choice is echoed in the BGM. The Sealed Vessel piece goes soft and sad, with Ghost’s associated viola leading the bass strings in the Unbearable Vesselness of Being leitmotif. At 2:51 the violin comes in with Hollow’s leitmotif, and gradually the choir appears in the backdrop. The ensemble’s overall dynamics build in a slow crescendo, and at the very end of this segment the other instruments begin to join in.

This segment of the piece is also used in phase 4, which occurs if you don't have Hornet’s help or miss your cue to Dream Nail Hollow. Phase 3 ends when Hollow reaches 0 HP; in phase 4 they are for all purposes already dead. But Radiance manifests an extra 250 HP out of terrified, unadulterated FUCK YOU FUCK THIS!!! even though all she can do is get Hollow to fall on their face trying to slash and ragdoll them around. The BGM continues to play as Ghost absorbs Radiance from Hollow and Hollow’s body loses its shape and dissolves into liquid Void.

And there’s one other place in gameplay Sealed Vessel (Unbearable Vesselness of Being) is used: The Path of Pain, the completely evil kaizo-level obstacle course which presumably featured in Hollow’s childhood training, and behind which the Pale King has hidden his last and most terrible secret—that he had realized on some level that Hollow was a kid with feelings who loved him and wanted to make him proud, and condemned them to death despite it all by using them to imprison and torture Radiance as he’d always planned.

The OST version of Sealed Vessel includes the music for both normal ending cinematics, so we’ll be looking at them too.

4:05 - 4:35: ENDINGS 1/2: NO ONE IS HAPPY WITH THIS

In the BGM for The Hollow Knight and Sealed Siblings endings, the Vessel leitmotif is played by violin, viola, and choir while the cellos and contrabasses—and then the brass bass section too—play a slower version of Radiance’s downward spiral. But once Ghost is pierced by the Black Egg’s chains and Radiance’s struggle to free herself ends in failure, the soprano and bass sections harmonize. The animation zooms out of the temple and the seal reforms. They are stuck together now until the end of Ghost’s life. Hooray.

The OST version of the track immediately segues into the BGM for Dream No More.

4:36 - 5:45: ENDING 3: THANKS, I HATE IT

Here, Hornet’s associated instrument, the violin, plays one long sustained note with a few notes of Ghost’s piano alongside as she wakes up.

TPK’s goddamn flute comes in at 5:00 with his leitmotif overpowering the backdrop Vessel leitmotif on piano while Hornet surveys the carnage: The temple has been destroyed, Radiance is dead, and what’s left of Ghost’s corpse is smeared across the floor. The Void may have taken umbrage with his horseshit and unceremoniously vored him, but the motherfucker still got what he wanted in the end; the Pale King has ended the Infection by completing his genocide of the moths, using the children he abused and abandoned as his proxies, and wasting two of their lives. Can I get a hearty THIS SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in the chat.

Given that Hornet herself is canonically unsure if bringing the fight to Radiance is really a just course of action, one can only imagine how she must feel when she sees the cost of that decision.

Our only real moment of catharsis is in this shit situation comes in at 5:13, where the flute gives way to a solo from Ghost’s associated viola, playing the Vessel leitmotif as the Siblings curl up and sink back into the mountain of their corpses. Goodnight, kiddos. You deserved better, and so did literally everyone involved in this whole stupid boss fight.

This is where the OST version of Sealed Vessel ends. Even without the gameplay and story context it slaps, but now that we’ve taken a look at how this 5:45 piece is wall to wall misery and fear on the part of literally every involved character, hopefully it will have even more impact!

[9worldstales]

INTERESTING POINTS TO PONDER FROM INTERVIEWS 7

Interviews might not remain forever available or not be easy to find so I’ve decided to link them and transcribe the points I find of some interest so as to preserve them should the interview had to end up removed.

It’s not complete transcriptions, just the bits I think can be relevant but I wholeheartedly recommend reading the whole thing.

And of course I also comment all this because God forbid I’ll keep silent… :P

Title: EXCLUSIVE: Screenwriter Don Payne Talks Thor!

Author: Elisabeth Rappe

Published: Feb 23, 2011

BEST BITS FROM THE INTERVIEW

ABOUT THE SCRIPT FOR “THOR”

Thor has seen a lot of screenwriters come and go, and I imagine that led to some very drastic changes to the character and story. Can you talk at all about that process, and what changes were made over the course of project? (For example, I know rumors swirled very early that the Thor movie would be an origin story with his alter ego, Dr. Donald Blake!) How did the script come together? At what point in the process did you come on board, and what was your contribution?

Don Payne: First off, for the record, the final, official WGA writing credits for the film are “Story by J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich, Screenplay by Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz and Don Payne.” Any other writing credits you might have seen elsewhere are either outdated or incorrect.

As far as how the script came together, J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich worked on the project before Kenneth Branagh came on board to direct. At that point, Ken and Marvel sat down and decided exactly what kind of story they wanted to tell. They took everything that had been written so far and figured out a game plan. Marvel then hired Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, and, as I understand it, those guys worked pretty intensely on the screenplay over the course of four or five months. After they left the project, Marvel hired me, and I stayed on all the way through the end — about a year and a half total. For the first eight months, I continued to develop, rewrite, and restructure the screenplay, bringing in new characters and new scenes. I worked closely with Ken and Marvel throughout the process, and, as the cast came together, I worked with Ken and the actors during rehearsals here and in London.

Then, once production started in January 2010, I was on set writing every day, both at the studio in Manhattan Beach and on location in New Mexico, and continued to work through post-production.

I’d like to say more about how the script has evolved since the very beginning of the development process, but I don’t want to spoil anything. I hate spoilers. (Mostly because I’m weak, and I can’t resist them myself!) But I’ll be happy to talk about it all after the film comes out. What I can say is that this really has been the greatest writing experience of my life. I’ve never worked harder or been as closely involved day-to-day on a project as I have on Thor.

And as far as Thor’s alter-ego goes, as Kevin Feige has said, people looking for a Donald Blake reference might just find one.

ABOUT THOR’S JOURNEY AND FAMILY

I know you’ve worked with iconic superheroes before, was Thor more or less daunting to deal with? He’s a real anachronistic, medieval character. How do you bring that into the modern world? Is it ultimately the same as trying to make any superhero realistic and relatable?

Don Payne: Well, I think the challenges are pretty apparent. As you say, Thor’s a unique character, and it’s an unusual story we’re telling. When you’ve got something like Captain America, the premise is easier to get right away — he’s a superhero fighting Nazis in World War II. Whereas we’ve got an extra-dimensional being once worshipped as a god by the ancient Norse who’s banished to earth and stripped of his powers to learn humility, all set amidst the Shakespearean intrigue of a dysfunctional royal family. It’s not as simple to grasp.

You just have to find the things that make Thor timeless and relatable as a character. It certainly helps that he’s charismatic and likeable, albeit flawed. He’s banished for good reason, but I think people will want to go on the journey with him and root for him to find redemption — particularly with Chris Hemsworth’s performance.

I think what really makes Thor relatable are the family relationships. There’s a lot of dysfunction in the House of Odin. Thor’s got a hard-ass father and a jealous brother. But for all of Thor’s hardheaded rebelliousness, he, like Loki, is really just trying to live up to his father’s expectations and make him proud. I think people can relate to that father and son dynamic.

ABOUT SIF, THE WARRIORS THREE AND HEIMDALL

What can you tell me about the parts popular Asgardians such as Heimdall, the Warriors Three, and Sif play in the overall plot? Will we see more of them in other Marvel movies? Is there potential for a Sif spinoff, as she has enjoyed in the comics?

Don Payne: The Warriors Three and Sif are very much like they are in the comics. They’re fierce warriors who are fiercely dedicated to their friend Thor. They’ll follow him anywhere — which might not always be the wisest thing. Also, as in the comics, Heimdall is bound by duty and honor to guard his post on the Rainbow Bridge, and he’s got serious issues with anyone who tries to cross it who would endanger Asgard.

As far as seeing these characters in other movies or their own spin-off films, I think Marvel already has a full slate of projects in development, so I imagine we’ll only see them as part of the Thor franchise. But you never know. I’d ask Kevin Feige if I were you!

ON THE HUMOUR OF THE MOVIE

One element that jumped out at me in the trailer was the comedy – it felt very light and natural, not corny. (Jane reacting to Thor’s name, for example, or the coffee cup scene.) How did you strike the balance between the comedy and drama of the piece? Were there moments where you thought “Ok, this goes too far with the fish-out-of-water joke”?

Don Payne: Well, my hope is we’ve included just enough humor in the script, but no more than that. This isn’t a comedy, and that’s not what I was hired to do. It’s an action film, and, as in all action films, you need those fun moments. But you have to do it sparingly. You don’t want things to get silly.

One thing we all agreed about early on was to make sure we were careful about how we approached the fish-out-of-water moments. We didn’t want Thor to come to earth and suddenly become an idiot for comic relief. Even without his powers, he’s the same person on earth as he was in Asgard — a smart, headstrong warrior. He’s a being from an advanced race who’s used to travelling to other worlds and thinking on his feet. We didn’t want him looking at a television set and going, “What is yon magic box, with phantoms that move and speak inside it?”

Still, he’s on unfamiliar turf, and there’s some fun in that. You just have to find the right balance. You also want to have fun moments and dialogue during the action sequences, so you put those into the script. Of course, those bits are the easiest to cut in editing if you find the jokes are too much or too distracting. You can pick and choose.

ON JANE AND DARCY

I particularly liked how Jane and Darcy react to Thor’s arrival. They aren’t immediately throwing themselves at him. They think he’s hot, but likely to be crazy. I know you’re a staunch feminist, so I imagine their portrayal was important to you. Can you talk about how you approached them? It seems rare to have two girls in a single Marvel film, possibly competing for Thor’s attention. How did that play into the romance, and how did you approach the relationship between Thor and Jane? Did Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings have any input into their characters?

Don Payne: Kat did an amazing job taking the words on the page as written and making them fly. She really embodied the character of Darcy.

After the second trailer came out, I read some people mistakenly speculate that her character was created as a marketing decision to appeal to the youth audience or some such thing — as if the producers sat down and said, “Hmm… this script is good, but we need a character to appeal to the tweens! With current pop cultural references!” I promise you, that wasn’t the case at all. I came up with Darcy because we needed someone to work with Jane Foster, and the character had to have a vastly different background, personality, and world-view from Jane in order to make that relationship interesting. I decided to make her a woman, frankly, because other than Sif and Frigga, we had a very male-heavy cast of characters. I thought it might also be interesting to have someone working for Jane who both frustrated her and who Jane saw as protégé whose potential she could help fully realize.

But I also wanted Darcy to be the voice of the common man. We’ve got Asgardians and astrophysicists, so I wanted someone to say what the average moviegoer might be thinking. If someone in the audience is thinking, “What the hell is that weird, glowing thing?!” Darcy should be asking “What the hell is that weird, glowing thing?!” (That line isn’t actually in the movie, but you get the idea…)

Natalie actually helped out tremendously with the character of Jane Foster. Let’s be honest, Jane Foster in the comics has traditionally been one of the most boring characters in the Marvel Universe. In the film, she’s an astrophysicist, so that makes her more interesting right off the bat. And it doesn’t hurt that she’s played by Natalie, who brings loads of personality and charm to any character she portrays.

Originally in the script, however, Jane was more of a traditional scientist — a hardcore skeptic. But Natalie came to the first rehearsal with the idea of turning that on its end. She suggested making Jane the believer. She thought Jane could be more of a kind of “scientist as poet” — someone who thinks outside of the box, someone whose theories are considered outlandish and are frowned upon by the scientific community. But it’s the kind of thinking that leads to great discoveries. When Thor arrives, she’s willing to take a leap of faith — and she has to pay the consequences for it. Natalie’s input made the character more interesting, improved her relationship with Thor, and, in general, made the story better. And she helped make sure Jane Foster isn’t boring. So I’m grateful to her for that.

During my story meetings with Ken and Marvel, we put a lot of work into the Thor/Jane relationship, and there was much discussion about exactly how and how quickly things should progress between them. I think we succeeded in developing their romance realistically, so it doesn’t feel forced.

ABOUT HEIMDALL AND THE MCU TAKE

There has also been a lot of ugly and foolish controversy about Idris Elba being cast as Heimdall. I don’t like to justify bigotry with attention, but has the reaction surprised you and the rest of the team?

Don Payne: You’d think as a society we’d be beyond this now. The funny thing is, this film was never meant to be a straight representation of traditional Norse mythology. It’s the cinematic take on the Marvel comics take on Norse mythology. In fact, in the reality of our movie, the Norse myths are actually based on our version of the Asgardians, after they visited ancient Norway. The Norse just got some things wrong, based on their primitive understanding of their encounters. (Like, for example, worshiping the Asgardians as gods.)

The bottom line is Idris is great in the movie. I think almost all of the people who are skeptical or have issues with the casting will be convinced when they see the movie — except for all the actual racists out there. But who needs them?

MY TWO CENTS

This interview is so goddamn awesome because it’s so informative. Don Payne talked about a lot of topics and didn’t give just two lines answers but well rounded explanations. There’s so much more than the bits I’ve selected but I couldn’t really copypaste it all, though I wholeheartedly recommend you to read it.

I’d kill to get a peck at the old scripts but definitely there was a lot of work ongoing to produce the definitive one.

Anyway I love how almost all Marvel seems to know Odin is a bad father yet Odin doesn’te ven get a slap on his wrists. Really guys...

I like how he admits Thor’s journey is one of redemption... but really that’s not how you made a redemption arc...

I also find interesting how again we get a confirmation that Sif and the Warriors Three are ‘fiercely dedicated to THEIR FRIEND THOR’.

In the movie Thor says:

Thor: Why don't you tell her how you sent the Destroyer to kill our friends, to kill me?

But the truth is that those were his friends, not both’s. For the Warriors Three and Sif there was never a choice between Thor and Loki. They were Thor’s friends and to him their loyalty went.

I also like how he says he hopes they included enough humor, but no more than that as this is an action film, and, while fun moments are needed they need to have them sparingly of things get silly. How they didn’t want Thor to come to earth and suddenly become an idiot for comic relief. How they didn’t want for the jokes to end up being too distracting. I think this speaks of care for the story.

They even put care in creating Jane and Darcy. I still think they could do Jane better, but still they tried.

[qqueenofhades]

So, it’s Friday evening, and it turns out I have more thoughts about things that happened this week. I almost never do Discourse on this blog, on whatever subject, but sometimes even your friendly local depressed historian gotta say things. If you’re not in the mood for a long-ass meta-y text post, just keep on scrolling, no hard feelings.

In the wake of the Notre Dame fire, which obviously a lot of us were upset about, and profoundly relieved that it did not end up being completely catastrophic, the usual spate of posts began to pop up, alleging that people only cared about Notre Dame because of the loss to Western/European/Christian history, that nobody had been this upset about the National Museum of Brazil or the outbreak of arson at three black churches in Louisiana in the same week, and so on. I don’t blame anyone for making those posts, because I know they cared about those issues and wanted to ensure that their importance was communicated, especially when something major like Notre Dame was getting all the airtime. However, I couldn’t help but notice how that followed the same pattern as all Woke Tumblr Discourse (tm). An event happens, people express reactions to it, and are then attacked or indirectly shamed for not expressing reactions to another event. Or there’s the usual cycle of “nobody will care about this because it’s not happening in America”-style posts, or passive-aggressive insinuations that “you don’t care if you don’t reblog this.” And -- I say this with the greatest kindness possible, because I know, I know you guys care -- it’s... not helpful.

The culture of Tumblr and other left-wing sections of social media often rests on enacting performative wokeness, on showing that you care about the most Progressive (tm) issues, or that you have thoroughly scrutinized your fandom tastes or political beliefs for anything Problematic and/or can prove yourself to an imagined moral standard (and there have been some great metas written on how this essentially replicates conservative evangelical purity culture, with the goalposts switched). This is why we keep having to circulate (and doubtless will have to do so with increasing frequency) those posts reminding the left not to eat its young and flame all prospective Democratic challengers to Trump in 2020 to a crisp before the right wing, which is only too happy to let us do the work of sabotaging ourselves, even gets a chance. This is also why you see the posts responding to said angry “nobody cares about this!” posts, in which people mention the fact that not visibly reacting to all the (vast and terrible) injustice in the world does not mean they don’t care. The world is a big place. So is the internet. I can guarantee you that people do care, and just because you didn’t see immediate evidence and response to it when you opened up your Tumblr dash is not proof of a collective nefarious conspiracy.

Take me, for example. I am a thirty-ish academic and historian who considers myself well-informed and literate in current events. I read national and international news every day to find out what’s going on (because I live in England, the answer is Brexit, and the status is Failed). And yet, there are plenty of things that I only hear about for the first time on Tumblr, often attached to one of those “nobody cares about this!” posts. And you know what? I do care. I care a lot. And I’m guessing that most other people do as well, because no matter how it may feel, the majority of individuals are fundamentally decent people with basic empathy for others, even if our whole system is a nightmare. But the urge to demand why nobody is Discoursing about this issue (again, among a vast and exhausting sea of them) needs to take a few fundamental things into account. 

First, the American media (as a large portion of readers are relying on) simply does not report this stuff. Look at what’s happening in that godforsaken country right now; does it really seem like the kind of place that’s eager to tell you about Brazilian museum fires or black-church arson? I’m someone who makes a conscious effort to read the news no matter how depressed it makes me, and I still miss tons of stuff, because it’s not there. The Western media reported on Notre Dame, people knew about it, and were upset. But when those of them who did not know about the National Museum of Brazil learned about it, they were also upset. We can definitively say now that the National Museum was a bigger and more irreplaceable tragedy in terms of what burned. But we were also apparently 15-30 minutes away from losing all of Notre Dame. You can be upset about both these things. You can express empathy for the history lost in both cases. There is not a greater moral value attached, and you’re not racist for caring about Notre Dame if you heard about it first (unless you’re only upset about Notre Dame for reasons related to race or perceived cultural superiority and are peddling vile conspiracy theories about Jews and Muslims intentionally burning it down, in which case you are a racist). Almost everyone who learned about the National Museum fire was just as horrified.

2019 is a hard and monstrously unfair and tremendously difficult place to live. The internet has made exposure to both all the information and no real information at all simultaneously possible. Not everyone can display active engagement and empathy with every tragedy everywhere. People have jobs, lives, kids, work, school, other commitments, mental and physical health to look after and even when they read the damn news, there’s no guarantee whatsoever the news is going to report it. If they haven’t made the conscious effort to search out every scrap of terribleness that exists in this hellworld, they.... really should not be shamed for that. If they don’t care even after they learn, that’s another debate. But again, in my experience, most people do. But if they are first exposed to it by someone claiming they won’t care, that makes them less likely to engage with it, and to want to enact meaningful change. Firing wittily sarcastic takedowns at easy targets on echo-chamber liberal Twitter is one thing. We all enjoy a good roast and venting our frustration at times. But as a long-term engagement strategy, it’s going to actively backfire.

I talk a lot about being a teacher, and my experiences with my students, but it’s relevant again, so here goes. The kids in my classes come in believing some pretty strange things, or they flat out don’t have a clue even about what I consider basic historical knowledge. If my reaction was to shame them for not knowing, when they have expressly come to me to learn better, I’m pretty sure I’d be a bad teacher. My strategy, whenever a student can actually be nudged to answer a question, is to pick out whatever correct thing they said. Even if the rest of the answer is wrong and we need to work through it, I start by highlighting the part of it that was right, and to build their confidence that I’m not just going to tear them down when they respond. Freshmen are scared of not knowing things and to be made to look like an idiot, so I try to assure them that I’m not going to do that and I will constructively engage with their contribution and treat it seriously. You can then move to dealing with the other parts of it that may not be right, or even Mmm Whatcha Say side-eye. It is a long and often frustrating process and sometimes after reading their essays, you wonder how much of an impression you made. But if you actually want to get people to care about things, you can’t mistake Ultimate Wokeness or Look How Progressive/Anti-establishment/Enlightened I Personally Am for the simple requirement of being a decent person. You can have the greatest and most necessary beliefs or value systems in the world, but if your response to people is to lash out at them even before they begin the conversation, you’re setting yourself back. And I know that’s not really what you want to do.

This should not be interpreted as some wishy-washy “everyone just needs to be nice to each other!!!” kindergarten-playground-rule. I frankly think the whole system could use a good nefarious dismantle, and you sure as hell don’t get there by mistaking insipid moral equivalence for necessary action. But accepting the existence of people different from you, and considering how you want to engage with them, and understanding that issues are complicated and people are flawed, is a fundamental part of being a mature adult (and this has nothing to do with chronological age; there are 15-year-olds who are plenty more mature adults than 50-year-olds). I honestly do love the desperate desire to make people care, and that, for the most part, is why people who identify as liberal or left-wing do so, because they want to (and they do) care. But it’s also why they can be bad at winning elections and getting into meaningful positions to enact this change. The right wing stays on message and sticks together. Even if they absolutely hated Trump, plenty of Republicans held their noses and voted for him anyway. The left did not do that. The greatest virtue of liberal thought, i.e. its determination to include multiple perspectives, has increasingly reduced it to smaller and smaller camps where only the purest survive, like some kind of ideological Hunger Games. It might be great for making yourself look good to your hall of mirrors, but.... not so good for actually doing something long-term.

Once again, this is not to blame anyone for being upset and worried about things, for wanting people to know about them, and so forth. But I am gently-but-firmly suggesting, in my capacity as old, salty, queer spinster academic aunt, that perhaps you consider how you start the conversation. Once again, it’s my experience that most people want to know and want to care, but there are countless factors that mean not every bad thing in the world will be acknowledged everywhere by everyone at all times. You can care about different things for different reasons. That is okay. You can care about something because you have a personal connection to it. That is also okay. You can not care about something because you just don’t have the capacity and are emotionally exhausted and there’s so much shit in this world that you have to compartmentalize and set boundaries. That is also okay.

For example, I was obviously very upset about Notre Dame, and still am, though I’m relieved it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Am I happy it’s going to be restored? Yes. Am I unbelievably angry that a half-dozen of the elite uber-rich could just suddenly throw billions of euros at it for its restoration, when it had to struggle for years to get funding for crucial renovations? Yes. Do I feel as if that if the vaults have suddenly been opened to restore one major European Christian landmark, it’s incredibly heartbreaking that that level of instant capital just won’t be addressed to actual endemic, long-term issues like global warming and social inequality and the Flint water crisis and whatever else, and that this is a sad and troubling message for our society in many ways? Yes.  All of these things exist together. And I imagine most people feel the same way.

In short: I realize this is the internet, and therefore just is not designed to do that, but maybe we can give each other a little bit more of the benefit of the doubt, and think about how we would like to educate and engage those we come in contact with, whether virtually or in reality. We can do it wherever and whoever we are, with anyone that we meet, and I wonder what it would be like if we did.

[channelmono]

A lengthy, LENGTHY post on keeping yourself mentally safe AND politically active during this time of racial/political unrest

I wasn’t expecting the need to do another writeup again, but here we are, haha Taking this break day to discuss the NEW giant elephant in the room: the US has flared up in a gigantic racial conflict again after the high-profile death of another black American at the hands of the police. There’s no beating around the bush since everyone’s already talking about it, and if you haven’t heard about it til now (which hey, my analytics say some of you are pretty young, so I wouldn’t blame you), it’s been a greatly aggressive mess that everyone is feeling the pressure of getting involved in. Now, I usually don’t like getting publicly political, but that doesn’t mean that I as a creator am not a political person. Far from it; the moral matters of how people should be treated, what constitutes as “justice” and what to do when “injustice” is committed, are all very important subjects that we eventually learn to form our opinions on through life experience and interacting with the world, and will always remain relevant due to how we exist in the world under governments and cultures. It’s dishonest to say we have no belief in stuff like that, and ultimately unhelpful to deny our say in it. Politics are very important, and they matter. But I’m not here to get into a full filibuster about why you should support Black Lives Matter and be informed of the protests going on and what motivates them. The thing is that I trust all you lovely monitors and have the faith that we’re generally on board with at least adjacent beliefs in how the world should work -- the life of innocent people matters, racism and other forms of hatred are bad, killing people is bad, the misuse of authoritative power is unjust, etc. If someone asks me to explain in a multi-paragraph spiel why I believe people should believe these things since they think otherwise… I’ll kindly tell them “no”. Instead, similarly to my COVID-19 writeup, I just want to talk about some tips to help deal with the day-to-day of this ongoing conflict; not necessarily discuss politics in deep detail, but rather the handling of politics in your everyday life, especially during times of controversy. This is a VERY rough time for many people, online and off, and I think it’s as important to keep yourself healthy during this time of extreme tension as much as it is to stay strong regarding the conflict in which we are all in one way or another embroiled in. This writeup might be a little cluttered and clunky since many of these points are greatly interconnected, but just bear with me through this, and I hope the points I make will make sense in the end.

=========================== 1) JUSTICE IS THE BOTTOM LINE =========================== Let me establish something as clear as I possibly can right off the bat: The ultimate goal of rebellion (especially this one based in activism towards the better treatment of black lives) should not be to create stress to psychologically destroy everyone in the vicinity, but to inspire change for the better. The systemic allowing of authorities to misuse their power for hateful purposes should not merely be a seen as an excuse to get angry at the world, but an injustice that must be corrected, and the bottom line of protest is not merely agitation, but actual change. I feel like this should ultimately be pretty obvious for a lot of people, but because change is a very difficult thing in general and because the protests have provoked turbulent response, it’s very easy to lose sight of what we’re actually doing and why, especially for the young adults whose first exposure to complex and nuanced politics is through times like this. Make no mistake, at the end of the day, getting justice for George Floyd and the countless other African-Americans lost to police brutality is the goal. So… why is this controversial? Well, because... =========================== 2) POLITICS ARE COMPLICATED (AND WHY WE MUST BE CAREFUL AND PATIENT WITH IT) =========================== Kind of an obvious statement, but politics are VERY complicated, often to the degree that they can be extremely overwhelming, especially to the young and inexperienced. So I want to start by just making some sense out of the chaos to make what we’re all dealing with more digestible for later. There’s a lot of ways politics can be controversial that I feel should be obvious on a fundamental level of “not agreeing”, but the facet I want to focus on is the fact that in discussion about what’s “morally correct”, morals are not synonymous with the rhetoric and methods with which they’re presented. Often times, people who agree on the same target goal will disagree on the actual means of getting to that goal. We’ve all been in the situation where we got angry at someone for saying something in a really bad way, and frustrated because we also thought “...they still have a good point,” but the delivery made both of us look bad. This is everywhere in politics, and is also just a fact of life and humanity; everyone will have their own opinions on what to do and why to do it, and they may not all be completely the same. That doesn’t mean that people who you don’t 100% agree with are definitively less worthy of being on your side, nor does it mean that people you don’t 100% DISAGREE with are suddenly worth your time. The point is that nuance should be expected… and that’s not unforgivable, contrary to what some people might want you to believe. There’s a frustrating narrative that’s sadly common (or at the very least, disproportionately vocal) within activist movements which social media isn’t helping with, and it’s the classic “you’re either with us or against us” philosophy. Again, this can manifest in many ways, but the prevailing modern take is the oft-unspoken assumption that anyone that doesn’t immediately qualify as an ally must be considered an enemy, ignorant, and/or at the very least worth showing contempt to unless they do something that suddenly makes them qualify as an ally. In other words, assuming the worst of people until proven otherwise. I’ll go into more detail about this further down, but simply put, I do not agree with this approach at all because it inherently roots itself in the presumption that personal philosophies are set in stone, and that it requires a Herculean amount of effort on the other party to change for you. Yes, YOU, the absolute moral victor who not only never needs to change or rethink anything by virtue of being the victor, but also gets to choose what counts as acceptable in the first place. This is not to say that activism is inherently dishonest or bad, merely that again, politics are complicated. This current Black Lives Matter boom and the various responses to it are very complicated, and despite this movement being a thing for a while now, not everyone is an expert on everything that happens and why, especially as it continues to develop. The most egregiously unhelpful part of the “people who are ignorant are enemies” assumption is that it forgets not only that ignorance is the default state everyone born into this world starts as, but also that everyone is perpetually still learning, and no matter what, it’s always possible to change your mind, whether you're 15 or 50. In turn, this implicitly encourages the rejects people who DO want to be accepted as an ally to a cause they ultimately believe in to rush into action just to stop being antagonized for not “getting it.” For your own safety: DO NOT RUSH INTO POLITICS, especially since the current-day responses to some of this conflict can get dangerous. It’s not even a case of getting peer-pressured to getting into a live protest only to do something that gets you shot at with rubber bullets -- you could end up saying something you didn’t realize was insensitive until it was too late, you could mistakenly contribute to a false charity fund or untrustworthy organization merely posing as an activist group, or basically anything that only affirms peoples’ perception of you as ignorant. Please, take your time. As sucky as it is to deal with peer pressure from the toxic people on your side, also remember that you’re not alone. Not just in the sense that there are people who want to understand and become better and more informed like you, but also that there are people who are on your side who WANT you to become better and more informed and will understand if it doesn’t come immediately. Being able to safely say you holistically “understand” is a process that requires a lot of time and thought ruminating about your morals and your place in the world (like, to adulthood at the least, basically), and I can say for sure that many people involved in these activist movements have grown up still understanding that. Also (and this is just a thing on life in general), don’t let mistakes damn you. While everyone should strive to do their best, especially regarding matters as critical and controversial as racial inequity in the justice system, mistakes should not be completely inescapable dead-ends, nor should they be seen as such. Every misstep is a hidden lesson. Did you fall into the trap of misinformation? Give yourself new perspective of what misinformation looks like to avoid it in the future. Did you realize that you’re being strung along in potentially negative action you don’t understand? When you’re skeptical, do your research. Did you end up in a confused place because the causes you followed have come into conflict? Give the time to reassess what you fundamentally believe in and why. In short, Be patient with what the world throws at you. Your friends and allies will love you more for being careful and smart than merely being the first to say something. =========================== 3) REMEMBER TO BE PATIENT WITH YOURSELF TOO =========================== Now I realize that the suggestions I just shared in that last section might read off as being easier said than done, which... yknow, it is. Again, change is difficult not just on a system level, but on an individual, personal level, even when they have to do with the same thing. But now with all that backdrop out of the way, let’s talk directly on mental health. Again. I’ve already discussed my thoughts and tips on keeping your mind healthy in the context of the COVID-19 lockdown (which still is important since the pandemic is still going on, LINK: https://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sr7go6 ), and most of the stuff mentioned are still applicable to this new climate that I generally recommend still being practiced on a personal, self-care level: understand that even at the darkest, there will be dawn, keep yourself stimulated with regular activity, and be sure you get plenty of healthy sleep so you don’t spend your waking days tired and unable to lift yourself up. Of course, this is a new situation where the priorities are a lot different, namely that rather than merely keeping your sanity during a very passive time, this new situation is about social interaction, participation, and in general being active in big, drastic ways. That said, I don’t believe the fields are mutually exclusive -- I believe you can act for the greater good while preserving your own health, despite what some might be saying. Going back to that bit of internal gatekeeping of “you’re seen as an enemy until proven otherwise,” another part of what makes this thinking ultimately harmful is that the “line” which “separates” ally and enemy can be incredibly hazy and effectively whatever it wants, with the biggest narrative as of writing being that “silence means you’re complicit in allowing evil, and that if you don’t ever speak up, you’re a bad person.” Now there’s a lot to unpack from this, because this is a case where there is a good point, but it’s buried in vitriol. There ARE valid reasons for why someone would stay quiet, namely that not everyone has the same emotional/psychological bandwidth. Maybe people are having breakdowns because everything in the world angrily and violently collapsed onto them at once. Maybe they had burnout because the exposure dulled them of their usual ability to care. Heck, maybe there’s a way more corporeal issue in that they’re afraid for their own safety because of what they do or don’t say and are afraid of the consequences being literally dangerous, like they might lose their job or are gonna get targeted IRL. But does that constitute a free pass to sit this entire movement out? Well, as nice as it would be, the answer is “no”. Once again, the point of this movement is achieving justice, which I believe is a very worthy cause to take part in should we have the ability to, and I’ll be sharing stuff further down for those who can (and I believe most of you can). But the important thing to know now is that we and our brethren are not completely equal in terms of how smart, vocal, durable, or ultimately able we are, and that's FINE. I want you to know that just because you might not be as big in that regard as your peers, that doesn’t instantly make you “less” of a good person who can do great things, and I don’t think it’s at all wise to see action in a "flawless", black/white way. We all matter. And now is a time to do our best to stand united with our friends to affirm that black lives matter. Now, before I share in tips on how to go about being an active participant, since you’re here reading this huge-ass essay, this is a good time to reflect on where you stand from a mental health perspective, which is just as important and should be regularly checked upon as brushing your teeth. In addition to more visceral emotional reactions like secondhand trauma, other things like burnout and depression don’t just suddenly APPEAR. They creep up on you over time through prolonged stress, and they should be identified before they become a really crippling problem. No matter how passionate you are about advocacy and how much you believe in yourself, recognize that we are all still human, and that there are times that we need to stop, relax, and breathe. (like, literally! Take slow, deep breaths!) Ask yourself: are you physically feeling fatigued? How often? Is your overall morale good? What is your frequency of good to bad days, and is there any correlation you can find that dictates when they occur? Do you get instantly anxious and depressed when receiving certain stimuli like bad news? What about “good” stimuli like being empathetic or compassionate? Give yourself a patient, honest answer: how “well” do you feel? Like from my COVID-19 post, I want to remind that I am not a doctor who can necessarily prescribe things like therapy or give definitive treatment for every individual who reads this based on how they’re doing, and these suggestions are more stuff that I believe will help cope and take care of yourself just from experience. With that being said: • If you are feeling constantly exhausted, finding yourself unable to consciously self-care or work, I cannot recommend a healthy, regular sleep schedule enough. Do your best to be honestly consistent about it, your body and mind will thank you so much for good rest! • If triggering topics are festering in your head, learn how to practice meditation and grounding techniques. Meditating and grounding can be regularly used to help sway your mind away from the harsh topics your mind may wander into and fixate on in any given moment, and can be very helpful in allowing yourself to clear your mind from stress, as well as to refocus on what you’re really experiencing in the present. There are so many ways to approach these forms of treatment to try out, but just some online resources to get started: https://www.theawakenetwork.com/free-online-meditation-resources-for-the-time-of-social-distancing/ --- https://www.healthline.com/health/grounding-techniques • If the constant exposure to these ongoing, intense news and their discussions are becoming too much for you, it is completely within your right to turn off your social media, news, and halt your advocacy in general for a bit. Again, these are important, crucial topics which we ultimately fight for because we believe that things should be better, but if you start to feel legitimately traumatized and unable to properly handle new information to work, you don’t need to continue exposing yourself to it. Give yourself a break from it, you can join back any time once you feel strong again. • Stay connected to the people you trust. I firmly believe that empathy and friendship are more powerful than any kind of indirect threat like peer pressure in helping you stay productive while happy. You were probably already doing this because of the COVID-19 stuff, but now is especially a good time to come together with your friends and loved ones. No matter what, we all need our safety, reassurance, and love, and while we may not always be able to unload all our grievances onto each other (everyone has a right to their own mind they should take care of), there is nothing to be ashamed of in seeking out solidarity. That is a big thing with a movement like this, after all! • If you really believe you need professional help for constant distress, then genuinely good professional help is out there. If you have concern in finding proper mental health treatment (especially for black people), programs out there specifically with it in mind. https://twitter.com/mayarichardsun/status/1265676677549559809 One last point: it’s also important to understand that coping isn’t exactly the same thing as “self care”. We all have an obligation to act in ways that can in one way or another be seen as stressful, but also understand that not all methods to cope with it are equally healthy. What I suggested are very low-maintenance, low financial cost techniques, but there are other techniques like spending cash on clothes or (for some of us), binging on alcohol or other substances. Techniques like that aren’t strictly invalid as coping tools in moderation, but understand that ultimately, self-care is a form of reducing the harm you receive, and it isn’t necessary to cut into your finances or physical health just to not feel bad. Be safe about how you cope! =========================== 4) READY? GET SET. GO! =========================== There are so many ways that you can help with the Black Lives Matter movement that honestly, I’m kinda nervous about going in great detail about all of them since I feel like I might misword stuff that explains themselves very well already, haha. But here is a big, constantly-updating resource that I currently trust and follow: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co This Carrd page by @dehyedration is a very extensive page on “Ways You Can Help”, with links of direct support and additional educational guides for those who wish to be further educated (which should be all of us!). Included are: • Petitions to sign for justice not just for George Floyd, but other victims felled to police brutality (very low-cost and contains details for international). • Text/call contact info towards local govt. representatives who can bring George Floyd and others to justice. • Links to donation funds towards the victims, the protesters, to black-owned businesses, and other charity institutions (includes a segment for international links!). • Guides for live protesters, compiling resources for understanding your legal rights, links for assistance (including access to pro-bono lawyers), and tutorials on how to stay safe and treat injuries should things get hairy. • Additional resources on educating yourself on the topics of Black Lives Matter’s rhetoric and goals, the issues of systemic racism at large, debunking of common misinformation and outright hoaxes, and more! There are MANY way to contribute to the cause right now, and a surprising amount of it you can do in virtually no time. Signing the petitions alone can be all done in 5-10 minutes (give or take, given how many tabs you can open and keep track of at any certain time haha), and even if you can’t donate, there are so many ways to you express your support without needing to have to deal with pointless fights against Twitter trolls. Once again, I firmly believe that contributing to and being aware of a powerful, meaningful cause and keeping your sanity are not mutually exclusive. We can act for the greater good, and we can be healthy about it, so long as we remember to be patient with the world as much as we should be patient with ourselves, and together, we can do amazing things. And one final reminder: just because this is an important subject we should all do our part to get involved in this, that doesn’t mean you must sacrifice everything else in your life right now. As important as the discussion is and as critical a time it is for it to be visible, that doesn’t mean that you should be completely engulfed in it. You can still enjoy what makes you happy, healthy, and motivated enough to take part in this movement. To paraphrase many a wise men: take it, but you can take it easy! I’ll be leaving you with a link to a Twitter thread I found of a bunch of nice news regarding the ongoing protests, which contrary to what a lot of the media might say, is not all looting, fires, and tear gas. The people out there ARE there as a show of solidarity as much as much as support, and it's genuinely beautiful. https://twitter.com/tomakeupwityou/status/1266947871686959106 Stay safe, and stay healthy out there, lovely monitors! (and keep washing your hands!) ��🖤🖤

[goldtips]

guess who is here to shit on babylon again. haha . yes that’s right its me. surprise. there is so much wrong with this anime, holy mother of god. but i specifically wanna talk about the spontaneous philosophical discussion abt morality that takes place in penultimate ep & the problems i had with it:

first of all, this is a political summit. why are we discussing philosophy in the first place.

idk dir. chose to animate the leaders overreacting . assisted suicide laws have existed for a long time and debating them wouldn’t be entirely out of the contrary. also international laws / rulings aren’t 100% binding, national courts are going to have to go through a long process of actualising their plans etc etc so they have no reason to be hasty abt this at all, they still have to face a fuckton of national barriers. 

esp lowe who is just on the side making outlandish claims like: england is going to break off ties with all these superpowers and go to war with them if they legalise suicide!! i mean, what the heck lady. you have 0 jurisdiction to be making claims like that - and its not like their national laws would affect the uk at all anyway??  (  on the plus side this is rly relevant to the current political climate ahem brexit so. i guess this is a slide in my books )

okay, so its an anime, right and it has to hype things up. sure. but explain why these leaders are now standing at diff heights against a galaxy background. fucking riveting. it really goes to shows how they wasted all their animation budget on the axe chopping scene.

okay now fr, i’m going to dive into the philo discussions they provide and explain why they don’t actually help the suicide debate uwu:

legal morality

wood makes a point about the subjective content of morality in different legal systems and expresses a desire to found a unified measure of morality for the entire world. idk why they all agreed to doing this honestly. each country has it’s own legal system, affected/shaped by its unique history and political nuances, a discussion of what the “best” moral content of law is super fucking redundant.

for some reason they all quickly agree that laws are value positive when in fact, most of our current legal systems are value neutral in practice, meaning that they don’t seek impose a particular ideal or way of life on people, but serve as a minimum form of social contract to maintain order and prevent chaos within society. for instance, the concept of informed consent in medical law: e.g. in the uk medical practitioners are advised against practising paternalism and have to give their patient all the details of an operation before they decide whether to consent. no decision is being made for them, per se, but gps are obliged to provide them with all the necessary info so that they can make a good choice. in an era where information can be found everywhere, it’s unlikely that moral norms are actually sourced from the law at all - rather, in social norms, the economy, politics, religion, international laws, etc.

it is entirely impossible to do what they’re achieving - to impose a singular ideal of morality on people. it’s something that is perpetuated through cultural identity and the transactions of society. it’s not possible. you can’t make people change their ideas about life and death overnight and it can’t be done through coercion.

also this point is so fucking stupid that i didn’t want to make it, but there is literally 0 consideration of god/religion at play in politics or the law. that would mean that our laws are governed by some ellusive prophetical standard when in fact the law is based on formal rationality, where consistent reasoning is applied to circumstances to decide on a particular judgement. lowe’s point about being virtuous via the law due to a fear or worship of god is entirely wrong. it ties into the overarching biblical theme of the anime, sure, but its so out of the blue and nonsensical that it serves to ruin the immersion (if the myspace-esque galaxy background didn’t already).

trolley problem vs the organ transplant

to compare the two thought experiments as if they’re morally equivalent is so fucked. the trolley problem is constrained by time. there are only two options which make it easy to make the right choice. there are lesser variables, and it makes sense for a decision to be made (saving one life over the five is purely utilitarian).

however, the organ transplant problem is much more complex. first of all, there are an infinite amount possibilities purely because of a lack of time constraint. it isn’t just an binary choice where you pull the lever or don’t. let me bring in some other variables: does how the person is killed matter? even if they’re dragged kicking and screaming to the operating table? even if they are a well-respected and intelligent person that can still contribute to society? what if the people requiring transplants actually receive them from someone else through a deceased donation process? these people still have a chance to be saved without incurring the loss of the donor’s life.

applying kantian theory: if we were to go about murdering healthy people to harvest their organs for the sick, it would entirely defeat the purpose of healthcare in itself. the future implications of this thought experiment are more far-reaching and complex than the split-second decision of whether to save one person’s life or five.

most importantly though, neither of these two main arguments raised during their discussion even served to explain their reasoning for supporting the suicide laws. they literally spent a whole episode talking abt some bullshit but they didn’t resolve the suicide debate at all. the gamer president’s final conclusion that “the meaning of life is the root of good and evil” makes absolute no sense.

[patriotstudies]

10 Productive Uses For Blank Notebooks

I was cleaning out my room earlier this week, and I discovered that I have some empty notebooks. So I made a list of things I could fill these notebooks with. I thought I’d share that list because I know many people have empty notebooks just lying around and might want some ideas for what to do with them. 

1. Research and Thoughts

Whether you already like reading scientific research, or you are interested in a topic and want to learn more about it, having a research journal is a great idea! You can take notes on the articles you have read and jot down your reactions to those studies. You could also think of possible applications for both your personal and professional life that are not mentioned in the article itself. Additionally, you could record and research other topics that might be of interest to you after reading an article. Who knows, you might even be inspired to conduct your own research!

2. Journal and Life Lessons

Keeping a journal is extremely beneficial because it is great for mental health! Writing in a journal is a very cathartic experience, so it is no surprise that it can help regulate your emotions. And reflecting on your day will help you organize your feelings, which in turn will elevate your mood by allowing you to appreciate the little things that make life great. Journaling can also help stimulate your creativity, as you may come up with ideas to improve your life just a little bit each day. Additionally, journaling improves your writing, as you learn to communicate important information more effectively. 

This journal could also double as an ongoing list of life lessons that you learn from various sources: books, movies, shows, documentaries, mentors, interviews, conversations with others, etc. All of our experiences, no matter how small, teach us something, and it is important to reflect on those as well, as they can offer so many insights that will help us better conduct ourselves in all aspects of life.

3. Blog Log

I know this one is super relevant for all of us, and this log can be an incredibly useful tool. This is a great place to store all your content ideas and outlines for easy access. You could even draft an entire blog post here, so that you can easily make any edits if necessary. If you’re using sources in your posts, this would be a good place to cite those so that you can easily reference them whenever you need to. Or, if you have been tagged and/or want to tag someone, you could record those here too so that you don’t forget to give credit to the amazing bloggers who wanted to hear from you. And don’t forget to celebrate your milestones! This could mean number of followers, or most popular posts, number of original posts written (in a period of time or in general), blog birthdays/anniversaries, really anything you want to celebrate. 

4. Creative DIY Projects

Personal projects are always really exciting to work on. Not only can they serve as a nice escape from our regular lives, but they are also very engaging hobbies that incentivize us to work harder in our personal and professional lives. DIY projects also allow us to become more independent, self-reliant, and creative thinkers, which is a rewarding experience in and of itself. 

However, just because these projects encourage independence, doesn’t mean they can’t be socially beneficial as well. They can serve as talking points for when you’re networking or talking with loved ones at get-togethers where you can discuss your current project(s) and your plans for future ones. Additionally, other people may have advice for how to improve your process and get more out of each project. 

Projects are great for other practical reasons too! They are a productive use of our spare time and also allow us to develop our soft skills (time management, planning, organization, creativity/creative problem solving, adaptability, just to name a few). These transferable skills will also surely make job hunting and mapping your career development just a little bit easier. 

If you don’t want to work on DIY projects, that’s perfectly fine too! The point of this journal is to express yourself creatively and independently, no matter what form your art takes. For example, if you want to have an art journal where you sketch creative designs, go for it! Or if you’d rather compose poems or novels, there is literally nothing stopping you! Just don’t limit yourself, no matter what you choose. 

5. Career and Professional Development

Many of us either already have jobs, or are actively working towards securing one. This notebook could be used to keep track of every aspect of our professional development. For example, exploring career interests can be used to develop concrete plans for how to achieve professional success. You could use this journal to help keep track of the jobs you applied for, or keep track of the jobs you have already done. You could write about how long you held those positions for and what you learned during your time in that position or company. 

Note all that you have accomplished, such as your ideas and contributions to projects, or how you solved problems. Not only does this give you an opportunity to reflect on your professional life, but it can be really useful when you edit your resume and other professional documents, as well as your LinkedIn account.

Just remember that you can have fun with it too, and remember the more entertaining parts of the job and team, by recalling memorable events. Jobs can be boring and tedious sometimes, so remembering the fun things can incentivize you to start the job searching process.

6. Life Audit Lists

Sometimes there is a gap between our current and ideal life, and that is perfectly natural. There are several steps you can take to bridge that gap. Conducting a life audit is an incredibly useful tool to help you live your best and most fulfilling life. Analyzing the results of the life audit will encourage you to take responsibility and actively work on self-improvement. Below are just some ideas to help get you started: 

Goals - These could be daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, however you want to organize it. I personally would narrow it to three main goals so that it you aren’t overwhelmed, but you do whatever works for you. You can divide these goals into various categories, for example: academic, professional, social/personal, etc. And if it helps, divide those categories too, so that you can get a more comprehensive view of your life and develop a more specific plan for how to improve it. 

Seasonal Bucket Lists - Bucket lists are a really fun way to push yourself out of your comfort zone so that you can be more adaptable and can experience so much more than you would have otherwise experienced. Maybe there is something you’ve always wanted to do but never did. Write that down and make a plan to actually do it! You never know, you might discover things you actually enjoy doing and these experiences will help you get more out of life. Plus, it’s just really motivating to have things to look forward to! 

Self-Care Ideas - Prioritizing your mental health is absolutely necessary to get your life in order. So, make this a routine. Find things that you enjoy doing, whether it’s drinking tea or coffee, or meditating, or journaling, or something else entirely, and make it a point to do at least one thing a day that positively contributes to your mental health. And don’t be afraid to add more things to this list than any other one, because I truly cannot stress how important it is to not neglect your mental health. 

7. Habit/Skill Trackers 

Often times, the hardest part about making (or breaking!) a habit is just getting started.  That’s why I like to record my streaks for each habit that I would like to develop and maintain. One way you could track this in your journal is by writing the habit on one side and recording the number of days you’ve consistently done that habit on the other. You could also organize it like a chart, with the days of the week labeled on one side and the habits you want to develop on the other and you could cross off each day that you completed each habit. 

You could use this same approach for tracking your skills, as learning a skill is a habit itself. For example, if you want to learn computer languages or other technical skills to make yourself more professionally marketable, try to set aside an hour a day and integrate this into your daily routine. And don’t neglect developing soft skills, those are just as important. And don’t forget to monitor your progress in each skill, because having a visual representation of your progress can serve as a great motivator to continue developing skills!

8. Language Learning Progress

Language learning is both a wonderful and marketable skill. I know many of us are in the langblr community, and use resources such as Duolingo and Youtube among others. This is an excellent place to take notes on vocabulary and memory triggers for those terms, plural forms and tenses/conjugations for those terms, grammar rules and exceptions to those rules, example sentences such as the ones that Duolingo provides, and even your own original writing so that you can practice using your knowledge practically. 

However, as important as language learning is, it is also important to learn about the respective culture. Fully immerse yourself in understanding the culture to get a more clear picture of your global understanding. Languages and cultures shape each other to a certain extent, so it is important to give as much weight to learning the culture when you are learning a foreign language. 

9. Podcast/TED Talk Notes

Whether you like to listen to podcasts on your commute, or actively listen to them on Spotify or any other Podcasts app, taking notes from podcasts is always a good idea. I’ve personally been listening to TED Talks for approximately five years now, and I find these speeches, however short, to be extremely interesting and informative. Of course, you don’t need to just limit yourself to TED Talks, as all podcasts have value to different audiences. Noting your reactions to the information presented is also a good idea. Analyzing things will always lead to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the material, as well as developing your critical thinking skills.

10. Event Plans

There is so much to look forward to in life, such as vacations, graduation(s), birthdays, weddings and anniversaries, etc. This notebook allows you to store all your plans in one place! You could divide it into sections if you want to organize it and find your plans more easily. For example, for vacations, you could record where you would like to go, the prices of the plane tickets, where you’ll stay, what to pack for the trip, the itinerary and points of interest, the cuisine, the activities you’ll do there, really anything you can think of. For graduation, you could think of graduation cap decor ideas if that’s your thing, party themes, food, picture ideas, location, etc. For birthdays, same thing. Wedding and anniversary planning are on a whole other level of difficulty, so organization is key here, and this notebook would really help with organizing all the details.

I recognize that there is a lot of overlap with these ideas, so if you don’t want to dedicate an entire notebook for any individual idea, you can use these as series for your bullet journal. Or you could combine these ideas into a single journal. Also, if journaling is not your thing, you could create binders for these ideas, or any other ideas you come up with. 

I hope these ideas are helpful! :) 

What did you think of the list? Feel free to share your own ideas in the comments!

[rivkyschleider]

Annotated Bibliography

Winnicott, D. (1986) Home is where we start from. England: London

In this collection of essays we learn of Winnicott’s key teachings, presented to a lay audience.  He explains attachment theory, the ‘good enough environment’, the contribution of the Mother to society, adolescence and the relationship between the individual and their facilitating family group.  He explores concepts of health versus illness through his lens as a psychoanalyst in addition to to his medical background.  It is extremely helpful to see how foundation concepts of personality, the very make up of human emotional development can be applied to such a variety of cultural topics such as monarchy, the Pill and mathematics.  He brings clarity to these issues and offers me a model for applying depth of insight about the subconscious and the effect of early childhood environment on later life.  By uncovering gaps or repression in the individual’s psyche the psychotherapist can facilitate milestones of developmental progress, albeit at a later stage of maturation.

Yalom, I. (2002)  The Gift of Therapy.  US: HarperCollins

This is a handbook of 85 tips and instructions built upon 35 years of clinical practice and teaching.  He paints a picture of a therapist in a way that inspires me to rise to the challenge of training and the ongoing character growth that is so crucial to this profession.  He promotes curiosity, humility and transparency, and breaks away the the image of the therapist as an all-knowing provider of interpretations, or a blank canvas to absorb transference.  He gives a practical guide for mining the here-and-now aspects of the therapeutic encounter to further the process of therapy.  He describes tools  for incorporating the therapist’s own feelings into the mix as well as how to explore dream material, how to take a history and how to look at their present; how their daily life is organised and peopled.  He writes with deep pride on the privilege of helping others find meaning, health and joy.

Skynner, Cleese (1983)  Families and how to Survive Them  London: Vermilion

This was a a whistle-stop tour through all the major themes of child development, identity, attraction, relationships and family dynamics written as a conversation between Robin Skynner, a psychotherapist and John Cleese his former patient.  They discuss the continuum that exists with optimally healthy families at one end; dysfunctional families with inter-generational problems at the other; and the “normal” families in the middle in which we see an expected mix of ‘screened off’ feelings alongside coping mechanisms, defenses and social norms to smooth the way.  Skynner draws on Freudian ideas as well as later work by more recent therapists and analysts who looked at how families work as a system.  Each part affects all other parts of the system.  By considering inter-relationships through the eyes of a typical family we can learn about letting go of inherited mistakes and move forward to optimal family life.

Van Der Kolk, B. The Body Keeps the Score, United Stares: Penguin

This book is about how trauma impacts a person causing long term suffering to victims, their families and future generations.  Using scientific methods such as brain scans and clinically sound investigations, Van Der Kolk looks at how the mind and body are transformed by traumatic events; how neural networks are formed as coping mechanisms and may later morph into unwanted behaviours.  This is followed by a paradigm of treatment that seeks to give individual patients ownership of their narrative, their bodies and a route to self awareness and healing.  Yoga, EMDR, neurofeedback and theater are offered as examples of pathways to recovery and I believe that art therapy is another good candidate for an embodied type of therapy, one that does not rely on talking alone.  This book answered questions about my own pattern of mild symptoms and has opened up the whole field of mind/body connection in relation to trauma and healing.

Axline, V.M. (1964) Dibs In Search of Self.  London: Penguin

Virginia M. Axline has written the true story of Dibs, her client; a talented and sensitive child who was trapped in isolation due to the lack of emotional connection in his life.  Through psychotherapy - play therapy to be precise - he regained his sense of self and was eventually able to thrive, utilise his gifted nature and contribute to society.  It is an eloquent case study obliquely laying out the principles of play and art therapy.  The therapist built the safe environment in which the child could open up and slowly verbalise his deeply felt emotions.  reparation with his parents blossoms.  It is notable that the therapist made it safe for Dibs to express negativity.  This teaches us to think about hostility as a sign sometimes of adequate ego strength for the feelings to be articulated.  In that sense, aggression is a sign of health!  This book is a beautiful testimony to the power of psychotherapy to transform lives.  

Malchiodi, C. (2011) Trauma Informed Art Therapy and Sexual Abuse in Children. In: Goodyear-Brown, P. (ed.) Handbook of Child Sexual Abuse: Identification, Assessment and Treatment.  United states: John Wiley & Sons

This chapter deals with how art therapy helps children who have suffered sexual abuse to articulate their sometimes unutterable experiences in a manner that the therapist can understand while within what is tolerable for the child.  Trauma informed art therapy involves using art materials to address hyper-arousal and to teach relaxation, referencing the specific neuro circuit that is activated by hands on activities of a soothing nature.  The sensory and tactile qualities of art materials need to be taken into consideration, how they are central to trauma recovery, but equally how they may trigger memories of distressful events.  The somatic approach, using colour and shape enables children to locate the place in the body where trauma is held so they can learn to diminish distress.  The author comments on the relevance of culturally sensitive materials and projects.  This has been a rich article for me, linking my reading on trauma, with art therapy for a client group I may want to work with in the future.  

Cane, F. (1951) The Artist in Each Of Us. United States: Art Therapy Publications

This book bridges art and therapy.  It aims to give the reader a means to achieving a richer art and a more integrated life.  It looks at how movement, feeling and thought work together.  I was intrigued to read detailed technical instructions for accessing subconscious material which can be used to reach higher levels of artistic expression and also personal healing.  The case studies record the progress of her students and how transcendence was coaxed up through fantasy, play, rhythmic movements, chanting and other indirect means until it could be released for union with the conscious.  I tried out some of these techniques and was surprised to discover not only the catharsis, but also the unexpected outcomes of artwork spontaneously arising from my own psychological material.  It shows me how the perceptive teacher can awaken in her students their own creativity and direct them to find solutions for subtle or complex inner dilemmas.

Dalley, T. (ed.) (1984) Art as Therapy. An Introduction to the use of art as a therapeutic technique. London: Routledge

This book is an introduction to the theories that underpin art therapy and is broad in it’s range of contributing authors.  We get an outline of the role of art within a therapeutic framework, the manifestation of art as play, as a language of symbols and development.  The historical links between art education and art therapy are explored; the differences and what they have in common; and a possibility for merging the two fields. Each chapter on a specific client group offers insights for working with these vulnerable people in a way that will give direct therapeutic benefit. 

I found the chapter on art therapy in prisons to be particularly enlightening.  The author was clear about the actual constraints of working in that environment, what the pitfalls might be and she presented practical guidance on overcoming them.  She promotes a vision for how arts can transform the most ant-social of prisoners into creative, productive people; this raises pertinent questions for the current justice system.

Price, J. (1988) Motherhood, What it Does to Your Mind  London: Pandora Press

A fascinating book delving into the psychology of mothering written by a female psychiatrist and psychotherapist.  It ties up the concepts of attachment theory with the realities of modern relationships and societal expectations.  It is presented through the lens of a Woman, a woman who lived through her own mother-daughter dynamic, pregnancy, giving birth, breast feeding and the like.  She looks at how our culture and family story play out in our own lives whether consciously or unconsciously.  By normalising much of the natural difficulties of mothering, this book can offer solace in trying times.  

I am a mother of four boys and pregnant with my fifth child, so I am justified to claim that his book ought to become mainstream knowledge.  It is through lived experiences that we can most genuinely form opinions and then reach out to help others in a professional capacity.

Case, C. Dalley, T. (1992) The Handbook of Art Therapy  London: Routledge

This handbook is a bird’s eye view of the profession.  It covers the theories of psychoanalysis and how it intersects with art as well as a detailed look at the practical aspects of employment as an art therapist in jargon-free language.  This gives a beginner art therapist a survival guide for those inevitable first forays into work.  I gained a grasp on the complexities surrounding room set-up or lack of appropriate dedicated space.  A how-to guide on various forms of note taking making use of the same example session throughout the different formats was extremely helpful.  There is clear preparation for supervision, referrals, working in an institution, operating as part of a team versus being isolated and potentially being misunderstood.  Reading this was an important step towards becoming a competent practitioner. 

[anniekoh]

trash futures - opala on o‘ahu

Trash. Solid waste. Opala. The environmental impacts of solid waste have been a minor obsession since middle school, when I joined the environmental club and spent afternoons digging through the paper recycling bin to make sure it wasn’t contaminated with snack wrappers or other non-recyclables.

One common complaint of new residents of Honolulu is how paltry the city’s recycling and composting services are, and how much single use styrofoam is used and discarded. 

I just skimmed through the 204 pages of Honolulu’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan (pdf of ISWMP draft) from the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Environmental Services. “The Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan serves as a blueprint for O'ahu's solid waste management for the next 10 years.” 

The city is soliciting public comment until August 27, 2019. You can go to the hearing in person, or submit written comments. I’m still organizing my thoughts, but here are the big ones.

ONE: Waste Diversion needs drastic improvement. 

According to this draft plan, the amount of solid waste per capita has increased slightly, from 1.176 tons in 2013 to 1.178 tons per person in 2017. Only 2.7% of municipal solid waste went to reuse. There are some real possibilities once you look at the fact that paper, food waste, green waste, wood, and plastic packaging comprise two thirds of municipal solid waste (59.1% by weight), based on Honolulu’s waste composition study of the waste accepted at Waimanalo Gulch Landfill and H-POWER waste-to-energy plant:

•  Paper (uncoated corrugated cardboard, newspaper, paper bags, white and colored ledger paper, mixed recyclable paper, compostable paper, and other paper): 22.7 percent

•  Food waste (vegetative and non-vegetative): 20.1 percent

•  Green waste: 6 percent

•  Wood (untreated wood, treated wood, and pallets): 5.9 percent

•  Other plastic film/wrap (film packaging and products, shrink wrap, bubble wrap, garbage bags, produce bags, and re-sealable bags), 4.4 percent

TWO: The plan is not much of a plan.

Source Reduction is “identified as the highest priority.” But what they list as “foremost of the source reduction initiatives that the City plans to implement during the life of this ISWMP” is utterly insufficient:

•  Establish a Source Reduction Working Group (SRWG)  •  Institute residential user fees based on the amount of service received •  Promote home green waste and food waste composting by reintroducing home composting workshops and increasing their frequency •  Increase food waste reduction education initiatives

Several environmental advocates in Honolulu have pointed out that food waste is a prime area to address some major problems. And yet, all they have is “promote” composting through some workshops, giving advice over the phone, and updating their website. WEAK SAUCE GUYS, weak sauce. One suggestion is to make city-run farmers markets a place to drop off food waste for composting. 

The plan briefly mentions that the city is putting out another bid for on-island recycling options. 

Ongoing Advances in Beneficial Reuse of Materials: The City released requests for proposal (RFPs) to solicit proposals for the beneficial reuse of several materials, including glass, auto shredder residue (ASR), and ash, in early to mid-2018. Both of those RFPs will be reissued in early 2019 in an attempt to solicit a greater number of eligible offers. An additional RFP for recycling and processing of white goods is planned for rerelease in early 2019. Currently, there are limited to no recycling options available for these materials on the island.

Instead of putting out requests for proposals, what if the city invests funds into creating a municipal recycling facility that could, say, process glass? 

THREE: Public participation in this process is insufficient (but this is true of planning in general so I’m resigned instead of furious, which is upsetting in itself.)

The public review hearing for this 10-year solid waste management plan is Wed July 31st, 5-8pm in Kapolei. **Notice of July 31 hearing for public comment 

Written comments may also be submitted to the address below until close of business Thur August 27, 2019

Dept of Environmental Services Refuse Division c/o Josh Nagashima 1000 Uluohia Street, Suite 201, Kapolei HI 96707

Comments on the 2019 ISWMP Draft for Public Comment may also be submitted via email to iswmphonolulu@jacobs.com

That’s not what got me worked up, though it really is not enough and realistically who is going to read a 200 page document except grumpy urban planning scholars and environmental activists.

What was depressing in the plan re: participation was what is listed as public input and involvement

The City provides a number of opportunities for the public to provide input on matters related to solid waste management on Oahu. 7.3.7.1 Environmental Concern Line 7.3.7.2 Public Surveys 7.3.7.3 Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan Advisory Committee 7.3.7.4 Mayor's Advisory Committee on Landfill Site Selection

1 is a phone number. 2 is surveys that have happened in the past and may happen in the future. 3 is a committee that is to be formed. 4 is a committee that no longer exists.

FOUR: Please don’t throw in trendy or locally relevant topics without actually addressing them. 

For example, the reuse section began with some Hawaii-specific sentences,  which irritated me more than the generic boilerplate.

Reusing products and materials is part of Hawaii’s island heritage (e.g., homemade toys, lauhala hats, dustpans made from old tin containers, and clothes and accessories created from rice bags), and contributes to reducing the amount of materials requiring disposal. 

AND THEN NOTHING ELSE IN THE WHOLE PLAN ADDRESSES local or Native Hawaiian practices / cultures. Seriously guys.

FIVE: Can we talk about the Honolulu Program of Waste Energy Recovery (H-POWER) waste-to-energy facility? 

Wait, let’s save that for another post. This is long enough.

[natsubeatsrock]

The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Part 12 (Lucy)

What is Lucy's place in the series? 

I'll be honest. I'm not very hyped over Lucy. I don't think she's that bad of a character. I'm just not as big a fan of her as I would expect to be of the main character of the series. (There, I said it. Are you happy?) 

Still, it's hard for me to do this and wait to talk about Lucy until after I've finished talking about Juvia. (Special nod to my long-time followers who get this reference.) Her place in the series is invaluable. Mashima has even referred to her as the main character of the series (even though he's also been shy to call any one character the main character, but that's because he wants fans to interpret that and that's not a great thing, but this isn't what this post is about and this aside is getting to be too long). To me, Lucy's place in the series may be the most interesting thing about her and is worth discussing.  

The story of Fairy Tail is told because Lucy encounters Natsu. That's an important wording. The focus is on Lucy's meeting with Natsu and not the other way around. Natsu went to Hargeon to find Igneel. Lucy was the one who wanted to be a member of a guild and is only able to join Fairy Tail because she met Natsu. In a sense, Natsu didn't or doesn't need Lucy for his main goal in Chapter 1 (finding Igneel) as much as Lucy needed Natsu for hers (joining Fairy Tail). 

When people look to call Lucy the main character of the series, I think this is what they have in mind. We don’t really get as much of a view of the series from Natsu’s point of view. Between the two of them, I’d say that we get a better look into Lucy’s thought process of actions. We’re made to empathize with her more as an audience than with Natsu. (Not that some of us don’t care about him or other characters more, hence the aside at the beginning and, oh boys, here I am doing this again.)  

But consider that most major villains don't get beaten by Lucy. Natsu has more direct involvement in pushing the plot forward than Lucy does. He's the one fighting major bad guys, even in arcs with more of a focus on Lucy than him. Even when they're fighting together, he's the one getting the final decisive hit on the villain. Lucy's not even around for the fight against Zeref, even as her (incredibly and outrageously fake) contribution to the fight is important. 

Probably the most egregious example of this is the Eclipse Project. Consider the difference between the two in that narrative. Natsu's the one considered to be the hope for defeating the two big evils of the series in Zeref and Acnologia. Layla puts her life on the line specifically so Lucy won't have to worry about this. They find out about the gate in the Grand Magic Games and, though Lucy (thanks to Lucy?) learns that the way to get rid of the dragons is to destroy the gate, Natsu does so without knowing anything about the plan. And in the final arc, Lucy's part in defeating Acnologia is more administrative and logistical than Natsu getting the power to land the final blow on Acnologia. 

I know this may make it seem as though I'm making a case that Lucy isn't as important a character as we think her to be. To be clear, I don't say this to diminish Lucy's importance in the series. I think it's important to think of how Lucy is important and I wouldn't say it's the same way that I think Natsu or the average shonen action protagonist is. Frankly, part of the reason I don't (often) consider Lucy to be the protagonist of the series is exactly that I don't think she fits the mold of the genre the way Natsu does. 

Now is probably a good time to bring up an analogy I've come up with in talking about the Strongest Team. I like to think of them as a team of five protagonists. Not necessarily in the sense of each of them is equally important but, in being easily the most important and visible characters in the series, they have five different arcs that fulfill the roles that remind me of the protagonists of other series. This is especially helpful considering that Fairy Tail is about the guild and the stories of the characters we, the audience, see as most important deserve their own special attention. This is why I talked about Natsu being the protagonist of a story like Hunter x Hunter in the last part. 

In Lucy's case, I'd say she's similar to the protagonist of the average slice of life show. As an actual fan of this genre, I hope this isn't seen as a bad thing. Nor does it obviously mean that Lucy can be put as a replacement of the main character of the slice of life show of your choosing and she'll fit about as well as she does in her current place in Fairy Tail. I mean this in saying that her character shares more in common with the main character of a slice of life than Natsu or the rest of the team. 

Her role in the series is providing the readers of the series a focal point to follow the series through. (Note that I don't say "lens to read the series through".) Her character arc involves her interactions and relationships with and the people around her. While this is always an important aspect of a good main character, these things are more at the forefront in a slice of life than they would be in an action series. 

Of course, the fact that Lucy has this perspective as a character who isn't exactly the main character isn't fairly unique. One of the most famous series in the mystery genre involves the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, but they're narrated by Dr. Watson and not the detective himself. And, as an example that will be more relevant to recent fans of gaming, Robin is the character that one plays as in Fire Emblem: Awakening and plays an integral part in the series. However, despite the insistence of some fans, the fact of the matter is that Chrom is the protagonist of the game. (Have I used this example before?)

And, despite whatever (potentially legitimate) issue there is to be had with Mashima's handling of women, this isn't a gendered thing. I think it's helpful to contrast Lucy's part in the series with that of a female lead to an action series. Princess Yona in Yona of the Dawn is also making friends as she goes on her own plot driven antics. However, focus and attention are put on her own growth both in combat skills and as a character. She goes from a sheltered princess to a formidable fighter in the span of even a few volumes. There's more I could say on this, but I really don't want to get into Fairy Tail's dealings with women. (Also read Yona of the Dawn) 

What does all of this mean? 

It doesn't mean that I'm changing the perspective of the series as to be told in the first person by Lucy. Tempting as that may seem to other people (I have no interest in this idea), this is beyond messy for the simple fact of needing to account for events Lucy absolutely could not possibly be present for. Even working on the series now, I'm having a difficult time getting moments to work in the third person for a number of reasons. (Though, someone else may be better at telling the series through shifting the first person a la Percy Jackson.) 

What it does mean is that I want to keep the events of the series more focused on Lucy than on Natsu. Of course, he and other characters will have their time to shine, but Lucy, for the most part, should be the narrative center of attention. This does mean that when Natsu leaves to find Igneel during the time skip, we'll be staying around Lucy and the guild. Considering what I've said about the series and the guild, this shouldn't be seen as that bad a thing. 

In all this discussion, I've only briefly mentioned Lucy's character arc. The reason isn't that I don't see one in Lucy, but because I care much more about her place in the narrative of Fairy Tail than of her individual arc. Again, this is my personal bias regarding Lucy at work. There are three big sections to Lucy's character arc.  

In the first big section of the series, Lucy falls in love with the guild and becomes accustomed to the culture thereof. In the original, she joins a team, befriends people outside that team and makes it clear that the members of Fairy Tail are her family, despite their crazy antics. 

This keeps up until around the x791 arc. In this arc, the normal that Lucy is used to has changed. The guild becomes smaller and her dad, with whom some movement towards reconciliation was started, dies. Very little from before Fairy Sphere is kept the same. At this point in the series, I'd characterize Lucy as looking more towards being close to the people already around her rather than going out to make new friends.  

One simple manifestation of this is refusing to take Yukino's keys during the Grand Magic Games arc, outright stating that this isn't something she wants to do anymore. In Tartarus, she also mentions that she just wants to be with her friends and her spirits. 

Of course, Tartarus ends leaving her without her guilds or the spirit she's grown arguably the closest to (depending on how you see Loke in that regard). From this point on in Fairy Tail, Lucy has the mindset of bringing the people she cares about together. Why else make a chart showing where members of the guild are? Why else continue to carry Aquarius' broken key around? Why else have Lucy, even now after chapter 545, reference a desire to be reunited with Aquarius? 

That last one, as I've mentioned previously, involves a different way of interpreting the search for a loved one than Natsu. By the end of the rewrite, Natsu should learn that Fairy Tail is his family, despite spending much of it searching for Igneel. Ad the end of the rewrite, Lucy will go searching for Aquarius, despite knowing for much of the series that she has a family in the guild.  

This is what I meant when I said they end up with each other's character beats swapped. Natsu starts with a desire to be reunited with the family he's known and ends having found that longing filled in Fairy Tail. Lucy starts wanting to become a part of a community and, after having found it, seeks to bring back an important member of that community.  

To be honest, there's not a whole lot I feel like needs serious attention in regards to changes. One thing I want to do is show Lucy form real friendships outside of the Strongest Team. Of course, she's had her friendships with Cana and Levy. But while her relationship with Cana has gotten the attention I think it deserves, her friendship with Levy could have a better introduction than what we got in the original. Of course, there's also the ability to develop friendships with others in the guild, like Juvia and Lisanna. 

Other than that, I don't feel as though there's too much wrong with Lucy to warrant serious changes. Many complaints that I see of Lucy are issues that either come from differing interpretations of Lucy or issues with a number of other elements in the series that also happen to affect Lucy, at times to an admittedly higher degree.

Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11

[fubarexpo]

/’fu:bar/ 2018

Select:

Exhibition

Performances

Lectures

Workshops

SAT Oct 6th

8pm – /’fu:bar/ 2018 EXPO & FESTIVAL OPENING @ Gallery Siva [AKC Medika, Pierottijeva 11, Zagreb]

8pm – Sabato Visconti [US] – #Glitchbooth [interactive installation @ Siva]

9pm – Lovely Insomnia [HU] – Live Set/DJ Set [performance @ Siva]

    SUN Oct 7th

6pm-10pm – Exhibition @ Siva

7pm – Ramiro Polla [BE] – FFglitch [lecture @ Siva]

8pm-10pm – Mark Klink aka srcXor [US] – 3d glitching [teleworkshop @ hacklab01]

    MON Oct 8th

6pm-10pm – Exhibition @ Siva

2pm-5pm – Holographic_thought_process [FR] – Video Dirty Mixer [workshop @ hacklab01]

6pm – Nikša Gligo [HR] – Can glitch music be music at all? [lecture @ Siva]

8pm – Magno Caliman [NL] – screenBashing [performance @ Siva]

    TUE Oct 9th

6pm-10pm – Exhibition @ Siva

2pm – Random Pixel Order [FR] – The Archive [open studio @ Siva]

6pm – Ingeborg Fülepp [HR] – The history of artistic usage of errors in film, video and digital techniques [lecture @ Siva]

8pm – FRGMNT [DE] – SSB - Sequenced Noise Beauty [performance @ Siva]

    WED Oct 10th

6pm-10pm – Exhibition @ Siva

2pm-5pm – FRGMNT [DE] – SNU noise machine [workshop @ hacklab01]

6pm – Magno Caliman [NL] – Error making and "not-knowing": some particularities of the relation between artists and programming languages [lecture @ Siva]

8pm – Paul Vivien [FR] – 99% [performance @ Siva]

    THU Oct 11th

6pm-10pm – Exhibition @ Siva

6pm – ROUND TABLE @ Siva

8pm – Nada Hasan [EG] – Experimental Desires [safe passage] [performance @ Siva]

    FRI Oct 12th

6pm-10pm – Exhibition @ Siva

6pm – GUIDED EXHIBITION TOUR @ Siva

8pm – Tabache & Lady oN [IT] – cHroma flux [performance @ Siva]

9pm – “Ondes noires” screening & FESTIVAL CLOSING @ Siva

Sabato Visconti [US] – #Glitchbooth SAT Oct 6th – 8pm [interactive installation @ Siva]

#Glitchbooth> is a live interactive video installation where participants have their best selves captured in 1-to-2 minute video portraits. The video portraits are glitched using a corrupted DivX encoder and processed for live screening so that participants can see their glitch selves. Modeled after the photo booths found in weddings and events, #Glitchbooth considers "Selfie Culture" as a social practice that is conditioned by the structures of digital technologies and distribution channels.

Sabato Visconti — a Brazilian-born photographer and new media artist based in Western Massachusetts. He was born in São Paulo, grew up in Miami, and studied Political Science at Amherst College. Sabato’s work seeks to reconfigure traditional understandings of photography for the post-internet era, where photographic and cinematic practices become absorbed by digital processes, hybridized media, online networks, and machine intelligence. His work captures the subject in the face of ecological turbulence driven by the dysfunctions of vast impersonal systems. Sabato began experimenting with glitch processes in 2011 with the help of a defective memory card that randomly wrote zeroes on JPEG files. Since then, his work with glitch and digital media has been awarded the ArtSlant Prize IX and has been shown in places like Tate Britain, ICA Boston, SPRING/BREAK Art Show in New York City, LACDA, the FILE Festival in São Paulo, as well as galleries throughout the world. His work has also been published in TIME Magazine, WIRED, The New York Times, AI-AP’s "Latin American Fotografia 4" Anthology, and in Photographer’s Forum annual "Best of Photography" books for eight straight years. sabatobox.com

Lovely Insomnia [HU] SAT Oct 6th – 9pm – Live Set/DJ Set [performance @ Siva]

Gábor Hufnágel — a Hungarian electronic music composer/producer. He’s currently studying electronic music and digital arts at University of Pécs. He describes his music as a fusion of polyrhythms, rich textures and field-recordings. His process often involves algorithmic techniques and aleatoric elements.

During his studies he was influenced by the works of the 20th century electroacoustic composers but he always felt the contemporary experimental music scene closer to him. His upcoming debut album (from which he will play a live set at /’fu:bar/) would like to explore the relation of these two and contribute to abolish the boundaries, elitism and controversy which still surrounds these topics. His works are also heavily emotion-centered, dynamic in terms of tempo as he also tries to unfold the possibilities of contrasts in music.

Ramiro Polla [BE] – FFglitch SUN Oct 7th – 7pm – [lecture @ Siva]

FFglitch is a precision multimedia editing tool based on FFmpeg. When you glitch a file using a hex editor, it's like getting a tattoo with a radioactive axe. You might get some cool results, but you have very high chances of dying from blunt trauma or some cancerous genetic mutation. FFglitch, on the other hand, is more like genetic engineering. You manipulate your genes to naturally grow your tattoo. FFglitch produces valid bitstream, so Facebook or YouTube won't choke on your files. It is so precise it can barely be considered glitching at all...

Ramiro Polla — likes hacking things. He was an FFmpeg developer for 5 years, but now he got better... ffglitch.org

Mark Klink aka srcXor [US] – 3d glitching SUN Oct 7th – 8pm-10pm – [teleworkshop @ hacklab01]

Demonstrating methods for glitching .obj files, using text editors and spreadsheets. Mark will also discuss the standard triangle and edgeloop patterns that are used to form most 3d models and then demonstrate remeshing techniques which can ultimately produce more interesting glitches. If time is available, we’ll discuss other 3d file formats and ways they might be glitched.

Mark Klink — has been and done many things: swept floors, worked in a factory, been an athlete, a minor government official, a lifeguard, a computer programmer, and a traditional print maker. For twenty years he taught children and other educators how to use computers. But the thing he likes best (beside family) is making curious pictures. srcxor.org

Holographic_thought_process [FR] – Video Dirty Mixer MON Oct 8th – 2pm-5pm – [workshop @ hacklab01]

Building of a video dirty mixer, which "mixes" two analog video sources the bad way, resulting in a glitched output. A good case study to talk about composite sync signal and how messing with it can yield wonderful results.

Bastien Lavaud — imagines and creates electronics devices for arts. Audio, video and DIY enthusiast, he shares his creations on his website by providing information on how to build them, and makes demonstration of it in the realisation of video clips/VJing under the alias Holographic Thought Process. syntonie.fr

Nikša Gligo [HR] – Can glitch music be music at all? MON Oct 8th – 6pm – [lecture @ Siva]

The answer to this question depends on what we consider music. Looking back in history we find the expressions like musica mundana, musica humana, and musica instrumentalis. But the meaning of musica there is equal to harmonia, i.e. accord and has nothing to do with the narrower meaning of harmony in the tonal theories. My aim here is to point out that glitch music belongs to all these kinds of music which do not imply traditional, constant determinants of music as art. Glitch music belongs to the same group as "furniture music" (Erik Satie), "paper music" (Josef A. Riedl), "noise music" (Italian futurists), "prose music"/"music to read" (Dieter Schnebel), "eye music" (Luciano Berio), "son organisé" (Edgard Varèse), "organization of sounds" (John Cage), "sound art"... If we want to avoid "sound art" as something that doesn’t belong to music in the most general sense, then we are obliged to think about music in plural ("musics"). Glitch music would then be just one of them with its own theory, aesthetics and meaning.

Nikša Gligo — born in Split in 1946. Croatian musicologist. He graduated in English and comparative literature from Zagreb University (1969) and in musicology from Ljubljana University (1973). He later studied with Koraljka Kos at Zagreb University (MA 1981) and with Andrej Rijavec at Ljubljana University, gaining the PhD in 1984 with a dissertation on problems of new music. He was awarded scholarships to study at the universities of Cologne, Berlin (with Carl Dahlhaus and Rudolf Stephan) and Freiburg (with Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht). He has taught at the Zagreb Academy of Music since 1986. He is the ordinary member of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences and of Academia Europaea in London. Gligo is concerned with the aesthetics, semiotics and terminology of 20th-century music and the use of computers in musicology. His project on the standardization of 20th-century Croatian music terminology resulted in his book Pojmovni vodič kroz glazbu 20. stoljeća, which is relevant to both musicology and linguistics, and for which he received the Croatian National Award in the Humanities.

Magno Caliman [NL] – screenBashing MON Oct 8th – 8pm – [performance @ Siva]

screenBashing is a live coding piece, where audio and visual materials are programmed in real time during its performance. It utilises SuperCollider (a sound oriented programming language) for it's sound components, and C (a general purpose programming language) for it's visual elements. By using the very basic functionality, present in pretty much all programming languages, of printing characters on the screen back to the user, the visuals are created by printing characters such as backslashes and underlines in rapid succession, and at the same time freezing the whole system several times per second, creating the illusion of animated motion; something neither C nor the printing function were originally intended to do. (...) After a certain threshold, the system becomes erratic, up to a point where it is no longer possible neither to gain control, nor to foresee the end of the performance, which happens at the onset of the machine processor capability, when it indubitably fails and crashes, or there is no alternative but to force shut both the visual and audio generators. The current version of the performance, to be played at fu:bar, adds a new layer of error, with the use of a laptop not connected to a power outlet. The amount of charge left in the battery at the beginning of the performance is chosen in order to determine the duration of the piece, which ends with the involuntary shut down of the machine.

Magno Caliman — originally trained as a classical composer at the conservatory, but with a background as a hardcore / death metal guitarist, now present himself as a sound artist and multimedia performer, with a focus on the intersection between art and technology. In particular, two specific practices have guided almost entirely the processes in his works for the last few years: the construction, modification and manipulation of electronic circuits; and the embracing of programming languages as places for poetical speculation. vimeo.com/magnocaliman

Random Pixel Order [FR] – The Archive TUE Oct 9th. – 2pm – [open studio @ Siva]

Random Pixel Order is a project started in 2015 by Clara R/ and Guillaume Cartis - a crossover collective between IT and micro-edition. The project aims to bring the two closer and comprehend how they can mutually develop. Torn between glitch / dev / analog hacking on the one hand and illustrations / graphic novel / zine on the other, the collective choses to do both. The Archive is a digital art zine collection, every publication with its little background story, a particular technique used (sometimes multiple). The collection is open to digital art in general and holds a multitude of techniques - glitch (sonification, 3D glitches, pixel sorting,...), creative coding, web found images, bitmap and MS Paint drawings, scanner movement, digital collage... Different print techniques are also used - some are fully digital prints, some are screenprint or riso, others mix printing techniques. The entire collection of 50 zines will be presented at /’fu:bar/ 2018. Anyone involved with the festival is invited to participate to author a new zine on the spot.

Clara R/ — founded RandomPixelOrder in 2015 with Guillaume Cartis while she was an undergraduate student in mathematics and computer science in Bordeaux, France. Seeing that much code everyday and being fascinated by mathematical functions, she couldn't keep herself from trying to apply those new knowledges to something visual and fun. She experimented on different techniques along the time, going from classic 2D glitch and datamoshing at the very beginning to generative coding and 3D glitch. During this few years, Clara has been implicated on creating projects that build the bridge between zines and computer. Today, as the collective is exploring new physical supports, Clara is opening herself to more interactive techniques as Arduino and video game making. Now she continues her master degree in graphic computer science, robotic and video game while making posters and fanzines. Guillaume Cartis — after a few self-published zines, founded RandomPixelOrder in 2015 with Clara Rigaud aiming to create a bridge between digital and zine making. Exploring different glitch art techniques, he introduced himself to 3D, video editing and film making. In 2016 he joined Disparate, an associative zine store, where he works on Bordeaux Zinefest organisation and workshops. During those years he started to get into risography, screen printing, scenography and awkward electronic music. facebook.com/randompixelorder/

Ingeborg Fülepp [HR] – The history of artistic usage of errors in film, video and digital techniques TUE Oct 9th – 6pm – [lecture @ Siva]

The twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first can be labeled as a century of media art. Not only filmmakers, but also painters, sculptors, graphic artists, architects, stage designers and many others have been experimenting with media technologies since its very beginning. This lecture will present a brief historical review of the use of media technology imperfections as an artistic expression. By using the example of Media in Motion Berlin-Zagreb GbR (Ingeborg Fülepp and Heiko Daxl, 1990 to 2012) video production, the lecture will present a multiplicity of artistic image editing approaches, which were realized by a symbiosis of analogue film, video and digital errors in specific video works. At the end of the lecture, visitors will be able to see a selection of the best works of Media in Motion art production.

Ingeborg Fülepp — Born in Zagreb, lives and works in Rijeka, Zagreb and Berlin. Studied film editing (at the Academy for Theatre, Film and Television in Zagreb; today Academy of Dramatic Art - ADU) and post graduate studies, film, video and interactive media at Harvard University (Ed.M) and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Media Lab. Taught film editing at the Academy of Dramatic Art (ADU), Zagreb in 1978 - 1993. Lectures in USA, Great Britain, Netherlands, Austria and Germany since 1983, as well as at the New Media Department at the Academy of Applied Arts (APURI, Rijeka) since 2013, where she founded, and leads the Center for Innovative Media CIM since 2017. She’s an active participant of many international scientific gatherings, exhibitions and festivals, and participates in several EU projects as an associate or a jury member. Worked as a film and video editor on many productions. Received a multitude of scholarships and awards as an independent artist. Own artistic practice involves film, interactive multimedia projects, video art and video installations, of which some were shown in the New National Gallery in Berlin, Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Zagreb, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMSU) in Rijeka, as well as in many private and national galleries around the world. As a curator, an art director and a media art event organizer - she has ran a non-profit Media in Motion GbR, Berlin-Zagreb with Heiko Daxl, and has organized numerous international exhibitions and gatherings. fuelepp.com

FRGMNT [DE] – SSB - Sequenced Noise Beauty TUE Oct 9th – 8pm – [performance @ Siva]

The performance is a ~30 minutes live improvisation with advanced self made electronics. This involves the SNU (Special Noise Unit, FM-synth), sequencers, ring modulators and unique ultrasonic instruments (transmitters & "bat ears"). The main Units (SNU & sequencer I put under open license & distribute docu after the concert).

Jo FRGMNT Grys — born 1963 in Essen/Germany. Studied chemistry, philosophy, mineralogy etc @ the Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen then more & more turned towards arts using scientifically influenced thinking to investigate formation of structure from noise & order, from error & law and feedback as his main artistic themes. Grys is working with video-snow, electronics, computers, body & brain. Performed with noisiV (self-made electronics and video manipulations), TOB (transmitters and self-made electronics) as FRGMNT (structured noise & DIY ultrasonics) since 2010 and 2VM (VJ team) since 2002. Grys also makes electronic installations & gives workshops since 2004. Among other festivals he has taken part in V2´s DEAF NL, Piksel NO, Pixelache FI, Art Trail IE, Dorkbot CH, CTM DE. Works as an artist & inventor of machines. In recent years he also presents his computer graphics work to the public. frgmnt.org

FRGMNT [DE] – SNU noise machine WED Oct 10th – 2pm-5pm – [workshop @ hacklab01]

In this workshop, participants will be shown how to build the SNU (Special Noise Unit), an experimental sound circuit which uses illegal states falling between 1 and 0, and drives the digital chip it uses into an in-between world of uncertainty, resulting in complexity and uncontrollable behaviour, but also a playable instrument. Bio:

Jo FRGMNT Grys — born 1963 in Essen/Germany. Studied chemistry, philosophy, mineralogy etc @ the Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen then more & more turned towards arts using scientifically influenced thinking to investigate formation of structure from noise & order, from error & law and feedback as his main artistic themes. Grys is working with video-snow, electronics, computers, body & brain. Performed with noisiV (self-made electronics and video manipulations), TOB (transmitters and self-made electronics) as FRGMNT (structured noise & DIY ultrasonics) since 2010 and 2VM (VJ team) since 2002. Grys also makes electronic installations & gives workshops since 2004. Among other festivals he has taken part in V2´s DEAF NL, Piksel NO, Pixelache FI, Art Trail IE, Dorkbot CH, CTM DE. Works as an artist & inventor of machines. In recent years he also presents his computer graphics work to the public. frgmnt.org

Magno Caliman [NL] – Error making and "not-knowing": some particularities of the relation between artists and programming languages WED Oct 10th – 6pm – [lecture @ Siva]

Computer programmers working in non-artistic applications and artists using programming languages to support an artistic practice might seem, at first, to be making use of the same tools (computational devices), and therefore can be thought of having similar practices. In this lecture we will draw parallels between the modes of operation of this two use cases. Specifically, we will comment on how artists are in a position not conceivable to the professional programmer: one where error making, trial-and-error, and "not knowing" some of the underling technical aspects of the practice are not only expected, but sometimes necessary in both the day-to-day experimental practice, as well as in the learning of those computational tools.

Magno Caliman — originally trained as a classical composer at the conservatory, but with a background as a hardcore / death metal guitarist, I now present myself as a sound artist and multimedia performer, with a focus on the intersection between art and technology. In particular, two specific practices have guided almost entirely the processes in my works for a few years now: the construction, modification and manipulation of electronic circuits; and the embracing of programming languages as places for poetical speculation. vimeo.com/magnocaliman/

Paul Vivien [FR] – 99% WED Oct 10th – 8pm – [performance @ Siva]

Loading… Loading… a transfer, a life, a movie, everything needs a time to prepare itself before it’s ready, before it becomes perceptible and pleasant. And when it’s ready, hurray! We can consume it. Why do we need it to be ready? Why don’t we prefer the things which are still in progress? A premature baby, an immature fruit or the current moment of my life with the evolving cells of my body? The last percent is missing, just enough to make you feel uncomfortable about this loading which will never end, with this file and my life you will never successfully download.

Paul Vivien — a new media artist who creates installations and performances. Experimenting with lights, generative custom software, video and sound, each project is an opportunity to discover a new expression way. Thanks to new technologies, he tries to make the virtual boundaries tangible, to augment the experience we could have of the real, accompanied by technology as invisible as possible. The artistic universe of Paul Vivien is hosted by a research about digital forms of life, a theme merging the notions of singularity, artificial intelligence, science fiction and nature. Based in Paris, Paul does talks and workshops at ENSAAMA, ECV and EPSAA art schools. In parallel of his solo projects, he participates to OYÉ visual art label production support, kaleidos studio art and design researches, exhibitions curation, and Omicron Persei 8 live AV. paulvivien.fr

ROUND TABLE THU Oct 11th – 6pm @ Gallery Siva

— on the current state of reinterpretative new media, its (role)models, changes, its influences, in regard to its artistic and technical ethos and praxis. The talk aims to discuss and contextualize diverse glitch-based critical new media (& appropriation) practices, in the company of /’fu:bar/ 2018 guest artists.

Nada Hasan [EG] – Experimental Desires [safe passage] THU Oct 11th – 8pm – [performance @ Siva]

A performance of reading texts and verbatim poems, installations of glitched video and live audio-visuals; an onsite experiment of a woman and her alter egos as she seeks to become the super human. The piece involves the ambivalent contradictions of female/male, weak/strong and white/black as they reside within a single body navigating hostile geographies. The project will explore the emotional, mental and physical aspects of becoming the perfect human through a mind trip and a process of being exposed to an archive of the most tangible realities and feelings, desires and traumas.

Nada Hasan — a Cairo based multidisciplinary artist from Southern Egypt. Her special focus is in video and media arts but her artistic practices vary between illustration, graphic design, performance, theater and storytelling. BA degree holder from faculty of Languages, Russian language and literature department and studied filmmaking at the Cairo Jesuit Cinema School by the year 2010. Since then she developed her skills in film and video art work by self teaching, exploring and experimenting new and various forms of creating moving image. Her work focuses on the emotional package of a body as a commodified being; making the struggles of bodies visible, emotions resistant to modern society persecution, while emphasizing the experience of oppression and our survival performances in functioning within privilege imbalances in connection to the quadrilogy of Race, Gender, Sexuality and Power. Her video and media art practice is curious to transcend the limitations of classical filmmaking and explore contemporary new media practices and its broad possibilities to create an alternative relation between the artist and spectator while constructing unconventional visual, image and motion driven narratives.
 vimeo.com/user5161708

GUIDED EXHIBITION TOUR FRI Oct 12th – 6pm @ Gallery Siva

(hrvatski ~45’ | english~45’) Inquiries contact: fubar@hacklab01.org

Tabache & Lady oN [IT] – cHroma flux FRI Oct 12th – 8pm – [performance @ Siva]

"cHroma flux" explores a process of metamorphosis in which cells of colour and sound expand in order to create new forms. Thanks to technological devices, colour pixels and acoustic music mutate and distribute themselves throughout space giving life to a "technological landscape". The visuals are generated by live manipulation of paintings that have been transferred onto acetate. The resulting prints are positioned onto TV screens by means of feedback generated by webcams and this process triggers a series of transformations of the coloured pixels. The visual flow of colour is managed and produced thanks to an analogue video mixer. The result is a technological animation of colour as if under a microscope. It becomes a kind of digital mantra that responds to itself, reproducing and moving outwards to take over a new space. The audio has been developed from synth sources and classical music sampling. The acoustic samples have been literally deformed by digital and analogical technology, so that they reach the listener as naked sound that has been completely transformed from its original grammatical, cerebral and human nature as musical language. In "cHroma flux", sound and image influence each other in a synaesthetic vision that has been achieved not by machinery but by the physical gesture of a performance coordinated by the performer’s reciprocal listening and looking.

Tabache — starts his journey in 2004 with "Problems with my Mind", an electro experimental punk band with influences from bands like Suicide and subsequently flow into House, Techno, IDM. Publishing two records, "Album" (2005) and "Stato di Tensione"(2007). After moving to Bologna, he started his first solo project, Tabache, specifically devoted to a live and sensorial experience, with strong influences from Techno and Ambient. His new life injected him a new flow of creativity, which brought Francesco to publish in 2015 his first solo record ‘Searching a total state’, and to found his own record label with Alberto Randi and Giovanni Ricchi, "Timeless Records". In the same year he curated the performance and sound design for the performative theatre shows directed by Ennio Ruffolo. His natural interest in clubbing leaded him to open a new channel for the electronic music in Bologna and surroundings, with a serie of electronic events, such as "Sunday Calling" (2012 - 2014), "Futuro Dancefloor" (2015 - 2017), "Bologna Elettrica" (Electronic experimental Festival in XM24 social center, 2017, 2018) , and the new art collective "Einheit" (2017). soundcloud.com/tabache Lady_oN — operates as a videomaker and a visual artist on the national and international scene, realizing dreamlike live visuals sets, wraparound and imaginative visual scenographies invading the spaces of DJ sets, live music, installations and theatrical performances. In a constant state of research and experimentation, Lady_on’s visuals create hypnotic space-time fabrics in a cut up of images, video synthesis, found footage and feedback, contaminating the many pre-existing visuals with the possible infinites of live shooting and sonic incursions. Simultaneously, she is working on the Mediamorphose project, researching a multiplicity of visual expressions via music clips and video documenting reality.instagram.com/mediamorphose/

"Ondes noires" screening & FESTIVAL CLOSING FRI Oct 12th – 9pm @ Gallery Siva

"Ondes noires" / "Dark Waves", Documentary (21’14’’) In an ultraconnected society where waves have almost invaded every space, three electromagnetic intolerant people bear witness of survival in a world that seems more and more inacessible to them. The staging explores the idea of a deceleration in time. A necessary condition for the perception of a reality that extends beyond the visible. Written & Directed by Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis; Cinematography by Nikos Appelquist Dalton; Production : Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains.

// Screens and Prints Aaron Juarez Adrian Cain Affar Oppip Allison Tanenhaus Bartek Pilarczyk Creation by Destruction Cyberart By Justin Digital Ruins Earnest Raw elle thorkveld Ivana Miljkovic Ivana Miolin Barić John Bumstead jrdsctt Magdalena maja kalogera Mark Klink Mila Gvardiol Mirna Udovčić Neal Peterson Riitta Oittinen Robert Hruska Sabato Visconti satej soman Sebastian Gatz sepo Skinny Bunny tajny_projekt Tchidu Twin Pixel vivid windowzine Yuri Zalevski // Interactive Dario Zubovic Jim Andrews jonCates Kolmogorov Toolbox Magdalena Zoledz x Robert Kowalski Sabato Visconti Timo Kahlen // Narrative Gelido Jessica Evans Random Pixel Order // Time-based Baron Lanteigne + Derek Piotr Christoph Kerschner DAJAJDE Daniela Olejnykov (a.k.a paranthre, velvet_bites_) Daniela Takeva, Nikolina Nedialkova, Felix Ermacora Demet Karapinar DF0:BAD Digital Ruins Dom Barra _ AlteredData elle thorkveld Gochevas Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis Kacper Mutke Lívia Zafanelli Lou Morlier Marija Lučić Meena Khalili Nickk Outernet Explorer Paloma Schnitzer & Pablo Denegri Paul Beaudoin Petra Drevenšek Philippe Girardet Qin Tan [sic][redacted] | alan page Timothy Nohe vivid // Lectures And Workshops Holographic_thought_process Ingeborg Fülepp Jo FRGMNT Grys Magno Caliman Mark Klink aka srcXor Nikša Gligo Ramiro Polla Random Pixel Order // Performances Jo FRGMNT Grys Lovely Insomnia Magno Caliman Nada Hasan Paul Vivien Tabache & Lady oN

[caringheartccs]

Reflections of an article from ftm (Family Therapy Magazine) “This ish is exhausting” Acknowledging the Emotional Labor of Black MFTs by Joslyn Armstrong Ph.D.

September 14, 2020

As an African American MFT Intern, I am learning many new things. I have a history of academic achievements that were informed by lived experiences shared amongst my family, friend, and community. These experiences are generational and continue to add value to the work I do as a professional counselor.  

First of all... I appreciate Dr. Armstrong’s empathy and discernment for Black MFTs during this time in history. I loved that she is deliberate and specific in defining her article as a love letter to this demographic of professions who to many unknowingly but faithfully continue to be in between personal emotions both inside and outside of the therapy room. As a pastoral care counselor for over 20 years, I know the importance of self-care. I also know the importance of managing one’s transference or countertransference. Nevertheless, as an African American male who is a pastor, community organizer, hospice chaplain, bereavement specialist, and MFT intern working on a degree, I have experienced issues of role strain. I am both a person and a therapist. There is no doubt that my clinical work has been touched by the political strains, social injustices, racial uprising, and even the COVID-19 pandemic. I was diagnosed and hospitalized in early March 2020 as one of the earlier cases here in Georgia. It was a very scary experience. But it was not the only scary experience I’ve had. Being Black is tough, but being Black and being a professional counselor, pastor, therapist whatever is straight-up exhausting, when you add it all together. Dr. Armstrong's desire to acknowledge the emotional labor of Black MFTs is truly appreciated. I encourage all MFTs to take some time to read this powerful piece of work.  

Truthfully, this particular issue The July/August 2020 editions were power-packed and did speak to my soul as a man of color. Here is the link to the article... https://www.aamft.org/Documents/FTM/JA20.FTM.pdf

The article topics were not only informative but relevant. The first topic she dealt with was, “When your client looks like you”... I wondered immediately what if that statement was flipped and said this way, “When your therapist looks like you..” Trying to stay focused, I loved the series of questions which ask what are Blck therapist to do when their Black clients are dealing with the same structural or contextual lived experiences as they are? And how are we to provide advocacy when we too are witnessing or personally experiencing systemic racism and structural inequality as members of a community that also experiencing racial terror and uncertainty despite our academic accomplishments, entrepreneurial or work success. How can we yet be emotionally present when we are sharing their agony, questions, and struggle to process and understand our grief and loss, which we share with generations of kinsmen who’d hope to overcome by now. She asked how are we supposed to sit with our clients while they discuss their lived experiences of racism, inequality, and discrimination without it touching our stuff, our story, our trauma? Is it possible not to be retraumatized? 

My local supervisor shared a very powerful document he wrote after Amaud Aubrey was murdered while jogging by a truckload of individuals policing their community. Mr. Aubrey’s story is an extensive and exhausting litany of names and events we’ve continued to forget and remember in cycles. As Dr. Armstrong discussed retraumatization as secondary trauma while in therapy, she reminds the Black MFT that we are here to empower, uplift, encourage, and support the client despite our need for the same thing. These are what I call unspoken(s)... Things that are a reality but do not have to be said to those who share those realities. I must admit to Dr. Armstrong that I too share this struggle with her.  

This article covers the bases as it carefully opens Pandora’s Box and carefully guides readers inside, through, and back out of the article she has opened to us. Placing self-care as a primary foundation gives me the reader and MFT permission to care for myself just as passionately as I work to care for my clients. She lays out a guide on how to do this.  

1. Acknowledge my emotions... I have many. The world as I experience it evokes thoughts and opinions I have a right to express. I have a right to feel and the freedom to verbalize my feelings even when they are feelings of exhaustion, frustration, fear, anger, disappointment, and hope. These are my realities and they should not be silenced.  

2. Discover the comfort of joy... I have a right to be happy and to find and embrace or engage in the things that make me happy, happiest, or happier. Dr. Armstrong encourages readers to be intentional about our actions and the use of outlets that allow us to process moments, especially those moments that evokes laughter which is a silent investor of resilience as has been within our culture for generations amid some the most difficult times of our existence as citizens that were commodities of the country we built but yet struggle to belong. I appreciate her acknowledging and sharing what most Black people know and have known, that we can find joy amid difficulty even the various iterations of horrors Black people have and continue to experience. It is and has always been a means of survival as we used it to cope and means of providing us rest as we wait and work for a better day, situation, or outcome. Joy and laughter is the light that gives us hope and we cannot forget how our ancestors found healing in this. They would sing, dance, create poetry, and even comic relief as a means of expressing pain, suffering, joy, and hope. Black MFTs like their clients have these tools built-in, although we sometimes forget we do. 

3, Be kind to yourself... I sum this up by simply calling this "walking in the grace". I got into this field to help people. And sometimes, I feel terrible about not being able to help everyone. Sometimes I forget not only myself, but sometimes I can forget my own family, who is there to take care of me. But must be mindful to take care of them. Being kind to one’self requires a type of activism. This could include connecting with other MFTs or Black MFTs which will reaffirm the needs for self-love amid systemic racism and problem saturated perspectives that continue to dehumanize minority demographics (Black People). Despite our pedigree, we are still Black. It is our narrative but it is not our only narrative. Our narrative is not only one of resistance but also one of strategic engagement and disengagement. Both can be forms of loving ourselves.  

4, Cultivate moments of rest, There is no shame in admitting I need rest. Rest can be revolutionary, restorative, and transformative. Together or individually rest can be healing. When one is exhausted, rest is the answer or solution. To quote Dr. Armstrong, she states that, “In order to continue to live with the discrimination, microaggressions, and racial trauma in being Black, we must take time to ourselves. In those moments o first, we are reminded of the beauty and vibrance of our culture, of all the heartache and pain we have overcome, of our resiliency and tenacity to continue to thrive, but also of our vulnerabilities and humanity.” Wow! What a powerful statement. Who knew rest was that powerful? I certainly didn’t. She on to say that rest connects us to our humanity and authenticity. It energizes us for the ongoing work that must be done. Rest is vital to our survival. For Black MFTs, this is important to remember. Rest equips us to thrive in every space we work and exist be it in the therapy room and or outside of the therapy room. This fact adds a new perspective and value to rest I had never considered until now. 

5. Decolonize your therapy... Recognizing the Black people’s need for therapy since enslavement and currently, I agree with Dr. Armstrong that this service and resources were not privy or accessible to us. The founding principles and theories of psychotherapy were not only Black, but the service was not for Blacks. Our lived experiences did not contribute or shape the popular theories we use today. Much of what is taught about the Black Family from these theories should be dismissed and dismantled because the narratives are stereotypical with notions of colonialism which may have traces of racism informed by White supremacists contextual worldviews about the Black family, Black men, women, youths (not excluding sexual orientation or identities). Overall, over the years what has been taught in training often excludes the lived experiences that humanize us. I can admit, that there have been times where I struggle not to be reprogrammed in my beliefs, understanding and lived experiences as a Black person training to become an MFT. I appreciate Dr. Armstrong's encouragement for Black MFTs to incorporate cultural resiliencies, rituals, customs, and practices that are both necessary and strengthening to developing an identity. This is especially true when these variables are strenth-based. Maybe cultivating this for ourselves better equips us to work with our clients who are working through their challenges. This is a small contribution each Black MFT can offer to chip away at systemic racism and white supremacy. Our work can dismantle this for us and our clients, present and future.  

6. Seek out community... (and the implications for the AAMFT field). Knowing that I am not alone was the most liberating part of reading this article. I am mindful that MFTs are a community. Finding other Black MFTs is a different story but not impossible. I agree with Dr. Armstrong that being a collective- typed community is valuable and important because it brings about unity and organization. Forming such connections beyond our city and states and even religious or academic institutions.  

I too hope that the AAMFT field will also support Black therapists in the future and during this pandemic. As an intern, I am working to connect with MFT networks and groups to better create opportunities for collaboration and relationships. There are so many places such an organization can take us. There are so many places we can begin and where we can establish long-term systemic change. Who better to take this on than therapists who have been trained as systemic therapists. I hope to see some of our training programs beginning to look more like this as well. I believe that Black MFTs are needed more than ever, and having read this article, I am beyond excited and more inspired than I am training and becoming one. I am a Black MFT. I was tired and exhausted before reading this, but this gave me a second wind. It doesn’t mean that I won’t get tired again, over and over again... but it does let me know that I can rest and catch my second wind. Why? Because this is not a race... it’s a marathon, and finishing it alone is no longer the aim... but finishing it together with others is more fulfilling. I can be inspired by others and others can be inspired by me. I want to thank Dr. Josly Armstrong for such a wonderful article, and yes, I will take care to rest because you know what? “I do deserve it...”

Johnnie Porter M. Div., M.A.C.M., B.S., Ph.D. 

Reference Article:  

https://www.aamft.org/Documents/FTM/JA20.FTM.pdf

[wildflorawrites-blog]

My Teaching Philosophy

I trust in the learning process. Throughout my academic journey and initiation into academia as faculty, I have maintained the belief that life is a constant learning process.  I also believe that there are three fundamental roles, I play as an instructor in the First-year writing program that directly impact how students participate in the process of learning.  (1) As a teacher, I expose students to the tools they need in order to successfully think, learn, and apply their knowledge and skills.  These tools include using CAT prior knowledge probes to uncover the skills they already have.  Through small and large group inquiry-based discussions, we develop student-centric strategies to master the current skills and implement new complementary skills.  (2) As a model, I co-create academic standards with my students in order to meet the university’s and English department’s outcomes for them as well as their own goals for themselves.  We engage through CAT minute writing prompts and weekly, deep reflective writing assignments in class and at home. (3) As a guide, I set the direction and assist students through one-on-one conferencing to address outstanding obstacles and plans to address their process.  I also empower students to lead class discussions, develop their personal identities and advocate for their own contribution and representation in their respective disciplines and the greater university community.  Ultimately, as a learning community, we learn the stages of our individual processes and the tools necessary to succeed at each stage of our development.

I believe in diversity driven, inclusion focused teaching. As a diverse, nontraditional student, I know how invaluable my attitude, experiences and rhetorical choices are to the academic setting.  Because I serve a budding population of “minority” students at Florida International University and in the First-year writing program, I know how important it is to co-create and sustain a safe environment for all students regardless of ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic circumstance, learning, physical, emotional or psychosomatic handicap, and so forth.  As a learning community, we co-construct the “classroom toolbox” developed with sensitivity and anonymity through student feedback assessments throughout the semester to address student challenges and support growth as best as possible.  We also engage with material and resources that encourage awareness of every person as a productive, creative contributor to higher education and society at large.  I honor a variety of learning styles and competency levels by including low-risks writing assignments for students to evaluate their own learning progress.  I assign multi-modal, cross-cultural and cross-discipline scaffolded writing projects that allow students to explore their ideas and interests, assess and organize their research, and build sound, rhetorical narratives, analyses and portfolios that will be useful in their academic, professional, and personal lives.

I honor learning and value education.  I want my students to know that learning is enjoyable, relevant and empowering.  It is my ultimate goal, to learn with them and apply my knowledge, wisdom, and understanding towards the transformation of higher education.  I aspire a higher education that promotes self-awareness, efficacy and advocacy by emphasizing metacognitive training, social engagement and interdisciplinary instruction.  Learning how to write is just as important as learning why and what to write. Many students I have come across in my teaching career thus far have stated that they do not like writing.  Two common reasons that I have uncovered through conferencing with individual students is that they do not enjoy reading or think that their opinion is important.    To navigate this common barrier means assisting students with learning why writing effectively is significant in their lives.  By providing life applicable narratives, explanations and asking student questions, I seek to actively engage them in their learning process and help them realize how to take responsibility for their education.  From the first day of class, we will construct affirmative attitudes and beliefs about writing as a way to communicate one’s thoughts.  Along the way, I promote reading what other people think as a way to discover what our personal values are and where our personal contributions to society lie.   By the end of each semester, our goal is to meet the learning outcomes of the writing curriculum with diligence, skill acquisition, and inspiration to continue growing better writing and rhetoric skills for life.

As Leo Buscaglia, Professor of Special Education at the University of Southern California, stated, “Change is the result of all true learning,” we are here to learn how to live to our fullest potential.  We must ask, is education changing me?  Is that change for the better?  And if the answer to either is no, then we must continue to do the work until we arrive at the actualization that education for all people is the gateway to transformation. 

[buildingrelationshipsinanarchy]

So I told the anon whom sent me this ask to give me a week. Maybe by that point I’d have something to offer worthy of a response to this question. I talked this over with one of my current partners and ruminated over this for a couple hours.

I would argue that heartbreak does work pretty differently in polyamorous spaces/contexts/relationships, not because mainly because our hearts function a bit differently already, but because structurally most poly relationships are arranged much differently than a majority of monogamous relationships. This is presupposing that the partner in the relationship that was ended wasn’t a kind of anchor partner. By this I’m mainly pointing to someone whom you live with, share financial responsibilities with(rent, groceries, utilities, etc), share access to specific resources (transportation, food stamps, health insurance, etc). The reason I bring this up is to illuminate how many monogamous relationships are organized and structured this way. Where once the relationship reached a certain depth or time period they opt to cohabitate and often shared financial responsibilities become necessary or just cost-effective. 

In my personal life, I don’t have any relationships I could define as anchoring in this regard. If you are poly and your situation is arranged in a similar fashion, than this particular partner leaving or relationship ending is going to be much more complex, and most likely a higher possibility of it feeling traumatic. I want you to think about this in the context of loss. When this partner leaves, the ability to keep your life running in the same fashion, poly or mono, is almost impossible and is always a difficult task. The stress of having to find a new roommate, or losing the ability to keep the roof over your head, or having to get a second job to cover the cost of living will make this partner’s absence hang much longer. It turns something emotionally difficult into something structurally unstable, and the emotional, psychological stress becomes damaging to your well-being and your emotional processing. Because when you lost that partner, they took much more than just their presence.

These are common in monogamous relationships because their relationships are built this way. The heartbreak we’ve experienced in a monogamous context may have a lot to do with not just the hard emotions surrounding someone no longer in your life, but that absence upending other facets of your life. Another relevant point, is that many relationships that resemble this model tend to utilize it because they feel/chose/anticipated a future with this person, and therefore made decisions, create dreams, crafted plans around this person’s presence in their lives (buying a home, family planning, meeting relatives, taking out loans, etc.) The pain that comes from this loss is emphasized not just due to the structural integrity of your life being challenged, but also because there were plans made for your future, specifically involving someone who isn't there anymore. These plans, future goals, certain desires come from this person’s influence, presence, desires which feel empty now. Who else could fill that spot? Who else could fill that role? I don’t think there was anyone else I would’ve wanted to do this with. 

This breakup in a monogamous relationships is deeply traumatic, having only this partner, investing mainly in this relationship, setting up life around the assumption/expectation/desire that the end wouldn’t come, at least not this quickly. Who are they to turn to when the person who had the deepest influence, the largest impact, and if it’s anything life most mono relationships I’ve seen, the only friend they’ve maintained a strong, lasting bond with? This takes years to recover from more mono folks. Trust is broken, love fades, and when it’s handled poorly it impacts self-care, self-efficacy, and self-reliance. Monogamous romantic culture keeps propagating myths of soulmates, and even if one disavows that possibly, it doesn't stop them from trying to turn their partner into their everything. Their friend, lover, confidant, support, cheerleader, father/mother/parent archetype, romantic partner, consistent sexual partner, someone whose obligated quietly to contribute to their happiness, or reduce their sadness, be their therapist, teacher/student, travel companion, etc. When you lose this person regardless of the organization of the relationship or its impact on the structure in your life, you’re gonna fucking feel this absence and emptiness.

When you talk about feeling (almost) guilty about not missing her more, are you comparing it to a previous breakup that may have looked something like this? In poly spaces, at least the one’s been in or those I’ve seen/read/heard of through spaces like tumblr or one of the many poly books on amazon, there are a lot of big differences. For one, being non-mono tends to manifest by us not forming relationships based on the assumptions of our bond(s) lasting forever. In fact, polyamory has been fairly attributed to a lot of relationships ending due to variety of reasons, which bring to the surface the real possibility that all the relationships we are in, may actually end. I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but everyone has experienced a break up before. People we thought would always be here, or just didn’t think wouldn’t be here, have left us, or us them. This is a normal part of dating and human interactions/relationships as a whole. I think its safe to say, yeah this could end, I don’t want it to or think it will, but it could. It’s not something we turn a blind eye to. It’s something we actually attempt to handle with grace, although not always as successfully lol. 

Secondly, maybe the haunting feeling of not missing her as much is for two reasons: 1. You haven’t lost much (other than her and her presence) and 2. We don’t tend to measure our love for people by the craters they leave in us/our lives when they are gone.

You have other loves, this doesn’t replace her. This doesn’t demean her significance or her impact or how much you loved her, enjoyed her, was happy to have her in your life. But you mention having other loves, and haven’t mentioned this girl being any kind of anchor partner similar to the definition above. Is it safe to suggest that your lives weren’t entwined in a way that would make her absence interrupt your life? That while you enjoyed her company and presence, she wasn’t the only person you shared a meaningful, intimate (assuming) romantic and sexual connection with? That now that she is gone, your expectation of hurting more or missing her more, came from a place that may have assumed you needed to feel hurt, loss, pain in a large or dramatic way? I am attempting to not sound so mathematic, so left-brain, so detached and I think I’m failing, but my question is: other than not having her around, not being able to create new memories or share more experiences, not being able to turn to her or be with her in any intimate fashion anymore; where else are you expecting to hurt...? What else is ruined now that she’s gone, your ask doesnt suggest much is different in her absence. What else are you thinking you’re supposed to be hurting about? I’m sure she was a beautiful person, a sense of humor all her own, a lovely partner for as long as yall had each other, but what else is supposed to hurt...? Is there any other reason to hurt?

There are other people who are still contributing to your life, connecting with you in ways that seem to get most of your needs met. She didn’t stop that and take your ability to trust others away. She didn’t stop your ability to love after your heart broke. It seems like you have a solid support system of people who love and care about you, and that your life is remaining it’s ability to run smoothly still. Maybe it’s because you haven’t lost access to the tings that are keeping you happy, healthy, and sane; that you have/had an abundance of love and resources and one person missing doesn’t ruin it, even when you may miss her from time to time.

Hopefully this was helpful. I’m sorry it’s so long.

[cabiba]

The anniversary of 9/11 is here, and another year has passed without America naming, much less eliminating, the cause of the attack.

The cause of the attack on 9/11 and, more broadly, of the jihad against the West is the fact that Islamic regimes—most notably those in Iran and Saudi Arabia—take Islam seriously and thus seek to convert or kill everyone who doesn’t. Toward that end, these regimes materially and spiritually support jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State, who, in turn, attack and murder Americans and others who refuse to submit.

That, in a nutshell, is why al-Qaeda attacked America on September 11, 2001. And it is why jihadists and their supporters are constantly planning or sponsoring more attacks. Everyone paying attention knows this. But the U.S. government refuses to acknowledge the cause and thus refuses to eliminate the source of the problem: the Islamic regimes that sponsor jihad.

Why? Why does our government refuse to identify the cause of the jihad and end the regimes that sponsor it? I and other contributors to TOS have answered this question in many articles and from myriad perspectives (see below). The short of it, however, is this:

A large percentage of Americans embrace moral relativism and multiculturalism and are eager to blame America for any and all wrongs in the world. These people refuse to judge any culture negatively, except Western culture—especially that of America—which they judge as evil. Consequently, this sizable portion of the U.S. citizenry refuses to call jihadist groups or their sponsors evil, much less demand that our government eliminate them, because, hey, who are we to judge?

Another large percentage of Americans embrace religion—the notion that faith is a means of knowledge and the corresponding fantasy that “God” exists and being moral consists in obeying his commandments. Religious Americans refuse to acknowledge the glaring fact that if faith is a means of knowledge, then jihadists and their supporters are justified in doing what they do—because they have faith that they should. Because religious Americans are wedded to their own particular religion and thus to the universal religious fundamental that faith is a means of knowledge, they are unwilling to condemn the fundamental that gives rise to jihad: the notion that faith is a means of knowledge. Instead, religious Americans either condemn Islam as a “bad” religion or deny that it is a religion at all. This enables them to feel that they are opposing Islam when, in fact, they are supporting its very essence.

Finally, both relativists and religionists—along with practically everyone else in America—embrace the idea that selflessness is moral and selfishness is immoral. Consequently, almost everyone in America is unwilling to advocate a foreign policy of self-interest because, well, that would be selfish.

Widespread acceptance of these three myths—moral relativism, religion, and the virtue of selflessness—renders Americans unable to name, much less eliminate, the cause of the jihad against America. Thus, Americans who want to end the jihad must reject these false ideas and embrace correspondingly relevant truths.

We must reject moral relativism and embrace rational egoism. We must reject revelation and faith in favor of observation and logic. We must reject the morality of self-sacrifice and embrace the morality of self-interest. And we must acknowledge and say forthrightly that when jihadists attack Americans, the U.S. government has a moral responsibility to eliminate the jihadists and their sponsors as soon as possible.

If we want to end the jihad against America, we must spread the truth about what causes jihad—and, correspondingly, about what America must do to end it. There is no other way.

The following articles flesh out the foregoing and related points in great detail and from many perspectives. Please share this post and these articles with people you think are open to reason.

About Craig Biddle

Craig Biddle is the editor of The Objective Standard and author of Loving Life: The Morality of Self-Interest and the Facts that Support It. His book in progress is on the art and science of thinking in principles.View all posts by Craig Biddle →

The Jihad Against America and How to End It

Ten Steps to End Jihad Against the West

The Causes of War and Those of Peace

U.S. Foreign Policy: What’s the Purpose?

“No Substitute for Victory”: The Defeat of Islamic Totalitarianism

“Just War Theory” vs. American Self-Defense

On the Anniversary of 9/11, Relativism and Religion Still Paralyze American Self-Defense

The Atrocity Following 9/11

“Gifts from Heaven”: A Vital Historic Lesson for America

Yes, Conservatives, Islam Is a Religion

Islamic Jihad and Western Faith

William Tecumseh Sherman and the Moral Impetus for Victory

Obstacles to a Foreign Policy of Self-Defense for America

The Evil of Whitewashing Islam

Islam vs. Free Speech

Don’t Tolerate Islam, Condemn It

Morally Judging Muslims and Other Religionists

Religion Versus Morality

Deon • a year ago

Great article as usual, Craig. My only gripe is that you say that religious critics of Islam are somehow "supporting the very essence of Islam". I don't understand how this follows. I understand that as an atheist, you believe that religion is harmful. I and most of the other religious critics of Islam would agree with you. Much harm has been done in the name of religion. Where we disagree is that we don't see all religion as bad by default, rather it depends on what that religion is. I have also never come across anyone on the Christian right who is "unwilling to accept that jihad is a product of faith. After all, Robert Spencer, a catholic, has been writing about the theological aspects that lead to jihad for years. Any rational person, religious or not, can see the stark differences between Christianity and Islam, and the fact that Christianity has contributed tremendously to the growth of Western Civilization whereas Islam has always sought to destroy it. As long as christians and atheists agree that we need to defend our classically liberal, religiously pluralistic, secular society, why does it matter if we disagree about the existence of God?

MalcolmS

Deon • a year ago

Christianity did not contribute to the growth of Western Civilization. It wiped out the secular, pagan, Roman civilization of Western Europe for over a thousand years. Justinian banned all pagan universities. The citizens of the Christian dark and middle ages had an average life expectancy of roughly twenty years. The West did not start to recover until the writings of the ancient Greeks, especially Aristotle, arrived back in Europe from the Arab world making the Renaissance possible. Science and the inventions of the modern world are the product of pagan reason and "faith" only retarded the process.

MIke

MalcolmS • a year ago

Hello Deon. I read your perspectives, and I hope that you will add a little more clarity so that I can better grasp what you're thinking. Would you mind providing a little more definition & context for your idea of "Western Civilization" that you mention in your second-to-last sentence? Do you think that there is such a thing as "Western Civilization". If yes, can you provide me with your concept of how it is defined and described. Also, are you thinking that your conception of "Western Civilization" is located within particular geographic boundaries, rather than within any particular individual who embraces the idea you are describing? One of the reasons that I ask this is that I have lived in the USA my whole life, while also traveling to just over 30 countries for work and tourism . . . the majority of my fellow-USA residents that I have met during my life neither believe nor practice what I have learned to understood to be tenets of "Western Civilization". Also, in many of the places that I have visited which are loosely described as being non-Western, it seems that many of the people think and act in ways that seem plainly "Western". Thanks, Mike.

Deon

MIke • a year ago

Hi Mike. What I mean by "Western Civilization" is not necessarily the particular geographical boundaries it is located in, rather it is the long standing set of traditions and values embedded in the history of Europe and the Americas. This would include the ideas of limited government, individual liberty, free market capitalism, freedom of conscience/thought, and open debate. The Islamic regimes we fight against do not believe in these ideals and thus wish to destroy any societies that allow them to prosper. Those are things I believe are worth defending. Now obviously there are countries not located in the Western Hemisphere, as you mentioned, that adhere to some of those same values (i.e. Hong Kong), so in this context,"Western Civilization" or "Western Culture" is not exclusive to countries geographically located in the West. Hope this clears that up!

MIke

Deon • a year ago

Thanks for your clarification Deon. Based on your statements, I sense that you and I are like-minded and of similar spirit in what we hope to build someday in the Western countries.

I hope that you are open to discussing just a little bit further to address my curiosity about your ideas. Am I accurate in understanding that you believe that in America and in Europe's countries the current or past reality is that there is a predominant practice of "limited government"? Am I also accurate in understanding that you believe that in America and in Europe's countries the current and past reality is that there is a predominant practice of "free-market capitalism"?

I ask these two questions because the realities that have been experienced by me and my circles of friends & family along with the realities as reported over the past century seem to demonstrate that America and Europe's countries possess & practice forceful political frameworks operating outside of the rule-of-law, and that they comprehensively impose on their own citizens a set of requirements and rules that are contrary to a limited government, and openly contrary to free-market capitalism.

Regarding freedom of conscience/thought, my understanding is that in the Western countries of Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Poland, and England, a person loses their rights and is threatened with incarceration at gunpoint if that person expresses ideas or asks questions about particular important historical events, such as world-war 2, a topic that the political leaders have unilaterally decided must remain off-limits to being researched on a factual level. This prohibition is an enforced law in these Western countries and people have served jail time and suffered loss of property, rights, and time because they wished to research crime scenes and related occurrences to understand them better.

One of the most obvious and ironic violations of the ideals you mention seems to be the American arrangement of compulsory schooling which is imposed under threat and without informed consent. I say it is ironic because our American children are indoctrinated to believe through persistent instruction and testing that they live in a free society . . . while these same children are at that same moment being forced under threat to submit to assist their own indoctrination and compelled to agree with what the government is indoctrinating them to believe.

If my observation is said to be NOT correct, it would mean that American parents and their children are free to withhold their money intended to be spent to operate government monopoly schooling, and free to decline instructional content dictated by government monopoly schooling. But our American parents and their children are forcibly punished if they attempt to make such free choices. In this compulsory arrangement, the government openly violates the Sherman Act, openly violates the 9th Article of the Bill of Rights, and openly violates the idea of a free society and free-markets.

I bring up these examples because you seem to indicate that there are Islamic regimes who wish to destroy societies that support the prospering of limited government, prospering of free markets, free speech, and freedom from indoctrination. But in our America and the Euro countries we do not have these realities nor does it seem that any action is happening or planned to indicate that we are moving toward having these realities. The factual realities seem to conflict with your premise that our practiced ideals are the source of someone wanting to attack us.

Perhaps I am under-informed about our Western realities, or perhaps I am misinterpreting what you've said. Or perhaps both. I hope that you will think through what I've said and educate me about where my descriptions or understandings might be accurate or inaccurate from your perspective.

Thanks, Mike.

Deon

MalcolmS • a year ago

Not quite. Though there was an era known as the "Dark Ages" following the fall of the Roman Empire, the high middle ages were a time of growth and progress. Mainly due to the contributions of the Catholic Church, the middle ages saw the spread of universities all across Europe. Thomas Aquinas, strongly influenced by the works of Aristotle, would study philosophy at one of these universities in Cologne. Speaking of Aristotle, it was the Irish Monks who worked to preserve the ancient Greek and Roman texts. Church scholars studied the great thinkers of antiquity along with the scriptures to help them understand the nature of the universe. We can look to Albert the Great, a philosopher-biologist of the Middle Ages, or Nicholas Cusa, a Church Cardinal who was also the first man to posit that the Earth orbited around the sun. Father Roger Boscovich, who has been described as "the greatest genius that Yugoslavia ever produced," has often been called the father of modern atomic theory. You can also find the greats works of art and literature such as Dante's Divine Comedy, Chaucer's Canterbury, and the Arthurian legends of Chretien de Troyes.

MalcolmS

Deon • a year ago

"Irish Monks"?? Aristotelians? I don't think so. The works of Aristotle were reintroduced to Europe in Spain by the Arab/Aristotelian Averroes. One of his primary students was the Jewish Aristotelian/theologian Moses Maimonides who was forced to flee the Catholic Inquisitors and died shortly after in Egypt. Maimonides was a big influence on Aquinas at a time when the teaching of Aristotle was regularly banned in European universities by the Church. Aquinas' philosophy was not accepted by the Church until the 19th century and only because, by then, they were being laughed out of existence by contemporary intellectuals.

Thomas Williams • a year ago

"Islam is deeply morally wrong and so are virtually all Muslims." That's it. That's what America's intellectual and political leaders need to say in order to win The Long War. The enemy is NOT "Islamic fundamentalism" or "Muslim extremists." It's normal, historical, and current Islam and Muslims. They both champion jihadism and sharia -- which means aggressive war against, and the subsequent enslavement of, all non-Muslim nations and peoples. This loathsome philosophy and social group needs to be loudly, clearly, emphatically, passionately, morally condemned. This will destroy them intellectually and at their roots.

Greg Hadaller • 9 months ago

A glimmer of hope? While I disagree with most things president-elect Trump has said publicly, the following statement of his left me heartened. That last sentence almost makes me optimistic about our future foreign policy.

"Our hearts and prayers are with the loved ones of the victims of today’s horrifying terror attack in Berlin. Innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they prepared to celebrate the Christmas holiday. ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad. These terrorists and their regional and worldwide networks must be eradicated from the face of the earth, a mission we will carry out with all freedom-loving partners."

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Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Kan Yamamoto of Kamino Wallet, a brand that sells minimalist paper wallets.Some stats:Product: minimalist paper wallets.Revenue/mo: $1,000Started: May 2018Location: KochiFounders: 1Employees: 0Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?Hi, my name is Kan Yamamoto, and I am the designer of Kamino Wallet.Under this brand, I make minimalist, eco-friendly paper wallets out of washable paper.Washable paper is a kind of material you would find as those labels on the back of your jeans. It is highly durable and even machine washable, which makes it an ideal alternative to leather while maintaining the paper-thin profile.My wallets help you lighten the load on your pocket and the environment, by getting rid of the bulge and the cruelty of the conventional leather wallets.The wrap wallet is my best selling product, and it is the best example of how my products stand out in terms of the design. I apply the art of Origami - the traditional Japanese paper folding technique, to bring the full potential out of the material and make the most minimal wallet ever with maximum utility.I started this project as my side hustle, and since I opened my shop in June 2018, it has grown slowly. Though it is still a tiny business, I enjoy creating useful tools that are loved by many users around the globe.imageWhat's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I am a self-employed graphic designer who also works as a woodworker/lumberjack. I was born and grew up in Kochi, Japan but moved to Europe and have spent my twenties in Switzerland and Berlin, where I practiced graphic design and the fine arts. After I graduated from the University of Art Berlin in 2011, I returned to Japan to dig deep into my cultural roots and to contribute to the local community.Now I am living in a mountainous village in a suburban area of the city of Kochi. I love living near to nature, and the quality of life here is irreplaceable, but one of the biggest problems in rural areas is that there are no jobs. So I thought the best thing would be to learn how to create small businesses myself. And by doing it, I could be an example for the younger generation to show that it doesn't matter where you live. You could build a global business, however small it is.With my background in art and design, I am a maker by nature, so I naturally looked for ideas for products that I can make myself by hand without much investment. A wallet was my first choice because I genuinely needed it as a consumer but couldn't find the right one that is slim, functional, and eco-friendly on the market.imageimageMy workshop in the village of Tosayama, Kochi, JapanTake us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.I started designing wallets by prototyping with paper, looking for which form and style work best. I wanted it as minimal as possible, in its appearance as well as in environmental impact. After trying various materials, paper, which I always had considered the material for prototypes, turned out to be the best solution for me. It also helped that I had some knowledge and experience with various kinds of papers as a graphic designer.Soon after I finished the design of the first version, I wanted to see if there is a demand at all. So I quickly made a simple landing page to release the design as a free DIY template. And I asked visitors if they would be interested in the production version which will be made out of more durable material.I shared it on Twitter, Reddit, Medium, Instructables, etc., and to my surprise, I immediately got hundreds of downloads. I could build a mailing list of about two hundred in a few months. Some people contacted me to give me their feedback on the usability of the design, and I kept refining the design based on that feedback.imageOne of the first prototypes made out of used Rhodia cover.Describe the process of launching the business.After I realized it could be a business by seeing the demand for the DIY version, I started to prepare for the launch. Finding the right kind of paper that is durable enough for daily use was hard, and in fact, I am still looking for the perfect material. But I eventually found a durable synthetic paper that is good enough for the first product, ordered it in bulk, and started making the actual products.At the time of the launch, I had managed to have a mailing list of about 200 subscribers. Looking back, it is not that big at all, but I think that is enough for a start and assumed that a large number of them would place orders. But I was wrong, dead wrong. I learned a hard lesson that subscribing to a mailing list and paying for a product is a different thing. In the end, only a few out of the list ended up buying my product.I had zero knowledge of e-commerce at the beginning. But I have slowly learned many things by doing it, such as how to build a brand, website copywriting, and the way to optimize my site for conversions. Then I slowly started to gain customers from all around the world, and the designs have also evolved.imageSince launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?What I care about the most is the personal connection with my customers. I always enclose handwritten thank you notes in the packages and respond to questions or feedback as openly as possible. One of my customers once wrote to me"It's great that you are so committed to customer service. These days it's not normal anymore to get this kind of swift, effective and personal service."I also include one or two cards/bookmarks with a discount code printed that are made out of the same material as my wallets to encourage word of mouth. It would make it easier to refer a friend by simply giving a card so that they can touch and feel it.After all, the digitized world we live in is sometimes rough and noisy, so this personal touch is what makes a difference in the long run. I believe being able to offer this kind of service is one of the strengths of being a small maker. And it certainly helps to build trust and retain my customers.imageThank you card that doubles as a bookmark.How are you doing today and what does the future look like?Currently, it makes around $1,000 in sales, of which about $600 is profit. So it is not a typical success story you usually see here. At least it is profitable as my side hustle, and I love doing it.I get about 60-100 visits a day mainly through organic search, Instagram, and Reddit. And my current conversion rate is around 1%, which would explain why it has been slow in sales.I tried google ads for a while but couldn't figure out how to make it work effectively, so I stopped it for now. While I would like to keep the business rather small, it could expand a bit more so acquiring new customers is the biggest struggle at the moment.Regarding the cost and the profit, I try to keep the gross margins before ad-spend around 35-40% for every product. The cost of labor is also around 40%, which I am taking for now, but I would hire someone with it for making my products if it eventually scales in the future.Based on the feedback from my customers, I have been designing new products, including notebook wallet and coin pouch. Also, I am talking with a manufacturer who produces even more eco-friendly material that has more color variations so the products line up will undoubtedly keep growing.It may sound optimistic, but I believe my business has the potential to turn into my full-time business eventually, or even beyond that. It seems more and more people are interested in a simple, eco-friendly lifestyle, and my products would appeal to those audiences once I tuned in the right channels.imageThrough starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?What surprised me the most is that many people on the internet do like to give feedback when I ask them to or when they genuinely love my idea/products. I think I made the right decision to release the DIY version as soon as possible to get feedback and brushed it up. It is still relevant now, and listening to my customers is one of the best tactics I have learned when it comes to product development and marketing.Another thing I am impressed by and thankful about and is how effectively the global postal network works. As I am based in a remote area, the logistics could have been a pain, but in reality, it works like a charm.I can send my products out from a small post office in my village. Usually, within 10-14 days, they will arrive in North America and Europe, where most of my customers are. By the effort of making my products and the packages as slim and lightweight as possible, I could reduce the shipping cost and ultimately afford to offer free shipping worldwide on all orders.What platform/tools do you use for your business?On Reddit, I have learned everything about starting a business, from how to make a landing page to getting feedback on my designs.I used Squarespace to quickly launch the first landing page to publish the DIY version, and then I moved to Shopify lately.And obviously, Grammarly is a must for me as a non-English speaker.It is not about this particular business, but I can't work without Soundcloud, so let me say thank you to them.What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?Design for the Real World by Victor PapanekI always come back to this book whenever I want to make sure if I'm on the right track as a designer/maker. Let me quote one of my favorite lines."Design, if it is to be ecologically responsible and socially responsive, must be revolutionary and radical in the truest sense. It must dedicate itself to nature's principle of least effort, in other words, maximum diversity with minimum inventory or doing the most with the least. That means consuming less, using things longer, and being frugal about recycling materials."Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?All the above being said, I guess I am nowhere near the position to tell anyone how to start/run business. All I can say is that you need to take time to grow the business, so take it easy and don't give it up too soon.Where can we go to learn more?Website: www.kaminowallet.comInstagram: kaminowalletTwitter: kaminowalletIf you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!Liked this text interview? Check out the full interview with photos, tools, books, and other data.For more interviews, check out r/starter_story - I post new stories there daily.Interested in sharing your own story? Send me a PM