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petitalbert-blog · 7 years ago

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So I'm still - still! - having panic attacks and self harm incidents courtesy of being harassed by the tradcraft mean girls last month, and it's bumming me out. (Don't send unprovoked insults and attacks to strangers; you don't know what they are going through or how it will affect them.) It's feeding into a lot of thinking I'm doing at the moment about the broken promise of the internet. How it does do all this cool stuff like link me with ideas and strangers and make me feel a part of global communities and invested in all sorts of people doing odd stuff. And yet also, it's always at the risk of assholes showing up and shredding you, and there's nothing you can do to prevent that. I think pagan tumblr has an especially bad crowd, but just in this last month I've put up with the same bullshit from like - my ferret forum. My origami forum. My artist trading card community. None of these are me picking fights with people, they're just people deciding that it's fun to stir shit with strangers on the basis of a 100 word post. The last time this happened badly, I had been out of the crisis ward for 2 days - so I messaged the person to say look, this isn't on, I don't want this kind of interaction online and they said "sorry im just tired" as if I wasn't still vomiting every time I consumed liquid. Part of the frustration for me is, for abuse related reasons, I know how badly this stuff fucks me up and have spent the last few years trying to change my relationship with the web to minimise it - I've unfollowed everyone who does it, stepped back from political blogs and conversations which tend to invite this kind of assholery, unfollow or block people instead of disagreeing with them, ghost-blocked a tonne of irl friends who behave like this online, and dumped anyone whose behavior extends to this in person. But no one can really stop drive-by hostility coming to find you. I'm thinking a lot about the Internet As Abuser. Bear with me. I find it hard to differentiate between voices on the internet, as I think most people do. You're not interacting with faces, just with text. I open my inbox and I don't know if I'm going to find supportive and kind messages from strangers, or strangers screaming in my face and telling me to die. Funnily enough, I'm frightened of reading my notes. Have been for years now. It's a pervasive sense of unsafety. It's the same person being unpredictably a source of comfort and a source of terror. It's not being able to defend yourself against it in any meaningful sense. Most of the people I chat to on tumblr are cool people who are lowkey my friends and who I've learnt a lot from. And three three or four times a year You know, it's just so normal. I've actually got a bit in my about where I say "please don't send me hate mail", but obvs no one takes the time to read that. It's normal to treat strangers like this and, if you're a really cool witch, it also boosts your "no one fucks with me" cred and nets you followers. Boy do I love being used as a box others use to clamber on top of. It's also mirroring problems I'm having in real life. Like, I'm afraid to leave the house or go anywhere or talk to anyone because I'm afraid of being attacked. So I spend a lot of time socialising on the internet instead where I - I'm too afraid to read my notes or my inbox or interact with anyone because I'm afraid of being attacked. I'm thinking about "creepy bus stop randos" as a comparable model for internet harassment and how to end it. To wit: three or four times a month ill be on a bus and some bloke will decide we are going to have a conversation, deliberately misread my body language, and saying "please go away and leave me alone" only makes things worse. Comparable in the sense that: 1) being in public is not consent to have conversations with you and 2) the onus is on the person starting the conversation to figure out whether their conversationee is into this kind of interaction and, if you're not sure, err on the side of not doing it. and 3) If the person seems to be uncomfortable, back off rather than inviting all your mates to have a go. I can't opt out of strangers getting in my personal space online or irl, and it bothers me a lot. I don't leave the house most days. And online, it causes problem like - far from hating creatives, I'm literally a full time working artist and author reliant on the web for work, except I'm too frightened to answer my work email or even look at it, and to update my brand blog or insta, and interact with people as I'm supposed to; I'm too frightened to work, but one can't opt out of the internet and be an artist these days. So it goes. My attitude is supposed to be "oh just ignore bullies and do your own thing", but like - this is the third time this week I've been alone and had this panic attack and ended up bloody. It's absolutely a Problem, a problem without end. Like, I don't have a good relationship with the web. I know that. It's just unavoidable; people in my life don't take requests like "I need zero access to the internet" seriously, and you need it to do anything nowadays. This is what happened for me in political environments too. For a while it was like - I hate how all the loudest voices here are mean bitches, I'm going to try and model a kinder sort of politics - and now it's just - I don't care about the collective, and if people want to create a mean environment then they deserve it. I just want the world to leave me alone. This is just the latest in a long series of hobbies and communities and environments where you're welcome only so far as you don't step out of line, and you accept people being mean without complaint. I don't want my existence to be series of standing up to bullies, I want people to be kind as a matter of course. I think this is a roundabout way of saying I'd like to start an old school blog and start putting my posts there instead. There's a post on my queue which I don't know is posted yet or not about the internet of my youth, how 90s html website culture and 00s blogger/WordPress culture were slower, quieter and more generous than the speed and the nastiness of interactive social media like tumblr and so forth. Those older blogging forms were shouting into the dark - you rarely got responses or knew who was reading, and as much as I love the interactions I have with friends online and the support I've had from strangers, I actually don't think that is enough compared to the constant, constant, constant terror the dark side of internet comms has for me. (Even livejournal - batshit as that was - had more ability to wall your content and make rules about interaction in your space than here.) It's my birthday today and all I've done is cry, and cut, and hyperventilate because a small power-hungry clutch of internet bullies have worked out that being performatively mean for their followers is a great way to drive traffic to their content and self-validate the power of their craft by having a fan club and picking on people who can't fight back. I can't get the feeling of panic out of my skin; I can't differentiate the voices on the internet enough to feel like 6 billion people on the planet all hate me personally, and that everyone I encounter is just waiting for an excuse to use me or hurt me or get the knives out; I can't face participating in another club or hobby or trying to meet new people because it's just going to be this same thing where everyone is nice until you get targeted by the big kids and have to accept it or leave; this is my 18th year in therapy, and there's nothing promising on the horizon to help me cope with these fears any better. But like, that's just humans for you.

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maternalcube · 7 years ago

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aaaaa tagged by @thespace-dragon thanks mogi :O

1) How many works do you currently have in progress?

fuck so many. i mean ao3 wise i have a series that needs finishing and another i kinda said id add to, no actual unfinished fics. but like in terms of just, things im working on?? SO MANY. i dont know offhand but i make lists sometimes, its probably like ~15

2) Do you/would you write fanfiction?

all those wips i mentioned above are fic lol. i do technically have... a couple of original things... but theyve been on the backburner for a while bc i keep signing up for shit and i have too much trouble switching story gears when im in this deep so i just gotta... finish all this fic first........

3) Do you prefer paper books or ebooks?

nnnn lately ebooks bc i can put em on my ipod and read them on the train. also i have run out of space for books, my bookcase is overflowing and ive got a pile a foot high on my nightstand, they just keep accumulating help me

4) When did you start writing?

all my life idk. i think ive been telling stories as long as ive been able to literally write tbh. but like, in some more serious since maybe when i was 11-12? and then my first stab at nano was when i was 14, so yeah.

5) Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with?

deeeepends. ficwise, i have the Most trouble finding a good beta and my work is so varied that its hard to get anyone or even a few people that are willing to cover that range? i send stuff to @tfwnoshiro a bunch tho. ofic, tho, i always send to my brother, hes part of my target audience and isnt afraid to tell me when ive left giant holes or am just generally being stupid :')

6) Where is your favorite place to write?

implying i write anywhere but on the train anymore rip. theres also this one chair in my grandmas house that i liked, but it was also the Designated Nap Chair so maybe im biased.

7) Favorite childhood book

ooh it depends on like, what stage of childhood lmao. seconding eragon tho, that was a fave. also my side of the mountain (or smth like that? i think thats what its called). also the young wizards series and tortall series (i think im following both those authors on here :v ). also shoutouts to dragonhaven by robin mckinley and fire by kristin cashore (and graceling and bitterblue but, especially fire). is it any surprise i cant just pick one? lmao i wish i still had time to read, i barely even read fic anymore.

8) Writing for fun or writing for publication?

for fun, mostly, lately. have tried to get published in some small ways (i wonder what happened to that collab novel...) but havent been terribly successful, nor have i been working at it very hard bc i wanna get fandom stuff out of the way...

9) Pen and paper or computer?

for plotting? pen and paper. for actual writing? def computer (or at least my tablet hhh, its less distracting (i say like im not on tumblr on it at this very second))

10) Have you ever taken any writing classes?

i took a creative writing class in high school! not sure what i got out of it tho. im also taking (kind of paused on them actually) a couple of really good online classes from holly lisle which have taught me SO much you would not believe (and here i am wasting it all on fic lolll).

11) What inspires you to write?

vvfgfvfgfv idk, life? i guess a lot of media can trigger it, esp movies, but also just random things in daily life. anythign that kicks off a daydream will probably worm its way into a story eventually lol

gonna tag perk who i already mentioned, also @dylogger and @queenmogar117 aaand @stickywrites and @adjit. no pressure tho. :)

#jfbherfldfjk #pointless post #long post

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niamhhannaho-blog · 8 years ago

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Interviews

WILL F Tell me about yourself?

Having grown up in an ex-pat family, I had the opportunity to live in Asia and Europe. I have always been creative whether its art, music, film or fashion. After failing handsomely at school and barely making it into University I realised education wasn’t for me, after dropping out of University and having the opportunity to work in advertisement and film for some time I decided to co-found a creative agency. Since then I have had the opportunity to work with some the UK’s most influential people and brands, aiming to share my thoughts and knowledge with other millennial and the older demographic.

In your opinion what are the stereotypes of millennials?

I think my understanding of the millennial stereotype is that millennials have created a new culture and behaviour that has not been recognised before. I think we are categorised as a dysfunctional, unmotivated and unwilling generation that is incredibly selfish.

I do believe that is a statement that targets millennials collectively however I feel its only a certain categorisation off that generation who live up to the stereotype. I do feel with the move in the digital world millennial's are creating new and imaginative ways to work, In a lot of peoples eyes I think due to it being unconventional, its seen as wrong.

What does it mean to be a millennial?

I think there are many answers to this question, although “millennial” is a term for the generation born in between the 80’s and early 2000’s. Its seen today as more of a categorisation of the “future”. Being the most connected generation, I feel we are the most progressive out of any other previous generation. Having more opportunities, more freedom and defiantly more of a creative mindset I think that Millennial’s have recently started to disrupt and question convention which in my mind is progress for the future to come. We’ve always been told to be unique however convention tells us not to, I feel we are the first generation that has done exactly that.

What inspires you?

People. A lot of people will generically say art, fashion, music or culture. Which is all great, but I believe that the source of those mediums are the most inspirational subjects. To me a persons story is the most valuable knowledge or inspiration you can obtain, because unless they write a book about their life you will never have the chance again to hear it.

If you could impact something significantly within society what would it be?

I believe the biggest fault in society today is people not listening to one another, especially between young and old generations. I would love to see more members of the younger generation being able to make decisions that can impact our societies.

If you had one piece of advice to give to other millennial what would it be?

A really important word to me is self-awareness, I think so many people lie to themselves about who they are. Until that person understands who they are as a person and acknowledges their identity and values, they won’t be happy with anything they do.

Do you think you fit the stereotype of millennial’s?

Absolutely!

Why?

I believe being unconventional and creative is exactly what it is to be a millennial, I like to think I do exactly that every day. LIZZIE

Give a bit of an intro about yourself (not part of the question but literally talk about anything uni school travelling your freelance illustration)

I’m Lizzie, I’m 23 and I’m currently living and working in Wellington, New Zealand. I had an idyllic upbringing and was always academically bright, but way more interested in art. My family were always super supportive but I felt a lot of pressure growing up to achieve and be perfect. I went to Uni to study graphic design, but got very disillusioned and ended up dropping out in my 3rd year. I moved to New Zealand and converted a van which I travelled and lived in for 6 months, it was pure freedom. I’ve recently got back into illustration and won a poster competition for the street art collective Vivid Wellington, I’ve met a bunch of local artists and it’s been so inspiring. I’ll be moving back to England in July to study as a tattoo apprentice.

What does it mean to you to be a millennial?

I think we’re in this weird transitional generation, we’re the first kids to grow up with technology dominating our lives, we’re at the forefront of unexplored territory and we’re just trying to figure it out. The truth is that the world is entirely run by the post-war generations, they’ve had an incredible impact on the world physically and economically, it was all about this ethic of working hard your whole life, contributing to society, everything has to be bigger, better, newer. As a generation I think we’re questioning this, we’re less motivated by money, more creative and forward thinking, and in a growth driven society this can be easily misinterpreted as being ‘lazy’. I think in general we’re tolerant, emotionally intelligent and amazingly bright. We’re opening up about sexuality, race, gender, mental health…we have all these great ideas we’re just struggling to find a platform for our ideas to be heard.

What inspires you?

Mostly people, I find people fascinating. I try not to rely on inspiration when I’m drawing, you can end up staring at a blank page for a long time if you do. Inspiration comes from practice, trying everything - new ideas come from that. It took me a long time to realise! I’m definitely inspired by self-makers, that DIY aesthetic and attitude. Counter-culture, punk, hip-hop, ravers, street art, drag queens, comics, nature…oh and smut - Lots of smut.

If you could impact something significantly within society what would it be?

That’s a tough one. I’d like to get people to question what’s going on around them, not just accept the way things are. That’s the first step to changing things. We’ve thought the same way for so long, we need a new perspective. I’d love to see women’s ideas come into consideration, I think we could really use a feminine approach.

If you had one piece of advice to give to other millennials what would it be?

Be yourself! It’s cheesy but I think it’s so important to do your own thing when everybody around you is trying to make you into something else. Lead by example. And love yourself, that’s very important.

Do you think you fit the stereotype of millennials and why yes or no

I’m going to be annoying and say yes and no, I’ve definitely been guilty of feeling entitled, I’ve only recently started to understand the value of hard work, and working hard for yourself too. I try and keep away from the trappings of social media…most people I know don’t seem to fit the stereotype. It’s going to be harder for us to coast through life with wages and housing prices being what they are. I could definitely work harder though.

SOPHIE RISCH

Give a bit of an intro about yourself?

My name is Sophie Rischmiller, I am 18 years old. I am a full time student at Bournemouth University, an Affiliate Marketer taking my foundation certificate in marketing at The Chartered Institute of Marketing and the owner of a startup marketing agency called Social Zest.

In your opinion what are the stereotypes of millennials?

Millennials are constantly stereotyped as not really experiencing life because they are always looking at social media or things online. We have been bought up in the digital era so everyone assumes we don’t really know how to communicate, which isn’t the case. Because we spend time online older people thing we are lazy, under motivated and introverted.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by young entreprenuers documenting their life online and giving valuable advice to younger people or people they same age as them - other millennials! They inspire me to be motivated and better myself in everything that I do.

What does it mean to you to be a millennial?

Being a millennial means being at the forefront of the digital era, we have the power to create communities and influence people like never before. If we use the tools we have been given, growing up in a smarter society, I think we can really make a positive difference.

If you could impact something significantly within society what would it be? In other words what is an issue that is close to your heart?

One thing I would choose to impact would be mental health in young people, there are so many amazing charities working hard to correct mistakes that previous generations made - for example making it difficult for people to talk about their sexuality or for men to talk about their feelings openly. I think that this new generation is far more advanced and accepting of everyone so we have the ability to encourage those with mental health issues to feel they have a voice and that they are not alone.

If you had one piece of advice for other millennials what would it be?

My advice for millennials would be to say yes to every opportunity you are given, we have all the resources to succeed given to us by this new digital age so it would be wrong of us not to utilise them.

MARIE

Tell me about yourself?

Okay, so my names Marie, Marie La - Anyane. I’m not French, even though my name sounds French. Im 100% Ghanaian. I am an abstract artist and I run a fashion blog. And thats pretty much it, I just paint during my free time, do some artwork. I edit a lot of photos and I have a little taste for photography. I don't take all of the photos for my blog myself, but I do edit them. I just quit my job of three or four years. Im hoping to get an internship within fashion. I don't want to settle for something which isn't related to what I want for my future which is get a career within the fashion industry. So if its not something thats not dear to my heart I'm not going to settle and just do that to kill time.

What does it mean to you to be a millennial?

I mean we are the generation that made money out of youtube, theres people making thousands on instagram every single day and back in the day our parents probably thought we were crazy for just being on platforms like Facebook. And now people are getting paid just to post a photo and just to advertise. So I mean we should be proud of that, and we are making so many changes in the world. We have had some of the biggest protests and marches in history and thats just us!

What inspires you?

My culture and my play on colours. I think my background inspires me, being Ghanaian using colours in our everyday life and all celebrations use a lot of colour so thats really where I get my inspiration. I have never been able to draw certain things and so because of that I often take an abstract stance, because thats what works for me.

If you could impact something significantly within society what would it be? In other words what is an issue that is close to your heart?

I don’t think I can personally impact society as a whole, but I can work with people to make changes. Going to protests and letting the government hear what we have to say, because I cant do that on my own.

If you had one piece of advice for other millennials what would it be?

I think we shouldn't let the negative comments and negative views by previous generations affect us, because we have achieved a lot, we are going to achieve a lot. I know its the social media age but we have achieved so much just through that. Its crazy you don't even have to go and watch the news anymore you just have to go on twitter! I mean Donald Trump is tweeting and he's probably part of the generation that thinks that we are not doing anything with our lives and all we know is social media. So I think we should just look at it as a positive thing, we have done so much for ourselves and we should be proud!

DANIEL BOOTH

Tell me about yourself?

Okay so my names Daniel Booth, I run MPR Communications which is a PR and social media company. We handle, publicity and brand relations for celebrities, influences, professional athletes, high profile individuals. We also do PR for brands and we do social media for brands as well. I started it four years ago, and yeah its going well. We work with musicians, athletes, models, presenters, footballers, rugby players, golfers. So I have been working in the industry for probably about seven or eight years now. So I started out in fashion PR and beauty, peddling Chanel lipstick, Champneys and stuff like that. And then I did whats called agency hopping, so each six months to a year id move to a different agency, and slowly worked from beauty to fashion. Ive worked numerous London fashion weeks, which is stressful to say the least. And then from there I hopped into entertainment and sports. As I say yeah about four years ago I was made redundant from my last agency. I came into work one morning, by 9:15 I was in the boss’ office and he basically just said sorry we have no money this will be your last day. They couldn't even afford to pay me for the rest of that day. So the second I stepped out of the front door I was wondering round London on my phone sending emails, texts and phone calls to see if anyone had a job for me. And it was happening to everybody, because it was around the time the financial crash hit and businesses sort of panicked. So I moped around for about a week, I was super stressed out because I had never been out of work. I never went to university and I sort of lounged around the house for a week wondering what to do. And my problem was that I wasn't good at anything else, the reason I got into PR was because I'm good with people. I can talk to anybody. So my girlfriend said to me you just need to get up and go back out there, so I did. And for the last sort of two years of my agency career I saw how they didn’t really care about the clients. It was just the case of how much money you pay us defines how much time and attention we will give you. I didn’t like that because I mean we had clients for instance that were paying close to £10,000 per month and then you had a little designer that was absolutely phenomenal but all she could afford was £1,500 per month and she would get nothing. And like that is still money, that that person is paying out of their own pocket but just because its not big enough for the agency, they don't get anything. So I decided to make that my mantra, that we were going to work with everybody and anybody, if they were talented of course. And it didn’t matter what their budget was, we would make it work. So far its going alright.

In your opinion what are the stereotypes of millennials?

Well ever since you reached out to me I've had all these articles, about millennials and to be honest its all the same. They are self entitled, they don't want to work, they are narcissistic,all they care about is what their instagram looks like and all that sort of thing. But to a certain extent theres a minority that are exactly like that. But i think for the grand scale of millennials, its completely wrong. I mean I meet people everyday who are your age, my age and they are driven people. I mean the thing is millennials face so many issues that no other generation has had to face, I mean today you can at 21 years old you can be a millionaire. You can create an app and it can get picked up overnight and all of sudden your a millionaire and theres so many different opportunities and avenues that people can go down and its confusing for a lot of people. I mean my younger brother is 21 and he's in uni studying fine art and if you ask him what he wants to do he has got no idea. He just wants to do something in art because thats what he likes, and its not because he's lazy, its not because he cant be bothered, its because there are so many options and its one of those things i mean when i was at school like forever ago now, when it came to career day they said be electricians, be plumbers, be carpenters, be a fireman, a police officer because all those are in need at the minute. And the thing is, everybody went after those jobs and now they are over planned. Millennials have come to a realisation that you know what you don't have to break your back to earn a decent living. I mean me, if you ask any of my family what I do, they have no idea, they literally don't have a clue. Millennials i think are misunderstood massively, they get the raw end of the deal i think. I mean theres a lot of stuff they have to put up with and get through, I mean most people wont ever own their own house and all that sort of thing. I read an interesting article the other day where the title was the 20k somethings and it basically said that millennials are the generation that are happy to earn 25 - 27k for the rest of their life as long as they have experiences. So they get to go travelling, they get to swim with dolphins they get to go look for humpback whales and all that sort of thing. They would rather have these big experiences in life than have massive amounts of money. Now my question is why is that such a bad thing? Theres people that get by on less than 25 grand a year, i mean a lot of them do struggle but you can make it work! I mean I know somebody, who him and his other half, between them earn 45,000 a year, they are happy. They’ve got a house, they have a car, they go on eight holidays a year but the thing is they both work remotely and they both work remotely so they can have that life because they are able to do that. I don't see what the big deal is. I mean my mum when I was younger she was like don't get tied down too young, go travelling, go see the world. I mean my mum had me when she was 22 years old, she was married when she was like 21 so her whole thing for me and my brother and my sister was go see the world don't get stuck into your career or anything. I mean I slightly ignored her. Its the way it is.

What inspires you?

Potentially failing, I don't like to loose, ever. I am one of the most competitive people ever. I don't let it show too often but if i loose inside me its like argh, i hate it. So yeah I think failing, theres a constant drive there to prove that you can do it.

If you could impact something significantly within society what would it be? In other words what is an issue that is close to your heart?

For me, i mean I started working with women football players when i first started working for myself. Because it was an up and coming game. And I was lucky enough to get one client at chelsea football club and the ladies train at the same place as the mens football team and on my second visit, when I went down to the training ground. but i think one thing I'm passionate about is helping women sport. The thing is in all sports the women train as hard if not harder than the men because they have to. They are constantly fighting against society saying. Footballs a mans game, women shouldn't be playing rugby, women that play sports look like lesbians, i mean what does a lesbian look like? So I think it would definitely be womens sport, I think there needs to be more understanding about it, there needs to be more promotion for it. There needs to be more commercial drive behind it. I mean the thing is a bit of insight the top top england womens football players in salary a year, not a week, a year get paid £30,000 per year. Now I've got players that i work with that are 17 years old that get that a week, so i mean now its becoming that they can earn more from commercial deals and that sort of thing but even then, brands aren't willing to pay that kind of money. One of the girls I work with was on the same campaign as joe hart the goalkeeper, she got paid i think it was like 6% of what he got paid, it was minuscule. And it needs to be a lot fairer, it needs to be on the same level for men and women. Women sport is massive and its growing every year. I mean i like to think that I'm helping but I'm still not having the impact that i want to have, thats definitely where I would go.

If you had one piece of advice for other millennials what would it be?

Do the grunt work. The thing is, this is no joke, i get about 30 emails a day requesting jobs, internships from people my age and younger. And occasionally when I'm feeling generous, ill go and meet them see what they are about, see how they fit. I mean I've only ever met one person who has been happy to do the back breaking work, to go grab coffee and this sort of thing. And unfortunately she's moved back to the states and she worked with me for 6 months. She was studying law and came over here as part of her degree and she just wanted an insight into the sports world, she's passionate about sport she loves football. So i met with her and straight away you could tell, you know what this girl has got something special about her, she is willing to go the extra mile and honest to god when she left it felt like I had lost my left arm because she was there and she preempted anything that I ever could have needed. Im still in contact with her now, I consider her a friend. But I meet people every day that literally just want to walk into a job, they have come straight out of uni and they have gone right okay I want 30,000 a year I want my own office and I want 5 projects a year to work on.Its like, the world doesn't work like that, and this is where i feel millennials as a whole get a bad name because of some of the people that are like that. I mean for me I interned in fashion and beauty PR for almost a year. I wasn't paid, I was working 16 hour days, I was working for fashion week, when id finished work I was asking if I could go to the events with the PR managers and they would party till like 3 - 4 o clock in the morning. And id stay out with them, id meet people. But as i say as up till now after 4 years I've only ever met one person that was willing to do that. I mean one kid i actually met he came to me and was like, I want 45,000 a year, and i want to work from anywhere in the world. And I just looked at him and was like mate, really? Like thats the first thing your gonna say to me? And he was from a very privalliged background and he had it installed in him that that is the way it is. You walk in and demand what you want and somebody will give it to you. And its like i said to him, you have no position you've just come straight out of uni. I think he had studied something like talent management. Some obscure degree that in the grand scheme of things doesn't mean a lot. And I said to him right, name me five people right now that you could call and you could get one of my clients into this event, that event or on that tv show. And he said well I don't have any. So I said well then come back to me when you do. Because thats what it is in my job and in a lot of jobs its about the connections that you have with people. The relationships that you have. Its being able to call on those people at a moments notice you know you can pick up that phone and say I need help and them say okay what can i do. And thats what its about and you get that from doing the interning, the working for free, the making coffee and all that sort of thing. It sounds degrading, but you learn a lot from it. Its the one time in your life when you can actually just sit there and soak up everything. I learnt more in my first two weeks interning, than I did in my entire school life. The thing is I wasn't academic, i never have been, i didnt like the thought of having to study. Now I read more books than i ever did when i was in school. Im always reading I'm always learning I'm always trying to better my knowledge of PR, social media, the digital landscape, marketing, everything. But its because I'm studying something i love and its completely different. When you start reaserching things about something you really love it becomes addictive. If you work in something like design, or digital or something like that because it grows so rapidly that you cant keep up. I think thats the advice that i would give to anybody. Just do that work, be a sponge. If you can get 5 minutes with i don't know if you wanted to be a football agent for instance, if you can get even five minutes with a professional football agent that has been in the industry. Just sit and listen to them for five minutes. Just ask them one question and then just sit and listen because you will learn so so much. So that a the advice.

Do you think you fit the stereotype of a millennial?

Well my jacket and hightop converse would say yes. I would probably say yeah. I mean if you had said to me when i was 15/16 years old, you will be working for yourself, you'll be working with the England rugby team all these cool people. I mean i would have laughed in your face. You say am I a millennial stereotype i mean yeah because in the grand scheme of things millennials have this mind set that they can do absolutely anything and yeah thats me.

GENEVIEVE SWEENY

Tell me about yourself?

I have been knitting since i was 5 and I used to live in Europe with my parents, I sort of followed them around with work so I used to sit in the back of the car knitting all the time because my nan taught me to hand knit. So i did that, I hand knitted all the time sort of secretly for like 11 years, until i met a girl at Nottingham trent who was doing a degree in knitwear and i was like omg this is amazing. So that then kind of really started my path. Because I was doing this thing that i loved doing but i didn’t really know how to apply it. Then I did a four year degree at Nottingham trent which was amazing we learnt about the machinery and actually how to make something which was really cool. And i did a year in industry in my third year, so i went to work with a really creative consultancy that did kind of swatches, which back then in the 90’s were really big. So companies like m&s would buy like 20 of them and it would cost like £600 for a swatch which was like crazy money. Then after the recession hit that kind of industry died a bit. So yeah I worked for them which was amazing like really creative and explorative and we did loads of exhibitions like in Shang Hai and florence and things which was amazing. And they also gave me sponsorship for my final collection, so i had like cashmere to knit with for my final collection, which was crazy! and i didnt even think about it too much then i was just like yeah ill have all the colours, now I'm like wow that was like the most luxurious collection in the world. After that I went to work for m&s and new look which was like just three months in each but it was amazing to see a real high street but fashion thats run from figures. To me being at uni and being in this creative world i was like what the hell, it was a real eye opener but a kind of good understanding of the connectivity. So yeah finished my degree, got a first which was cool. I specialised in menswear, so then i was selected to go to a trade show in Shang Hai to show my collection and also to do some work for wgsn to do some swatches and things. And there i met kind of randomly all the people id end up working for in the future which was really weird. I met a gentlemen who was an agent for rag and bone and he said they were looking for a menswear designer, so literally as soon as i got back i called them up and was like do you fancy interviewing me. Then a month later I was on a flight. So the march after graduating i went out and was the menswear assistant. The role kind of ended up changing and i was doing menswear and womenswear but it was amazing working for a really creative, contemporary brand. And it was before they had this recent investment, so there was kind of no budget, an endless amount of money and no restrictions. So yeah it was crazy you could find like three hundred pieces for spring, just for knitwear and I think only like eight went on the catwalk so it was a crazy amount of work. And then i got head hunted by Hugo Boss and i was offered a job in switzerland which was a lot more technical, kind of more the development, production side. But i always wanted to do my own thing, but i kind of never really, knew what wholesale price was, how would i actually manufacture something and do kind of quality control. So I took the job because i felt it was the next step to me building up my knowledge and working on something that i didnt really know anything about. So I lived in Italy and commuted to switzerland every day, and it was just an incredible job, I literally did everything from sketch to production. So I would work with a freelance designer who was based in london and she would give me all her concepts and i would go and work in this like knit lab, where they had all this machinery that they taught me to programme. So id kind of come up with ideas for her and then i would look after the product all the way through photo sampling production. I spent a lot of time in Turkey, in factories testing out lots on things. So i did a lot of travelling it was amazing, it was such a broad view of the industry. Since then different roles I've had are very split you would have like 8 people doing that one job. So that was the kind of main thing. But i looked after the Boss green, which was sports knitwear, so it was quite small only about 40 pieces per collection. So for my second job it was quite manageable. Then i got engaged and felt like I had to move back to England so i did a quick stint at burberry kids wear. That was mainly computer work so i didn’t really last long there. And then I went to Lyle and Scott to work on there scottish programme they wanted to bring the knitwear back to scotland, my role was to look after the knitwear team and build back the relationship with scotland. So as i moved back to England I decided i wanted to get my studio back and kind of wherever i went I had like a car full of yarn and i wanted the big machines. So i went on eBay and bought these really old machines that were up in scotland and drove up there and met this amazing old man who was in his 80s. I got chatting to him and found out that his nephew was a hand tartan knitter but lost his job in the 80s and actually all his family members used to work in the mills. So we went to th pub and i met a few other people and i met some people with more machines. That sort of really started the beginning of my brand, I just felt so awful that there were all these amazingly skilled people that were now like bus drivers. They were cutting lengths of this imported woollen fabric and then calling it scottish fabric. It just felt really awful. So i decided to do a couple of projects with them because there style was like really 80s so I said if you want to work with new brands you need a bit of an update. So yeah we were working on a design and we ended up having like 5 pieces by the end of it and i was like gosh this is the start of my collection, but that was all happening whilst i was working for lyle and scott which ended up using no scottish knitwear because they couldn't afford it and ended up doing a lot more stuff in Italy. And then Ian got made redundant and I got really jealous so i quit my job as well and took the plunge. So it kind of felt like everything had come into piece but it did take about 18 months to find the right supplier and just get an understanding of where i wanted my work to be in the market and if there was a market for it. But actually a lot of the manufacturers in the midlands wouldn't work with me because they wanted like 400 pieces. But like even at lyle and scott we wouldn't order 400 pieces for some like fashion pieces. So even in scotland I could find people to knit it but not to put it together. So i had to go through this like interview process with one of the manufacturers but i think he had been so screwed over by young designers in the past that he was just like over cautious. So i literally drove up there and met him and he was like okay we can work together and then i drove back again. Yeah so it took a while but it kind of worked out. So i launched in september 2015 and worked with a really amazing range of manufacturers, so id design everything here in house and then often hire a machine to test out ideas for patterns and things and then gove the production to them. They are such an amazing manufacturer they are all kind of like family run. I feel like they are more invested in what your doing and kind of look after you more, where as the factories and especially when i worked in factories abroad its just all about numbers and margins and your killing yourself over 10p. Where as I've got more of an understanding of how much they do and how much stuff costs so I'm quite like, I see the value in what they do and vice versa.

In your opinion what are the stereotypes of millennials?

I feel like it changes every five or ten years. Like a lot of the younger millennials don't drive at the moment which i find crazy. But i don't know if its because now things are a lot more accessible, like when i was 17 i learnt to drive because it was the only way i would be able to get out and do something. So i don't know maybe with the internet changing its more accessible now.

What inspires you?

Inspiration comes a lot from archetecture, so could be the structure or patterns in plaster. It seems to be a lot from archetecture or sometimes ariel views or kind of natural patterns. Its definitely always something that breaks and repeats, thats sort of always the theme.

If you could impact something significantly within society what would it be? In other words what is an issue that is close to your heart?

For me its the whole made in britian, sustainability and slow fashion. So i support made in Britain because it brings jobs to the area. We have got this amazing skill set thats really dying out. So the hand knitter i work with he's the youngest that we both know and he's 52 years old. So for me its really important to keep these skills going. And theres a lot of factories that have started employing people from China and stuff which is fine but also their way of linking and construction is different to the scottish way. So slight things, and like how you wash a jumper. Its really done by learning and its not just a program you put in its kind of like a sixth sense so those parts of the made in britain i really want to keep going and support. And then also on the other side the slow fashion is a really important issue. So not having fast fashion like in the last couple of months but having something that will last 10-15 years and will reduce the environmental impacts.

If you had one piece of advice for other millennials what would it be?

I think networking is really important, reaching out to other people weather its more mentors and people that you aspire to. Or even just like peers, people in the same situation or going through the same things, i find it so helpful to talk to other designers.

What does it mean to you to be a millennial?

I guess the opportunity that you've got from technology, I feel very lucky to have that. To be able to have a business that reaches america and hong kong, thats amazing. I cant imagine how i would really be able to do something without it just being local.

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bisexualwinry · 8 years ago

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i know this is random but i just started my college research today and i realized that i am Lost and have No Idea what im doing? do you have any tips or suggestions for a potential art (animation or illustration? maybe) or biology student?? literally anything would help at this point (my grandpa gave me a starting list to look up but i have no idea what to do or what to look for in these schools and i would love to know about what i could really do w an art degree) thanks!

(forgive me, I’m typing this on mobile ;;w;;)

ahhhhh I’ve totally been there, darling!! when I was first getting ready to go to college, I was stressed abt it 24/7 and would cry every time my dad tried to bring it up sjsjfjdjdjdjd;; you are definitely not alone in this struggle, and I know a good number of people who are my age at 21 that are still trying to figure out where to go in life. I know this is a stressful time, but you have time to work things out, even if things don’t go the way you want them to at first

the good news is, you already have an idea of what field you might want to go into, so you've already gotten past the first step!

unfortunately I don't know too much abt career fields in biology. what I do know is that it's probably a wide and varied field like art is, and maybe it will make things easier to narrow down what job that requires biology you're interested in! if I'm understanding you right, you're already in the process of doing that, and all I can say is keep researching on that front and then once you know what abt biology interests you, you can start looking for those types of programs in colleges

for art school, I can get a lot more specific: I'm an illustration major, specifically interested in commercial illustration. commercial illustration is the kind of things you'll see as editorial drawings in magazines, book covers, greeting cards/stationary, illustrated advertising, gig posters/album covers, package design, some typography, children's books, public murals etc. essentially, if it's illustrated and it's advertising something or you can buy a product with a drawing on it, that's commercial illustration. very target market based, but contains a decent amount of variety and your creativity won't be limited if you can sell your enthusiasm to your client

but that's just my field--there are tONS of other art fields. you mentioned animation, which is great and has numerous opportunities like editing film footage/putting in special effects, advertising work, and creative media. it is extremely difficult and demanding tho. I was an animation major my first year at school and it is not for the faint hearted. they call it the "engineering of art" and they're not wrong hoo boy

additionally, you can go into something more graphic-design based. that's going to concentrate more on design, composition, and typography rather than image. you see stuff like graphic design in magazine layouts and websites. graphic design also ties in closely with illustration tho, so the two will probably overlap no matter what you end up studying

finally, what you should look for in a school if you're hoping to do art is that they offer you a major other than a degree in fine arts. I mean, if you wANT to go for fine arts, by all means, I don't wanna stop you, but from what you're telling me, you sound like you're more interested in commercial art, so!!!! look to see if they offer major programs in things like illustration/graphic design/animation. try to look specifically at art-based schools, too. if you're serious abt art, that may be your best bet. liberal arts colleges are also possibilities, but you might get less of a concentration on your major as you want, or at least that was my issue when I was searching for schools--most of the liberal arts colleges only offered minors in art

anyway, I hope that helps, hon!!! best of luck with the school searching, you're gonna be fine! oh, and feel free to ask me anything else if you need to!

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augcst · 8 years ago

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unusual asks: do them all i believe in you

WHO DID THIS but lowkey thanks bc this is what i wanted read below if you wanna know things about me or *cough* datemeimeanwhta *cough*

Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? Spotify all the wayyy

Is your room messy or clean?Actually clean bc I just cleaned it out and everything is organized

What color are your eyes?Brown af

Do you like your name? why?I do and its bc its aestetically pleasing to look at for me? Like Autumn is just really nice to look at u kno

What is your relationship status?single and mentally unstable; thotumn

Describe your personality in 3 words or lesstired, sometimes creative

What color hair do you have?dark brown with lighter brown streaks

What kind of car do you drive? color?Nissan Versa Note, sky blue

Where do you shop?For clothes: H&M and target, my sister’s closet

How would you describe your style?attempted gay athletic

Favorite social media accountInstagram or this one

What size bed do you have?Double or queen... its bigger than a twin but not a king lol

Any siblings?Biological: 9, Step: 2, Adopted: 2 (all sisters)

If you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?New Zealand because it’s so gorgeous, or the gay island with my favorite people ive ever met @enbykaradanvers and @thegrimllama

Favorite snapchat filter?The one that makes your nose smaller and your face thinner

Favorite makeup brand(s)I use drug store mostly, Milani is INCREDIBLE, but expensive: highligher - nars, primer - too faced, stila, makeup forever

How many times a week do you shower?Usually every other day unless im going through a particularly bad depression spout.

Favorite tv show?All-time: New Girl, The Office, Parks and Rec, Grey’sCurrent: Supergirl

Shoe size?.....size 11

How tall are you?5′4″ish

Sandals or sneakers?SNEAKERS ALWAYS

Do you go to the gym?not really

Describe your dream datestargazing in a remote, low-lit area so the stars are super bright with philosophical discussions

How much money do you have in your wallet at the moment?$178 not including like gift cards and stuff

What color socks are you wearing?none right now

How many pillows do you sleep with?I have to have one for my head, one to hug, and one on the other side so i feel secure lmao but I have 7 full pillows on my bed rn

Do you have a job? what do you do?Not currently as I’m about to go through a really tough semester, but I was a nanny

How many friends do you have?I have 3/4 best friends but a really good amount of friend friends

Whats the worst thing you have ever done?watched the Bee movie

Whats your favorite candle scent?peach or evergreen

3 favorite boy namesI have 3 gender neutral names: Journey, River and Eowyn

3 favorite girl namessame as above plus annie

Favorite actor?um... *looks at smudged writing on hand* Benadryl *squints* Cucumber

Favorite actress?Melissa Benoist or Katie McGrath atm

Who is your celebrity crush?Same as above

Favorite movie?Hidden Figures is SO GOOD YALL YOU GOTTA SEE IT

Do you read a lot? whats your favorite book?I don’t because I have issues with concentrating unless i’m interested and it’s dead quiet. But my favorite book is Milk&Honey by Rupi Kaur CALL ME BASIC I KNOW I AM but i have a lot of poetry books i enjoy

Money or brains?Brains

Do you have a nickname? what is it?Yes, Audi or Thotumn or Small Chip as coined by @thegrimllama and Lil Sis/sib as coined by @enbykaradanvers

How many times have you been to the hospital?For myself, 4 times for serious things. 1) Kidney infection as an infant, 2) Two nose bleeds that wouldn’t stop 3) Severe stomach pain 4) Broken ankle

Top 10 favorite songsin no particular order:-This Girl (Kungs Vs. Cookin’ On 3 Burners)-Wow by Beck-Guillotine by Jon Bellion-False Alarm by Matoma-Death of a Bachelor by Panic! at the Disco-Starving by Hailee Steinfeld-Take On Me by Aha-Send My Love (To Your New Lover) by Adele-That’s My Girl by 5H-6 Inch by Beyonce

Do you take any medications daily?Too many

What is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc)Definitely combination

What is your biggest fear?Shallow: Heights; Deep: Being Gaslighted

How many kids do you want?I want a few although im not sure how many, but never an only child.

Whats your go to hair style?Messy pony or bun

What type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc)Average for a family, like 4 bedroom, 3 stories, 3 baths.

who is your role model?@enbykaradanvers and @thegrimllama and my mom

What was the last compliment you received?(regarding a nude I thought was awful) @thegrimllama : “HOLY SHIT IT WORKS THOUGH, IM FOR REAL THOUGH SEND IT TO EVERYONE”

What was the last text you sent?“IM ONLY HALFWAY THROUGH”

Wow old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real?I still believe in santa dont ARGUE WITH ME

What is your dream car?One with bluetooth music, leather seats, seatwarmers and a sun roof and adequate room in the baCK AKA MY CAR I DESTROYED LAST YEAR I CRY

Opinion on smoking?not for me, please dont smoke cigs around me either

Do you go to college?Yep, getting my associates this semester then transferring

What is your dream job?a job that works with psychology and children. maybe autistic children

Would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs?Suburbs. I like the idea of a city, but I hate the crowdedness, but i like living close enough to like a target and H&M and stuff

Do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels?nah, if anything I use them while im there

Do you have freckles?not really, just like random spots all over my body but not like the cute freckles lmao

Do you smile for pictures?now I do, i went through a period where I didnt though

How many pictures do you have on your phone?17k

Have you ever peed in the woods?yes, when I was little and my family was actually active and hiked lmao

Do you still watch cartoons?sometimes, my little sister watches them and sometimes they’re on. But I do watch Steven Universe and Spongebob when they’re on lmao

Do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds?HOW ABOUT CHICK FIL A

Favorite dipping sauce?Ranch probably

What do you wear to bed?usually a tee and underwear

Have you ever won a spelling bee?I think I vaguely remember winning when I was in elementary but I honestly cant say for sure

What are your hobbies?Art and music and studyblring and im trying to get into like editing digital stuff and i also like writing when I have the spoons

Can you draw?yeah, I have an art tag somewhere. You can find it on my page in my about me i think

Do you play an instrument?the guitar, I used to play viola and piano though

What was the last concert you saw?Twenty One Pilots at Red Rocks i think?

Tea or coffee?hot chocolate

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts?starbucks

Do you want to get married?yes

What is your crush’s first and last initial?JH, but it’s like an inactive crush? But like other than that I dont have any

Are you going to change your last name when you get married?Probably

What color looks best on you?Orange or navy blue probably

Do you miss anyone right now?@enbykaradanvers bc they WENT TO SLEEP EARLY LIKE A HEALTHY PERSON although im really proud of them bc i care and love them and i want them to be well rested for work so they have a highkey good day

Do you sleep with your door open or closed?CLOSED AF

Do you believe in ghosts?Umm yes but not in the conventional way. lmk if anyone wants to know more lmao

What is your biggest pet peeve?I have so many but top ones are chewing with your mouth open and velvety textures

Last person you called?@enbykaradanvers and @thegrimllama

Favorite ice cream flavor?Mint choclate chip

Regular oreos or golden oreos?I like the cookie part of regular ones but the whole of golden ones so u choose

Chocolate or rainbow sprinkles?i dont like sprikles but make it gay so rainbow

What shirt are you wearing?my fave long sleeve tee, it was my dad’s at one point

What is your phone background?kara danvers with a pink background and a pixelly thought bubble that says “why are you on my phone”

Are you outgoing or shy?a mix. depends on my spoons tbh

Do you like it when people play with your hair?if they do it gently bc i highkey have a really sensitive scalp

Do you like your neighbors?yeah, one of my best friends lives on the left and a nice family lives on the right

Do you wash your face? at night? in the morning?morning and night... but like lazily. Literally water in the morning and a makeup wipe or water at night

Have you ever been high?from prescription drugs but like that were meant for me lol

Have you ever been drunk?never

Last thing you ate?sauteed mushrooms

Favorite lyrics right now"theres not enough wind in oklahoma to blow this old house to the ground” or something like that

Summer or winter?summer, but i dont hate winter

Day or night?night

Dark, milk, or white chocolate?milk

Favorite month?May

What is your zodiac signLeo

Who was the last person you cried in front of?@thegrimllama bc i was having a bad night and she skyped me until I fell asleep

#Thanks i think #this took me literally an hour #lmk if u wanna date me ok #Anonymous

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