#shoutout to all my history nerds | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lingthusiasm · 9 months

Text

Transcript Episode 83: How kids learn Q’anjob’al and other Mayan languages - Interview with Pedro Mateo Pedro

This is a transcript for Lingthusiasm episode ‘How kids learn Q’anjob’al and other Mayan languages - Interview with Pedro Mateo Pedro’. It’s been lightly edited for readability. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts. Links to studies mentioned and further reading can be found on the episode show notes page.

[Music]

Gretchen: Welcome to Lingthusiasm, a podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics! I’m Gretchen McCulloch. I’m here with Dr. Pedro Mateo Pedro who’s an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, Canada, a native speaker of Q’anjob’al, and a learner of Kaqchikel. Today, we’re getting enthusiastic about kids acquiring Indigenous languages.

But first, some announcements. We love looking up whether two words that look kind of similar are actually historically related, but the history of a word doesn’t have to define how it’s used today. To celebrate how we can grow up to be more than we ever expected, we have new merch that says, “Etymology isn’t Destiny.” Our artist, Lucy Maddox, has made “Etymology isn’t Destiny” into a swoopy, cursive design with a fun little destiny star on the dot of the eye, available in black, white, and my personal favourite, rainbow gradient. This design is available on lots of different colours and styles of shirts. We’ve got hoodies, tank tops, t-shirts in classic fit, relaxed fit, curved fit – plus mugs, notebooks, stickers, water bottles, zipper pouches. You know, if it’s on Redbubble, we might’ve put “Etymology isn’t Destiny” on it.

We also have tons of other lingthusiastic merch available in our merch store at lingthusiasm.com/merch. I have to say, it makes a great gift to give to a linguistics enthusiast in your life or to request as a gift if you are that linguistics enthusiast.

We also wanna give a special shoutout to our aesthetic redesign of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Last year, we reorganised the classic IPA chart to have colours and have little cute circles and not just be boring grey lines of boxes and to even more elegantly represent the principle that the location of the symbols and rows and columns represents the place and degree of constriction in the mouth. I think it looks really cool. It’s also a fun little puzzle to sit there and figure out which of the specific circles around different things stands for what. We’ve now made this aesthetic IPA chart redesign available on lots more merch options, including several different sizes of posters from small ones you can put on a corkboard to large ones you can put up in your hallway. They look really, really good, especially if you have some sort of office-y space that needs to be decorated. Plus, it’s on tote bags and notebooks and t-shirts. If you want everyone you meet to know that you’re a giant linguistics nerd, you can take them to conferences and use them to start nerdy conversations with people.

If you like the idea of linguistics merch but none of ours so far is quite hitting your aesthetic, or if there’s an item that Redbubble sells that you think one of our existing designs would look good on, we’ve added quite a few merch items in response to people’s requests over the years, so we’d love to know where the gaps still are and keep an eye on lingthusiasm.com/merch.

Our most recent bonus episode was a behind-the-scenes interview with Sarah Dopierala, who you may recognise as a name from the end credits, about what it’s like doing transcripts from a linguistics perspective and her life generally as a linguistics grad student. You can go to patreon.com/lingthusiasm to get access to all of the many bonus episodes and to help Lingthusiasm keep running.

[Music]

Gretchen: Hello, Pedro, welcome to the show!

Pedro: Hello. Thank you so much for this invitation. I really appreciate it.

Gretchen: We’re really excited to have you. Let’s start with the question that we ask all of our guests, “How did you get interested in linguistics?”

Pedro: That’s an interesting question. I think there’re two main things. One is that I had the opportunity to attend a boarding school where there were many Mayan languages and, in addition to that, there was a class on grammar of Mayan languages, and I think that’s one of the things that motivated me to be curious about that language. Then after becoming an elementary school teacher, I was also interested about knowing more about how these languages work. For example, how language works in this case – well, in the case of Guatemala, for example, people think – I am assuming that that was in the past, but there’s, I think, some people who still think that Indigenous languages don’t have a grammar from there as well. Is it true that, in fact, there’s no grammar of this language? That’s kind of how I started –

Gretchen: There’s no language with no grammar.

Pedro: That’s true. I like when people say that everybody has a mental grammar. I like that. Which is true for every language as well. It’s how I would say I got interested in linguistics.

Gretchen: And you’re already a speaker of Q’anjob’al, and so going to this boarding school and being exposed to other people speaking other languages.

Pedro: Also, I acquired Q’anjob’al when I was a kid. And then I went to this boarding school. But unfortunately, I didn’t know any of those languages until later when I started living with my wife who is a native speaker of Kaqchikel, and from there I started to learn, but it has been a long process for me.

Gretchen: To learn different ones. So, you were at boarding school, and you’re encountering, “Okay, Mayan languages have grammar – great!” What happened after that?

Pedro: When I graduated from this boarding school, I became an elementary school teacher. I taught, I think, a couple of years. But one thing that I noticed is that there was that need to understand a bit more of the language. I thought, well, this is something that one of my best friends, who is Eladio Mateo Toledo, he said, “Well, let’s find someplace to go.” We went to school in Guatemala City to study sociolinguistics at that time. I’m talking about years ago. But it was a way to find opportunities to learn a little bit more about the languages.

Gretchen: So, you studied sociolinguistics in Guatemala City and thought, “Oh, this is cool. I wanna do more of it”?

Pedro: I finished sociolinguistics, and then I received a fellowship or a scholarship in a different university. It’s Universidad Rafael Landívar. There was this project called “EDUMAYA” where there were scholarships to Mayan speakers or Indigenous speakers in Guatemala. This was an opportunity for me to get an undergrad in linguistics. After that, I think I took two or one year off, but while I missed those years from school, I was working at OKMA – Oxlajuuj Keej Mayab’ Ajtz’iib’ – under the direction of Nora England.

Gretchen: What is this organisation?

Pedro: This organisation works on Mayan languages. It’s a group of Mayan speakers who studied their own language.

Gretchen: That sounds great.

Pedro: It was really great. In that case, I was an elementary school teacher, and then I started to work very hard at OKMA. It was a huge difference teaching kids and then doing analysis on a language. For me it was a big transition, but it was amazing because I had the opportunity to learn many things about how Mayan language work. It was unique.

Gretchen: And the kids that you were teaching when you were teaching in school were Mayan kids as well?

Pedro: Yeah, most of them were Mayan kids, so they spoke Q’anjob’al. Even though there is this idea about bilingual education in these Indigenous communities, I had this opportunity to teach these children in Q’anjob’al. One of the norms of education is you teach these kids, and they have to learn Spanish and something like that. So, what I did is, okay, let’s take as the base the knowledge that they bring from home. They speak the language, they understand the language, so we need to teach them how to write and read. That’s what I did. I was in trouble because the parents didn’t like the idea of teaching the children in Q’anjob’al.

Gretchen: They wanted them to learn Spanish.

Pedro: Exactly. They said, “Why do we need Q’anjob’al? Why do we need to write when we speak the language?” One of the arguments I made is, okay, yeah, but we need something already that will help us to learn to write and read. It took me a while. One way to convince the parents to change their mind was that, in the first meeting when they came in to get their children’s grade, I started the meeting in Spanish. I messaged them in Spanish. It didn’t last for a minute, and they stopped me. They started to complain and say, “Why would you talk to us in Spanish when, in fact, you know that we speak Q’anjob’al?” Different people, they were angry or uncomfortable because of that. After that, I asked them this question, “Have you thought about your children who spend about five or six hours every day here at school?”

Gretchen: “And if I speak to them in Spanish, they’re not gonna understand me either.”

Pedro: Exactly. That was my point. And this “Oh, yeah, yeah.” “Have you thought about that? Do they complain?” “No.” “Okay, because they are kids.”

Gretchen: They don’t know any better, yeah.

Pedro: For me, it’s important for these children to understand what’s going on in school. One way to do this – using the language that they know. I was able, in this case, to talk with the parents, “Okay, we understand what you are after.” I had the opportunity then to teach the children, at least, I mean, at that time – so divide a year in two parts. In the first part, I would teach the kids in writing and reading Q’anjob’al. And then in the next part of the year, we switched to Spanish. But at least that was an opportunity to –

Gretchen: They have sort of a balance of the two and accommodation of the two, and they’re not coming in and suddenly someone’s talking at them in a language they don’t understand at all – “Okay, what’s going on?” Yeah.

Pedro: Those were the things that I really liked when I go back to that experience that I had as an elementary school teacher.

Gretchen: Then you started doing language work with other linguists and speakers.

Pedro: Yeah. Again, when I came to OKMA, I started working with a group of Q’anjob’al speakers on the dialectal variation of Q’anjob’al. I was there, I think, less than three years. Then I left Guatemala because my wife had a scholarship, and we went to the US. That’s how I started learning English, and then started the MA and PhD programme at the University of Kansas.

Gretchen: In linguistics as well?

Pedro: In linguistics, yeah. Then I started to work on how children acquire Mayan languages – of course, not all Mayan languages, but I started to work on Q’anjob’al to document how these children acquire Q’anjob’al.

Gretchen: Sort of informed by this experience as a schoolteacher saying, “Okay, these kids are coming in already speaking this language. What’s going on?”

Pedro: I think the question is, “What do they know?” That’s how I got interested in this. Plus, at that time I had my first son who was, I think, one-year-and-a-half or something. It was like, okay, this is an opportunity for me to learn how to document child language acquisition. So, then I started to work on Q’anjob’al.

Gretchen: I think there are a lot of linguists who get interested in child language acquisition because you have a child, you’re spending all this time taking care of your child, “What are they doing?”

Pedro: For me, it was really interesting because, again, going back to when we moved from Guatemala to the US, the first time I took care of my son, so I made basically a diary of what he was saying almost every day. I have my notes – I dunno – somewhere.

Gretchen: Then you started looking at other children as well.

Pedro: Yeah. For my MA, for example, I looked at, I think, eight or ten children. It was a cross-sectional study. As for my PhD, I worked on a longitudinal study. My main focus at that time was on how these children acquire the verb morphology in the language, in this case, the word that indicates action, for example, what happens, and then the different parts that are necessary in that verb, for example. We talk about when the action happened, and who is participating in the action. Those are the kinds of things that I tried to evaluate in my study. That’s something that, also, I have been working on these days.

Gretchen: I mean, this is the kind of thing that it’s not like, oh, you study it for one degree, and now you know everything. This is the kind of thing that people could study for a whole career.

Pedro: Exactly. That’s an interesting point because what I have learned is that, okay, I’m going to – so my advisor said, “Well, you can start with this.” And I said, “Well, okay.” I started studying acquisition of the verb morphology, I think, more than 10 years ago. And I thought, “Well, I am done.” It’s not true! Because every time I look at the data, and I find other things, and I start asking other questions. There is no end of that – which is a nice thing that you start with something small –

Gretchen: You’re not gonna be out of a job.

Pedro: It’s nice. I think one thing that I really appreciate is the opportunity that I have also in documenting acquisition for Mayan languages. For example, I have documented the acquisition of Chuj, another written Mayan language to Q’anjob’al, for example. By looking into a known language, it helps me to understand what must be going on in Q’anjob’al. And I said, “Wow! I wish I had access to this language before so I could have a better idea of how to explain what was going on.”

Gretchen: You can find some things that are similar between Chuj and Q’anjob’al, and some things that are different, because the languages are grammatically, you know, related. They’re similar.

Pedro: That really helped in terms of analysis, in terms of understanding what’s going on, in terms of explaining a specific phenomenon, for example. It really helps to have that kind of mirror, for example, to see what’s going on.

Gretchen: One thing that I know about when kids are acquiring English is they often make mistakes. They’ll say things like “runned” instead of “ran” or something like that. This tells you “Oh, they’re generalising something about a rule.” Are there some things that come up with mistakes kids make or interesting things that kids do when they’re acquiring –

Pedro: That’s an interesting question. That’s something I was looking at, for example, for Chuj and for Q’anjob’al is that, so in Mayan languages, for example, there is this suffix that is known as the “status suffix” that appears after a verb. The idea of this status of something, like, it’s indicating what information is provided by the verb.

Gretchen: “Style” suffix?

Pedro: “Status.” “Status suffix.” It indicates whether the verb is a transitive verb or an intransitive verb. In this case, when we talk about intransitive verbs, it’s one participant of the verb. Transitive verb – two participants.

Gretchen: So, if you have something like “walk,” it’s gonna be intransitive, and it’s gonna have one status suffix. If you have something like, well, the classic example is “hit,” but I always find that very violent – you know, “hug” or something – that’s gonna be transitive. And it’s gonna have a different suffix.

Pedro: A different – yeah. In English, for example, that’s just one form of the verb. But in Mayan languages, or someplace, you have a specific morphology on the verb to indicate that, well, you are talking about an intransitive verb or a transitive verb.

Gretchen: So, if it’s just “I eat,” it’s gonna have one status suffix. If it’s “I eat an apple,” it’s gonna have a different status suffix to indicate that that’s there. Okay.

Pedro: I think, trying to answer your question, that all of this – I mean, there are all things that happen with this status suffix, but I haven’t seen children, for example, producing errors with these status suffixes. One thing that we have seen as maybe “errors” or children overgeneralising is the production of the status suffixes in a specific position. One thing that we know about status suffixes is that sometimes they appear at the end of a verb, and other times, they don’t. But in other times, they do. Then the question is, “What happened?”

Gretchen: And adults know this?

Pedro: An adult knows. But for a child, there are different variations on these status suffixes that a child has to find as a challenge. One thing that we notice is that these children, for example, produce these suffixes in non-final position – something that is not seen –

Gretchen: The adults only produce it at the end of the verb, at the end of the sentence?

Pedro: Yes and no. If they have what we call a “root verb” – consonant-vowel-consonant is the idea.

Gretchen: Consonant-vowel-consonant is a “root verb,” okay.

Pedro: When you have that verb with that “shape,” let’s say, that suffix doesn’t appear in the non-final position. But if you have something that is, let’s say, derived, then that suffix has to be there.

Gretchen: Okay. If you make the verb into something else by changing the tense or something –

Pedro: By changing the status of that word. You have the word “song,” for example, and then you make the verb “to sing,” then you add a morpheme to it so that this noun “song” becomes an intransitive. Because of that, then it’s a derived intransitive verb.

Gretchen: It’s a derived intransitive, and you need to have the suffix. Do the kids do this?

Pedro: They produce that. One thing that we noticed is that they make that difference between derived and non-derived intransitive verbs. Again, it’s like they are acquiring that, but that’s what we see as something problematic for them in acquiring those status suffixes.

Gretchen: They have some difficulties still.

Pedro: That’s, I would say, where we see them making those mistakes or having trouble with acquiring the suffixes.

Gretchen: Is there something that you’ve noticed that’s interesting about how kids are acquiring the languages you’ve worked on?

Pedro: In addition to looking at the verb morphology, I also studied how children acquire the nominal classifier – numeral classifier – in Q’anjob’al. In this case, some Mayan languages have a nominal classifier or a numeral classifier. In this language, for example, everything has to be classified. If you refer to a woman, for example, you’re going to use the classifier “ix,” and then “naq,” for example, for men. Then if you have other things like –

Gretchen: You know, a hat or something.

Pedro: Then it would be “chʼen,” for example.

Gretchen: That’s for objects in general, or are there several different kinds of objects?

Pedro: Well, for animals, for people, for objects, and things like that.

Gretchen: So, if you have a dog or something?

Pedro: That’s going to be different. That’s going to be “no’.” I was interacting with this child. He was a boy. Well, first, he was interacting with his grandmother. These classifiers were there. He was like “ix” or “naq” or “chem” or “ch’en” or “no’” – everything that was –

Gretchen: Everything that you would expect for all the different kinds of things that you can refer to.

Pedro: And then someone came to visit grandma. So, grandma left the conversation, so that left just the boy and myself. This is what happened. All of those classifiers were gone. There’s just one that stayed, which is “ix.”

Gretchen: So, he’s using “ix” for everything.

Pedro: “Ix” for everything. But this is not something that he’s just making up. It’s something that we can see in the other grammar.

Gretchen: Okay. Do other children do this as well?

Pedro: Other children do, but mainly boys – not girls.

Gretchen: Interesting.

Pedro: The thing is that this “ix” that replaces all nominal classifiers occurs mainly among men. People have argued that it’s mostly in informal contexts.

Gretchen: Right. So, because his grandma is gone, and you two are men together – well, he’s like, 3 years old.

Pedro: Exactly. It’s kind of like, “Okay, yeah, let’s use the ‘ix,’” replacing the others.

Gretchen: He’s sensitive to the sociolinguistic context of “Oh, women aren’t here anymore, so I’m gonna do this thing” –

Pedro: “With this guy.”

Gretchen: “With this guy.” Even at this young age.

Pedro: Exactly. He was about 2-and-a-half or 3 years old. This boy is able to distinguish both contexts. His grandma has come back in the conversation, and then those classifiers came back.

Gretchen: Wow. He’s really paying attention to this dynamic situation of whether his grandma is here or not changing how he talks.

Pedro: When to use all the classifiers and when to use just one classifier. For me, again, that’s a way to illustrate that these children, they’re exposed to the language, and they are exposed to this system of the nominal classifier, but in addition to that information, the social aspect of that nominal –

Gretchen: And the cultural context where if you just had kids who are trying to learn language in a classroom while maybe the teacher is a woman, and you don’t have all the different types of social situations.

Pedro: One of the things that’s important to emphasise, then, when we do language documentation is making sure that that interaction with that child doesn’t happen only with grandma, for example, but happens with the different gender – I mean, in this case, female/male, and also –

Gretchen: Ages.

Pedro: And there’s ages and the kids themselves.

Gretchen: Because maybe the kids are talking differently with each other than they’re talking with their grandparents or their aunts and uncles or the older generation. The researcher doesn’t necessarily know in advance which things the kids are gonna be paying attention to because maybe the kids don’t learn how to talk like the men until they’re older. You don’t know what age they learn that until you’re studying it.

Pedro: Exactly. I would say the take home message in this part of the conversation is documenting everything, basically, because you never know, I mean, what you will learn. I mean, you never know what will come with this child’s interaction.

Gretchen: I think sometimes when we’re analysing how kids talk, at least a lot of the studies that I see on big languages like English, they bring the kid and maybe one parent, the mom or something, into a lab and they have them talk in this controlled but also very artificial environment. You don’t have the environments of, “Well, somebody comes to the door, so grandma has to go answer the door” that lets you have this situation where you can illuminate this effect. Sometimes, if you do too much control, you don’t actually see the natural things that happen.

Pedro: That’s the difference that we see, I mean, in this case between doing an experimental study and a naturalistic setting, for example. I think when you do certain things in that natural setting, then you have the opportunity to see the language being used in different contexts, for example. In this case that we are discussing for the “ix,” I think it’s a unique illustration of the importance of documenting the language as a whole.

Gretchen: In the whole community, cultural context. I mean, of course, then you also have the thing of like, “Oh, if there’s some birds in the background or something.”

Pedro: Again, that’s the advantage and disadvantage of doing this kind of work. I think it’s good to do both, especially when we talk about Indigenous languages. You mentioned something important, “Okay, what do we know, for example, about language acquisition?” I think most of that information comes from the well-known languages. What happens to these less studied languages or languages that haven’t been studied at all, for example – how to bring those languages into discussing what we learn about language acquisition?

Gretchen: And there’s two reasons why that’s really important. One is because, for speakers of those languages, if they want to try to support using them in schools or using them in daily life or trying to revitalise a language that’s become less common in daily life, having the knowledge of “How do kids talk in this language? What are their first words like? How do adults normally talk to children in a bit of a different style?”

Pedro: I think we can say that it’s not just about the grammatical aspect of the language that these kids are acquiring, but at the same time, how they are acquiring that language, for example. I think one thing that it would be good to connect with language revitalisation is, like, let’s learn the language thinking like we are kids. Because a kid, for example, wouldn’t think about “Oh, is this the way to say it?” “Should I put this here?”

Gretchen: “Should I put this suffix on this verb?”

Pedro: Exactly.

Gretchen: Kids don’t know what a suffix is.

Pedro: And it takes time for them to get to the production of the adult level. For instance, also the sound system that these children produce. Q’anjob’al, for example, has retroflex sounds like /ʈʂʰ/ or /ʈʂʼ/, for example, /ʂ/. And these kids do not produce them like –

Gretchen: They can’t produce them immediately.

Pedro: No, no, no. It takes time for them. I will say three-years-and-a-half or four. It takes that time to produce this retroflex. I think when we are in the context of revitalisation, those learners of a language will go through similar patterns of acquisition.

Gretchen: If you’re trying to re-learn Q’anjob’al as an adult and being stressed that you can’t produce the retroflex and say, “Look, it takes the kids four years. If it takes you four years, that’s really normal. You can keep practicing this and get better at it. If you can’t do it on the first day, then you still have hope.”

Pedro: That’s the importance of doing this kind of project and documenting how children acquire this kind of language. Then this information can be useful for other purposes.

Gretchen: Q’anjob’al also has the ejectives, which I’m not doing a very good job of pronouncing, but you’ve been saying it in the name of the language itself that “Q’anjob’al.”

Pedro: /qʼanxobʼal/, yes.

Gretchen: Do kids learn those really early, or are they a bit harder?

Pedro: It takes time for them as well. That’s another interesting question because what we have noticed is that these children, when they try to produce these ejectives, they would follow two strategies. One – either they produce the plain consonant.

Gretchen: So /kanxobal/ instead of /qʼanxobal/?

Pedro: Exactly. Or they would just produce the glottal stop.

Gretchen: Oh, okay, so /ʔnxobal/?

Pedro: Or something like /ʔanxobal/, but I’m just making this up. It will be something like this – either they use a plain or this glottal stop. It’s a process.

Gretchen: Extracting the two possible features that you would need to put together eventually.

Pedro: This has been reported for the acquisition of sounds in K’iche’ and Chuj, and I also see it in Q’anjob’al.

Gretchen: These are all Mayan languages that have –

Pedro: Mayan languages that have ejectives as well. Maybe someone will say, “This is our dialectal variation,” or “It’s just the kids,” I mean, because of individual differences, but no, it’s across –

Gretchen: It’s across a bunch of them. That gets us to the other reason why it’s really important to document kids acquiring lots of different languages – Indigenous languages – is that, when we’re trying to think, “What do we think about how kids learn language in general?” if we base those theories entirely on a few big languages that have other relatively similar typological features in some cases – English and Spanish are typologically related, and so if you’re coming up with a theory just based on English and Spanish, well, you know, that’s not very generalisable.

Pedro: That’s true. I think that’s one of the other things that we wanted to mention here, like how to include other languages to understand human language and also how these children acquire languages – human languages in the world, you mentioned, that sometimes haven’t been explored at all. It would be good to document those languages and have a better idea of what these kids do. But the other thing that I’m going to add here is that, yeah, we want to have a better idea of how these children acquire language, but at the same time, how this information can be used, again, for language revitalisation or for language maintenance or things that the community’s interested in. One thing that I noticed, for example, about this in Q’anjob’al is that these children, their first words have a basic shape which is consonant-vowel-consonant. This is really common in the whole Mayan languages, but these are the specific things that these children produce. If that’s the case, then is this information possible to use when we consider creating teaching materials for these children? It would be a good thing to have this because it’s going to be much easier if these children can read these words with this shape, for example.

Gretchen: Right. If you know what words they’re acquiring early, then you can say, “Oh, well, we’ll put those words in maybe the first books that we’re trying to have them learn because you don’t wanna try to have them read a book with words that they don’t understand, they’re not using already. You can use this small shape – because Mayan languages have, you know, quite a bit of prefixes and suffixes and things on the words but, of course, you have to start somewhere, and that’s just with – the roots are generally consonant-vowel-consonant, so they just produce the root first, and then they start adding things onto it.

Pedro: Exactly. They are good at identifying those roots in the input or in the adult grammar in this case, yeah. Also, I had the opportunity to collaborate with other people about trying to understand how these pieces are put in the verb. What we have noticed is that there’s the root, and then children are good at producing suffixes.

Gretchen: Ah. But not prefixes?

Pedro: Not prefixes, but for a reason.

Gretchen: What’s that?

Pedro: Stress.

Gretchen: Oh.

Pedro: Stress is also with these suffixes. You have the root and then the suffix.

Gretchen: And that’s the part they do first, and then they do the prefixes much later.

Pedro: Yeah, later.

Gretchen: Interesting.

Pedro: That’s the other thing that we have.

Gretchen: So, you work at the University of Toronto now.

Pedro: Yes.

Gretchen: What sorts of projects are you working on there?

Pedro: Well, my position is about language documentation and language revitalisation. One of the projects that I am currently working on is about the revitalisation of Itza’, another Mayan language spoken in Guatemala, in the northern part of Guatemala, in Petén. It’s a language that has been considered an endangered language because it has less than 40 speakers.

Gretchen: Wow. Less than 40.

Pedro: And most of them are elders. I think this week I was asked about how old is the youngest, and I said, “Well, 70-something.” Children are not acquiring that language anymore. But the goal in this project is how to teach the language and how to bring the language back. That’s one of the projects that I am doing – how to do that. One thing that we are doing with the community is two main things, 1.) is developing a workshop on teaching them how to teach the language.

Gretchen: Right. Because just because you can speak a language doesn’t mean you know how to teach it.

Pedro: That’s one of the things that we did. What would be the best method? We’re using a method that has been used in other contexts, so let’s try to use this for the revitalisation of Itza’, in this case, not for all Mayan languages, but for Itza’ because of the condition of it.

Gretchen: Because Q’anjob’al still has lots of speakers.

Pedro: Lots of speakers, yeah, so it’s different from Itza’. So, that’s one thing. The other thing we are doing – and for me this is really important because we are developing pedagogical material that we are using for the same purpose, but the unique thing for this grammar is that we have students at the University of Toronto who are involved in creating information about the grammar. In this case, these students are doing research about the subject of Itza’, but because they are preparing this material for non-linguists, for example, it’s an opportunity for them, okay, they have to understand the structure of the language but then how to share that information with people who are not linguists.

Gretchen: Who wanna become speakers and don’t have background in grammar or any of these theoretical concepts, but they just need to know how to talk to people.

Pedro: For me, these students have this opportunity to learn to speak the language and then also the opportunity how to share that information with these people, but in addition to that, having the opportunity to work with Indigenous communities and also doing language revitalisation.

Gretchen: And trying to accomplish the community’s goals rather than, okay, I have this research agenda, I’m just gonna show up, extract some information, and then go off and get a degree and have a career without benefitting the community.

Pedro: I think that’s something that I tried to tell the students. Okay, it’s good that you are learning this. You’re doing your research. But at the same time, this is the impact that you are making with your work. Maybe you cannot see it now, but later, you will realise, “Oh, this is what” – it takes time to understand what you are doing. Again, I consider this as an opportunity for the students to be involved in this situation. The other part is, in addition to the workshop on teaching methods, we are also working with community members about the different lessons that we are putting into this grammar. How can we do this? Or how do we do this? Or how do we say this? Basic expressions.

Gretchen: So, if you wanna have a lesson about foods, you wanna make sure you’re using the foods that are in the local area that they wanna be able to talk about not some sort of food that nobody’s actually eating in this place.

Pedro: Exactly. But again, just by doing that, it’s a long process. It has been a long process. We have been working on this grammar, I think, more than a year, and we are not even done. But still, that is helping us to understand how to work with the community, but at the same time, how to work with the elders who have the knowledge of the language, for example. I was telling some of the colleagues a while ago saying that, okay, I was asked whether this pedagogical grammar will be going on under review. I said, “Well, it’s going under review at the moment with the elders.”

Gretchen: Right. It’s not necessarily going under peer review by academics, you’re having the true experts, which is the elders, look at it and say, “What do we think? Do we think this is a reasonable reflection of our language?” How is it like for you as a speaker of a different Mayan language to go into a different community? Do you think this makes it complicated for you or interesting?

Pedro: It’s really interesting for me because I always consider this as an opportunity to work with another group of Mayan speakers but also an opportunity to help them because, I mean, as Mayan speakers or as Indigenous speakers, for example, we go through the same situation. For me, it’s really important to consider that. But I also feel like I have built this good relationship with them and to work in this project. But one thing that I would like to mention is that even though I am a Mayan speaker, even though I am from Guatemala, one thing that I have tried to emphasise is like, showing respect for them. Again, they are different cultures. I mean, we’re Mayan, but our way of living is not the same. I think I try to respect that, like, yes, I am from there, but that doesn’t mean I have impulse things.

Gretchen: It doesn’t mean you know everything already.

Pedro: No, no, no, no. I always say this – I am also learning with them. I am helping. We are developing this project. But we are learning together. That’s the approach I take when working on these kinds of projects.

Gretchen: And you’re also coming in with the backing of a big Canadian research institution and this sort of stuff which puts you in a different situation.

Pedro: I think it’s a lot of responsibility. I think one thing that I am learning is that, yes, we have to do language revitalisation, but I think there’s another component that we have to consider that’s about the research aspect of that. One thing that I noticed about what I am doing is working in the infrastructure of the project, building that relationship, working with elders, working with the different activists in the language, for example. I think that’s the first step. Now, we are doing this, but as for research, you asked me, I don’t have much to say, but again, I think building that infrastructure, it takes time. But if I try to think a little bit more, I would say, well, we have some results of this project. I could mention two. One of them is that we have trained some speakers of the language about the teaching method. They are using this method to teach the language. We are about to finish up this pedagogical grammar for the language. I think those can be considered as “results.”

Gretchen: That’s balancing the way that you have to talk to funding agencies and universities and these bodies that care about results that you can report in a list somewhere while also saying, “Okay, but we actually care about the results that the community members care about, which is having more people able to speak the language,” which is not actually what the research institutions are trying to fund. So, there’s lots of different people who have different priorities that you’re trying to balance between.

Pedro: But for me, that’s an opportunity of how to communicate those ideas and how to make that balance. Sure, research will come. Research will grow.

Gretchen: But the relationship –

Pedro: But the question, “Is it easy to start?” It will take a little bit of time. I think one of the things I would like to mention here, a “keyword,” I would say, is to be patient. Sometimes, we want to see really fast.

Gretchen: Results really fast, yeah.

Pedro: It takes time, yeah. That’s one thing that I see. I also see that this project will grow, and I think there will be more students who will be more interested in working in the project. That’s my hope.

Gretchen: I hope so, too. If people wanna know more information about Q’anjob’al or Chuj or any of the other research that’s being done on Mayan languages, is there somewhere where they should start for more information?

Pedro: I think if you are interested to know more about, in this case, the work that I do, I would recommend exploring my personal website. You can go to linguistics, the University of Toronto, and then you will find my personal website.

Gretchen: We’ll link to that from the description as well so people can follow that for more information.

Pedro: Thank you.

Gretchen: If you could leave people knowing one thing about linguistics, what would that be?

Pedro: That’s a good question. I would like to say the following – when you do linguistics, it’s good to start with something small. It’s good that you start with that something small and then start asking questions that maybe you don’t have answer to that question, but you will find answers to that question. I hope I can connect that or relate that to what I mentioned in the discussion that we had today. Remember, I said that I started studying the verb in Q’anjob’al – and I am not done exploring that. Start with something small. But the other thing is that, yes, as a linguist, for example, or as a researcher, you have your own agenda, but try to reflect a little bit about, also, the community’s agenda and the community’s needs. I think that’s important to have that in mind and also important for you to build a relationship with that community that you are working with.

[Music]

Gretchen: For more Lingthusiasm and links to all the things mentioned in this episode go to lingthusiasm.com. You can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, or wherever else you get your podcasts. You can follow @lingthusiasm on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. You can get redesigned IPA posters, “Not Judging Your Grammar, Just Analysing It” stickers, t-shirts that say, “Etymology isn’t Destiny,” and other Lingthusiasm merch at lingthusiasm.com/merch. I can be found as @GretchenAMcC on Twitter, my blog is AllThingsLinguistic.com, and my book about internet language is called Because Internet. Lauren tweets and blogs as Superlinguo. Our guest, Pedro Mateo Pedro, can be found at pedromateopedro.ca. Lingthusiasm is able to keep existing thanks to the support of our patrons. If you wanna get an extra Lingthusiasm episode to listen to every month, our entire archive of bonus episodes to listen to right now, or if you just wanna help keep the show running ad-free, go to patreon.com/lingthusiasm or follow the links from our website. Patrons can also get access to our Discord chatroom to talk with other linguistics fans and be the first to find out about new merch and other announcements. Recent bonus topics include an interview about what it's like to transcribe all of the Lingthusiasm episodes as a linguist, using linguistics in the workplace beyond academia, and a very special Lingthusiasmr bonus episode where we read The Harvard Sentences to you [ASMR voice] in a calm, soothing voice. [Normal voice] Can’t afford to pledge? That’s okay, too. We also really appreciate it if you can recommend Lingthusiasm to anyone in your life who’s curious about language. Lingthusiasm is created and produced by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our Senior Producer is Claire Gawne, our Editorial Producer is Sarah Dopierala, our Production Assistant is Martha Tsutsui-Billins, and our Editorial Assistant is Jon Kruk. Our music is “Ancient City” by The Triangles.

Pedro: Stay lingthusiastic!

[Music]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

#language #linguistics #lingthusiasm #episode 83 #transcripts #podcasts #child language acquisition #language revitalization #mayan languages

25 notes · View notes

captainofthepearl · 1 year

Note

ruby, amber, bumblebee, teal, azure, coral

[ teal ] which fandom has been your favorite to be a part of? which has been the least favorite?

Definitely pirates of the caribbean. Many have been kind and cherished my writing and definitely this blog. Certainly one of the best compared to other rp experiences.

My least favourite would have to be ones with toxic people in it. I usually stay out of those as fast as I can. Ones that don't accept all kinds of writers, ocs, self inserts, and other sorts of characters. I believe everyone deserves a chance to write, no matter what it is (as long as it's legal, of course).

Just a reminder to those reading this, this blog is a safe space for many creations, ocs, crossovers, self inserts, and canons.

[ azure ] is there a specific character or type of character you want to write but never have? why?

Pretty much the characters I made accounts for, lol. I think it was just me thinking of how they wouldn't get much activity. However, I still made them noneotherless.

[ coral ] give a shoutout to one of your favorite blogs.

Nahhh, I'll play it nice and list a bunch that have stuck with me.

Writers who have been by my side since the beginning of this blog, shout out too:

@itismissswann

@ashortdropandasuddenstop

@ladybarbossa

@fallingpoppies

@scottishoctopus

@itsadmiralactually

@westerosiqueens

Shoutouts to artists, OCs, and those who liked all my content:

@angelixgutz (your art is amazing 👏)

@the-singing-songbird1 (love that mermaid 🧜‍♀️).

@sarahhawkins (Aye, I love treasure planet).

@lyri-the-mermaid (I love mermaids).

@lieutenantselnia (again love the barbossa content and your art).

@personlovinganime (thanks for liking all my content).

@aita-leucothea (again I love the art).

@chiefocean (I love the barbossa content 🍏).

@forbiddenwoodlands (holy lord your art is good and I love your designs).

If your blog name isn't on here, know that you're still favouritised and I'll add you to this list if you wish too.

And all the love for the pirate community 🏴‍☠️

[ ruby ] give one random fun fact about yourself.

I study animals in zoology, yep, I currently hope to work in a zoo. Also, fun fact: our zoo has the back end of a pirate ship.

[ amber ] which is your favorite season? why?

Spring cause me birthdays in spring

[ bumblebee ] where have you always wanted to travel to?

Ohhh, I have already travelled to Japan, and that was amazing. Honestly, all around Europe, I love learning about the history of many things; 18th century, pirates, medieval, and ancient.

I'm a history nerd 🤓.

17 notes · View notes

smirk47 · 2 years

Text

god Pasithea Powder is so fucking delightfully layered on every re-listen.

I’m just starting a s1 re-listen (to allow the newest season to have MAXIMUM EMOTIONAL IMPACT, natch) and the way it builds out context gradually, and slowly reveals things about each character that totally re-frames everything while STILL making so much goddam sense for each character is SO. GOOD.

also just: the emotional complexity of the characters right from the jump - the familiarity, and anger, and grief, and humor all wrapped up together?? Just MWAH. Chef’s kiss!

Also also: really really enjoying this re-listen with the additional insights from the hiatus book clubs too! Especially the Regeneration Trilogy and De Profundis, which I had never read before my previous listens. Now that I HAVE read them, i just gotta say: I can totally see the influences and they are deliciously angsty and nuanced and I love it. Especially enjoying the sense in the epistolary format here that they are constantly mentally writing and re-writing their own self-narratives about themselves and each other with each message they send. VERY Oscar Wilde/Bosie and very very good.

random fave line reading/lines and other random things that stood out to me this time shoutouts for s1e1:

“I never got any better at time zones. Let me know when you get this.” sophie you are such a little shit and I love you.

the way Jane structures her messages like goddam formal essays to try to keep her emotional distance. Jane you are such a NERD and I love you also.

the way Sophie rambles and constantly interrupts herself to try to keep HER emotional distance

the way they both utterly fail at actually keeping their emotional distance more and more as time goes on.

the way Jane refers to sex as an “assignation”

the way Sophie intentionally/unintentionally overshares about certain things - “ I refueled there once and bought a sandwich that gave me the shits like you would not believe.” (lol) - as a shield from actually being open or vulnerable (not that she’d have a good reason to be willing to be open or vulnerable at this point, but still)

the shred of lettuce story - god i forgot that this was from right away in Ep1! OOF. It so powerfully conveys SO MUCH that’s at the crux of this whole entire story. Well done.

“Keep your gaze sharp and your guard up.” and “They should be screening your food, though” - Jane’s begrudging concern and affection that bleeds through just the tiniest bit despite the formality and little digs and despite EVERYTHING about her history with Sophie.

what a good show.

#the pasithea powder #podcasts #I meant to start this relisten MONTHS ago but just did not have the time or mental bandwidth #still - better late than never yeah?#pasithea powder re-listen #s1ep1 #uh #the pasithea powder spoilers #i guess?#just in cases #no I have not started s3 yet #and dodging spoilers has!#been!#tricky!#but mostly successful so far

35 notes · View notes

jasper-pagan-witch · 1 year

Note

Because I’m a organization nerd, and always want a peak into other people’s organization systems:

86. How do you like to organize all your witchy items and ingredients? (Or books, I’d love to hear about you personal library system.)

Hello Stag! (Can I call you Stag? Is that cool?)

Witchcraft Asks #1-105

86: How do you like to organize all your witchy items and ingredients?

*cracks knuckles* There are a lot, so get ready. Luckily, I've already discussed my abhorrent grimoire system on October 10th (and...the post is already outdated...), so I won't repeat that here. Let me split this up.

Crystals

All of my tumbled and raw crystals are in two plastic jewelry organizers with movable walls. I've recently had to put my aventurine in with the rest of my quartz, amethyst, and citrine because I needed more room. I need another that's also strong.

My crystal beads are in a weaker plastic organizer because I've been making friendship bracelets- I MEAN ROSARIES for the deities on my altar. Just got Azura's done tonight!

The jewelry that I didn't make for deities with real crystals is in this little wooden jewelry box that looks like a small chest of drawers. I have two morganite rings, a hematite ring, a red jasper ring (of fucking course), a malachite bead bracelet, and two bracelets with many miscellaneous crystals in the top compartment. The middle compartment holds all of my bracelets with pendants/charms and my bracelets that are set in small cuffs. The bottom compartment holds necklaces.

Did I mention that I don't wear jewelry?

Additional shoutout to the Giant Fucking Rock Box which holds my bigger crystal pyramids, spheres, and raw chunks, and the carved or large crystals scattered across my desk.

Tarot and Oracle Decks

All of my 58 current decks are currently lined up in height order across the tops of the three plastic three-drawer containers that hold my clothes. There is no further categorization, I just fucking memorize their heights to find them.

Herbs and Blends

My dried basil (that's actually Cernunnos' dried basil), my Bloody Mary mix, the two different cinnamon sugar blends, and my small vial of Bree's Banishing Powder are all tucked together on the back corner of my desk.

Current Deity and Altar Locations

Since being displaced from my room, I've had to put all the deities I honor, venerate, worship, and work with on one altar. I just had to bring in a second shelf because I brought home Skull Friend from The Field. They're in places where they seem to work fine.

Books

The piece de resistance or whatever the fuck. As y'all may know, I'm a librarian now. This is NOT reflected in my book organization.

Section One: Mythology, History, Religion, and Geography. This is perhaps the second-strangest section of my book collection and is currently 24 books strong. Shoutout to the book about the Freemasons that I found in my stepdad's stuff, my copy of the Necronomicon that I lost behind the laundry basket on Monday, and Mortellus and Tomas Prower for writing my favorite books in there.

Section Two: Regional. This includes stuff about folk magic (both Ozark and Appalachian), city magic, and people getting high and musing on broadscale Celtic practices. This section has 9 books.

Section Three: Tarot. And, to a lesser extent (that being one book), divination more broadly. I actually like a lot of these books, which isn't hard because there are only 6 books here.

Section Four: Beginner. It is no secret that I am a simp for Bree's book Grovedaughter Witchery, but there are other good ones in here too. There are also 6 books in this one.

Section Five: Spell Books. I've gotten along with several blogs on here by shitting on some books in this section, but they're in here nonetheless. This section actually has 11 books, making it one of the slightly chunkier sections.

Section Six: Correspondences. I don't actually recommend most of the books I use for correspondences. There are 13 books here covering stuff like crystals, trees, elements, and symbols.

Section Seven: Gardening. Only one is specifically magical, but I suck at gardening and need help. There are 5 books here and some are specifically about Missouri gardening.

Section Eight: Literary. Not necessarily magical, but important literary collections. Edgar Allen Poe, Brothers Grimm, Dante, et cetera. This is 6 books but deserves its own category because of how absolutely CHONKY they are.

Section Nine: Miscellaneous Fuckery. Astrology, self-care, green witchcraft, hearth witchcraft, necromancy or death witchcraft, candles, and so on and so forth. This is 14 books strong and is my "fuck that" corner of my collection.

These numbers do not include the books I put in storage because I hated them. This is still 89 books. It does not look like that much.

Oh, they're also stacked on their backs, not set up in lines so you can read the spines. I either memorize where they are or I lose them behind the laundry basket.

Other Tools

I have some general "fuck that" drawers that hold other tools, like my knife collection, bandanas and scarves, a hilarious amount of shampoo/conditioner/lotion, and so forth. There's also a giant, heavy tote out in storage that has my candles. I have too many candles and not enough time to light them. This is what I can do with the single room and storage that is available to me.

Don't copy my organization system.

~Jasper

#answered #stagkingswife #personal #send help

14 notes · View notes

jillepathy · 1 year

Text

5.1.23

My partner ask me to please process day 1 of code camp so I can tell them about it over dinner (without my many tangents into the mildly interesting but ultimately unnecessary details).

So this is the version with the tangents.

Initial thoughts > way newer than I thought it was with the first code camp taking place in 2018 for a primarily cust ops branch in Portland, Oregon that wanted to expand into software development after hiring a few engineers

^ literally me the first time I met a software engineer I was like huh cool and now I’m like oooohhhhh cooooolllllll the internet ! I wanna do that too

…

Anyways week 1 guy is a systems engineer (not a software engineer) seems like a fancy title for like building manager ? But specifically involving storing data… it’s kind of giving Big Query a little bit but also physical (kind of giving librarian?! )

The focus seems to be on building and maintaining relationships (my greatest struggle as an autistic person) and the idea that learning is nonlinear (knew this already!)

The learning curve is steep and you don’t need to know computer science to learn programming (I’m pretty lucky already having general knowledge of how the internet works bc of the info sci and data science classes I took)

Luckily, a lot of Barb’s friends already do programming … Henri said they know how to GitHub if I need help but the pace of the class seems kind of slow compared to grad school -not sure if I’ll need to ask them since all the instructors are very approachable plus I’m learning together with Su so I’ll probably try and brainstorm with them first before branching out

It’s all other employees volunteering to share their knowledge (it’s low key giving libraries ?! )

I feel like everyone is pretty nice. I forgot to say my pronouns I was so nervous 😩 but seems like quite a few queer people involved

We’re going to be working on a project (not sure if it’s a team project or we each have individual projects )

One of the instructors (hes giving autism for sure) said they sunsetted his hack week project but that he really valued it

We’re creating something but it’s not from nothing (history degree jumping out), it’s from the work of many many contributors who came before us

I would love to see more of an app focused on the physical experience of people especially as remote work kind of removes us from physical space (not really though since we all physical beings)

Ugh this is me going off on my many processing tangents

I Guess i would say it actually seems easier than I thought it would be (shoutout to Dr Oakleaf for giving me the WORST 2 classes of my life the bar is literally in hell thanks to you, appreciate you)

It’s like way more diverse than grad school too which is a big reflection on SQSP that I’m into

It’s way smaller than I thought which is honestly really nice I feel like it won’t be toooooo hard to remember everyone after 5 weeks working together

Yeah this is just a jumping off point

A lot of review, some bad jokes / programming humor and introductions

Me and Su are the only people from Tock but there is one guy from Acuity

Can’t believe Isa called me a nerd for this! The whole reason I wanted to break into tech was to get into software development

And they said themselves this is forging a path for a career in software development

My dreams are really coming true 🥲

It’s hard for me to acknowledge and accept

The hw for week 1 was to ask for help. I definitely already did that since I was having access issues.

For week 2…? Is it the Read Me? Idk how to GitHub … yet…but I suppose I’ll find out tomorrow

Yeah so it was nice, it was about 20 people, about 6 of them instructors/TAs but all of them other employees

Everyone seems pretty excited and it definitely FEELS pretty exciting to me.

Im excited and nervous and scared but also really happy and really proud of myself.

I am learning what i want to learn and I feel like I can be my whole self doing it.

Pretty neat!!!

I’ll tell Barb the first day was pretty abstract but overall there is a feeling of genuine care and excitement for the whole program - it’s literally run by volunteers. The instructors are senior employees who value mentorship and have been both mentor and mentee. There’s an emphasis in collaboration and partnership.

I guess at the end of the day it’s kind of like how the number one indicator for longevity in your career is having friends to work with.

Yeah basically it seems more chill somehow than I thought. There’s hw but it’s like “ask for help” like ? I can do that.

I e been so nervous since this is the first class I’m doing since I dropped out of grad school.

But I’m in a way better position than I was.

I Can do this.

Let’s gooooo!!!!!

#jill’s journal #personal #code camp

4 notes · View notes

spiderdaynightlive · 1 year

Text

weekly weird animal show SEASON FINALE

(SOMEHOW) It's the #BBCEarthPodcast season finale and Rutendo & I are going out with an incredible show all about ghosts--those parts of nature that, in one fleeting encounter, leave you mystified & obsessed with learning more!

Fossils connecting us to life long dead, elusive canines in the Amazon, hauntingly isolated landscapes, late-night bat-watching (hearing?) in a cemetery..

This might be my favorite episode of the show, and I haven't stopped thinking about some of these ideas ever since.

Go listen (https://play.acast.com/s/bbcearthpodcast/series-5-episode-12-ghosts) & tell BBC Earth yall want us back for a series 2!!

Making this show has been an absolute dream. Talking about weird animals is my favorite thing ever, and it is so affirming that y'all find value in that enough to listen.

Shoutouts to the amazing naturalists featured in this episode: 🐕Renata Pitman, studying the short-eared "ghost" dog 🦇Dan Flew, goth ecologist & friend to bats ❄️Cecillia Blomdahl, live from Svalbard 🦏sound recordist Martyn Stewart

Thanks to the killer production team at the Natural History Unit and our many guests across the series for making this all happen! And of course, Rutendo--you're a wicked cool scientist/comics nerd. It's been a joy & honor cohosting with ya.

#credits and sappy stuff after the jump #also trust me youre gonna want to click through to dan flews insta #unexpected thirst trap

7 notes · View notes

merryfortune · 1 year

Text

incomplete list of all the fun i had in japan on my holiday

the bus trip from narita airport to shinjuku, the scenery was so gorgeous, i got to see my first cherry blossoms and first part of the city

sorakara-chan the mascot at the skytower, they also have nice lemonade there, and it was fun to walk on the floor windows too

the shogun's gardens are so cool you can hear the martial artists train - the imperial s garden was very nice as well, the azelias were in full bloom

karaoke with three of the others on the tour with me was tonnes of fun as well

also at karaoke i was the only one who could speak Japanese so I was ordering drinks for the other girls and had A VERY INTENSE “conversation” with the older waiter who spoke no English so it was very unintentionally funny experience to try and convey that i wanted two bottles (nipikki) of sake but I said nisai instead (so 2 years). also the Spanish-Irish chica said the sake that they/we ordered (I was soft drinks only) was the best she ever had

i loved having chanko for lunch and the similar ones as well (though the himeji oden set wasn't my favourite...)

asakusa shrine was so busy but i liked the balancing of the shinto and buddist faiths

meiji shrine was beautiful, the trees there are gorgeous and heartfelt, we also saw a wedding procession!!! the bride and groom looked stunning in their traditional ware

the cruise night was good too

IKEBUKURO MY BELOVED. the area was nerd heaven. i saw fellow yumejoshi god bless, bought a giant smoliv plush at the pokemon centre, and stuff like that yeah

the inari shrine/thousand torii gate shrine is definitely on my come back to list since there wasn't enough time to do the full summit

shoutout to the hotel we stayed at in mishima city, easily my favourite hotel, them soft beds went a long way, not to mention we could see mt fuji at breakfast

(for me personally that hotel was even outclassing the five star hotel we stayed at which is a highlight and also was home to foreign dignitaries and celebrities :o

mt fuji. just. mt fuji in general. absolutely gorgeous, breathtaking, stunning, thank god we did not climb it as i was coming down with a cold the day we were meant to but mt fuji meanwhile was coming down with an avalanche risk so only looking for afar

oshina hokkai is gorgeous, i would love to come back there at peak with more time to wander

i also loved the little historical village, i can't remember its name rn but i loved seeing the different girls day and children's day displays, the tanuki statues and the scarecrows, the rubber duckies in the various streams, too

the various tanuki statues i saw all over the place deserve their own bullet point tbh

making soba was fun but i didn’t actually enjoy eating the soba, i wanted to try yakisoba though

i'm kinda blanking at this 3/4 mark because all i really remember is the bullet train journeys which are cool i guess but i'm not a train nerd like my dad lol, it just felt like taking a normal train to me

the osaka okonomiyaki lunch was my favourite lunch, probably

i loved the kyoto hotel we had dinner at too, they gave me extra on desserts. and also bread. carbs yippie

ooh the italian cafe we had lunch at in shibuya was also really good actually so i'll mention it here too

kiyomizu shrine was my Absolute Favourite Highlight, it was gorgeous and had so much history behind it, the shops are good too, i hope to visit it again one day, would especially love to visit in autumn/maple leaf season. also I got to drink from the fountains of long life, beauty, and wisdom which is really significant because normally that's impossible to do due to queues/demands. and also all the buddha with their bibs is adorable.

also at kiyomizu, one of my fellow tour goers did something so unintentionally hilarious, i want to add it. this guy was very cautious, always masked up and sanitising so we were all very surprised to go watch him fill up a ladle at the fountain... only for him to immediately dump it into the basin below instead of drinking it like I and a couple others did

miyajima island is amazing!! i definitely want to go back there in autumn one day. i had momiji manju with custard filling and it was so delicious. i visted the art museum there and the attendant on the second level gave me an Exclusive Special Experience™️ because I managed to convey that whilst I couldn't speak Japanese on account of my sore throat, i can understand it so they gave me a big art spiel and then turned off the lights so i could see this one silk screen literally glow in the dark like the moon

the himeji gardens were my favourite set of gardens!! i saw a cat and lots of pretty ponds

threw coins in okiku well at the himeji castle (well's haunted) and the architecture of himeji whilst a nightmare for a flat footer like me is awful but its still very beautiful i'm probably missing some stuff but i've had a big, big week and a bit in japan

#merry muses #merry on holidays

4 notes · View notes

skenpiel · 3 years

Text

i love that every skit where prozd is sponsored by some game he always just kinda makes fun of them at the same time

#also that he keeps them under a minute long like thank you only youtuber with decent video structure #also shoutout to him for being like. the only anime/video game nerd whos just like a normal guy you could have a conversation with #theyre all so fucking creepy without fail it really is nice to see someone whos not just an anime and video game nerd but a HUGE one at that #who isnt like. a social abomination with takes so horrible itll make your head pop like a balloon or like a borderline p/dophile or somethin #like yeah no hes the only one in the history of fucking ever who is just a normal decent person #the fact that the bar is THAT low scares me but. you get my point

3 notes · View notes

sorryjustafangirl · 2 years

Text

through my eyes

a/n: so it’s valentines day and i just realized it’s been a year of writing on hockeyblr for me! so i figured i (and everyone else) deserved some self love and thanks to @joelsfarabees and @2manytabsopen posts (1) (2), i was inspired. and giant shoutout to @quietblues for the title, it’s literally genius. hope all my fellow glasses wearers enjoy :)

Pairing: cale makar x gn!reader (who wears glasses)

Word count: 1.4k+ (it’s a little shortie)

Warnings: one swear, some self slander but there’s comfort

Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction and includes a real person. If you’re not comfortable with that, please do not read. also this wonderful gif is not mine, all credit to the amazing creator :) (so rude he won't give us glasses content)

Cale had been your friend first, which is maybe why you hadn’t thought about your glasses with him. You’d met in the bookstore where you worked. He’d come in for a gift for his brother, and left with a gift and two book recommendations. When he came back a week later, asking for more recommendations, you formed an instant friendship.

You realized your feelings for him when you’d fallen asleep on the couch waiting for him to show up for movie night after a long day at work. He’d taken your glasses off (the way they were slanted couldn’t be comfortable) and moved you back to your bed. You’d woken up by the time he’d come back to your room with your glasses in hand. He saw you were awake and lightly slipped your glasses back on your face before climbing into bed to start a movie on your laptop. Thank goodness the room was dark because you could feel the blush on your cheeks.

A few weeks later, he’d asked you out on a proper date and the rest, as they say, is history.

You were sitting on the couch in Cale’s apartment waiting for him to get changed when your phone buzzed. It was customary that the two of you would have a movie night anytime the boys lost at home. You quickly picked it up to see a text message from Mel with the photo she’d taken earlier that night with the rest of the significant others. You’d asked her to send it to you, thinking it was a cute photo.

Well, that was before you saw it.

The picture really shouldn’t have made you as upset as it did. Objectively, there was nothing wrong with it. Everyone was smiling, no one had food in their teeth, and miraculously, no one blinked. But all you could notice was the glare reflecting off your glasses lens. It stood out like an eyesore, alerting everyone that you wore glasses. You bit your lip as you continued to look at it. In the big group of everyone, all you saw was the pesky little glare that pointed out just how obvious that you had them.

It wasn’t that you hated your glasses. You’d had them long enough to come to terms with the fact they were a part of your life. Sure, contacts were an option, but they irritated your eyes. It was just that everyone looked so good and the one stupid reflection makes you stand out – and not in a good way. That’s when the thoughts came.

Thoughts that reminded you that you were the only one of your friends who wore glasses and the only one who didn’t get asked to the grade nine dance. Thoughts that said glasses weren’t attractive. Movies like The Princess Diaries and She’s All That showing you that glasses were for the nerdy girl before the transformation. But if glasses were all you were going to have, you’d be the nerd forever. Thoughts that Cale actually hated your glasses, because who would actually like them? You saw how beautiful the other girls were. You didn’t look anything like them.

You’d spent years working to love your glasses but it never took much to make you feel inferior.

You stared at the picture on your phone long enough for Cale to notice the way you were biting on your lip.

“What’s wrong?” Your head snapped up to him

“Nothing,” you mumbled. “Ready for a movie?”

“Hey, no, something’s bothering you.” He took a seat beside you and bumped his shoulder lightly into yours. “It’s just me, you know.”

You sighed and looked away from him. He stayed there beside you, not moving, just being in your presence. You adjusted your glasses and unlocked your phone, passing it to him. You watched his face as he looked at the photo.

“I don’t get it,” He said, turning towards you. You reached over and zoomed in to the glare on your glasses.

“My glasses?” You said and looked down at your hands. “I look so out of place compared to everyone else. Some days I just hate that I have to wear glasses. I look like such a dork, and it’s just so obvious when I stand next to everyone else that I’m not pretty. And then… I don’t know, I don’t feel pretty enough for you. Like you could have anyone and you pick the person with glasses? I don’t know, glasses just make me look bad.”

He was silent for a few moments, biting the inside of his cheek before speaking. “Well, I have glasses.” You knit your eyebrows together. “Do you think I look bad?”

“What? No, babe, of course not, I love your glasses! You look so cute and cozy. And you look so happy when you scrunch your nose and they move and-” He cut you off with a soft kiss, silencing your compliments.

When you broke for air, he brushed his nose against yours. “That’s how I feel about your glasses.”

Instantly, you pulled away and shook your head. “You’re just saying that.”

“When have I ever lied to you?” The silence that filled the room was the answer to his question and he reached over, lightly gripping your chin to face him again.

“I wish you could see yourself through my eyes, because I love your glasses. When I first met you, I was scared to even ask you about finding the book because you looked so smart in them! And when you bring a hot drink up to your face, they fog up and then you do this cute thing where you pout and set the drink down to defog your glasses and you just look so cozy. And when I get to clean them for you? That’s the best part of my day because I get to be the reason you see the world clearer. I love your glasses so so much, okay?” He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you closer to your chest. You knew your glasses were uncomfortably pushing into his chest but he seemed not to mind as he pressed a long kiss to the top of your head. “They’re a part of you, and I love you, so that means I love your glasses too.”

You felt him stiffen and it was only then his words sunk in.

I love you.

That’s the first time he’d said that. He loves you. Holy shit.

You pulled away from his arms to see him better, and his cheeks were already beet red. He bit his lip and scratched the nape of his neck.

“You don’t- You don’t have to say it back.”

“Did you mean it?” His mouth formed a frown.

“Why… wouldn’t I mean it?”

“I mean..I don’t want you to say it just because I’m feeling insecure.” He instantly shook his head at your words.

“That’s not why I said it. I-” He sighed. “It just slipped out?”

“Slipped out?”

He shrugged shyly. “I mean, yeah. I’ve been meaning to say it for a couple weeks now.” His words warmed your heart and you took his hands in yours.

“Well, then maybe I should tell you that I’ve been meaning to say it too.”

“Yeah?” The way his eyes lit up was more than enough for you to nod your head, a smile etched on your face.

“I love you Cale. You and your humbleness and your glasses. I love you.” He tugged you into his chest, stuffing his head in the crook between your neck and shoulder. He peppered soft kisses along your skin and a small laugh escaped you. Those three words were mumbled between you two until you decided to play the movie, but barely paid attention to it, instead opting to bask in the love you shared.

When the two of you went to sleep, your boyfriend took extra care in lifting your frames off your face, folding them, and placing them on the bedside table. He pressed his lips to the space between your eyes, and one to your lips, before tugging you in to cuddle. You could feel your face becoming flushed with emotion as you watched this wonderful man love you, glasses and all.

And if in the morning Cale was wearing his glasses, looking like the cutest human alive, well then maybe yours really weren’t that bad.

taglist (join here): @heatherawoowoo @4ambagelbites @tysonjost-taylorsversion @2manytabsopen @stars-canucks @lorrmorr @fallinallincurls @plds2000 @barzysandhughesbaby

#cale makar #cale makar imagine #cale makar fic #nhl imagine #nhl fic #nhl x reader #colorado avalanche imagine #hockey imagine #hockey fic #abby writes

202 notes · View notes

messengerhermes · 3 years

Text

Things for White Fandom Nerds to Consider

Hey y'all, After seeing a post where fans of color wrote about their frustrations with the ways white fans prioritize our comfort over their wellbeing and access to safe fandom spaces where they can have fun, be comfortable, and have their needs responded to and respected, I wanted to build out a separate post specifically addressing a few of the things I notice we white people tend to do in fandoms, and also offer resources for those of us who may be looking to break down our internalized white supremacist shit and change. So, some questions for my fellow white fandom nerds to consider:

Are you attempting to learn more about white supremacy and how you've been raised on it, whether you like it or not?

When fans of color in a discord/forum/comments section name harm they are experiencing in said space, do you downplay that harm, ignore it, or outright contradict them, because well, things have been nice here for you?

Do you prioritize peace in fandom spaces over the comfort, wellbeing, safety, and joy of fans of color? Pushing for discussions of racism to be shelved or ended because they make you uncomfortable?

Do you insist that you can't be a force for white supremacy, because of another marginalized identity you hold? (True facts, my fellow white disabled queers, we are still mechanisms for the white supremacy machine against communities of color whether we want to be or not. There are people of color living with the same queer crip identities we have who are navigating vastly different roadmaps because they're Black and brown, and we need to build skills in acknowledging those differences and being able to engage in real conversations and work around them)

When someone points out racism creeping into your fanworks, do you recognize that as an act of good faith, that they are trusting you to receive that knowledge and change? Or do you become defensive and dismiss them?

Are you only interested in characters of color if you think they're hot and want to watch them kiss whoever else you think is hot? Do you flatten them down to being a white character's love interest/bestie/confidant without building them out the same way you do your white faves?

When you do come up with headcanons for characters of color, are you considering the ways racism may be playing in there without you thinking about it, because you don't have to think of those things? (I'm thinking of the deeply fucked up "Miles Morales shoplifts" thing I saw drifting around a while back. Shoutout to the humans who said fuck that and went "Miles Morales takes up Ballet instead because I loved that shit personally")

Do you love reinterpretations of characters as people of color and share art and writing that shows these depictions, but prioritize this from other white creators over creators of color? (This does not me white creators shouldn't draw or write characters of color, the issue here is who gets praise for "diversity" in their work and who gets ignored or criticized)

Do you care for people of color when they're characters in the things you enjoy, but struggle to care about systematic oppressions without relating them back to your fandom (Thinking this time of the surreal "If you like K-pop care about orientalism" situation that happened like two weeks ago)

Do you get caught up in feelings of shame and guilt around the power whiteness gives you, and seek out people of color to make you feel better about how good/bad you are as a white person?

There is not a magic wand for undoing racist and white supremacist values we've internalized. And there is no "Tada~ you've hit the end of the journey, all your racism is gone and now you are a Truly Good White Person" moment. Because things are way muckier than that. Racial Justice work, and becoming a traitor to white supremacy is about the ongoing practice of :

building self-awareness

having the resilience to face our harmful actions

taking accountability for our behavior

developing a cultural identity outside of the sterilized concept of White that white supremacy has constructed

speaking out against racist policies, practices, and interactions in the spaces we are in

supporting the movement towards abolition

developing resilience in ourselves so we don't run to people of color in our lives for reassurance every time white guilt screeches in our ear

Learning how to be in spaces where our every thought fart is not the center of attention

relearning history from a decolonized lens

Way more than could be condensed into a Tumblr post which will be rapidly forgotten or metabolized by the internet

That said if you're the reading type, might I recommend checking out Rachel Cargle's Community POC Reading Recommendations spreadsheet? This spreadsheet is not specifically for Racial Justice, but it is broken up by genre and the nonfiction section has a lot of work by authors of color talking about Critical Race Theory, racism, white supremacy and related subjects.

#critical race theory #Fandom Racism #White people #Whiteness #Anti racism #racial justice resources #white fandom #allyship #queer ally #ranting about racism while loopy from insomnia wise choices we make here today

796 notes · View notes

goosemixtapes · 2 years

Text

max’s top books of 2021 :3c

top ten bookposting... TWO!!! (you can find last year’s here!) once again, this is ranked completely on the basis of my opinions (which are abstract combinations of “how technically good is this book?” and “how much did i enjoy it?”)

i read... a lot this year. half again as much as last year, because i started uni in august and guess who is taking literature classes! that said, this list was still incredibly difficult to make because Reading More Books does not necessarily equate to Enjoying More Books. under the cut because i have a lot to say.

first off: the runner-ups: American Moor by Keith Hamilton Cobb (a one-man play about being a black man through the lens of Othello; jesus christ the power in this writing; i should reread this); Teenage Dick by Mike Lew (not sure how i felt about the ending but oh my fucking god this is everything.); Milk Fed by Melissa Broder (incredibly striking character voice; started amazing and sagged in the middle imo); History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund (books that feel like getting hit over the head with a baseball bat); and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (i know i’m late to this one but. crying cat image)

and my top three anticipated 2022 releases: I Am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin (what can i say. 2020 left me a hannah capin groupie); Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass (GAY PEOPLE AND NONBINARY PEOPLE AND NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE?); and Hell Followed With Us by A.J. White (THIS BOOK... LAST NIGHT I DREAMED I HELD YOU IN MY ARMS.)

without further ado! the list, with my love increasing as the numbers drop:

10. O Human Star by Blue Delliquanti

if you like gaytrans people and robots, you need to read this. if you like gaytrans people but are relatively neutral about robots, you need to read this. if you hate robots. i guess you shouldn’t read this. but it’s FREE ONLINE, so what’s really stopping you from giving it a shot? the entire time i was reading this, my thoughts were split between “ooooooohhhhhmmmmygod this is such a trans story, this is such a trans story, this understands being a closeted trans person and the agonizingly slow process of realizing it better than pretty much anything i’ve ever read” and “PAIN PAIN SUFFERING AGONY PAIN.” and also “GAY PEOPLE KISS ON THE MOUTH A FAMILY CAN BE TWO INVENTORS AND THEIR ROBOT CLONE DAUGHTER.” nearly made me cry in my in-person latin class because i was reading instead of doing my work. 10/10

9. The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021, and i was right. i was right. it’s a gatsby retelling (already great) starring a bisexual vietnamese jordan baker (even better) WITH MAGIC (!!!) and some of the most breathtakingly beautiful prose i’ve read all year. i read this with a group of friends, and we collectively agreed that the soft magic system was sometimes a little vague (particularly in terms of how magic’s existence affects the rest of society), but that was the only criticism i had because jesus christ this was amazing. falls under the category of retellings make me think “FUCK, the og text is so good” while also being incredibly gripping and gorgeous in their own rights (this is the best category of retellings).

8. The Iliad by Homer

OOOOOOOOO let’s get into the NERD ZONE PART OF THIS POST. i read the iliad twice this year, because i am insane. first so i could read TSOA after it (a book that... i did not love. but that is another matter), then again because i had to for class. you guys, i think homer can write. do not talk to me about hector unless you want to check out how hard i can cry (and on that note, shoutout to An Iliad by Lisa Peterson and Dennis O’Hare because. bark bark bark rufrufrufruf grrrrr bark bark etc) (and also, shoutout to the chilliad.)

7. The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan

i will say flat out that this book is not for everyone. the synopsis is super vague, and the book itself is written in a winding and abstract style that some might find frustrating. but i happen to be the exact target audience of this book about a fictional schizophrenic lesbian writing her fictional memoir about a series of events that might have been Actually Magic or might have been a delusion. this book is SO fucking meta in an absolutely delightful way. there are SO many literary and artistic references. the aforementioned style is deliberately a representation of how imp (the main character)’s mental illness shapes her writing, and as a mentally ill person whose brain ALSO shapes my writing, i loved that, and i love how it tied into the themes, and i love this book a lot, and i wrote a much longer review so i will leave it at that.

6. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

. okay. look. look at me. look. it would be SO easy, culturally, homosexually, to hate game of thrones. but this book fucks INCREDIBLY severely. there is a REASON a song of ice and fire has become the template for this kind of fantasy, and that’s because NOBODY IS DOING IT LIKE GEORGE R R MARTIN. putting a dragon and some gritty straight sex in your fantasy novel is not going to make you the next game of thrones!!! there is WORLDBUILDING here!!! there is LORE!!! there is a vast interwoven tapestry of characters who all feel devastatingly human even when they’re terrible!!! there are ICE ZOMBIES? i don’t even care about ice zombies but nobody fucking told me that! i hate george rr martin because i want his job so bad (getting away with writing 800 page fantasy books except mine will be about gay people) but even despite that i can admit that this book deserves the hype. (have been reading the second one at the speed of 1 page per eon while at college. turns out a book of this scale is not the best to read in scattered intervals at college. oh well)

5. The Wicked and the Divine by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie

i actually don’t read a lot of comics/graphic novels (maybe i should read more? i don’t know; i like prose) and so i had to be coaxed into wicdiv by the esteemed mx. @yvesdot. and thank god for it because oh my god. OH my god. this series takes a rad idea (“hey, pop stars are treated like gods. what if they Were”) and completely fucking slams the gas pedal to 100. the plot twists in this series broke my fucking NECK (two of my reviews read “THIS ISSUE WAS LIKE GETTING HITCHED TO A MEAT HOOK AND HAVING MY BODY SWUNG AROUND AT HIGH VELOCITY WITH A BUNCH OF FLESHY THUNKS AGAINST THE WALL.” and “my head is a mailbox and wicdiv is the group of rowdy teenage kids in cars in the 80s coming to hit me with a baseball bat”). the art is BREATHTAKING; this is a series for people who like women. every character is SO compelling and so horrible and so imperfect and once i started reading it was near impossible to stop. the last volume made me lie in the fetal position on my dorm floor. i made a PLAYLIST for this series. i, a man who only makes playlists for shakespeare shit. the playlist is called “fuck off i am not crying” ADN GUESS WHAT . I WAS

4. The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake

there are the books that you read in a day or two and enjoy, and then there are the books that you ignore your zoom class to finish while holding in your tears on camera. there are the shakespeare retellings that slap, and then there are the shakespeare retellings written specifically to appeal to mentally ill theater-oriented WLW hyperfixating on twelfth night whose younger brothers are also mentally ill. realllllllly hard to describe the amount of emotions i have for this book. realllllllly hard to not lie facedown on the carpet thinking about it. (no, you don’t have to read twelfth night to read this; yes, you should read it. immaculately written. wonderful book. plus look at that fucking COVER. gay rights)

3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

and once again. we return. to the nerd zone. maybe i have stockholm syndrome. maybe that’s why i’m sitting here about to type “war and peace was maybe the most fun reading experience i had this year.” because if you’re gonna read a 1200 page book, you have to start enjoying it at SOME point, right? just as a defense mechanism? but oh my god war and peace is so legitimately good. i hate tolstoy’s pedantic misogynist pancake ass but that man can write characters in a way that makes me want to levitate off of my chair into the air and/or scream into a pillow. on a serious level: part of my enjoyment is because it’s actually really good; part of it is because i have a whole group of friends who also enjoy war and peace, and so i got to discuss it and listen to their playlists and look at their art. and part of it is definitely because the spring of my senior year of high school, bored out of my mind in my last set of required classes, terrified of the looming shadow of College TM, was probably the best time in my life so far to pick up a doorstop about confused and depressed young adults trying to find their places in the world despite the feeling that they’re wasting their lives and their talents and missing “the answers” of life. also every bitch in this book is gay. listen to great comet

2. The Aeneid by Virgil

we saw this coming, right. like we knew this was coming. the first time i read this poem (notably, when i hadn’t read homer yet and couldn’t pick out all the allusions to the iliad/odyssey) was at the start of 2021, because my ten-person latin 5 class translated it. and i found it kind of boring, but the class was insane (positively. for the most part), and i thought, well, whatever, it’s a decent story even if i don’t like the style of epic poems. and then that Decent Story sunk into every nook and crevice of my brain in the following months and haunted me like the shade of [idk, name someone who dies in the aeneid, there’s a handful] until i finally got to read it again in one of my uni classes and had to physically stop myself from overtaking the entire class with my answers to the professor’s questions and then proceeded to follow the professor after class to talk with (at?) him about it and then made him read two different essays about it. i think when it comes to “thinking about aeneas” i am in the top 100 people on the planet. virgil put his pussy into every single line of this poem and it’s one of my personality traits now

1. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

speaking of max’s personality traits. okay, here’s the part where i confess that i did not actually read the entire complete works this year. i WANTED to, and intended to, but i didn’t start in earnest until june (i thought i was going to do a book club with a friend! and then we did not.) and as a result of that + uni, i really doubt i’m going to finish the last four or five plays in the next five days. (maybe i could. but i would like to do other things at some point this week.) that said, i DID read twenty-five new shakespeare plays (and hamlet and as you like it again) and most of the sonnets. in general my opinions and meta posting are on my shakespeare blog; specific shout-outs go to my new favorites, ranked just under hamlet and lear: henry iv part 1 (HOTSPUR MY FUCKING BELOVEDDDD. HAL ONE OF THE CHARACTERS OF ALL TIME), julius caesar (this is my version of a page-turner vacation read. both times i’ve read this i did it in 48 hours and i’m insane about brutus and cassius.), and twelfth night (far and away my favorite comedy, and probably my favorite read of the year).

if you’ve read this far, you have to add me on goodreads and we will be legally wed. everyone tell me your favorite reads of the year i want to know

#max.txt #misc book tag #you can tell when i really really love a book because i go 'i have to write a retelling of this right the fuck now'#i guess it's a love language?#readings

14 notes · View notes