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interact-if · 3 years

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I’m sending this in because it seems like I could get good opinions from not only you but also the people who follow you. I have an idea for an IF, and I’m very excited for the story. My question is, would people be offended if I made the playable MC physically female that identifies as female and all the ROs physically male that identify as male? I have seen some out there that are strictly M/M or F/F, and I’m so happy they exist because I feel that population is underserved. I just feel, not having the experience, I could bring justice to writing LGBTQ+ (and I don’t want to offend anyone in that community by writing something incorrect), mostly when it comes to sex (which I plan on including in my game). I support games that have those relationships in them and admire them, even play those games, and I don’t care who plays my game. The more the merrier! I still want the characters to be diverse. One of them will be of a descent that is based on Japanese culture and many others, based on Persian culture. I also want the playable MC to have any skin tone/features the player wants. I just want to know if this…will have people coming after me? I want to tell my story, but I don’t want to be attacked for it, if that makes sense?

I really don’t mean to offend anyone. I just don’t want to cause trouble, and I just want to respectfully ask for people’s opinions on this.

Hello! So, before diving into our response, we’d like to emphasize that we are but five individuals running a blog devoted to interactive fiction. We are neither the end-all-be-all voice on this matter nor necessarily a representative mouthpiece for the community.

First off, you can write whatever you would like to write; as the author, you have absolute control over what you produce, so nobody is going to stop you from writing what you want to write. It’s also important to write what you enjoy.

That said, the community is, in our experience, very inclusive, and largely devoted to providing a space for the queer community. We can understand the desire to have an appropriately inclusive and diverse game, and why you particularly want to turn to characters of color to bridge the gap; however, substituting characters of color for queer characters to claim diversity in a project is possibly something that will receive the wrong kind of attention. Furthermore, assuming that writing characters of color well is any less complex than writing queer characters potentially suggests that said characters could end up underdeveloped or tokenized. (See Nines' and Roast’s response below for more context)

All of that doesn’t mean you can’t make a game that’s genderlocked and restricted to M/F romance, and I don’t think anyone will be offended by such a game, but it might limit your audience. At the same time, there are (many) other visual novels that have this format, so it’s not something unheard of. As far as CoGs and text-based games go, as far as we’ve seen, they are rarely genderlocked unless for plot reasons, etc.

There is also a chance that you may receive feedback requesting that the MC be un-gender locked, or for additional ROs to be added of different gender, or for the ROs to be made gender selectable. These requests may be gentle, insistent, kind, or aggressive, and they may only occur at the beginning of your work, or may occur throughout your game development. Maybe they’ll never happen at all. It’s impossible to predict the future, but in our experience, we have often seen this occur to games in the past with RO gender imbalances, locks, etc.

As for searching for feedback, if you’re looking for feedback but you’re not pursuing the CoG format, may we suggest the Reddit subforum? It’s a little difficult for you to get the feedback/dialogue going here that you’d likely like to get, so Reddit’s format may be more conducive to your needs.

In the meanwhile, those who would like to provide their thoughts are encouraged to respond in the comments of this post. Please remember to be polite with your discussion!

— — —

The above is our general mod response; a few of us wanted to offer some individual thoughts as well, and those can be found below. These are personal opinions and reflect each individual mod’s thoughts, rather than a collective response.

While it can be a little daunting to write about something you’re not familiar with, writing often broaches topics with which we don’t personally have first-hand experience. Additionally, queer relationships are ultimately still relationships between people—they’re not all that different from heterosexual relationships. If you’re worried about the way you’re portraying your content, that’s something well-curated beta readers/testers (from the population you’re trying to represent) can help test for, and give feedback on. And on top of all of the above, that’s not to mention the potential issues associated with substituting in POC to replace queer people, which is perhaps not what your intention is, but is what it feels like your intention is (see Roast and Nines for all the ins and outs on why this is an issue). Ultimately, I stand by the opinion that on the most basic level, most will not be offended by a game that’s about a straight, cisgender female MC—yet some, or even many, may be off-put by such a game. I know I, personally, am. (P. S. Also consider that the MC has to interact with the other ROs that she isn’t romancing, as friends, enemies, acquaintances, what have you—having selectable ROs, for example, also allows the player to “diversify” their acquaintance group, if they so wish.) — Dani

I understand that this ask is coming from well-meaning intent but I would just like to state that writing characters of color is not easier than writing queer characters. One of them isn't a substitute for the other. Writing characters of color and writing queer characters are separate matters entirely, and both come with its own difficulties. Wanting your characters to be diverse, while admittedly lacking the perspective to back such identities, is still a murky water to navigate.

Personally speaking, and I really do have to be transparent about this, the way certain sentences were phrased in this ask rubbed me the wrong way. Still, I understand that this isn't malicious, just someone who is asking for guidance, which is something I can't fault. We all have to start somewhere, you know? That being said, if you really want to write diverse characters, my general advice is to do research. Lots and lots and lots of research. No author is exempt from that, honestly.

Find helpful articles, journals, studies, video essays, etc. to aid you in writing your characters. If you still feel like that's lacking in some way, which is a valid concern, being open to feedback from the appropriate people is also a good way to improve. The integrity of a project is important, but so is reasonable criticism against, for, or about it. Keep an open mind, educate yourself, and don't be afraid to ask for help or clarification should it be needed. — Nines

Nines says it well that queer people and poc are not interchangeable nor any 'easier' than the other. The fact that you're willing to do research and include characters of color yet not include queer characters tells me that you're afraid yet misconstruing how much effort actually gets put into cultural research.

There is a 'purity culture' that goes around tumblr that claims that diverse characters have to be perfect, have to have no flaws, cannot die, cannot have trauma, cannot face adversity, they must be perfect and good and happy.

I think this is bullshit.

I also think the backlash from this 'purity culture' community is what is creating so much fear in authors (including queer authors!!) in making characters with different backgrounds and identities than their own. In making queer characters with flaws and tragedy and negative characteristics.

If we only ever wrote what we knew, what we've personally experienced, fiction would be a very boring world.

Being afraid of representing a community wrong is a valid fear, but it shouldn't stop you from trying. You can write what you want to write, but it shouldn't be limited by fear.

Do your research. Get sensitivity readers. Be open to feedback. Be willing to be afraid, but do it anyway.

If, in the end, you decide to gender lock, make it an informed decision at the very least, and if you are including characters of color, know that that is a heavy amount of research too, and should be handled with the same care as what we've said on queer characters.

And like we've said before, we are not the voice of the community, we cannot give you permission or our blessing or flawless feedback, we are just five people running a blog. — Roast

Alright this was already mentioned a bit before but I wish to add my two cents: M/F relationships are the norm anywhere else in real life, and if you feel like there's no space for you and your relationships in a mostly-queer community then you might want to recheck if this is the community you wish to have as your target audience.

No one's going to be offended if your story is cishet, as we said, but you are extremely reducing your audience by doing such. The appeal of interactive fiction is that a good bunch of us have played female-mc-straight-love-interest visual novels in the past, having to endure being misgendered or romancing people we might not be attracted to.

The current interactive fiction community we're trying to promote has opened a million doors for everyone to explore themselves, so don't be surprised if your story, no matter how good, is ignored due to this aspect. Most of us have no interest in being forced to play as something we're not.

Again, we cannot tell you what you can or cannot do. We don't speak for the community, we speak for ourselves and for this blog. Maybe every comment we've made was incorrect and your game turns out to be successful, really, but it's what we believe you should keep in mind. — Cruz

Honestly, I don’t have much to add since everyone here mentioned and discussed important facets of this ask! At the end of the day, we are not a group who can or will ever dictate what you can or cannot write. That is not the purpose of the blog or the reason why we’re working as hard as we are.

There have always been games with this specific set of characteristics: gender locked MCs and/or ROs. Some people may enjoy it, others may not, for whatever reason.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee anything in terms of how people will respond to a game, because people will react to content differently. All we can do is offer our perspective and the potential things that may happen in the future based on the experience the lovely devs above have had. (fellow interact-if mods, my beloved ❤️)

It’s always admirable for people to reach out when they’re unsure, and I’m sure there are infinitely more opinions that vary or are similar to the ones in this response. But there you have it, some of our thoughts!

Goodluck with your project! — Mars

#interact-if asks #anonymous #long post

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karliesbuzzcut · 3 years

Text

(100) Million Dollar Lawsuit

Intro | part1 | part2 | part3 | part4

We are on the last chapter (for now) and this the most chaotic one. Mainly because it doesn’t follow any kind of chronological order (or logical sense), it’s just Russ going in circles for literal years.

But I’ll try my best to condense it for you, so all you need to do is to keep your seat belt fastened until the aircraft stops completely.

Right after the failed Ari lawsuit, Russ goes back to his one and only love: Taylor Swift 💫 And he has learned a lesson — not a good lesson, mind you, but a lesson: small claims courts won’t take him anywhere. If he really wants to punish women for not complimenting his suit, he will have to file a multi-million dollar federal lawsuit.

But, since denying sex from The Russell isn’t illegal (yet), he had to come at it from a different angle. I’m going to give Russ a chance to explain himself first.

Before you ask: yes, the following was Russell’s response to a woman thanking Taylor for visiting an 8 year-old girl who was very badly burned in an accident.

As I’ve always said, it’s okay if you aren’t fluent in Bullshit. That’s what I’m here for.

You see, Russell views human interactions as a series of transactions: I make a tweet worth liking, you go on a date with me; I take you to Olive Garden, you give me a handie for free; I put on a suit, you hug me and smile; I write you a song and sue you, you produce said song. Whenever women don’t fulfil their side of the deal, he becomes enraged.

But the reason he has such a strong hate-boner for Tay, is because she seemed to also follow his same ‘moral code’. A kid makes a cute video, she visits them at the hospital. A fan writes her a letter inviting her to their wedding, she goes to the wedding. A couple of kids fold 1989 paper cranes for Andrea, Taylor invites them to one of her concerts.

Russ thought “this is a done deal”. He didn’t write that song for Taylor because he particular liked her; he just thought she’d be the most likely artist to produce it — or at least acknowledge his existence.

I mentioned before that Russ wrote a whole-ass book about this. And I think it’s as good a time as any to talk about it. For a short amount of time, Russell chilled out about the ✨100 million dollar lawsuit ✨ but my guess is that he thought his book would get him the same results as a lawsuit? To be fair, the book is fantastic. 5/5, would recommend.

He details the harassment he went through after suing Taylor Swift (the first time). Apparently old ladies at coffee shops would scream at him because he dared to sue Our Queen. A Mexican even pointed a gun at him (it wasn’t me, guys! Just a fellow countryman ❤️) and ordered Russ to drop the lawsuit. Computers at his job caught on literal fire because he was sent very powerful viruses. His friend Ken — who definitely exists! — was hit with a Molotov cocktail. Yep. 2016 was definitely the year people were willing to murder for Taylor Swift.

There’s also this brilliant dream sequence that involves an owl with the voice of Morgan Freeman, and Taylor’s agents guarding a tower in which she’s being held captive.

ALSO ALSO: an entire chapter is called “SHE CHOSE HIM OVER ME”. Taylor Swift chose Joe Alwyn — a man she actually knows — over a man she’s not even aware exists. Women, amiright?

I think Russell would enjoy the Kaylor community to a certain extent. Not the lesbian part, obviously: he doesn’t trust women who don’t want to touch his peen. I just mean the baseless hatred of Joe. Look, I made a little collage of his rants ❤️ tell me if any of this sounds familiar!

You know — I’ve been joking around a lot about Russell just wanting to do the nasty with Taylor. But you know me, I like joking around. In reality Russ only wants what is fair. He wants to put a stop to all these senseless acts of kindness perpetrated by Taylor ‘The Generous’ Swift.

This isn’t about him at all, actually. Shame on you for thinking there’s an ounce of greed in that selfless little body of his. HE’S DOING THIS TO PROTECT THE KIDS WITH CANCER!

There are no ulterior motives here! This isn’t about a date!

THIS IS NOT ABOUT A DATE AT ALL GUYS STOP SAYING THAT.

I think this is my favourite post of his, because– grammatically speaking –he doesn’t specify which of them is wearing the red dress. And that sends me every goddamn time.

Anyway. The book, as magnificent as it was, got him absolutely nowhere. I know, I can’t believe it either. So he went back to focus on his lawsuit. But apparently not enough, because he didn’t serve her properly..? Now, don’t expect me to understand this, because I am very stupid (so it’s quite a good thing that I haven’t sued anybody for millions of dollars) but something about him sending the lawsuit to her old legal team..? And then trying to force UPS to serve her? I think he even said he was going to serve her in the middle of one of her concerts... but I’m guessing that didn’t go as planned 🤷‍♀️ oops.

Of course, Russie wouldn’t allow such an anticlimactic ending. Can you guess what he did? Please tell me that you can guess what he did. HE MADE ANOTHER SONG 😭❤️

This one is called ‘I Don’t Get You, Taylor Swift’. Another masterpiece that we definitely didn’t deserve 🙌

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This was around April, 2019. By then I was being lured away by Kaylors, so I broke it off with Russ. I know that he filed a 3rd lawsuit against Taylor last year, which is just like the second one but hopefully this time he’ll be able to serve. And listen— I know that sounds like an awful thing to wish on Taylor, but I’d rather have Russell occupied suing a rich woman (who isn’t even going to deal with him), than a poor sex worker in Nevada. I bet TayTay would prefer that too.

Well guys, I’ve mentioned this a few times already, but I really had to be selective with the amount of information I was going to throw at you. I’ve avoided some of the shittier stuff he said or did, because I wanted to keep these posts as lighthearted as possible. I also didn’t touch on many things because they would just derail us. Like for example: one of the few lawsuits he has filed against someone who isn’t a woman, was against the state of Utah. I know, right? He’s trying to singlehandedly legalise prostitution in Utah, and even wrote a book (more like a pamphlet) brilliantly titled ‘Why I'm Making It Legal for Your 18 Year Old Daughter to Get In Bed with a Complete Stranger for Only 500 Bucks: A Short Essay from a Pro Se Litigant who is Challenging the Utah Brothel Bans’.

I copy-pasted that title guys, I swear to god.

The book is very graphic. This one I certainly do not recommend as I still suffer nightmares because of it.

Soren is a character who also had to be cut out — which is a shame because he really tried to be a good christian and help Russell. Not as in “I support you, Russell” but as in “why don’t you take a nap, Russell”. Turns out, even cinnamon rolls have a limit. Russ, of course, blames Taylor Swift for the fact that he’s losing his friends. I’m not joking — it’s an article in his lawsuit:

Greer has lost family relationships, friend connections and business connections because of the trauma of Taylor Swift. His family tells him to "get over it," resulting in shouting matches and strained relationships. Greer's friends get annoyed by his focusing on the trauma of it, when nobody knows the pain of getting rejected by a public figure — twice — and the fallout that has resulted from it.

Russell embodies that comic/meme of the little guy who puts a stick in his bicycle’s wheels and then blames Taylor Swift when he inevitably falls.

Sooooo...

Maybe someday I’ll write a post about Russ’ latest antics. I know he still posts stupid stuff on Facebook, which he later deletes. He shined especially bright at the peak of the BLM movement. He also plead guilty to electronic communications harassment— did you see that conviction coming? Yes, yes you did 😌

Regarding Taylor, I read that Russ knew someone who knew Todrick Hall — and Russ sent him a song and video for Taylor. All he got back was a Cease and Desist letter. But I’d have to do a bit of digging to get the details. I was already so overwhelmed with organising the information I was previously aware of, that I decided to leave the newer stuff for another time. You know, once I’ve had some time to inform myself... as well as a really long shower.

Since I left so much shit out, I’ll be taking questions if you have any. And if you can muster the courage to ask them. I’m weirdly proud of being some kind of Russell encyclopaedia. I might not have much going for me...

There’s no ‘but’ — that was the complete statement.

Before I go, I wanted to add this screenshot. I absolutely love it because it summarises ✨The Russell Experience✨. Russ wants Taylor to know pain, poverty and punishment. But when asked “why?” his answer is just “oh, I was ignored lol”

*none of the screenshots are mine

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botwstoriesandsuch · 4 years

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Hi I was hoping to ask for your advice on writing. I’m trying to write from headcanons to little short fics (like one shots) from the readers pov but I’m finding it difficult to do so smoothly. Any idea how to do the transition without it coming out as a fanfic readers worst nightmare?

Well, I cannot guarantee the quality of my “advice” but I will give it a shot!

Apologies for you folks that hate my big essay length posts, but I do love infodumping about the writing process :P

So just click “J” to skip the post (if you’re on mobile...sorry just exercise your scrolling finger a bit more)

- - - - - - - - - -

So I’ll start with the distinctions between a headcanon and a fic. On one hand, you got simpler sentences, that summarize a broader idea or scene. You might have visualized the entire thing in your head, but at the end of the day all you do is write down a few sentences or pieces of dialogue that give the broader basis of an idea and/or scene. That’s not to say writing headcanons is easy, but it is, bluntly, the simpler method.

Writing, obviously, is more complicated. Not only are you trying to convey a more abstract idea to your reader, but you’re doing so with more layers and complexities, given that what you are trying to write is generally more detailed. You have to not only account for what your basic premise is, but the method in which you convey it. So, in a “good” fic, it typically doesn’t just focus on the basic “what is happening right now” in a scene, but can give subtleties and intricacies with its tone, themes, point of view, connotation, foils, imagery, symbolism, sentence structure, diction, context, figurative language, narrative, foreshadowing, setting, irony, character arcs, and the thousands and thousands of other layers that go into constructing story.

And I say “story” there deliberately, as I think the best way to summarize the differences is that a headcanon is a plot, while a one-shot is a story. Your one-shot has the ability to tell different messages, details, and themes, and give several points of interest to your reader, while your headcanon is limited to the structure of its initial premise.

[And before you English nerds bash me for my definition of story and plot, please know that I am using my film teacher’s old definition, which (to quote this quizlet I found) is “Story is all of the elements of a narrative that are involved, both shown and un-shown on screen. Plot is only all of the elements of a narrative that are shown on screen.” So yeah, it theoretically could be rewritten as a headcanon is a scene, and a one-shot is a story, but I’m just nitpicking at this point half of you don’t care and want me to move on anyway, apologies!]

So how do you transition between them? Well, in honesty I don’t exactly have a sure fire way for you, saying I do would be very hypocritical. However, what I can do is point out the “gap” between headcanons and fics, and perhaps from there you might be able to forge your own path..?

Chances are, if you’re already familiar with writing headcanons, you’ve already knocked out half of the work. See in a story, specifically in our case, fic, you have eight elements that construct it. You’ve got

Plot

Setting

Conflict

Character

Point of View

Tone

Style

and Theme

With a headcanon, (assuming it’s slightly more specific than “Headcanon that this character likes peaches!”) you’ve already got plot, setting, conflict, and character down.

Plot: being the actual premise of your story. What happens, why things happen, how other characters react, the beginning and ending, etc.

Setting: Being the location and time of your scene/plot. The setting might be a contingency to your story, such as a prison break that takes place in prison, or maybe it is the time that is essential for your High School AU fic

Conflict: Typically goes hand and hand with your plot, although not always (obviously, plot and conflict aren’t essential when talking about fics, *winks at the nsfw side of tumblr*) But if your headcanon does have a basic plot, then it probably has some sort of conflict whether external (The Calamity kills everybody) or internal (you’re character is going through grief)

Character: This whole aspect is practically already done for you. Whether by canon from the video game or media you got it from, or perhaps by fanon, with the collective fandom agreeing on certain traits about your character(s) in question. Obviously, if you got an OC, that’s another thing, as you have to create their traits, and construct a believable way that that character reacts and makes choices throughout your plot, depending on how you characterized them

So congrats! In writing up your everyday headcanon, you’re now halfway there to making a full on fic! Obviously, 50% is still a lot, which is probably the reason you were seeking advice in the first place, so now we should move on to the other half, and arguably it is this other half of elements that give the entire distinction between a headcanon and a one-shot. So in theory, if you get these elements down, you’re on your way to writing that much faster!

Quick additional note: Another way to think of your headcanon is as an outline. While not in every case, a good way to jump from your headcanon to a fic is to stick with the major elements of your headcanon, and weaving your writing style in between. Think of the headcanon as your skeleton, and the story being the meat and muscle. Idk if that makes sense, blame my old English teacher for the metaphor

Alrighty, so for demonstration purposes I’m gonna use the very first headcanon I’ve ever written as a basis. Bear with me for a moment:

“Zelink Headcanon: Zelda Just Wants Some Snacks

Everyone always jokes and adores about how Link eats so much and cooks great food in the game (he’s gotta carbo load guys, he walks like 9 miles everyday!)

However I propose, equally hungry and feral Zelda

After Link and Zelda defeat Ganon, one of the first things they do is stop by the nearest cooking pot and eat

She hasn’t eaten for 100 years!! She’s gotta be starving!

Link just cooks up some meat skewers

“…wait I forgot the Goron spice, gimme a sec…”

But Zelda just immediately snatched it off the fire and eats the whole thing in two seconds

Link keeps trying to go out of his way to make really nice food but Zelda is just like “I DON’T CARE RIGHT NOW PLEASE LINK”

So yeah, their first date is basically just Link cooking Zelda a buffet until his inventory empties out”

Again, this headcanon has already given us half of the answers.

We got our plot: Link, a talented chef, is cooking food which Zelda scarfs down without fear and hesitation

Setting: They are by a cooking pot, perhaps in the wilderness, away from the prying eyes of nosey villagers. This takes place sometime after the initial defeat of Calamity Ganon.

Conflict: Link keeps trying to cook “good” food, but despite the Princess’ royal upbringing, she has no care for the whole “show” of cooking with spices and garnish. She is starving, willing to eat anything

And Characters: Link and Zelda. You know... (Today unfortunately is not the day in which I construct a thorough character analysis of the two...perhaps one day...)

So, now that we have this, we start adding the meat and muscle of our story with point of view, tone, style, and theme. These elements, could be summarized as your writing style. Yes, writing style is more intricate than those four elements alone, but they do fit in with its broad definition.

So, in essence, a way to transition between headcanon and fic is to find out what kind of writing style you’re comfortable with.

How do you do that? Well... shocker, I know, you gotta write.

Write first, plan the elements of your one-shot later!!

Allow yourself to write complete utter garbage. I know you said that you don’t wanna create a “fanfic reader’s worst nightmare,” but if you become more concerned with the quality of your content before you even start writing, you will never ever ever get anywhere. You’re gonna be stuck in writer’s block for eternity, so just let the garbage and nightmares out and write. You’ll never improve if you don’t have something to improve from, you feel me?

So, now that your mind is open and ready to write anything, whether garbage or gold, let us dive in to the parts of your writing style.

Point of view: Do you prefer writing in third person? First? Second? Each have their pros and cons. Second person is good for your “x reader” inserts. First person is good for your narrator’s characterization. Third person is good for describing elements of your surroundings that might not be inherently obvious to your characters or audience. There are hundreds of other pros and cons to the different POVs that you can search up online, but it’ is ultimately up to you to decide which method you like best.

When you find the method you like best, make sure you use it to it’s full potential! Use foreshadowing with your third person POVs. Use connotation, and diction to further characterize your narrator in first person. Elevate the mood and senses of a scene when in second person.

Tone: Now, this element is often confused with another literary device, mood. The difference being that you as the author have more control over the tone, than the mood. The tone, is the attitude that you as the author (or as a character/narrator, depending on your POV) have towards something. For example, your tone might be suspenseful if you withhold information from your reader, or if you have a certain choice of diction. It is typically better to look to the type of genre you’re writing for to identify what kind of tone you want.

Mood is the feeling that the reader experiences from your writing. It’s really much more simple, a beloved character dying give a depressed mood. A cute couple hanging out will give the reader a happier mood. This is your angst and fluff feelings, if you will. (Although, please remember than mood and tone are not a binary thing, it is a spectrum, as broad and diverse as the capabilities of human emotion)

Style: Ok yes this is a bit meta, me explaining how to use style to help you construct a writing style. Blame the bendable definitions of the writing world. So just think of this as the face of your writing. The more obvious and apparent part that is unique to you and your personality.

Think cake. Your story is a delicious cake, it is a chocolate, Zelink cake. Now, your style is the way that you present this cake. Pink frosting? Yellow? A full cake or just a slice? Chocolate ice cream cake? Chocolate lava cake? Five tier cake? Cake pops? These possibilities are the infinite ways your style will present the story.

Style, sometimes called voice, is the combination of your use of tone, mood, POV, syntax, diction, and other literary device that you commonly use in your writing. This isn’t something you learn, it’s just something you do naturally when you write. It’s what readers will like about your fics, because they like the way that you use this or that, or the way you describe this thing or that person. It’s something that can change and improve over time, but in essence, it’s what readers can read and identify as you, without even looking at the username.

Style isn’t something you have to remember, per say, like other literary devices, but it is something to be aware of as you should try to keep it consistent through your whole story. Sometimes have people have different writing styles depending on their own mood, or what they’re writing about. That is fine, so long as you keep it consistent through your whole work. A good trick for this is to listen to music that fits with the style of your writing. Use that one catchy love song whenever you’re writing cute headcanons or fluffy one shots. Use that anime opening theme for your adventurous fics and fight scenes. This way, you are keep in a consist atmosphere and your brain will be in the “Oh! It’s time to write ____ stuff!” mood.

So just be aware of when you’re in a descriptive style, a narrative style, argumentative, or whatever style you like using. You style might even derived of the way you already create headcanons!

Theme: This is a big one. Have a cohesive theme can easily bring any story from good to great! I like to think of it as you’re story’s destiny, or reason for existence.

Theme is an outlier for the other elements in that not only is it not necessary for your fic, it is also not necessary for your writing style either. It’s really not necessary... at all. Yet, people always use theme in their writing, even accidentally.

Theme is your story’s underlying message, or lesson. Yes, yes, if you paid attention in your basic English class you probably already knew that, but this is a big pet peeve of mine.

The theme of your story isn’t “true love,” the theme isn’t “innocence”, or “failure”, or “trauma”, or whatever. Theme isn’t a broad idea, it’s a specific question and an answer.

For example: The theme of Breath of the Wild isn’t “exploration” or “time”. The theme is there is always something to seek and find, so long as you have the curiosity and courage to find it. The theme is despite the eternities of time, we still found each other.

Your theme shouldn’t be a broad, one word answer. What about love are you trying to convey? What specifically about failure are you saying?

Theme is the entire reason why the entertainment medium exists, because artist found a way to create something compelling and interesting while also connecting them to real life things.

When you give your reader something to really chew on, even days after they finished reading your fic, then you did a brilliant job. Essentially, you want to use theme in your story because it is what will stick with our readers even years after they’ve read your work.

While that’s all sentimental and sappy, that’s still not your biggest problem, is it? You still need to practice, you still need to learn how to use the things you’ve learned to actually write. So, a summary of what I advise you should do.

Look over and improve your old headcanons, and keep making more! Keep making headcanons and litte prompts, and let them grow bigger and bigger, and more desprictive. This could help you ease into actually writing paragraphs a bit more

Find out what you like to write. Yes, you probably already have a fandom in mind, but think back to those first four elements. What types of plots are you comfortable with, what settings, characters? Genius is only the work of enthusiasm, if you don’t like what you’re going to write, you’ve already failed

Write, write, write. Practice, practice practice. Let yourself write complete and utter garbage and nonesense. Then read it over. See what you don’t like about it. Then change it and write again. I MEAN it when I say you should write garbage. Write a completely terrible, nightmarishly cringe scene. See what you don’t like. Then rewrite it again. Repeat, repeat, repeat. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be a scene or something from your fandom. Let it be your description of a shirt, let is be some cringy poem from 7th grade. Just write and learn how you like to write. It will be so much easier in the long run

Read stuff. The stuff you read usually seeps into how you write. When you get used to reading things a certain way, you usually unconciously try to imitate it when you write. So, got a favourite fic writer? Read their stuff over and maybe even analyze the elements you like (again, think back to those eight elements I talked about) and hey, writers like it when you analyze their stuff so maybe even hit them up and talk? We like book reports we swear, most of us don’t bite.

When you finally think you’re comfortable with your writings, maybe think about what kind of themes you’re into, or what kind of messages you want to say. It doesn’t even need to be that complex. Could be as simple as “I love this ship because it shows that you can still have flaws and be loved” Again, themes are the rEASON for eVERYTHING in the entertainment world

For further demonstration purposes, I’m going to come up with further elements for a hypothetical fic I would write based on that Zelink headcanon. So I’ve got the plot, setting, conflict and theme down. Hmm... I’ll probably use a third person POV as that is what I’m most comfortable with. With third person, I can better highlight the descriptions of Link and Zelda’s surroundings taking in the atmosphere and the aromas and and tastes. The tone will be more happy, focusing on the fun of Zelda and Link’s banter, I’ll try to create a mood in which the reader is laughing along with them, and enjoying the scene. My style will be more descriptive, again with the tastes and smells and other senses of the scene. However, I might go into a more narrative style for Zelda and Link’s banter and dialogue. While typically some people don’t want to use two different styles, I am personally familiar with the styles and know how to write them so as to blend them together more seamlessly. I might have a hint of angst at the end of the fic, as a little climax, given that the setting of the fic is after the defeat of the Calamity. I might through in some themes about how it wasn’t the material power of Hylia or the Master Sword that saved Hyrule, but the courageous and wise bond between Link and Zelda. Then...idk, a little romatic kiss for resolution because this is a fic and I can throw in some fanservice because my writing my rules.

Babam! I just converted a headcanon to a fic.

So yeah, go write your headcanons. Then maybe next a paragraph. Then next a scene, and then you’re well on your way to one-shots and chapter fics. Happy writing and good luck!

#writing #botw #breath of the wild #botw headcanons #zelink

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redbeardace · 5 years

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Asexuality Activism Report Card

[This post is a submission for the October Carnival of Aces, hosted by @asexualawarenessweek, on the theme “Reaching In, Reaching Out”]

Every year around Ace Week, I tend to give encouragement and suggestions about the type of outreach or activism we can do. This year, I’m going to do things a little different and instead give a report card on where I think we are in terms of various kinds of activism/outreach/visibility.

These are solely my opinions and my categories and are based on my experiences and not any kind of exhaustive research or survey. Please feel free to provide your own grades and suggest other areas I might have missed. I also want to note that these grades are not an indictment or attack on any particular group, person, or project. If you’re working on any of these things, you’re part of the solution and your work will make these grades improve over time, so keep at it!

And if you’re doing any of these things, please plug your projects, so people will know about them!

Intra Community - A

We focus an awful lot of energy inward, and that’s a good thing. Extending a helping hand, providing resources, hosting chatrooms, making podcasts, organizing meetup groups, writing lengthy blog posts, hosting conferences and unconferences, selling t-shirts... We’re doing a pretty good job supporting each other from the inside.

Queer Community - B

There are quite a few mainstream LGBTQ groups who openly support us. We often hold our meetups at the queer community center in town. Many aces are involved with LGBTQ organizations. There’s an ace group who goes to Creating Change every year. We’re an obligatory part of many organizations’ Pride messaging. Lots of groups now deliberately use the “LGBTQIA” variant of The Acronym, and make it clear that “A” isn’t for “Allies”. The ace group in the NYC Pride Parade this year (likely the biggest pride parade ever) was deliberately selected to be the 10th contingent, which is a huge deal because the parade was literally 12 hours long.

There are obviously challenges. The uninformed who don’t understand why we’re at the table. The deliberate trolls who relentlessly hound us online. But those people will become irrelevant over time.

Unfortunately, this year marked the first time where I saw Rainbow Capitalism set its sights on us. (With a big name ace group complicit in the exploitation...) So that’s not good.

Everyone Else - D

We are not doing well in this area. There are a few people out there who have heard of asexuality, but not many. Most people use the word wrong or as the insulting punchline to a joke. There isn’t a single household name who has come out as asexual and put themselves out there as an advocate. It’s better than it was 8 years ago, but we’re still mostly invisible.

I don’t really have any suggestions here (except that if you’re famous and asexual, COME OUT), because most of the suggestions I’d have are covered in the other areas.

Direct Outreach - F

By “Direct Outreach”, I’m referring to deliberately trying to find people who are asexual but who are unfamiliar with the term or that do not recognize that they’re asexual for whatever reason. It’s sort of a subset of a lot of these other groups. (And it could probably use a better name...)

I’m calling this out explicitly, because I think this can have the most impact, if we can figure out effective ways of doing it, and I don’t think anyone’s really doing this. (I sort of tried, but it didn’t really work out...) Basically, it would be able getting information about asexuality in front of the people who need it. Taking over the search results for “Why don’t I want sex?”. Writing articles about how some guys just don’t care about that sort of thing for a men’s magazine. Maybe even a direct person to person conversation with that friend who never seems to date. I don’t know, exactly. If I knew, I’d be doing it. But I think it needs to be done.

Fiction Media - C+

There are books with ace characters now! Pretty much entirely YA, though. And either a love story focused on the asexual character being asexual, or where asexuality is a tangential inclusion token with no real value.

There are TV shows with positive ace characters now! Huge step forward from lows of Better Half! Three shows, in fact!. Two of which have been canceled, and the third of which is about to have its final season. And none of which are anywhere close to the popularity of House. And none of which are anywhere close to the popularity of another show which completely erased a main character’s canon asexuality.

There are movies with ace char- Oh no, no there aren’t. Never mind. Same with video games.

While some strides have been made, and having productions actively consulting with groups like Ace LA is a huge step forward, we’re still largely living an area of headcanons and unverified conjecture and Word Of God retcons. There’s so much more than can be done.

Most importantly, we shouldn’t fawn over and praise any little scrap of hope. Demand better.

If you’re in a position to make things, make them. If you’re in a position to influence things to be made, influence them. If you’re in a position to boost content that is made, boost it.

Non-Fiction Media - C-

There are starting to be articles about asexuality that go beyond the typical sensational “There are some people who claim to be asexual, can you believe that, isn’t that SO STRANGE” or the blandly informational 101 interview featuring a picture of sad grey people in bed. Not many, but they’re there. But, at the same time, there are blazingly dismissive assholes hiding behind Ph.Ds, writing things like “’demisexual,’ an unnecessary new substitute for the word ‘human’ ” in articles that are published in 20-fucking-19.

There are a number of podcasts and YouTube videos talking about asexuality, but I don’t know how much reach they have outside of the ace community.

There’s one documentary that hasn’t aged well and I think has been removed from most streaming services, and another that hasn’t been released yet and is phenomenal and you should all see it. So that... Two documentaries.

Taking a quick look on Amazon, there are about seven books of substance on asexuality. Three are academic queer theory textbooks with a very specific audience. Two are self-published. One is a weird collection of essays, half of which have little to do with asexuality at all, written by someone who isn’t ace and who didn’t seem to bother even talking to aces for much of the book. That leaves one book about asexuality for a general audience written by an asexual that had a real publishing run. Just one.

Same with the fiction media, don’t go around hyping any article that mentions asexuality. Some of them are REALLY REALLY BAD. There was one a few months ago that said in an infographic that “Girls working part time have a 33% chance of becoming asexual”, yet it was being uncritically passed around by some high profile aces.

So, y’know, Cs get Degrees or whatever, but we can do soooo much better in this area. Someone go write a book about asexual dating. Someone go write a book about asexual history. Go. Do. Now.

Education/Schools - D

Well, it seems like it’s getting at least mentioned occasionally, and groups like Asexual Outreach have put some work towards this. But we’re still left out of sex ed in most places, and when we are included, the information can be confused, inaccurate, or even ridiculed by the instructor. Tackling this area will, over time, help out every other area on this list, because the next generations will all know and understand what asexuality is, and we won’t have to start from zero in order to get anything done.

Political/Legal - F

Earlier this year, I did a cursory review of anti-discrimination laws as they pertain to asexuality. Where asexuality was protected, it was often by accident. Only one state explicitly mentioned asexual people. Many states which did have strong LGBT anti-discrimination protections have defined “sexual orientation” in such a way to exclude asexuality. Even the “Equality Act” that the Democrats have made a lot of noise about this year has that narrow definition.

We need to start making connections with politicians and political groups, and we need to start leveraging our connections with queer organizations to get them to push for better language in these laws. (Many of the non-discrimination laws were deficient or bizarre in multiple ways, so we’d all be better off with improvements.)

And I should note that it’s an F--- as far as protections for aromantics…

Health Care - D+

Well, we managed to get parts of the DSM-V rewritten. But even those parts are less than ideal. There are some therapists and doctors who are well versed in asexuality, and others who, as I mentioned above, hide behind their Ph.Ds writing horrible things and going unchecked. There’s a raft of sex pills with marketing that explicitly targets people who are probably asexual but don’t know it yet, trying to sell them worthless junk that will make them suddenly black out randomly or permanently change the color of their skin. We’re still not an option on the clipboard the doctor hands you to fill out. We’re still forced to take unnecessary and invasive tests for no practical reason.

I think we need to be showing up at health care conferences. We need to be reaching out to local providers. We need to be telling people how they should be treating us, instead of letting them fumble around and hopefully get it right on their own.

#asexual #asexuality #carnival of aces #asexual visibility #ace week #asexual awareness week #ace report card

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citizenaycock · 4 years

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Cold War (2018) | Directed and Written by Pawel Pawlikowski

Before getting into Cold War, as a prelude, I’d like to mention a funny documentary the filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski released back in 1991 called Dostoevsky’s Travels. It follows the great-grandson of the famous Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky who died in 1881. Fyodor is generally known as one of the greatest writers of all-time and possibly one of the first modern psychologists, deeply probing the human soul in his work. Great-grandson Dmitri drives a tram in Leningrad, Russia and agrees to go on a speaking tour about his “prophet” Grandfather. He doesn’t do this to pay his respects, but only because he dreams of scraping together enough money to buy a used Mercedes to impress his friends. And he is OBSESSED with buying a Mercedes and knows nothing about his Great-Grandfather. He talks to crowds of intellectuals and hardly has anything to say about his kin Fyodor and just wants to get paid. He buys one Mercedes and it breaks down immediately. He then buys another at the end of the documentary and it gets stolen by bandits. As the doc progresses you see Dmitri is a bit of a numb-skull and a scoundrel. I liked it due to the irony of Dmitiri’s complete uncaring attitude towards Fyodor’s highly regarded esteem, and obviously this absurd infatuation with acquiring a used car as a status symbol compared to his novelist grandfather, who is held up so highly for his spiritual profundity and depth. It’s a great piece of work no one has heard of...part-cautionary Capitalist tale at the end of the Soviet Union, while Cold War is part-cautionary Communist tale post World War II.

Official Trailer for Cold War

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Intro and Technical Specs

To start, my main fear of writing about films I love is that it will suck the joy out of the film itself by looking at it so closely. I have only written in depth about two films, and thus far, am finding it to be the opposite. When going under the microscope, I am just becoming more aware how great a truly well-made film is when breaking it down.

Cold War may be the most beautiful black-and-white film I’ve seen. The category Amazon has placed it in is “Arthouse Drama”. Amazon Studios also is the distributor of the film. My guess is because it did very well at the Cannes Film Festival and Pawlikowski won the Oscar for his previous film Ida in 2013. Sometimes they get it right. To give some more context, I am very familiar with Ida and studied it for research for making my latest short film. I found it interesting Pawlikowski implemented a particular style similar to filmmaker Paul Schraeder’s book, “Transcendental Style in Film”. One aspect of this style pertaining to Ida is the cinematic framing for the action and not moving the camera until the end. He framed his subjects in a squared 4:3 aspect ratio while leaving lots of headroom, sometimes leaving them in the bottom corner of the frame, which carried over to Cold War. I don’t exactly know why he does this, but I have some theories that I will flesh out within the post in depth. While watching, I immediately noticed the grain in the 4K version. I looked it up and the film was shot with an Alexa digital camera and also a 35mm film camera, so apparently they were able to mimic film grain with the Alexa in post to match. A 32mm lenses was used for almost all the shots. According to Pawlikowski it was because this focal length closely mimics the viewing width of the human eye and allows a wide space of action that can fit around the subject(s) in the frame. Similar to Ida, there is no non-diegetic music in the film (music added outside of the film’s music itself) until the closing credits, reminiscent of the French director Bresson.

Opening in Rural Poland

The film opens on the hands of a man playing an instrument that resembles bagpipes, looks handmade and I assume is indigenous to Poland. The camera tilts up to reveal a bright-eyed rural man, and eventually pans over to another interesting looking character playing a violin as they sing together. We soon learn that Wiktor (one of the protagonists) is traveling with two others (Irena and Kaczmarek) and they are recording various forms of folk music unique to the Polish people. Kaczmarek immediately degrades this type of music as “possibly crude” or “too primitive” immediately marking a divide in perspective compared to Irena and Wiktor, who visibly enjoy interacting and recording the villagers’ authentic music.

They soon come to a house where a unique-looking dirty village girl sings a song not accompanied by any instruments. She has deep-set eyes and looks slightly haunted, and the lyrics of the song are about unrequited love. Not a happy song. Wiktor and Irena are enraptured by the raw singing and are recording this. In contrast, Kaczmarek disinterestedly eats soup in the next room, spoon klanking against the bowl, probably interfering with the recording. Kaczmarek is representative of the Communist State for this film, high on bureaucracy and lacking in soul. The song being sung by the little girl is a huge part of the film as a whole. Little do we know (and probably not evident to most who have seen the film) the lyrics tell the story of what happens between the protagonists we are about to follow in the film. The song is called Dwa Serduszka (Two Hearts) and is an authentic Polish folk song like much of the music in the movie. After watching for the first time (I commonly do this) I went online to look up background information and found a very well-made youtube video essay describing the song as being the “Leitmotif” for the film. Leitmotif is a term defined as “a recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation”. In this case, the song operates as a direct pointing of what is to happen. The song pops up several times throughout the course of the film, forecasting the fates of the two protagonist lovers, Wiktor and Zula, who are brought together by music.

This “forecasting” I believe goes deeper. It’s as if it is pre-determined. Pre-determined due to the current political environment in Poland and the two characters’ difference in personality and upbringing. Also, most importantly, is because they love each other in a way that seems beyond their control and not a choice, eventually becoming impossible for them to live life without one another. The leitmotif reminds us throughout the film of Wiktor and Zula’s inability to escape their fate, which is already etched in stone by powers beyond their will: Two hearts four eyes Crying all day and night long Dark eyes, you cry because you can't be together You can't be together My mother told me You mustn't fall in love with this boy But I went for him anyway and love him until the end I will love him until the end

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Folk Ensemble

Now we are at a large building which looks to still be in the rural area. Auditions are going to be held here for singers and dancers for a folk ensemble performance. A couple of trucks haul the commoners in and Kaczmarek gives a stately speech to the bunch before cutting inside to everyone waiting to audition for Wiktor and Irena.

We then meet Zula waiting. She elects to audition with another girl, naively, rather than shine in the audition solo. They enter the room to sing for Wiktor and Irena. Wiktor is immediately transfixed and asks Zula to hold on and asks her to sing another song alone. She sings with an authentic, untrained beauty. We also see her feistiness here. It’s obvious Wiktor is smitten and she is marked down to be selected as one of the singers after they exchange a parting look. By now, the framing style of the cinematography is noticeably unique compared to other films. As mentioned in the intro, characters are often framed with lots of headroom and sometimes placed in the bottom of the frame, leaving it mostly open space. My theory on this is that the environment the characters inhabit are shaping their destiny more than the characters’ own free will, therefore their heads are often seen at the bottom with action on top and around them. For example, Communism looms larger than the individual, tamping he or she down (literally) to the bottom of the frame. Not only Communism, but their uncontrollable love for one another, the characters’ upbringing and the people around them with their general wants and needs. These factors shape their present and future more than their own willful, self-determination and I think the filmmaker is aware of this fatalism, yet doesn’t just come and say it because that wouldn’t be interesting. We just see that Wiktor and Zula are never able to comfortably settle anywhere with their love nor escape the love they feel for one another, making their situation impossible due to the circumstances. In Ida, duty to God looms large and so does the characters’ Jewish unknown family past (to only name two) and the shots are framed accordingly as well. On a broad level stepping outside of the film, what’s interesting to me is how much free will do humans actually have and how much is self-determinant? After studying the film closely, this is the deep question (not answer) that I came to that transcends the surface story.

Wiktor watches Zula from a distance outside that evening. Irena then tells him Zula killed her father and did some prison time for it. After rewatching, I suspect that Irena loves Wiktor, and there are a few subtle cues later on that I noticed as well. During private lessons, Wiktor curiously asks Zula what happened between her and her father while Wiktor plays scales on the piano and she matches the notes with her voice. Zula says her father tried to be sexual with her so she stabbed him. It is a very matter-of-fact and short answer. Wiktor doesn’t say anything and continues playing the piano. I’ve thought about this scene more so than any other scene after rewatching. I think it is because of the dialectical nature of Zula saying she stabbed here Dad because he tried to have sex with her, one of the darkest things you could imagine, then the slight humor of Wiktor’s reaction while seamlessly transitioning back to the softness of the piano and her soft voice syncing. Wiktor is very watchful, internal, reserved, most likely from a more refined family and musical background. Zula is tough, spirited, tenacious and has lit a fire in Wiktor. Wiktor is tall and dark-haired. Zula is short and blonde. Opposites!

It is now time to perform for a large audience in a theatre. Wiktor conducts. Zula and about 20 other girls in Polish folk attire sing the leitmotif song that was sung by the young girl earlier. The group sings beautifully. Zula shines in front. Even Kaczmarek on the side of the stage behind the curtain seems to be in awe and carefully walks about as if not to disturb the magic.

Afterwards there is a reception. Wiktor and Irena lean against a large mirrored wall and everyone else in the room is seen in the reflection. When you first watch it, it takes awhile to figure out the orientation of the room due to the mirrored wall. I think this is the most interesting shot of the film. Kaczmarek then gleefully enters frame and says that the performance was so beautiful, calls Wiktor a genius and says it’s the most beautiful day of his life. He really means it and is the most authentic emotion we see from him in the whole film. Previously, Kaczmarek thought all this “folksy stuff” was foolish. There is a funny moment between the three. Wiktor and Irena are obviously moved by this but not sure how to express it as the stately Kaczmarek leans against the mirror with the two. On a second viewing, one sees Zula in the reflection staring at Wiktor the entire time. The two make love soon after in a bathroom at the party.

The Ensemble + The State

The performance is so good, now the State wants to get involved and meets with Wiktor, Irena and Kaczmarek. The government wants to turn the repertoire into a “calling card for our Fatherland” and incorporate “Land Reform”, “World Peace” and a strong number about the “Leader of the World Proletariat”. In return the group will be held in high favor, able to travel to other countries to perform, etc. Irena and Wiktor are visibly uncomfortable with this. Irena speaks first and says thank you but the ensemble is about authentic folk art and the rural population doesn’t sing nor understand these difficult issues. Kaczmarek quickly intervenes and calls the man from the state “comrade” and says the ensemble, on the contrary, will do this after given proper direction. Irena stares him down. Wiktor says nothing. The next performance is stained by a huge tapestry of Stalin behind the singing ensemble. The tone now is more dutiful rather than soulful, as if singing a church hymn they are forced to sing. Zula’s face while singing now lacks the life it possessed in the performance before. The State must extinguish all individuality and uniqueness with the goal to homogenize. Irena’s heart looks broken in the audience. Everyone dutifully rises for applause afterwards and Irena walks out. We do not see her again in the film. Everything has changed.

The stuffiness of the singing troops is saved afterwards by a beautiful shot of Wiktor and Zula laying in a golden wheat field together at dusk. Golden?? The film is in black and white but my mind says “golden”. Birds and crickets sing. Tranquility away from the group.

But it doesn’t last long, as they are unable to run from the larger outside factors. Zula soon confesses that she reports on Wiktor to Kaczmarek about their relationship and the things he tells her. She says it’s because she’s on probation for something and assures Wiktor that it’s nothing that will hurt him, but Wiktor gets up and walks off angrily at a loss for words. As mentioned, the scene starts with their eyes closed as if in a dream, beyond the State, but it's inevitable that the state has to enter their relationship at some point, infecting the dream, and will remain a problem for the rest of their lives. Zula calls him a “bourgeois wanker” as he walks away and she reacts oddly by jumping in a nearby river. As soon as she hits the water, Wiktor stops and turns around. She floats in the river and begins singing the leitmotif song.

The next shot is of the two silently sitting together again in the wheat field at nightfall with a campfire going. Zula’s hair is wet. The two just stare at each other and never say a word. What are they thinking? I think Wiktor is thinking that he can not escape her because of his love and that they are stuck! Zula knows this too. This is a type of love that transcends choice. Just like the State, their love controls them. The silent shot in nature cuts to black, then diverges to a busy train station with a brass band as the ensemble leaves to go to Berlin for a show. Kaczmarek gives a stately speech to the group about their trip. Wiktor meets Zula privately in a train car and lays out a plan for their escape once in Germany to go to France. Zula is nervous she will not be able to make it somewhere other than her homeland Poland due to her inability to speak French and lack of experience. I doubt she has any family to rely on, and at the moment has the ensemble in Poland as a decent occupation. Wiktor assures her she has talent to learn and the most important thing is they’ll be together. They kiss. The performance in Berlin is shot very uniform and proper, perhaps further pointing to its newfound soulless rigidity. Afterwards, Wiktor goes to the meeting place to cross the border. Zula remains at the reception with the comrades and Kaczmarek (as if in a trance) and never shows. Wiktor waits until nightfall and eventually stiffly walks across without her.

Defection

Wiktor is now playing piano in a cool jazz night club in Paris with a band. It is 1954. His beard is now grown out a bit and his hair messier than before. He is now in an empty cafe at closing time and speaks French with the waitress. He seems to have assimilated well here. It is revealed he is waiting for someone. That someone is Zula. She eventually walks in and they stare at one another for a few moments. One look at Wiktor while sitting across from her shows how much he still loves her and has missed her. The actor playing Wiktor, Tomasz Kot, really shows this wonderfully. He is very good at being still yet showing so much. Regarding the performances, this is one of the most authentic love films I’ve seen in a long time. And an expert director and writer doesn’t hurt. The film never feels sappy, in my opinion, while simultaneously remaining very romantic. Zula doesn’t show much and stays cold during this scene, but can’t help but ask, “Are you with someone?” Wiktor is. So is she. He asks if she’s happy. She isn’t, but doesn’t say it. Wiktor knows and walks her to the hotel. She says she wasn’t good enough, not as good as him, to make the escape from Poland to Paris. Wiktor says he believes love is enough. Zula coldly kisses his cheek and then stolidly walks away. Wiktor watches her go. But eventually Zula breaks! She turns back around, walks quickly back and they kiss passionately for a few moments before she leaves again. If one just read this and didn’t watch the film, you might think it seems like any other love story you’ve seen a million times. But to me, because of the authenticity of the performances and lack of constant soundtrack music, it really felt great to see these two embrace again. And I think it proves that moments in movies that may look cliche on paper can be pulled off with a skilled filmmaker and actors. Also, there’s only a few angles that the camera covers in this scene and ALL the scenes really! There’s a graceful economy and no superfluous closeups with unnecessary dialogue. And as mentioned, no outside music booms in like most films commanding you to feel something! You feel it because you feel it, not because you’re told to feel it with an over-bearing soundtrack trying to compensate for lack of performance or direction. Wiktor now walks into his apartment, smokes a cigarette alone deep in thought, then gets in bed with his girlfriend. He tells her he’s just been with the woman of his dreams. She doesn’t seem to care and turns around to go to sleep, highlighting the lax and blase nature of their relationship and possibly Paris artist life as a whole. Wiktor then turns off the lamp and looks up at the ceiling in lovestruck thought.

We are now in Yugoslavia in 1955, which looks much more lush than I would’ve imagined Yugoslavia. Wiktor gets off the train to attend a performance of the ensemble. Kaczmarek quickly greets him at the front of the theatre and is oddly cordial and confident in a sharp suit. Once inside, Zula sees Wiktor in the audience and looks startled. Wiktor looks side to side and men are watching him from the aisles. He is escorted away by authorities yet remains adamant to see Zula rather than be afraid of being thrown in jail or hurt. The first time I watched I thought he was definitely going to be thrown in prison. Kaczmarek obviously ordered the men to take him away and send him home in a train before he could see Zula, because of Kaczmarek’s interest in Zula.

Zula and the ensemble are shown singing the leitmotif song now. Zula notices Wiktor is no longer in his seat. Perhaps he was escorted out at the intermission. She sings with a melancholic intensity. The black-and-white contrast is especially beautiful here, maybe more so than anywhere else in the film. There is a black back drop and all of the singers’ alabaster skin glows, as well as their folk costumes.

Wiktor is back in Paris now and has gotten work as a Film Composer. Two years has passed since the Yugoslavia concert. While in the middle of working on the soundtrack, the side door of the sound stage opens. Wiktor is spellbound as a smiling Zula is revealed.

Zula has married an Italian so she could legally move to France. She says the marriage doesn’t count though because it wasn’t in a church. Neither seem worried about it. This time Zula does not hold back her feelings and, obviously, neither does Wiktor. They make love. They ride on a boat down the Seine at night past the buildings and cathedrals. They messily and drunkenly dance alone at a night club in rapture. Heaven for a moment.

Which begins Zula’s vast transition from the performing rural ensemble in Communist Poland to a solo singer at the Paris jazz club with Wiktor’s band. She sings the emblematic Dwa Serduszka most wonderfully here. Order. Everything in it’s right place. She is luminous as the camera slowly dollies around her, eventually revealing a packed club. Everyone is captivated and still. Then at the end is a lovely moment, maybe my favorite moment of the film, where Wiktor is staring at her intensely and she turns to check in with him and he gives her a nod of approval. It’s almost corny, riding the edge, but is powerful, conveying a silent understanding between the two seeing one another perfectly clearly.

Poles to Parisians

We now are at where Wiktor and Zula live, which looks like a cool version of a converted attic with a Paris view. Juliette, Wiktor’s ex, has translated Dwa Serduszka from Polish to French and Zula is unhappy with the translation, which most likely includes some self-consciousness about her pronunciation. The manner is which the leitmotif song appears here runs parallel to the first step in the descent of the relationship in Paris. Zula is defensive and anxious about the Parisian artistic circle Wiktor has introduced her to and she drinks to ease the anxiety of feeling inferior. Wiktor tells her not to because she is “charme slave” as they say, alluding to how everyone has a narrative role and label in these circles. Zula is becoming difficult and insecure. Wiktor is becoming caught up in the scene and ignorant of Zula’s dramatic change of environment.

The film director at the party looks Zula up and down when they arrive. Wiktor allows this without rebuke, most likely due to the nature of the sexually-lax Parisian art culture. Everyone is beautiful and chic at the party. Zula immediately goes for the drinks. She then sees Juliette and approaches her abruptly (yet with restraint for Zula), subtly challenging her French translation of Dwa Serduzska. Juliette calmly explains her reasoning according to the lyrics’ metaphors. It’s obvious Juliette sees through what’s happening in the situation here.. Juliette’s part is small but the actress is excellent and conveys a lot. She eventually mentions how the transition to Paris must’ve been a shock...the cafes, cinemas, shops, restaurants. Apparently Juliette sees this shock more than Wiktor does. Zula tries to play it cool here but you can see she’s flustered. This is a game she’s not used to playing. She then retorts that her life in Poland was better.

Wiktor is talking to someone and looks over and sees Zula and the Film Director sitting closely, flirting. Zula glances back over at him to see if he cares, but Wiktor stays put. Then later she aggressively confronts him about giving her story “more color”. It is apparent now that he has enhanced her Polish story to seem more dramatic in order to captivate his French friends and colleagues. Wiktor shrugs this off. Zula’s vibe is not carefree and cool like the rest of the party with her straightforward, intense rawness which creates an isolation for herself. She sits in the bathroom now alone, drinking from a bottle, talking to herself in the mirror. She calls Wiktor a jerk, but then says she loves him. She calls herself an idiot at one point. She continues to talk in the mirror as if to console herself. And I can’t help to mention how much she looks like a young Gena Rowlands here. It reminds me of the 1968 film Faces, which is also black and white. They look so much alike, and both fantastic actresses that are blonde, voluptuous and troubled.

Gena Rowlands in Faces (1968)

Joanna Kulig in Cold War (2018) Wiktor, unknowingly and excitedly, opens the bathroom door and says that they’re all going to the Jazz Club now. Zula says she’s a bit sad and wants Wiktor to come in the bathroom with her, but he ignores this and says let’s go. She takes a moment to herself and then it cuts to the club. She looks miserable and wasted sitting at the bar. As we go, I am still noticing the framing I mentioned at the beginning with the subject at the bottom, but for this shot she really seems low!

Her melancholy is interrupted by an upbeat, American song (”Rock Around the Clock Tonight”) and she gets up reinvigorated and starts dancing enthusiastically with a few different guys. The camera goes handheld and is the messiest camerawork of the film (a good messy). She eventually gets sloppy and gets on the bar and almost falls and people drunkenly cheer as Wiktor exasperatedly watches.

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We then see Wiktor carrying her into their room. Zula says he is no longer a man in Paris like he was in Poland, and says she and the director get along well in attempt to get under his skin further. He then sits alone in the dark and smokes a cigarette.

It now cuts to Zula in a sound studio singing into a mic in French. I don’t speak any French, but her accent and pronunciation feels correct, but her spirit is muted...and we soon see one reason why. Wiktor’s voice ominously interrupts her over a speaker behind glass in the recording booth. Now the shot is on him and he looks disheveled and dark and tells Zula they only have 40 minutes left and not to blow it. There is a deep hate in his eyes we haven’t seen yet, perhaps retribution for calling out his manhood and their recent relationship woes. An engineer and the film director are also in the booth. There is just a bad energy in the room and anyone that’s ever tried to perform anything would be able to detect how difficult it would be to bring a great performance here. The music starts back up and Wiktor looks down as if disappointed right before she starts singing.

We are at a listening party now for Zula’s record at the French Director’s apartment. Zula is standing in the middle of the room alone, listening intently as several others sit around in the background drinking champagne. Dwa Serduszka plays, but now in French. It’s okay but not great. It doesn’t have the soul that it had before in Polish. I’m trying to put my finger on it, but the French seems a little stiff and the vocal track seems extra-produced. Too loud and too clear when mixed with the band’s instruments and it’s just not what it was before like the first time at the jazz club, for example. Again, this leitmotif song is also a metaphorical indicator for the stage in the relationship. She looks over at Wiktor who is cooly leaning on the wall off to the side (maybe too cool) and gives Zula a nod similar to his nod after the jazz club performance. But this nod doesn’t have the effect it did then and seems oddly forced. The record playing here in this posh Paris apartment compared to the Polish rural girl singing at the beginning of the film is night and day. It’s obvious why, if you think about it. They’ve taken a folk Polish song, translated it to French for a rural Polish singer, then recorded and produced it in a slick Paris sound studio under difficult conditions. How could the quality not suffer a bit?! Another example of the larger outside obstacles making it impossible for them, even in a free society like Paris, France.

It cuts to them now walking home afterwards. Immediately it’s apparent Zula is unhappy. Wiktor recognizes this but apparently didn’t know while at the party. As they pass a fountain next to the street, Zula throws the record in <splash> yet continues to mostly hold her sadness in, which has become more of a depression at this point. Assimilating is one thing, but they have gotten into this habit of holding back and not being up front, maybe due to the social circles they run in now. Zula cooly mentions that the French Director has fucked her well 6 times and "not like a Polish artist in exile,” which causes an eruption in Wiktor (what she wanted) and he slaps her.

This is strange to mention but, technically, the slap doesn’t sync with the sound. Lol. I watched this part 3 or 4 times to make sure and it just doesn’t (unless there was a lag in the internet connection). Maybe nobody else notices this, but I’ve had to edit-sync slaps, kicks and punches before many times on this very computer and immediately saw something didn’t look/sound right. After the hard slap, Zula raises up and says, “Now we’re talking”, which is sarcastic but also the truth. Often one needs a crisis moment to break out of a behavioral habit and apparently the French translation broke the camel’s back. The next day Wiktor frantically goes to the Director’s apartment looking for Zula. He stomps through the rooms looking for her. The Director then says she went back to Poland. Wiktor slowly walks out of the apartment with a terrified look on his face.�� Wiktor has become unhinged and plays maniacally on the piano at the Jazz Club. The other band members just stop playing and look at him as he bangs on the keys in isolation. There is some slight comical levity here for a couple of seconds due to the look on the clarinet player’s face. You assume Wiktor has lost his job. He is now miserably pumping coins in a phone booth for talk time to find out where Zula is in Poland. Afterwards, Wiktor goes to what I assume is an embassy. A Polish man at a desk tries to dissuade him from leaving Paris and going back to Poland. You can see the Eiffel Tower outside the window as the man asks Wiktor why he would ever want to leave this place. He says Wiktor doesn’t exist anymore to Poland because he left and let down all the young people he worked with. The man takes a drink from his cup and reacts as if he’s spiked it with something strong, perhaps how he’s able to get through his job. He then mentions there is a way Wiktor can go back if he truly regrets what he has done.

The Exiles Return

It is 1959 and we see Zula back in Poland on a dreary, crowded train with peasants. Soldiers whistle at her as she walks on a snowy road. She has come to visit a very broken, gaunt Wiktor who is being held prisoner by the military for being an exile. He says he has to be here for 15 years and got off lucky. Zula gives the guard what I assume are cigarettes which buys them 10 minutes alone.

His right hand has been beat severely. They kiss and Zula says she will wait for him. Wiktor tells her to find someone else, but Zula says she will get him out.

Cuts to 1964, 5 years later. A performing Zula is on stage singing a ridiculous Latin-infused song with a black wig on, resembling a late Judy Garland. She looks overweight and drunk with her comical, sombrero-wearing band. We now see an older Wiktor backstage with Kaczmarek who is holding an unhappy, despondent child. Kaczmarek doesn’t look like he’s aged a bit and still has a detached soullessness about him. With Kaczmarek, you wait for him to be rude or mean but he is not. He always stays at a steady, robotic hum of cordiality. It is revealed Wiktor can no longer play music because he can no longer use his right hand. It is also now apparent that Zula married Kaczmarek in order for Wiktor to be released. Zula now comes off stage and walks quickly toward them but drunkenly falls down. She manages to rapidly get up and falls directly into Wiktor’s arms, completely disregarding Kaczmarek and her son. They go off to the restroom together and sit on the floor staring at one another. Zula pulls off her wig, perhaps finally able to shed this horrible identity she's had to create to survive.

She asks him to get her out of here...for good.

The two take a crowded bus and get dropped off on a country road next to a lovely field. They look slightly rejuvenated but stolid.

Early in the film, Irena and Wiktor sat in the van while Kaczmarek took a walk to take a pee. Kaczmarek then aimlessly walked into the ruins of this old church. He looked around, then left...point being we’ve seen this place before. And earlier, even Kaczmarek’s face showed a certain amount of reverence for this old church and felt the power it gave off. Wiktor and Zula now enter this same church. There is a circular hole in the ceiling, perhaps so God can see them.

They now kneel with a candle lit in front of them on an alter with a row of white pills. They have a brief, simple marriage ceremony. They both have a glow to them. They cross themselves and mention God. They ingest the pills.

They kiss.

They then sit on a bench at dusk and look out into the field, holding hands, quiet.

You can hear the insects and an occasional bird chirp. Both have dark circles under their eyes. It’s so beautiful yet so sad. Zula then says, “Let’s go to the other side. The view will be better there”. They stand and go, leaving an open frame. A gentle gust blows the wheat from behind where they were sitting. Perhaps God’s sigh...

This last time I watched, the ending really got me...and is powerful now as I write about it. As mentioned in the intro, Pawlikowski’s last film Ida incorporated a particular style. Pawlikowski never moved the camera until the end of that film, so when he did the viewer would be raised up in a transcendental way as the first external music came in, lifting us from the real world for a few moments. I think he did the same thing here with Cold War in a different way. The moment of transcendence for this film comes at the end also but not with the movement of the camera but with the movement of the wheat behind the bench before cutting to black. This film is high on realism, but this gust is something otherworldly, therefore a powerful contrast from the stark, real world tribulations previously in the entirety of the film up to this point. This is what makes it so heartbreaking and beautiful and poetic all at the same time. And also, for a moment, the viewer might weigh whether the fate of Wiktor and Zula is so horrible after all. “for my parents” appears before the credits, pointing to the fact that the story is based on the filmmaker’s parents’ true experience during that time period. Bach’s Goldberg Variations comes in and you know it’s Glen Gould when you hear the humming, which I don’t necessarily like but it doesn’t ruin the mood. Bach was also used for the ending of Ida and is also the only non-diegetic music used for Cold War.

In conclusion, I think every great film has to have a surface story that one can follow and then a large idea hidden within that story (or as a result) to meditate on which includes something deep about the human condition. With some films, one has to work to find out what that larger idea is. For future posts, I may try to specifically focus on this “larger idea” rather that breaking down the entire film. This often appears as a question, not an answer, and Cold War does this masterfully.

#coldwar #pawel pawlikowski #filmmaking #film analysis

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the-studying-coffee-addict · 5 years

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Hello, students of all ages! Since I graduated, I knew that I wanted to share advice with you guys and it will cover from studying to life and everything in between. So here it is, enjoy!

School:

Figure out what school works for you and your life: This is probably the first thing I normally tell people. Researching the schools that you want to go help narrow down your choices. Make sure that reading details carefully is also important for full understanding. There may be schools that offer specific majors that others may not, so make sure that there’s a full understanding of what the schools offer before making a decision.

Find out your major (and it’s okay to change it later): Knowing of what to major in can be difficult for people to narrow down. There are some people that double major in their college career. If you’re unsure of what to major in, try thinking of what career field you want to be in and find the major that is required. Remember, you choose how you live your life, even choosing your major.

Know what expectations are for the classes you’re taking: Not every professor will be laid back or chill. The work can be difficult and hard to understand. Make sure that on syllabus day you are focused and take notes on the syllabus for later use. As long as you are trying in the class and talking to the professor, you should be fine. Getting a tutor does not make you any less than you are now (I had to have a tutor for my last quarter to help with my French. Was it degrading? No, not one bit. Did it help? Yes.) Talk to some people you may have the class with, join or create a study group. Everyone is in the class with the same goal: to learn.

Find a group, club, or organization to join: This one was a bit hesitant for me because being an introverted person (well, extroverted introvert), it took me until my junior year of college to join something I was passionate in doing. (I’m not going to lie, I didn’t know specifically what I wanted to do until late sophomore year into junior year specifically anyway). I found an organization, Her Campus, that helped me do what I love: writing/editing and helped me learn the skills I needed to learn. I knew that I wanted to work in magazines by the time of me finding HC and when it was brought to Tech (Louisiana Tech University), I knew I had to do it. Since then, I got the opportunity to make my work published through an official online blog that can be seen nationally and internationally, work with the best girl gang on campus, and be able to see what I could create.

Find different study tactics to help you: Ever since I created this studyblr, I found different study tactics: from printables to schedules and everything in between. My go-to for studying were printables. I used ones from @theorganisedstudent ‘s essay planner (I swear by these because I majored in English and used these for every paper I wrote), weekly planner (to help with planning out commuting times, working, and study schedule around class times). I used @studyquill ‘s To-Do List, I constantly used this to make sure I kept track of all assignments and due dates and everything that popped up like random assignments to thought like “ extra credit assignment”. @emmastudies has a lot of wallpapers (which are adorable and amazing) I use those 100 percent of the time. The calendars are chic and available as well, I use the yearly ones. I see in the Studyblr community that people use the bujo templates for journaling, calendars, lists, etc. I didn’t have the skillset, time/patience to try it, but I may over the summer to see how it can turn out. I worked at a ratio of studying for 45 minutes and taking a break for 15 minutes. This helped me stay focused and know when to take a break without thinking about stopping. Remember that everyone is different and use what works for YOU.

Take classes that you’re interested in: When you take classes that are interested in helps make learning fun. Now, there are required classes that are not in your interests and that happens. Try to find something that makes the course interesting. I would watch documentaries for history classes and watch videos (typically short Youtube videos) for psychology. This also helped me with troubling subjects as well.

ALWAYS be prepared: the most important thing I did at the beginning of the quarter I would gather all the info I was giving off the syllabi and make a checklist. My checklist would have “electronics (computer, phone, maybe iPad) and chargers, planner, books, homework assignments, snacks/lunch, and headphones”. I brought these items with me every time I went to school. Now I wasn’t perfect, I still forgot things and I tried to make sure if I had extra chargers or headphones, I put them in a bag or specific holder (similar to this holder). For paperwork of any kind, I kept them in folders of some sort and kept them where I could find them. When I was a freshman, I didn’t receive a curriculum sheet (the paper that had the class requirements) for my major (this was before I transferred) until the last semester before transferring. Since then, I’ve always kept a copy of one for myself and had it with me when I would go to advising for classes. It helped me keep track of what classes I needed to take and where I was at in my schooling. Review notes the night before, even if it’s right before you go to bed. Some professors require that you do the assignments before you get to class and it happens. Merge both previous notes and upcoming assignments in the same time frame to help make sure that you remember the last class’ lesson plus know about the new lesson. Try to plan ahead as best as you can in every way you can. Remember: not everything goes as planned, and there are more letters in the alphabet :)

Find a friend or two in each class: a trend at my university was making a GroupMe chat (or a chat of some kind) for classes in case we needed information. I’ve made a few friends in college and I even made friends with people internationally. Don’t stress over this factor cause sometimes it just happens. If you want to start a friendship or know someone, ask them about something in the class or about their major. This is a common icebreaker for college students. I also made friends with my professors because they were understanding, amazing, and open to helping students out.

Make a studying playlist: the best way to study is with classical/instrumental music because it keeps you focused and it won’t cause distractions. You can find playlists on Youtube, Spotify, and Pandora. Even create one for yourself. Music like soundtrack scores can also help

Look for internships and jobs ASAP: always be on the lookout for jobs, internships, even ask around to job shadow to see if you would like the career path. I found internships and I job shadowed while I was in school and it helped out tremendously. I did mine through Her Campus here.

Find your favorite spots on and off campus: there will be days when you’re going to be studying. Sometimes, being cooped up in your room doesn’t help you focus. Find a place that you’re comfortable being in: a coffee shop (mine was off campus), a student center, a place outside, anywhere where you can enjoy your surroundings and help you study. This can also be a sort of “time out” spot as well. If you have two places you like to be in, you can pick one to be a study spot and the other can be a wind-down spot.

Be realistic with yourself: know yourself, know the workload and responsibilities that are at task. If you can’t handle it, find ways to break it down and handle it. If it gets overwhelming, reevaluate yourself and your situation. College is NOT easy, it will test you and push you to become better- that’s the point.

Change is not always a bad thing: change can be scary and it can either push you to be better or scare you. Pick your decision on if the change will scare you or let it push you.

Know everything you sign up for: Financial aid, work-study, any contracts, etc. Know everything about anything that you sign up for because you want full awareness of the situation. You don’t want to be in a situation where you don’t get what you need or end up owing more than what you bargained for.

Keep receipts of EVERYTHING: when I got my first debit card, I was told to keep my receipts for bookkeeping. If there were a situation where I would need to return something, you would have the receipt. I use this method for everything in my life from keeping my bank statements in a binder to keeping up with any large payments like tuition payments. It helped me keep up with everything I needed to. If you feel like you should have a copy of something, ask for one. Never doubt your gut.

Look for deals on textbooks: there’s always somewhere where textbooks are cheaper. I used the school’s bookstore, Chegg, and Thriftbooks- these were all lifesavers.

Life:

It will not always be perfect: when I graduated from high school, I pictured that I would immediately jump into university like people would do in movies and books. Despite my efforts (and an endless amount of money and time in tutoring), I found myself not going into university and was able to go to community college (side note: there is nothing wrong with community college. If you are in this predicament, you are doing amazing and there is no shame in that). One: even though I was upset that I couldn’t make it how I imagined, I made a backup plan. My plan was to go to c.c. (community college) and then move up to uni (university). Two: I also found out that transferring was possible while in c.c. Even though it’s been four years later, I earned my Bachelor’s Degree and I don’t regret it.

Your situation may change: After my sophomore year, I made the decision to commute because it became expensive for me to live at uni. This may happen to you and that’s okay. I don’t think that moving back home was a bad choice. It did come with some up and downs like living an hour away from uni, spending more money on my car and its maintenance (plus gas), saving money for tuition, and being closer to family. Nothing is wrong with moving back home or even deciding to stay home during uni days. Don’t make matters worse for yourself for any reason.

Have fun, I mean it: college isn’t spending 24/7 on studying and going to classes (yes, please go to class- don’t skip class to have fun). You’re allowed to have fun. I managed my fun. I know myself enough to schedule my fun (and I had understanding friends that knew I took my studying seriously). There were some days where I would have no classes and would decide to use that time to work on assignments, papers, etc so that I could relax later. Or some weekends I would plan not to do anything (especially on Sundays- I call “Sunday Bumdays”) and take the day to unwind, work on self-care, explore, etc. If you can afford for one day of total nothingness, great. If not, try to attempt at a half-day. If you don’t have fun within your journey, it will look back on with either regret or disappointment.

Save money (and be strict about it): every penny matters. Save money for food, gas/ transportation, tuition/books, emergency savings, etc. There are going to be times where you will need money, even if it’s to grab lunch or go grocery shopping. Always have money in the bank and in your pocket. Find odd jobs to do or find a job if you need money. Most college students work part-time and go to school full-time. Don’t forget to treat yourself, and keep in mind to manage it so it doesn’t become a burden.

Learn things outside of the classroom: learn things about your campus, people, the town you’re in, everything. Learning about things around you can help make you feel comfortable, even if you live away from the campus. It’ll help appreciate the environment around you and give you a better experience.

Find a healthy hobby to do: I know college can be/will be exhausting. There is a solution to make sure that there is a healthy outlet for stress relief. Healthy hobbies such as exercise, photography, and exploring new things (crafting classes, movie nights, etc) can help relieve burn out and stress. Personally, I made this studyblr, I free wrote (writing with no agenda/reason), went to the gym, and walked around campus during sunset. I also wrote a short article on it here.

Make a routine: I made a routine to help keep myself busy, know what was going on for the day and to be prepared. The routine would vary for the days depending on my schedules for work and school.

If you need extra help, ask: there is nothing wrong with asking for help. Ask for it and don’t be afraid to.

Take care of your body in ALL forms: mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, etc. From skincare to getting check-ups. All of it matters and your body and mind are important.

Make a resume and keep up with it: you will learn how to write a resume and clean it to help get you jobs and track your experiences and skills. Don’t slack on it because it is an important tool you will need.

Work:

Don’t overwhelm yourself: work and school can be intimidating, especially when you’re involved with extracurriculars. Get a planner and make a plan for yourself. Remember: make time for yourself too.

Quirky things/ Etiquette:

thank you cards- I sent thank you cards to a bunch of people for different reasons. Like teachers- for teaching me things that helped me graduate, organizations that came to our booth for our organization that we hosted this year, people that gave me things like presents/ advice, and any job shadow/ internships- because it’s always nice to thank people that helped you along the way.

find things that are productive that doesn’t involve studying- you’ll go crazy without it and here.

organize your workspace- tips here

find stationary you love- it makes studying enjoyable even the worst subjects

say your “please”s and “thank you”s- I promise, it will go a long way. Even if you don’t use them, it can help a bad experience turn into a good one

don’t be afraid to think outside of the box- I’m serious, not everyone is traditional and that’s okay. Be comfortable with your life.

know the rules- yes there will be rules and weird ones that you will need to know/follow. There will also be protocols and policies to keep up with as well for things like on-campus living, rules of clubs/organizations, etc. Read them thoroughly.

don’t be rude- just don’t.

make business cards- it’ll make it easier for you in the long run and it’ll help you network

branch out- look for new things to get involved in like poem slams, video game battle meetups, yoga classes, things like that to help expand your taste and experiences.

College will be different for everyone. It can be a different journey that is taken and it can make all the difference. Make it the best years for you.

#college tips #college advice #studyblr #collegeblr #student help #thestudyingcoffeeaddict #collegelifehacks #lifehacks #college #tips and advice

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littlefearsdoodles · 5 years

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Collaboration Briefs

Boy howdy did a lot of people respond to my call for collabs.

I know there are folk that haven’t heard from me yet, sorry, I will get to you! Please be patient.

I wrote a few posts two years back on how to run a collaboration (best one here: littlefears.co.uk/2017/11/13/blog-collaborations ).

The one thing I’ve refined is the brief. I feel getting everyone on the same page is insanely important at the start. I always worry it sounds super serious, but most people comment on how helpful the first email is. Awesome.

Set out your goals together. Outline what you want from the person/people involved. If you need to set deadlines at the beginning, do so in the brief. Ensure everyone knows of any word counts, genres, post types, social media sharing requirements and required image sizes are laid out from the start.

Someone once asked me to collaborate with them giving almost no guidance. “Draw me an image showing *XYZ*,” he asked. So I did. Took me 30 minutes, scanned it, sent it over. He replied, “not enough colour.”

God damn. Could you not have told me that before I spent 30 minutes drawing something for you? Suffice to say, I walked away from that one.

The flip side of this. If you send someone a specific set of instructions and they ignore them, send you completely unwanted content or repeatedly ask you questions answered in the brief, you know that collaboration will be more trouble than it’s worth.

I’m still taking names for collaborations, but that’s not the aim of this post. If you want to collaborate with me, please email me at [email protected] BEFORE you write anything. I don’t mean that to sound rude or mean, but, well… You know…

The aim of this post is meant to be informative and a sharing of a process. With that, I thought I’d share my current brief for the Sunday collaborations. This goes out in an email to everyone who’s interested in collaborating with me. It changes over time. People ask questions on all sorts of things and I adapt my initial email to include all answers I can.

Feel free to copy/cut/paste/tear apart/rehash for use anywhere for yourself. I figure it’s helpful to see how people run collaborations.

Dear Sir/Madam/Alien/Demon/Puppdawg

(Something personal to each collaborator goes in this space, and then…)

The Goal

I’m trying to break up my constant telling of my own tales by bringing in a Sunday collab in which readers submit their own fearful tales. I love what I do, I just want to mix it up a bit. As for yourself, I’m hoping this will be a fun jaunt into the Fears world for yourself and give you a bit of exposure (urgh, the E word!).

The Collab

I’d love for you to write a story up to 512 characters long. I’ll draw the panel and make a video for the story. I post it to the LittleFears.co.uk and share it across all my social media. I’ll include links to your blog or social media of your choosing in every post.

The Story

There’s no specific genre I would like. Humor, kooky, philosophical and horror all fit. Whether it has a punchline or not, if you could imagine it being an episode of the Twilight Zone, Outer Limits or Black Mirror, then your spot on.

The length should be under 512 characters. It’s not an arbitrary limit. But I’m hoping this can be fast and fun for both of us. No 12 page essays are required.

You're more than welcome to use my characters or make up your own. The only characters that I do not want a story written for are Copper and Iron because they’re part of an ongoing story.

Once it’s written, get it over to me via email, social media direct message or however else you fancy.

The Image & Video

I’ll then draw up a panel for the story and email it to you. If you’re happy with it, I’ll make a video. I’ll email you the audio along with social media specific panels (such as a Pinterest long image). If everything is good with you, we’ll get onto posting.

The Scheduling & Post

When all the contents made and agreed we can decide what Sunday we want to post it. If you want to post the story, image and video on your blog too, we can schedule a specific time and synchronize the posting with links to each other's posts.

In the post, I’ll include a link to your blog/social media of choice. When the story is posted, I’ll share it across all of my social media with links to you in everyone. My total audience is about 80k followers and subscribers, so I’ll hope you get a bit of exposure from it (urgh, the E word again!).

If you would like to include a link to my site or share the post across your platforms, that’d be awesome, but certainly not required.

The Next Bit

If you’re up for this, please do let me know and start writing a story. Again, any questions, queries or anything else, please do drop me a line and a query.

Thanks

Peter

Phew, right. I hope ya’ll learned something. Hey, if you did learn something super helpful, you can buy me a cuppa tea on my Ko-Fi page. The Little Fears are fueled by tea, and without it, we can’t survive.

Not being melodramatic… Honest…

LINK! https://ko-fi.com/E1E6DSNP

Cheers. Erm. /endpost?

Thanks to Warren for the $10 Patronage.

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joontier · 6 years

Text

Homesick

이호석 Lee Hoseok

-- Fandom: Monsta X

-- Pairing: wonho x reader

-- Genre: humor; coffee shop! au

-- Word count: 1.6k

-- Summary: You have a paper due by 11:59PM and it’s already 11 and you haven’t had a single paragraph in aND THIS HANDSOME STRANGER CRYING IN FRONT OF YOU IS NOT HELPING

-- Note: One-shot for my ult friend @krwonhoe on twt 언니! 이 이야기를 잘 읽어 주세요~ 곧 만나장ㅇ

MASTERLIST

“He did what?!” you exclaimed, holding your phone to your ears with a vice-like grip.

Amy, the closest friend you had from literature class, called to inform you that your lit professor just moved the deadline a day earlier than agreed on when you had initially planned on sleeping in today – which was basically what happened but still, sleep! Need you say more?

Your friend chuckled at your outrage, used to the fact that you never enjoyed being deprived of your slumber but you got up from bed nonetheless, inwardly cursing at your professor for being an ass.

You’ve been sleeping for the past eight hours, literally collapsing on the bed once you arrived from your morning class and when you got up from bed it was already six in the evening yet you still felt like you were deprived of such a lovely…hobby.

The end of the academic year was only an arm length away and your literature professor had given an optional extra assignment for those who wanted additional points for the course and your grade-conscious self thought that a paper wasn’t of that much work. Oh how much you regretted this.

When you managed to collect your things and take a shower, you encountered your roommate on your way out, a backpack slung over her shoulder and her other arm carrying a duffel bag.

“You’re coming home?”

“Yup! Sem’s finally over for me! When are you coming home?”

You pursed your lips in reply, and your roommate quickly understood your actions. She gave you a hug and a small squeeze on your shoulder before leaving the dorm.

It was already eight in the evening when you got out of the dorm, downing a full cup of instant noodles on your way out – a staple ever since you entered college. You’d brought your laptop and a few essentials with you on your way to a café you frequented at, and the local barista waved in your direction as she saw your familiar face enter the establishment.

You settled down on a comfy seat by the display shelf, turning on your laptop to go over the details of the assignment. Rubbing your face in annoyance, you stared at your laptop screen for a full minute when the barista comes over and serves you a cookie.

“School’s not over yet?” she asked and you scrunched up your face in frustration once more, and she looked you in the eyes, expecting an explanation rather than mere just facial expressions.

Skye had been working at the café for almost two years now, and you both have been well acquainted with each other, giving out extra cookies or helping her during her shifts – it wasn’t much for your new found friendship, but you both were grateful for each other’s company.

“My lit professor decided to move the deadline for a paper a day earlier,” you frowned, looking for some cash in your wallet and handing it over to Skye who shook her head, denying your payment for the cookie. “It’s on the house, don’t worry,” she reassured, egging you to continue your rant.

“Well, I have to finish a five-page essay in less than four hours, I haven’t had my full beauty rest, and I want to strangle my professor.” Skye laughed at your outburst, mentioning something about having your coffee served a few more minutes later when you’ve finally cooled down.

“You take joy in my misery don’t you woman?” Waving you off, she went back to her place by the counter and gave you a wink, gesturing for you to start with your assignment.

Two hours later, the only thing you achieved was a successful online purchase, an update on Twitter about how much of an ass your professor was, and finishing an episode of your favorite classic – Friends. Unfortunately for you, your laptop’s battery was running low and the only available seat next to the socket was one right across a cute dude that entered the café an hour ago.

Shit.

First of all, you weren’t anywhere near exceptional when it came to any form of human interaction, spluttering gibberish during introductory meetings, having the inability to withdraw from discussions which you had no interest in, the list goes on really. The mere idea of approaching a stranger gave you goosebumps and if you would be able to pull this off, it would be a miracle.

Secondly, the dude is quite the looker! You could barely initiate a conversation with a nine-year-old, let alone an unbelievably good looking man! There was no way you were going to go over there and ask if you could use the other outlet to plug your laptop in.

There was a coffee table that was a snug fit between the two seats, barely leaving any leg space for two people who wished to occupy the spaces and if you did the math correctly, everything about this situation screamed recipe for disaster.

Yet here you were, standing in front of the incredibly attractive man who was staring up at you as you stood there at a complete loss for words. Heaving a sigh, you started, “Hi. Would you mind if I occupied this seat? I really need a plug right now and my laptop’s battery is kinda dead.”

‘Oh god did I say too much? This is beyond embarrassing. Please say no. Please say no. Please sa-‘

“Of course,” he smiled.

Wait what?

“Great. Thank you.” You settled your stuff on the table, legs awkwardly stuck together to one side, the stubborn piece of furniture making you the least bit comfortable. Well, it was definitely better than not being able to get extra points for the subject right?

A few minutes in after your awkward interaction with the handsome stranger, you heard sniffing from across the table and this dude just shed a tear. You didn’t mind it at first, thinking that maybe there was something caught in his eye. Seconds later, you see his hand reaching for the tissue on the table and when you look at him this time, he was full on crying, tears steadily flowing from his eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“Ye- no actually.”

“What’s the matter?” When you checked the time on your laptop screen, two ones were staring back at you in all its glory. Great. Now you had only an hour left to finish the essay and you don’t even have half of a paragraph in. Was it too much of a bad idea if you joined this beautiful man on a bawling session?

“I just saw this video, shit, sorry I didn’t mean to disturb you really,” he rambled on and you couldn’t help but study his godlike features. He was a bit on the buff and muscular side, but his personality seemed to be the polar opposite – a complete softie. His pearly whites were definitely something that you’ll stick to for a first impression, the manifestation of a neat and well-groomed man. He was too handsome that it makes you question if you were even worthy of his sight.

By the time he was done explaining his emotional outburst, mainly driven by his homesickness because he hasn’t visited his family in six months, he mentioned that everything that remotely reminded him of home got the best of him and triggered the waterworks.

It was already 11:30 in the evening and you had lost all hope of passing your homework, all thanks to this stranger.

“I’m really sorry for the rant and everything else, but is there anything I can help you with?” he asked, diverting his eyes to your laptop and the book on classical literature beside it. You wanted to shove the book to his pretty face in frustration, but you were never one to make a scene, besides, you knew you were going to pass that subject, you just needed extra points in case it may affect your GPA to a certain extent.

“It’s okay, really. I hope you get to go home soon,” you smiled in return, taking the charger out of the plug. “I’m majoring in literature. If that’s a paper due tonight and it has to do something with literature, I’m doing it for you.”

Tempting.

“I really don’t want to cause you any trouble.”

“I’m betting my ass you need my help right now. And think of it as returning the favor, alright?” Before you could reply, he was already grabbing your laptop and going over your three-sentence homework.

“Not bad for an introductory paragraph,” he nodded, glancing at you as he typed away. You were speechless. This stranger literally just cried his heart out in front of you minutes ago, and now he was doing your five-page essay, not even breaking a sweat. He only paused to take a sip from his coffee, and he continued to type aggressively on the keyboard. Usually, you’d fight anyone who would do such thing on your sensitive laptop, but at this rate, you really couldn’t care less.

11:50 PM.

Removing your laptop from his lap and placing it on yours, the stranger smiled, seemingly proud of his work. When you checked his work, he really did it, even exceeding the number of pages required. Impressive. You were convinced that this man literally came down from heaven to bless you with his visuals and do your homework.

As you sent the file to your professor, it just occurred to you that you never got the stranger’s name who was now flicking through the pages of your book. What was with this boy?

“Excuse me, I didn’t really catch your name,” you pursed your lips, instantly embarrassed at how you let this man do your paper and you never got his name.

“It’s Hoseok. Lee Hoseok.”

#monstaximagines #monsta x #shin wonho #monsta x wonho #lee hoseok #shin hoseok #monsta x scenarios #monbebe

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canaryatlaw · 6 years

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today was.....not the best, because I was basically just a big ball of stress all day, freaking about the bar exam. I think is partially due to the fact that my Xanax dosage got messed up yesterday for reasons I do not think it wise to memorialize on the internet, but instead of taking three at night I ended up taking one in the morning and just two at night, and I think that lack of the third one may have made my anxiety a bit worse than normal, because my stress was really off the charts today, worse than it’s been in a long time, so I was pretty much on the verge of a panic attack all day. And people keep trying to reassure me like “I’m sure you’re going to do great!” and I’m just like I know you have good intentions but those comments aren’t really helpful when I’m the one seeing my awful scores on the practice questions and realizing just how badly I fucked everything up with bar prep. and like, what am I fucking going to do if I don’t pass? just hang around and do nothing for 6 months? probably get forced to move back to New York, and that will be awful, and like, this can’t happen, I gotta push through it and make this happen. sigh. anyway, I should talk about my day. I drifted in and out of sleep for a while before getting out of bed when my alarm went off at noon. Got in the shower, made a dutch baby pancake for breakfast, and sat down with my bar prep. The first assignment was to do 25 multiple choice questions on one subject, and then watch a video explaining all the answers. And like, studying sucks because my stress makes me want to do it more, but I then end up getting more frustrated because studying just reminds me of how fucked I am when I’m bombing all these practice questions and I don’t fucking know what to do. Then I did more practice questions and continued to despair, then wrote out some practice essays that were ok I guess, some of them were on the more obscure subjects I’d only been introduced to in the past like two weeks, and I was definitely not good at those, so that didn’t help either. Somewhere around this time Jess wanted to go get ice cream because we finally sorted some stuff out about her phone’s gps problem, so we wanted to celebrate. So I took a little break being that I was done with the substantive stuff for the day. So we met at the intersection where both of our paths to the ice cream place converge and walked the rest of the way from there. It was pretty crowded, but that’s definitely expected as it was a Saturday afternoon. Jess was very sad that they did not have Superman as a flavor, and for the record this is not me dragging her for her ice cream choices since she now thinks I do that all the time. I went with my classic cotton candy. So we sat and ate our ice cream for a while before heading back to our apartments. I had earlier downloaded the Heather: The Musical OCR, pretty much entirely because the girl that plays Janis in Mean Girls the musical is in it and I’m like low key obsessed with her, so when I got home I did a search to see if there were any bootlegs of the production posted anywhere, because I mean, it’s not like I can go see it instead being that it closed in 2014, so I didn’t really feel bad about it, so I watched that while reviewing the lecture notes for the special Illinois subjects for the Illinois essay section, and consequently realized there were a number of subjects (like 9) I had not listened to the lectures on because they somehow got written off my study plan because I fucked it up to much, and like, there are 6 essays that can be on these topics, not learning 9 of them is almost guaranteed to get me majorly screwed over, so that’s not an option. There are 9 days left until the bar, so I’m gonna try to do one lecture each day in order to absorb whatever information I can from them. So of course this just made me that much more stressed about all of it, but I’ve mostly covered that already. I should give my thoughts on Heathers though. I liked it a lot! It’s obviously going to draw Mean Girls comparisons being that, while the characters and circumstances are different, the basic story of an outsider overthrowing the popular clique of their school is pretty much the same for them, but of course just about everything else is different, as Mean Girls definitely did not feature any murders, so there’s that of course. I would’ve been happier if the bootleg was better quality since you couldn’t really make out facial expressions, but I’ll take what I can get. Barrett is of course brilliant, I haven’t seen the movie of it so I was basically going into it blind, and Barrett did a really good job of embodying Veronica and expressing all of the passionate feelings she goes through during the course of the show. The Heathers themselves were pretty good, though seeing their facial expressions would’ve been helpful for any analysis further than that. I feel like the plot was pretty well written, definitely had its twists and turns up until the very end. I can’t say I loved every one of the songs, but there are definitely a few great ones in there, namely Dead Girl Walking, Candy Store, and Our Love Is God (I’m listening to Dead Girl Walking right now). The only thing I didn’t really like were some of the more callous jokes about suicide, such as when (spoiler, obvs) Heather McNamara trying to kill herself only to be foiled by a child proof cap, which was obviously played for laughs and I really just don’t like jokes about that or think suicide is an area that should really ever be joked about. When I was in my freshmen year of college I was in the shorts play event, and whatever of the two acts your short wasn’t in you had to work as stage crew, changing the set of one short and then when that’s over change it over for the next one. The one that we had to change in and out of was one I was highly uncomfortable with given some recent developments in my life that left me especially vulnerable to joking about it. So every show my roommate and I would wait in the hallway outside the theatre, waiting until the shit was over and we had to go back in, so I didn’t have to see it. I usually ended up crying anyway, just knowing it was going on. It’s clearly just a sore spot for me. And for the most part Heathers didn’t take too many cheap shots on it, just a couple that rubbed me the wrong way. But yeah, I watched that and then watched a few episodes of 30 Rock before getting ready for bed, and here I am. Church in the morning, and then we’ll see what else, though spending several hours studying will definitely be on the agenda. I’m getting sleepy here so I’m gonna to sign off for now. Goodnight sweeties. Hope you’re having a great weekend.

#daily journal #July 2018

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ratherhavetheblues · 7 years

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TERRENCE MALICK’S SONG TO SONG “It’s always a free-fall now…”

Although Song to Song (2015/ 2017) adopts the design priority of a pell-mell rout by an army of short-lived wild things being long-term softies, there does emerge, for our sense of counter-attacking against the nearly non-stop jumpiness, a pair of visitations from sagas less spasmodic. The first is the silent, black and white, white-hot film melodrama of massacre, ripping into the midst of a palatial, ultra-modern household owned by an Austin music producer, Cook, besotted by the capacity to marshal hookers to his bed and thus drive his wife, Rhonda, to suicide. Along that so-called life to the fullest, he tells himself, “I can’t take this life straight.” He goes on to ask his former-waitress, former-Kindergarten teacher wife, part of an unstable harem, “What’s your fantasy? What are you afraid of?” She tells herself and whatever else could read her thoughts, “When I was a girl I loved everything. You killed my life…” [in the course of a marriage which delivered a nice house to her destitute mother]. That wild premonition including axe-murder and flowing blood reminds us of a jaded screenwriter, Rick, in Malick’s Knight of Cups (2015), who disregards a video in the foyer of a chic office tower, a decorative production in black and white whereby several women blend into each other from their long, jet-black hair, apparel, make-up and eyes. Rick’s sidelined, spent force may not be going anywhere, but the surreal artwork along his retreat becomes part of a rescue mission which speaks to the defunct Rhonda’s once loving everything, to no avail. (The two marital casualties meet when she is his server in a diner. “I have a condition,” he quips. “I can’t be left alone…” [“Help Me, Rhonda”]. The distance between Song to Song’s death-spiral and Knight of Cups’ going swimmingly in an infinity pool (like the one Rhonda OD’d in) gives us to understand that a very different consideration has become necessary.

The second way the spinning calamity finds some authoritative righting derives from Cook’s increasingly raw thrashing around for a return to the spirit of music he once cared for and received great wealth from in return. Hoping to rally his gentle and devastated wife, he comes up with a reddish, syrupy preparation the prospects of which give him something like a sense of rejuvenation. He ladles the concoction into her mouth and joins her in being infected with a stupendous elixir. This is far from and yet unmistakeably quoting the “taste of cherry” by which an old man expects to revive a suicidal cynic in Abbas Kiarostami’s film, Taste of Cherry (1997). Neither bid comes to fruition. But Kiarostami’s startling denouement, brushing off the complainer as dispensable dead-weight, informs the nihilist in our film today with a world of wit and wisdom from which someone might proceed with body language an entity like Cook chooses, instinctively, to do without. (He takes Rhonda to a Longhorns game where they see a touchback in favor of the home team. Overdrive and its penalty—just like nature; just like this whole two-hours-plus of digging their own grave.)

One other, presumably more obvious, motif can provide substantive illumination for this art work wrought in the key of massive, confusing surrender. Though I haven’t looked at a lot of commentary about Song to Song, I have been struck, in what I have read, by the complete indifference toward what a musical career entails—and particularly what a rock and roll career entails. All of the responders I saw could have been dealing with a conclave of numbed but randy and careerist shoe manufacturers. Concerts, clubs and musicians abound; but only their career, romantic and lame comedic considerations get a look in. (In fairness, that is what every surface is saturated in.) Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll come our way in order to distort the still validly vivid music industry, the better to have the film become a long, loud cry of pain which, for those who are really attending, brings forward in its wake the home of an elusive sublime, remotely like the products of a cyclotron.

The scope for misunderstanding here is so pronounced that presenting another complement seems the only way to offset the myopia and contempt being showered upon Song to Song. Looking for the barrel of fun here is a self-damaging business; and looking for that compensatory self-sacrifice prods us toward (too much) resignation as a prescription for disappointment. The lead-pipe ugliness of the lives and events on tap can only shine as instalments of (unsuccessful) overturning of the entire fabric of dominance which has obtained across the board and across the eons. This film is about rock and roll; and do we need to be reminded that, unlike accommodating, obscurantist jazz and jaunty folk devotions, the whole point is taking you somewhere your half-assed world history won’t? And that, my friends, is what art is all about. Instead of rocketing out killer performances, Song to Song’s artist-in-charge is well aware (perched as he is in the midst of the Austin musical overdrive) that rock is a massively failed invention. (Here the optics of “festivals” are so calamitously dead you’d rather be taking a chance on Intensive Care than be having the time of your life like that.) Once again, we need the modesty to realize that major artists don’t piss around with millions of dollars and they don’t lose control of the depths they won’t do without. The drowning of those on camera does not purport to be an expose or an accurate measure of the full range of the music land. It very pointedly brings to focus the worst which the métier can and does display often. (Everybody knows that the field is weighted down with ass-holes; but ass-holes who occasionally excel in important ways, for a few months, anyway.) In presenting such a tailspin, Malick is intent on setting in relief the dangerous and necessary drafts awaiting the steps beyond their parents’ rancid ideals. There would be no such incisiveness in celebrating the business fat cats who always opt for paragon, mainstream co-opted status in Rock’s Hall of Fame. Believe it or not, the heart and soul of rock and roll is much more important than that news of the day filler. And so, the specimens making quite a mess in our film today may be obsessively, exasperatingly repetitive about insistence beyond their strength; but they are not a ridiculous joke (having at least got on to the playing field which very few will touch).

Despite those tantrums amidst a cult-like circle unable to resist nonsense in word and deed, no one seems to find that there is one figure instrumental in setting the macabre pace for a constituency of otherwise inconsequential slugs. The mad priest to those bush-league hangers-on is of course, Cook, the only one we see who has clawed and delivered his way to a fortune and now, within a mysterious doldrum, has become a tolerated former eminence—like the director looking pretty good to Betty in Mulholland Drive—still a big deal to suckers like Faye (a protagonist, but not the protagonist, having become, after a stint, more to her capacity, of being his receptionist, a placebo taken in by not merely the invalid but the doctor himself. Another self-perceived diamond-in-the rough who intersects the dubious cloud of invention from which Cook once had the fire in the belly to strike gold is BV, a singer/songwriter who, though not derived from the corporate pool, soon shows himself to be roadie material.

Fittingly, it is the latter two, in their now being on the spot to confront the creative imperative, by which this pitching picture begins. Faye tentatively opens a door a crack and a black void confronts her. Then, at a club, she having at least got her foot in the door, she silently talks to herself about the ingredients having gone into the hugely problematic ambition to be a viable musical force, suddenly absorbing her. She recites what she’s probably casually confessed a hundred times in the orbit that is irresistibly seductive big-time Austin, to assure all and sundry she’s a woman of the time who could touch a wide and lucrative constituency. “I thought sex was supposed to be violent [a notion she probably picked up in the sixth grade]. I thought it would bring me to find something real…” Clinging to Cook in bed while such clichés clang to the floor, she confirms her situation of being at the fringes of the music business, notwithstanding being a regular at the boss’ tony house amidst band members no longer needing or even trusting him but curious witnesses to a pile-up. The cut to a mosh pit at a festival few have bothered to attend provides an ironic (and silent) commentary regarding Faye’s tottering theory of far-reaching gusto. The pace of visual variety is rapid; but let’s pause to contemplate how one reaches the state of an absence of feeling something real. Whereas it might come down to trading in cheap clichés, we can make a working premise that the spirit of true rock and roll uncanniness has put in a brief, tantalizing appearance (as it has for nearly all of us), but that its blessing has been frighteningly rescinded. Also adrift on that basis is BV, who says to himself, “All the people [the head bangers and Faye becoming an item] with violence in their hearts. Every kiss felt half of what it should be…” The concluding first scrum, to which we have to apply firm attention to see its being more than a bit of driftwood in the wilderness, hands over to us Faye presenting to herself the prayer in voice-over, “to know the right people… to get through the fence…” She follows with, “I wanted experience. Any experience is better than no experience.” She walks by an hors d’oeuvre table consisting of a young girl lying on her back hoping to reach the right people. Cook makes a twosome and both of them essay slow, small approaches to each other, having a glimmer that flash may not be necessary. Their hands in close-up, touching each other, come up empty, a formula missing an essential factor. When the camera returns to all there is of Faye, she intimates, “I thought he could help me… I paid my dues…” Saying that in a Malick film (as such carrying the centuries-long trek of phenomenological research and the anchor of the avant-garde) is asking for trouble. There are dues to be paid here, so costly that no one in sight (save one) can afford them.

Why would a corporate leader lead the kind of life Cook does? Is it valid to suppose that his going to the well of possibility, to meet his company’s recent roadblocks, directs him to unexpected weightiness in the music defeating him. No such weight interferes with the job-searches of Faye and BV. They join him on a junket to Mexico in his private jet, replete with a pressure system which establishes a play of weightlessness (nice try, but gimmicks and drugs do not replace maturity). In the land of crazy booze and crazy piety, the tourists, crazy drunk on tequila, crawl along the dark alley which begins to look like home. (The bite of the tiger being grabbed has ineluctably instituted in the hangers-on something more painful than bitching about waiting for a fat job to fall into their lap.) The following day, watching as the wannabes twirl on a mesa, Cook rushes to a conclusion that is not totally out to lunch. “They have a beauty in their life” [he puts to himself, and us] that makes me ugly…” Their dancing is tepid and his assessment is vapid. But the chill of mortality is unmistakeable. As the new coupling supplants the old, BV asks Faye about how seriously she is involved with Cook. “You can tell me a lie. That’s the fun about me.” As this tide of half-hearted earthiness and flaccid assessments builds up a sadly eventful inertia, there remains for us to delineate the variables of a calamity which, though seemingly pretty far-out, is the story of each of our lives. The moment when Faye leaves Cook finds her telling him, “You have too much pride.” Does that dismissal betray her ambiguity about being an avatar of feeling something real?

The conspicuous detour those three turn into a nauseating miasma might be said to be going somewhere, by contrast; but the not “fun” about them is that they’re light-years away from what rock music can and does sporadically accomplish. BV had had some songs out; but the only aspect of that event we see is his complaining that Cook had registered them in his name alone. “It was supposed to be 50-50,” the disenchanted voice of the millennials reminds the disenchanted Gen-Xer. The boss’ riposte is to tell him, almost certainly correctly, that he’s deluded in thinking himself a musician. BV spits at the skeptic’s feet as he departs that false and final start as a musical money-maker. Faye soon doubts that BV is for her, having a hankering for professional efficacy in everyone but herself. Cook, perhaps in the spirit of farce, offers her a recording contract. She’s soon onstage at a festival with a couple of dozen other new finds, the whole set-up strongly redolent of a large guitar shop with amateurs here and there dribbling out a few chords. Soon she’s even less impressed with her “career” than sleeping with Cook. “I don’t want to do this anymore…” Sooner or later she and BV reunite and leave Austin for BV’s rural homestead (where his father is ailing and his brothers are in and out of jail). They purport to be made for each other, he working on an oil rig. Emmanuel Libitski’s camera work endowing, as throughout, currents of epiphanic power which the advanced species do, as throughout, their utmost to kill (here in the form of a stunted life deemed to be full). The various bits of enhancement from the classical repertoire go nowhere in addressing a non-classical crisis. One composition, the early pop tune, “Runaway,” does, with irony and tatters of vigor, bring BV and Faye to as close to a moment of kinetic truth as they’re ever apt to enjoy.

The many ageing notables, and simply old, surrounding this situation of retreat by Faye and BV deftly complement the disaster in the foreground. We have Patti Smith coming across like a den mother, counselling Faye in the verities of romance, long-term satisfying marriage and life as a widow. (She also resembles the nutty old gal foreseeing “trouble” at Betty and Rita’s short term rental in Mulholland Drive.) Then there’s Iggy Pop, in the mode of a youthful ancient—bare to the waist, of course—holding forth, with far more ancient than youthful, on filmmakers engaging musicians to enliven their productions. We have a ska band hanging around Cook’s place, discussing physio therapy and tattoos, with instruments nearly but never played. One glimpse of a festival concert features dancers shaking their bums, to an effect as thrilling as the Frank Buck zoological featurettes in the 1930’s. Playing against that water-torcher there is Faye in a brief and delicate lesbian encounter, remarkable for its momentum being undone by self-consciousness on the part of Faye and trendy self-serving on the part of the French house-sitter. BV, along that trajectory where each in their own way have turned their back on Cook but still haven’t seen each other as a godsend, starts thriving on the optics of eccentricity—much easier to bring off than real distinction—dating a woman about 15 years his senior, until his mother pulls the plug. Also within that broad miasma on the spot to deliver something better, there is his little tantrum about discovering how many liaisons there were with Cook (slamming kitchen draws and turning on the gas to torch a piece of paper). In this same kitchen-sink distemper he complains of the French girl and gets told, “I don’t have to tell you…”

With nothing those unskilled laborers demonstrate being up to paying the dues they’ve unsuspectingly been embarrassed by, Malick introduces the only visitor to Austin who isn’t road kill. One of the encounters, during the first separation from Faye is a former girlfriend of BV’s, a musician attending to business who is immediately recognizable as not desperate. She gives him a long look being a preamble to discovering if his entertainment confines had matured to something else. Faye had just embarked, after being compelled to admit BV was a shiftless drifter, on that abortive contract with now patently entertainment-cynical Cook. Here was the other side of the coin. Her undemonstrative career satisfaction is palpable in face of BV’s cluelessness. On the heels of their recalling what didn’t work the first time, and her recognizing now nothing has changed, at the airport tarmac, where she will embark on a tour, she pitches the gambit that she’d give their partnership another try, suspending her busy concert schedule. A brief rainstorm adds to the implausibility of the direction she has mooted. “You miss me?” she asks. “Yeah,” is the ambiguous word BV uses as a pleasantry but she uses as spotting a visceral implacable foe. Then, as she knew he would, he declares, “Honestly, I can’t answer that…” [meaning, “I can’t stand living with someone whose honesty puts me to shame]. Then I gotta go,” she says, knowing—like the swimmer at the end of Knight of Cups—that there are bigger fish out there if the one in her face fails. (Just after this, Faye tells Cook, “I want out!” That she and BV are meant for each other—up at the farm, she exclaims, “I want that, too!” [the kitchen, not Cook’s kitchen, having become too hot]—brings to bear a safari on our part as to the paradoxical nightmare driving them to the simple life. Patti, imbuing Faye with her best shot, tells her, “I could play this chord all night!” (It was Faye, early on, who described her romance with BV, “We thought we could just roll and tumble, living from song to song, kiss to kiss…” Nibbling at the fringes, but dreary compromise in the wings. Her dad, concerned that she was no longer a constant and dutiful daughter but having entered the shark tank of show biz, tells her, “We just want you to be happy—a bit of a disconnect inasmuch she was having a taste of what could hardly be termed “happy.” The underground corridors she had stumbled into [like Alice] may deliver, were she tough enough, a delight of sorts; but “happily ever after” is far from what nature is about. “I thought I could do better than others.” BV tries on one of Cook’s expensive jackets. “You want to be me?” the multi-millionaire asks. “It’s [his fabulous property] all for sale… I don’t like it…” He asks, as they confront the dazzling yard on a lake, and an infinity pool, to take seriously the question, if he can rise to it, “What do you see?” BV replies, “The pool.” Cook corrects, “Stage! Show! It’s always a free fall…” He had also, as a kind of warning to the unwitting cynic, “The world wants to be deceived.” Dabbling in the big picture which Cook’s dangerous aura had prompted, an unprepared BV trots out the ingratiating cliché, “They say. ‘Follow the light.’ But where do you find it?”)

We do have here an affair of chords; and shared songs; and love. But in bragging that one chord is enough, Patti is embarrassingly showing her age. One chord repeated can set the stage by clearing away the sticky muck of mundane entertainments and happiness. It can activate a partnership as between someone like BV’s long-gone girlfriend, music and nature itself, the representatives of which make a flicker here, but only that. (The consensus that a sloppy, self-indulgent spray of incidents has been allowed to put in an appearance does not take into account the volatility [with its barracuda stresses] implicit in creative action, though seldom exposed where practitioners more self-deluded than Cook take satisfaction in being entertaining. Finding more rhetoric on the home stretch— “I played with the flame of life,” but only that—Faye shows herself to be a dutiful student of Patti. BV declares, in the same vein of compromised impressiveness, “I gotta go back and start again. Like a kid. I didn’t have the right heart in me. You’re the only one I loved.” Faye, in that same deceptive key, intones, “Mercy was a word I never thought I needed! You were looking for simplicity. I want the same!”

There is a “simple” side of this destination; but, as the girl who could read BV like a (comic) book well knew, there is a lot more. A chord, a sensual impetus, brings to the song a menu of notes or activities (far surpassing mere aural statements). And it also includes a default step of sheer motion by which to refresh cloying trajectories. Fluency with silence (not the same thing as voice-over) is a must most of us find very difficult. The subsequent range of chords and harmonies and discords are innumerable. It includes bringing to light initiatives like rock and roll, more or less redolent of its uncanny sensual dynamics, its creative roots. All this is indescribably hard, indescribably necessary and indescribably enriching. Its interplay of such alertness could be described as song to song, far from Faye’s enumeration of easy listening.

And yet, Malick has shaped this enigma in such a radical way that still more is required of a correspondent. The tenor of most of the films I’ve dealt with have been adequately coverable by descriptions rooted in the term dynamics. Here, Malick tells us, not in so many words, to deliver what it is about dynamics that makes it so bloody hard. Stemming from reflections beginning from two and a half millennia ago, and really catching fire about two centuries ago—and taken up, after its fashion, by quantum physics and avant-garde art—the notion that human sensibility is vitally instrumental in the essence of nature has nudged us from its mysterious outcomes; but its generator has proved to be rather forbidding. Trying to delineate that fuel source involves the paradox that nature itself comes about in two stages—a first endowing entities, including sentient entities, as materially passive; and a second (and decisive) spark, provided by sensibilities (like musicians) taking to heart the need to kick things up a bit. Many try to deliver that kick, but most make a mess of it, the dip to inertia being mercilessly in effect. That mess is the core of world history. Like the entire avant garde film world, the search is on, in Song to Song, for those few who are in for the long haul.

#terrence malick

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filipeteimuraz · 5 years

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A Guide on How To Create a Guide That’ll Drive You 361,494 Visitors

Have you noticed a trend of people creating more detailed guides? You know, ones similar to my guides on SEO, growth hacking, content marketing, or landing page optimization that I have released on Quick Sprout?

Vero just released a guide on email marketing, and Qualaroo released one on conversion optimization.

What you may not know is that although I was the one to make the creation of detailed guides popular, I wasn’t the first one to come up with the concept. I actually borrowed the idea from Moz, who released the beginner’s guide to SEO a few years ago.

When they released an article talking about the fact that the guide has received over a million visitors to-date, I decided to take that model and streamline it by producing a new guide each month.

When I first started out, some of the guides only received 68,319 visitors, while others received 128,582 visitors, but I quickly learned what to do and what not to do. Since then, all of my guides have been getting at least 361,494 visitors.

If you want to create guides that generate hundreds of thousand of visitors, here is what you have to do:

1. Only write on advanced topics

I noticed that every time I released a guide on a topic that has already been beaten to death or one that is basic, I barely got any visitors. For example, the guide to online marketing for beginners only received 68,319 visitors.

On the flip side, my guide on growth hacking has already received over 414,209 visitors.

Every time I release a guide on an advanced topic, I receive at least a few hundred thousand visitors.

The same trend exists with my blog. Every time I write on an advanced topic and give detailed steps, my traffic goes through the roof. And basic blog posts tend to flop.

If you are going to invest the time and energy into writing a detailed guide, make sure you pick advanced topics that are continually growing in popularity. You can check this by using Google Trends.

All you have to do is enter in a keyword or phrase of the topic you are trying to write about such as “growth hacking.”

As long as the graph is going up and to the right at a rapid pace, like the graph above, there is a good chance that if you write on that topic, you’ll get a good amount of traffic.

Once you have your advanced topic, you are now ready to find a writer.

2. Where do you find writers?

If you are a natural born writer and you have the time to create a detailed guide, that’s great! If you don’t, then you’ll want to search for a writer.

A great place to start finding them is by browsing other blogs in your space. Look for popular writers who get a ton of social shares per post as well as comments. Also look for writers who write in a casual tone as you don’t want a writer who writes as if he or she is drafting an essay.

If that doesn’t work, post a job listing at places such as Upwork and Craigslist.

When looking for writers, you have to be very specific. If you aren’t, you will be wasting your time digging through a pile of applicants.

The tricky part about this is that if your job description is too long, people won’t read it, and we’ll just apply. Your goal should be to balance length with specificity.

Here are the main things you need to cover within your job posting:

Subject matter – the type of content you want people to produce.

Length – business-based posts should be anywhere from 1,500 to 5,000 words depending on your niche. Consumer-facing posts should be fewer than 2,000 words—ideally, under 1,000 words.

Tone – do you want your content to sound research-oriented, casual, conversational, etc.? Typically, conversational type of posts perform the best.

Examples – send two examples of posts within your industry that you like. If you can’t find any in your industry, find some in any related industry.

Purpose – whether you want your content to be humorous or informative, you have to state this to potential writers.

When posting an ad on Problogger or Craigslist, you should consider using an ad similar to this one:

ABC.com is looking for a writer who can talk about sales / crm / motivation in the workplace, business management, increasing revenue, etc.

MUST:

Be able to write in a conversational tone

Produce informative posts

Have personable writing style

Here is an example of two articles with the style of writing we are looking for:

example1.com

example2.com

We want blog posts written with 1,500-2,000 words.

Please send at least two articles you feel are closest to the writing style we like. If you don’t have any but are certain you can write in that style, send a paragraph within your email using the tone we are looking for

Once your job postings go live, you’ll receive 100 plus applicants. Just make sure you release the posting on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Releasing it on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday will usually result in 15 to 20% fewer applicants.

3. How do you evaluate writers?

Now that you have a list of applicants, you first want to read their emails. If you notice any grammar or spelling errors within the emails, don’t bother reading their examples. Just cross them off your list.

Why? If they weren’t thorough enough to double-check their emails, they won’t be detail-oriented when creating content for your blog.

For the applicants that have a well-written email, read the first few paragraphs of the examples they included. When reading the first few paragraphs, look for:

Conversational tone – the use of the words “you” and “I.”

Personality – no one wants to read dry content.

Fluff – no one wants to read fluff.

Facts – if the writer is making claims, he or she should be linking to sources that back up what the writer is stating.

Short paragraphs – ideally, paragraphs should be no longer than 5 or 6 lines.

Formatting – if their posts aren’t formatted well, people will have a hard time reading the content.

Pictures – each post should start off with an image.

Now that you have narrowed down your list of potentially qualified writers, go back and read the whole blog posts that they linked you to. You should now look for:

Subheadings – using them makes content easier to read and skim.

Italicizing and bolding – doing these two things to certain words throughout a post makes it easier to read.

External links – posts with dozens of relevant external links tend to get shared more on the social web by the website owners you are linking to.

Media – pictures, audio, and video are powerful. Not everyone enjoys reading text. If the writer is using media throughout the post, it’s a good sign.

Conclusion – wrapping up the post makes it easier for people to digest the information provided.

Question – at the end of the post, there should be a question posed to the readers. This will help increase the number of comments generated by your posts.

Most writers won’t meet all of these requirements. But the ones that meet 80% or so are usually going to do a good job.

4. How much should you pay writers?

If you noticed, I didn’t mention the pay within the job posting. That’s because each writer is willing to work for different amounts.

If your number is too low, you will get little to no applicants. If you price it too high, the quotes you will receive will be too high.

By not including a price, you can ask each writer what they will accept. From there, you can negotiate with them and get their prices down.

Typically, expect to spend $100 to $200 per post. I know that may sound expensive, but good content is. If you are paying less, you’ll see that the quality won’t be as high.

If you are on a budget, consider buying less content until you have a larger budget. But don’t skimp on quality. It’s better to pay for one really good blog post than it is to pay for 10 mediocre posts.

5. Get the right content from your writers

Have your writer submit 5 to 10 headline ideas. From there, you can either adjust the headlines or just pick the one that is most appealing to you.

Once you have decided what you’ll want your writer to write about, have the writer create an outline.

The outline should consist of:

Introduction – the whole introductory paragraph(s) should be fully written.

Body – they should put the main points that will be discussed throughout the body into a bulleted list.

Conclusion – the conclusion should end with a question posed to the readers.

If you don’t like the outline or any specific element of it, give the writer feedback and have him or her continually adjust it until you are happy. Once you are happy, you can then have the writer write the post.

Once your writer finishes writing the post, provide more detailed feedback on what you like and dislike.

The whole purpose of this process is to be so picky with the writer that he or she will learn what you like and don’t like. Eventually, the writer will know what you want without much involvement from you.

6. Get the right images

If the writer has included images, make sure they are screenshots, royalty-free images, or ones that were purchased. In other words, make sure you don’t get sued for using the images.

I’ve been stuck in situations where writers used images that they weren’t supposed to, and we published the content. We later got a legal letter from stock photography sites like Getty Images that not only demanded that we take down the image but pay them for the prior use of the image.

This has cost me thousands of dollars over the years, which is why I am very picky about what images can or can’t be used.

7. Create “cornerstone” guides

If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed I like going big.

By this I mean that I:

create long-form guides

include a lot of visuals

include statistics

cover a lot of facts and details that others may not always touch on

In other words, I strive to provide my audience with as much value as possible.

Keep in mind I don’t always drive the ball out of the park with each blog post or guide, but there’s a consistent level of depth I strive to achieve.

And this has been a big part of my success over the years.

This is why I can’t stress enough the importance of creating “cornerstone” guides, and not merely your average, run of the mill posts so common on the Internet.

Here are a few of the benefits of creating comprehensive, long-form content:

higher rankings in search engines

increased time on site

success in social media

a position of authority

Now, of course, you probably won’t have the time to create five-plus posts like this each week (or even three).

That’s why I suggest at least considering scaling back your content and focusing on creating fewer but higher quality in-depth guides rather than churning out dozens mediocre ones.

8. Longer isn’t always better

I’ve written guides that were anywhere from 20,000 to 45,000 words long. The one thing I’ve learned is that guides that are 20,000 to 30,000 words long tend to do as well as the ones that are 45,000 words long from a traffic perspective.

So, from a cost perspective, you are probably better off paying for a 20,000-word guide than for a 45,000-word guide.

I’ve also learned through testing that the optimal number of chapters per guide is roughly 7. Having 10 or even 14 chapters won’t drive you much more, if any, traffic. And making your guide into one or several long pages, instead of 7 chapters, will typically drive you less search engine traffic in the long run.

For example, the guide on doubling your traffic in 30 days and the one on doubling your conversions in 30 days get on average 313% less search engine traffic than the other guides due to the fact that they were formatted as one long page instead of being broken down into multiple chapters.

9. Don’t forget to include experts

One of the biggest traffic drivers to these guides is Twitter. I quickly learned from a few of my guides that the easiest way to get more Twitter traffic is to include expert interviews.

Including industry experts throughout your guide will give you the reason to email them upon releasing it, and they will be much more open to tweeting and promoting it. You’ll also find that other people within your industry will be more open to promoting it because the guide will be considered reputable due to the fact that industry people are talking about it.

My guides that have expert round-ups received at least 3 times more Twitter traffic than the ones that don’t.

If you are going to invest hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into a guide, you would be foolish not to include expert opinions within it.

10. Pay top dollar for design

The one thing I learned from others is that you can’t take design for granted. Even before Moz, hundreds, if not thousands, of other websites released detailed guides, but Moz was the first to make a detailed guide look pretty. They spent over $20,000 on design just on the beginner’s guide to SEO.

By studying the competition, I quickly saw that the guides that looked pretty tended to get a lot more social shares. This is why I spend so much on design at Quick Sprout.

On sites like Dribbble, you can sift through illustrators and find people who can make your guides look beautiful. On average, you are going to spend $10,000 to $20,000 per guide for an exceptionally good designer, and around $2,500 to $5,000 for a decent designer.

11. File types matter

Once your guide is done, you will have to find someone to code it. You’ll want to create an HTML version that you can place online. This way people can link to it and share it, and your search traffic should increase.

In addition to that, I highly recommend that you create a PDF version that is compatible with mobile devices and tablets. I didn’t do this with my first two guides, and I literally got over 300 emails from people asking to either make the guide compatible with their mobile devices or requesting a PDF version.

12. Make infographics an integral part of your content formula

I feel a little bit like Captain Obvious by pointing out the impact of infographics.

But the bottom line is that this medium is your ticket to massive traffic.

Why? It’s simple. Infographics get shared like crazy.

In fact, “Infographics are Liked and shared on social media 3x more than other content.”

Here are a few more stats that prove the traffic-generating potential of infographics:

They’re visual. They’re easy to follow. And they make it incredibly simple to digest complex information that would be difficult to consume in a traditional, text-based format.

Not to mention they’re fun.

There’s something inherently playful about infographics that makes people “eat ’em up.”

Just check out the number of shares this infographic from Copyblogger has gotten since the day it was published back in 2012:

Pretty impressive.

I realize there are definitely newer, sexier content marketing tactics out there.

I also realize that interest in infographics has waned slightly over the past few years.

But they’re still one of the top forms of content in terms of traffic-generating potential.

That’s why I recommend including infographics as a part of your guides.

13. Get cozy with video

Here are some quick stats from HubSpot regarding the state of live video.

“Cisco projects that global Internet traffic from videos will make up 80% of all Internet traffic by 2019.”

“4x as many consumers would prefer to watch a video about a product than read about it.”

“43% of consumers wanted to see more video content in 2016.”

No matter which way you slice it, a steady diet of video content is going to crank up your traffic so adding a video or two to each of your guides is always a smart idea.

14. Don’t forget to promote

Before you release your guide, you’ll want to spend a few days hitting up people within your industry, letting them know about it. This is important because you can get them to promote the guide via Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.

Although it sounds simple, it works well. I just shoot off emails to people within my industry and say:

Hey [insert your contact’s first name],

Hope things are going well for you and [insert your contact’s business name]. I know you are busy, so I’ll keep this email short.

I just wanted to let you know that I am releasing a free guide for our industry, and it is going to teach everyone about [insert the topic of the guide]. I’m doing this because I feel the industry could use more education, and I love helping people.

I would greatly appreciate it if you can tweet it out or share it. You can find the guide here: [insert URL]

Cheers,

[insert your name]

A lot of people will ignore your email. But typically 5% to 10% of the people you email will promote your guide. This will cause a ripple effect as more people will see it and then promote it as well.

Another great way to promote your guide is to email the sites that you link to within your content.

A good rule of thumb is to add external links only when it makes sense for the reader. Ideally, you should be shooting for 25 external links for every 1,000 words of content you are writing.

Why?

Because I usually email out each of the sites I linked to with the following email:

Subject: I mentioned [insert their site name] in my latest post

Hey [insert their name],

I just wanted to let you know I am a huge fan of your work. I like it so much that I actually linked to [insert their website] within my latest blog post.

[Insert your blog post URL]

I would be honored if you checked it out. And if you love it, feel free to share it on the social web.

Your fan,

[Insert your name]

By doing this, you’ll gain social shares and eventually build up a large enough audience that can be leveraged to promote future guides.

Conclusion

If you follow the steps above, you’ll start attracting thousands of more visitors to your site, generate more backlinks, and improve the recognition of your brand.

Guides are one of my favorite methods to market a business, and it has been extremely effective for me because I follow the tips above.

You don’t have to spend tons of time or money creating these guides. You can always write them internally or have your in-house designer make them look pretty.

Nonetheless, you should be creating guides on a regular basis. They are so effective that I try to release at least one every month.

http://www.quicksprout.com/a-guide-on-how-to-create-a-guide-thatll-drive-you-361494-visitors/ Read more here - http://review-and-bonuss.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-guide-on-how-to-create-guide-thatll.html

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channelnewswire-blog · 5 years

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The conclusive, best New Zealand music of 2018

For the very first and last time, Henry Oliver offers his conclusive account of The Spinoff's finest New Zealand music of 2018. Read it and get mad.

Here it is, my 10 best albums and ten best songs, all from Aoteroa, all launched in 2018. The one rule: appearance on one list disqualifies that artist from appearing on the other list. Okay? Okay.ALBUMS 1.

Chelsea Jade-- Personal BestChelsea Jade has constantly cultivated an

air of secret-- a mix of art school obfuscation, an inconsistent release schedule, and her fierce self-reliance in a category that usually counts on deep-pocketed labels to pay for the revolving churchgoers of authors and manufacturers we have actually all pertained to consider required. However this year, her stream of consistently impressive singles and EPs finally coalesced into a launching album and it cleared the high bar of expectation she had actually generated. Personal Best is whatever a listener might want out of this brand-new type of pop music that is

n't that popular(someone I was speaking with recently called it 'unpop '). It's catchy but weird, integrating nods to the category's leading lights(Robyn, Carly Rae Jepsen, and so on)with production flourishes of ASMResque coughs, clicks and gasps. Just as the music is made with an eager ear for detail, the lyrics are alive with social nuance and microscopic minutes. They check out more like little essays than poems.(Personal Best makes me want to write all the words I hate to be used to explain music like'clever'and 'literate '.)And all of it is covered in this look and vibe that differs from anything else in 2018. It's simple to ignorethe degree of trouble Chelsea Jade has actually set for herself. The images, the videos, the dances, the live show, the Instagramming, the'individual brand name

'-- it's such a small target she's been able to strike. A few degrees off and it all looks fucking ludicrous. However Personal Best-- and everything surrounding it-- struck the bullseye.2. Avantdale Bowling Club-- Avantdale Bowling Club The day'Years Gone By'came out, I was connected immediately. It's my most-played New Zealand tune of the year on Spotify and it's 7 minutes long! Its accomplishment is type of extensive-- a single personrecounting their life, practically year-by-year in seven minutes while still holding to a

rhyme scheme and something near to a song-structure. Those in-depth moments of childhood, the discomforts of growing up, his moms and dads fucking up, him getting screwed up, him getting semi-famous and after that getting reduced, him growing up, getting married, having a child. Numerous months and lots of plays later, I still get goosebumps when I hear the lines"And now I watch his eyes viewing mine/ Viewing life on rewind, too magnificent to define in one line." If you know, you know.Like Personal Best, among the things that stay so outstanding about Avantdale Bowling Club is how tough it is to do this well. Envision being a rap artist and telling your partners something like, "You understand A Love Supreme!.?.!? I wish to make a record kinda like that but a rap record."It's preposterous. It

's like saying,"Yeah, I wish to make a film like Citizen Kane, however a superhero movie." Yet, in some way he

pulls it off once again andagain.' Pocket Lint ','F (r)iends ','Water Medley','Home'-- all are filled with elaborate rhymes that so empathetically explain a particular New Zealand life, covering inequality, imagination , property, relationship, fatherhood, hope, hopelessness.3. The Beths-- Future Me Dislikes Me Emo lyrics, pop-punk guitar sounds, 60s harmonies, power pop hooks-- this is the recordI didn't understandI needed (and even desired)in my life in 2018. Future Me Dislikes Me is guitar pop songwriting at it's best. There is no guitar-based album in 2018, anywhere, as catchy as this one. You may prefer the Mitski record or the 1975 record or the Courtney Barnett record or the Snail Mail record, however none is as catchy as this. Because it's not empty catchiness

-- the lyrics are truthful(in some cases a little cringy even) and amusing

."Our category is hooks," guitar player Jonathan Pearce informed us a month or so earlier. And sure, hooks aren't whatever, however they make you wish to press play and after that press it once again and once again and again.4. Marlon Williams-- Give Way for Love There's no voice like Marlon Williams'. Not here, not anywhere. I can listen to it for hours. His voice might soothe the world. It must soothe the world. I like a record so specifically about a break-up, although it's been a long time since I might connect to any of it in the smallest. I like'Love Is A Horrible Thing'. I love 'Nobody Gets What They Want Any longer'. I like'The Fire of Love'.5. Fanau Medical Spa-- Fanau Day Spa If you want an album that might just have actually been made here, could only have actually been made in 2018, Fanau Health club is it. Building on the partnership behind Coco Solid's COKES mixtape, Fanau Health spa is a

fluid combination of Coco

Solid, Queen Kapussi, Joe Kori, Big Fat Raro, Xamiishi, Manu, Brown Boy Magik, TH1R § T3EN and Yumgod. There's literally nothing else like it.6. Unknown Mortal Orchestra-- Sex and Food Unusual how just months after its release individuals seem to be sleeping on this album. I suggest, to be fair, I hadn't listened to it that much after seeing them play Whammy Bar in the middle of the year, however going through it now, there are a lot of tunes on this

album. I was going to consist of'A

God Called Hubris 'on my songs list because A. I like it; B. it seems like what The Mint Chicks might now if they were still a band, and C. I believed it 'd be funny to include a 41-second song on my songs list. That would not be reasonable to'Not in Love','Break Yourself ','Everybody Acts Crazy Nowadays'. Not to point out'Hunnybee 'which isn't my favourite song on the album but is an undeniable feel-good disco banger.7. Julien Dyne-- Teal This is a mind-bending, toe-tapping, knee-drumming bursting-through-the-speakers rhythm bomb of an

album. You simply give yourself to it and not your head a little out of time.( Likewise, includes among my favourite tunes of 2017,' Hours'with Ladi6.)8. October-- Ultra Red Take bombastic commercial beats, sugary pop production, Jesus and Mary Chain fuzz guitars, grind it up, put it out and you have October's Ultra Red. I've stated it elsewhere but goth is having a moment in a bunch of different locations(anybody else psyched about those This Mortal Coil reissues? )and it's just a matter of time up until somebody determine how to combine it with forward-thinking pop and find their way into teenager's minds worldwide. There's no reason why it could not be October in a year or so.9. P.H.F.-- I Hate Myself P.H.F.'s I Hate Myself resembles the degenerate twin of The Beth's Future Me Hates Me.

Liz Stokes may dislike herself in

the future, however Joe Locke is method ahead of her. Like Future Me, I Dislike Myself is a hook-laden power-pop-punk affair however shrouded in static. It's a bit Weezer, a bit Smashing Pumpkins, a bit all those late-00s"shitgaze"bands. So good!(Yells to twitter power user

@m_h_lumber who tweeted this to me a variety of times throughout the year.)10. Princess Chelsea-- The Loneliest Girl I never thought 2018 would be a huge year for the Lil'Chief visual. The scene that kinda reached its peak they year (s) when The Brunettes, The Ruby Suns, The Reduction Agents, but produced two high-quality albums this year(see listed below for the other). Princess Chelsea's The Loneliest Girl is full of wit and sincerity. TUNES 1. Church & AP-- 'Ready or Not'It may be recency bias, but fuck it. If not now, when? Live for today, amirite? I imply, I liked their Thorough Bread record a lot, however still wasn't prepared for this bona fide radio-friendly HIT. Song of the year? Why not? Provide me a reason not to!"Savignon blanc? I saw that shit and I provided it to ma. "2. Hans Pucket--'Fuck My Life'I composed what I need to

state about this song in our reader's study post. In short: this tune is a hit and in any other time, in any other media landscape, this would be on the charts. Still ... 3. Tiny Ruins--'Just How Much'"On a lilo reading your letter, "is probably my preferred opening line of a New Zealand song in 2018. What a scene! I like that this song subtly expands the Tiny Ruins sounds without taking too

far into the psych-lite territory it might have easily gotten to. I just desire to reside in this

world all the time. And I'm giving reward points for the bass solo of the year.4. JessB--'Set It Off 'Play this next time your phone is plugged in at a celebration. Play this to your kids. Play this all summertime with your vehicle windows down. One of the live highlights of the overly-polite music awards is one of the highlights of the whole damn year.5. Delaney

Davidson-- 'Shining Day'I love this plodding

dirge

of a tune. Co-written with SJD,'

Shining Day' is the favorable affirmation you have actually been waiting on. Whatever it is you desire to do-- do not wait. Today's the day. This day. This is your shining day. 6. Drax Task--'Got up Late'I used to hate Drax Task. Maybe I still do, I don't understand. One day, my pal and employer Duncan Greive asked,"have you heard the new Drax single?" Of course

I hadn't! Weren't they those Wellington music school

kids who did covers of radio hits? Why would I stay up to date with their output? Well, in some cases the stars simply align. And this is it. The very best business radio struck to come from these islands this year. By far. No question. This ought to beon the soundtrack of every Hollywood teen movie

for the next two years.7. SWIDT--'No Feelings In The Wild 'SWIDT goes dark! There've been some difficulties to the crown this year (see # 1 above)however up until somebody comes out with a full-length as excellent as Stoneyhunga, SWIDT is still the rap group to beat. And while this year's EP wasn't quite as excellent, it suffices to hold the area.8. Death and the Maiden--'Wisteria'Before the time of writing, the last time I

listened to this song was driving over the hillsnorth of Dunedin en route to Moeraki. It was raining, foggy as fuck, and there was nothing that sounded as perfect as this song. I can recommend the experience.9. Jonathan Bree--'You're So Cool'I mean, I don't understand exactly what to believe

about this. Is this extremely earnest or incredibly paradoxical? Too

earnest or too cold? Does it matter? It's just such a well-crafted tune-- financial yet expansive, rich production. And the look! The video! 10. Carb on Carbohydrate--' It's Been a Rough Year'It definitely has. (Seriously-- I didn't know I wished to ever hear second-wave emo once again up until I heard this record. It's so good though

. It goes to many places I, as a listener, am not constantly keen to go. I enjoy it for it. ) So much of the music mentioned above-- songs and/or albums by Chelsea Jade, Marlon Williams, The Beths, October and more-- was made with the assistance of NZ on Air. We thank them.

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yoursweatysaladbouquetunive-blog · 6 years

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Making Cheaper Calls About Your Android Phone

IPhone app development cost you quite $50 per hour for top quality developer. And good developers can charge anywhere between $100 and $200 each hour.Here's a developer's help and information for iPhone app costs alongside break-up with the development outlay. Hub Engage: This is often a business Buy App Reviews that can help you to procure the loyal customers this happens when you conserve your money. This is on offer at free of cost. One thing you need to remember about writing your iPad Buy App Reviews is that it really has to be really reader-friendly. Take into account that people who'd be reading your articles may not necessarily be all that tech-savvy. Nearly as much as possible, keep articles n easy. Make sure that they are simple to grasp. You also need to recollect that you are writing for the online world and as this is so, you need to keep content material simple cash back guarantee short essay sentences. Reading online is very different from reading on the internet. People have a more fleeting span of interest when they read about the internet. I regarded as several video-heavy websites, in order to realize have been already HTML5-ready. Examples would be the Onion, Daily Motion, ESPN, College Memorandum CNET. The biggest video websites -- YouTube and Vimeo -- have moved to HTML5, pretty.

If are usually any mobile application developer, develop Android applications and/or iphone applications, and want those applications to rank at the top Android perhaps Buy iOS App Reviews respectively, then it isn't just the quantity of downloads however your active user's number which will probably taken intoconcern. Use a person created Android application program to construct your application. A number of are challenging to use than others. You might find that the actual first is better suited for the application that you need to create over another. Also, it is beneficial to understand that consumer who created these built them into just to do this unique, specific use.

A little shooter game that just goes and much more. You must make rows of three and it's a seriously tactical recreation. You can either use your own (I enjoy to unwind playing a good number of of rounds of Dubble) or against each other types of. Mind that they don't throw the iPad relating to the floor though, if your kids are anything like mine, it are able to get quite more competitive! Sparks is really a prompt to tell Goggle + what associated with content to serve (spam) everyone. This one is also confusing. Facebook , Google, Amazon, and TIVO either already does this based on your profile. I'm guessing asking affords the users the impression they a few kind of control over what content they are presented thanks to.

#Buy Android App Reviews #Buy iOS Reviews

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lugano2rwanda · 7 years

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Final Reflection Essay

Why I Chose This Program

I still remember the day I first heard about this program. It was one of the first days of freshman year. I was sitting in my Introduction to Political Science class, when 4 unknown faces walked in and stood at the front of the room. I remember our professor, Courtney Thomas, telling us to pay attention to hear about a unique study abroad program. I had always known I wanted to study abroad, even in high school, I just didn’t know where. The travelling around Europe part was of course exciting but when they mentioned 5 weeks in Africa I knew I was sold.

When I was 15, I went on a trip to Fiji for 17 days. It was a service trip where we spent the first 10 days in a very small, secluded village in the Mountains called Nakavika; the next 7 days were spent touring the more touristy areas of Fiji, travelling from island to island on a sailboat. I always thought it was such a nice balance to be able to do something meaningful and also have time to relax and be a tourist. In Nakavika we did a home stay where we were really able to see the day-to-day lives of the people. It’s amazing how 10 days can change your outlook on life. Those 10 days changed my whole worldview. Never had I met happier people in my life. People who had nothing. I’ll never forget the children pulling each other in plastic gas tanks cut in half with a rope tied to it. That was the best toy to them. The people from Nakavika were the kindest people I had ever met. When I got home I was miserable. My perspective of the world had totally changed. Small issues did not seem so important anymore. Unlike my friends, I seemed to realize that we were lucky in so many ways. I broke down anytime I thought about how selfish Americans can be. I am so thankful for that experience because in many ways it altered my path in life. It led me to this program. After that day of first semester my freshman year, I knew I wanted to apply for this program. It was just a matter of waiting until the end of my sophomore year to apply. I had talked to a lot of people who had been on this trip and they just solidified my belief that this program was the one for me.

Hearing that this program has a hard time recruiting students because of the Africa portion is so strange to me. To me, the Africa portion is what set this program apart from others. It turned a normal study abroad experience into an extraordinary one. I guess in a way that’s what Fiji gave me: a desire to travel, but not just to the amazing, picture perfect places, everywhere. Plus after 5 years, I was ready for another reality check. I knew this was going to be something big for me.

The African Stereotype

The first thing I realized was that there is a huge stereotype that goes along with Africa. There are two types of comments you receive: “is that safe?” or “wow, you’re such a good person.” This is so unbelievably frustrating and it was from the get go. I would always counter with the handy: “I’m sure Virginia Tech wouldn’t send us anywhere unsafe.” I think a lot of that is because when people hear Rwanda they think of the genocide, but it’s been 20 years! I can’t even tell you how many people asked if I was scared to go to Africa. I don’t really understand why people have this belief that Africa is a scary place. The media definitely has perpetuated this negative portrayal of Africa. In terms of tackling all the people telling me how good of a person I was for doing this, I just smiled and internally screamed. My parents were my saving grace. They knew from Fiji that Rwanda was going to help me; I wasn’t going to help Rwanda. Coming home from Rwanda has been really hard. People keep telling me I’m a good person and that I changed lives. I just want to yell at them. They made more of an impact on us than we did on them. That’s what I’m going to start telling people. I want to stop the idea that people going to developing countries to do service are saints. It’s completely ridiculous. I want to battle this stereotype with my friends and family at home.

Application of Previous Experience

Before we got to our excursion site on the third day Desire wanted to stop at a market. We all got out and walked around and people flocked over to stare at the group of 20 white kids. It was so funny. All the children were so curious. Then the cutest thing happened. You could see the older women trying to convince the kids to do something and they weren’t having it. The women began to clap and I began to catch on to what was happening. Then finally 3 of the children gave in and started to dance. It was so cute. They were amazing! They had so much rhythm and the moves they were doing were so cool! Then of course it was our turn, because reciprocity: they embarrassed themselves and now it was our turn. Of course out of all 20 of us Baylee and I were the only ones who danced. We jokingly threw some silly dance moves. To me I knew I wanted to dance when the women turned to me and started clapping because I wanted them to know that they aren’t just my entertainment. We went to Africa to get out of our comfort zones and culturally bond and learn from each other. I wanted them to know that I was putting myself out there too. That’s how went about this trip and I can honestly say that’s because of my experience in Fiji. Fiji really taught me a lot that I didn’t even realize. So even though I was embarrassed and scared because I can’t really dance, I did it anyway because it’s about putting yourself into these experiences. Its not everyday you’re invited to a dance circle with people of a completely different culture. And how amazing was it that we could communicate without knowing each other’s language. The best part is, when we left. One of the little girls was doing one of the dance moves I had done. There really is no better feeling than bonding with people so different from you. I felt like my past experience really helped me get the most out of my experience in Rwanda. I dove into things headfirst and wasn’t afraid to be laughed at. I smiled and said hello to everyone I passed and tried to be the first to embarrass the heck out of myself. Everyone in our group got there pretty quickly. I would just say that at first, it was pretty evident those that had had a previous similar experience culturally bonding with people. I couldn’t be more thankful that I still carry the lessons I learned from Fiji. I think that’s why I had such deep meaningful connections in Rwanda. I was ready to immediately put myself out there and open to experiencing the culture to the fullest.

Being a Minority

The first thing I noticed in Rwanda was that everyone stared at us. Wherever we went. It never really got any more normal, we just got used to it. It’s weird to realize that in some of the villages they probably haven’t seen a lot of white people. Wherever we went a small crowd would flock and just stare. Our translator Patrick told us that in Rwanda its not rude to stare, its just how people learn. I was okay with it. It was the laughing that bothered me. Of course you get used to that and try and brush it off but sometimes it still hurts a little. Most of the laughing wasn’t malicious. That wasn’t what bothered me; it was the malicious laughter that stung. I think it was really good for all of us to experience being a minority. I learned a lot about what it feels like to be constantly stared at, getting skeptical looks because of my skin color, and being openly laughed at and talked about.

One of the first days we were in Rwanda, we went to the Genocide Memorial. I think it is very important to keep this as one of the first things you do. It teaches you so much about the culture and gives you key information to understand the background of the people around you. It was very emotional. I cried at the opening video and the children’s room. The children’s room was the worst. No doubt. It had pictures of kids with their favorite activity or food, their characteristics, what they wanted to be when they grew up, how old they were, and how they died. It was gut wrenching. The ways they died were vast: machetes, grenades, bludgeoned, burned, and thrown against a wall. The youngest was 9 months. I sobbed. The whole thing was so poignant. It really makes you wonder how something like that could have happened not so long ago. It made me think of the race relations in the US and pray that it never got that bad. People say that it won’t happen but it is worrisome with all the negative attention that’s going on right now. One of the parts of the memorial was about recognizing signs of genocide before it happens. One of the signs was dehumanizing a group of people based on race. This was seen when the Hutus called the Tutsi ‘cockroaches.’ This really hit home for me because it reminded me of all the people from my very small hometown that refer to black people as monkeys. Being a minority was a great experience for all of us. I think though a lot of people won’t recognize it; they are more sensitive to the mindsets of minorities in America. I definitely felt a lot of pressure not to confirm stereotypes of my minority and was very careful about the way I was acting in public.

Education Reform

After we finished teaching everyday we were all exhausted. It really takes the creative energy out of you. I definitely learned to appreciate teachers. Teachers are severely underpaid and underappreciated and I would love to go back to the United States and push for education reform. Teachers should be paid like doctors. After meeting all the people in Rwanda that speak multiple languages, I am of the firm belief that Americans should be taught a second language in primary school. Not just a few Spanish classes a week: actually teach children to be bilingual and we become far more competitive in the world. Because I have previous experience with teaching children and even teaching English as a second language I felt very comfortable teaching the children in Rwanda. This experience has made me look into working with the Peace Corps teaching English as a second language. It is tough and extremely exhausting but it was also really rewarding. I can easily see how teachers can be such important role models to children.

White Privilege

One thing that really got to me was when the kids constantly asked for money or water or even our items. That was really sad because I know they are conditioned to think that white people are just here to bring money. It’s also really sad because when a 5 year old asks for money you know that they didn’t come up with that themselves. You know that parents are teaching them to ask because the kids have a better chance at getting money. Of course I know that money isn’t the solution. It’s simply a short-term solution. You have to teach them how to be sustainable. Giving them money and using it to make something sustainable is one thing, just giving her pocket change is another. If you want to help people, give them a cow so that they can sell the milk and have a sustainable source of income. Then teach give them basic money management skills. It just makes me sad knowing that they associate us with money. That’s why Desire and Prosper’s three goats one cow program is so incredible. Its giving the people the boost they need to get out of the poverty trap and giving them the means to stay out of it. I think we experience some stereotype threat as well. At least I was aware that we were representing all white people so I tried really hard not to mess up or do anything wrong. We all felt terrible when Maya told us to stop eating in the market because it’s considered rude because most people are hungry and poor. I thought well there we go perpetuating this stereotype of rich white people, flaunting their wealth. I was so mad at myself.

In Rilima we saw some white men driving around in a truck. As they passed us they raised their wine glasses. As if that wasn’t frustrating enough, when we saw them again they were stopped in the road handing candy to the children in the streets. That really disgusted me because I finally saw a first hand account of why children ask us for money and our stuff all the time. White people come and hand candy or money out of their window like they’re feeding animals at the zoo. Come and give the children a proper education so they have the opportunity to further their studies. Come give them a cow to give them a sustainable source of income. It’s completely ridiculous to come to a place and give everyone the idea that we are above them in any way.

For community day we walked down to the community center to begin working. We were with a group of about 100 people who just looked to be shoveling then hoeing dirt in scattered areas. We later found out that we were leveling a patch of dirt so that they could plant trees for shade. Prosper told us all to jump in and ask people if they needed breaks. Most of the girls jumped in almost immediately. We felt weird and out of place and we knew we would be laughed at but we wanted to try and help. It was difficult at first because not many people could communicate with us what to do. Of course we were laughed and stared at as we pleaded with Mandella (our translator) to help us figure out what to do. Most of us had no idea what leveling a ground consisted of. I distinctly remember turning around with my shovel and trying to hand it to some of the boys on our program. They shook their heads and said they didn’t want to be laughed at. This to me was completely ridiculous. As if we wanted to be laughed at either? Of course we will be laughed at for not knowing what to do, but it is way better than standing around watching others do work. I refuse to perpetuate the stereotype that white people are above working. At the community day while taking a break, I met a boy named John about my age. John is from Rilima and has just graduated from the University of Rwanda. We talked for a long while about various topics but one thing that really struck me was when he told me that people were amazed that we were working with them. They had never seen a white person doing physical labor. They assumed we were all rich enough to pay someone else to do it. I tried to explain to John that at Virginia Tech we have a community day called the Big Event that is a lot like the one in Rwanda. He was amazed to know that we do community service in America. It honestly made me really sad to think about that. I can only pray that at least for the people at community day, we broke that stereotype.

Improving the Program

Leaving Gatagara was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I had been keeping it together for so long. But as always things didn’t hit me until the last minute. So of course as soon as I was hugging Patrick goodbye I broke down. Not just normal tears streaming down my face though, I was hyperventilating. Of course Maya saw and came over and gave me a big hug and tried to calm me down and told me that she and I would talk about that possible internship next summer she had told me about the night before. I didn’t stop crying about leaving for another hour and a half. I was on the bus silent, looking out the window and crying. Of course I was excited about Rilima but I just knew I wanted to stay in Gatagara. We were just getting comfortable and getting to know everyone really well and suddenly we have to leave. I don’t understand it at all. Everyone said they were surprised about me crying so much when we left but I told them I didn’t know why because I have been saying I don’t want to leave since the first week there. In Gatagara we worked with Kids Play International, which was such an awesome experience. KPI is doing really amazing things there for gender equity and it is so easy to see the difference between KPI kids and kids in the community. Working with KPI is something I would definitely look into doing after this program. I just love KPI, Maya, Patrick, the KPI coaches, Val, Michael, and the kids so much. I honestly don’t see why we go to two locations. I still had so much to learn from Maya and Patrick and I desperately wanted those last two weeks to get to know everyone better. I feel that in order to really make a lasting impact you need to really get to know people and bond and it would be so much better to stay in one location so that you get really close with the people you are around. I know it would make leaving even harder but when leaving is hard that’s when you know something is amazing is what leaves a lasting impression on people. Leaving Gatagara was one of the hardest goodbyes I’ve ever had to make. I just knew that everything in Rilima would be compared to Gatagara. If I were to improve the program I would say have everyone stay in one location the whole time. I just feel like we would make a more lasting impression and they would make more of a lasting impression on us if we spent a whole month in one location. I would also definitely look into doing some sort of homestay. Even if the homestay was for a week of the trip I think it would be unbelievably beneficial for us to completely experience day-to-day life of the culture. In Fiji, staying in the houses with the people is a huge reality check. Our guesthouses in Gatagara and Rilima are amazing. I just don’t think they give us the whole experience.

The field practicum portion of this program was really helpful before Africa. Learning classroom management and how to lesson plan seemed annoying and unnecessary at first, but I think we were all really glad we had done it. I think if we could improve that portion of the program, we could do it by having us learn more in depth about the organizations we will be working with and teaching us how to work with a language barrier. I think they could have had us work harder before hand to find and perfect strategies to deal with a language barrier. If possible our field practicum house mom should have been in the location you are teaching in so they can give you more accurate information about the level to which you are teaching. My group went in with big plans and was shocked that none of the students spoke English at all.

I really liked doing the grant proposal. I think it was a great experience. However, it is slightly counterintuitive to form a grant proposal before going to the countries. It goes against everything Brinberg taught us about going to a country and hearing what they need versus just assuming what they need. Going with ideas and then forming the grant proposal after I think is the best way to get the best ideas out. I also think we should learn about each organization we will be working with in each location before we work on our grant proposal. We should be encouraged to make a grant proposal in the area we will be going and using an organization that we will be working with. My group had trouble because our original grant proposal was in Huye but after being in Gatagara and Rilima we had contacts in each location and had deep connections with those areas.

I also really liked the people we worked with in each location. I love how the translators stay with us and we really get close with them. Fiji changed my outlook on the world but Rwanda gave me a strong bond with the culture and the people. The environment of Fiji taught me 5 years ago but the people of Rwanda taught me this time. To clarify what I mean, I was not shocked seeing the poverty in Africa. I had experienced this before. While everyone was amazed and having these revelations about the world and life and poverty, I was nodding and thinking back to when I had those revelations. I wasn’t shocked by the cold water or lack of resources these were things I expected. I don’t want to portray that I think I had a better or worse experience than anyone else on this trip. I just had a different one. My previous experience gave me a head start on certain things but most everyone on the trip got there pretty quickly, at least for my Africa group. My changes from this trip were based on the meaningful interactions I had with people. The KPI coaches taught me that I can do anything that I put my mind to. Maya taught me that it might take time to get where you are supposed to be and it might be completely unexpected. Patrick taught me that I can overcome anything in my life; you just have to choose to overcome it. Raissah and Mandella taught me that friendship is universal and different cultures or beliefs shouldn’t hold you back from making meaningful connections. Desire, Prosper, and Zach taught me that you can be a vehicle for change in your community in many different ways. I still have so much to learn but I know the lessons they taught me will be with me always.

Conclusion

I fell in love with the culture, the beautiful geography, and the laid back way of life in Rwanda. Leaving Rwanda was really hard but leaving the people was the most difficult. It wasn’t the thought of leaving the place, it was the thought that I may never see these people again. I may never sit while Patrick has his fourth cup of tea and listen as he gives me some of the best life advice I have ever received. I may never watch the KPI coaches be such amazing mentors and role models to the kids. I may never know if Joel passed his exam and is able to attend University. I truly believe this program will alter the course of my life. I have already made so many changes to my future plans and broadened my horizons on career paths. I now want to look into going back to Rwanda as soon as possible. I hope to work with Desire or Maya again possibly this summer. I have decided not to go to grad school right away but to apply to the Peace Corps instead.

I said this in Brinberg’s class the day after we got back to Switzerland and I continue to stand by my idea that we should all meet up for a discussion in February to follow up with this program. We all cannot even begin to fathom all of the changes in ourselves. It won’t become clear until we are back in our home environments. Of course we can begin to self examine here while we are with people we can talk to about our experience, and this is an important step. However, the most changes in ourselves will be noticed when we return back home. I believe the greatest way to ensure that we don’t simply return to our previous ways of life is to meet back up and re-discuss the changes we have seen in ourselves. I will end this by saying that I could probably write a book with all the thoughts swirling around in my head and I am happy to continue to discuss more if interested. I just want to thank this program for all the amazing things it has given me.

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