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comic con!
Mar. 28th, 2019 08:30 pmthis weekend i get to go to my first comic con! i'm really excited because i've never been before and also i'm cosplaying doc ock from spiderverse :)
video editing software?
Mar. 21st, 2019 11:37 amHello friends! I've recently decided that I want to get into creating video essays on youtube on different literary and fandom topics, and I've been torn about what video editing software to use. I don't need a lot of bells and whistles, but I do need it to be functional and intuitive. I'm fairly familiar with iMovie and honestly like it a whole lot and I'm getting a new laptop soon, but I don't really want to switch over to a mac JUST for iMovie, you know? I dislike the mac operating system apart from a few programs.
Does anyone know if newer versions of Windows Movie Maker or other windows compatible editing software have
1. Voice over capacity
2. Easy editing of sound and the capacity to move and adjust sound independent from video
3. Ease of adding in audio from a different source
4. Ability to easily trim videos within the program
5. Ease of adding in pictures
I don't need fancy bells and whistles because honestly, I doubt if I would USE them, but I do need software that has the tools I know I will use and is easy to figure out.
Thanks guys!
Does anyone know if newer versions of Windows Movie Maker or other windows compatible editing software have
1. Voice over capacity
2. Easy editing of sound and the capacity to move and adjust sound independent from video
3. Ease of adding in audio from a different source
4. Ability to easily trim videos within the program
5. Ease of adding in pictures
I don't need fancy bells and whistles because honestly, I doubt if I would USE them, but I do need software that has the tools I know I will use and is easy to figure out.
Thanks guys!
(no subject)
Mar. 19th, 2019 10:26 pmI realized today when talking about my class schedule with a friend in The and major that I am taking her exact class schedule... plus four more classes. Dear god I made a Bad Choice bad bad choice made I. Only three classes on top of her schedule I should have taken. Or not done that chair position in my organization. One of the two. Next semester I'm taking one fewer class so I think that will be a good change for me.
The Handmaid's Tale Hulu Series
Mar. 18th, 2019 01:15 pmso, in two days i'm doing a short presentation with the English department about name symbolism in the Handmaid's Tale hulu series (if you're interested you can ask me and i'll give you the rundown of the presentation in the comments) and I gave my presentation to my mom at the beginning of spring break, taking great care to not let my dad overhear because he's conservative and ya know, it wouldn't be a fun conversation to have. easier to just avoid it But then I was staying at my aunt and uncle's over the back half of break and offered to give it to them, thinking, hey I'll wait until I'm there for a few hours after mom and dad leave and then that'll be a good time to do it. Because I very much Did Not Want to do it in front of my dad.
But. My aunt was like "HEY LET'S DO IT RIght NoW WHEN YOUR DAD IS HERE PERFECT RIGHT!?!?!?!" and I'm like. Uh. Okay. I guess. So I gave the presentation to my aunt and my uncle and my mom and my dad. And it went well. I think it's going to be fun and it's going to go well, but that was incredibly fun to try to explain to my dad.
"So is that book set like, three hundred years ago or something?"
"Uh, no. It's set in the future..."
"What's that supposed to mean? Is this like. feminist stuff?" And I was all ready to go into this because we had already dug this hole so I might as well at least just go through with it and like, actually give this feminist theory with My Father, Conservative Midwest Businessman Who Has Never Heard of Plan B TM but my mom swooped in and was like LETS TALK ABOUT HOW GOOD THIS WILL LOOK ON JOB APPLICATIONS DEAR JESUS SAVE US
And like. On one hand. I'm glad that I didn't have to have this discussion and was a bit peeved that my aunt put me in that situation in the first place. But on the other hand, if we continue to just. Skirt around these issues with him he won't ever learn and it's not doing anyone any good. I had the opportunity to at least TRY to do something and it makes me feel bad that i didn't get to give him a better chance. I don't know if it would have helped, or led to something productive, or anything useful at all, but my brain still wanted to give it a go, you know?
But. My aunt was like "HEY LET'S DO IT RIght NoW WHEN YOUR DAD IS HERE PERFECT RIGHT!?!?!?!" and I'm like. Uh. Okay. I guess. So I gave the presentation to my aunt and my uncle and my mom and my dad. And it went well. I think it's going to be fun and it's going to go well, but that was incredibly fun to try to explain to my dad.
"So is that book set like, three hundred years ago or something?"
"Uh, no. It's set in the future..."
"What's that supposed to mean? Is this like. feminist stuff?" And I was all ready to go into this because we had already dug this hole so I might as well at least just go through with it and like, actually give this feminist theory with My Father, Conservative Midwest Businessman Who Has Never Heard of Plan B TM but my mom swooped in and was like LETS TALK ABOUT HOW GOOD THIS WILL LOOK ON JOB APPLICATIONS DEAR JESUS SAVE US
And like. On one hand. I'm glad that I didn't have to have this discussion and was a bit peeved that my aunt put me in that situation in the first place. But on the other hand, if we continue to just. Skirt around these issues with him he won't ever learn and it's not doing anyone any good. I had the opportunity to at least TRY to do something and it makes me feel bad that i didn't get to give him a better chance. I don't know if it would have helped, or led to something productive, or anything useful at all, but my brain still wanted to give it a go, you know?
Life Update
Feb. 12th, 2019 04:10 pm1. A month long study abroad is happening over this summer! It's still up in the air between two places, but I am going somewhere not America for a month this summer! Holy shit!
2. I'm doing a research project over "music of the American Civil War era and its cultural significance" which I am supppeerrr excited about
3. I'm submitting a proposal for a book talk for the English department over name symbolism in the Hulu series! I don't know if anything will come from it, but I think it sounds pretty great.
4. I have a new novel idea? I've been doing some draft work and early writing on it at least
5. I just started the Promised Neverland manga series because [personal profile] putacorkinitzane and a few other friends suggested it to me, and it seems really cool so far! I have a lot of stuff going on rn, so reading hasn't been happening fast but I just finished the first volume and I gotta say, I am HOOKED
6. Good things are happening in sunkelles land, guys. Good good things
2. I'm doing a research project over "music of the American Civil War era and its cultural significance" which I am supppeerrr excited about
3. I'm submitting a proposal for a book talk for the English department over name symbolism in the Hulu series! I don't know if anything will come from it, but I think it sounds pretty great.
4. I have a new novel idea? I've been doing some draft work and early writing on it at least
5. I just started the Promised Neverland manga series because [personal profile] putacorkinitzane and a few other friends suggested it to me, and it seems really cool so far! I have a lot of stuff going on rn, so reading hasn't been happening fast but I just finished the first volume and I gotta say, I am HOOKED
6. Good things are happening in sunkelles land, guys. Good good things
I'm not a strings player, so learning how to play the ukulele (at least at a basic level) has been a bit of a baffling experience for me. Wait? that's how that works? that's why? what? that's what the different things do? those things are called "frets"? what?
Would anyone be interested in a short post about how the thing works?
1. I've found it really cool figuring some of this stuff out
2. I think that you guys might find that cool too
3. I also think that creating a post would probably be the best way for me to gather my thoughts so I can better explain how it works to other people tbh
Would anyone be interested in a short post about how the thing works?
1. I've found it really cool figuring some of this stuff out
2. I think that you guys might find that cool too
3. I also think that creating a post would probably be the best way for me to gather my thoughts so I can better explain how it works to other people tbh
Icon Get to Know Me Game!
Jan. 31st, 2019 09:28 pmI asked [personal profile] alwaysbeenasmiler to choose a few icons for me to get to talk about and they delivered! here are a few musings about three of my icons
This one is so fun! it's janet from the good place(who I always get nowadays when people choose a celebrity lookalike for me) with her cactus! in season one after janet is "rebooted" and comes back without her memories, she keeps making cacti instead of the files that michael wants her to be producing. i love it as an icon 1. because i love janet 2. because i look like janet 3. because it works perfectly for when i'm posting fic, fic recs, or anything else that i "created" as a here you go! and 4. because if i ever start posting about tgp it will be the perfect icon for that
santa iris! i already talked about this one but the gist is that i love iris and that her with a santa hat is the ultimate cute overload and the perfect christmas icon
oh my gosh! this icon has the coolest story and it lets me brag the most. i am SO EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT THIS! this icon is from fanart that arrival layne did of my fic Rite of Passage it's a star wars rebels fic that was set in an alternate universe where ezra bridger was mirialan and it's a fic that i'm still really proud of! it allowed me to explore a lot of found family feelings i had about the swr characters and it was my first real experience with creating my own worldbuilding! the basic premise was that getting your facial tattoos in mirialan culture was a major coming of age ritual and that if you were denied them you were being shunned socially for some reason and were referred to as a "blankface" which basically means that your culture has deemed you to be nothing and the members of it have thrown you out. ezra does not have his facial tattoos at an age where he should have gotten them because he does not live with other people who are from his species and culture and the rest of the space family tries to help him get through it when they realize... oh shit. this is... a thing. we need to fix this thing...
i also explored some angsty the clone wars ship feels because i was lazy with the design and literally gave him barriss offee from the the clone wars.
This one is so fun! it's janet from the good place(who I always get nowadays when people choose a celebrity lookalike for me) with her cactus! in season one after janet is "rebooted" and comes back without her memories, she keeps making cacti instead of the files that michael wants her to be producing. i love it as an icon 1. because i love janet 2. because i look like janet 3. because it works perfectly for when i'm posting fic, fic recs, or anything else that i "created" as a here you go! and 4. because if i ever start posting about tgp it will be the perfect icon for that
santa iris! i already talked about this one but the gist is that i love iris and that her with a santa hat is the ultimate cute overload and the perfect christmas icon
oh my gosh! this icon has the coolest story and it lets me brag the most. i am SO EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT THIS! this icon is from fanart that arrival layne did of my fic Rite of Passage it's a star wars rebels fic that was set in an alternate universe where ezra bridger was mirialan and it's a fic that i'm still really proud of! it allowed me to explore a lot of found family feelings i had about the swr characters and it was my first real experience with creating my own worldbuilding! the basic premise was that getting your facial tattoos in mirialan culture was a major coming of age ritual and that if you were denied them you were being shunned socially for some reason and were referred to as a "blankface" which basically means that your culture has deemed you to be nothing and the members of it have thrown you out. ezra does not have his facial tattoos at an age where he should have gotten them because he does not live with other people who are from his species and culture and the rest of the space family tries to help him get through it when they realize... oh shit. this is... a thing. we need to fix this thing...
i also explored some angsty the clone wars ship feels because i was lazy with the design and literally gave him barriss offee from the the clone wars.
Interests Meme
Jan. 31st, 2019 09:15 pmi asked [personal profile] colls to select three of my interests to talk about like they did, so they chose
1. janelle monae
2. the raven cycle
3. writing
COME ON VAMANOS
1. janelle monae is one of my favorite musicians! i would die for literally any song on dirty computer and i got to see her dirty computer tour, bawled my eyes out, sang until my throat hurt, and there was just this. amazing aura of solidarity and resistance in the air there. WE are the new american dream. you will not take that from us.
"This is not my America
But I tell you today that the devil is a liar
Because it's gon' be my America before it's all over"
2. the raven cycle
this is one of my more recent fandom additions and one hand i really love it. i adore the characters, i think that the dialog is realistic and the books are super engaging. it's also one of my favorite portrayals of teenagers just being teenagers and acting like them that i've ever read.
i would die for henry cheng, blue and her many many moms, gansey, ronan and adam and the lynches are fascinating. the lynches and the elrics actually inspired my nano project this year, but i also have some weird problems with it. it feels a lot less epic and well planned out than i would like. i know that ending is supposed to be symbolic of things not needing to have a higher purpose, yadda yadda, but it just feels incomplete and a little disjointed because the books feel like they're too many conflicting, not totally thought out parts melded together a little carelessly. maybe the dreamer trilogy will fix some of my issues with it.
3. writing has either always been my second biggest hobby or it became my second biggest hobby seven years ago when i started posting regularly to ao3, take your pick. writing fanfiction is a big part of my life. i also am trying to get into the habit of writing more original stuff and love writing meta. writing is just such a good way for me to express myself. i love words and i love stories, so it's perfect.
side note: writing is only behind singing and singing is my biggest hobby and i've been doing it all the time either since i was a toddler or since birth if you believe my grandma's story about me humming as i was born. i take that with about a mine full of salt but it's still a fun story.
1. janelle monae
2. the raven cycle
3. writing
COME ON VAMANOS
1. janelle monae is one of my favorite musicians! i would die for literally any song on dirty computer and i got to see her dirty computer tour, bawled my eyes out, sang until my throat hurt, and there was just this. amazing aura of solidarity and resistance in the air there. WE are the new american dream. you will not take that from us.
"This is not my America
But I tell you today that the devil is a liar
Because it's gon' be my America before it's all over"
2. the raven cycle
this is one of my more recent fandom additions and one hand i really love it. i adore the characters, i think that the dialog is realistic and the books are super engaging. it's also one of my favorite portrayals of teenagers just being teenagers and acting like them that i've ever read.
i would die for henry cheng, blue and her many many moms, gansey, ronan and adam and the lynches are fascinating. the lynches and the elrics actually inspired my nano project this year, but i also have some weird problems with it. it feels a lot less epic and well planned out than i would like. i know that ending is supposed to be symbolic of things not needing to have a higher purpose, yadda yadda, but it just feels incomplete and a little disjointed because the books feel like they're too many conflicting, not totally thought out parts melded together a little carelessly. maybe the dreamer trilogy will fix some of my issues with it.
3. writing has either always been my second biggest hobby or it became my second biggest hobby seven years ago when i started posting regularly to ao3, take your pick. writing fanfiction is a big part of my life. i also am trying to get into the habit of writing more original stuff and love writing meta. writing is just such a good way for me to express myself. i love words and i love stories, so it's perfect.
side note: writing is only behind singing and singing is my biggest hobby and i've been doing it all the time either since i was a toddler or since birth if you believe my grandma's story about me humming as i was born. i take that with about a mine full of salt but it's still a fun story.
(no subject)
Jan. 28th, 2019 06:05 pmhey so guess who's looking into studying abroad like i've been dreaming of since 2015? thiS GIRL
(no subject)
Jan. 27th, 2019 11:08 pmMaternal, Paternal
Fandoms: bnha
Relationships: the todoroki family
Summary: Todoroki Rei wanted to help people. All she wanted was to help people. How did it go so wrong?
5 Todorokis who wanted to help people + 1 that didn't.
A.N: hey so dabi is a BLAST to write
Fandoms: bnha
Relationships: the todoroki family
Summary: Todoroki Rei wanted to help people. All she wanted was to help people. How did it go so wrong?
5 Todorokis who wanted to help people + 1 that didn't.
A.N: hey so dabi is a BLAST to write
(no subject)
Jan. 27th, 2019 12:11 pmI'm in an adolescent literature class this semester, and it's been so interesting so far. We've done readings on what adolescence is as a social construct and development stage, what it is in literature, and its origins. It's been very interesting so far and I'm excited to see how it will affect my headspace for writing this semester. I'm expecting more meta about bnha, young justice, and maybe some of the other series's about young people that I've read and maybe even some meta about young people in series that aren't about them (like asoiaf, which admittedly shaped my OWN adolescence).
I don't know, I think this is going to get me thinking about some interesting stuff.
I don't know, I think this is going to get me thinking about some interesting stuff.
Assorted Thoughts
Jan. 24th, 2019 06:16 pmI have a class this semester about how to integrate music into the standard elementary classroom, and the professor asked how many of us (elementary education majors) had been made to feel by someone that we shouldn't sing because we had "bad voices". I have never been told this in my life, so I just sat there feeling bad about my years and years of vocal lessons (including many semesters in college). I really hoped, though, that most of these kids hadn't been told that, because I truly believe that singing is as natural as breathing and that everyone should be able to do it and love it, even if they're not trained classical soloists or famous pop singers.
To my disappointment, at least a fifth of this large class raised their hands. Then the professor asked about who got shamed out of playing instruments and there was some overlap with which kids raised their hands for getting shamed for singing but there were some new faces. I'd wager at least a fourth of this class had been told by someone, at some point, that they were bad at music and shouldn't do it.
There were so many kids who were told by their parents, or their teachers, or their friends or whoever in their lives that they shouldn't do something as natural and human as make music because they weren't good at it immediately. They were probably kids when this happened, too. Tiny people with undeveloped vocal chords, told that they shouldn't do something when the mechanism that they use to DO IT hasn't even fully developed. It's like telling a third grader that they're too short to ever be a basketball player. Not only is it terrible to shit on a kids dream, it's also not even something that you know is true because they still have so much growing to do in that area. In third grade you don't even know what a kids' voice is going to sound like as an adult.
But that's still the mentality that we're drilling into them. You aren't good at this now, so you never ever will be. You're short, so you'll never be good at basketball. Right now you sound "bad" so you should never ever sing. Don't ever do something you're not perfect at.
This idea that if you're not The Best TM at something you're embarrassing yourself in front of everyone, making their lives worse, and you should not do it is part of the reason that I curled up in a corner for so much of high school and only tried things that I was good at. And considering that things I'm good at include the arts and not much else, I didn't end up with nearly the versatile skill set that I could have if there wasn't that deeply ingrained mentality that there's something like, morally wrong and deeply embarrassing about doing things that we're not good at. Sometimes I think about the skills that I robbed myself of because of this mentality and I get so mad. That mentality is so toxic.
We can't even GET good at things if we don't start out being bad at them! Especially if we're not prodigies! Or we don't have the access to private lessons or tutoring or all these things that let kids with more money push ahead of kids with less money. Just let kids be themselves and try things without shaming them for not instantly being amazing at them.
One silly way that I plan to do that is to never to go up to the whiteboard and draw something and then tell my students "yes, I know it's bad, but I'm not an artist". I don't think they should have to apologize for doing something while "bad" at it, so I refuse to model that for them. I will try my hardest not to pass that mentality onto my students. I am trying so hard to get over my fear of being bad at things in public and I refuse to contribute to that particular baggage for them.
To my disappointment, at least a fifth of this large class raised their hands. Then the professor asked about who got shamed out of playing instruments and there was some overlap with which kids raised their hands for getting shamed for singing but there were some new faces. I'd wager at least a fourth of this class had been told by someone, at some point, that they were bad at music and shouldn't do it.
There were so many kids who were told by their parents, or their teachers, or their friends or whoever in their lives that they shouldn't do something as natural and human as make music because they weren't good at it immediately. They were probably kids when this happened, too. Tiny people with undeveloped vocal chords, told that they shouldn't do something when the mechanism that they use to DO IT hasn't even fully developed. It's like telling a third grader that they're too short to ever be a basketball player. Not only is it terrible to shit on a kids dream, it's also not even something that you know is true because they still have so much growing to do in that area. In third grade you don't even know what a kids' voice is going to sound like as an adult.
But that's still the mentality that we're drilling into them. You aren't good at this now, so you never ever will be. You're short, so you'll never be good at basketball. Right now you sound "bad" so you should never ever sing. Don't ever do something you're not perfect at.
This idea that if you're not The Best TM at something you're embarrassing yourself in front of everyone, making their lives worse, and you should not do it is part of the reason that I curled up in a corner for so much of high school and only tried things that I was good at. And considering that things I'm good at include the arts and not much else, I didn't end up with nearly the versatile skill set that I could have if there wasn't that deeply ingrained mentality that there's something like, morally wrong and deeply embarrassing about doing things that we're not good at. Sometimes I think about the skills that I robbed myself of because of this mentality and I get so mad. That mentality is so toxic.
We can't even GET good at things if we don't start out being bad at them! Especially if we're not prodigies! Or we don't have the access to private lessons or tutoring or all these things that let kids with more money push ahead of kids with less money. Just let kids be themselves and try things without shaming them for not instantly being amazing at them.
One silly way that I plan to do that is to never to go up to the whiteboard and draw something and then tell my students "yes, I know it's bad, but I'm not an artist". I don't think they should have to apologize for doing something while "bad" at it, so I refuse to model that for them. I will try my hardest not to pass that mentality onto my students. I am trying so hard to get over my fear of being bad at things in public and I refuse to contribute to that particular baggage for them.
(no subject)
Jan. 22nd, 2019 08:20 pmI just started my new semester today and I'm excited but also. highkey stressed already. so. that's fun.
(no subject)
Jan. 17th, 2019 07:14 pmI really do like the age demographic difference here on DW from what I'm used to on tumblr. As someone in my early twenties getting closed to graduating college, I've become something of an.. old person on tumblr, at least around a lot of the people I associate with. A lot of my followers are in their mid teens and then the core demographic that I'm around is 18-23ish college age. Seeing some people who are older than me but still active in fandom and just. being real adults here on DW is so cool. Y'all have kids? Real people jobs? Spouses? Do taxes? And still make time for fandom activities? It's inspiring and it makes me feel so optimistic. My cool DW friends are still having fun with fandom in their Real Adult Lives TM so why can't I when I become a real adult soon? Why can't I?
As I've been using DW more and getting better acquainted with its strengths and weaknesses, I can say that I definitely prefer it as a place to post my future fic rec lists because it's easier to search my own journal here than my own blog and now that I know the coding tricks (or at least. the beginnings of the coding tricks) I can work with it just as easily. So. I'll be posting some fic rec lists soon. I've never actually done a bnha one and since I've been living in this fandom basically full time for the last six months i think that it's about time i do that
About My Icons
Jan. 17th, 2019 02:30 pmso I'm participating an icon challenge that [personal profile] colls made for [community profile] snowflake_challenge
1. Comment to this entry saying 'SPACE!' and I will pick 3 of your icons/userpics.
2. Make an entry in your own journal (or just reply if you prefer) and talk about the icons I picked!
Icon challenge! Okay so here are the three icons that they asked for!
This first icon is the Christmas icon that I've used for the past two or three years. Iris West-Allen is one of my favorite characters in anything, ever, and this picture of her from season one of the flash in that santa hat is just adorable. I can never resist combining Christmas and Iris, my two favorite things :)
This second icon is my current default icon. It's a picture of the character Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars the Clone Wars! She's another absolute favorite of mine (she's Anakin Skywalker's padawan and has a fantastic arc in the series) and I love her to death. This adorable picture is a drawing of her from a webcomic based on the series called "Contrasts" about her another character, Barriss. http://contrasts-comic.tumblr.com/chapters
This last icon is a picture of another favorite character of mine, Kamilah Khan, from the comic series Ms. Marvel (which is the first comic I ever read btw)! I absolutely love her unimpressed expression. It's the perfect icon to use when I'm irritated with something and I love getting to see her beautiful face and adorable little hat. Kamilah Khan deserves all my love.
1. Comment to this entry saying 'SPACE!' and I will pick 3 of your icons/userpics.
2. Make an entry in your own journal (or just reply if you prefer) and talk about the icons I picked!
Icon challenge! Okay so here are the three icons that they asked for!
This first icon is the Christmas icon that I've used for the past two or three years. Iris West-Allen is one of my favorite characters in anything, ever, and this picture of her from season one of the flash in that santa hat is just adorable. I can never resist combining Christmas and Iris, my two favorite things :)
This second icon is my current default icon. It's a picture of the character Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars the Clone Wars! She's another absolute favorite of mine (she's Anakin Skywalker's padawan and has a fantastic arc in the series) and I love her to death. This adorable picture is a drawing of her from a webcomic based on the series called "Contrasts" about her another character, Barriss. http://contrasts-comic.tumblr.com/chapters
This last icon is a picture of another favorite character of mine, Kamilah Khan, from the comic series Ms. Marvel (which is the first comic I ever read btw)! I absolutely love her unimpressed expression. It's the perfect icon to use when I'm irritated with something and I love getting to see her beautiful face and adorable little hat. Kamilah Khan deserves all my love.
The Snowflake Challenge: Day 15
Jan. 15th, 2019 04:32 pmTalk about why you participated in Snowflake &/or what you got out of it. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I participated in the Snowflake Challenge both because I like doing this and because a few friends of mine from DW were doing it and i REALLY like doing things with friends. so. i thought it would be fun, and it was!
I interacted with some cool new people and added them to my circle, saw some great new fan content, and heard some really awesome stories about what fandom means to other people. I think that this was a great way to start my fannish new year and get into the swing of being a DW user :)
I participated in the Snowflake Challenge both because I like doing this and because a few friends of mine from DW were doing it and i REALLY like doing things with friends. so. i thought it would be fun, and it was!
I interacted with some cool new people and added them to my circle, saw some great new fan content, and heard some really awesome stories about what fandom means to other people. I think that this was a great way to start my fannish new year and get into the swing of being a DW user :)
the Snowflake Challenge: Day 14
Jan. 14th, 2019 11:43 amDay 14
In your own space, talk about what you think the future holds for fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
What are your hopes and dreams for fandom? Do you have any predictions about what the next five years holds for fandom? Where do you think fandom will end up congregating? Feel free to answer this question with a sentence or a couple paragraphs, express your feelings with a good old fashioned meta or through words, music, graphics, dance, recipes, etc. Whatever works for you. *g*
So I have zero idea where fandom will be migrating in the next few years. I know that some people (like me) have just dipped a toe into DW and are enjoying it. I know that some people have been trying out Pillowfort? Most of my tumblr friends are determined to stay there until either the site implodes or they die. Who knows where fandom will live in the future, but I want to be right there in the thick of things.
I do have some hopes for fandom, though! I hope that we bring back a more interactive culture. So many of us (at least in the tumblr crowd and... the ao3 crowd honestly) like people's work but don't do anything about it. They hit the like button, or maybe the kudos button, and then they call it a day. I hope that in the future we get back into more of a feeling where we scream at each other about what we like? That art's pretty? Tell them! That line in a fic made you laugh? Tell them! We call them fan communities, so we should try our hardest to treat them like communities.
I also hope that ao3 continues to be the main site for fic, but also that people start utilizing some of the site's other capabilities like for fan art, vids, and meta. It would be nice to be able to find those things along with the fic that I'm reading.
In your own space, talk about what you think the future holds for fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
What are your hopes and dreams for fandom? Do you have any predictions about what the next five years holds for fandom? Where do you think fandom will end up congregating? Feel free to answer this question with a sentence or a couple paragraphs, express your feelings with a good old fashioned meta or through words, music, graphics, dance, recipes, etc. Whatever works for you. *g*
So I have zero idea where fandom will be migrating in the next few years. I know that some people (like me) have just dipped a toe into DW and are enjoying it. I know that some people have been trying out Pillowfort? Most of my tumblr friends are determined to stay there until either the site implodes or they die. Who knows where fandom will live in the future, but I want to be right there in the thick of things.
I do have some hopes for fandom, though! I hope that we bring back a more interactive culture. So many of us (at least in the tumblr crowd and... the ao3 crowd honestly) like people's work but don't do anything about it. They hit the like button, or maybe the kudos button, and then they call it a day. I hope that in the future we get back into more of a feeling where we scream at each other about what we like? That art's pretty? Tell them! That line in a fic made you laugh? Tell them! We call them fan communities, so we should try our hardest to treat them like communities.
I also hope that ao3 continues to be the main site for fic, but also that people start utilizing some of the site's other capabilities like for fan art, vids, and meta. It would be nice to be able to find those things along with the fic that I'm reading.
Speaking of Goals
Jan. 13th, 2019 10:27 pmToday's Snowflake Challenge got me thinking about goals and how I've been shifting mine recently in a healthier direction. First, a little background: I am an education major. I'm going to be a teacher soon-ish. In one of my education classes we've been learning about different sources of motivation, particularly, different types of goals.
Performance goals are goals that we have primarily in order to impress others or beat them. I memorized this information for my tests by associating them with Bakugo from bnha. They're Baku-goals. Be the Number One Hero, get straight As, crush the competition. They're not bad, per se, but they don't generally lead to the greatest amount of learning. They're the goals that lead to walking into a test without studying or learning the material so that you can brag about getting an A without studying (I say this from experience. Even of college finals.).
Failure Avoidant Goals are the flip side of performance goals. These lead to behaviors that keep us from taking risks and embarrassing ourselves in front of others. For example, not sending in an application for that job you want because you don't want to not get it and have to talk to people about how that happened or not taking a risk in your writing that you really want to because you're afraid it won't go well and it will blow up in your face.
Neither of these alignments are totally bad. Performance goals keep us ambitious and failure avoidant goals keep us safe, but neither of them lead to a whole lot of deep, meaningful learning. I've been trying to shift my focus more and more onto mastery goals instead of the failure avoidant and performance goals that I've had for years.
Mastery goals are where learning the material and/or improving at a skill is the goal in and of itself. They involve accepting that in order to improve at something that we want to learn we will have to take risks and probably be embarrassed during the learning process. It also involves accepting that small progress is still progress and that making mistakes is part of the learning process.
I gave up a lot on learning a lot of things that I regret giving up on when I was younger because I was naturally gifted at some things and had always been able to coast by on those things. I think that a lot of gifted kids have that same problem where they've been praised for being naturally amazing at something to the point where having people see us struggle is terrifying. Having to work hard at stuff and not be an immediate prodigy right there in public? Where people could see me not being perfect? Terrifying. Not an option. I'd just give up on those hard things and coast by on the stuff I was gifted at instead. "Those who don't try never look foolish" was a pretty good life motto.
Sometime after switching into education I realized how much I'd been holding myself back with my own learning for fear of looking stupid. I didn't put enough effort into learning to play the piano because I hated being not perfect at it in public when I was a naturally fantastic vocalist. I hated being not perfect at Spanish in public because I grew up being praised for how well-spoken I was in English, so I just didn't actually put in the work that I would need to learn it, even though I wanted to. I was so scared of trying and failing that I decided that not trying was a better option.
After studying my own motivations and what was holding ME back, I decided that I actually wanted to be good at those things for myself, not just to brag about being good at them. I wanted to be good at them enough to stop avoiding them to avoid failure and embarrassment.
So. I'm back to working on things that I'm not naturally "gifted" at. I've been working on Spanish again on DuoLingo and looking for other ways to improve. I've been sitting back down at the piano and trying to play for fun and playing through pieces from where I left off, but this time with the goal of learning how to play in order to play and not to impress people. I've been drawing even though I'm not good at it just because it's fun.
Life is too short not to learn just for learning's sake. It's too short to be too scared of not being amazing at something to be willing to put myself out there and do the work to learn something that I want to. I want to try to master things just for the sake of mastering them. How can I help students develop a love of learning and get over their fear of failure if I can't do that myself?
Performance goals are goals that we have primarily in order to impress others or beat them. I memorized this information for my tests by associating them with Bakugo from bnha. They're Baku-goals. Be the Number One Hero, get straight As, crush the competition. They're not bad, per se, but they don't generally lead to the greatest amount of learning. They're the goals that lead to walking into a test without studying or learning the material so that you can brag about getting an A without studying (I say this from experience. Even of college finals.).
Failure Avoidant Goals are the flip side of performance goals. These lead to behaviors that keep us from taking risks and embarrassing ourselves in front of others. For example, not sending in an application for that job you want because you don't want to not get it and have to talk to people about how that happened or not taking a risk in your writing that you really want to because you're afraid it won't go well and it will blow up in your face.
Neither of these alignments are totally bad. Performance goals keep us ambitious and failure avoidant goals keep us safe, but neither of them lead to a whole lot of deep, meaningful learning. I've been trying to shift my focus more and more onto mastery goals instead of the failure avoidant and performance goals that I've had for years.
Mastery goals are where learning the material and/or improving at a skill is the goal in and of itself. They involve accepting that in order to improve at something that we want to learn we will have to take risks and probably be embarrassed during the learning process. It also involves accepting that small progress is still progress and that making mistakes is part of the learning process.
I gave up a lot on learning a lot of things that I regret giving up on when I was younger because I was naturally gifted at some things and had always been able to coast by on those things. I think that a lot of gifted kids have that same problem where they've been praised for being naturally amazing at something to the point where having people see us struggle is terrifying. Having to work hard at stuff and not be an immediate prodigy right there in public? Where people could see me not being perfect? Terrifying. Not an option. I'd just give up on those hard things and coast by on the stuff I was gifted at instead. "Those who don't try never look foolish" was a pretty good life motto.
Sometime after switching into education I realized how much I'd been holding myself back with my own learning for fear of looking stupid. I didn't put enough effort into learning to play the piano because I hated being not perfect at it in public when I was a naturally fantastic vocalist. I hated being not perfect at Spanish in public because I grew up being praised for how well-spoken I was in English, so I just didn't actually put in the work that I would need to learn it, even though I wanted to. I was so scared of trying and failing that I decided that not trying was a better option.
After studying my own motivations and what was holding ME back, I decided that I actually wanted to be good at those things for myself, not just to brag about being good at them. I wanted to be good at them enough to stop avoiding them to avoid failure and embarrassment.
So. I'm back to working on things that I'm not naturally "gifted" at. I've been working on Spanish again on DuoLingo and looking for other ways to improve. I've been sitting back down at the piano and trying to play for fun and playing through pieces from where I left off, but this time with the goal of learning how to play in order to play and not to impress people. I've been drawing even though I'm not good at it just because it's fun.
Life is too short not to learn just for learning's sake. It's too short to be too scared of not being amazing at something to be willing to put myself out there and do the work to learn something that I want to. I want to try to master things just for the sake of mastering them. How can I help students develop a love of learning and get over their fear of failure if I can't do that myself?
the Snowflake Challenge: Day 13
Jan. 13th, 2019 03:38 pmDay 13
In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
1. My first fannish goal for this next year is to comment on every fic that I read and like. I write extensive comments on fics a lot of the time, but a lot of the rest of the time I'll just... neglect to leave a comment because I don't have the energy to devote to writing the essays I like to leave people and I just don't have the energy. Even if I just leave :) or <3 or a keysmash I want to leave them SOMETHING. they deserve it even if i don't have the energy to write them an essay
2. Be easier on myself and more positive about my output. Writing things is good, even if they're not perfect!
3. Make sure to post here. I haven't totally given up my tumblr, but I really like this platform and I want to build myself up here and get to know my new friends and make it a viable blogging experience. I want to make sure to reach out to people and talk to my budding friends and just make this place mine.
In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
1. My first fannish goal for this next year is to comment on every fic that I read and like. I write extensive comments on fics a lot of the time, but a lot of the rest of the time I'll just... neglect to leave a comment because I don't have the energy to devote to writing the essays I like to leave people and I just don't have the energy. Even if I just leave :) or <3 or a keysmash I want to leave them SOMETHING. they deserve it even if i don't have the energy to write them an essay
2. Be easier on myself and more positive about my output. Writing things is good, even if they're not perfect!
3. Make sure to post here. I haven't totally given up my tumblr, but I really like this platform and I want to build myself up here and get to know my new friends and make it a viable blogging experience. I want to make sure to reach out to people and talk to my budding friends and just make this place mine.
